Librarians remain among the most important and personal sources of information about literature and authors. For our Chicago Reading issue, the Books section asked several local librarians to talk about their favorite Chicago-related books:
Mary A. Dempsey, commissioner of the Chicago Public Library
“The Song of the Lark,” by Willa Cather: “I love the descriptions it gives of Chicago at the turn of the century. There’s Orchestra Hall, Michigan Avenue with all its hustle and bustle. It’s a little snapshot of Chicago that shows an immigrant community as much on the move as today.”
“Chicago: City on the Make,” by Nelson Algren: “It describes the brash, bold, imperfect and wonderful city that is and was Chicago.”
“The Daddy Clock,” by Judy Markey: “A delightful slice of Chicago today. You read it and think, I know where that is.”
“Nature’s Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West,” by William Cronon: ” `Nature’s Metropolis’ is a really neat description of why Chicago is so strategically located, why the city of Chicago makes sense in the geographic economic country. I’m fascinated by Chicago as a marketplace and a railroad hub, the story of growth and economic community. How people made their way.”
Jane Byczek, head of youth and young adult services at the Hinsdale Public Library
“Yolanda’s Genius,” by Carol Fenner: “A good 4th- or 5th-grade-reader novel about a girl who moves from Chicago up to Michigan and comes back for the Blues Fest. Some kids might not know about the Blues Fest, and those festivals are such a vibrant part of life in the city.”
“Say Goodnight, Gracie,” by Julie Reece Deaver: “Chicago-area kids come downtown to study theater.”
“Only Twice I’ve Wished for Heaven,” by Dawn Turner Trice (who is a Tribune staff writer): “A good book for adults and for young adults. An African-American girl and her family move near the lakefront, but the girl longs for her old neighborhood. It shows the socio-economic structures of Chicago.”
Laurel Sher, head of the literature section of the Literature and Language Information Center at the Harold Washington Library Center
“Alive Together: New and Selected Poems,” by Lisel Mueller: “I heard her read her poems, and I was really touched by them. I even had a dream inspired by one of her poems the night after the reading.”
“Divine Days,” by Leon Forrest: “Chicagoan Forrest has been compared to James Joyce.”
“The Jungle,” by Upton Sinclair: “It’s fascinating that (unsanitary meatpacking) went on in this city. It would’ve been interesting to visit the stockyards.”
“Ornate With Smoke,” by Sterling Plumpp: “It’s great poetry, so rooted in jazz and the black experience. He’s great.”
“Maud Martha,” by Gwendolyn Brooks: “I knew her poetry, but I had no idea that she had written a novel set in Chicago. She’s really down-to-earth and accessible. She writes about the South Side, the Bronzeville area.”
Joe Davis, head of the young people’s department at the Algonquin Public Library
“Chicagoland Ghosts,” by Dylan Clearfield: “A book of local ghost stories like Resurrection Mary of Archer Avenue fame. To think that these things were supposed to have happened here makes it scarier.”
“The Great Fire,” by Jim Murphy: “A good resource for kids’ assignments. Wonderful pictures and narrative.”
Greta Bever, head of the Austin-Irving branch of the Chicago Public Library
“The Actual,” by Saul Bellow: “I love his characters, and in this one his main character is a man flawed but endearing in many ways. It’s set in Chicago in a way that it could not be transported anywhere else–part of it has to do with a certain outlook on life that takes circumstances as they come. Less about molding the world to your own viewpoint than, say, triumphing over the weather.”
“The Dieter,” by Susan Sussman: “A woman married to a politician realizes that he’s having an affair. The whole thing is very funny and set in Chicago. When the main character decides to quit smoking, she throws her cigarettes into Lake Michigan.”
Cindy Welch, young-adult specialist at the Harold Washington Library Center
“The Education of Robert Nifkin,” by Daniel Pinkwater: “He’s a wacky writer, and this title is a coming-of-age story set in 1950s Chicago.” (Ages 12-15).
“The Jazz Kid,” by James Lincoln Collier: “Collier gives a good sense of what it was like to be music-crazy in Chicago in the Roaring ’20s. Paulie Horvath stumbles onto the jazz clubs of the day and, despite his father’s wishes, wants more than anything in the world to be a horn player.” (Ages 10-15).
Joyce Meggett, head of the fiction section in the Literature and Language Information Center at the Harold Washington Library Center
“Paco’s Story,” by Larry Heinemann: “It’s powerful and personal. Set in Vietnam during the war, it draws you into a mysterious aura.”
“Carlyle Simpson,” by Karen Lee Osborne: “This book has a fierce old guy in it, the title character. Karen Lee Osborne also edited `The Country of Herself: Short Fiction by Chicago Women.’ “
Ann Huntting, adult services librarian at the Humboldt Park branch of the Chicago Public Library
“A Nation of Amor,” by Christopher McConnell: “About gangs in West Town. It starts at Clemente (High School), mentions Division Street. The writer really seems to know the place.”
“The House on Mango Street,” by Sandra Cisneros: “She’s good for young people. There was a girl in (the library) not long ago who’d been reading Cisneros and said, `She tells the truth.’ Cisneros is from around here.”
