Top 5 Cafes in which to Draft Your First Novel Currency Exchange Café, Hyde Park Filter Café, Wicker Park Gaslight Coffee Roasters, Logan Square Kopi A Travelers Café, Andersonville The Grind Café, Lincoln Square —Amy Danzer
Top 5 Wintry Short Stories by Stuart Dybek to Enjoy with Hot Cocoa “Chopin in Winter” “Córdoba” “Four Deuces” “Ice” “The Long Thoughts” —Amy Danzer
Top 5 Russian Short Stories to Enjoy with a Shot of Vodka “Master and Man,” Leo Tolstoy “The Clown,” Maxim Gorky “The Lady With A Dog,” Anton Chekhov “The Overcoat,” Nikolai Gogol “The Queen of Spades,” Alexander Pushkin —Amy Danzer
Top 5 Novels by Chicago Authors in 2014 “The Good Girl,” Mary Kubica “The Silent Wife,” A.S.A. Harrison “What The Lady Wants,” Renée Rosen “The Hundred-Year House,” Rebecca Makkai “The Book of Unknown Americans,” Cristina Henriquez —Kelly Roark
Top 5 Books of 2014 “All the Birds, Singing,” Evie Wyld “Be Safe, I Love You,” Cara Hoffman “Your Fathers, Where Are They? And the Prophets, Do They Live Forever?” Dave Eggers “Little Failure,” Gary Shteyngart “The Secret Place,” Tana French —Kelly Roark
Top 5 Mysteries of 2014 “The Secret Place,” Tana French “Silkworm,” Robert Galbraith “The Long Way Home,” Louise Penny “The Black Hour,” Lori Rader-Day “The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line,” Rob Thomas and Jennifer Graham —Kelly Roark
Top 5 YA Books Adults Will Love “The Fever,” Meg Abbott “Panic,” Lauren Oliver “Belzhar,” Meg Wolitzer “Last Days of California,” Mary Miller “We Were Liars,” E. Lockhart —Kelly Roark
Top 5 Short Story Collections “Bark,” Lorrie Moore “Redeployment,” Phil Klay “Stone Mattress,” Margaret Atwood “Can’t and Won’t,” Lydia Davis “The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher,” Hilary Mantel —Kelly Roark
Top 5 Novels/novellas To Channel Your Apocalyptic Anxieties “Station Eleven,” Emily St. John Mandel “California,” Edan Lepucki “Pills and Starships,” Lydia Millet “Sleep Donation,” Karen Russell “Bone Clocks,” David Mitchell —Kelly Roark
Top 5 Chicago Bookstores that Would Also Work as Movie Set Pieces Seminary Co-Op: Its maze of shelves would make for a heart-pounding chase scene. 57th Street Books: The further you go in, the more it feels like a Hobbit Hole. Myopic Books: This three-story bookstore serves Errol Flynn stunts as well it does a Zombie Apocalypse Stronghold. Powell’s at UIC: There really isn’t a better storefront window to make a dynamic entrance or exit. City Lit Books: Its address in Logan Square would explain the disproportionate ratio of attractive young people. —Brendan Buck
Top 5 Bookstores in Chicago City Lit Books The Book Cellar Unabridged Bookstore Quimby’s Women and Children First —Brendan Buck
Top 5 Used Bookstores Open Books Myopic Books Ravenswood Used Books Powell’s Bookstore Hyde Park After-Words Bookstore —Paula Carter
Top 5 Chicago Small Press Releases This Year Bill Hillmann, “The Old Neighborhood” Ryan Kenealy,” Animals in Peril” Simone Muench, “Wolf Centos” Megan Stielstra, “Once I Was Cool” Halle Butler, “Jillian” —Michael Workman
Top 5 Chicago Independent Reading Series Sunday Salon Reading Series The Danny’s Reading Series Self-Publishers of Chicago Series The Dollhouse Reading Series Galactic Pinwheel Reading Series —Michael Workman
Top 5 Chicago Artist’s Book Events Chicago Zine Fest Chicago Alternative Comics Expo (CAKE) Printers Ball Pop-Up Book Fair Hosted by Curbside Splendor Publishing & Chicago Writers House Medium Cool —Michael Workman
Top 5 Chicago Zine-Makers Corinne Halbert, Hate Baby Comics John Porcellino, King Cat Comics Matt Davis, Perfectly Acceptable Corinne Mucha, Get Over It! Rae Whitlock, I Can’t Even —Michael Workman
Top 5 Emerging Chicago Poets Erin Watson Danielle Susi Cassandra Jimenez Charlie Popetz Sean Duffy —Michael Workman
Related Stories
Lit Top 5: May 2023 May brings stellar writers with brilliant new books, festivals, and a debut novel from Tom Hanks.
Lit Top 5: May 2021 From Chicagoski to Fat and Queer, May is full of dynamic events
Lit Top 5: May 2022 Chicago Humanities Spring Festival and American Writers Festival headline an extraordinary month for book lovers and thought leaders.
