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Book Club Wed Aug 29 2007
Our 2006 Book List
Whether you just joined the Gapers Block Book Club, missed these books the first time around, or are just curious about what we've read, here is the complete book list from 2006.
January
Bellow, Saul. The Adventures of Augie March. (Penguin, 2006; 566 p.)
Augie March was first published in 1953 and tells the sprawling story of a young man growing up in Depression-era Chicago.
February
Terkel, Studs. Division Street: America. (New Press, 2006; 381 p.)
Terkel's first collection of oral history tackles the issues of race and class in Chicago, and, by extension, throughout the country. It was originally published in 1967.
March
Dybek, Stuart. I Sailed with Magellan. (Picador, 2004; 307 p.)
Eleven loosely connected short stories create a revealing portrait of Chicago's South Side.
April
Obejas, Achy. Memory Mambo. (Cleis Press, 1996; 200 p.)
Juani is a Cuban American living in Chicago with her family and struggling with her identity and trying to discover what is true and what isn't in her family's past.
May
Eastwood, Carolyn. Near West Side Stories: Struggles for Community in Chicago's Maxwell Street Neighborhood. (Lake Claremont Press, 2002; 355 p.)
Eastwood chronicles the lives of four community leaders, including Florence Scala and Nate Duncan, in their own words in this oral history. Carolyn Eastwood joined us for our discussion in our second author event.
June
Rosenthal, Amy Krause. Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life. (Three Rivers Press, 2005; 225 p.)
A touching memoir written in an encyclopedia format with alphabetized entries.
July
Algren, Nelson. Man with the Golden Arm. (Seven Stories Press, 1997; 348 p.)
This dark novel about the downward spiral of Chicago card dealer Frankie Machine was the first winner of the National Book Award when it was first published in 1949.
August
Sinclair, April. Coffee Will Make You Black. (Harper Perennial, 1995; 256 p.)
Jean "Stevie" Stevenson is a young woman growing up on Chicago's South Side in the mid-1960s in this coming-of-age tale.
September
Larsen, Erik. Devil in the White City. (Vintage Books, 2004; 464 p.)
The gripping true story and best-selling account of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition and Chicago serial killer H.H. Holmes.
October
Cisneros, Sandra. House on Mango Street. (Vintage Books, 1984; 128 p.)
The young Esperanza Cordero is a sharp observer of her Pilsen-area neighborhood in this modern classic, told in a series of vignettes.
November
Guilfoile, Kevin. Cast of Shadows. (Vintage Books, 2006; 320 p.)
This fast-paced, genre-bending novel (part mystery, part thriller, part sci-fi and more) tells the story of Davis Moore, a Chicago fertility doctor who clones his daughter's killer. Author Kevin Guilfoile joined us for our discussion.
And, if you missed it last week, you can also check out our complete 2005 book list.
— Alice Maggio / Comments (0)
As a graduate student in sociology at the University of Chicago, author Sudhir Venkatesh gained entrance into one of Chicago's largest street gangs. Gang Leader for a Day tells the story of the inner workings of the gang and the extraordinary friendship he developed with one of the gang's leaders.
