The suburbs has nearly killed my joy for Independent Bookstore Day which happens every year on April 27th. If you’ve ridden sidecar for any amount of time in my Bookisshh life, you’ll remember that for the past too many years I have weathered Independent Bookstore Day rainstorms on Chicago’s Northshore and was disappointed by the lack of enthusiasm and fanfare demonstrated by the bookstores that populate this part of the map… I vowed not to shop the Northshore for a while and promised myself that in 2024 I would go to the city, despite the weather and the so-called dangers especially during this election year as reported by the news. Did I do it and how?
This year there was a ton of hoopla generated by the owner of Volumes Bookstore regarding the 6ish Barnes and Noble bookstores opening in Illinois (our fantastic state that wrote into state law that it’s illegal to ban books in the state of Illinois) and it was a bully-like campaign against Daunt Books CEO, James Daunt who she mistakenly identified as the owner of Barnes and Noble. Dear reader please note that we need bookstores of all scale to infuse the intellectual capacity for the electorate, thus become smarter when addressing election related issues and not cave to the cult of personality (which is a current problem). I digress… Nonetheless, one of the owners of Volumes issued volumes of mean, low-brow content to sway consumers. By the way, Volumes has multiple retail locations, and this territorial behavior is kind of a personal turnoff albeit covered by the local news on TV. Meh.
A more positive response to promoting Independent Bookstore Day was generated by a consortium of bookstores which includes Volumes was to create an independent bookstore crawl that is regionally designed and includes both the city and the greater Chicago area independent booksellers. You just purchase a ticket to ride the bus for a route (there are several different routes that visit different bookstores and none visit all), get a passport, have it stamped at various visited bookstores and receive short and long term discounts. It’s cute, but I passed on the bus ride—a little too much ado for me…
I love Open Books and particularly their Logan Square location. I lived in Logan, launched a public school in Logan, and really just like it there rough parts and all.. Anyway, Open Books sells both new and used books. Their mission is to get books into the hands of communities throughout the Chicago area and they are growing every day. Open Books began in 2006 and has worked with hundreds of thousands of students by providing book grant programs, community events and literacy partnerships. To date, Open Books has given away 1,270,944+ books to Chicagoland students and classrooms. There is also a mail program, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library that has to date mailed 61,194 books. Open Books is an independent non-profit bookstore that becomes part of the neighborhood fabric and brings books into neighborhoods and homes in need of books. I like this mission. I believe in it, and so Open Books is where I went, will continue to go, and perhaps find a way to support their mission in other ways. If you would like to learn more about Open Books or support their mission, click the link below.
So what did I get? I bought a new release book which was full price and the best attempt at a solid donation because I’m pretty stacked up right now… I bought, “The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality” by Amanda Montell. This is the third work in her oeuvre. The Age of Magical Overthinking dives deeply into the cognitive biases that run through people’s brains and the controls that these biases have on decision making, relationship sustaining and the creation of world views on many scales. Montell uses sharp wit, recent and current examples of this behavior and how it becomes part of the cultural zeitgeist. Montell is the cultural critic of her time and so much fun to read. I thoroughly enjoy her insights regarding millennials and GenZ. Give it a look.
In closing, I am much happier with how I spent my Independent Bookstore day this year. I didn’t over consume and I supported a literary mission created by a non-profit bookstore that really speaks to me. However, I won’t go to Open Books once a year, more likely once a month and I will continue to hand sell a couple of books for them (which I did when I was there). I will also be doing so at the Barnes and Noble coming soon in Northbrook. Come see me and I’ll help you discover something new! Until then, enjoy!
Bookisshh 