A “stay at home” reading list from Owen Keehnen of Unabridged Bookstore
Photo Credit: Unabridged Bookstore
UNABRIDGED BOOKSTORE opened its doors at 3251 N Broadway in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood on November 1st, 1980. Owner Ed Devereux hired our friend, Owen Keehnen, a few years later in early 1988.
Owen is a grassroots historian, writer, and author of several books. Along with Victor Salvo and Lori Cannon, he is a cofounder of Chicago’s award-winning arts/history/education nonprofit organization The Legacy Project, which launched North Halsted’s iconic Legacy Walk outdoor museum in 2012. He was inducted into the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame in 2011.
For the past several years, Owen and Victor have both worked closely with the Chicago Parks Foundation to help make AIDS Garden Chicago a reality on our Lakefront - a 2.5 acre “park with purpose” that will be built this year just south of Belmont Harbor at the original location of the Belmont Rocks, a space where the local gay community gathered between the 1960s and 1990s. Owen himself has long worked to gather an extensive collection of photos and oral histories from that time at “The Rocks,” and will help to bring these important stories to life within future AIDS Garden Chicago.
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Owen is still with Unabridged today and loves his job as a bookseller, so we asked him to share some of his all-time favorite titles to keep us company while we spend more time indoors. “Probably way more than you need,” he says, “but never ask a bookseller to name some faves!”
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Remember to support YOUR local bookstore during this time! As of March 20th, Unabridged Bookstore’s doors are temporarily closed in accordance with COVID-19 procedure, but currently accepting online orders. And if there isn’t something on your reading list right now, you can still provide immediate support within your neighborhood by purchasing a gift card from the store(s) that you frequent. We’re in this together.
ON OWEN’S LIST
A SINGLE MAN by Christopher Isherwood
ISAAC’S STORM by Erik Larson and, of course, his renowned history of Chicago, THE DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY
THE JAZZ PALACE by Mary Morris
The recent series of mysteries by Anthony Horowitz: MAGIPIE MURDERS, THE SENTENCE IS DEATH & THE WORD IS MURDER
SONG OF SOLOMON & THE BLUEST EYE by Toni Morrison
THE STORIED LIFE OF A.J. FIKRY by Gabrielle Zevin
QUERELLE by Jean Genet
DARK MATTER by Blake Crouch
THE LIARS’ CLUB by Mary Karr
THE ALIENIST by Caleb Carr
GENET by Edmund White
THE KITE RUNNER by Khaled Hosseini
GHOST STORY by Peter Straub
THE SWANS OF FIFTH AVENUE by Melanie Benjamin
SUNBURN by Laura Lippman
DRAMA HIGH by Michael Sokolove
GIOVANNI’S ROOM by James Baldwin
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT by Erich Maria Remarque
BETTYVILLE by George Hodgman
A CANTICLE FOR LEIBOWITZ by Walter M. Miller, Jr.
THE FARM by Tom Rob Smith
SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES & FAHRENHEIT 451 by Ray Bradbury
EDIE by Jean Stein
THE LEFT HAND OF DARKNESS & THE DISPOSSESSED by Ursula K. LeGuin
THE DRY by Jane Harper
THE GREAT BELIEVERS by Rebecca Makkai
WOLF HALL by Hilary Mantel
JUST KIDS by Patti Smith
SHIRLEY by Susan Scarf Merrell
BECOMING A MAN by Paul Monette
GEOGRAPHY OF THE HEART by Fenton Johnson
The historical fiction of Gore Vidal, especially BURR.
ME TALK PRETTY ONE DAY by David Sedaris, though almost everything is great.
Same with Augusten Burroughs, though my preference of his books is DRY.
And always Agatha Christie.
The ever creepy H.P. Lovecraft, and, of course, Stephen King. Some of King’s favorite housebound classics are JANE EYRE, THE WOMAN IN WHITE & MIDDLEMARCH.
Thanks to Owen Keehnen & Unabridged Bookstore. Learn more about AIDS Garden Chicago here. The Chicago Parks Foundation is here for you as a positive, productive partner during this time. Stay connected as we continue to share park stories here on our Seeing Green Blog!