An Adventure Begins

So, keeping up a blog was not as easy as I originally thought. But, with the time restrictions and minor life complications out of the way, I am more than ready to tap into the founding motivation behind Intellectual Aesthetic all over again.

Just in time for Independents Week, I am finally able to begin a project I've had in mind for a long while now: Chicago bookstore tour.

Books are within a realm of intellect that is often married quite beautifully to aesthetic (an idea I'll explore further soon), and with my publishing internship at Ivan R. Dee I have become nearly obsessed with all things book. Now that I'm indulging my literary love more frequently, I see literature in all aspects of everyday life--sometimes quite literally. There are many small, local bookstores in Chicagoland waiting for a booklover or curious passerby to step inside, and I'm disappointed in myself that I have so far neglected them.

A good bookstore satisfies a craving deep inside a booklover--one that they may not even realize the intensity of, somewhat satiated as it is on Barnes and Noble or a library if lucky. But once that person steps over the threshold of a true bookstore (rare titles limning the walls and a literary savant casually reorganizing a pile of titles with their superior book intellectualism melded with a near-fetish regard for the pages their fingers graze just barely visible in a slight tension of the body when a new customer walks in and must be evaluated for a potential kindred spirit) a booklover cannot help but feel their deep urges bubbling to a loud rumble of voracious book appetite...or you know, the experience is something like that. Regardless, how have I lived in Chicago and Evanston for a collective three years and not done this tour already?

The Project: I will be exploring as many of Chicago's (and Chicagoland's) local bookstores throughout this summer and reporting back here on Intellectual Aesthetic.

To help track my progress, I've joined IndieBound, a site I found after I started researching places I have not stumbled across yet. Their purpose is to promote and celebrate local bookstores nationwide, and to foster a community for book and bookstore lovers. I hope to find and expand upon store listings so that I'm not using IndieBound as a source for this adventure but rather contributing to their resources for others. Ideally, I can get through most of this project by happening upon local bookstores on my own (as was the case for stores I'll feature from Evanston).

Check back for the features and enjoy (book obsession not required)!