The Indie Bob Spot: Tangible Books

Tangible Books, Chicago, IL

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No one person can create a bookstore by themselves, it takes a village. But I'm going to credit this bookstore to an anonymous, long-forgotten 8th grade English teacher. Long forgotten, that is, to everyone except Joe J. the owner at Tangible Books. This teacher is part of the reason that Joe J. is the owner of this new Chicago bookstore. Thanks to her, she opened a whole new world to Joe and the many books that she gave him to read. Sit in the back of the room, read books, and get an A. Thank you anonymous English teacher for having a part in this bookstore on the south side of Chicago in the Bridgeport neighborhood, a community that has embraced something that has filled a missing piece of the great Chicago bookstore scene.

Chicago is a wonderful bookstore town except for the south side and Joe has solved that problem with Tangible Books. Along his journey to this point he's left quite a trail that included opening the legendary Myopic Books in Wicker Park, a period of organic farming, and then a return to the book business opening Bob's Books in Charleston, IL (an indie I visited on my journey where I first met Joe). And somewhere in there was a period of time working in clinical psychology. His family needed a change of scenery from Charleston though so it was back to his roots in Chicago and a business he knew well, bookstores. As with his other bookstores, this one is all used (approximately 60,000+) with a few new books by local authors all shelved in a one-level space for the moment. Many of the used books are donated but they also will offer store credit or cash. I noticed a variety of stickers offered but other than that it's almost all books, floor to ceiling. They also offer some collectible editions on their website and that business will slowly expand in time with the help of Joe's wife Lisa.

I naively think of everyone I've met along this journey as friends even though I've met most of them only once. So it was very fun to see Joe and Lisa a second time after meeting them initially at Bob's Books in Charleston, IL a few years ago.

What blows my mind at Tangible is the amount of work it took to move the contents of the store in Charleston to the space in this store in Chicago. I cannot even fathom all that entailed which makes everything I saw today that much more impressive. Way to go, Joe and Lisa.

Tangible Books has been here a little less than a year so some in Bridgeport are still discovering this gem. If I came here from hundreds of miles away, you can discover the same thing I did by just walking down the street. Go to an indie and buy a book. Bonsoir.

JUST FINISHED: How The Word Is Passed, Clint Smith. An educational yet painful look at our country's neglected past and how the period of slavery continues to effect us to this day. The author visits historical places that forever have a sad place in this history, everywhere from Jefferson's Monticello to Gorée Island in Africa. Few of us are familiar with the stories and history described in this book because over the centuries the people in power work to cover up the true atrocities of this country's past. This book could be the curriculum for an excellent class. Recommended.

CURRENTLY READING: Damnation Spring, Ash Davidson.

RECENTLY PURCHASED: Cell Hell, Dr. Mike O'Malley. Last Of The Donkey Pilgrims, Kevin O'Hara.

Tangible Books is the ground level of a large building.

Another view of the storefront.

View looking into the store from the front entrance.

Looking to the right from the front entrance.

Looking down the middle aisle through the store.

Looking to the left from the entrance. I like the sign. I know what I'll find here!

The long wall of books, floor to ceiling, on the right side of the store. I can't imagine all the work that went into filling this store from their previous bookstore.