The Chicago Food Encyclopedia: The Best Gift for the Food Obsessed
The gift-giving season is upon us. And if you are like me, you struggle to find the perfect gift for the person who seems to have everything. Happily, I have […]
Machado Challenges Literary and Sexual Forms in Her Body and Other Parties
Carmen Maria Machado’s Her Body and Other Parties is a brilliant collection that makes you forget normal short stories. The most experimental story in her debut–at least in terms of […]
Review: Windy City Blues Layers Love and Politics Over the Early Days of Chicago Electric Blues
Note: Windy City Blues has been selected by Spertus Institute for its One Book One Community book of the year. Spertus has several events planned around Rosen’s book. If you […]
Book Review: Mycology and its Mighty Ending
Joan Wilking’s prose is breezy even though the material is heavy. Her first book Mycology is the winner of the 2016 Wild Onion Novella Prize bestowed by Chicago publisher Curbside Splendor. […]
Chicago’s Literati Harmonize in Rust Belt Chicago: An Anthology
Have you ever contributed to a church or neighborhood cookbook? Have you ever bought one? Are matriarchal communities still pooling their creativity into volumes of recipes as a testament to […]
Steve Wiley’s Grown-up Chicago Fairytale Lacks a Happy Ending
New York is a city of legends. Los Angeles is a town of myths. In The Fairytale Chicago of Francesca Finnegan, author Steve Wiley frames the city in a milieu […]
Roxane Gay, Camille Paglia and Jessa Crispin at War in My Head
Several weeks ago, I went to hear Roxane Gay read from her latest book Hunger as a part of the Chicago Humanities Festival Now summer programming. The event fell on […]
Book Review: The Peregrine Returns Is a Joy to Read
I can’t be the only one who has forgotten how to look up. Whether your heart is heavy with worries or your mind occupied with office bullshit, any cloud of […]
Review: Chicago Monumental Provides View of Public Statues, Fountains, Tombs
[soliloquy id=”14888″] Larry Broutman, a Chicago-based photographer, has traveled over the world in his quest for travel and wildlife images. He has concentrated on remote tribal cultures and African […]
Review: Stephen Florida Isn’t the Pride Month Read You Were Hoping for
Guest author Evan Bryson studied painting and writing in Indiana. He lives in Chicago and works in higher ed. Stephen Florida is a real goddam puzzler. I read it everywhere, […]
Review: Jason Molina: Riding with the Ghost is the indepth biography Molina deserves
If you’re looking for a very short review of Erin Osmon’s Jason Molina: Riding with the Ghost, here it is: If Jason Molina has ever been important to you, then […]
Barbara Browning’s The Gift is Auto-Fiction That Falls Flat
Guest author Evan Bryson studied painting and writing in Indiana. He lives in Chicago and works in higher ed. Here he reflects on Barbara Browning’s The Gift published by Coffee House Press. […]