Unabridged Bookstore
A club for all things speculative – from Science Fiction, to Fantasy, and maybe even a pinch of Horror* Join us each month for a serious discussion of cool speculative works, or to just geek out over the pewpewlaserbeam! From cutting edge to classics, the goal is to have fun and explore as far as exploration will go! For questions about this club, email us here!
A club for all things speculative – from Science Fiction, to Fantasy, and maybe even a pinch of Horror* Join us each month for a serious discussion of cool speculative works, or to just geek out over the pewpewlaserbeam! From cutting edge to classics, the goal is to have fun and explore as far as exploration will go! For questions about this club, email us here!
A reading group focusing on literature through a queer lens, hosted monthly at Chicago’s premier bookstore for the LGBTQ community. Alternating between the “classics” of gay fiction and contemporary, historically underrepresented voices, we read to explore queer experience across literary genres and eras! For questions about this club, email us here!
Introducing our newest reading group: The Horror Book Club! While we will engage in our discussions with respect and sensitivity, the nature of the books chosen for this reading group may not suite all interests and tastes - reader beware, and enter at your own risk!. For questions about this club, email us here!
Join our Fiction Book Club in a monthly meeting to discuss a wide array of literary fiction. With an eclectic mix of authors, themes, periods, and styles, this group will explore both classic and contemporary literature. For questions about this club, email us here!
Join us for the first meeting of our newest book club! The Reading is Resistance Book Club is a reading group dedicated to new books and classic texts that are relevant for one to remain informed and engaged. For questions about this book club, click here to email us.
Horror Book Club: "The Elementals" by Michael McDowell The Horror Book Club! While we will engage in our discussions with respect and sensitivity, the nature of the books chosen for this reading group may not suite all interests and tastes - reader beware, and enter at your own risk!
Reading is Resistance Book Club: "A Place for Us" by Owen Keehnen! The Reading is Resistance Book Club is a reading group dedicated to new books and classic texts that are relevant for one to remain informed and engaged. For questions about this book club, contact us here! The Reading is Resistance Book Club will meet to discuss A Place for Us by our very own Owen Keehnen on Tuesday, June 16th, 2026 at 7:30pm! A Place for Us: Gay Life at Chicago's Belmont Rocks by Owen Keehnen is a vivid work of LGBTQ+ history, queer Chicago history, and oral history that brings a legendary lakefront gathering place back to life. Before rainbow flags, before open-door bars, and before Pride was a season on the calendar, Chicago's queer community carved out freedom on a jagged stretch of Lake Michigan shoreline at the end of Belmont Avenue. It was not a beach. It was rock, concrete, sun, and possibility. Everyone knew it as the Belmont Rocks. Often remembered as a big gay carnival, a gay paradise, and a place where everyone could just relax, the Rocks became an outdoor home base for gay men, lesbians, and the wider queer community. People came to meet friends, flirt, cruise, people-watch, welcome newcomers, and feel, for a few bright hours, unafraid. In an era when many gay bars still had blackened windows, the lakefront offered something radical: visibility, community, and belonging in broad daylight. Drawn from interviews with more than 100 firsthand witnesses and illustrated with more than 115 photographs, this powerful oral history captures the humor, heat, music, codes, courage, and everyday humanity of a beloved gay beach that helped shape queer Chicago long before the wider world caught up. Rich in memory and cultural detail, A Place for Us is essential reading for anyone interested in LGBTQ+ history, gay history, Chicago history, queer community, and the places where belonging was built in public.
Fiction Book Club: "Vera" by Elizabeth Von Arnim Join our Fiction Book Club in a monthly meeting to discuss a wide array of literary fiction. With an eclectic mix of authors, themes, periods, and styles, this group will explore both classic and contemporary literature. For questions about this book club, email us here! The Fiction Book Club will meet to discuss Vera by Elizabeth Von Arnim on Tuesday, June 9th, 2026 at 7:30pm. An immediate bestseller when it was first published in 1921 by the famous author of Elizabeth and Her German Garden and The Enchanted April, this brilliant dissection of a marriage gone terribly wrong is also a cautionary tale for anyone tempted to abandon their principles in the name of loyalty and love. Based on von Arnim’s disastrous marriage to the 2nd Earl Russell, the brother of philosopher Bertrand Russell, this haunting tale of a woman gaslit by her despotic husband anticipates the plot of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, later an Academy Award-winning film by Alfred Hitchcock.
Speculative Book Club: "Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow" written by Tom King, illustrated by Bilquis Evely Speculative Book Club: "Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow" written by Tom King, illustrated by Bilquis Evely Tue, 6/2/2026 - 7:30pm Place: Unabridged Books, Inc. 3251 N. Broadway Chicago, IL 60657 Book Clubs Speculative Book Club The alternative text A club for all things speculative – from Science Fiction, to Fantasy, and maybe even a pinch of Horror Join us each month for a serious discussion of cool speculative works, or to just geek out over the pewpewlaserbeam! From cutting edge to classics, the goal is to have fun and explore as far as exploration will go! Join the Speculative Book Club on Tuesday, June 2nd OR Wednesday, June 3rd at 7:30pm to discuss Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow written by Tom King, illustrated by Bilquis Evely! For questions about this meeting, email us at unabridgedbookstore@gmail.com. Named by James Gunn as an influence for Gods and Monsters, the first chapter of the new DC Universe film and television slate! This story will be adapted as the upcoming film SUPERGIRL: WOMAN OF TOMORROW. It's Supergirl like you've never seen her before, in a character-defining sci-fi/fantasy masterpiece from Mister Miracle writer Tom King and Wonder Woman artist Bilquis Evely! Kara Zor-El has seen some epic adventures over the years, but she now finds her life without meaning or purpose. Here she is, a young woman who saw her planet destroyed and was sent to Earth to protect a baby cousin who ended up not needing her. What was it all for? Wherever she goes, people only see her through the lens of Superman's fame. Just when Supergirl thinks she's had enough, everything changes. An alien girl seeks her out for a vicious mission. Her world has been destroyed, and the bad guys responsible are still out there. She wants revenge, and if Supergirl doesn't help her, she'll do it herself, whatever the cost. Now a Kryptonian, a dog, and an angry, heartbroken child head out into space on a journey that will shake them to their very core. This volume collects Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow #1-8, the complete story.
Speculative Book Club: "Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow" written by Tom King, illustrated by Bilquis Evely Speculative Book Club: "Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow" written by Tom King, illustrated by Bilquis Evely Tue, 6/2/2026 - 7:30pm Place: Unabridged Books, Inc. 3251 N. Broadway Chicago, IL 60657 Book Clubs Speculative Book Club The alternative text A club for all things speculative – from Science Fiction, to Fantasy, and maybe even a pinch of Horror Join us each month for a serious discussion of cool speculative works, or to just geek out over the pewpewlaserbeam! From cutting edge to classics, the goal is to have fun and explore as far as exploration will go! Join the Speculative Book Club on Tuesday, June 2nd OR Wednesday, June 3rd at 7:30pm to discuss Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow written by Tom King, illustrated by Bilquis Evely! For questions about this meeting, email us at unabridgedbookstore@gmail.com. Named by James Gunn as an influence for Gods and Monsters, the first chapter of the new DC Universe film and television slate! This story will be adapted as the upcoming film SUPERGIRL: WOMAN OF TOMORROW. It's Supergirl like you've never seen her before, in a character-defining sci-fi/fantasy masterpiece from Mister Miracle writer Tom King and Wonder Woman artist Bilquis Evely! Kara Zor-El has seen some epic adventures over the years, but she now finds her life without meaning or purpose. Here she is, a young woman who saw her planet destroyed and was sent to Earth to protect a baby cousin who ended up not needing her. What was it all for? Wherever she goes, people only see her through the lens of Superman's fame. Just when Supergirl thinks she's had enough, everything changes. An alien girl seeks her out for a vicious mission. Her world has been destroyed, and the bad guys responsible are still out there. She wants revenge, and if Supergirl doesn't help her, she'll do it herself, whatever the cost. Now a Kryptonian, a dog, and an angry, heartbroken child head out into space on a journey that will shake them to their very core. This volume collects Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow #1-8, the complete story.
Queer Book Club: "Martyr!" by Kaveh Akbar Wed, 5/27/2026 - 7:30pm Place: Unabridged Books, Inc. 3251 N. Broadway Chicago, IL 60657 Book Clubs Queer Book Club The alternative text A reading group focusing on literature through a queer lens, hosted monthly at Chicago’s premier bookstore for the LGBTQ+ community. Alternating between the “classics” of gay fiction and contemporary, historically underrepresented voices, we read to explore queer experience across literary genres and eras! For questions about this club, email us here! The Queer Book Club will meet to discuss Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar on Tuesday, May 26th, 2026 OR Wednesday, May 27th, 2026 at 7:30pm. Cyrus Shams is a young man grappling with an inheritance of violence and loss: his mother's plane was shot down over the skies of the Persian Gulf in a senseless accident; and his father's life in America was circumscribed by his work killing chickens at a factory farm in the Midwest. Cyrus is a drunk, an addict, and a poet, whose obsession with martyrs leads him to examine the mysteries of his past--toward an uncle who rode through Iranian battlefields dressed as the angel of death to inspire and comfort the dying, and toward his mother, through a painting discovered in a Brooklyn art gallery that suggests she may not have been who or what she seemed. Kaveh Akbar's Martyr! is a paean to how we spend our lives seeking meaning--in faith, art, ourselves, others.
A reading group focusing on literature through a queer lens, hosted monthly at Chicago’s premier bookstore for the LGBTQ+ community. Alternating between the “classics” of gay fiction and contemporary, historically underrepresented voices, we read to explore queer experience across literary genres and eras! For questions about this club, email us here! The Queer Book Club will meet to discuss Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar on Tuesday, May 26th, 2026 OR Wednesday, May 27th, 2026 at 7:30pm. Cyrus Shams is a young man grappling with an inheritance of violence and loss: his mother's plane was shot down over the skies of the Persian Gulf in a senseless accident; and his father's life in America was circumscribed by his work killing chickens at a factory farm in the Midwest. Cyrus is a drunk, an addict, and a poet, whose obsession with martyrs leads him to examine the mysteries of his past--toward an uncle who rode through Iranian battlefields dressed as the angel of death to inspire and comfort the dying, and toward his mother, through a painting discovered in a Brooklyn art gallery that suggests she may not have been who or what she seemed. Kaveh Akbar's Martyr! is a paean to how we spend our lives seeking meaning--in faith, art, ourselves, others.