Brent Books

From "From the Precincts" ("Local booksellers tell us what Chicago is buying") in Sunday's Chicago Tribune:

Brent Books, 309 W. Washington St., 312-364-0126

1. Collapse, By Jared Diamond (Viking, $29.95)
Discusses why civilizations fail.

2. Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare, By Stephen Greenblatt (Norton, $26.95)
An in-depth look at William Shakespeare's life and writing.

3. Hatless Jack: The President, the Fedora, and the History of American Style, By Neil Steinberg (Penguin, $14 paper)
Looks at men's headwear.

4. The Encyclopedia of Chicago, Edited by James R. Grossman, Ann Durkin Keating and Janice L. Reiff (University of Chicago Press, $65)
A comprehensive collection of facts about Chicago people, places and events.

5. America (The Book), By Jon Stewart, Ben Karlin and David Javerbaum (Warner, $24.95)
The creators of "The Daily Show" write about American politics.

This is why I love Brent Books, besides the fact that it's only two blocks from my office and offers an easy escape from corporate mundanity. Its top five consists of two scholarly books, an offbeat look at men's headwear, a pricey and hefty reference tome and, for good measure, a sharp political satire which is one of the few non- self-help or diet titles on the non-fiction bestseller lists. Despite its downtown location, the store is refreshingly and decidedly non-mainstream. Readers of Danielle Steel and Sue Grafton are well-advised to look elsewhere; in fact, I actually was looking for Danielle Steel books there just before Christmas, as a present to Julie's grandmother--not for myself, I swear!--and was quite pleased to not find a single volume of her oeuvre.