The 10 Best Books about Chicago—and One Clunker
Many very good and even great books have been written about Chicago, and, based on my half century of writing about the city, here are the 10 that, at the […]
What to Read Now: Three Books About Plagues
It’s the year of the big virus. We’ve had two weeks of #StayTheFHome or sheltering in place, depending on where you live. And in some states, you’re not doing that. […]
An Ongoing Graveyard Shift: Selling Books in Chicago in a Plague Year
Even in the best of times, bookstores have it rough. Just last year the American Booksellers Association reported American bookstore sales were down by 7.6 percent from 2018, sales sliding […]
Six Chicago Books by Non-Chicago Authors
When you’re looking for a good novel about Chicago, you’re most likely to turn to those writers identified as Chicago writers, such as Saul Bellow (The Adventures of Augie March), […]
Long Books for the Long Hours Ahead
It’s pretty clear now that my wife Cathy and I—both over that red-alarm age of 60—are going to be spending basically all our time in our home for what could […]