I bring you #5 of a hopefully long-lived series: Kansas City Reading Coves.

When I can, I like my coves like my vaginas: humid and labyrinthine.

Today’s cove: Outlaw Cigar (south) – 13700 Metcalf, Overland Park, KS 66223

I’ve avoided this place for two reasons: 1) it’s a 30 minute or so drive from my house, and 2) the cigars are crazy expensive. The only time I came in here prior to today’s visit was a few months ago. That visit allowed me to not only witness the aforementioned crazy expensive cigars first hand, but also to glimpse the cigar lounge. From my vantage near the cash register I saw only a few leather couches and a TV mounted to the wall. Nice enough, but not nice enough to pay more than twice the standard going rate for a cigar. I left, planning never to return.

Then today, I had a few hours to kill and was in the neighborhood, so I decided to take a deeper look. I am damn glad I did. The lounge, which might more rightfully be called an adjacent building, is just about all the things I could love in a reading cove. The first of two giant rooms contains about 15 leather chairs, 3 mounted televisions, and even a bar (which was closed on this Friday morning, but I assume opens  up during special events). Preferring a quiet place to read, the TVs put me off, but I endured. I read for about an hour, then when searching for a restroom, I happened upon a super secret back lounge, this one with TVs turned off. It was perfect. I sat for another hour, just me, Matt Bell‘s How They Were Found, and the silence. The setup almost justifies the cigar prices.

The view from my secret-cove corner

The view from my secret-cove corner (view unobstructed)

The view toward my secret-cove corner

Rankings out of 10:

I bring you #4 of a hopefully long-lived series: Kansas City Reading Coves.

When I can, I like my coves like my burning crosses: smokey and offensive to most.

Today’s cove: Cigar & Tabac, Ltd – 6898 West 105th Street, Overland Park, KS 66212-1801

I have purchased many a cigar in this place over the last year or so, each time bypassing the giant leather couches for the equally giant walk-in humidor stationed along this small shop’s north wall. I envied the old men each time, wishing I had a few moments to crash, take in a cigar, a book, and a few overheard conversations regarding golf or lawn care or something else just as fitting to the cigar stereotype. This evening, my birthday, I finally allowed myself a few moments to live this dream.

For the most part, my envy was justified. But what comes with romanticizing a book and a cigar in a place like this, are the same associations that make it hard for me fall entirely into the dream. Golf on the TV, men talking about boats, and lots of Republicans. I need to bring a black guy with me next time to air out the place.

Rankings out of 10:

I bring you #3 of a hopefully long-lived series: Kansas City Reading Coves.

When I can, I like my coves like my Republican nudists: free swinging and white.

Today’s cove: my hammock – my house

Simply put, my hammock is the greatest reading cozerie since the 70′s invented bean bag chairs. I could sit here for hours, and often I do, reading, smoking cigars, drinking beer, and swinging only as much as the wind wants me to. The hammock is my heaven on Earth. Take that God!

If you are ever in my area, call ahead and the hammock is yours for the afternoon…unless I am already occupying it. We could share, I guess.

Rankings out of 10:

I bring you #2 (heh) of a hopefully long-lived series: Kansas City Reading Coves.

When I can, I like my reading retreats like my collection of chained basement mimes: varied and quiet.

Today’s cove: Homer’s Coffee House – 7126 West 80th Street, Overland Park, KS 66204

Homer’s keeps bringing me back, yet rationally, it should not. The black coffee only is okay; the coffee drinks are adequate at best (they have a powdery, grainy texture); the pastries taste like grandma’s…if grandma worked at a Hostess factory; and most of the time the entire building has a gross cat box smell…sorry, cat LITTER smell…to it that can be tough to combat (if the place actually smelled like a cat box, I’d expect more coffee drinking male cats in the crowd).

Homer’s was originally established as as a ministry of KC Christian Business Men’s Connection so consequently it caters to a Christian demographic, which is fine, but it does make it more difficult to block out surrounding conversations. This is nothing against Christianity, just a comment on how difficult it can be to ignore any topic toting such emotional baggage.

If I had to deduce my reasons for returning as regularly as I do, I’d credit the couches. This place has two of the most comfortable, early 80′s era sofas I’ve ever had the pleasure of spilling coffee in. Strange, though, that no matter how crowded the building may be, these couches are usually available. Perhaps the cat litter smell emanates from them, which is why 1) I always smell cat pee, and 2) nobody sits there. I’ll bet people laugh when I get up to leave. As long as I have my couple hours of reading time, I’m okay with stinking of urine.

UPDATE: I stopped in yesterday for a quick read. To my delight, the cat litter smell was nowhere to be sniffed. Fingers crossed that the source has been addressed, and that I didn’t simply stop by post-Febreeze dusting.

Rankings out of 10:

My living room couch is nice. My bed is comfy and relaxing. But the outside world is a too-neglected source of reading coves. A book can be influenced by its context. In the same way a vacation is as much about the promise of temporary joblessness as it is about the destination environment, reading is as much about the book as it is about the break from the normal domestic setting.

With that, I bring you the first installment of a hopefully long-lived series: Kansas City Reading Coves.

When I can, I like my reading retreats like my Mormons: welcoming and concernedly friendly.

Today’s cove: Javanaut – 1615 W 39th St, Kansas City, Missouri 64111

Right away, I have to say that I liked this place better when it was The Crave Cafe. The main difference between the former and the current establishment is the comparative sterility of the latter. The Crave was a outcast’s dream, with crazy wall paint, art hanging everywhere, and a staff that didn’t mind being a little bitchy if they had to. Javanaut is unfortunately cleaned up, but still it ranks among the best cozeries in the city. This place, literally a converted residential house, maintains the structure’s inherent warmth and comfort.

Get a spot upstairs if you can. The living room style chairs are only slightly less comfortable than similar chairs below, but the lack of speakers and music (meaning: the relative quiet) makes up for the comparative discomfort.

The food selection is small, mostly just pastries and cookies, but if you come here to read, chances are you don’t want a book full of crumbs anyway. The coffee drinks above average, and the lack of sugary syrups makes drinking a bit easier on the body. If you come here for coffee, you’re actually getting coffee.

That’s my upstairs chair to the left. I swear if I catch you in that chair I will politely pretend I don’t care. Fair warning.	My book/chair arm/room shot. I try to cram as much into this photo as possible.

Rankings out of 10: