BOOKPATHS

Chicago, Illinois, U.S.

Julian Guthrie talks with Sara Paretsky, whose 13th book in her Chicago set V. I. Warshawski series, Hardball, was released last month.

‘The summer of 1966 was so pivotal in my life,’ said Paretsky, who was 19 when she arrived in Chicago from a farm in Kansas to do community service work. ‘No one knew how violent it would turn. We were just so hopeful and passionate. We believed that we could end racism and end poverty.’

She said that writing 'Hardball' was a way to revisit events that changed her life and yet felt unfinished. – from “Sara Paretsky’s Lucky 13: Hardball,” by Julian Guthrie, San Francisco Chronicle

Chicago, Illinois, U.S.

Indemnity Only, by Sara Paretsky (New York: Dell Publishing, 1991; first published 1982)

First in a series of mysteries starring private investigator V. I. Warshawski and the city of Chicago.  Readers follow Warshawki as she’s led on a “wild-goose chase,” racing “against time” to save a young woman’s life.

     The night air was thick and damp.  As I drove south along Lake Michigan, I could smell rotting alewives like a faint perfume on the heavy air.  Little fires shone here and there from late-night barbecues in the park.  On the water a host of green and red running lights showed people seeking relief from the sultry air.  On shore traffic was heavy, the city moving restlessly, trying to breathe.  It was July in Chicago.
     I got off Lake Shore Drive at Randolph Street and swung down Wabash under the iron arches of the elevated tracks.  At Monroe I stopped the car and got out.
     Away from the lake the city was quieter.  The South Loop, with no entertainment beyond a few peep-shows and the city lockup, was deserted – a drunk weaving uncertainly down the street was my only companion.  I crossed Wabash and went into the Pulteney Building next to the Monroe Street Tobacco Store.  At night it looked like a terrible place to have an office.  The hall’s mosaic-tiled walls were chipped and dirty.  I wondered if anyone ever washed the scuffed linoleum floow.  The lobby must create a ressuring impression on potential clients.
     I pushed the elevator button.  No response.  I tried again.  Again no response.  I shoved open the heavy stairwell door, climbing slowly to the fourth floor.  It was cool in the stairwell and I lingered there a few minutes before moving on down the badly lit hallway to the east end, the end where rents are cheaper because all the offices look out on the Wabash el.  In the dim light I could read the inscription on the door:  ‘V. I. Warshawski. Private Investigator.’ – from Indemnity Only, by Sara Paretsky

Related Websites

Sara Paretsky Website

Publisher’s Website

Chicago, Illinois, U.S.

Mystery writer Sara Paretsky, who’s character, private investigator V. I. Warshawski, lives “three blocks from Wrigley Field,” talks about being a long-time fan of the Chicago Cubs.

How do you use the team/ballpark as a character in your books?

The Cubs are not in every book, only those that take place in baseball season. They probably appear in half of the books. My detective just cares so passionately about them. Sometimes she is in the stands carrying on an investigation with someone sitting next to her. Sometimes she's depressed and the Cubs are getting her more depressed. – from “Chicago Mystery Writer Sara Paretsky on Cubs, Sox and Tragedy,” by Chris McNamara, Chicago Tribune

Chicago, Illinois, U.S.

Jon Fasman explores Saul Bellow’s Chicago.

“The second house into which Abraham Belo moved his family is a brick three flat on Cortez Street. The house is on the ragged edge of Ukrainian Village; walking along these streets you’ll hear Ukrainian, Russian and Spanish with equal frequency. Some hipsters, but not many, have started to make inroads this far west. At the end of Bellow’s old block, on the corner of Cortez and Western, is a bar called the Empty Bottle where the new and old communities have made a tentative accommodation: it has an old-time, corner-tavern feeling (which in this area still tends to mean Polish), it serves a largely Latino community and in the evenings it features an eclectic array of experimental jazz and rock bands, along with some of the best D.J.’s in the city. It achieves this mix matter-of-factly, unsentimentally.” – from “Where Words Took Shape: Saul Bellow’s Chicago,” by Jon Fasman, The New York Times

Waukegan, Illinois, U.S.

Dandelion Wine, by Ray Bradbury (New York: Harper Collins, 1999; and other editions; first published in 1957)

Ray Bradbury “recreates” his childhood in Waukegan, Illinois during the summer of 1928.  Fictionalized as Green Town, Bradbury interweaves his own and imagined experiences in this sweet novel about 12-year-old David Spaulding during slow, warm, magical, days.

"It was a quiet morning, the town covered over with darkness and at ease in bed.  Summer gathered in the weather, the wind had the proper touch, the breathing of the world was long and warm and slow.  You had only to rise, lean from your window, and know that this indeed was the first real time of freedom and living, this was the first morning of summer." – from Dandelion Wine, by Ray Bradbury

Related Websites

Publisher’s Website

Ray Bradbury’s Website

Waukegan, Illinois

Chicago, Illinois, U.S.

Listen to Scott Simon talk about his second novel, Windy City.

"’I think politics is a local specialty in Chicago, the way that blues and improvisational comedy is a local specialty,’ Simon says.” – from NPR Website

Alton, Illinois, USA

Freedom’s Champion: Elijah Lovejoy, by Paul Simon (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University, 1994; out of print but available)

Written by the late Illinois Senator Paul Simon, Freedom’s Champion: Elijah Lovejoy shares the life story of “a champion for freedom of the press, freedom of speech, and freedom from slavery.” Born on November 9, 1802, Lovejoy was ordained as a Presbyterian minister in 1934. As publisher of The St. Louis Observer he began to advocate the abolition of slavery, angering many residents. After a mob destroyed his press, Lovejoy moved to Alton, Illinois, where he established the abolitionist newspaper
The Alton Observer. Lovejoy was murdered for his views on November 7, 1837.

Dedicated on November 7, 1897, “the sixtieth anniversary of Lovejoy’s death,” The Elijah P. Lovejoy Memorial in Alton, Illinois, honors the man and his work.

Related Website

Online Edition
Memoir of the Rev. Elijah P. Lovejoy; Who was Murdered in Defence of the Liberty of the Press, at Alton, Illinois, November 7, 1837, by Joseph C. and Owen Lovejoy

Northbrook, Illinois

The American Booksellers Association profiles The Book Bin in Northbrook, Illinois.

“The suburban community of Northbrook, 20 miles north of the Chicago Loop, supports the store with strong purchases of children's books and hardcover fiction. 'People are always coming to the store and asking us, What should I read?' said Janis Irvine. The store's knowledgeable staff and personalized service have helped the business weather strong competition from surrounding chain stores.” – from ABA Website

Chicago, Illinois

As part of NPR’s “You Must Read This” series, writer Asali Solomon explains why we should read Maud Martha, by Gwendolyn Brooks.

“The plot here resembles your life or mine: good days and bad, no headlines. But Maud Martha's riotous parade of human feeling will make you wonder what Brooks could have done with your life story. Though Maud never travels far from home, her restless imagination ranges widely.” – Asali Solomon, NPR website

Chicago, Illinois

Arnie Bernstein interviews Al Degenova, co-editor and founder of After Hours : a Journal of Chicago Writing and Art.

“The journal grew out of a reading series Degenova ran in the late 1990s with performance poet Charlie Rossiter at Oak Park's Buzz Cafe. At the dawn of the new century, Degenova felt there was no literary publication devoted exclusively to Chicago writers.” – from “Midwest Beat Goes On,” by Arnie Bernstein, Chicago Sun-Times