Design by Amber of Shelf Notes

 

 

Topic of Choice 

Today is the day to talk about something that you feel we have missed or that you want to spend a little extra time chatting about. Ideas include, but are not limited to: a genre that does not fit into those featured earlier this week; logistics, such as blogging resources, procedures, or advice; or something completely fun with book to movie adaptations or favorite blogging games, features, memes, events, and/or activities. It’s your freebie day to choose what you like! 

Where do you get books? In a bookstore, among other places, so here are my favorite local bookstores, in/around Chicago:

1) The Seminary Co-op changed its location about 18 months ago. It still smell fresh wood with the gorgous book shelves. As you can see they are arranged in cubicles or labyrinth, with plenty of room to walk in between. Some even have some windows in the middle. Nice places to sit and read, very quiet.
The only negative point was the alphabetic order for fiction authors. For instance, I was looking for books in French, but there was no such section, I had to go through names I could think of, and they do have books in French. I believe that section used to exist in the older store, which was really cool too, you felt like you were going down into a submarine, with not 1 inch unoccupied!

This is such a great place, go visit if you don’t know the place yet. It was founded in 1961!

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2) And let’s go now to St. Charles, IL, to the Town House Bookstore and Café:

The uniqueness and ambiance of the bookstore, which opened its doors in 1974, carry over into the Town House Café, featuring a menu of fresh-from-scratch soups and creative sandwiches. The back courtyard is open for lunch every day, weather permitting.

I like the mini reviews by staff attached to the books

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3) Anderson’s Bookshops in Naperville and Downers Grove

I like this place, especially for the numerous authors who come weekly to present their books!

Take the Anderson Google Virtual Tour to visit the place!

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4) Another favorite bookstore of mine is Women And Children First, with also cool recommendations by a very nice and knowledgeable staff.

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Middle Grade/Young Adult 

Our final genre of discussion is one that we know is a popular one these days: books for the younger crowd, from middle grade to young adult. If you do not normally talk about this genre on your site, maybe you want to feature books that you remember impacting you during this stage in your life. If this is where you tend to gravitate, maybe you want to list your favorites, make recommendations based on genres, or feature some titles that you are excited to read coming later this year.

 

I very rarely read these genres, and the books I read as a kid were in French. But a few years ago, I discovered, it was about time, this great classic [access my reviews by clicking on book covers]:

It was powerful! I discovered it actually after having read this one, my favorite book by Kate Morton:

And having read The Secret Garden, I was lead to a modern adaptation, very nice as well:

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE LOCAL BOOKSTORE?
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE YA BOOK EVER?