Ravenswood Used Books is a fun, quirky place. Its narrow aisles wind around with piles of books crammed everywhere, something like a smaller, disheveled version of the Seminary Co-op. They seemed to have a pretty broad selection of titles; finding anything in particular is hit-or-miss, but every subject section I looked at had a few gems, and there was plenty of good. A lot of cheap paperbacks were available in the foreign literature section-- the sort you'd find at a library used books sale. The place had character, the staffperson was amiable, and it will be worth a revisit when I'm in the neighborhood again. An important note before you visit- they only take cash or checks. I didn't realize this until I was about to leave, and had to put back some Kafka that I was going to buy. The picture below, taken from their blog, gives a decent sense of the place...
Europa Books is a rare breed in the U.S. - a foreign language bookshop. It's actually the Chicago location for Schoenhof's Foreign Books, founded in Harvard Square in 1856. The contrast with Ravenswood is significant; Europa is tidy and more minimalist. The lower floor houses most of the literature with an emphasis on French and Spanish language books. There is also a good deal of Italian, more even than their German selection (which is what I was looking for). There is travel literature, a large foreign magazine section upstairs, and a childrens' section as well. For those who are not near Schoenhof's or Europa or can't find what they need there, you can also look at Adler's Foreign Books. Below is a crappy picture of their German book section that I took while I was there.
