Review: Decent People Facing Strangeness, Dark Black, by Sam Weller
Dark Black by Sam Weller Hat & Beard Press One of the opening paragraphs of Sam Weller’s short story “All the Summer Before Us” is this: “We were eighteen, me […]
Review: The Loop: The ‘L’ Tracks That Shaped and Saved Chicago, by Patrick T. Reardon
The Loop: The ‘L’ Tracks that Shaped and Saved Chicago by Patrick T. Reardon Southern Illinois University Press Reviewed by Mary Wisniewski There are lovelier and more prestigious symbols of […]
Book Review: The Right Amount of Daring: How to Walk on Water by Rachel Swearingen
By Allison Manley How to Walk on Water by Rachel Swearingen New American Press It’s energizing to pick up a short story collection, knowing almost nothing about it, and finding yourself […]
Interview: Pigeon English: A Talk with Author Kathleen Rooney
Chicago writer Kathleen Rooney recently released her latest novel, Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey. A fictional retelling of the true story of World War I’s “Lost Battalion” (though mostly regarding […]
Review: Re-Animaniac: Dr. Herbert West & Astounding Tales of Medical Malpractice
Dr. Herbert West & Astounding Tales of Medical Malpractice By Bruce Brown and Thomas Boatwright Arcana Comics Howard Phillips Lovecraft was once a rare beast. Following a personal literary philosophy […]
Review: Byronic Heroines, Mad, Bad & Dangerous to Know, by Samira Ahmed
Mad, Bad & Dangerous to Know by Samira Ahmed Penguin Random House Reviewed by C.E. Archer-Helke I don’t often find a book that simultaneously transports me to the best parts […]
Review: Murder Most Female—He Had It Coming, by Kori Rumore and Marianne Mather
He Had It Coming Kori Rumore and Marianne Mather Midway: An Agate Imprint A crime only gains sex appeal after it’s been committed, and it’s usually an ingredient added by […]
Review: The Very Near Future—Midwest Futures, by Phil Christman
Midwest Futures By Phil Christman Belt Publishing The Midwest is a deeply mysterious place to the coastal essayists, pundits, and politicians. Rarely visiting, save to write clunky closed factory and […]
Book Review: Relentless, Raw Outrage, Valentine by Elizabeth Wetmore
Valentine by Elizabeth Wetmore Harper, 306 pages, $26.99 Elizabeth Wetmore’s Valentine, set in 1976 rural West Texas, is a novel of relentless and brutally raw outrage. A fury-filled howl of […]
Rubbernecking Rich Living, Chicago Apartments: A Century and Beyond of Lakefront Luxury
Chicago Apartments: A Century and Beyond of Lakefront Luxury By Neil Harris with Teri J. Edelstein University of Chicago Press, 364 pages, $85 Reading Neil Harris’s Chicago Apartments: A Century […]
Book Review: A Vibrant Novel about Random Life, Right after the Weather, by Carol Anshaw
Right after the Weather by Carol Anshaw Atria Books, 269 pages, $27 It’s one of those random moments in life. Cate, running late, drives into Neale’s alley, puts on her […]
Book Review: South Side Chick Lit, Saving Ruby King by Catherine Adel West
Saving Ruby King by Catherine Adel West Park Row Books, 312 pages, $27.99 In the closing pages of Catherine Adel West’s Saving Ruby King, two men and two women can […]