Tag Archives: Chicago

Get on board

Posted on November 23, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

The inaugural Chicagoland Holiday Bookstore Trolley will make its debut next month. Organized by the Chicagoland Independent Booksellers Alliance, the holiday trolley will take a group of 25 book lovers plus one guide on a festive tour of independent bookstores in Chicago … Continue reading →

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Bookmobiles are the best

Posted on June 28, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

Open Books, a nonprofit bookstore and literacy organization in Chicago, Ill., has launched a bookmobile to bring free books to under-served communities. The Open Books Mobile made its debut on June 8 during the nonprofit’s annual Slide into Summer event, which … Continue reading →

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Waving, not drowning

Posted on September 10, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

I have had the opportunity to see original prints of Katsushika Hokusai’s iconic work The Great Wave Off Kanagawa at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Now, the Art Institute of Chicago, which … Continue reading →

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10 years, 3.5 million photos, in 4 minutes

Posted on November 18, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

Photographer Jack Fisher is a globe-trotting photographer who created the amazing time-lapse video below which covers ten years of work in just four minues. Fisher says, “I called it Sequences because I try to create stories, or scenes in my timelapse photography, … Continue reading →

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A library implies an act of faith

Posted on October 12, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

Opened in 1897 as the Chicago Public Library, the Chicago Cultural Center is housed in a beautiful Beaux-Arts building designed by George Foster Shepley, and opened in 1897. While the center is famous for its stunning Tiffany stained-glass domes, it … Continue reading →

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Word on the Street

Posted on April 8, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

In an example of the aphorism everything old is new again, the Pandemic has inspired a resurgence in the publication of local zines. It appears that a number of them have embraced the clever title “Quaranzine” . This one has been surfacing around … Continue reading →

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Bookstore Tourism : Chicago

Posted on July 21, 2019 by Brian D. Butler

Chicago’s newest bookstore has recently opened in West Town. And while the launch of an independent bookstore is always cause for celebration, Semicolon Bookstore & Gallery is giving us even more reasons to cheer; it’s the only bookstore owned by … Continue reading →

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Get Your Kicks On Route 66

Posted on June 5, 2018 by Brian D. Butler

I recently returned from an amazing road trip out West and of course began researching another driving trip immediately. In my slide down the rabbit hole of the internet, I stumbled upon this great project. America’s iconic highway Route 66 … Continue reading →

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Bookstore Tourism + Coffee

Posted on October 3, 2017 by Brian D. Butler

For hopeless bibliophiles and coffee addicts like me there’s no place better to while away the hours than a bookshop with its own café. One of my all time favorites, the Housing Works Bookstore in Manhattan, is included with eight … Continue reading →

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American Writers Museum Opens

Posted on May 11, 2017 by Brian D. Butler

On May 16th, the long-awaited American Writers Museum will open in the heart of Chicago’s tourist district. Located at 108 North Michigan Avenue, not far from the world famous Art Institute and Millennium Park, the museum features multimedia installations, permanent … Continue reading →

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