A good bookstore is like a desert tray of other people’s thoughts and ideas. They look so scrumptious you want to bite into every single one. A history of the color turquoise? Yes please! A book with a blank cover, no author, and no title that just launches into Salingeresque prose on the flap? I’ll take it! A Flaubert/Cather compilation series on sale for $3.99? How could I not?! The key is personalized curation. The staff of the bookstore needs to read and that needs to be reflected on the shelves. And good bookstores have a cat. I don’t care if you’re a cat person or not; tradition is tradition.
Skylight Books (1818 N. Vermont Ave) is such a place.
Not many people read much anymore, but at Skylight I felt surrounded by fellow enthusiasts of the uncracked spine. From hipsters browsing (in clear wayfarers with legitimate prescription lenses for once), to the adorable Zooey-Deschanel-as-a-librarian girl who rang me up and read the flap of the book I was reading with serious interest before sticking the bookmark into it (another good thing: bookmarks), I knew I’d found the rare stronghold where we readers are in good company.
So, if you love to read, check out Skylight Books. If you don’t, stay out. You have the rest of the world, leave us the bookstores.
