The city of Chicago came out of hibernation on Saturday (including myself). I set Book Bike up next to Sulzer Library and crossed Lincoln Ave to take a photo; meanwhile a crowd had already descended on Book Bike! I waited until they dispersed so I could replenish the shelves and snap my obligatory Book Bike pic.

After two and a half hours of lounging in the sun (its a tough gig but someone’s gotta do it) I gave away around three hundred books–a majority of them were former One Book, One Chicago selections provided by Chicago Public Library–as well as over two hundred resource guides for Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, the current One Book, One Chicago selection.

Hope you can make it out! -GL

Heavemedia.com presents…

A fundraiser for Book Bike

With Sad Brad, Adam Fitz, and Stephen Paul Smoker

When: October 7 at 9:30 pm
Where: The Empty Bottle (1035 N Western Ave.)
Who: Sad Brad, Adam Fitz, and Stephen Paul Smoker
Details: Tickets are $5, with a portion of the proceeds going to Book Bike. 21+

I took a different route on my way to Millennium yesterday and happened by Washington Square Park. The beautiful garden, seen in the photo below, was too inviting to ignore. As I have written before, one of the personal benefits I get from the Book Bike is meeting people from all over Chicago (and frequently visitors from all over the world). Sunday was no exception. An Austrian gentleman decked out in a resplendent green suit struck up a conversation about Robert Musil and I had a lovely discussion with two ladies about Langston Hughes’ poetry versus his prose work.

There is a thought that dogs and their people tend to look like one another and I think this easily applies to books and their people: Like the former ice cream vendor who took Up in The Old Hotel, a collection of profiles by Joseph Mitchell of the most unusual, quirky New York neighborhood characters. When he approached the Book Bike he asked “Got any ice cream?” and then laughed. “I wish” I said, matching his laugh. All of the sudden his face grew dark. Pensive, he replied: “No. You don’t.” I can only imagine he had more to say on the matter but he took the book, thanked me and walked home. It was as if he had stepped out of the pages of his own Mitchell profile.

Books never cease to amaze.

You may notice some new titles in the mix, check in tomorrow for a full report.

Saturday, September 4th was perfection in the park: a breezy 70 degrees with just the right mix of sun and cloud. Not only was it a perfect day to be outside in Chicago, but this date marks another Book Bike first: wedding photos!

Also available for bar mitzvahs.

The Book Bike is officially out of Toni Morrison’s A Mercy. I still have One Book, One Chicago program guides available which I encourage you to pick up if you are reading the book…and you really should be reading this book. Toni Morrison will be discussing her novel at the Symphony Center on October 19th. The event is free but you need to get a ticket in advance. Visit this link for details.

With thunderstorms predicted to last all weekend long, things were not looking good for the Book Bike. The heavens opened up on Friday night while the Book Bike was hanging out with our friends at Naked Girls Reading (a spectacular time, by the by; see you September 10 at Read Naked Like a Pirate Girl Day!) but come Saturday morning this proved to be one of the sunnier, and less humid, weekends of the season.

On Sunday, the Book Bike traveled to beautiful Harrison Park in Pilsen. Below are a few pictures from the day:

Last Sunday in Wicker Park

Last Sunday I had every intention of visiting Harrison Park, but it was so hot and humid that I only made it halfway before running out of energy to push on; so I rerouted and spent the day at Wicker Park instead. As some of you may recall, this wasn’t my first visit. I am happy to report that the Book Bike made a blissfully quiet return.

Book Bike in Wicker Park (Aug 8)

The torrential downpours of early Sunday morning finally cooled down the city. Sunday turned into one of the most beautiful Chicago summer days yet; a sublime day to kick back in the shade of trees at Winnemac Park and read a book.

Book Bike at Winnemac Park

Sunday was another Shel Silverstein first! Mikey is now the proud owner of The Missing Piece (Mom gets the credit for picking up the book as little Mikey was asleep at the time). This is the second week in a row that someone was introduced to Shel Silverstein via the Book Bike!

Another Shel Silverstein first from the Book Bike!

I hope this continues to be a trend.

A Book Bike Benefit Recap

On Saturday night, my friend Laird Le organized and hosted the first Book Bike benefit! Thank you to Laird for throwing such a cool party and to the musicians who donated their time and talent to making this night a success: di, Signalbox and Populele tore it up! DJ EF was on the turntables all night long, even after the storm hit and we all took refuge under the garage, the djs plugged their equipment back in and kept the party going.

Countless thanks to those who came out and donated (I’m damn lucky to be a part of such a supportive community). Here are the names of the many friends who showed their support: Anjali Bidani, Tristan Polik, Jamie Amadio, Katy Hite, Kate Mengler, Benjamin Hulbert, Sara Gulbrandsen, Sarah T. Klinzing, Fred Weinstein, Othy Futhey, Luis Ponce, David Gaines, Stephanie Heller, Danielle Shindler, Mustafa Chaudry, Paul & Jin, Laird Le, Lara Dosset and Julia Curns.

I sometimes think that good readers are poets as singular, and as awesome, as great authors themselves.
-Jorge Luis Borges

After many days of tension and uncertainty, the crisis has a happy ending. The Book Bike will keep doing what it’s been doing for the last two years, going to Chicago’s great public parks and giving free books to Chicagoans regardless of age, economic status or any other factors.

This solution is first and foremost the result of all the people who love books and reading and who’ve shown unflinching support for the mission and work of the Book Bike. At a practical level, I owe a great debt of thanks to the people of the Chicago Public Library system. Building on the projects we’ve done together for some two years, they stepped up when the problems arose and worked with cooperative officials at the Chicago Park District to resolve the situtation.

The result is a working partnership through which the Book Bike’s presence in the parks has the official sanction of the Public Library, satisfying whatever questions the Park District had raised. The Book Bike remains free to continue its independent activities just as before.

Dear Everyone,

Despite all of this, which I hope is just a huge misunderstanding, the Book Bike will keep on keepin’ on. If you are just now learning about the Book Bike, please check out my site to learn more about the project and gain a better understanding of why so many people are up in arms over it. The Chicago Park District is just one battle (and, again, I hope not really a battle at all; surely this can be resolved amicably). The Book Bike still, and always, needs your financial support in order to keep going strong! Please visit the Donate page today.

Thank you to all who have sent and posted messages of love and support; I hope to have a positive update for you in the very near future. Keep spreading the word!

Yours in books,

G.

Update 7/12/10: The Book Bike in Chicago

After you finish this post, please take a moment to read this letter.

Free books for the people? Not if the Chicago Park District has anything to say about it.

The Book Bike has received press from the Chicago Tribune to PBS to The New Yorker and has raised over $1,000 to date in individual donations from around the world. In three summers I have been able to give away over 3,000 new and used books to my community. Despite all of that, on Saturday, July 3rd the Chicago Park District made it clear that the Book Bike is not welcome on Chicago park grounds.

At 1:45 PM, after spending two hours doing some work on the Book Bike (it was damaged in the June 26th storms) I traveled 5 miles to Wicker Park with 200 lbs of books in tow: some books were donations from the previous summer but most of the weight on that bike was $300 worth of new books bought from local booksellers only a few weeks prior. I found a nice spot under a tree and set up the shelves (by this point it was 2:30).

After an hour, a guy came up to the Book Bike. I greeted him and invited him to take a book, as I do with everyone who approaches (I don’t shout out to passersby and there is no logo painted on the side, I just kick back and read and those who are curious will come up and ask) but he wasn’t interested in taking a book, he wanted to see my permit. He then pointed to his shirt which was emblazoned with the Chicago Park District logo. I asked him if he represented Wicker Park or the whole of the Chicago Park District, and he said he was with the Chicago Park District, that most of the time he was downtown.

I told him that I’ve given books away in public parks all over the city: from Grant Park to Garfield Park, from Wicker Park to Welles Park, and not once has anyone mentioned the need for a permit to do what I’m doing. I was stopped once by Chicago police, but when they learned that I wasn’t accepting money while on the Book Bike, they walked to their squad car with a dozen books to take home to friends and family. Regardless, according to this unidentified Chicago Park District official, I am not allowed to give books away for free without a permit.

One hour after this photo was taken, Chicago Park District said it was time to pack up and go.

I’ve been touting public parks as the last safe haven of the people. Its one place where anyone and everyone has a right to be: doesn’t matter how much money you have, doesn’t matter if you are homeless. The Book Bike has been invited to various events in town, but unless those events were free to the public and accessible by anyone who happens by, I have politely refused. I spend my summer weekends giving away these books. Summer days, as any Chicagoan will attest, are fleeting here and to be told to go home (to be fair, the official said I was welcome to stay “on the outskirts of the park until further notice”)…I had the mind to raise a ruckus right then and there but I bit my lip and packed up the Book Bike. I take great care to be unobtrusive at the parks I visit and I wasn’t about to ruin anyone else’s day just because of the shortsightedness of one Chicago official.

I am curious to see what comes of this, I left my contact info with the park official (which anyone can get from the Book Bike site). If there really is a law that says I have to have a permit to do what I’m doing, then I will figure out how to raise funds for the permit; but as far as I am aware, there is no statute that says I can’t give away literature in public parks. And to think, last weekend a young woman found the Book Bike and exclaimed: “This is amazing, its things like this that make me so happy I moved to Chicago!”

Please repost this, talk about it on Twitter and Facebook and your blogs, tell everyone you know. The Book Bike is a labor of love and it would be a shame to see it killed off by the city I call home. Please, lets not let this happen quietly.

Titles Censored by Chicago Park District on July 3rd, 2010

• Women and Economics by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
• The 13 Clocks by James Thurber
• The Missing Piece by Shel Silverstein
• The Man Who Was Thursday by GK Chesterton
• Comrade Past & Mister Present by Andrei Codrescu
• Overcoming Speechlessness by Alice Walker
• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
• Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
• The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
• The One and Only Shrek! by William Steig
• Asphodel, That Greeny Flower & Other Love Poems by William Carlos Williams
• Diptych Rome-London by Ezra Pound
• Love and Obstacles by Aleksandar Hemon
• Cambodian Girl: Self-Publishing in Phnom Penh by Anne Elizabeth Moore
• The Abbess of Crewe by Muriel Spark
• The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
• White Fang by Jack London
• Five By Endo by Shusaku Endo
• The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
• The Kingdom of Carbonel by Barbara Sleigh
• The BFG by Roald Dahl
• And more books, zines and literary magazines.

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