For The Book Obsessed
[ad_1] “Checking out Historical Chicago” is a feature series devoted to the work of historical worldbuilding. The world each featured writer builds is Chicago. And yet, each writer brings Chicago to life differently, with different hammers and bricks, brushes and hands. This series approaches Chicago as a city constantly under construction: a story that is, … Read more
[ad_1] Jennifer Croft’s debut novel, The Extinction of Irena Rey, begins with a warning from the translator—not from Croft herself, who is one of the most well-regarded translators in English today. Another translator, one Croft wrote into being, speaks: cautioning readers from proceeding. “Should you choose to keep reading,” notes this translator before the novel … Read more
[ad_1] By the pricking of our thumbs, something wicked this way comes at the Chicago Review of Books. We’ve been brewing up this list of our favorite recent horror books to fill your Halloween with frights of all kinds. A dash of monsters, a pinch of vampires, a draught of ghosts: these are the ingredients for … Read more
[ad_1] “Checking out Historical Chicago” is a feature series devoted to the work of historical worldbuilding. The world each featured writer builds is Chicago. And yet, each writer brings Chicago to life differently, with different hammers and bricks, brushes and hands. This series approaches Chicago as a city constantly under construction: a story that is, … Read more
[ad_1] “Checking out Historical Chicago” is a new feature series devoted to the work of historical worldbuilding. The world each featured writer builds is Chicago. And yet, each writer brings Chicago to life differently, with different hammers and bricks, brushes and hands. This series approaches Chicago as a city constantly under construction: a story that … Read more
[ad_1] We return to the time of green. It’s spring—yes, manifest it—it’s spring. The sharp blades of the most intrepid plants are pushing through earth still cold from winter snow. Where I live, tender white snowdrops still linger from February, watching over newcomer white and lilac crocuses with their creamy orange pistils. Each walk around … Read more
[ad_1] While Gayle Brandeis was writing her best-known book, The Art of Misdiagnosis, she attended a retreat at St. Mary’s Art Center in Virginia City, Nevada. Settling into her Victoriana room for the weekend, she prepared to transcribe her mother’s documentary, the last artwork her mother produced before hanging herself. Brandeis didn’t believe in the … Read more
[ad_1] With the publication of her first memoir, Burn the Place, Michelin-starred chef Iliana Regan carved a space for herself between the culinary world and the literary world. She was longlisted for the 2019 National Book Award, the first food writer recognized since Julia Child. The New Yorker distinguished Burn the Place as one of “the great memoirs of addiction, … Read more
[ad_1] Take a chill pill” is a harmless enough—albeit rude—imperative: Calm down. Relax. Hush. But the phrase quickly transforms from harmless to insidious with a brief Internet search. Not only can you buy Chill Pills® for “natural relief” from anxiety and insomnia, but “chill pill” is, historically, a slang term for ADHD medication. The phrase … Read more
[ad_1] Lines suggest beginnings and endings, possibilities and limits, differences and connections. Lines can be made by humans. Hand-drawn borders on maps mark one sovereign’s subjects from another’s, their consequences cascading down generations in languages spoken and traditions shared. Lines can be made by nonhumans, too. The horizon stretches across the sea. Waves reach up … Read more