quality trash (my new blog name?)

this past weekend i walked down some old paths and was lucky enough to stumble on something new in the process. i went to mn for a friend's wedding celebration and took the opportunity to roam my beloved cathedral hill haunt in the blair arcade: nina's coffee shop. directly downstairs used to be an art shop that never looked very busy, but today it houses garrison keillor's new indie bookstore, common good books.

i love a good bookstore - especially a good indie bookstore. they are so much more personable and inviting than borders or b&n. i do have a borders rewards card (which got heavy mileage this christmas) and in the recent past i've spent hours comfortably reading at b&n. but i've been exposed to beautiful places like micawbers and birchbark books and i have yet to find their equivalent in chicago. so with mixed emotions i roamed the meandering aisles at common good books - fingering the gorgeous exposed stone walls, inhaling the reader recommendations sticking out of the shelves... and lamenting that i cannot do this on a daily basis. my old apartment is literally steps from this haven, and my new home is 400 miles away. alas, alack.

each section is marked with a hand-drawn sign that clearly states what you'll find: fiction = fiction, poetry = poetry, regional = regional, the head = psychology and my all-time favorite way to label the newest john grisham:

i wish this new bookstore good luck, and i renew my quest to locate a chicago indie bookstore haven (and wish myself luck...).