The Book Cellar
4736 N Lincoln Ave., Chicago, IL‎
Neighborhood: Lincoln Square

Book Cellar.

The Book Cellar is is an independently owned bookstore located in the heart of Lincoln Square. What makes The Book Cellar so unique is the wide selection of wines that are available in their cafe.  This means you can browse the book shelves while having your a glass of pinot noir or merlot.  If you’re not much of a wine fan, they also sell beer and coffee and a wide variety of sandwiches too.  Unfortunately, Anna and I did not take advantage of their wine selection since we visited on a Sunday afternoon and weren’t in the mood to imbibe.  However, I had a wonderful hazelnut iced mocha that was very delicious and refreshing.  I also bought two books: The Motel Life by Willy Vlautin and an autographed copy of Will Leitch’s Are We Winning?.  Anna bought a cool Sonic Youth biography that she’s looking forward to reading.  It is also worth noting that The Book Cellar is very committed to the community of Lincoln Square, by sponsoring local author nights, hosting book clubs, and even collaborating with the Chicago Public Library.  The Book Cellar is certainly dedicated to “enriching the literary culture” of Chicago, as they state on their website, and Anna and I will definitely make it a point to visit them again soon.

-Rob

Inside The Book Cellar.

Our purchases.

Powell’s Books
1501 E 57th St., Chicago, IL‎
Neighborhood: Hyde Park

Powell’s Books.

Anna and I had no idea that Powell’s City of Books—our favorite bookstore, located in Portland, Oregon—originally opened in 1970 in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago.  After finding this out last year, we decided to head down to Hyde Park this afternoon to check out Chicago’s smaller version of the mecca of a bookstore that is unfortunately over 2,000 miles away from us.  Powell’s specializes in used, rare, and discounted books.  While browsing the many shelves today, Anna and I were able to find five books we wanted, spending under $25 total between the two of us.  You would be lucky to buy two books for that price at a bigger bookstore like Barnes & Noble or Borders.  If you can’t make it to Hyde Park, Powell’s also has another store located in Lakeview, and according to their website the two stores each carry “well over a quarter million books.”  Until we can visit Portland again, Anna and I will be getting our used book fix from Powell’s in Chicago.

-Rob

Our books from Powell’s.  The top three are Rob’s and the bottom two are Anna’s.