it's 3 a.m., do you know where your Baudelaire is?

apparently, it's sitting in a vending machine in one of five Parisian locations, accessible 24 hours a day.

i'm sure you can imagine my shock (that the brilliant city of chicago didn't think of this first) and delight (that someone was brilliant enough to come up with the idea in the first place) upon discovering this book-vending-machine phenomenon.

sure, we have our 24 hour online browsing options available to us courtesy of amazon.com. but browsing is by no means the same as having. Parisians no longer have to wait until 10 a.m. for the bookshops to open. if they want a new novel at 3 a.m., it's theirs; instant gratification to a whole new level (which, i would imagine, is well suited for our american way of living).

it's almost enough to make me want to learn french, then move across an ocean. . . but, if nothing else, i suppose i could just track down Mayor Daley and insist chicago follow suit.

to that end, i recommend the inagural chicago book vending machines be placed by the 24-hour starbucks at north and wells, and the fullerton L stop. i might also suggest a machine for titles on the new york times' bestsellers list, as well as a machine for classic titles. . . perhaps even a machine devoted to children's books (see, it's a cure for stunted literacy rates, too!).

not to mention, reading is a much better way to spend your transit time than re-categorizing the songs on your ipod. *ahem*

xo,

kellieannie