photo credit: neighborhoods.org
My pick for this literary state was Hemingway… and still is. If you can get past his “he-man” sensibility, I still believe Hemingway is one of the best writers ever to craft an understated, direct sentence. I recently created a kit on The Sun Also Rises and fell in love with his prose all over again. However, for a more contemporary look at the state of Illinois, here are Omnivoracious‘s picks:
- The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow: “I am an American, Chicago born–Chicago, that somber city–and go at things as I have taught myself, free-style, and will make the record in my own way: first to knock, first admitted; sometimes an innocent knock, sometimes a not so innocent.” A great opening line is like Ruth’s called shot: it’s the ambition as much as the execution that pleases (although it only pleases because of the execution). Bellow, Montreal-born, takes on a city–and a whole country–and nails it.
- Herzog by Saul Bellow: From on-the-make Augie to Moses Herzog, wondering what he’s made of himself.
- Native Son by Richard Wright: How fitting that Mississippi is followed by Illinois: Wright’s move from Black Boy to Bigger Thomas (though the books were written in the opposite order) was made by millions (cf. St. Clair Drake and Horace Cayton’s Black Metropolis and Nicholas Lemann’s The Promised Land).
- Speeches and Writings, Volume 1: 1832-1858 by Abraham Lincoln: Much as it pains me to snub the second volume of this Library of America collection, and the great words of his presidency, the local choice has to be this one, which culminates in his seven debates with Stephen Douglas in his losing race for the Senate in 1858.
- Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years and the War Years by Carl Sandburg: A few hundred Lincoln biographies later, this unparalleled match of iconic writer and subject (what, you prefer Nathaniel Hawthorne on Franklin Pierce?), abridged here from the original six volumes, is still definitive, in style if not data.
- Boss: Richard J. Daley of Chicago by Mike Royko: Another match of icons, with Sandburg’s labors to put Lincoln on a pedestal equaled by Royko’s to knock Daley off his.
- Division Street: America by Studs Terkel: The great voice of the city has built his legend by collecting the voices of others. There’s plenty of Chicago in his best-known book, Working, but this one, the first of his great oral histories, takes the city head-on at a time (1967) of bitter, well, division.
- Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser: Boy, I love me some Naturalism. The relentless math of Carrie’s rise and Hurstwood’s decline are devastating, and strangely enjoyable. For a minor Naturalist favorite, mostly forgotten, also see Henry Blake Fuller’s The Cliff-Dwellers, with its tour-de-force opening comparing the skyscrapered Chicago streets to great natural canyons.
- The Jungle by Upton Sinclair: The stockyards stripped bare.
- Capitalism and Freedom by Milton Friedman: The most influential economist since World War II (and the leader of the Chicago School) was a spirited and immensely successful popularizer. The ranks of U of C scholars whose ideas we’re still living within are remarkable: John Dewey, Leo Strauss, Enrico Fermi, William Julius Wilson, Allan Bloom, and, yes, ex-con law prof Barack Obama.
- Glengarry Glen Ross by David Mamet: Which could be titled, “Capitalism and ___”? You fill in the blank: best answer gets a Cadillac Eldorado. Second prize is a set of steak knives. Third prize is you’re fired. (And yes, the play’s most famous line is actually only found in the movie.)
- Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth by Chris Ware: I’ll confess: one of the only times a review blurb of mine has been quoted on a book is, self-mockingly, on the paperback of Jimmy Corrigan: “‘Weighed down by its ambition’–The Stranger“. Which I stand by, even as Jimmy has become the Great Graphic Novel of the age. But despite that quote Ware has always been my peer hero, the guy born the same year as me who has the greatest capacity to humble me with his talent and commitment. He’s the David Foster Wallace of comics: hilarious, surprisingly tender, overflowing with ability, and holding himself to standards none of the rest of us mortals can even imagine. (And of course, may the similarities end there.)
- A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again by David Foster Wallace: Speaking of whom, DFW always remained a Midwest boy abroad, and this first collection of essays (still my favorite of his books) includes his memorable pieces on the Illinois State Fair and his teen tennis career in the winds of Champaign-Urbana.
- A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers: I’ve never noticed that these two titles, by the two writers dealing most directly with the intersection of irony and earnestness, scanned so similarly until I put them together now…
- Galatea 2.2 by Richard Powers: I kept coming back to Powers in the hope that one of his big puzzle-novels would turn out to be the one that put all his potential together. It turned out to be this one, a brilliant tale (like all of his are) of art and science that folds back on his own autobiography in a deeply affecting way.
- The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros: I happen to know we’ll be seeing this on our guest Texas list too, but I couldn’t leave this deceptively spare modern classic of Latina Chicago out of Illinois.
- Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow: I’m a fan of his more recent Reversible Errors too, but this is the blockbuster that, deservedly, put his Kindle County on the map.
- The Complete Little Orphan Annie, Volume 1 by Harold Gray: This new reissue series of the Tribune‘s classic strip is just getting started, with its most pointedly political years still to come.
- Selected Poems by Gwendolyn Brooks: She real cool.
- Chicago, City on the Make by Nelson Algren: A brawling, back-street companion to the elegance of E.B. White’s Here Is New York. One could easily substitute here Algren’s better-known Chicago novel, The Man with the Golden Arm.
- The Lazarus Project by Aleksandar Hemon: One of our favorite novels of 2008 joins 1908 Chicago with post-civil war Bosnia.
photo credit: James Jordan
More, more, more: Studs Lonigan, Sara Paretsky, The Time Traveler’s Wife, Ann Landers, Eight Men Out, the freshly demonized Rules for Radicals, Devil in the White City, Stuart Dybek, Adam Langer, Mailer’s Miami and the Siege of Chicago, Jane Addams… –Tom
Thanks again, Tom!! I’ve read Eggers, Cisenero, and Lewis… but plan to check out others on the list!
Curious about what states we’ve done so far and which ones are on deck?
Photo by marxchivistFirst, from Melanie Jones:
Alabama: To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee (check out my To Kill A Mockingbird Sample Kit!) Michigan: The Virgin Suicides by Jeffery Eugenides Alaska: The Man Who Swam With Beavers by Nancy Lord Arizona: The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver North Dakota: Peace Like a River by Leif Enger Vermont: The Secret History by Donna Tartt Hawaii: Heads by Harry by Lois-ann Yamanaka Georgia: Leaving Atlanta by Tayari Jones Massachusettes: Mystic River by Dennis Lehane Oregon: Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey Wyoming: At Close Range by E. Annie Proulx
And I happily borrowed the collective wisdom of Omnivoracious for
- Delaware: Marisa de los Santos (and W.D. Snodgrass, Robert Montgomery Bird, Jonathan Kellerman… they are choosing an author for every electoral vote…)
- New York: Check out the list of literary greats — wow…
- Rhode Island‘s little giants…
- Indiana‘s sweeping greatness…
- Maine‘s unknown gems…
And I went out on my own for…
Florida: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Nora Zeale Hurston Minnesota: In the Lake of the Woods by Tim O’Brien Wisconsin: When Madeline Was Young by Jane Hamilton Louisiana: Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells (Jones’ pick) and The Awakening by Kate Chopin (my pick) Colorado: Plainsong by Kent Haruf Maryland: Anything by Anne Tyler Georgia: Awakening by Kate Chopin Ohio: The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison Arkansas: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou Virginia: John Grisham Idaho: Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson North Carolina: Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons Tennesee: Run by Ann Patchett New Jersey: Anything by Janet Ivanovich Texas: Anything by Elmer Kelton Connecticut: The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx Montana: The Big Sky by A.B. Guthrie Utah: Edward Abbey South Carolina: Pat Conroy Iowa: Wallace Stegner Pennsylvania: John Updike and James Michener Missouri: Mark Twain New Hampshire: Robert Frost Kentucky: Robert Penn Warren California: John Steinbeck
Wondering where your state is? Coming soon… In the meantime, weigh in on future picks!
Pingback: 50 States 50 Books List | BOOK CLUB CLASSICS!