Top 5 Books

“Palestinian Walks: Forays into a Vanishing Landscape,” Raja Shehadeh (Scribner)

“Netherland: A Novel,” Joseph O’Neill (Pantheon)

“Human Smoke: The Beginnings of World War II, The End of Civilization,” Nicholson Baker (Simon & Schuster)

“Sleeping it Off in Rapid City: Poems, New & Selected,” August Kleinzahler (FSG)

“A Better Angel: Stories,” Chris Adrian (FSG)

-John Freeman

Top 5 Books

“The Lazarus Project,” Aleksandar Hemon (Riverhead Books)

“Indignation,” Philip Roth (Houghton Mifflin)

“Lush Life,” Richard Price (Farrar, Strauss & Giroux)

“When You are Engulfed in Flames,” David Sedaris (Little Brown and Company)

“Crime,” Irvine Welsh (WW Norton & Company)

-Tom Lynch

Top 5 Cookbooks Featuring Chicago Chefs

“From Our Hearts to Your Table: Favorite Recipes From a Greek American Family,” Dorothy Bezemes (N/A)

“Cooking with Les Dames d’ Escoffier: At Home with the Women Who Shape the Way We Eat and Drink,” Les Dames d’ Escoffier (Sasquatch Books)

“The Parthenon Cookbook: Great Mediterranean Recipes from the Heart of Chicago,” Camille Stagg (Agate Surrey)

“Alinea,” Grant Achatz (Ten Speed Press)

“Market-Fresh Mixology: Cocktails for Every Season,” Bridget Albert with Mary Barranco (Agate Surrey)

-Veronica Hinke

Top 5 New Recurring Reading Series

Windy City Story Slam, windycitystoryslam.com

Quickies, quickieschicago.blogspot.com

The Parlor Reads, theparlorreads.com

Sappho’s Salon, womenandchildrenfirst.com

Lovable Losers Literary Revue, lovablelosersliteraryrevue.com/blog

-Robert Duffer