Literary Tourism: Uncharted Books in Chicago
At the end of March, I went to Chicago to visit my best friend, Harmony Cox, who’s also a writer. Of course, they took me to a bunch of their favorite bookstores around town! Chicago has so many indie bookstores that the five we went to are only a small percentage of the indie bookstores in the city.
[image description: Harmony Cox, a white nonbinary person, in black pants and a black leather jacket, standing in front of Uncharted Books.]
First up, Uncharted Books, a used bookstore in town.
[image description: a chalkboard sandwich board sign with “used books” drawn in squiggly bubble letters.]
No matter how many used bookstores I’ve been to, I never get bored with them because each one is different from the next. Though one might expect the offerings to be pretty much the same from one used bookstore to the next, I’ve never actually found that to be the case. Not if you look closely.
[image description: art on the walls at Uncharted Books. Vintage artwork, including a gold world map, ship art, and a colorful abstract portrait, hanging on dark blue brocade wallpaper.]
Firstly, you can tell a lot about a used bookstore by the decor. The quirkier the decor, the quirkier the books. The decor was super on point for my personal style, though none of it was for sale because, as the bookseller said, it had been lovingly curated by the owner. That’s when I knew for sure I’d find a book I loved in the stacks.
Though I hadn’t heard of it before, I was drawn to The Oasis by Mary McCarthy. (Synopsis below.) The bookseller said I’d made a fine selection, so now I’m extra looking forward to reading it.
The Oasis, McCarthy's second novel, won a contest organized by Cyril Connelly, the British critic and editor of the prestigious literary magazine Horizon, and was first published as the February 1949 edition of that magazine. Connelly called the book "brilliant and true and funny and beautifully written and intelligently thought and felt."
The Oasis is a wickedly satiric roman a clef about a group of urban American intellectuals who try unsuccessfully to establish a rural utopian colony just as the Cold War is setting in and fear of the atomic bomb is reaching panic proportions. At its appearance a few months later in the U.S., the novel caused a scandal, alienating a number of McCarthy's friends.
One of her former lovers, the critic Philip Rahv, was so upset at the character based on him that he tried to stop its publication. At the same time, a then relatively new acquaintance who later became McCarthy's closest friend, Hannah Arendt, wrote her: "I just read The Oasis and must tell you that it was pure delight. You have written a veritable little masterpiece."
[image description: One of the corridors of books through Uncharted Books. Shelves full of books line the way.]
Uncharted Books isn’t that big, but if you’ve been reading my literary tourism posts for a while then you know that size doesn’t matter. It’s all about the curation.
[image description: vintage monochromatic print hanging on the wall, a carved bust statue sitting on top of a shelf, and a palmistry diagram hand sculpture.]
(Okay, I know I’m supposed to be looking at books––and I was!––but can we talk about how EVERY SINGLE PIECE OF ART was something I would have had in my house?!)
[image description: a vintage navy blue Remington typewriter.]
I was already loving the vibe of the place even before I found the vintage Remington typewriter, but seeing as how I collect typewriters, I was swooning pretty hard. I don’t have this model in my collection.
[image description: a portrait of an old white man hanging on the wall.]
Again with the art. I do love a random old school portrait.
[image description: another view of the store showing more shelves filled with more books.]
I’d love to pick up Uncharted and drop it in the middle of my house and call it my personal library.
[image description: a landscape painting in an ornate gold frame on the wall and an intricate wooden shelf with vintage books below that.]
I realize I’ve spent most of this post talking about the store’s art and decor, but seriously! Look at it! This corner was probably my favorite aesthetic-wise in the whole place.
The shelf looks like it belongs in a castle somewhere and the vintage books are just stunning. They sure don’t make ‘em like they used to.
[image description: an up-close view of the ornate wooden shelf and vintage books.]
Tell me you don’t want that shelf with all the books in your house. I dare you.
[image description: a wooden desk with a gold plaque that says “captain” affixed to the front.]
Even the desk where you check out is adorable! Just look at that captain’s plaque.
[image description: an old library card catalog stack of drawers and a spinning wire pamphlet holder, both filled with zines.]
But I’ve been saving the best for last…
Harmony told me they dropped off copies of our zine Kill the Gatekeeper volumes 1 and 2 at Uncharted and when we looked, we didn’t see any copies left. When we asked the bookseller, she happily told us that they sold out and asked us to bring more! Then they paid us for the zines we sold!
That was the first time I’ve ever been paid to go to a bookstore, which was a delightful turn of events. Obviously, we immediately spent the money we got on books from Uncharted, so it all shook out even.
While in Chicago, Harmony and I worked on Kill the Gatekeeper volume 3, so look for it at Uncharted Books soon. We’re also reprinting volumes 1 and 2 by popular demand, so more of those will be spread around town too.
