Summer Reads for Adults

Explore the world of fine art through the art of fine reading at your Library.

"There is an art of reading, as well as an art of thinking, and an art of writing." ~ Isaac Disraeli

Quicklinks: Nonfiction | Fiction

 

NONFICTION

Art as Architecture and Design

Edgar Miller and the Hand-Made Home: Chicago’s Forgotten Renaissance Man
By Richard Cahan and Michael Williams

Bungalow Style
By Treena M. Crochet

A Guide to Chicago’s Murals
By Mary Lackritz Gray

Chicago Architecture and Design
By George A. Larson

The Arts & Crafts Companion
By Pamela Todd

Art from Different Perspectives

Rule 53: Capturing Hippies, Spies, Politicians, and Murderers in an American Courtroom
By Andy Austin

Total Chaos: The Art and Aesthetics of Hip-Hop
Edited by Jeff Chang

This is Burning Man
By Brian Doherty **

The Rescue Artist
By Edward Dolnick**

Creators
By Paul Johnson

My Love Affair with Modern Art
By Katharine Kuh

50 American Artists You Should Know
By Debra Mancoff

The Sublime
Eedited by Simon Morley

The Joke’s Over: Bruised Memories: Gonzo, Hunter S. Thompson, and Me
By Ralph Steadman**

Travels to the Edge: The Photo Odyssey
By Art Wolfe

Art, a Reflection of History

Objects of Desire: Victorian Art in the Art Institute of Chicago
By Judith A. Barter

American Gothic: A Life of America’s Most Famous Painting
By Steven Biel

A Needle in the Right Hand of God: The Norman Conquest of 1066 and the Making and Meaning of the Bayeux Tapestry
By R. Howard Bloch

Color: A Natural History of the Palette
B by Victoria Finlay

The Yellow House: Van Gogh, Gauguin, and Nine Turbulent Weeks in Arles
By Martin Gayford **

The Lost Painting: The Quest for a Caravaggio Masterpiece
By Jonathan Harr

The Private Lives of the Impressionists
By Sue Roe

Picasso’s War: The Destruction of Guernica, and the Masterpiece that Changed the World
By Martin Russell

Daring to Look: Dorothea Lange’s Photographs and Reports from the Field
By Ann Whiston Spirn

American-Made: The Enduring Legacy of the WPA: When FDR Put the Nation to Work
By Nick Taylor

Popism: the Warhol Sixties
By Andy Warhol and Pat Hackett**

Celebrating Diversity through Art

Glory in a Line: A Life of Foujita: The Artist Caught Between East and West
By Phyllis Birnbaum

Kiowa and Pueblo Art: Watercolor Paintings by Native American Artists
Introduction and captions by J.J. Brody andOscar Brousse Jacobsen

African American Art and Artists
By Samella Lewis

Frida Kahlo: The Painter and Her Work
By Helga Prignitz-Poda

The Lives of the Muses: Nine Women and the Artists They Inspired
By Francine Prose

Frida by Frida
Edited by Raquel Tibol

Creating Your Own Work of Art and Exploring Art Through Collecting

Creative Night: Digital Photography Tips & Techniques
By Harold Davis

Collecting under the Radar: Tomorrow’s Antiques
By Michael Hogben and Linda Abrams

Handmade Nation: The Rise of DIY, Art, Craft, and Design
By Faythe Levine and Cortney Heimerl**

Drawing with Coloured Pencils
By Jonathan Newey

Tease: 50 Inspired T-Shirt Transformations
By Superstars of Art, Craft, and Design edited by Sarah Sockit**

Collecting African American Art: Works on Paper and Canvas
By Halima Taha

 

FICTION

Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
By Sherman Alexie**

Life Class
By Pat Barker

Matisse Stories
By A.S. Byatt

The Heist Society
By Ally Carter**

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
By Michael Chabon

Lydia Cassatt Reading the Morning Paper
By Harriet Scott Chessman

The Great Man
By Kate Christensen

The Tattoo Artist
By Jill Ciment

The Body Artist
By Don DeLillo

I am Madame X
By Gioia Diliberto

The Danish Girl
By David Ebershoff

The Painter from Shanghai
By Jennifer Cody Epstein

A Room with a View
By E.M. Forester

Keeping the World Away
By Margaret Forster

The Years with Laura Diaz
By Carlos Fuentes

Lulu Meets God and Doubts Him
By Danielle Ganek

How to Paint a Dead Man
By Sarah Hall

North of Beautiful
By Justina Chen Headley**

The Painted Kiss
By Elizabeth Hickey

Loving Frank
By Nancy Horan

The World to Come
By Dana Horn

Twice Told: Original Stories Inspired
By Original Artwork, illustrated by Scott Hunt**

The Lacuna
By Barbara Kingsolver

Nonna’s Book of Mysteries
By Mary Osborne**

Diary
By Chuck Palahniuk

The Painter of Battles
By Arturo Perez-Reverte

Cezanne’s Quarry
By Barbara Pope

Bad Apple
By Laura Ruby**

Blue Nude
By Elizabeth Rosner

Holy Skirts
By Rene Steinke

The Funeral Party
By Ludmila Ulitskaia

Way to Paradise
By Mario Vargas-Llosa

Life Studies: Stories
By Susan Vreeland

Orchard
By Larry Watson

The Shadow Catcher
By Marianne Wiggins

The Picture of Dorian Gray
By Oscar Wilde

The Book Thief
By Markus Zuzak**

Romance

Bending the Rules
By Susan Andersen

A Summer Affair
By Elin Hilderbrand

Just Can’t Get Enough
By Cheris Hodges

With Violets
By Elizabeth Robards

Urban Fiction

The Virgin of the Flames
By Chris Abani

Better Than
By Leslie Esdaile

Around the Way Girls 4
By Dwayne S. Joseph, LaJill Hunt, Roy Glenn

Hood Rat
By K’wan

Autobiography of My Dead Brother
By Walter Dean Myers**

Science-Fiction and Fantasy

The Salon
By Nick Bertozzi

Onion Girl
By Charles De Lint**

Dark Divine
By Bree Despain**

Mortal Love
By Elizabeth Hand

Ink Exchange
By Melissa Marr**

Leviathan
By Scott Westerfield**

Mystery

Death of a Dreamer
By M.C. Beaton

Patterns in the Sand: A Seaside Knitters Mystery
By Sally Goldenbaum

In the Kingdom of Mists
By Jane Jakeman

The Language of Bees
By Laurie R. King

The Killing Art
By Jonathan Santlofer

Thriller/ Horror

A Very Private Gentleman
By Martin Booth

The Portrait of Mrs. Charbuque
By Jeffrey Ford**

The Death Collectors
By Jack Kerley

Duma Key
By Stephen King

The Portrait
By Ian Pears

Graphic Novels

Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451: The Authorized Adaptation
Adapted by Tim Hamilton**

The Picture of Dorian Gray: A Graphic Novel
By Ian Culbard and Oscar Wilde**

Asterios Polyp
By David Mzzucchelli

Stitches: A Memoir
By David Small

The Arrival
By Shaun Tan **

**Light, entertaining books for both adult and teen readers