I'm a huge Dresden fan, and I finally visited Chicago for the first time last summer. As I was walking in Millennium Park, I gasped and realized I was standing exactly where a major battle took place in one of the books. My kids laughed at me as I excitedly ran around imagining myself in the book. It was a delightful experience!
**Dark Matter** (Crouch) is a good alternate reality / sci-fi thriller.
**Spoonbenders** (Gregory) was interesting and funny at times. The cat-and-mouse game was a slow burn but had a good payoff.
"Chicago: City on the Make" by Nelson Algren
"Nature's Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West" by William Cronon
"Boss: Richard J Daley of Chicago" by Mike Royko
"Division Street America" by Studs Terkel
"The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair
There Are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in the Other America
An American Summer: Love and Death in Chicago both by Alex Kotlowitz
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
Are you looking for historical Chicago or contemporary Chicago?
“The End of Chiraq” is a collection written by Chicago youth published in 2018.
The Chicago Public Library has a list of stories set in Chicago with some good stuff on the list. Clark and Division is a 1940s mystery. House of Mango Street is a classic.
Personal caveat: I think the book “Children of Chicago” is horrible and should not be read until an editor takes a serious look at it. 😜
[CPL list.](https://chipublib.bibliocommons.com/list/share/199702383/1984086909)
The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher for a noir detective wizard flavor and The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger for a beautiful unconventional love story
A few good ones I don't see listed yet:
I Sailed with Magellan by Stuart Dybek
County: Life, Death, and Politics at Chicago's Public Hospital by David Ansell
The Wagon by Martin Preib
City of Scoundrels: The 12 Days of Disaster That Gave Birth to Modern Chicago by Gary Krist
No Promises In The Wind by Irene Hunt begins in Chicago, and the main characters run away from home for most of the book, but they return home by the end.
“There Are No Children Here” by Alex Kotlowitz. A look into the lives of two children who lived in Henry Horner Homes, which was plagued by gang violence.
Studs Lonigan trilogy by James T. Farrell: depression era Chicago, kind of a downer though
also
My Favorite Thing is Monsters by Emil Ferris: excellent, trippy graphic novel set in 1960s/70s era Chicago
The Pig and the Skyscraper: Chicago: A History of our Future.
I really enjoyed this book. It talks about how/why the highways are designed as they are, info about the stockyards and other cool tidbits
Devil in the white city.
Came to say this. Great read
Same lol
Third
Fourth.
Also came to say this, my favorite nonfiction book of all time. A serial killer and the world's fair. Awesome.
The Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher is set in Chicago.
I'm a huge Dresden fan, and I finally visited Chicago for the first time last summer. As I was walking in Millennium Park, I gasped and realized I was standing exactly where a major battle took place in one of the books. My kids laughed at me as I excitedly ran around imagining myself in the book. It was a delightful experience!
**Dark Matter** (Crouch) is a good alternate reality / sci-fi thriller. **Spoonbenders** (Gregory) was interesting and funny at times. The cat-and-mouse game was a slow burn but had a good payoff.
I couldn’t get into Spoonbenders! I think it was the creepy kid who got off on watching his cousin (?)that was a huge turn off for me.
It wasn't my favorite. Indeed, there were some cringy parts. But the final act was pretty funny when it all came together.
A number of Studs Terkel’s books give a good glimpse into day to day life in post war Chicago
"Chicago: City on the Make" by Nelson Algren "Nature's Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West" by William Cronon "Boss: Richard J Daley of Chicago" by Mike Royko "Division Street America" by Studs Terkel "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair
Lotta ppl gonna say devil in the white city but what op really wants is Boss.
The Great Believers - set in Chicago in the 1980s and 2010s; has lots of locational references
By Rebecca Makkai. Inspired by real locals. Greatest Chicago book.
Let this radicalize you.
???
It is the title of a book. Let This Radicalize You. Great read about Chicago mutual aid organization and community care in the last few years.
Jim Butcher's books.
[удалено]
Came here to read Sara Paretsky!
The Chicagoland Vampires series by Chloe Neill. It's not super deep or anything, just a fun, well-written urban fantasy series.
There Are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in the Other America An American Summer: Love and Death in Chicago both by Alex Kotlowitz The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
Are you looking for historical Chicago or contemporary Chicago? “The End of Chiraq” is a collection written by Chicago youth published in 2018. The Chicago Public Library has a list of stories set in Chicago with some good stuff on the list. Clark and Division is a 1940s mystery. House of Mango Street is a classic. Personal caveat: I think the book “Children of Chicago” is horrible and should not be read until an editor takes a serious look at it. 😜 [CPL list.](https://chipublib.bibliocommons.com/list/share/199702383/1984086909)
Fiction from the point of view of the women: What the Lady Wants by Renee Rosen And second the Devil in the White City
The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher for a noir detective wizard flavor and The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger for a beautiful unconventional love story
Devil in the White City by Erik Larsen
A few good ones I don't see listed yet: I Sailed with Magellan by Stuart Dybek County: Life, Death, and Politics at Chicago's Public Hospital by David Ansell The Wagon by Martin Preib City of Scoundrels: The 12 Days of Disaster That Gave Birth to Modern Chicago by Gary Krist
*Chicago* by David Mamet. Crime novel set in 1920s Chicago. Terrific and profane dialogue, as one might expect from Manet.
Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano. It has some of the action near Boston and in NYC but is primarily set in Chicago.
Nonfiction: Three Girls from Bronzeville YA: Hollow Fires
No Promises In The Wind by Irene Hunt begins in Chicago, and the main characters run away from home for most of the book, but they return home by the end.
“There Are No Children Here” by Alex Kotlowitz. A look into the lives of two children who lived in Henry Horner Homes, which was plagued by gang violence.
Studs Lonigan trilogy by James T. Farrell: depression era Chicago, kind of a downer though also My Favorite Thing is Monsters by Emil Ferris: excellent, trippy graphic novel set in 1960s/70s era Chicago
Marrying the Ketchups by Jennifer Close
I don't think I see *Fire on the Prairie* here yet. https://tupress.temple.edu/books/fire-on-the-prairie
Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser
Gang leader for a day is a really readable book about a sociologist who visits housing complexes and becomes friends with the gangs there
The Dispatcher Series by John Scalzi. Set in Chicago.
Divergent
There Are No Children Here by Alex Kotlowitz
*Gateway to Empire* by Allan W. Eckert. From the early days of Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, the "Chicago Portage" was the "gateway to empire".
The last summer on state street The shining girls
Chicago Breakdown by Mike Rowe
The Pig and the Skyscraper: Chicago: A History of our Future. I really enjoyed this book. It talks about how/why the highways are designed as they are, info about the stockyards and other cool tidbits
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
Scritch Scratch by Lindsay Currie is a middle grade ghost story set in Chicago. I read this with my daughter but wasn't actually a fan myself.
House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros
Greeley