Bookzeller

There's renewed hope for used book stores. Over the weekend, I was finally introduced to Bookzeller, a wonderful little store tucked into a basement in downtown Naperville. With the rise of the big box stores and online sellers (both of which have their virtues, I must admit), I had begun to rue the fate of the good old-fashioned, quirky used book store, which made my discovery of Bookzeller even more of an unexpected treat. It reminded me quite a bit of the Boston book stores that we prowled during our August vacation, particularly Brattle Book Shop--it even had a small outdoor section, with bargain shelves just outside the front door, at the bottom of the stairs. And I couldn't help enjoying the pun of the store's name, which invokes both "seller" and "zeller", the German word for cellar. I was delighted to walk away with a cheap copy of "The Seven Stairs" (the memoirs of legendary Chicago bookseller Stuart Brent) from an entire section of Chicago-related titles, and Julie picked up an interesting Marian Keyes collection as well. This store is definitely a keeper--this is just the first of what will undoubtedly be many visits.