My family and I spent last week in Chicago. We stuffed ourselves with good food, saw all the sights (well, a lot of them anyway), and, as is necessary during any vacation I take, visited several bookstores. The picture above is my haul from the trip, and believe me when I say that stack is the result of my holding back.
The first bookstore we stopped by was Books4Free, which won a prize for having the most unique concept of any bookstore I’ve ever visited. As the name suggests, every book in the store is 100% free. There’s a 10-books per-person limit, which I imagine is in place to prevent people like myself from grabbing everything in sight and running away cackling like book-hungry goblins. I’m proud to say I cut myself off at 2 books—though my bookworm kids made up the difference.
Next, we visited Three Avenues Bookshop. It’s a lovely family-run independent bookstore with a diverse collection of books. The bright, welcoming space was made even better by the friendly and welcoming staff. If I lived in the area, I’d be stopping by on a weekly basis.
Last, we visited Myopic Books. It’s the type of used bookstore I love, full of packed shelves, hand-written signs, and lots of little nooks and crannies. I could have spent all day there, wandering through all three floors, hiding in the stacks when they closed in an attempt to move in stealthily, but alas, my family had other ideas. There’s always next time…