Wednesday, November 4, 2026 | 6 - 9 pm | Bar Parisette, 2829 W Armitage Ave.

Join us for a particularly special evening as we celebrate one year of the Chicago Literary Salon with bestselling author Katherine Reay and her newest novel, The Undercover Bookshop.

One year after our very first salon, we’ll gather on November 4—this time at Bar Parisette—to toast a year of books, authors, new friendships, and memorable conversations, while stepping into a world of cozy mysteries, clandestine operations, and charming English bookshops.

Set in the winter of 1950 in the picturesque Cotswold village of Great Rollright, The Undercover Bookshop introduces Gemma Brown, an amateur sleuth who would much rather be living inside one of her beloved mystery novels. Newly arrived in the village, Gemma sets about creating an idyllic life for herself—and opening the village’s first bookstore. But when she begins to suspect that the town’s best baker may actually be a Soviet spy, her cozy new existence takes a decidedly more dangerous turn.

What follows is a clever blend of historical fiction and mystery, complete with village gossip, secret identities, MI5, the KGB, and, of course, books. Library Journal calls it a novel that “readers who enjoy cozy mysteries mixed with historical fiction will love,” while Kirkus Reviews describes it as “an origin story of the next generation’s Miss Marple: cozy, clever, canny, and grounded in history.”

For this anniversary edition of the Chicago Literary Salon, guests will enjoy drinks and bites before settling in for an intimate conversation with Katherine about The Undercover Bookshop, the real history woven throughout the novel, creating a compelling amateur sleuth, and bringing the world of postwar England to life on the page.

Following the conversation, guests will have the opportunity to meet Katherine, have their books signed, and mingle with fellow readers over drinks. We’ll also raise a glass to the first year of the Chicago Literary Salon—and to everyone who has helped turn this little idea about bringing readers and writers together into such a wonderful literary community.

Your ticket includes:

• A copy of The Undercover Bookshop by Katherine Reay from Three Avenues Bookshop

• Drinks and bites at Bar Parisette

• An intimate author conversation and Q&A moderated by Sheila Schuenemann of Booked & Busy Reader

• Book signing and time to mingle with Katherine

• A special sensory experience from Ten4 Candle Co. inspired by the world of The Undercover Bookshop

• A special toast celebrating the Chicago Literary Salon’s first anniversary

• Professional event photography by eebauer photography

Come for the books. Stay for the intrigue. And help us celebrate the first chapter of the Chicago Literary Salon.

Saturday, November 14 | 1:30 PM | Pallas Studio | 833 W Webster Ave

What if the answer to a fuller life isn’t doing more—but becoming a little less useful?

Join the Chicago Literary Salon for a special Saturday afternoon at Pallas Studio with writer Priyanka Mattoo, celebrating her delightfully funny and deeply perceptive new book, How to Be Less Useful.

Described by Samantha Irby as “a hilarious chillout manual for cool people who want to be more than their appointments and obligations,” How to Be Less Useful begins with a realization that may feel uncomfortably familiar:

“I have done everything right, and I have missed everything.”

Somewhere in the deep end of adulthood, life can become an endless exercise in efficiency. We optimize our schedules, answer the texts, make the appointments, perform the invisible labor, and keep everything moving—while the things that once made life feel expansive and fun quietly fall away. Naps. Dessert. Sweaty dancing. Pretty underwear. Lingering with friends for no particular reason at all.

In How to Be Less Useful, Mattoo asks what might happen if we stopped treating every hour as something that needs to be productive. Blending memoir, humor, and an unconventional kind of self-help, she explores pleasure, friendship, partnership, parenthood, and the small acts of rebellion that can make us feel more present in our own lives.

Over an intimate afternoon at Pallas Studio, we’ll talk with Priyanka about stepping out of the grind without burning your life down, why pleasure deserves a place on the calendar, the strange ways adulthood drains the fun out of things we once loved, and what it means to choose joy simply because it feels good—not because it accomplishes anything.

And because an event about being less useful shouldn’t feel like another obligation, expect an afternoon designed for lingering: good conversation, delicious food and drinks, and the particular pleasure of spending a few hours with other readers without needing to accomplish a thing.

ABOUT THE BOOK

A delightful book about reclaiming pleasure in mid-life—a potent mix of self-help and memoir, from one of today’s wittiest, wisest voices.

With self-deprecating humor, devastating insight, and bracing honesty, Priyanka Mattoo considers where pleasure begins, what it serves, and why so many of us gradually edit it out of our lives. From karaoke and Paddington Bear to pointless hangs and unnecessary acts of labor, How to Be Less Useful makes a sparkling case for becoming happier, lighter, more present, and more engaged.

Your ticket includes:

• An intimate conversation with Priyanka Mattoo

• A copy of How to Be Less Useful from Three Avenues Bookshop

• Tea, pastries, and cookies at Pallas Studio

• Time to mingle, connect, and linger

• Book signing with Priyanka following the conversation

Come spend a Saturday afternoon doing something wonderfully inefficient.

No optimizing. No multitasking. No making yourself useful. Just good food, good conversation, a very good book—and a few hours devoted entirely to pleasure.