3+ day, 13+ hour ago   (204+ words) The Chicago Public Library on Wednesday announced Samantha Harvey’s Booker Prize-winning novel “Orbital” as the 2026 selection for One Book, One Chicago, to mark the 25th anniversary of the program. Harvey is a British author whose other books include “The Western Wind,…...

3+ week, 3+ day ago   (674+ words) The traditional public library model many of us grew up with has changed as patrons delve into all sorts of offerings currently archived on and off shelves. First turned into learning resource centers, they have become community focal points. Libraries…...

1+ mon, 1+ day ago   (398+ words) Kurt Andersen’s new novel, “The Breakup,” is the culmination of a trilogy that started with two earlier nonfiction books, 2017’s “Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire,” and 2020’s “Evil Geniuses: The Unmaking of America: A Recent History.” The institute Asher works…...

1+ mon, 1+ week ago   (678+ words) I keep a list of writers I have never read but would like to. The list is long and grows longer each year, though occasionally, I’m able to check off a name, and I’m rarely disappointed in this choice. I…...

1+ mon, 4+ week ago   (795+ words) This past July 16 was the 75th anniversary of the publication of J.D. Salinger’s “The Catcher in the Rye.” There is no denying the staying power of this novel over its 75 years in print. It still sells an estimated 250,000 copies a year, and…...

11+ mon, 2+ week ago   (805+ words) I will be forever grateful to Lily King for her 2020 book “Writers and Lovers,” which was the first novel to break me out of my COVID pandemic disorientation that left me — and many others, as I recall — unable to read…...