- Sue Kwong
This winter, the Reader has set a humble goal for itself: to determine the Greatest Chicago Book Ever Written. We chose 16 books that reflected the wide range of books that have come out of Chicago and the wide range of people who live here and assembled them into an NCAA-style bracket. Then we recruited a crack team of writers, editors, booksellers, and scholars as well as a few Reader staffers to judge each bout. The results of each contest will be published every Monday, along with an essay by each judge explaining his or her choice. The Reader reader who best predicts the judges’ rulings will win a trip to Mexico.
It took me roughly three days to read The Warmth of Other Suns whereas it took me roughly three hours to read Chicago: City on the Make. Though I prefer short books to long ones, you wouldn’t know it from my short list of favorite books, which tend to break the 500-page mark. A long book can be just as satisfying as a quick read and arguably more impressive when it justifies its length.
Perspective
Except that I forgot that Nelson Algren was a fucking incredible writer. Whatever you want to say about Chicago: City on the Make (I don’t think it’s even the second-best Nelson Algren book), I was impressed by its style. Purely as language, the way the words work together in mellifluous melody is mesmerizing. (That Algren-esque alliteration is intentional, of course.) Take this passage:
Warmth was definitely the underdog this time around. Check back here next week to see who its opponent in the finals will be.
