Tariq Shah brings poetry to his debut novel.
Category: Book Review
Jasmon Drain joins the ranks of Chicago’s greatest authors
His debut collection, Stateway’s Garden, captures the city’s unique, ugly beauty.
Riane Konc wants to help you Build Your Own Christmas Movie Romance
The choose-your-own-adventure-style parody features all the best tropes and treats of made-for-TV holiday specials.
Struggling on God’s rules
In Chicago author Goldie Goldbloom’s On Division, a devout 57-year-old Jewish mother works to reconcile her faith with her Hasidic community’s cruelty to her late son.
Gentrification pains
Everything Must Go pays tribute to the displaced working-class of Wicker Park.
The Chicago Neighborhood Guidebook elevates Chicago’s lesser-heard stories
From Austin to Hegewisch, this essay collection offers snapshots of life in Chicago’s neighborhoods.
Indecent Advances tells the secret history of a time when propositioning another man was grounds for murder
And the press stoked antigay paranoia as a way to sell more papers.
In An American Summer, Alex Kotlowitz creates a portrait of a city battling intractable ills
He doesn’t offer solutions, but he’s an empathetic witness to the damage done by violence.
In High-Risers, Ben Austen delivers a long-overdue requiem for Cabrini-Green
A new history of the notorious project reminds us why public housing mattered to the people who lived there—and why it matters still.
Could the selfie smash the patriarchy?
In her book The Selfie Generation, Alicia Eler explores the impact of a cultural phenomenon.
Dave Kehr returns with another indispensable collection of film criticism
University of Chicago Press issues Movies That Mattered, a follow-up to the longtime Reader staffer’s 2011 book When Movies Mattered.
Iliza Shlesinger’s Girl Logic lacks girls and logic
The comedian’s first book is a noxious “celebration” of women.
Isabel Allende’s mystical new novel is a sly response to anti-immigrant fear
In the Midst of Winter might have dreamlike qualities, but it’s grounded in real-world problems.
Story of a Curse—and the Cubs’ curse killer
Author Rich Cohen makes a persuasive—and entertaining—case that, for Cubs fans, the curse was one of the core beliefs that held the universe steady.
Chicago Renaissance celebrates the people who built the city’s cultural scene
A new book examines the local art and literature milieu in the early 20th century.