Events Mon Jun 08 2009
I met comic book artist Gene Ha through his brother Donn, not longer after I'd connected "my brother Gene" to the name I'd seen on some of my favorite titles. When he e-mailed asking if another friend and I wanted to be photo models for the upcoming DC title JSA vs. Kobra: Engines of Faith, I tried not to reply too eagerly. As I wrote him back, I started to think: while it's become increasingly apparent that comic books aren't just for white guys in basements, I feel that as a female loving cape and cowl set -- as Michael Chabon put it in The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, "fictional characters of unprecedented powers dedicated to acts of derring-do in the public interest," -- I'm still in somewhat of a minority. I gravitate towards Batman and Superman (or Prince Namor or Kitty Pride) as easily as (though differently than) Heraclio and Carmen, Chunky Rice, or Jimmy Corrigan. There is much speculation regarding why traditional superheroes don't appeal to a largely female demographic, or anyone who takes issue with the following tropes: they tend to be action-, not plot- and emotion-oriented, concerned more with punches and epithets than feelings and nuance. Morality is more black and white than shades of gray. Female characters in superhero tales tend to be passive or she-devils, serving as eye candy or villain but not much in between. And there's the obligatory gravity-defying boobs. There are some excellent exceptions to these rules, but they're still that- exceptions.
Basketball-sized breasts are kind of ridiculous, Mary Jane doesn't get too many great lines, and there's the Women in Refrigerators Syndrome (it seems that every female or female superheroine has been killed, raped, depowered, crippled, turned evil, maimed, tortured, contracted a disease or had other life-derailing tragedies befall her). In spite of this, I love the genre, flawed and sexist as it can (but doesn't have to) be. I want good guys and bad guys, the glorification of power and vengeance, the satisfaction of seeing evil beat down in a fantastical scenario. All these reasons, coupled with Gene Ha's exceptional artistic talent, made the choice to be drawn as Power Girl an easy one.
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— Rose Miller /
Gapers Block politics editor Ramsin Canon brings us his review of Family Secrets: The Case That Crippled the Chicago Mob by Jeff Coen:
If you're not versed in the history of the post-Capone Chicago mob, known as the Outfit, you may easily have missed the fact that the Martin Scorcese classic Casino was about our city's organized crime syndicate and their control over gambling in Las Vegas in the second half of the twentieth century. The word "Chicago" is never spoken or named in any way during the movie—in fact, at one point, when Joe Pesci's Nick Santoro character is narrating a flashback he says, "Even back home, years ago," and on the screen flashes the title, "Back Home Years Ago" instead of "Chicago, 1973". Only once, when he almost slyly refers to "Remo Gaggi" (a blend of Joseph Aiuppa and Tony Accardo) as "the Outfit's top boss," is there any real indication that the gangsters hail from Chicago. (There's another scene where Pesci's character says, "Hey Ace, tell him the line on the Bear game.") There were briefly local rumors about why; that the producers were afraid to antagonize a criminal organization that, at the time, may still have had influence in some of Hollywood's powerful craft unions. More likely the movie plays so fast and loose with the facts that they didn't want to draw too direct a parallel.
Chicago Tribune reporter Jeff Coen's episodic telling of the federal government's prosecution of Chicago mobsters and their associates plays like a similar biopic, telling the history of the top tier of an immensely powerful, violent criminal organization through the lens of a personal, familial tragedy. The terrible difference of course is that Coen's book tells stories that are absolutely real, and recent enough to have living, breathing victims—both direct and indirect. The so-called "Family Secrets" investigation led to the conviction of Joseph Lombardo, James Marcello, Frank Calabrese Sr., and Paul Schiro for murder and Anthony Doyle for providing sensitive information to the convicted felons.
Books on the modern Outfit are scarce; the most recent contribution to the literature was investigative reporter Gus Russo's book The Outfit, an at-times sensationalized book that tried to portray the Outfit as a legitimate underworld counterpart to overworld (normal world?) corruption and exploitation. Like much of the literature on organized crime, it falls closer into the category of a "mob watcher's" book—similar to the work of former FBI agent Bill Roemer, whose book on the Chicago mob's Vegas influence—The Enforcer; Spilotro: The Chicago Mob's Man Over Las Vegas—borders on the voyeuristic. Coen's book is not a "mob watchers" book; it is a useful and lucid history of a gigantic investigation and prosecution and a sobering look at organized crime. If only more books on "the mob" read more like studies of organized crime than true crime dramas.
The contribution Coen's book makes to the literature of organized crime is that it completely and utterly demystifies the professional criminal class. The Chicago criminal underworld described by Nick Calabrese, the Outfit killer whose testimony was the cornerstone of the federal case, is one filled with cold cruelty, mistrust, betrayal, paranoia, and ceaseless hustling, dealing with society's most down-on-their-luck. There is no glamour or the type of vicarious thrills that come with being able to exact revenge at will: according to Calabrese's testimony, murders were done for petty reasons or out of a primal paranoia. The mystique of the gangster who never spends a day in prison is shattered; since the events that transpired in the movie Casino, a series of prosecutions chased the Outfit out of Vegas and imprisoned much of its leadership, and Family Secrets is a story of people in prison or killing to avoid prison.
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— Alice Maggio /
After reading James Kennedy's The Order of Odd-Fish, I jumped at the chance to talk to the author about this immensely creative story, the use of adult vocabulary, whether a nose is really just a nose and how this book fits alongside the now-canonical Harry Potter series. [Read my original review of the book here.]
Something that people are really going to want to know when they read this story is, where did the story come from? It's so out there and creative - where did you get it from?
I started the story in 1995. It was a short story I was doing in college and it was just called "The Cockroach and the Music Box," and over time I just added more details and added more details and finally the original story just fell away and all the details I had encrusted around it became the main story and then I kind of rethought everything from there and rewrote it and rearranged things. It was a really long and crooked way of getting there. It was never really conceived from the beginning as what it was. I just kind of followed it wherever it went. At one point I stopped - when they come to the building in the belly of the fish - I stopped for a year because I had no idea where it would go from there. It was a time-consuming way to write a book.
What are some of your literary influences? I know you talked a little bit about it on your website - how did you incorporate those into the story that you were writing?
I remember reading Evelyn Waugh for the first time, Decline and Fall and Brideshead Revisited and Vile Bodies (I named the gossip columnist in Odd-Fish after the gossip columnist in Vile Bodies), and his books struck me as really, really funny, and it occurred to me that this was comic territory that had gone unmined for a while in children's literature. I love Waugh's tone of breezy understatement and his casually horrible characters, and I wanted to do something similar. Odd-Fish's foppish cockroach butler Sefino, and its passive-aggressive eccentrics like Sir Alasdair, are inspired by Waugh. Odd-Fish also owes a lot to Roald Dahl, Douglas Adams, and especially G.K. Chesteron. But I think anybody writing for kids nowadays owes a huge debt to J.K. Rowling. She opened up the opportunity to write longer, more sophisticated books for young adults. She was confident that kids would read and understand a more complicated story. She opened that up, and now it feels like you can do anything. Young adult literature now - it's such an exciting time, there are great exciting books being written.
We are now at a time in children's literature where everything that comes out is going to be compared to the Harry Potter series. How do you feel about coming up against the comparison? Do you think it's fair that everything that comes after it now, for at least a good ten or twenty years, is going to be thrown back against that?
It's great. It challenges children's authors after her to come up with something that's up to Rowling's high standards. I also think it's salutary because it takes some story options off the table; Rowling's already done them too well. It forces you to be more original. ...I was halfway done with one version of Odd-Fish when Harry Potter came out and it forced me to reassess some of my decisions. It's a very risky move now to write about a kid who's living with a family that doesn't understand them and is abused, or about wizards at boarding schools, for instance. Harry Potter put the nail in the coffin, aesthetically, of those kinds of stories. You just can't do them. If you're going to write about any of those things, you'd better be really, really original about it because Harry Potter has used up all the juice there. But that's good, I think - it forces you to write something else, maybe something more interesting than your first idea. If Harry Potter's success means that children's authors are challenged to a higher standard, then I support that.
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— Veronica Bond /
This week we look at some of the notable nonfiction books published about our fair city in the past year. A sociology graduate student who infiltrates a Chicago gang, a local columnist discusses his journey to sobriety, the continuing fascination of Chicago's murderous history, a final book from Studs Terkel and a notable biography of our president-elect are just some of the subjects on this year's list. Along with last week's round-up of notable fiction, there is something for every reader on your holiday gift list. Plus, go one further and support local booksellers. Search for indie bookstores near you on Indiebound.
Alinea
By Grant Achatz (Ten Speed, 400 pages)
An inside look at Chicago's celebrated restaurant.
Rule 53: Capturing Hippies, Spies, Politicians, and Murderers in an American Courtroom
By Andy Austin (Lake Claremont Press, 413 pages)
Austin shares her memories from decades of covering some of Chicago's most well-known trials as a courtroom artist.
For the Thrill of It: Leopold, Loeb, and the Murder That Shocked Chicago
By Simon Baatz (HarperCollins, 560 pages)
A new history of one of the most notorious murder cases in Chicago history.
Building the South Side: Urban Space and Civic Culture in Chicago, 1890-1919
By Robin F. Bachin (University of Chicago Press, 448 pages)
A scholarly work that explores the planning and development of Chicago's South Side at the turn of the twentieth century.
Live Through This: On Creativity and Self-Destruction
Edited by Sabrina Chapadjiev (Seven Stories Press, 240 pages)
In this collection of stories, essays, artwork and photography, female artists candidly express the ways they use their art to heal and survive violence and self-destructive thoughts and behavior. Editor Chapadjiev is a playwright and musician originally from the Chicago area.
Mapping Manifest Destiny: Chicago and the American West
Edited by Michael P. Conzen and Diane Dillon (Newberry Library, 120 pages)
Exhibition book of more than 60 full-color historic maps from the Newberry Library collection.
Ida: A Sword among Lions; Ida B. Wells and the Campaign against Lynching
By Paula J. Giddings (HarperCollins, 816 pages)
Well-reviewed biography of activist Ida B. Wells.
Jackie Ormes: The First African American Woman Cartoonist
By Nancy Goldstein (University of Michigan Press, 264 pages)
Biography of a nearly forgotten pioneer in cartooning, who came to fame in Chicago.
The Chicagoan: A Lost Magazine of the Jazz Age
By Neil Harris and T. J. Edelstein (University of Chicago Press, 400 pages)
This critically acclaimed book resurrects Chicago's Jazz Age counterpart to the New Yorker.
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— Alice Maggio /
As always, Chicago gave us a wealth of new stories and characters to challenge, despise, laugh with and make us fall in love. We were graced with the final works of two literary giants: Richard Wright and Kurt Vonnegut, both of whose books were posthumously published with the efforts of their children. We traveled through Eastern Europe looking for the story of a man named Lazarus with Aleksandar Hemon. We got inside the minds of Chicago-living Egyptian immigrants with Alaa al Aswany. We invoked the city's dead with John McNally. We discovered the truth behind a thirteen-year-old girl's mysterious and dangerous birth with James Kennedy. And, of course, we did so much more. Below is a list featuring some of the notable books about Chicago or written by Chicago authors published in 2008. If you're looking for some gift ideas for family or friends who are local lit lovers, I hope this will give you some solid ideas of where to start.
Chicago: A Novel
by Alaa al Aswany (Harper, 342 pages)
Set on the campus of the University of Illinois Medical Center in a post-9/11 world, Chicago records the social collisions of Egyptian and American lives. Among the cast of characters are an atheistic anti-establishment American professor, an immigrant who has embraced his new American identity but cannot escape his Egyptian roots when it comes ot his daughter, an Egyptian State Security informant and a student poet who comes to America to fund his literary dreams.
The Kept Man
by Jamie Attenberg (Riverhead Books, 291 pages)
Jarvis Miller has been living as a half-widow for six years: Six years ago her husband, an artist whose career was on the cusp of success, suffered a fall and has been in a coma ever since. It isn't until Jarvis meets a group of kept men - men whose wive's are the breadwinners - at her laundromat that the idea of opening up to new changes becomes a possibility. After learning a devastating secret about her husband, Jarvis is faced with having to decide what to do with what remains of his art and of his life. [You can read my full review of this book here.]
The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted: And Other Small Acts of Liberation
by Elizabeth Berg (Random House, 242 pages)
The stories in this book focus not so much on food specifically, but on women departing from convention. They ask what you would do if you left Weight Watchers and spent a day eating whatever you wanted; what would happen if you started a dating service for people over fifty; how you can find comfort in aging or friendship in the unlikeliest of places. They are an exploration of the chanllenges ordinary women face everyday.
An Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons, and True Stories: Volume 2
edited by Ivan Brunetti (Yale University Press, 400 pages)
In this second volume of graphic stories, local comic artist Brunetti collects work from well-known artists like Chris Ware, Daniel Clowes, Art Spiegelman and Charles Burns, and lesser-known artists like Laura Park and Matthew Thurber. Also included are classic comic strips, related fine art and historical materials.
The Lagoon
by Lilli Carre (Fantagraphic Books, 80 pages)
Carre's debut graphic novel features a family who is seduced by the song of the Creature from the Black Lagoon and details how each member reacts to the Creature's call. The films Creature from the Black Lagoon and Night of the Hunter served as inspiration for Carre's work.
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— Veronica Bond /
by Jason Behrends
Fatherhood is a complex journey filled with joy, pain, confusion -- all of the best and stickiest moments of life. No matter your age or status or lifestyle, the moment your first child is born everything changes. From your perspective, life begins to take on a whole new meaning, a well-defined purpose. There are responsibilities, a reaction to each action, and your nights begin to shrink. While standing in the hospital holding the new life that you created, there are flashes of your future self that begin to pop and snap. The first tooth, first step, first day of school, first dance, first boyfriend/girlfriend, blurs of game nights and football games, tea parties and story time, your life has suddenly become real, substantial, and the next step is one you will never forget.
For Neal Pollack, that next step as a writer was to share his experience. There are many parents out there that don't reach out and talk honestly about the joys and struggles of parenting. Luckily for Neal, he was already an accomplished writer and journalist and since the birth of his son he has published a novel called Alternadad, created an interactive webzine called Offsprung and contributes regularly to parents.com. Through sharing his stories he is able to entertain, but he is also helping parents as they begin their new lives.
Recently, Neal was kind enough to answer a few of my questions.
Gapers Block (GB): Where some may get consumed by fatherhood and possibly lose focus in their writing, you have reinvented yourself through fatherhood. Was there ever a time when you felt you couldn't be both a writer and father?
Neal Pollack (NP): I never really had a choice, since writing is the only way I've ever made a living. With the birth of my son, suddenly I had actual financial responsibilities, as opposed to my previous needs of keeping myself in beer and videogames. The loss of focus isn't really for me to judge, but being a dad has, I think, honed my ability to make a living, if not my abilities as a writer. When I waste work time, there's no recovering it, because my previous recovery time is now taken up by important dad stuff like fast-forwarding through the commercials during the Clone Wars on Friday night.
GB: Where did the idea for Offsprung come from? Have you been happy with the site thus far?
NP: I was looking for a community of like-minded parents like the one missing in Alternadad, the kind of place I wish Regina and I had when we were new parents. I originally intended the site as a parenting humor/parody site, and that never quite evolved. Instead, it became its own thing, and now serves as the primary internet home for many wonderful people. It's been less financially lucrative than I'd hoped, but as a creative/artistic/journalistic endeavor, I couldn't be happier with how it's turned out. I always wanted my own magazine, and then I created one, and it's been a blast.
GB: Not there isn't humor in Alternadad, but why did you choose to make this non-fiction and not your typical satire?
NP: My satire usually makes fun of literary genres, and I wasn't really interested in making fun of dad-lit, largely because it didn't really exist when I started writing the book. Each book has its own process and internal logic, and it quickly became obvious that this would be a personal story. Alternadad was kind of emotional triage for me; I was way too close to the situation to write it as arch satire.
GB: I've read there are talks of a screenplay and movie for Alternadad, who should play you in the movie?
NP: If a movie of Alternadad ever gets made, I would pretty much take whoever they cast, not that I'd have a say, mind you. Paul Rudd would be nice, though.
GB: Having lived in both Chicago and LA, Chicago writers are the best, right? Seriously, why did you leave Chicago and how has your experience as a writer been different in LA?
NP: I wouldn't say Chicago writers are the BEST, but I certainly know some great ones. There are good and bad writers wherever you go. I would say, however, that Chicago READERS are pretty great. That's the real difference between Chicago and L.A., lit-wise. In L.A., you can have "fans" of your work, but very few people actually read. In Chicago, people are perhaps more critical, but at least they pay attention. That said, I like being a writer in L.A. because no one hassles you. There are so many people grabbing for the gold ring. You're just one of a million worms trying to feed on the same corpse.
GB: You are a pretty big sports fan, in fact you write a sports column for LA CityBeat, were you torn at all when the evil Dodgers stomped on the lovable losers?
NP: While I like the Cubs and respect the agony of their fans, I grew up on the West Coast and have been a Dodgers fan all my life. Therefore, the Dodgers' steamrolling of the North Side was actually one of the best four-day periods of the decade for me. It was exhilarating and glorious. Sorry, guys.
GB: You have already accomplished quite a bit, what's next for Neal Pollack?
NP: I'm writing a book about yoga, to be published by Harper Perennial in May 2010.
* * *
Neal Pollack will read alongside Columbia College students Holly Fisher, Colt Foutz, Mason Johnson, Grant Mahoney, Nick Narbutas, Abigail Sheaffer, Harlan Vaughn and Toni White on Thursday, November 20th from 6-9pm at 731 S. Plymouth Court
— Veronica Bond /
Sound the trumpets. Here are the official selections of the Gapers Block Book Club for 2009. Even if we do say so ourselves, Veronica and I believe we have another strong reading list, which includes a mix of classics, new titles, award winners, bestsellers and lesser-known works. We received a number of excellent book suggestions from our members, and tried to incorporate as many as possible. Special thanks to everyone who submitted ideas for the book club.
January
A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry (Random House, 1994; 106 p.)
As a work written by a female, African-American playwright, this play was groundbreaking when it was first produced in 1959. A Raisin in the Sun tells the story of the Younger family. Lena Younger's husband has passed away, and as Lena and her family wait for a $10,000 life insurance check, they dream of leaving their tiny Chicago apartment and starting new lives. The play went on to win a New York Drama Critics Circle Award and has been adapted for TV and film several times.
February
A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean (University of Chicago Press, 2001; 239 p.)
Maclean taught English at the University of Chicago for 45 years, but he didn't publish his first novel until after he retired at age 70. A River Runs Through It was first published in 1976. It gained critical praise and later became an enduring bestseller after Robert Redford's 1992 film adaptation. The story is about two brothers growing up in rural Montana, who share a passion for fly fishing.
March
The Book of Ralph by John McNally (Free Press, 2005; 287 p.)
This collection of intertwined short stories chronicles the comic misadventures of eighth grader Hank Boyd and his trouble-making friend, Ralph. This coming-of-age tale is set during the late 1970s and early 1980s in southwest suburban Chicago.
April
Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris (Back Bay, 2008; 385 p.)
The debut novel by Joshua Ferris is set in an unnamed Chicago advertising agency and brilliantly dissects office life as the employees of the firm face the threat of layoffs. Then We Came to the End is a 2008 Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award winner and a National Book Award Finalist.
May
Passing by Nella Larsen (Random House, 2002; 304 p.)
First published in 1929, Passing tells the story of two light-skinned African-American women who try to pass for white in order to escape racism in 1920s New York. Born in Chicago to Danish mother and African-American father in 1891, author Nella Larsen was the first African-American woman to be awarded a Guggenheim fellowship in creative writing.
June
Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut (Random House, 1998; 304 p.)
Vonnegut's trademark satire is in full force in this science-fiction tale originally published 1963 about a young writer doing research for a book on the history of the atomic bomb, who discovers the existence of "ice-nine", an even more deadly threat to the planet.
July
Every Crooked Pot by Renee Rosen (St. Martin's Griffin, 2007; 227 p.)
Nina Goldman was born with a strawberry birthmark that covers one eye. This coming-of-age novel set in 1970s Akron, Ohio, is written in the form of a memoir, revealing Nina's struggles with self-acceptance and her love-hate relationship with her eccentric father. Author Rosen grew up in Akron but currently lives in Chicago.
August
La Perdida by Jessica Abel (Random House, 2008; 275 p.)
In this highly regarded graphic novel, Carla Olivares, a twenty-something Mexican-American woman, leaves the U.S. and heads to Mexico City in a misguided attempt to get in touch with her roots. Unfortunately, her life goes from bad to worse when she falls in with a group of drug dealers and wannabe revolutionaries.
September
The Echo Maker by Richard Powers (Picador, 2007; 451 p.)
Twenty-seven-year-old Mark Schluter is in a near fatal car accident that leaves him with a rare brain disorder that causes him to believe his sister is an imposter. As Mark's sense of identity unravels, he becomes determined to discover the truth about his accident. The Echo Maker won the 2006 National Book Award.
October
Lords of the Levee by Herman Kogan and Lloyd Wendt (Northwestern University Press, 2005; 384 p.)
This engaging nonfiction work tells the story of "Bathhouse" John Coughlin and Mike "Hinky Dink" Kenna, the notorious First Ward aldermen who ruled Chicago at the start of the twentieth century. Originally published in 1943, Lords of the Levee is the perfect complement to our November 2008 selection, Sin in the Second City.
November
Travel Writing by Peter Ferry (Harcourt, 2008; 294 p.)
In this work of metafiction, Ferry acts as both author and character, telling the story of a high school English teacher named Peter Ferry who witnesses a fatal car accident that he becomes convinced he could have prevented. As a result, Ferry develops an obsession with learning about the life of the victim, the young and beautiful Lisa Kim.
— Alice Maggio /
by Alissa Strother
[Be sure to check out Part 1 of the interview, focusing on Welsh's writing, teaching and involvement in the local literary scene.]
GB: What else are you doing now?
IW: I did the book tour in the UK and I came off of that and I went straight into shooting this film, for five weeks in South Wales. It's called Good Arrows. It's a Spinal Tap kind of mockumentary about the world of British professional darts players. It's about a guy called Andy "The Arrows" Samson who loses his mojo, so he goes back to his darts guru who gets him back into it again. It's kind of about their obsession with petty celebrity and low-level fame. I'm quite pleased with it. I've got to go away and edit it when I come off the tour here.
GB: Did you write it, shoot it, edit it, and act in it?
IW: Yeah, everything, don't you know. I mean I even did the catering and cleaned out the toilets and all that. I'm co-writer, co-producer, co-director, and I've got a cameo in it playing a pro. If it's any good I'll keep it in and if not I'll cut it out. It's myself and Dean Cavanaugh, my screenwriting partner, who wrote the script. I've co-directed it with a really great director called Helen Grace. Late October or early November we'll have the whole thing done. ITV have got the British rights to it, so they're going to put it out on TV in January and we're going to make a different cut and take it to Cannes and try to sell it as a feature. And The Meat Trade, we've got the financing for that, so hopefully that'll shoot either late this year or early next year.
GB: Are you involved in shooting that too?
IW: No, I won't be. I did the screenplay for it. It's all cast. It just that takes ages to get everybody working at the same time. It's got Robert Carlyle, Colin Firth, Samantha Morton and Johnny Borrell from Razorlight.
GB: Really? How did he get cast in it?
IW: I don't know, I think Antonia [Bird], the director, fancied him. I think she kind of just likes casting pretty boy British pop stars. She cast Damon Albarn in Face.
GB: While we're on the subject, I know you're a big music person. Anything interesting going on for you in that department these days?
IW: I just got a call from Primal Scream and they wanted me to present them this lifetime award in London next week but I can't because I'll be on tour, so that's a shame.
GB: Do you still DJ?
IW: Funny enough, I deejayed for the first time in seven years in Edinburgh for this festival and it was a total disaster because I realize now that people just do it from the computer. They've got this mixing software and all of the mixers and the laptops there and they're not set up for vinyl and I come in with a big box of vinyl and they couldn't get the mixer to work with the decks. It's kind of sad. I felt like such a dinosaur. The whole thing was beset with technical problems and in the end I just slapped on the records and made a party of it. I actually enjoyed playing some records again, but I think to do it really well you've got to be constantly doing it. You have to be hanging out in record shops all the time and you have to just be mixing all the time as well, and practicing. I used to be obsessed with it and I found that I was using it as an excuse not to write, doing it all day and sometimes for days on end. There are some really great DJs and great people working in music, and I thought I'm better at the writing than I am at this so I have to acknowledge that fact. I'll still occasionally get a bag of records and do it at a pub.
GB: You also directed the music video for Keane's single, Atlantic, a few years back. What was that like?
IW: We shot it in four days down in Sussex, on a beach in Hastings. Their studio is just up the road, so they came down to watch us in action. It's funny, because when you're directing and you're against a timeline, it can bring out the tyrant in you a little bit. I remember the band had come down and they were watching me line up this shot and we'd gotten them to close off the beach. Then this girl and her dog came along and they were walking into the shot and I just sort of went, "Get dodgy, f*cking her and her scabby f*cking dog off the f*cking beach!" Tom [Chaplin], the singer, turns around to me and just goes, "Actually, that's my girlfriend." But we had a great laugh about that.
GB: In the press and even on your website, you're described as an "often controversial" writer. Do you consider yourself controversial?
IW: No, I don't really. I'm sure there are some people, particularly some of the press in Scotland, that think I've got this list of everything that's going to piss people off: heroin addiction, pedophilia, football violence. I just don't think that way at all. It's just much more organic and much more about how we mess up and how we actually get over it. All of these thematic issues come out of that. I'm not really interested in courting controversy, but I am interested in exploring issues that other people would deem to be controversial.
GB: Is there anything you wrote that you had to think twice about putting out there?
IW: No, not really. If it's something that I feel uncomfortable with, that's a reason for me to write it. I kind of like to make myself feel uncomfortable. I think if you're starting to feel uncomfortable with something when you're writing it, that's the reason really to push on with it. At first, I was kind of concerned about the reaction of family and friends, but once they see that you're not about exposing people, it's a transformative thing. It's fiction, you know? And once they start to see that, they get much more comfortable with it. I think there is a natural thing that you feel when you've written something taboo because you just don't want to expose the people you're close to.
GB: Do you follow American politics at all?
IW: Yeah, I've actually been asked by Sky, which is basically FOX in Britain, to work as a pundit on the American election [while living] in Miami. And I did a piece for the Financial Times. You'll see it online.
GB: What have you noticed, politically, living in Florida?
IW: It's got quite a young population and a very old population as well, so it's going to be a really interesting battleground. It is going to be about age more than anything else, rather than race there. I think if Obama gets people out, he'll win. It's going to be very tight, though. When I did this article back in the summer, it was just as Obama was about to get the nomination and around the time Clinton officially dropped out. I thought that once the real forces of conservatism were unleashed that it would be a whole different thing and I actually thought at the time that McCain would probably win. Now, I think that there are just so many people that can't afford not to have Obama win. He's gotten so many disenfranchised people back into the political system that if he didn't win, the disillusionment in America and the idea of more of the same failed policies of the last eight years, internationally and domestically, would be so bad for the country and the world as a whole. You've got this whole new generation of people that, for the first time, are being energized by politics and if you shut the door in their face I think it's a terrible thing to do. People are starting to realize that the stakes are very high. It's still too close to call, but it just feels like it's time to grasp history and I think people will do that. I think the Sarah Palin thing has really helped McCain, though.
GB: What do you think of her?
IW: I think she's a total absolute f*cking lunatic basket-case, but it's been a great thing for him. I saw this picture of her looking like this kind of sexy librarian on one side of him and Cindy McCain looking all glam on the other side of him and you can just see some of the blue collar guys are going to go, "Pfwaaa, he's an American," you know? It's taken away all of the question marks about his age and health and this old, kind of country bumpkin thing about the Republican Party as well. If people see through to the fact that she's just a really reactionary basket case, good, but it has given him a kind of superficial makeover that he needed. The idea that if he drops dead the first week in office and she's the President, I can almost feel myself getting nostalgic for George W.
GB: How do people feel about the election in the UK?
IW: People are really excited by Obama abroad because he seems to be the first American presidential candidate who has ambition to go out of the country. In a sense, with the power of globalization, you are kind of electing the leader of the Western world to an extent. This is the first time that I can remember where American politics is much more interesting and exciting than British politics. British politics has stagnated over the last twenty years. Our supposed candidate of change is an old, white, middle class, male member of the Conservative party. I mean, that's our f*cking candidate of change. How stagnant and tepid the whole British political scene is now is just beyond belief.
GB: Well, I'll try to end on a happier note. You write, tour your books, make films and music videos, play football, box, run marathons, and now you're a political pundit. How do you find the time?
IW: Well, I only box for fitness now. I couldn't properly spar with anyone now who was any good or they'd kill me. When you're sedentary at a desk you've got to do something. I like trying different things and I get a bit bored with the same thing. I write in kind of blasts. Because I'm promoting the book right now, I'm not really doing much writing, but once I get back into it, I'll just vanish basically. I'm a director at two film production companies now and I should be around. They get all nervous, like, "Oh f*ck he's gone." Just lock myself in a room, stop answering emails, stop answering the phone and I come out with something.
— Veronica Bond /
by Alissa Strother
Crime, the latest novel by Scottish writer Irvine Welsh (Trainspotting, Filth), follows Detective Inspector Ray Lennox from Edinburgh to Miami as he attempts to recover from a stress- and drug-induced mental breakdown and salvage what is left of the struggling relationship with his fiancée. Instead of a relaxing holiday, Ray finds himself assuming the role of guardian and defender for a frightened ten-year-old girl in the middle of a dire situation. Never one to shy away from difficult subject matter, Welsh explores everything from abuse to organized crime to innocence, guilt, secrets, blame, prejudice, truth, deceit, consequence, corruption, and ultimately, redemption in his most recent work.
Fresh off of the previous night's Read Against Recession event at The Metro, I talked book tours, writing, teaching and, of course, Chicago, with one of the most well-rounded men in the literary world today.
Gapers Block: What did you think about Read Against Recession last night?
Irvine Welsh: I thought it was great. Stephanie [Kuehnert] and Bill [Hillmann] were very good. When I go to places and do book tours, I don't really like doing traditional bookshops. It's nice to walk people through something instead of just standing up in a bookstore. Sometimes you have to do the big bookstores as well and some of them are really good, like the Barnes & Noble in Union Square in New York, for example, but I like some of the bigger independent bookstores, like Book Soup in LA. They are really good to work with. Powell's in Portland is great for events. And Books & Books in Miami - I have a reading at Books & Books and a party at White Room after. PowerHouse is this bookstore that can also manufacture and publish a book, so it's a huge, great space. Readings are quite boring, really. You can't really perform and it's just nice for you to put a face or a voice to a book. Stephanie and Bill both put a lot into it.
GB: Stephanie was your student a few years ago, right?
IW: Yeah, she was one of the students when I was teaching at Columbia. There were a lot of really good, talented writers, but I think that the X-factor that she had was that total dedication. She just really wanted to do it and I think that's the sort of thing that was always very impressive, that she was 100% into it. I'm not surprised that it's been successful, her book, and I think she'll continue to be successful. She's got a new one coming out next year as well so she's kind of up and running.
GB: How did the teaching gig at Columbia College come about in the first place?
IW: I came to Columbia for Story Week and after that they asked me if I wanted to come back and do a year's teaching. I vibed with Chicago. I liked the place and I'd become friends with a lot of people, so it seemed like a nice thing to do.
GB: And now you have a pretty substantial connection with the city.
IW: Yeah, my wife's from Chicago. I met her in a bar one night and we just kind of clicked. It was a snobby kind of hotel bar downtown; it was this Irish kind of theme pub that was in the basement one of these very soulless hotels on Michigan Avenue. I was just out for a drink with some pals and she was out for the night. Because of our connection it means that I'm able to be here a lot of the time and we've got an apartment here. Most of her family is out of state, but a lot of her pals are here so I like to get over a bit in the summer.
GB: You've been incorporating more American characters into your short stories lately and obviously in Crime there are quite a few. Do you find it a challenge to write the American characters?
IW: Not really, I don't really think of it in that way. I think it's because I've been spending so much time over here. I don't even realize that I'm doing it, but it is interesting. I don't even really want to consciously do it. I kind of want to keep writing about where I come from in Scotland and the UK and all of that, but it's also good to get out of where you come from as well. You get into a comfort zone, writing about the same place, so it's probably a good thing for me to do, but I'm not sure quite how far I want to take it.
GB: You mean as far as creating a novel with an entirely American cast?
IW: It's more a sort of sense of place that's relevant rather than people and characters. It's like if you're driving down Western Avenue and you see all of these car dealerships and you start to get something in your mind. That kind of setting can spark something and it would have to be an American novel. You don't get the geography like that in the UK. You don't really get these kinds of places in the same way, you know, they need to be located in the same type of environment.
GB: Do you think you will ever base a novel in Chicago?
IW: Yeah, it's strange because I think that I could, but it wouldn't be the same as if you get a Chicago writer like Stephanie or Bill or Don [De Grazia]. It wouldn't be the same. I wouldn't have the bond with the city that they have so it would be more as a backdrop to a character-based thing rather than getting into the nuts and bolts or grit of the city. I wouldn't rule it out because I think it's a great setting for a novel, though.
GB: I know you revisit characters a lot in your novels. Lennox, for example, a side character in Filth, ends up being the main character in Crime. Do you feel like you have unfinished business with them?
IW: Yeah, it's almost like a movie in a way and you're thinking, "Who can I cast in this role?" Lennox just seemed to fit the bill. I thought this guy had to be able to negotiate his way around and sense crime and sense criminals, so he had to be a cop, but he couldn't be an American cop because if he was a cop from Chicago busting up this child abuse thing in Florida he would have resources here. He would know the system and have contacts in law enforcement and be able to go into the straight bureaucracy of it all and sort it out there. So I was thinking about the guys in Filth and this guy Lennox, he's done all of these things, but you don't really know why he's a cop. He seems to be a character of secrets and I thought about secrets and the idea that sex abuse thrives on secrecy within families and within society and the church and it grew organically, really.
GB: Crime is obviously a serious novel that deals with solemn issues, but you've also called it your most uplifting novel. What makes it different from your other ones?
IW: I'm living in Ireland most of the time and you can't pick up the newspaper without there being another pedophile priest story or somebody suing the priests or the church or the Diocese for the abuse that's gone on. There was a big scandal in the 90s called the Bishop Casey Scandal and since then, everybody who's been abused, hundreds of thousands of people, have all come forward. It's opened the floodgates, so it's changed the relationship that people have with the church, and I think that was why I got interested in it. But I realized when I started to write that pedophilia isn't at all an interesting subject to write about. There's no dynamism or moral ambiguity to it. It's just basically wrong and it's evil and everybody's agreed on that. There's no ambivalence to it and it's ambivalence that makes something interesting. You can argue about violence, for example. It's destructive, but people are inherently violent in a lot of ways. Abusing drugs is always bad for people and bad for society, but the whole notion of festival is tied up with intoxication. I was writing against this whole idea that you can be like a 50-year-old pop star and it's not sort of inappropriate to have young boys sleep in your bed, but if you're a 50-year-old truck driver, it would be. I wanted to have no ambiguity about it at all and just see it as an absolute evil and have Lennox as this displaced avenging flawed angel that is trying to rescue this kid, but the kid is also rescuing him by forcing him to come to terms with what he'd been repressing. Because pedophilia was quite a boring, un-dynamic subject to write about, it couldn't be about that. It had to be about how people get over something really bad. My interest as a writer has always been about how people f*ck up and how we live in a world that can be cruel and punitive. How we compound that by making the wrong decisions has always interested me. This isn't one about how people f*ck up. It's basically about how people heal themselves so it's more positive than a lot of my books in some ways.
GB: In the research process, you talked a lot with people who had been through abuse, right? Were they pretty open to talking with you about it?
IW: That was the hardest part of it. At the start people are obviously suspicious because these books have a purpose. I think they're very suspicious of journalists, but once I convinced people that I was coming as a novelist rather than a journalist and their anonymity would be respected, [they opened up]. You can get people's stories from published case studies too, but that wasn't what it was about. I was interested in their feelings and views and emotions. It was very, very uncomfortable and I used the more uncomfortable feelings I had when hearing these stories in the book, like when the kid is telling Lennox her story. He has to listen, but he can't listen. It's killing him and I wanted to get that feeling across. When someone's telling you about these terrible things that have happened to them from a very small age you just want to be anywhere but in front of them. You kind of feel yourself withering inside listening to them but you have to listen because you've asked them and it's important to them and they want to tell you and they need to tell you. That was sort of the hardest part of the book.
GB: And you didn't do any research on the internet?
IW: I didn't want to be exposed to any pedophile sex material, just because it had nothing to do with the book and you don't want the police kicking your door down. I made a conscious decision that I was going to do no research on the 'net and I was very particular about what I needed. I needed to engage with people who had been through that, but I didn't want to engage with pedophiles or engage with child pornography. To avoid doing that, I limited the research very much to academic and case study and social work kind of stuff.
GB: How did you approach the police aspect of the novel?
IW: It's just about having contacts. People love talking about their jobs. Take them out, buy them lunch or take them for a beer and they'll talk about their job, provided they know that you're going to respect their anonymity. I'm not interested in details that might get someone into trouble. I'm more interested in generalities rather than the particulars, as a journalist would be. Names, dates and times don't interest me at all. I'm interested in feelings and emotions. Most people are game, once they realize that you're on the level as far as that's concerned and you're not about exposing them, then they feel quite free to talk about it. Police officers and social workers are no exception.
GB: Do you tend to get a different reaction from women versus men when it comes to your books?
IW: I find that a lot of the time women are more clued up about it. They sort of get more of it, because I have quite a lot of damaged male characters. A lot of guys don't recognize the damage and baggage that these characters are carrying, whereas women do more, because they think, "I've gone out with a bastard exactly like that," so they kind of see it in a sharper focus.
GB: Do you find it harder to write the female characters?
IW: Not really. I did a thing - it's not released in America yet, but I hope it will be soon - it's a film called Wedding Belles. There's one male character that's in it for about ten minutes, but there are four lead characters and they're all women. I tend to write them the same way. You write people as human beings first and then the gender specific stuff second. You see in a lot of crime novels or genre fiction where the guy's writing about a woman character and you get two pages of her putting her bra on and it's f*cking ridiculous, you know? You won't have two pages of a guy shaving or something like that or putting on a pair of boxer shorts. It's just bizarre.
GB: One of the main characters in Crime is not only female, but a child as well. Did you approach that any differently?
IW: I wanted to get somebody who in some ways is very grown up and worldly because she's been inappropriately sexualized, and is very knowing and confident on one level, but on the other hand is still a kid. That battle is going on within her. She's got these two sides to resolve. I think it's not a problem writing about any age that you've lived through. I'm writing this thing about a guy who's in his late 70s, early 80s now, so that's quite a challenge. Then again, I just try to think about how somebody like that would think about things.
GB: And you're also working on a prequel to Trainspotting. Is that already done?
IW: There's a rough draft of it from the same time as the original Trainspotting. When I wrote Trainspotting, I started out with about 300,000 words. It was huge. I took a story out and I read it at this Rebel Inc. thing and a writer called Duncan McLean, a very good Scottish writer that had been published by Random House in London, says, "Have you got any more of that? I'd like to send it to my publisher." Well, I kind of lied and said, "Yeah, I've got a whole novel." I had this thing but it wasn't a proper novel. It was kind of a mess and so I basically just chopped out the middle and wrote this kind of heist ending to finish it, because it just went on and on and on. The first part of it is all about their family background, family dynamics and how they got involved in heroin in the first place, so I discarded that part of it. The end part was superfluous so a lot of the end part I've cannibalized for different stories over the years. I've got a collection of short stories coming out next year and it's a lot of stories that have been in anthologies and journals. I guess because I didn't know what to do with it, I had forgotten all about this first part, really, until I started looking through some old files. I find as I'm getting older and a bit more reflective I'm much more interested in that cause and effect and family dynamics. I want to sit down with it next year and write it up as a proper novel. It probably needs another couple of drafts, but I don't want to lose the energy that it has. You can see it's written basically by a younger writer. It's very much like Trainspotting. I want to bring a more reflective thing to it as well, so there's going to be a difficult balance to it. That's the reason I've not gotten on with it - I've been a bit scared to have a go.
* * *
Next week, Alissa continues her interview with Welsh, talking about his life in music and his thoughts on the state of politics today.
— Veronica Bond /
by Jason Behrends
When setting out to write a novel, a writer must first research their subject matter. Many writers dig through archives or visit certain towns or countries or interview different people. Chicago's Stephanie Kuehnert may do those things, but a vital part of her research thus far has been playing those old tapes and CDs from high school. The reason people enjoy music so much is that it acts in one of two ways: it is either a trigger to bring up past memories or it is a way of collecting of new ones. When Stephanie plays Smashing Pumpkins or The Ramones or Nirvana, she is taken back to a specific time in her life where she can explore, with clarity, the thoughts and emotions of a young girl experiencing life through music.
Her debut novel, I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone (MTV Books), is filled with music, but at the same time it is filled with raw emotion and a deep understanding of the relationship between a mother and a daughter. The main character, Emily Black, is abandoned by her mother who chooses a life of traveling with the current music scene. With visions of earning her mothers attention and affection, Emily forms a band herself in search of that magical tune that will make everything right again.
With her well-written and original novel in hand, Stephanie recently took the stage at the Metro and then told us all about it.
Gapers Block (GB): Your debut novel, I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone, is filled with music, and all of the positive and negative effects of a life filled with music. How big of a role does music play in your life?
Stephanie Kuehnert (SK): Music has played a huge role in my life since I was about 10 years old and I started discovering bands like REM, Depeche Mode, Faith No More and eventually bands like Nirvana and The Ramones. Music has been my escape since I was a kid. When I'm upset, listening to certain bands helps me work through my anger and pain. When I'm happy, music elevates my mood even more. And music is my primary muse for writing. I don't often listen to it while I write, but I do listen to it a lot while preparing to write and it sparks many of my ideas. And since I was 14 years old, my idea of the best night out is a concert. I love live shows and have seen hundreds.
GB: Speaking of music, you read at the Metro on September 14 with Irvine Welsh and Bill Hillman, which is primarily a music venue. Elizabeth Crane tells a story about feeling like a rock star while on stage at the Metro. What were you expecting, and how did you prepare?
SK: I read onstage at Metro once before during a Columbia [College] event that was a goodbye party for Irvine the first time he was in Chicago for a while. It wasn't a huge event, but it was still the most people I've ever read to and I was completely awestruck to be standing on the stage that so many of my heroes have graced. I've seen many of my favorite concerts at Metro. I was actually so overwhelmed and freaked out that after I read, I completely lost my voice...some sort of psychosomatic thing. Fortunately that didn't happen this time.
I honestly didn't know what to expect. I've seen Irvine fill the place to capacity before, but this was on a Sunday night and it was that weekend with the non-stop rain. Basically I just prepared by reading the section I planned to read about five times as opposed to just rehearsing it once like I usually do. I also asked my closest friends to be there so I could just pretend I was reading to them. I just focused on being confident, reminding myself that I'd been invited to do this and people thought I belonged on that stage.
When I got out there, I realized the stage lights make it so that you can only see the first row, so I felt like I was reading for 15 people instead of 150, which helped. And all the rehearsal paid off, too. I totally nailed the reading. I got the most applause I've ever gotten in my life and afterwards Joe Shanahan, owner of the Metro, told the crowd that he thought Irvine, Bill, and I performed with the same power and energy as Cobain, Corgan, and Vedder back in the day. Since Kurt Cobain is one of my biggest heroes, I gotta say that comparison made my night.
GB: How do you select what you are going to read from the novel? Do you skip around or just read a specific section?
SK: I usually chose one section from a chapter or skip through a couple sections of a chapter. I have a handful of scenes that I know work well out loud and don't require a ton of backstory, etc. It depends on the time I am allotted of course, but it also depends on the audience. I'll read a completely different section to a bar crowd than I would to a bookstore crowd or to a library crowd. The other night I read to a library crowd that included a much older gentleman and a ten year-old kid. I'd planned to read a scene that was "PG-13", i.e. it didn't have sex or really serious swearing, but it did involve smoking pot. I ended up nixing that at the last minute because of the audience and went with the first ten pages of the book, which are the safest, no sex, no drugs, no swearing at all. For Metro, I did one of the more fun, raunchier scenes. I like to mix it up, though; it keeps me interested in reading it.
GB: Your novel, despite the language and sex, is classified as a Young Adult novel. What are your thoughts on that classification and YA fiction in general?
SK: My novel is really more of a crossover than a YA, I think. MTV Books is considered a YA publisher, but some of the books it puts out, including mine, are mostly sold in the adult section. So much like I've never felt like I fit in with one particular group or was easily labeled, neither is my book, and I like it that way. I am honored that it is considered by many to be YA, though, because I think right now YA is totally at its best. Some of the most honest, raw, real books out there are YA books. It's a real renaissance era for YA fiction right now.
GB: For people of our generation the MTV logo really means something significant. What has your experience been like with them thus far? What was your first thought when you found out it was MTV Books that was picking up the book?
SK: I begged my parents for cable when I was a kid so I could have MTV and I spent so much of late grade school through early high school glued to it. Before they stopped actually showing music videos, I adored MTV and thought it was on the cutting edge of so much. Since I hold on to that early love, I thought it was pretty cool when I heard that MTV Books wanted IWBYJR. Other than the name, the logo, and the same parent company (and the occasional book about The Hills that they put out), MTV Books is pretty much separate from MTV the channel. But to me, MTV Books has that cutting-edge, in-your-face thing going for it that MTV the channel had in the 80s and early 90s, so my experience with them thus far has been great. I couldn't have found a better match editor-wise than Jen Heddle, my editor at MTV Books and everyone else that I've worked with there has been totally amazing, too.
GB: What is the latest on your next novel Ballads of Suburbia?
SK: The latest is that I'm waiting on my revisions letter. I should be getting that later this month and then I will spend six weeks completely immersed in making Ballads the best book possible. Right now it is slated for a July 2009 release, but those dates tend to shift about until you get closer, but it will be out there sometime next summer for sure.
— Veronica Bond
Free Burning, the second novel by local author Bayo Ojikutu, is the July 2008 selection of the Gapers Block Book Club. It was first published in 2006 and takes place on Chicago's South Side in the fictional Four Corners neighborhood, which roughly translates to the South Shore area. Four Corners is beleaguered by poverty, gangs and drugs, among a host of other social and economic problems.
The protagonist is Tommie Simms, who, as the book's jacket copy declares, "was supposed to be the community's hope, the young man from the neighborhood who made good." Simms went to college and graduated from Southern Illinois University. He landed a corporate job with Global Mutual IndemCorp, a downtown insurance firm, with an office on the 32nd floor. But Simms is laid off from his job after 9/11, and he becomes desperate for a way to support his wife, Tarsha, and their baby daughter. He turns to his drug-dealing cousin Remi and begins selling pot to help pay the bills and make ends meet. The novel focuses on his quick descent into Chicago's underworld, as Simms finds himself on the wrong side of a crooked cop and crosses paths with loan sharks, rival drug dealers and others looking to get a piece of him. Ojikutu reveals how easy it is for a good man to fall on hard times, and how difficult it is to escape and climb back out of the hole.
Library Journal said, "Ojikutu's harsh and often violent depiction of the street life, where everyone has developed his or her own hustle to get by, is riveting." And Kirkus gave Free Burning a starred review, calling the story gritty, lyrical and intense, and describing Ojikutu's writing style as "a cross between James Baldwin's soulful song and the nightmare poetry of Louis-Ferdinand Cline." And in Black Issues Book Review, Denolyn Carroll summed up the novel as "a powerful work of urban fiction."
About the Author
Bayo Ojikutu was born in 1971 and is a Chicago native, born and raised. His father, Owolabi, is from Nigeria, and his mother originally hails from Louisiana. Ojikutu attended the University of Illinois, and earned his master's at DePaul University. He still lives in the city and teaches in the English department at DePaul. His first novel, 47th Street Black, published in 2003, was a winner of the Washington Prize for Fiction and the great American Book Contest. Ojikutu is definitely a local author to watch, as his star continues to rise.
Additional Resources
Read an interview with Ojikutu from the Fall 2006 books issue of the Chicago Reader.
~*~
Read the book, and then join us on Monday, July 14, at The Book Cellar, beginning at 7:30pm for our discussion. New members are always welcome.
— Alice Maggio /
Father's Day is coming up this Sunday, June 15, so why not get dad a little something from your local bookshop? The following titles might give you some ideas for summer reading for your father or other special guy in your life. As a bonus, in keeping with our local spirit, all the titles have a Chicago connection.
New Dads might enjoy Alternadad: The True Story of One Family's Struggle to Raise a Cool Kid in America by Neal Pollack in which the former Chicago Reader staffer and "self-styled party guy" tells how he and his wife managed to become responsible parents without giving up their hipster lifestyle.
If your dad appreciates a good laugh, try When You Are Engulfed in Flames, the sixth collection of essays by bestselling humorist David Sedaris.
Political junkies will love the new book from Lake Claremont Press Rule 53: Capturing Hippies, Spies, Politicians, and Murderers in an American Courtroom by Andy Austin. Austin has been a courtroom artist in Chicago for the past 40 years and covered some of the city's biggest trials including those of the Chicago Seven, John Wayne Gacy and Joey “the Clown” Lombardo. Rule 53 is her account of the drama she has witnessed in Chicago's courtrooms.
Local history buffs will appreciate Chicago under Glass: Early Photographs from the Chicago Daily News, a wonderful photography book by Mark Jacob and Richard Cahan, or give him Sin in the Second City: Madams, Ministers, Playboys, and the Battle for America's Soul by Karen Abbott, the bestselling book about Chicago's legendary Everleigh Club brothel which is now out in paperback.
Finally, if the dad in your life loves a good story, give him The Lazarus Project by Aleksandar Hemon about the death of Lazarus Averbuch in Chicago in 1908 and a writer who becomes obsessed with Averbuch's story in the present day.
All of these books will keep fathers busy reading this summer. Check them out and make this Sunday a happy father's day for someone in your life.
— Alice Maggio /
The 24th annual Printers Row Book Fair takes place this weekend in the South Loop, on Dearborn, between Congress and Polk. It is the biggest literary extravaganza in the city, and admission to all the events is free. More than 200 authors and 150 booksellers are scheduled to participate in this year's fair, so we've put together this guide to highlight the best of the best of the fair, pointing out authors of current and past Book Club selections appearing at the fair, don't-miss events and our favorite local booksellers and publishers.
Tell Them You Read It for the Book Club
How many of these books did you read along with us? Meet the writers of some of our past (and future) book club picks. You might even get your books signed.
Achy Obejas – Saturday at 11am at the Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Stage
Memory Mambo by Achy Obejas was our April 2006 selection, and the novel's unforgettable climax still gives me the willies. But in addition to writing award-winning novels, Obejas is also an accomplished poet. She will be giving a poetry reading this morning as the fair gets underway.
Alex Kotlowitz – Saturday at Noon at the Heartland Stage
Kotlowitz talks to author Nancy Horan during this event about her debut novel Loving Frank, which tells the true story of the affair between architect Frank Lloyd Wright and Mamah Borthwick Chesney. We just read Never a City So Real by Kotlowitz for our January 2008 book.
Studs Terkel and Rick Kogan – Saturday at 3pm at the Harold Washington Library Center Cindy Pritzker Auditorium [Ticketed Event]
The venerable Studs Terkel holds court at the Chicago Public Library Saturday afternoon. His most recent book is his long-awaited memoir Touch and Go, but we read his first book, Division Street: America, in February 2006. Terkel never fails to entertain, and his wit is still sharp as a tack at 96 years old. He'll be talking to another favorite Chicagoan, Tribune journalist and WGN radio personality Rick Kogan. We read his book A Chicago Tavern: A Goat, a Curse, and the American Dream for our April 2007 meeting, and Kogan's appearance at and participation in our discussion was one of our most memorable book club meetings. This event will draw a big crowd, so be sure to reserve your free tickets ASAP.
Kevin Guilfoile – Saturday at 4pm at Grace Place, Sanctuary, 2nd Floor
Kevin Guilfoile moderates a discussion titled "Murder Most Foul," featuring a panel of fellow local crime writers, including Libby Fischer Hellman, Marcus Sakey, Sean Chercover and Michael Dymmoch. Guilfoile joined the book club for a highly memorable meeting when we read his first novel Cast of Shadows in November 2006.
Elizabeth Berg, Elizabeth Crane and Amy Krouse Rosenthal – Sunday at 11am at the Heartland Stage
Three – yes, three – book club authors in one great event! Don't miss this one as Amy Krouse Rosenthal moderates a discussion with Elizabeth Berg and Elizabeth Crane. Bestselling author Elizabeth Berg's new book is Dream When You're Feeling Blue, and we read her novel The Year of Pleasures in May 2007. Crane is promoting her new story collection titled You Must Be This Happy to Enter. We read her previous book All This Heavenly Glory for our February 2007 meeting. And Rosenthal's unconventional memoir Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life was our June 2006 selection.
Karen Abbott in conversation with Rick Kogan – Sunday at 3pm at the Heartland Stage
Abbott will be talking to Rick Kogan about her best-selling nonfiction work Sin in the Second City about Chicago's infamous Everleigh Club. The book is coming out in paperback now, and we'll be reading Sin in the Second City for our November 2008 meeting.
Aleksandar Hemon – Sunday at 3:30pm at the Harold Washington Library Center Multi-Purpose Room [Ticketed Event]
Hemon is the author of the critically acclaimed novels The Question of Bruno and Nowhere Man, which was our October 2005 selection. Now he's due to repeat that success with his new book The Lazarus Project. Reserve your free tickets for a chance to see this still-rising local literary star.
Audrey Niffenegger and Elizabeth Crane – Sunday at 4pm at the Heartland Stage
If you go to see Karen Abbott at 3pm, don't get out of your seat, because Audrey Niffenegger and Elizabeth Crane are up next, participating in the Other Voices finale reading along with fellow local writers Billy Lombardo and Gina Frangello. Niffenegger is the author of the best-selling novel The Time Traveler's Wife, our June 2005 book club book, and this is your second chance to see Crane at the fair (see above).
More Local Authors and Don't-Miss Events
Scott Turow – Saturday at 10am at the Harold Washington Library Center Cindy Pritzker Auditorium [Ticketed Event]
Turow is a prominent Chicago lawyer and author of such wildly popular novels as Presumed Innocent and Reversible Errors. This year he is receiving the Harold Washington Literary Award.
S.E. Hinton – Saturday at Noon at the Harold Washington Library Center Cindy Pritzker Auditorium [Ticketed Event]
This is the event not to miss. The S.E. Hinton, author of the modern classics The Outsiders and That Was Then, This Is Now, will be at the book fair to receive the 2008 Chicago Tribune Young Adult Book Prize. Get tickets now if you still can, otherwise you'll be left standing outside, clutching your dog-eared copy of The Outsiders and telling complete strangers how Pony Boy was your favorite character ever when you were 12.
Chris Ware, Ivan Brunetti and Chris Oliveros – Saturday at 1pm at the Heartland Stage
Well-known local comics artist Chris Ware will be appearing with fellow cartoonist Ivan Brunetti and Drawn & Quarterly publisher Chris Oliveros to talk about "Cartoonists Editing Comics." This event is another don't-miss in my book.
Augusten Burroughs – Sunday at 1:30pm at the Harold Washington Library Center Cindy Pritzker Auditorium [Ticketed Event]
Burroughs is the author of the best-selling books Running with Scissors and Dry. His most recent memoir is A Wolf at the Table. Reserve your tickets now for a chance to see him at the fair.
Alpana Singh and Charles Blackstone – Sunday at 3pm at the Good Eating Stage
Alpana Singh is the host of the popular local PBS series "Check Please!" and the author of Alpana Pours. In this event she talks with hubby Charles Blackstone, author of the novel The Week You Weren't Here.
Local Booksellers, Publishers and Other Friends of the Book Club
Be sure to stop by these booths, and tell them Gapers Block sent you (results may vary).
The Book Cellar – OO
The Book Cellar has been generously hosting the GB Book Club's monthly meetings since our group's inception. Not only is The Book Cellar a great local bookshop (and not a bad place for lunch, either), but the staff also works tirelessly to support and promote local authors through the store's monthly Local Author Night series and other events on its typically packed schedule.
Chicago Writers Association – 245, 247
The Chicago Writers Association is a creative community of hardworking up-and-coming local writers. Members will be manning the tables at the fair. Check out the CWA website to see which writers will be appearing at the fair.
Featherproof Books – 327, 329
Local indie publisher Featherproof Books is gaining a respectable track record for publishing some pretty cool novels by some pretty cool new writers, including its latest, the typographical graphic novel boring boring boring boring boring boring boring by Zach Plague. We read the Featherproof's first publishing effort, The Enchanters Vs. Sprawlburg Springs by Brian Costello, for our February 2008 book.
Lake Claremont Press – DD
We love local publisher Lake Claremont Press because they publish book about our favorite topic — Chicago. From the city's food to its history, ghosts, culture, music, geography and more, the books from Lake Claremont Press all read like love letters to our city.
The Newberry Library – 142
What is The Newberry Library? Besides being one of the world's leading independent research libraries, it is also host to dozens of events throughout the year, including musical and theatrical performances, exhibits, lectures, workshops and seminars in the humanities. And, best of all, this incredible resource is free and open to the public. The Newberry also holds an annual book fair in July that should not be missed.
The Poetry Center of Chicago – PBP2
The Poetry Center of Chicago is dedicated to supporting and promoting poets and their work throughout the city through regular events, readings and its successful Hands on Stanzas program which places Chicago poets in public school classrooms to encourage students to read and write poetry.
TallGrass Writers Guild – 225
The TallGrass Writers Guild is an active community of local writers that holds regular readings and literary events at venues around the city. The group also publishes an annual anthology of writings in association with Outrider Press.
Third World Press – F
Local publisher Third World Press is one of the country's "oldest and well-respected independent publishers of Black thought and literature." It was founded in 1967 and the publisher's extensive catalog includes works by Gwendolyn Brooks, press founder and author Haki R. Madhubuti, Sterling Plumpp, Tavis Smiley and more.
Women & Children First – PP
Women & Children First is one of the largest feminist bookstores in the country and has been one of Chicago's best-loved indie bookstores since it first opened in 1979. Although the store carries titles on every topic imaginable, its real strengths are in its excellent stock of books by and about women, children's books, and lesbian and gay fiction and nonfiction.
~*~
For complete information about the fair, including the full schedule, maps and ticket information for the special events, visit the official Printers Row Book Fair website.
— Alice Maggio /
Reviews Wed Feb 20 2008
At the City's Edge
by Marcus Sakey
(St. Martin's Minotaur, 2008)
Things may have been looking up for twenty-seven year-old Jason Palmer. After returning to Chicago from a stint in Iraq, Jason has no greater plans for his summer than girls, booze and spending time with his brother Michael and nephew Billy. All too quickly, these languid plans are changed when Jason’s daily run along the lakefront brings him face to face with a man he calls “Soul Patch” and the gun he finds shoved in his face. Jason’s quick wit and Army training save his life in that moment, but he’s afforded little time for comfort when he’s faced with identifying Michael’s murdered body, pulled from the burned down rubbles of his bar later that day. With his young nephew to care for and justice on his mind, Jason takes the case into his own hands and joins forces with a disparaged police officer to uncover a network of crime running far deeper below the city than he could have ever imagined.
At the City’s Edge, Marcus Sakey’s second novel, is a fast-paced and engrossing read. We learn early on that Michael was part of a group of people who informed the police on gang activity in the neighborhood. The first hint that the murder is the product of something more than random violence is born in the mind of police officer Elena Cruz, who recalls Michael saying that “there were things going on in the neighborhood that were worse than anybody guessed, that the gangs were the tip of the iceberg. Saying that he would have proof soon.” Having been taken off the streets to work behind a desk after her affair with the police chief became public knowledge, Cruz is eager to get her hands back in the game and prove her worth to her male colleagues. Together, she and Jason risk their lives to find out the truth about Michael’s death, a truth that shakes the core of what these two strong-willed characters think they know.
Sakey’s knowledge of the inner-workings of gangs shines brightly here and his skilled research is a refreshing touch to what might otherwise be an unconvincing tale. Evidence of this can be found in the Acknowledgements, in which Sakey thanks several members of the Chicago Police Department, but it can also be found in such details as Cruz’s involvement in the Gang Intelligence Unit, statistics about high school drop out rates and gang recruitment, and the presence of the Lantern Bearers, a sort of halfway house for gang member rehabilitation. Sakey states that the book is not a sociological study, but his effort to incorporate his learned knowledge about gang activity gives the story a hardened edge that make you wonder just how far the author would go to tell this story.
At the City’s Edge takes place in the fictional Crenwood, a South side neighborhood rife with poverty and violence. Though the neighborhood’s imaginary name might immediately stand out to the erudite Chicagoan, Sakey makes sure to impart the rest of the story with a very real sense of the city. Jason lives in a Chicago where he can witness the impoverished meeting the upper class from the window of his apartment at Clark and Division, where he’s sure that while everyone is familiar with Upper Wacker “he doubted many had taken the ramps down one more level, to the bowels of the city, a bleak lost place where service trucks moved between exhaust-stained roll doors under the timeless haze of yellow sodium light.” He lives in a Chicago where the Sox play in Comiskey Park and the El rumbles over everyone’s heads. The digs at the gentrified Lincoln Park do grow stale after the third or fourth iteration, however it cannot be denied that Sakey knows and loves his city well.
Though the characters are a bit too emotive for my tastes – Sakey’s attempts to illustrate Jason’s sensitive side only serve to caricaturize him and the eventual romantic liaison with Cruz is as obvious as it is unnecessary – At the City’s Edge proves to be a well-crafted crime thriller whose story is as much about very real social ills as it is about keeping the reader guessing. The truth about Michael’s murder may come as no shock to anyone familiar with Chicago history, but the similarities between this fiction and those facts provide all the shock-value needed. But on another level, this is a story about one man and the lengths he would go to defend what meager life he has left. “Pick up the gun and you live forever in its shadow,” Jason reminds himself in the midst of the story’s climax. The line serves as a fitting adage for all who are touched by this reality.
* * *
Learn more about Marcus Sakey at his website www.marcussakey.com and at The Outfit, where he joins literary forces with six other local crime and mystery authors.
— Veronica Bond /
Review by Cinnamon Cooper
Finding Iris Chang: Friendship, Ambition, and the Loss of an Extraordinary Mind
by Paula Kamen
(Da Capo Press, 2007)
I've been a fan of Paula Kamen's for several years, and fortunate to call her a friend for a few years. I've seen her writing develop subtleties, her theses grow more sophisticated, and I've seen her personality shine through her writing. I've also seen her struggle with health issues, support her friends, fall in love and enjoy life. And I consider myself blessed and fortunate to get to know Paula the person, after developing such an amazing writer-crush on Paula the author.
Shortly after I moved to Chicago 10 years ago, I picked up her book Feminist Fatale: Voices from the "twentysomething" Generation Explore the Future of the Women's Movement at a local library. I'd recently graduated from college, felt alienated from the feminist community, and I missed reading and discussing feminism with my peers. Sitting alone in my apartment with a borrowed copy of Paula's book made me feel less alone. She seemed to get what it was like to be a young feminist and feel alienated from a movement. After I finished the book, I read her short bio and realized Paula was just a few years older than I was and she lived in Chicago. My appreciation of her work deepened and my writer-crush began.
A mutual friend introduced me to Paula a few years ago, and when she found out that we have a shared interest in feminism, Chicago and supporting some of the same organizations she became supportive of me without missing a beat. She didn't hesitate to encourage me, congratulate me and introduce me to her friends. And all the while she was doing this I kept finding myself wishing I had her writing skills, her book deals, her voice. I found myself in awe of her as much as I found myself appreciating her.
I mention this explanation of my introduction to Paula because it seems to mirror her relationship with her friend and fellow journalist Iris Chang. Paula's most recent book Finding Iris Chang: Friendship, Ambition, and the Loss of an Extraordinary Mind follows a complex path through their friendship, the relationships that Iris had with others, her death and Paula's need to understand why she killed herself.
This book isn't only about Iris's life, work and the loss of an amazing and sensitive investigative writer, it's about Paula's friendship with and professional admiration of Iris. In fact, Paula touches on so many things in this book, it's amazing Paula is able to keep a common thread tying them all together. Their relationship was full of amazing contradictions and Paula lays them all out so the reader can see Iris as the complex person she knew. Paula doesn't make this book her opportunity to wax lyrically about the joys of their relationship. She examines her own weaknesses while comparing them with Iris's to create a more complete and honest understanding of what it was like to be friends with someone who seemed to get everything you wanted and whose energy was taxing and remarkably hard to bear.
Amidst Paula's revelations about their friendship and the quality of life Iris enjoyed, she is able to share some of Iris's writing advice, comments from many of her friends, medical information about bipolar disorder and suicide, as well as describe signs that only a fully-informed professional would have been able to see in Iris. But because Paula has so much experience writing about feminist issues, she critiques medical treatments and misdiagnoses, or under-diagnoses, of mental illness in women and particularly Chinese women, without overshadowing Iris herself. But there isn't the sense that Paula is objectifying Iris's death. Even though Paula calls out for journalists to understand that writing about heavy emotional subject matter affects them, she doesn't seem to be taking advantage of her friendship with Iris to push her own agenda. Yet she doesn't remain cold and unbiased the way journalists are supposed to be toward their subject matter.
After reading Paula's book on Iris, I realized I had to read Iris Chang's book The Rape of Nanking before I could write this review. I knew only vaguely about the incidents Iris wrote about in her book. Reading Iris's book was traumatizing and made it impossible to read anything long for quite some time afterward. I was appalled and disgusted and angered and found myself dwelling on the images in the book, both the photographs and the visual imagery Iris created. Reading Iris's book gave me a better understanding of Paula's writing and a better understanding of how affected Iris must have been by the subject matter after her book was published and the negative feedback and threats began to roll in.
Reading The Rape of Nanking also made the tangents in Paula's book seem less like tangents. After reading about the rape and murder of hundreds of thousands of Chinese people at the hands of Japanese soldiers, I felt like I could use a good therapy session. It made me wonder how Iris could have spoken with the dozens of people she tenaciously interviewed without having had one herself. I have to agree with Paula's thoughts that journalists need support in finding ways to not be affected in a toxic way as they cover devastation and dark topics. I also found myself wishing I'd gotten to know Iris, as I continue to hope this book may prevent future Irises from following in her devastating footsteps.
Iris's writing encouraged countless young Asian women to follow their dreams of writing. Paula interviews a few in this book, and I was lucky to meet one on the train. I was reading Paula's book and taking notes in my notebook when a young woman sitting across from me gained my attention and asked breathlessly, "Is that a book about Iris Chang the writer?" I nodded and handed her the book. She skimmed the inside jacket text and handed it back to me. She seemed visibly shaken, and I wasn't sure how to respond to her. "She's the only reason I got my parents to agree to let me become a writer. They wanted me to go to law school. But I showed them her books in high school and told them I wanted to make life better for people through words, not law. When they found out Iris killed herself they pulled me out of school for a quarter and made me come home because they were worried I would do the same thing. They then told me about aunts, and uncles and older relatives who had all killed themselves and made me go to a psychologist." I was stunned by her telling a complete stranger this and asked if she was now back in school. "Oh, yeah. The shrink gave me a clean bill of health, and we wrote up a mental health plan to make my parents feel more comfortable, and now I feel more interested than ever in following in her footsteps. I've switched to being a history major, too. I should probably read this about her." I agreed. She thanked me for listening and ended with, "It's not like my people, you know. To open up about ourselves. We have to be perfect, we Chinese. We have to prove ourselves through continuous action, not emotion. But that's not good."
I think Paula would agree with her. Paula's book came about because of a eulogy she wrote for Salon.com. She describes how inspiring Iris was and how she found herself using Iris as the example she gave during a speech to writing students. After exhorting that they just "Iris Chang it", she would tell them they had nothing to lose by thinking big. It's advice and a view I've seen Paula describe to others, as well. As a fan of her writing, and someone who has benefited from Paula's encouragement, I'm excited to see how she "Iris Changs" her next book. But I think I'll read this one once more, just to make sure I didn't miss anything.
— Alice Maggio /
Another year has come and gone, and this week the book club takes its annual look back at some of the notable fiction written by local writers and nonfiction books about Chicago published in 2007. As in years past, this list is far from comprehensive, but it includes enough great titles to keep you busy through 2008.
Fiction
Berg, Elizabeth. Dream When You're Feeling Blue. (Random)
Butcher, Jim. White Night. (Roc)
Chercover, Sean. Big City, Bad Blood. ( William Morrow)
Collins, Max Allan. Deadly Beloved. (Hard Case Crime)
Ferris, Joshua. Then We Came to the End. (Little, Brown)
Graff, Keir. My Fellow Americans. (Severn)
Harvey, Michael. The Chicago Way. (Knopf)
Hellmann, Libby Fischer, et al. Chicago Blues. (Bleak House Books)
Horan, Nancy. Loving Frank: A Novel. (Ballantine)
Hornschemeier, Paul. The Three Paradoxes. (Fantagraphics)
Kaminsky, Stuart M. The Dead Don't Lie. (Forge)
Konrath, J. A. Dirty Martini. (Hyperion)
Messinger, Jonathan. Hiding Out. (Featherproof)
Olds, Bruce. The Moments Lost: A Midwest Pilgrim's Progress. (Farrar)
Phillips, Susan Elizabeth. Natural Born Charmer. (Morrow)
Pride, Alexis J. Where the River Ends. (Utour)
Rapp, Adam. The Year of Endless Sorrows: A Novel. (Farrar)
Romano, Tony. When the World Was Young. (HarperCollins)
Sakey, Marcus. The Blade Itself. (St. Martin's/Minotaur)
Schwegel, Theresa. Person of Interest. (St. Martin's/Minotaur)
Wiley, Michael. The Last Striptease. (St. Martin's)
Nonfiction
Abbott, Karen. Sin in the Second City: Madams, Ministers, Playboys, and the Battle for America's Soul. (Random)
Alder, Ken. The Lie Detectors: The History of an American Obsession. (Free Press)
Bachrach, Julia Sniderman et al. Inspired by Nature: The Garfield Park Conservatory and Chicago's West Side. (Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance)
Baer, Richard. Switching Time. (Crown)
Brownlee, Les. Les Brownlee: The Autobiography of a Pioneering African-American Journalist. (Marion Street)
Burke, Edward M. and Thomas J. O'Gorman. End of Watch. (Chicago's Books Press)
Davis, Kevin. Defending the Damned: Inside Chicago's Cook County Public Defender's Office. (Atria)
Green, Adam. Selling the Race: Culture, Community, and Black Chicago, 1940-1955. (University of Chicago Press)
Green, Larry W. et al. Water Tanks of Chicago: A Vanishing Urban Legacy. (Wicker Park Press)
Hanson, Karen. Today's Chicago Blues. (Lake Claremont Press)
Jacob, Mark et al. Chicago under Glass: The Chicago Daily News Negatives, 1901-1930. (University of Chicago Press)
King, Richard. My Maggie. (HPH Publishing)
Lesy, Michael. Murder City: The Bloody History of Chicago in the 1920s. (Norton)
Mendell, David. Obama: From Promise to Power. (Amistad)
Okuda, Ted and Mark Yurkiw. Chicago TV Horror Movie Shows: From Shock Theatre to Svengoolie. (Lake Claremont Press)
Pattillo, Mary. Black on the Block: The Politics of Race and Class in the City. (University of Chicago Press)
Paretsky, Sara. Writing in an Age of Silence. (Verso)
Rogak, Lisa. A Boy Named Shel: The Life and Times of Shel Silverstein. (St. Martin's/Thomas Dunne)
Street, Paul Louis. Racial Oppression in the Global Metropolis: A Living Black Chicago History. (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers)
Terkel, Studs. Touch and Go. (New Press)
Weigel, Jenniffer. Stay Tuned: Conversations with Dad from the Other Side. (Hampton Roads)
Williams, Michael and Richard Cahan. Chicago: City on the Move. (CityFiles)
— Alice Maggio /
We received many excellent suggestions for our 2008 book list (thank you!), but from the dozens and dozens of titles on our list of potential selections, we had to whittle it down to just 11 books. This task gets harder every year as more great new books get published, and we keep discovering classic titles that shouldn't be overlooked. But, decisions had to be made, and without further ado, here is the complete reading list for the 2008 Gapers Block Book Club.
January
Never a City so Real by Alex Kotlowitz (Crown, 2004)
Explore Chicago in this collection of essays in which Kotlowitz profiles of some of the city's uncelebrated citizens.
February
The Enchanters vs. Sprawlburg Springs by Brian Costello (Featherproof, 2006)
Costello's debut novel is a comic story about a garage band called The Enchanters and their fictional suburb of Sprawlburg Springs.
March
Fire Sale by Sara Paretsky (Signet, 2006)
In the 13th book of Paretsky's celebrated V.I. Warshawski mystery series, the detective finds herself coaching basketball at her former South Chicago high school and investigating sabotage at a local factory.
April
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2002)
This coming-of-age story about a hermaphrodite growing up in Michigan in the mid-20th century won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for fiction.
May
The Grass Dancer by Susan Power (Berkley, 1997)
Power weaves a unforgettable portrait of the Dakota Sioux Indians in this collection of inter-related stories that draw from contemporary life on the reservation and Dakota Sioux legends. This book won the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award in 1995 and was named an ALA Notable Book.
June
Naked by David Sedaris
A collection of autobiographical essays from one of this country's most well-known humorists.
July
Free Burning by Bayo Ojikutu (Three Rivers, 2006)
This powerful second novel from Ojikutu continues the story of Tommie Simms. When Simms loses his job at an insurance firm, he begins selling pot to make ends meet and quickly spirals downward into Chicago's dark underbelly.
August
The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum (Scholastic, 2001)
Harmless children's fantasy or dark political allegory? Let's discuss.
September
Native Son by Richard Wright (Harper Perennial, 2005)
First published in 1940, Native Son tells the story of Bigger Thomas, a young African-American man living on Chicago's South Side in the 1930s who becomes swept up by forces of fear, violence, racism and hopelessness after he accidentally kills a white woman.
October
Dirty Sugar Cookies by Ayun Halliday (Seal, 2006)
A light-hearted culinary memoir from a self-described "anti-foodie."
November
Sin in the Second City by Karen Abbott (Random House, 2007)
The true story of Ada and Minna Everleigh, the two sisters who ran the infamous Everleigh Club brothel on Chicago's Near South Side at the beginning of the 20th century.
— Alice Maggio /
For our September meeting we are reading Peel My Love Like an Onion by Ana Castillo, but this past month I also had the opportunity to read her latest novel, The Guardians, a harrowing and poignant story about family, spirituality, Mexican identity and the troubled relationship between the United States and Mexico along the border.
The guardians of the title are the Franklins, the hills that mark the border between New Mexico and Mexico. In the beginning of the novel, Regina, a middle-aged widow living alone on the outskirts of a small New Mexico border town, says of the Franklins, "Like giants, they take the sun and play with people's eyes, changing colors. Like shape-shifters, they change the way they look, too. They let the devoted climb up along their spines and crown them with white crosses and flowers and mementos. They give themselves that way, those guardians between the two countries."
Regina is looking towards the hills, waiting for her brother Rafael, who splits his time between working in the U.S. and living in Mexico. Gabriel, Rafa's 15-year-old son, has been staying with his aunt so he can finish high school in America. Her brother was due back days ago, but he has not returned. He was supposed to cross over with a coyote, a guide to lead him through the desert across the border, but something has gone wrong, and the only evidence Regina has is a phone number taken from her caller ID after she receives a threatening phone call from a woman claiming to know where Rafa is.
Regina needs to know what happened to her brother and begins her own detective work. Gabriel's mother was murdered in a similar crossing years ago — her mutilated body was later found in the desert. Vital organs were missing, harvested for the black market. Regina cannot rest until she knows her brother's fate.
She is an aide at a school in Cabuche, New Mexico, where she meets Miguel Betancourt, a handsome, divorced history teacher with two kids, an ex-wife and lots of ideas about what wrong with U.S.-Mexico relations. Miguel is captivated by the headstrong Regina and agrees to help her search for her brother.
Gabo, as Gabriel is called, also searches for his father in his own way, befriending some gangbangers at his school who may or may not be connected to those responsible for his father's disappearance. He is no street tough in the making, however. Gabo is a deeply spiritual young man whose increasing devotions and religious eccentricities begin to alarm those around him.
The story is told from multiple points of view. Regina is tough, a survivor, used to living on her own on the edge of the desert, but she has a wry sense of humor. She is also an entrepreneur, inventing endless ways to earn a little extra money to make ends meet. Miguel, when he isn't mentally planning his book about the troubled history between the U.S. and Latin America, is torn between his responsibilities to his family and his involvement with Regina. Miguel's ornery, blind and hard-of-hearing grandfather, Milton, also joins the investigation into Rafa's disappearance, and injects some welcome humor and charm into the story. And, finally, Gabo's narrative is written in the form of letters to Padre Pío, his favorite saint.
Their stories intertwine to tell of the search for Regina's brother, but also to reveal a grim portrait of life near the U.S.-Mexico border. It is a life where everyone seems to have lost someone, where people routinely disappear — or are murdered outright, and the illegal drug trade spreads through the border communities like a malignant cancer. As the mystery of Rafa's disappearance unravels, Castillo effectively conveys the harsh, unforgiving environment of the New Mexico desert, and the all-too-real struggles of the American border communities. The Guardians is both funny and heartbreaking, poignant and horrifying, wrapped in a story of a woman and her nephew searching for a man who is both brother and father.
— Alice Maggio /
On Monday, August 13, the Gapers Block Book Club met to talk about Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. It was our 27th book club discussion and one of our biggest groups yet. GB staffer Daniel X. O'Neil joined us to document the event.
The place.
The book.
Introducing ourselves.
Lots of laughs.
Happy readers.
Engaged in discussion.
The real sideshow circus performers.
More laughs.
The view from the book shelves.
See you next month!
All photos are by Dan X. O'Neil. You can view these and many more photos from the event on Flickr.
— Alice Maggio
Mule Magazine is a bi-annual arts and culture publication that began in 2002 as a student project at the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga. Those former students are now spread across the country, and currently the magazine is based in Chicago. Issue 4 is their most recent effort.
Articles cover a range of topics, from art and fashion to music and film, and Issue 4 is dense with content. It includes a massive line-up of features, interviews, original art and short-form reviews, all packed into a meaty 62 pages. Little space is wasted, and the magazine conveys the kind of visual overload of design publications like IdN.
The content also reflects the staff's split origins between Tennessee and Chicago. Issue 4 contains interviews with Chicago-based musician Philip Cohran and band Pit er Pat, alongside a profile of Knoxville, Tenn., band The Tenderhooks. Similarly, a write-up of the Chicago artist group The Soft Shop is balanced by a spread featuring the work of Knoxville printmaker Bryan Baker. This dueling Midwestern-Southern sensibility works just fine, although it is a bit jarring when, even in the advertising, the Old Town School of Folk Music shares space with a Nashville record store.
Writer and co-editor Jennifer Brandel is one of the talents behind Mule Magazine, and both her profile of musician Dave Fischoff and interview with DEPART-ment founder Marshall Preheim are standouts in Issue 4. Both pieces are thoughtful, insightful and tightly written. On the whole, the publication is engaging, well-written and carefully edited, but there are a couple uneven spots. The review section suffers from a lack of organization, with album reviews, artist profiles, an interview with Iraqi filmmaker Usama Alshaibi and even a write-up about a Chicago-based tea company all jumbled together. And, unfortunately, the fashion section feels tacked on. The pieces by Abigail Glaum-Lathbury, Kristen Kennedy and Aay Preston-Myint are innovative and visually striking, but the feature gets lost, sandwiched between the ads at the end of the issue.
Despite the minor unevenness, Issue 4 of Mule Magazine is an impressive, ambitious effort and well worth seeking out. Contributions to the magazine are all volunteer-based, and it is independently produced, just like a certain Chicago-based web publication…Mule Magazine may be found at Reckless Records and Quimby's, and Issue 5 is expected to hit newsstands this fall. And, visit Mule Magazine online at www.mulemagazine.com.
— Alice Maggio
I've always enjoyed being a woman of my own means. However, living on what means I have often involves adhering to some sort of budget and, as any booklover knows, bright shiny new books, in hardcover or even paperback, can easily put a crick in one's financial plans. The budget-conscious may then resort to traversing the aisles of local used bookstores – and goodness knows we Chicagoans have a great many of those to choose from – but the problem inherent to used books is there in the title: they're used. Yes, I am one of those readers who never breaks the spine, or dog-ears pages and nearly cries when she accidentally drips coffee on her morning read. This neurosis does not lend itself well to the pre-read book and though I'll admit that I've purchased a good number of my books used and in good condition, I'll also admit that I've often passed up books I've really wanted because they didn't pass my stern standards. It's a constant struggle between literary desire and affordability.
Imagine my joy when I discovered Unabridged Books. Nestled in the heart of Lakeview just north of Belmont, this independently owned bookstore of twenty-six years offers not only the most recently published titles, but also a hearty selection of discounted and remaindered books. While most bookstores only offer discounts on books they haven't been able sell, Unabridged often stocks their sale section with books that have been out for less than a year. Of course, like any store that sells discounted books, you can't rely on any particular title being on the shelves, but that just makes the joy of finding something you covet that much greater. I've found everything from Anthony Bourdain to Michael Chabon to Salman Rushdie to the most recent Harry Potter hardcover here. I've even seen Susanna Clarke's massive Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell on these shelves and nothing I've purchased has been over $10 – an amazing price even if you studiously wait until the titles you want are out in paperback. And because these are the remaindered books that didn't sell the first time around, they're beautifully new. It's an anal-retentive, budget-conscious, booklover's dream.
As wonderful as Unabridged's sale section is, I'd be remiss if I didn't commend the fully stocked shelves of the remainder of the store. A fully functioning bookstore, Unabridged offers a vast array of fiction and non-fiction, spanning everything from political memoirs to classic literature to the latest darlings of the bestseller lists. While the front section houses newly released hardcovers, a few steps into the store will bring you to interior design and art books. Turn a corner and you'll be met with mystery, fantasy and science fiction. Drama, literary criticism, reference, poetry, humor, graphic novels, history and current events are also housed here, along with a healthy selection of classic and contemporary fiction. The north side of the store is home to titles for children and young adults and, bridged by the sale section, Unabridged offers a unique specialty section of gay and lesbian books that includes everything from queer fiction and non-fiction to travel to coming out stories and more. Venture downstairs and you'll find cookbooks, gardening, Chicago books, general travel and calendars so numerous they're sure to have something for everyone's taste. Approaching Unabridged from the outside it's difficult to imagine such an abundance of titles fit inside the store's walls, but taking the time to discover each section makes each visit a fruitful one.
Of course, you could still go to your nearest Borders or Barnes & Noble if price is no issue and personality means nothing. It may be of no comfort to you to see the same faces of the small, full-time staff stocking shelves, ringing up purchases and offering their erudite opinions on subjects as diverse as Nelson Algren and Lemony Snicket. You may not care to read their in-depth personal book recommendations, spread throughout the store on handwritten cards, or have award winners and nominees brought to your attention in the same manner. You may want to just stop in, pick up what you've set out to buy, make your purchase and leave, as though you were sent out to the grocery store for dishwashing liquid. And you could do that here – Unabridged's staffers don't make a habit of accosting their customers and pushing them to make purchases they don't want – but you'd greatly miss out on everything this highly personable and knowledgeable bookstore has to offer. If, however, you do want to share your love of books, enjoy taking a few hours to peruse new titles and feel a sense of accomplish when you acquire an armful of books without lightening your wallet too much, Unabridged is like finding a second home.
~*~
Unabridged Bookstore is located at 3251 N. Broadway in Lakeview. To find out more about the store, their monthly book group and to sign up for their newsletter, visit the website at www.unabridgedbookstore.com or call 773-883-9119.
— Veronica Bond /
Big City, Bad Blood
by Sean Chercover
(William Morrow, 2007; 294 p.)
Ray Dudgeon is a former journalist working as a private investigator in Chicago, hoping he can bring about more real change as a detective than he could as a reporter. Bob Loniski is a Hollywood locations manager, renting a warehouse on the South Side to film a new movie titled Final Revenge. But when Bob sees too much, he becomes un witting witness in a case against Frank DiMarco, a crook with significant ties to the Outfit. Now the Outfit wants Bob dead, and Ray is the only one standing in their way.
Ray takes the case to protect Bob, but he is beset by obstacles, and meanwhile, the other witnesses are turning up dead. Ray's investigation eventually leads him deep into Outfit politics, the Chicago sex trade, blackmail and corrupt public officials. Ray might be able to unravel the mystery, but will it be soon enough to save his client?
Big City, Bad Blood is a fast-paced crime novel filled with twists and turns, yet leading to a satisfying conclusion — but not too satisfying, because this book has all the makings of being the first in a series.
This is a story without clear cut good guys and bad guys. The characters have complex allegiances and motivations, which gives Big City, Bad Blood a ring of truth. Ray Dudgeon is far from faultless, and he may enjoy the more violent aspects of his work a little too much. Yet the story is told from his point of view, so readers also know he cares deeply for the people in his life, and he inspires great loyalty and friendship in others. It makes Ray just sympathetic enough to keep the reader firmly on his side.
Author Sean Chercover grew up in Toronto, but he earned his BA at Columbia College Chicago and currently splits his time between the two cities. Big City, Bad Blood is his first novel, although he has extensive experience writing for print, television and film. Chercover is also a former private investigator. He worked as a PI in both Chicago and New Orleans. This comes as little surprise given the level of realism he achieves in the book.
Big City, Bad Blood is a sharply written debut novel, with a tough protagonist and gritty crime drama that captures the essence of Chicago. It is highly recommended.
— Alice Maggio
Chicago has produced some of the finest names in science fiction, and no true sci-fi fan could claim their fanaticism without having made themselves familiar with these works. Lest local fans fear that all the good sci-fi hails from the past, a new light shines with the publication of the free literary magazine, Tales from the Dim Unknown. Born at Columbia College, the magazine currently has only their premiere, May 2006 issue in print, but the stories inside breed bright hope for many issues to come.
The most striking story in this issue is the comic "The Firefly Brigade." Written by the magazine's president and editor Brian Torney, the comic is split into three chapters, each one illustrated by a different artist. The story focuses on a Holocaust-like event in Poland that leaves the downtrodden gathered together in camps while individuals are executed for their physical injuries or other perceived faults. One strange night, the prisoners see fire streak through the sky as a rocket crashes in the distance. Each illustrator imparts a completely different feeling on their section of the story, going from the cold blues of distant memory to the firey red of lucidity and curiosity to the softer lines of aged regret for an adventure not taken. In a risky decision that could have left an otherwise interesting story feeling broken and disjointed, artists Rebecca Huston, Kristina Chlebowski and Sarah Becan together successfully heighten the visual interest of Torney's story.
The magazine's three short stories stand up just as nicely beside their comic counterparts. Patrick van Slee's "Sympathy for the Robot" is told from the viewpoint of a cocky, smart alec robot who saves Bob, the last man alive after the earth is destroyed by hurricanes, tornadoes and melting ice caps. While the robot goes on about religious parables of world destruction, the rising price of oil and the technological advancements of humans, we learn that humanity may actually have been destroyed altogether. "No offense, buddy," the robot says, "but you're not exactly the best companion a guy shooting off into space could hope for. I have to tell you this, Bob, and don't get upset, but you're dead. But that's okay!" Both amusing and imaginative, the story turns an eye toward what may happen during the last human connection. In "Alien Johnny," Amanda Steiger brings a human, John Hooper, to the wreckage of a UFO and the corpse of a bleeding alien. John's anti-alien in the way that Americans are seen to be anti-immigration, proclaiming that the alien deserves his death for trying to come to his planet, but a small object from the wreckage unexpectedly piques his interest. Finally, in C.S.E. Cooney's "Mermaid from Mars," a happy birthday present results in a tragic situation for a family. This isn't Disney's little mermaid that Cooney gives us, but an animal held in captivity with a dragonhead and green eyes that glow with an emotion that is far from the cheery hopefulness of the animated version.
To be truthful, glossy pages and rich, saturated colors do well to convey the seriousness of a publication. Although there are plenty of worthwhile reads that appear in little more than Xeroxed black and white, the fact that Tales from the Dim Unknown comes to the reader in such a finished package, combined with the great reads inside, speaks well of the creators' ambitions. And though bookstores are rife with independent magazines filled with poetry, experimental fiction and creative nonfiction and essays, a magazine devoted to up and coming science fiction writers is a rare find. As Torney writes in the acknowledgements, Tales from the Dim Unknown was made possible through a grant from the Albert P. Weisman scholarship fund, which makes this group of writers very lucky to be able to see their work come to such gorgeous fruition. With May 2007 as the tentative date for issue two, one hopes there comes a time that readers will be treated to more frequent issues. But, even if this isn't the case, and even if the money isn't there, the inventive writing and vivid illustrations would be more than enough to keep this sci-fi fan wanting more, even if it were just black and white.
~*~
To learn more, visit Tales from the Dim Unknown on myspace.
— Veronica Bond
A reading journal is one of the best ways to track
your reading habits and actively engage with the
materials you read. This article will give you some
tips on starting a reading journal, although no one
"right" way exists to track the books, journals or
articles you read — it can be as structured or as
informal as you like. Do what appeals to you, and
what you'll be able to stick to doing. But if you are
serious about learning and getting the most out of
what you read, a reading journal can be a valuable
source of notes, thoughts and analysis you can return
to again and again.
The first consideration is the format of your journal. Should you choose a paper journal, electronic document or online log?
With a paper journal, all you need is a basic
notebook or memo pad. Smaller format blank books and
journals work well because they are lightweight and
easy to throw into a bag and carry around. Some
companies make fancy journals specifically meant for
recording the books you read. If this appeals to you,
and you have money to burn, check out the
ultra-swanky Bookography Journal
from Levenger, which has pre-formatted pages with
lots of bells and whistles. More affordable book
journals include the Book Lust journal,
based on the popular books by Nancy Pearl, and the
What I Read mini journal from Potter
Style. But, really, any old notebook will do.
If you don't like the idea of a paper journal, you
might consider keeping track of your reading using an
electronic format. Your reading log might be as
simple as a text file list of the books you've
completed. Or, it can be as complicated as a
home-grown database created using applications such
as Microsoft Access or Filemaker.
Finally, if you would like to share your reading
journal with the world, start a book blog or check
out one of the literary social networking services
reviewed here a few weeks ago.
What do the GB Book Club moderators do? Veronica Bond
and I are both long-time bloggers, so we both keep
reading blogs. Veronica writes personalized,
full-length reviews of the books she reads on her
book blog, Veronica's Book Lounge, while I barely manage
a full paragraph for most of my summaries at Rabbit Girl Reads. You might take a completely different approach.
After you decide on a format, what should you include
in your reading journal? At the very least, you can
keep a list of the titles and authors of the
books read, plus the date (month/year) they were
completed. But, you also might consider any of the
following:
1. Characters: Who are the major characters in the
book? What are they like? What roles do they play in
the story?
2. Plot: What happens? Write a brief summary of the
story.
3. Style: How would you describe the author's writing
style? How does it affect the book?
4. Point of View: Who's telling the story? Why do you
think the author chose a particular point of view?
5. Setting: Where and when does the book take place?
6. Themes: What is the book really about?
7. Copy favorite quotes from the book.
8. Record notes about the book itself. Did you buy
it? Borrow it? Where/when? Was it a gift? From whom?
9. Why did you want to read the book? Did it meet
your expectations? Why or why not?
Other uses for your reading journal include keeping a
list of books you want to read or a list of favorite
bookstores. Just leave a few blank pages in the front
or back of a paper journal, a separate text file on
your computer or an open post on your blog.
Keeping a reading journal is a worthwhile exercise
that becomes more rewarding with age. Every year, you
can look back and examine your changing interests and
moods through the books you read. You can remember
the summer you finally broke down and read all the
Harry Potter books, or the year you vowed to read
only literary prize winners. And, you can go back and
re-read books and track how your feelings about a
book have changed over time.
These are just a few ideas to get you started. You might have lots more. If you already keep some sort of reading journal and have tips to share, please post them in the comments.
— Alice Maggio
We asked you to tell us what books you enjoyed reading most in 2006, and you answered. Here is a list of Gapers Block readers' favorite reads this year. It includes new books and classics, fiction and nonfiction, and may give other readers some ideas for what to read in 2007.
Thanks to everyone who contributed. If you would still like to contribute, add your favorite book read in 2006 in the comments.
Anthony Bourdain, Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly
Very sarcastic, cynical chef's expose of the restaurant industry. Very funny if you like dark, dry humor, and clearly written by a food lover — if you're one of those seeking a soulmate.
--Catherine P.
Mark Dunn, Ibid: A Novel
This novel is allegedly the footnotes from a lost biography. It was witty, but not too clever. Kudos to the author for pulling off a pretty good novel with an interesting format to boot.
--Catherine P.
Temple Grandin, Animals in Translation
A new book by one of my favorite authors. Grandin is a highly functioning autistic woman who has become a champion of ethical treatment of animals raised for food. Her practical humane approach to this industry is a model for our society which prefers not to know where their food came from, and her lack of pretense, which she credits to autism, gives her a refreshing and inspiring modesty and practicality.
--Catherine P.
Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
This book was interesting and fun. It's also one of those books to which I refer in conversation all the time. It's a quick read and it gets you into the circle of people who refer to why drug dealers live at home and the importance (or lack thereof) of school choice.
--Catherine P.
Sinclair Lewis, Babbit
With wit and irony, and efficient writing, Lewis skewers the business class values of the 1920s — values that seem to have changed little over the last 80 years. Still, Lewis manages to make the main character sympathetic, and forces readers to think hard about the mainstream ideals of American culture.
--Thad R.
Steve Martin, Shopgirl
A very sweet, incredibly well-written short novel about delicate souls caught up in the strange world of southern California. The characters were recognizable and sympathetic, and the author's loving treatment of his heroine really surprised me. I expected this book, because of its author, to be funny, but not as tender and engrossing as it was.
--Catherine P.
James Meek, The People's Act of Love
My favorite book of 2006 is James Meek's The People's Act of Love. Meek's novel is a stunning achievement, one with a broad epic sweep which still manages to convey the small but telling details of people's everyday lives. It's an unforgettable story of love, suspense and war which asks big philosophical questions which are, ambiguously and intriguingly, only partially answered. A truly great book.
--Pete A.
Flannery O'Connor, Wise Blood
I had a difficult time choosing among Saul Bellow's The Adventures of Augie March, Nelson Algren's Man With the Golden Arm or Wise Blood. Augie March, Frankie Machine and Hazel Motes are all unforgettable characters, and reading each of these works reminded me why the classics are classic. But, Wise Blood wins in the end, because I am certain I will never forget the story of Hazel Motes, a troubled young man in a preacher's hat, haunted by the ragged figure of Jesus moving from tree to tree in the back of his mind, who blinds himself in order to see. Wise Blood is both disturbing and darkly funny, and Flannery O'Connor's language is original and powerful.
--Alice M.
Curtis Sittenfeld, Prep
Whenever I think about the best book I read this year, Curtis Sittenfeld’s Prep is the one that comes to mind. I didn’t expect to love the book quite so much, especially since it was so well received when it first came out, but the coming of age story of a teenaged Lee Fiora trying to find herself within the melodramatic walls of a boarding prep school turned out to be surprisingly insightful. It isn’t that Lee isn’t a smart girl or is entirely gauche, but she’s constantly second guessing herself and wondering whether she merits any attention instead of standing up and making herself known. Lee’s the kind of person I never want to be, but have always been afraid I really am. I truly hope book weathers the years and becomes one in which, a century from now, people are still able to see themselves.
--Veronica B.
Robert Sullivan, Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants
I hold this book in high esteem for its inception and topic more than its execution. After all, the entire book is a tangent about rats. Sullivan began his layperson's examination of our oft-maligned neighbors after finding an Audubon painting of rats stealing an egg. Rather than quickly turning to the next illustration, he became engrossed in the subject. The result is a series of late-night observations of rats, interviews with exterminators, and chronicles of unusual experiences. While there are passages that I wish were more descriptive or more critical, Rats ultimately provides the reader with a fascinating glimpse of another stratum of urban life.
--Dave S.
Sarah Vowell, Assassination Vacation
Great for history buffs and anyone with an offbeat obsession. Vowell is really into presidential assassinations, and this book follows her travels to various museums and historical markers tracking these events. Sound super-boring and self-involved? It's not.
--Catherine P.
— Alice Maggio /
The idea of getting a bunch of books together, inviting the authors to mingle with the reading public, adding food and a couple of demonstrations sounds like perfect event. This is precisely the idea behind the Chicago Headline Club Foundation’s Holiday Book Bash. This year marked the Club’s second Book Bash and featured such notable authors as Rick Kogan, Gale Gand, Alpana Singh, Stacy Ballis and more, as well as a silent auction for numerous gift packages. Although these seem like the perfect elements for an excellent literary event –- and the hefty price for a general admission ticket would seem to hold some promise –- Alice and I both came away from the evening wanting more. I admit that I’ve never planned a literary event myself, but I’ve been to plenty of them and at the Book Bash several issues immediately stood out as problematic. In the interest of fostering a more satisfactory Bash, below are some suggestions to make the ticket price worthwhile.
Issue #1: Seating
While many literary events don’t offer food, or if they do they’re light refreshments, the Book Bash featured an extensive Italian buffet, complete with pasta, chicken, mushrooms, artichoke and calamari. The plates were ceramic and the silverware was real, but for the hundred or so attendees there were less than ten six-seat tables. If you weren’t lucky enough to snag one of these or one of the few smaller, bar-height tables that held about two plates safely, you were stuck eating standing up with a heavy food-filled plate in one hand and no room for a drink in the other. Proposed Solution: Use ticket sales to judge the number of tables needed. Generally, if one purchases a ticket for an event that includes a full dinner, one also expects that a table and chair are similarly included in the price.
Issue #2: Acoustics
The Book Bash was held at the Galleria Marchetti in a large ballroom just past the entrance. I don’t know what the room is normally used for, but it was nearly impossible to understand the hosts and author speakers throughout the evening. The chatter of the dining guests combined with the clink of knives and forks, the ringing of cash registers and the murmur of waiters refilling food trays formed a looming racket that forced the speakers to shout into the microphones, the amplified shouting adding just another layer to the thick blanket of sound. The fact that the guests seemed more interested in continuing their conversations than quieting down for the authors perhaps says more about the type of people this event attracts than it does about the quality of the meeting space. Proposed Solution: Inquire about acoustic quality when visiting potential event sites. Formalize the schedule so that the featured authors are the main focus rather than background noise. Leave out the stale holiday tunes, especially if the event is being held in early November.
Issue #3: Authors
Building on Issue #2, the authors for whom the Bash was created were almost secondary to all the other commotion in the room. No author made his discontent with this clearer than Richard Roeper. As the author of the recently published Sox in the City, Roeper took the stage with Tribune columnist Rick Kogan for several truly uncomfortable moments of banter. WGN’s Steve Cochran and WBEZ’s Sylvia Ewing hosted, but Roeper took matters into his own hands. “The first thing you want to do is have the food stand right in front,” he griped, pointing to what was not a food stand but Gale Gand’s demonstration cart. “And if you have four people, you should have two mics! I have to comment on these things as they happen!” True, the evening was disorganized, but deriding it onstage certainly didn’t help. In sharp contrast, Kogan gracefully attempted to exchange a few jokes with the hosts and stepped quietly off the stage when the Book Bash Chat was over. Proposed Solution: Featured authors should be featured, not incidental to the event. Additional Suggestion: Don’t invite Richard Roeper to anything. Ever.
Issue #4: Vendors
In a city brimming with home grown literature, there is nothing quite as disappointing as realizing that the book vendor for a non-profit literary event is not one of our fabulous independent bookstores, but Barnes & Noble. I find it hard to believe that no other bookseller would have been happy to offer their services. Proposed Solution: Do some marketing research and help out other local businesses. Going with the big business is the easy way out.
Issue #5: Prizes
For an organization that purports to promote literature, the silent auction prizes were decidedly unliterary. Although there was the occasional obvious pairing -– Alpana Pours with four bottles of wine, a copy of Jen Lancester’s Bitter is the New Black -– most of the prizes had little do with the authors featured at the event. Spa packages and theater tickets may be enticing on their own, but they’re far too typical silent auction prizes. The prize table felt more like a Macy’s than a book event. Proposed Solution: Put your thinking caps on and come up with some interesting, literary themed packages. People will bid on out of the ordinary prizes.
Alice and I left before the event was over because we simply weren’t having any fun. Having been to a number of local literary events, it’s easy to know that very little is required to make them enjoyable. In fact, I’d venture to say that little more is needed than an engaging author and an interested audience. They say the best things in life are free and after having been to the Holiday Book Bash, the same thing might be said of literary events.
— Veronica Bond
Chicago offered 2006 a wealth of stories featuring characters as different from each other as the city’s vast and diverse neighborhoods. This year found readers following the emotional trials of a grown-up “Encyclopedia Brown”, uncovering mysteries at the Robie House, revisiting the 1893 World’s Fair, joining the casts of reality design shows, time-traveling to the jazz age and the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre and remembering childhood in an idyllic Midwestern town. What follows is a, by no means complete, list of books about Chicago or by Chicago authors, published in 2006, that are always welcome additions to gift lists and wish lists alike.
La Perdida
by Jessica Abel (Pantheon Books, 275 pages)
A graphic novel about a young Mexican-American woman heading to Mexico to learn more about her heritage. An excerpt was included in The Best American Comics 2006.
The Wright 3
by Blue Balliott (Scholastic Press, 318 pages)
The follow up to the well-received Chasing Vermeer, join University of Chicago Lab School students Petra and Calder as they embark on another mystery, this time at the Frank Lloyd Wright Robie House.
Room For Improvement
by Stacey Ballis (Berkley Trade, 304 pages)
Interior designer Lily Allen is excited to take a job on a reality show where contestants trade apartments and help redesign their spaces, but Lily soon learns that dream jobs aren’t always so dreamy when they come back to reality.
The Handmaid and the Carpenter
by Elizabeth Berg (Random House, 153 pages)
A reinvention of the Nativity story, this book details a young woman named Mary when she first meets her future husband Joseph and chronicles the emotional and social plight of their unexpected pregnancy.
Store-Bought Baby
by Sandra Belton (HarperTeen, 256 pages)
Leah can hardly stand to think why her older, adopted brother, Luce, may have committed suicide in this young adult novel that deals with loss and grief.
Reality TV Bites
by Shane Bolks (Avon Trade, 304 pages)
A designer in a top Chicago design firm and a self-profession reality-show Junkie, Allison Holloway is thrilled when her design team goes head to head with a Japanese design team in a new reality show. But, once the show airs, Allison is forced to take a good hard look at the reality around her.
Farewell, Summer
by Ray Bradbury (William Morrow, 224 pages)
The long-awaited follow up to Dandelion Wine, this tale picks up in the fall of 1928 in Green Town, Illinois, where a young boy named Douglas Spaulding learns what it means to grow up.
Neecey’s Lullaby
by Cris Burks (Harlem Moon, 224 pages)
Amidst desperate surroundings – poverty, abuse, a man who suddenly appears and claims to be her father, Neecey is charged with caring for her siblings while her parents’ marriage falls apart and her mother travels toward destruction. This is Neecey’s coming of age in Chicago, spanning the mid-1950’s to 1973.
Out of Cabrini
by Dave Case (Five Star, 341 pages)
A former member of the Chicago Police Department, Case writes with ease about Chicago street-gangs and the suburbanites they victimize.
The Caddie Who Knew Ben Hogan
by John Coyne, (Thomas Dunne Books, 288 pages)
Golf legends, country club drama and the Chicago Open figure in this story of a 14-year-old boy who caddies for the revered Ben Hogan.
Fort Dearborn
by Jerry Crimmins (Northwestern University Press, 448 pages)
A historical novel set in 1803, veteran Chicago reporter Cimmins explores the city’s roots and social unrest using two fictional characters –- a son of one of the Fort Dearborn’s soldiers and his friend, a Potawatomie boy who lives nearby.
Sons of the Rapture
by Todd Dills (Featherproof Books, 192 pages)
Billy Jones has a brother in jail for killing their mother, a cowboy-like father who feeds on his own notoriety and a wide cast of characters he meets after leaving his southern home for Chicago. But, no matter how hard he tries, Billy’s father and his past will eventually catch up with him.
Water for Elephants
by Sara Gruen (Algonquin Books, 335 pages)
It’s the Great Depression and Jacob Jankowski, who almost earned his veterinary degree, finds himself in the middle of a literal circus. Freaks, loners and, of course, elephants abound.
Philosophy Made Simple
by Robert Hellenga (Little, Brown and Company, 288 pages)
Rudy Harrington has lost his wife, his daughters have left, he’s planning to sell his Chicago home and take up roots on a Texas avocado grove and he’s been reading the college text Philosophy Made Simple. Family, friendships, life events and the development of philosophical beliefs all take at turn in this novel.
Icebergs
by Rebecca Johns (Bloomsbury USA, 320 pages)
From Newfoundland to Ontatio to Chicago, this story follows gunner Walt Dunmore, his wife and his sons as they make their way in and out of our nation’s most notable wars.
Standing Against the Wind
by Traci L. Jones (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 192 pages)
Eighth-grader Patrice has been pulled from her Georgia home and is adjusting to life in Chicago, finding school life even more difficult after her principle asks her to apply for a scholarship to a prestigious African-American school. Her story is one about the value of hope and the fight to end stereotypes that surround us all.
What, No Roses?
by Marianne Mancusi (Love Spell, 323 pages)
Foreign correspondents in love, prisoners of war and time-travel all figure in this story whose protagonist winds up possessing the body of Jack “Machine Gun” McGurn’s girlfriend. It’s the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre all over again, but with a romantic, sci-fi twist.
Hudson Lake
by Laura Mazzuca Toops (Twilight Times Books, 230 pages)
It’s the summer of 1926 and the members of the Jean Goldkette jazz band clash with the snooty citizens in a rural Indiana town with Klansmen and Chicago gangsters. Cornetist Bix Biederbecke endures a fictional romance here.
America’s Report Card
by John McNally (Free Press, 288 pages)
The politics of standardized testing plague Charlie Wolf, who is affected by a 17-year-old suburban Chicago girl’s essay that claims her art teacher’s anti-Bush rhetoric lead to her death.
The Boy Detective Fails
by Joe Meno (Akashic Books, 320 pages)
Former child sleuth Billy Argo is 30 and still fragile after the mysterious suicide of his teenage sister. Putting his sleuthing skills back to work, Billy searches for truth, love and redemption and an answer to his heartbreaking mystery.
Free Burning
by Bayo Ojikutu (Three Rivers Press, 400 pages)
Drugs, corrupt cops, sex scandals and personal despair fill this novel about Tommie Simms and his struggle to find his place among the working world and the streets.
The Echo Maker
by Richard Powers (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 451 pages)
When a man endures a near-fatal truck accident, he awakens to believe that the woman taking care of him – his sister – is really an imposter. With the help of a famous neurologist and a note from an anonymous witness of the accident, they work to learn the horrible truth of that night.
St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves
by Karen Russell (Knopf, 246 pages)
In this short story collection, Russell tells of animal encounters that tell more about the emotions of humans than about zoology. Girls who have been raised by wolves learn human ways from nuns, boys travel in giant crabs to find a dead sister and a man’s dying words to his daughter involves a reminder to feed the alligators.
In Persuasion Nation
by George Saunders (Riverhead Books, 240 pages)
A short story collection that offers trips through Times Square, a flight with an Air Force public relations agent and a bad Christmas in Chicago.
Death is No Bargain
by Michael W. Sherer (Five Star, 368 pages)
A book about a Chicago writer who’s asked to find his neighbor’s missing teenage daughter, even after her father accuses him of seducing her and tries to kill him. If that weren’t twisted enough, his girlfriend is pregnant, too.
Trouble: Stories
by Patrick Somerville (Vintage Contemporaries, 212 pages)
Called “hilarious” and “wildly inventive,” the stories in this book detail the transition through adolescence and adulthood through the mind of the American male.
City for Ransom
by Robert W. Walker (Avon, 336 pages)
A look at the 1893 World’s Fair and the mass murderer who tainted it through the eyes of the fictional Inspector Alastair Ransom.
— Veronica Bond /
This is the second annual round-up of notable books published in the past year either concerning Chicago or written by local authors. Last year's list featured titles such as Citizen, Louise Knight's celebrated biography of Jane Addams, and Courtroom 302 by Steve Bogira, a critically acclaimed look inside the Cook County Criminal Courthouse.
This year's list does not disappoint. It includes books about beer and wine, railroad tycoons, a history of zoning and the Plan of Chicago. It includes books about segregation and housing discrimination, Cubs and White Sox, Pilsen and Millennium Park. And it includes one little book about the audacity of hope.
Although this list is not comprehensive, it contains something for almost every Chicago area book lover on your holiday shopping list. Plus, check back next week for Veronica Bond's year-end review of fiction by Chicago authors.
First in Violence, Deepest in Dirt: Homicide in Chicago, 1875-1920
by Jeffrey S. Adler (Harvard University Press, 367 pages)
Adler examined thousands of homicide cases for this fascinating look at violence in Chicago at the turn of the twentieth-century.
A Field Guide to Gay & Lesbian Chicago
by Kathie Bergquist (Lake Claremont Press, 281 pages)
A new guidebook to gay and gay-friendly places, events and businesses around the city.
Bridges of Memory: Chicago's Second Generation of Black Migration
by Timuel D. Black (Northwestern University Press, 320 pages)
This is the second volume in the Bridges of Memory series.
Richard Nickel's Chicago: Photographs of a Lost City
by Richard Cahan and Michael Williams (CityFiles Press, 192 pages)
An essential collection of photographs — some never before published — taken by Richard Nickel, one of the city's greatest advocates for the preservation of the buildings of Louis Sullivan.
Barrio: Photographs from Chicago's Pilsen and Little Village
by Paul D'Amato (University of Chicago press, 126 pages)
D'Amato spent 14 years taking photos in Chicago's Pilsen and Little Village neighborhoods, resulting in this broad portrait of the city's Mexican communities.
Awake in the Dark: The Best of Roger Ebert; Forty Years of Reviews, Essays and Interviews
by Roger Ebert (University of Chicago Press, 476 pages)
For the movie lover on your list, check out this anthology of writings from the incomparable Roger Ebert.
Robber Baron: The Life of Charles Tyson Yerkes
by John French (University of Illinois Press, 374 pages)
A long-overdue biography of the colorful businessman who shaped Chicago's public transportation, and whose enduring legacy includes the Loop elevated train tracks.
Millennium Park: Creating a Chicago Landmark
by Timothy J. Gilfoyle (University of Chicago Press, 442 pages)
Critically acclaimed examination of the construction of Millennium Park.
Death in the Haymarket: A Story of Chicago, the First Labor Movement, and the Bombing That Divided Gilded Age America
by James Green (Pantheon Books, 383 pages)
An accessible, narrative account of the Chicago Haymarket bombings and the early labor movement.
Black Writing from Chicago: In the World, Not of It?
edited by Richard R. Guzman (Southern Illinois University Press, 328 pages)
An anthology of work from some of Chicago's black writers, from the 19th century to the present, including excerpts from Ida B. Wells, Gwendolyn Brooks, Sam Greenlee, Angela Jackson, Haki R. Madhubuti and dozens more.
A Chicago Tavern: A Goat, A Curse and the American Dream
by Rick Kogan (Lake Claremont Press, 115 pages)
A warm-hearted and generously illustrated history of the Billy Goat Tavern and owner Sam Sianis.
Sidewalks: Portraits of Chicago
by Rick Kogan (Northwestern University Press, 256 pages)
A collection of columns by journalist Rick Kogan, accompanied by the original photography of collaborator Charles Osgood.
The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream
by Barack Obama (Crown, 375 pages)
The star senator from Illinois shares his personal vision for finding common ground in a politically divided America in this critically acclaimed and best-selling new book.
Waiting for Gautreaux: A Story of Segregation, Housing and the Black Ghetto
by Alexander Polikoff (Northwestern University Press, 422 pages)
An important and revealing memoir of the author's decades-long legal battle against the Chicago Housing Authority to fight the pattern of segregation in Chicago's public housing.
Sox in the City: A Fan's Love Affair with the White Sox from the Heartbreak of '67 to the Wizards of Oz
by Richard Roeper (Chicago Review Press, 224 pages)
The Sun-Times columnist shares his memories and experiences of the Chicago White Sox as a long-time fan.
The Politics of Place: A History of Zoning in Chicago
by Joseph P. Schwieterman and Dana M. Caspall (Lake Claremont Press, 191 pages)
Think a book about Chicago zoning history might qualify as the most boring book ever? Think again. Politics of Place is a fascinating account of how Chicago came to be the city it is today.
Beer: A History of Brewing in Chicago
by Bob Skilnik (Barricade Books, 416 pages)
A well-researched and engaging history of beer and brewing in Chicago, from the city's earliest "pioneer breweries" to the industry's present-day challenges. Includes an appendix listing the more than 150 breweries that have called Chicago home throughout the city's history.
Alpana Pours: About Being a Woman, Loving Wine, and Having Great Relationships
by Alpana Singh (Academy Chicago Publishers, 220 pages)
The charismatic host of WTTW's "Check Please!" dispenses advice about wine and men in this book, which is both informative and refreshingly unpretentious.
The Plan of Chicago: Daniel Burnham and the Remaking of the American City
by Carl S. Smith (University of Chicago Press, 183 pages)
A concise history of Chicago, Daniel Burnham's landmark 1909 Plan of Chicago and the enduring influence of the Plan on the shape of the city.
The Division Street Princess: A Memoir
by Elaine Soloway (Syren Book Company, 209 pages)
Soloway remembers growing up in Chicago in the 1940s in this lively memoir.
Umbrella Mike: The True Story of the Chicago Gangster Behind the Indy 500
by Brock Yates (Thunder's Mouth, 224 pages)
And, finally, what's a Chicago book list without at least one work about gangsters?
— Alice Maggio /
Alcohol is a substance that has paired well with writing through the ages. Some of the most revered novels of our time may never have come to fruition without this liquid inspiration, but what happens when you take the mix one step further and merge reading and drinking? This is exactly what the creators of RUI: Reading Under the Influence have done in their monthly reading series and the match works predictably well.
Meeting on the first Wednesday of every month at Sheffield's in Lakeview, RUI follows the same simple formula each month. Regular RUI participants and a guest reader offer up selections from either published or original works. What makes the readings "under the influence"? Before reading published works, the reader takes one shot, reads the selection, then finishes with another shot, with the audience encouraged to follow along with drinks of their own. Following the reading are a series of trivia questions for the audience to answer. The audience member who answers the most questions at the end of each selection gets to choose a prize, usually another book. The trivia questions range from the serious, such as identifying the selected work or recounting details about the piece and its author, to the silly, such as likening the subject matter to celebrity mishaps. It's a simple formula, but for the reader who loves to collect useless facts not just about books, but about everything they encounter, it's the perfect place to let these skills shine.
Each session of RUI focuses on a theme. Everything from banned books to local authors to the holidays has influenced the series from its inception in March of 2005. This past month's reading took a cue from Halloween and Day of the Dead celebrations for a night of macabre and morose tales. While Mandy Snyder chose a passage from Toni Morrison's Beloved and stumped the room by asking which number was "spiteful" (Answer: 124), new RUI regular Jesse Jordan received a bevy of answers when he read from the final parts of The Inferno, relating his questions to the movie Clerks and asking in which ring of hell Tim Allen would be placed (Answer: Seventh – violence against God and art). With audience members yelling answers from left and right, one thing quickly becomes clear: these are seasoned readers and a newcomer can only hope to have his or her mouth open by the time someone else has shouted out the correct answer. Far from frustrating though, the audience's competitive spirit and eagerness to participate only make the readings that much more exuberant and convivial. With RUI members' original works thrown in with excerpts of classic literature, the mix of the old and new writings and the obvious love of both set this reading series apart from any other in the city.
Julia Borcherts, Mandy Snyder, Rob Duffer, Carly Huegelmann and Jesse Jordan make up the cast of RUI regulars, but each session has also featured the efforts of a special guest reader. This November Brian Torney, founder of the local science-fiction literary magazine "Tales from the Dim Unknown," read a Ray Bradbury selection and took the opportunity to promote his independent lit mag. Past readings have offered the same chance to other emerging local writers such as Brian Costello, Patty Templeton, Todd Dills, Beth Dugan, Megan Stielstra and more. It's a great opportunity for these writers to advertise their work, but it's also a welcome chance for readers to get to know those names and faces that are breaking out from the local scene and making an impact in the literary world at large.
Reading Under the Influence started as a fundraiser, but has since developed into a literary event worthy of its own mention. It's rare to be a part of an audience that is so engaged in the readings, to find that you're sitting on the edge of your seat hoping you'll be the first one to shout out a title or author and to be surprised to find you're not the only one who possesses knowledge of certain useless literary facts. RUI is not for the stuffy purveyors of literature or for those who put reading on an untouchable pedestal. This is for readers who consume their books with fervor, who not so much read as live the stories between the covers. This is a reader's reading and we can all drink to that.
~*~
RUI: Reading Under the Influence meets on the first Wednesday of every month at Sheffield's, 3258 N. Sheffield. Admission is currently $3 at the door. For information, suggestions or submissions email TheHotReadings[at]hotmail[dot]com.
— Veronica Bond
Some people snoop in strangers' medicine cabinets to get an idea of what someone is really like. Do they use the same toothpaste? Buy the same cold medicine? But, like most avid readers, I browse people's bookshelves.
Books are a much better indicator of a person's personality than toothpaste, anyway. Books express interests, hobbies or even areas of expertise. And if a person doesn't have any books? Well, that says something, too.
But now, you don't need to wait for an invitation in order to find out what the neighbors are reading. Social cataloging services, which allow you to catalog your books and share your home library online, are multiplying. These sites aim to do what del.icio.us did for bookmarks or Flickr for personal photography, with varying degrees of success.
Bibliophil.org is thought to be the first social cataloging website. Currently it has about 10,000 registered users, who have cataloged close to 200,000 titles. Bibliophil is a free service, and creating an account is easy. Just choose a username and provide a valid email address. Then a temporary password is emailed to you, and you are ready to log in and start building your collection.
Like many of the social cataloging services that have sprung up since, Bibliophil relies on Amazon.com data to create your library. You can search by keyword or ISBN and choose from several Amazon databases, such as Amazon.uk (Great Britain), Amazon.ca (Canada) and Amazon.de (Germany).
Once you select a title, you may rate the book, add tags, indicate whether or not you've read the book, and write a review of the book. After the title has been added to your library, you can read the reviews of other Bibliophil users and find out which other users own the title.
Bibliophil is fine to use for organizing your wishlists or keeping track of books you've read. It may also be a good solution for small personal libraries. But if you have a lot of old, rare or out of print books, Bibliophil may not be for you, because if the book is not available on Amazon, you will not be able to add it to your online library.
By far, the most popular social cataloging service is LibraryThing, and for good reason. Of all the applications currently available, LibraryThing is the only one that succeeds equally well as both an online cataloging tool and a social space.
LibraryThing was launched in August 2005, but it already has over 100,000 registered users who have cataloged more than 7 million books. And only about 54,000 of those were written by J.K. Rowling.
To add books to your catalog on LibraryThing, you can search not only Amazon.com data, but also the Library of Congress and more than 40 other major libraries worldwide. And, if you still cannot find a record to match your book, you can create an original record and enter the bibliographic information (title, author, publisher, etc.) yourself.
Once a title is added to your catalog, you may add tags, rate the book or write a review. You can see other users who have also cataloged the title, plus view their tags, ratings and reviews. And, LibraryThing has some of the best book recommendation algorithms anywhere online. Get reading suggestions based on other users' libraries, view similarly tagged books and try out a unique LibraryThing creation, the UnSuggester, which can tell you what books you're not reading.
The site also has groups, which enhances the social aspect of LibraryThing. Find other users who share your interests. Some of the most popular groups include Librarians who LibraryThing, The Green Dragon (Tolkien fans will get it) and Crime, Thriller & Mystery fans. And don't miss the active group of Chicagoans using LibraryThing.
You may catalog up to 200 books with a free account. Upgrade to a paid account for $10 a year or $25 for a "lifetime" membership, and you are allowed to catalog an unlimited number of titles.
LibraryThing is the best all-round social cataloging service. It's one minor limitation may be that it's heavily book-centric. This is not a issue for most bibliophiles, but if you would also like to catalog your CDs, DVDs and other multimedia — in addition to books — sites such as GuruLib or lib.rario.us may be worth a look.
If you have any special collections of books you'd like to show off online — first editions, signed books, rare books, etc. — you definitely want to check out Squirl. Trust me. Squirl is a collector's dream come true. It's fun to browse (salt and pepper shakers, anyone?), very easy to use and addictive.
These sites give you plenty of options for cataloging your home library online and fulfilling a bibliophile's need to snoop around other people's bookshelves. For even more choices, however, Wikipedia has a decent list of current social cataloging services for a variety of media. But, if you spend all day online looking for people who share your love of 19th century French literature, don't say I didn't warn you.
— Alice Maggio
In this debut novel, high school English teacher Peter Ferry witnesses a fatal car accident and becomes obsessed with learning about the life of the victim, Lisa Kim.
