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The man with the golden arm / |
An enduring tale set in post-war Chicago slums recounts the downfall of Frankie Machine, a card-dealing World War II veteran with a morphine addiction. |
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The adventures of Augie March / |
Bellow's classic story of a young Jewish boy coming of age in Depression era Chicago has been described as Dickensian in its descriptive power, and remains an American classic. |
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Storm front / |
Harry Dresden is a private investigator in Chicago, and he also happens to be a wizard. This first novel launches the popular series featuring the addictively page-turning adventures of the magical noir hero. (And for some vampire fun, try Chloe Neill's Chicagoland vampires series.) |
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The coast of Chicago / |
Dybek's collection of short stories evokes the mysteries of everyday life in Chicago's ethnic neighborhoods. |
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Studs Lonigan : a trilogy comprising Young Lonigan, The young manhood of Studs Lonigan, and Judgment |
Farrell's three novels follow an Irish boy as he strives to succeed on the South Side of Chicago, from World War I through the Great Depression. |
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So big / |
A fascinating look at Chicago in the early 1900s from rural farm-country to the Haymarket to the Jazz Age nightlife to the ritzy North Shore, this Pulitzer winner from 1925 is as modern and relevant as if it were written this year. |
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Then we came to the end : a novel / |
At the end of the '90s boom a Chicago ad agency is plagued with layoffs. The remaining employees gather around their cubicles to gossip, plot, and wonder who will be the next to "walk Spanish" down the hall, all while trying to look busy and necessary. |
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Granta's special issue focused on the Chicago literary scene, featuring work by Sandra Cisneros, Stuart Dybek, Aleksandar Hemon, and many others. | |
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The Chicago way / |
PI Michael Kelly is an ex Chicago police detective recruited by his former partner to help solve an eight-year-old rape case. When his old partner turns up dead things get complicated. Harvey plays up the Chicago setting bringing the city to life while also invoking the classic crime-writing styles of Chandler and Lehane |
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Loving Frank / |
Horan's well researched historical novel chronicles the affair between famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright and Mamah Cheney. The two met when Wright was hired to design a home for the Cheneys, respectable members of Oak Park society. When Frank and Mamah ran off to live in Europe, they causing quite a scandal, but nothing prepared the gossips for the end of this love story. |
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Crossing California / |
Langer chronicles the lives of three Chicago families living in Rogers Park circa the late 70s and early 80s as they deal with the trials of everyday life in a neighborhood divided by class. |
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Hairstyles of the damned / |
Meno does teen angst with a punk spin in this funny and poignant look at the life of one 17-year-old making his way through the ups and downs of catholic school and first love on Chicago's far South Side. |
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The time traveler's wife : a novel / |
Science fiction and romance collide in Niffenegger's debut novel of Henry, a hapless time traveler and Claire, the woman who waits for him. |
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Free burning : a novel / |
Ojikutu's second novel introduces Tommie Simms, an educated man living the middle-class life after having overcome barriers growing up in a poor South Side neighborhood. When Tommie loses his job, he falls into Chicago's underworld and is soon in over his head. |
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The blade itself / |
Danny Carter is a civilian now, trying to build a good life. He survived the rough streets of Bridgeport and pulled himself out of a life of crime but someone from his past wants to pull him back in for one last job. |
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The jungle / |
Sinclair's novel draws a vivid portrait of life and death in a turn-of-the-century Chicago meatpacking factory -- so compelling it led to government regulation of the food industry. It has been praised as one of the most influential workingman novels in American literature. |
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The cradle : a novel / |
Matt sets off on a search for an old Civil War era cradle, the very cradle his wife was rocked in as a baby. Somerville interweaves storylines demonstrating the intricacies of human relationships in this immensely satisfying read. |
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Native son / |
The tragic story of a young African-American man in 1930s Chicago who loses hope after he kills a white woman in a moment of panic. Wright's classic has been lauded as one of the finest works written on class and race divisions in America . |