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A Sordid Little Life: A Review of Meiselman: The Lean Years by Avner Landes
A moment-by-moment look at one week in the life of an assistant librarian at the “New Niles” (read: Skokie) Public Library.
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Murder After Murder: A Review of Mia Manansala’s Arsenic and Adobo
In the tradition of Agatha Christie, Mia Manansala’s debut novel has a large cast of suspects and an evil scheme.
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The Pied Piper Is Back: A Review of Children of Chicago by Cynthia Pelayo
Chicago is a place in which possibilities abound, for those seeking to disrupt and those seeking to restore peace.
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Awkward Realism: Keiler Roberts Discusses “My Begging Chart”
In her new book, Roberts seems to be a good mom, but she does not always think perfect thoughts, and it's that raw confessional quality that resonates.
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The Fragility of Children: A Review of Mary Kubica’s Local Woman Missing
Her characters breathe on the page, never tripping into the absurd.
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Between Prophecy and Poetry: A Review of Aviya Kushner’s Wolf Lamb Bomb
The poems, grounded in locations including New York, Jerusalem, Chicago and Iowa are remarkably efficient and self-contained.
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Nurture Versus Nature: A Review of Alison Hammer’s Little Pieces of Me
All the makings are there for a story that dives deeper into the relative importance of genetics in human makeup.
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Joy as an Act of Resistance: The Essential Wisdom of Brenda Myers-Powell
Brenda’s new memoir is a beautiful, brutal account of her years in the sex trade and her second act as a nationally recognized anti-trafficking activist. It’s a book that balances hard truths with the...
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Extreme Adventure: Bill Hillmann on His Memoir, The Pueblos, and His Fight to...
"The Pueblos: My Quest to Run 101 Bull Runs in the Small Towns of Spain" is a wild adventure into the culture of bull running.
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The Cost of Beauty: A Review of All Made Up—The Power and Pitfalls of Beauty...
Underneath the pretty pink cover is an incredibly well researched examination of the checkered history of beauty culture around the world.
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Sitcom Mode: A Review of Cody Lee’s The Everys
Lee, a recent Columbia College Chicago graduate, introduces the reader to the Every family, a clay-headed clan who undergo a series of bizarre and dreamlike humiliations.
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The Conversation: Elly Fishman Discusses “Refugee High” (with her Dad)
The book is about refugee students at Chicago’s Roger C. Sullivan High School, which today has one of the highest proportions of refugee students of any high school in America, all from the world’s...
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Name the Thing: A Conversation with Kyle Beachy about The Most Fun Thing:...
I can’t help but imagine Kyle Beachy’s memoir-in-essays, "The Most Fun Thing" was written directly to me.
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Hard Facts: A Review of Ana Castillo’s “My Book of the Dead”
There is little nostalgia, but many hard facts: loved ones sick or dead, whole populations in turmoil, rulers ruthless and the helpless preyed upon, the planet neglected.
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A Witness to Her Own Legacy: Sandra Cisneros on “Martita, I Remember You”
With "Martita," Cisneros grounds the story in a Chicago setting that harkens to her own roots in the city while mostly placing events in a less-than-fanciful Paris she knew as a young traveler.
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The Conversation: Dawn Turner Discusses “Three Girls from Bronzeville: A...
Turner locates herself by way of a triumvirate sisterhood and the historic and culturally rich neighborhood where they came of age.
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Constant Progress: A Review of “Kicking Ass in a Corset: Jane Austen’s 6...
This is not your typical self-help book.
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No Saint: A Review of Alverne Ball’s Blue Religion
Calhoun navigates multiple worlds. We see him move through a case that pits West Side gangster Chicago against monied North Side businessmen.
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A New Way of Living: A Review of Abby Hagler’s There Was Nothing Left But Gold
Equal parts elegy to a lost home and road map to new ways of living, "There Was Nothing Left But Gold" embarks on a journey without knowing the destination.
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