Books, Coffee & Community

A bookstore and coffeeshop one block from VCU. 2,500-something titles, a banned book lending library, and open at 5 AM. Come stay a while.

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Now Brewing

Bugle Call, Dark Knight

Book of the Week

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Open Until

7 PM nightly

The Daily Ritual

A little curiosity for your day

Behind every drawer, a discovery. Behind every question, a conversation.

In today's drawer: Thought Experiments

The Ship of Theseus

Open Today's Drawer Answer Today's Question

Today's Question

"Are you the same person you were ten years ago? What changed?"

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The Bookstore

On the shelf this week

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Our shelves are being stocked - check back soon.

The Social Calendar

What's happening at Abi's

Full calendar

Oct18

Singles

Speed Dating Straight Singles, Ages 18–25 - meet.abisbooksandbrews.com

Speed Dating Straight Singles, Ages 18–25, $25, sign-up required. No walk-ins. An evening of warm, low-pressure speed dating at Abi's Books & Brews, designed for straight singles ages 18–25. You'll rotate through ten five-minute conversations just enough time to find a spark with a short break halfway through to refill your cup and catch your breath. After the rotations, mark down who you'd like to see again. We only share contact details when the interest is mutual no swiping, no awkward rejections, just genuine conversation in a cozy bookshop setting. Check-in opens 30 minutes before start time; please arrive by 6:45 PM so we can begin promptly.

10:30 PM – 1:00 AMAbi's Books & Brews

Oct20 & 22

WorkshopFree

RVA Readers & Writers

Co-working and writing sessions. Most attendees arrive between 7:00 AM and 7:30 AM, though the drop-in hours run flexibly from 6:00 AM – 10:00 AM

Tue, Oct 20 & Thu, Oct 2210:00 AM – 2:00 PMAbi's Books & Brews, 1212 1/2 W Cary St, Richmond, VA 23220, USA

Oct21

Book ClubFree

Burned & Banned Book Club

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin What would a world without fixed gender roles reveal about our own? Join us for a discussion of The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin. On the frozen planet Gethen, also called Winter, a human emissary encounters a society whose inhabitants have no permanent biological sex. His diplomatic mission becomes a deeper struggle to understand people through something other than his own assumptions. It’s a story of trust, belonging, political division, and the relationships that make understanding possible. While listed as the fourth novel in the Hainish sequence, this book stands alone. Why and where has it been challenged? - Green Lake School, Wisconsin: Challenged over descriptions of body parts in a sexual context. The school library explicitly states that the book was not banned. - Cullman County, Alabama, 2023: Targeted by Clean Up Alabama in an effort to remove books from local libraries. The Dawit Isaak Database of Censorship identifies LGBTQ+ content as the reason and records the case as an attempted ban. We’ll talk about: - How gender shapes expectations, relationships, and power. - What happens when we mistake our cultural assumptions for universal truths. - How trust develops between people who struggle to understand each other. - Why explorations of gender and sexuality become targets of censorship. Bring your questions, favorite passages, and willingness to listen. New members are welcome; whether you loved the book, struggled with it, or are still working through it.

9:30 PM – 11:00 PMAbi's Books & Brews, 1212 1/2 W Cary St, Richmond, VA 23220, USA Sign up

The Ritual

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Membership pays for the open mics, the outreach, and the corner table that's always free to sit at. You get a discount on books and a free pour now and then.

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