Open Books Store

Ready for some great summer reading? Fantastic! The Kids’ Book...

Tue, 21 May 2013 15:01:57 -0500

Ready for some great summer reading? Fantastic! The Kids’ Book Club Card is back!

Get your Official Kids’ Book Club Card at the front desk in the Open Books store, then have it punched every time you visit this summer. On your 5th visit, redeem it for a FREE book …or wait to fill up 2 cards and get THREE free books!

No purchase necessary. One punch per day. Cards must be redeemed before 09/2/13 and have no cash value. Incomplete cards may not be redeemed. Complete cards may be redeemed for a used children’s or young adult book priced at $10 or less.

ghostproofblanket: Great Gatsby the 8-bit video game Great...

Tue, 21 May 2013 14:30:41 -0500

ghostproofblanket:

Great Gatsby the 8-bit video game

Great Gatsby the 8-bit video game: The T shirt

This game is fun.

3rd-6th graders from our Adventures in Creative Writing Field...

Tue, 21 May 2013 12:08:39 -0500

3rd-6th graders from our Adventures in Creative Writing Field Trip are in the store picking out their free books! Every book you purchase from our store helps support programs just like this one! (at Open Books)

explore-blog: Ah, yes. The Cocktail Chart of Film &...

Mon, 20 May 2013 14:30:27 -0500

explore-blog:

Ah, yes. The Cocktail Chart of Film & Literature from Pop Chart Lab, who have previously charted the varieties of coffee, the history of Apple, America’s bike lanes, the composition of classic cocktails, the wonders of serif fonts, Gotham’s villains, and the 64 guitars that defined rock history.

Serve with recipes form The Artists’ & Writers’ Cookbook.

I need to try everything on this chart, but particularly a Gin Rickey. Well, and a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster.

Author Wesley Sun of @theSunBros speaks during our @ChicagoNerds...

Sun, 19 May 2013 15:34:07 -0500

Author Wesley Sun of @theSunBros speaks during our @ChicagoNerds author and networking event! Also with us: Mark McClelland, author of Upload, and Wesley Chu, author of The Lives of Tao.

This is a great one, guys!

writersflow: My motto :)

Sun, 19 May 2013 14:30:46 -0500

writersflow:

My motto :)

A Workout For Book Nerds

Sat, 18 May 2013 14:30:34 -0500

epicreads:

All you need for this workout is a stack of hardcovers and some yarn or rope to tie them together!

Workout #1: The Book Curl

Workout #2: The Book Up

Workout #3: The Brunch (Book Crunch) - Just like brunch this can be done alone or with a friend!

Cool Down

Useful.

Saturday is display change day! What should we put out this...

Sat, 18 May 2013 13:25:37 -0500

Saturday is display change day! What should we put out this week? (at Open Books)

That dude is really into his flower.

Fri, 17 May 2013 17:52:28 -0500

That dude is really into his flower.

Confessions of a Book Cover Lover

Fri, 17 May 2013 14:30:27 -0500

Ok, so I’ll admit it, I do judge a book by its cover- but my initial reaction isn’t always binding (ha!). I’ve learned that books, much like people, “dress” a certain way to attract those who share their interests. A science-fiction book’s cover has a certain visual parlance that lets readers know other-worldly happenings are bound between its pages. Chick-lit, biographies, children’s books and almost all other categories have their own book-cover language as well (not to mention different eras- holla at vintage Penguins). Here are a few book-cover designers I am particularly enamored by. Let me know what you think!

Christos Kourtoglou- I love his collage work!

Sanda Zahirovich- Her work reminds me of Suprematism; bold geometric designs somewhat surreal

Emma Wallace- Simple, clean, powerful

Jacob Sutton- He is the photographer for these Kafka covers. This is a perfect articulation of how I feel when wading through Kafka’s never-ending labyrinths, feeling less than human (hello Gregor Samsa) and impossibly inert (all permutations of K) and a little forgotten (this is for you hungry artists).

Penguin Drop Caps- Beautiful typography! What’s better than the marriage between language and art?

And a resource for typography and book-cover lovers:

What a perfectly timed donation! ??? #finally? (at Open...

Thu, 16 May 2013 16:49:44 -0500

What a perfectly timed donation! ??? #finally? (at Open Books)

So this a pretty nifty old cookbook! It’s even niftier than you’d guess at first glance,...

Thu, 16 May 2013 14:30:48 -0500

So this a pretty nifty old cookbook! It’s even niftier than you’d guess at first glance, though. It harbors a secret.

Look closely! What do you see? Drawings by an Andrew Warhol??

It’s true, though! Who knew Andy Warhol did cookbook illustrations?

Close Encounters of the Word Kind

Wed, 15 May 2013 16:22:50 -0500

Here are some supersexy words to chew on:

Eschatology: (n) Branch of Theology concerned with the final events in the history of the world/humankind. Doomsday anyone?

Sibilance- (n) Having, containing or producing the sound of s or sh. Just think of a room full of snakes.

Nacreous- (adj) Possessing the quality of mother-of-pearl. Ugly word for a beautiful shell.

Dyspepsia- (n) Indigestion. Ill-humor. Dis-PEPto BisSIA… too far? Probably.

Alacrity- (n) Promptness in response; cheerful readiness.

Self-Help Across the Spectrum Artist Kent Rogowski...

Wed, 15 May 2013 14:30:27 -0500

Self-Help Across the Spectrum

Artist Kent Rogowski organizes discarded self-help books found in second-hand stores under categories like birth, death, loneliness loss and love. These beautiful mosaics make me wonder if anyone really has the answer.

Two great new books out in paperback and a few of our favorite...

Tue, 14 May 2013 15:44:24 -0500

Two great new books out in paperback and a few of our favorite donated books from today’s drop-offs. #books #lit (at Open Books)

brooklinebooksmith: picadorbookroom: In honor of Children’s...

Tue, 14 May 2013 14:30:28 -0500

brooklinebooksmith:

picadorbookroom:

In honor of Children’s Book Week, here’s a photo of an awesome kid.

<3

This donation is my childhood. The self-titled CD Backstreet...

Mon, 13 May 2013 17:35:00 -0500

This donation is my childhood.

The self-titled CD Backstreet Boys was bought at FAO SCHWARTZ. (at Open Books)

Listen up, tumblrites! We’ve got an event coming up this...

Mon, 13 May 2013 16:16:00 -0500

Listen up, tumblrites! We’ve got an event coming up this Sunday about which I am so excited.

The Chicago Nerds Social Club has invited local authors Wesley Chu (The Lives of Tao), Wesley and Brad Sun (Chinatown) and Mark McLelland (Upload) to do a reading and question/answer session this Sunday, May 19th from 3-6pm. The Just Write Chicago group will be present to network. Open Books is the proud host.

We already have all of the authors’ books in stock, and I am excited to read all of them. I particularly can’t wait to get them signed. Be here!

A six year-old’s idea of the perfect movie is turned into...

Mon, 13 May 2013 14:30:46 -0500

A six year-old’s idea of the perfect movie is turned into an actual movie. How amazing would it be if children’s books were made by children!

leupagus: mnemehoshiko: we deserve much better than we’ve had: bookelfe: I would like to start an...

Sun, 12 May 2013 16:48:32 -0500

leupagus:

mnemehoshiko:

we deserve much better than we’ve had: bookelfe: I would like to start an official movement to replace the…

bookelfe:

I would like to start an official movement to replace the prevalence of manpain in fiction with granpain.

A grandmother’s boyfriend is left dead in her apartment. She cradles the body tenderly. Her face hardens. SHE WILL GET HER REVENGE.

A grandmother stands on a roof, in a billowy leather coat. A single perfect tear trickles down her cheek — but when she turns around to confront her ten attackers, there is no trace of it.

“No,” says a grandmother, when her grandchildren attempt to dissuade her from her lonely path of vigilante justice, and turns her sad, noble profile to the side. “I work alone.”

GRANPAIN.

A grandmother stares stoically at the smoking remains of the yarn store - her stitch’n’bitch group has been brutally massacred in one senseless act of violence. Taking a firmer grip on her needles, she vows vengeance.

GRANPAIN.

Ok, yes on every level.