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Local Flavor: Restaurants That Shaped Chicago’s Neighborhoods
Chicago is a city made of neighborhoods, each individual and diverse, reflective of its residents and also the restaurants anchoring them. In her latest book, Jean Iversen shares with us her impressions and interactions in eight local eateries and the people who made them what they are, chronicling their stories in her latest book, (Northwestern…
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Ohio: A Novel
He was a successful journalist, but Stephen Markley says the arc of his career was leading him in a different direction than his ultimate dream—to be a novelist. While many of us would have just continued with the flow of success, Markley instead signed up to attend the Iowa Writer’s Workshop at the University of…
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Hope Never Dies: A Obama-Biden Mystery
Watching news clips of Barack Obama windsurfing off of Richard Branson’s private island, kayaking with Justin Trudeau and BASE jumping in Hong Kong with Bradley Cooper while he’s grouting tile in his master bathroom and playing darts on a board his daughter gave him years ago, Joe Biden, feeling left-out (he doesn’t even have Secret…
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Sales of Red’s Nature Adventure to Benefit the Shirley Heinze Land Trust
Always adventuresome, Red, an energetic Irish setter, gets lost as he and his friends explore the northwestern Indiana nature preserves of the Shirley Heinze Land Trust. But losing his way becomes an educational experience for Red in James Dworkin’s third book about the lovable canine’s escapades, Red’s Nature Adventure, illustrated by artist Michael Chelich. “As…
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The Joe Maddon Story: “Try Not to Suck”
In a Zen-like move that baffled many in the sports world, Joe Maddon, then the new manager of the Chicago Cubs, enacted a “less is more” philosophy by almost completely eliminating batting practice. What went against a long time baseball tradition as well as causing intense angst among the Cub fans and head scratching from…
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Cooking with the Muse: A Sumptuous Gathering of Seasonal Recipes, Culinary Poetry and Literary Fare
Chef Myra Kornfeld and poet Stephen Massimilla have put together a luscious cookbook illustrating how poetry, prose and food have been inspirational throughout history. The 500-page book, “Cooking With the Muse: A Sumptuous Gathering of Seasonal Recipes, Culinary Poetry and Literary Fare,” is divided by seasons. It pairs 150 recipes with culinary poems, essays and historic…
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Identity Unknown: Rediscovering Seven American Women Artists
Call it the case of the disappearing sculpture for that’s what started Donna Seaman on her quest to chronicle the lives and works of the seven female artists featured in her just released book, Identity Unknown: Rediscovering Seven American Women Artists (Bloomsbury 2017; $30. “I remember going to the Chicago Art Institute and seeing this…
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Max’s Story: A Dog’s Purpose Puppy Tale
Author W. Bruce Cameron wasn’t planning on writing a series of books about dogs. Instead, he was wooing his future wife into letting another dog into her life. Wondering if that was going to be a deal breaker, Cameron, whose had dogs since he was young, decided to tell her a story while they were…
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CAPSIZED! The Forgotten Story of the SS Eastland Disaster
The SS Eastland was still tied to the pier about to take 2500 passengers and 70 crew members on an excursion across the southern edge of Lake Michigan to Michigan City and the dancing in the ballroom had already begun. It was all part of the fun on that July 24, 1915 when the ship…
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Marcus Sakey “Afterlife”
In his dream, Marcus Sakey found himself walking the streets of Chicago, everything is much the same but also different—in the way that dreams often are. “At first, I think that everyone is gone but then realize it’s me that’s gone–not anyone else– and that I was dead,” says Sakey, who seconds after this realization…
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