Elisha Cooper’s most recent book -- ridiculous/hilarious/terrible/cool -- is the result of time spent shadowing eight upperclassmen at Chicago’s Walter Payton College Prep during the 2005/2006 school year. Thankfully this compact little book never gets gimmicky, since Cooper has constructed a well-flowing, factual account of what transpired over the year, allowing the students’ stories to organically drive the plot. His dedication to the project shines throughout; it is clear that he didn't limit his observations......

What better way to celebrate Banned Books Week, now in its 27th year, than by beginning the Twilight series? It may not be on last year’s list of frequent offenders, but it’s a teenage vampire romance -- written by a Mormon soccer mom -- sure to find itself on future lists. Chicago Banned Books Week-related festivities began on Saturday, complete with a banned books reading session at Pioneer Plaza, but don’t fret: There are plenty......

Newberry Library’s free fall exhibition, “Artifacts of Childhood: 700 Years of Children's Books,” meant to showcase and explore the relevance of children’s literature, will be the library’s first exhibition in two decades to focus solely on this theme. 65 of Newberry’s most “important and beautiful” children’s books will be displayed, including 500-year-old Italian and French first illustrated editions of Aesop's Fables and a rare 1865 first edition of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Oh......

Marking the 50th anniversary of the publication of Jack Kerouac’s novel On the Road, a cluster of upcoming events are directly related to and inspired by the novel’s central themes and its contributions to Beat culture – including the iconic and symbolic way the manuscript was written. The Museum of Contemporary Photography’s newest exhibit, fully titled On the Road: Dave Anderson: Rough Beauty; Farm Security Administration; Dorothea Lange, brings a questioning focus on the effects......

Oprah is gearing up for her next book club pick, which she'll announce September 19. This gives us plenty of time to get our hopes up. Here are some of our suggestions for OBC picks: Margaret: The Origin of Species, by Charles Darwin. Science literacy! It works if you work it. Ali: Sissy Nation: How America Became a Culture of Wimps and Stoopits, by John Strausbaugh. Disclaimer, my godfather wrote it, but it's good. Ana:......

Local photographer Paul Octavious bought The Literature of the United States, published in 1947, for 50 cents at the Lincoln Park library.......

If you like television celebrities, nonfiction authors, mathematics, illegal drug consumption, or any combination of the above: tonight is your night! Tommy Chong – of Cheech & Chong and That 70s Show Photo Hut fame – appears at the big ol’ Borders on N. Clark Street tonight at 7:30. He’s signing copies of Cheech and Chong: The Unauthorized Biography, so expect to be regaled with at least one gut-busting tale of elicit psychedelic adventure. But......

History buffs, Devil In The White City fans, and those in search of an atypical Sunday date, you can now take a virtual tour of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition at the only remaining pavilion, The Museum of Science and Industry. The 90-minute tour, called "Blueprints to Our Past" is offered on select Sundays throughout the rest of the year, but you must order tickets in advance and groups are limited to twenty. Museum heads......

Often local events featuring unknown local authors are a snooze unless you actually know the authors personally and enjoy picking out the bits of your shared history out of their pieces. However the folks behind the first installment of The Sunday Night Sex Show handily solves that problem by insisting that their readers only deliver "creative non-fiction" about sex. Who doesn't enjoy reveling in the sexy? More importantly, writers being the self-deprecating lot they are,......

Tomorrow night at the Fulton Lounge, local Field Testers will be sharing their books-in-place reviews from Coudal Partners' annual litstravaganza. Lori Andrews, James Finn Garner, Kevin Guilfoile, Andrew Huff, Wendy McClure, Jonathan Messinger, Nathan Rabin, and Claire Zulkey will all be sharing their contributions. Sadly, I can't make it, but my field test is here. The fun starts at 7pm and is free. And if you like bitter drinks, Fulton Lounge's negroni is amazing.......

You've been a struggling magician for years now. Money is short, and it is past time for you to go get a "real job" like a normal person. What do you do? If you're Chicagoan Rick Lax, you do the only sensible thing and follow your father, grandfather, and several uncles' lead and go to law school. Lax's first book, Lawyer Boy: A Case Study on Growing Up covers his transformation from tying rope tricks......

If you're hankering for a little bit of controversy and a lot of culture tonight, Sir Salman Rushdie will be reading from his new novel, The Enchantress of Florence. Enchantress is a sort of Arabian Nights, set when a European traveler captures the court of Emperor Akbar, lord of the Mughal Empire, with a story about a beautiful and mysterious woman's travel to far off Florence. Even if Enchantress doesn't sound like your cup of......

Michael Ian Black has started a "feud" with ex-Chicagoan (now Frenchman?) David Sedaris to promote Black's new book My Custom Van. Black will be in town July 21 to sign copies.......

Lily Koppel, 22 and fresh out of Barnard, was already late for work when she rushed out of her New York apartment in 2003. She stopped when she saw several vintage steamer trunks piled on top of the building’s red dumpster. So, like any good reporter, she and her ballet flats dove in, literally, pulling out a beaded flapper dress, an old coat from Bergdorf's, saddle shoes that fit her like Cinderella's shoes, and at......

It's that time of year again, summer is officially starting, regardless of what the weather says. And one of our favorite early summer festivals, the Printers Row Book Fair, is this weekend! Touted as the Midwest's largest literary event, Printers Row features nearly 150 vendors from Women and Children First bookstore to Featherproof press to the Art Institute of Chicago's museum store. Perusing the booths, finding new presses and finding antique books is our favorite......

In more bad news for Borders, the mega-bookseller just announced that it has cut 20 percent of its corporate jobs, nearly 275 positions, in order to save $120 million annually. Borders put itself up for sale in March, after announcing losses last year of $150 million and in May, the company laid off five vice presidents and three directors. Barnes and Noble has expressed interest in buying Borders, but there are no definite deals yet.......

Best-selling memoirist/essayist and frequent This American Life contributor David Sedaris has a new book, When You Are Engulfed In Flames (out today), and is visiting Chicago next week for a pair of appearances. First is an appearance at Border's in Evanston on Wednesday, June 11 where he'll be reading from and signing the new book. The store will begin passing out free wristbands for the signing portion of the event at 2 p.m. the day......

The Chicago Reader's at it again with it's strangely placed but well intentioned Book Swap. The swqap will be held tomorrow at Cobra Lounge, you can bring all your winter books to trade in for some summer reads. The Janes, who tout themselves as "Chicago's Premiere 60's Go Go Troupe," will perform. The first 300 participants get free tote bags. While Cobra isn't exactly our ideal location for a book swap, we can't argue with......

Chicago writer Jen Lancaster is back with her third memoir, Such a Pretty Fat: One Narcissist's Quest to Discover If Her Life Makes Her Ass Look Big; Or, Why Pie Is Not the Answer, which hits bookshelves across the nation today. To celebrate the launch, the author kicks off her book tour in our hometown, making a book signing appearance tonight at Barnes & Noble in Lincoln Park. If you’ve picked up any women’s magazine......

From today's Tribune, Chris Borelli does a fine job interviewing George Motz, the man behind the film "Hamburger America" and its new companion book listing the top 100 burgers in the country. Like most on the East Coast, Motz thinks that Chicago is too "hot dog crazy", not to mention being hung up on "that stupid pizza thing," to have a hamburger identity. The next time Mr. Motz is in town, we invite him......

In 1992, Aleksandar Hemon was offered a chance to fly from his home in Sarajevo to the United States and participate in a journalist cultural exchange program, spending a month visiting American writers and universities. Seeing the chance to escape the brewing war in Bosnia, Hemon took the offer. While visiting, war finally broke, stranding Hemon in Chicago. With only a basic grasp of the English language, Hemon settled in Chicago and set a goal......

The listed events were chosen by the editors of Chicagoist and brought to you by the 2009 Toyota Corolla. Ex-Pres Remember the good old days when Jimmy Carter was president? No, you probably don't, but believe us when we say it was kind of nice having someone honest in the Oval Office, even if things in this country weren't exactly going too terrifically. Carter is appearing at Border's tonight to support A Remarkable Mother,......

Jimmy Carter loves his mother so much he's written a book about her, the aptly titled A Remarkable Mother. And now, the soft-spoken former leader of the free world and Habitat for Humanity superstar is coming to Chicago to promote the book, giving you the chance for the perfect Mother's Day gift. Hey, the man really is a humanitarian. Heated election years, conflict in the Middle East, soaring gas prices: Carter's seen it all......

The listed events were chosen by the editors of Chicagoist and brought to you by the 2009 Toyota Corolla. Art Today is the last day for Artopolis at The Merchandise Mart. We, regrettably, haven't made it over there yet, but a number of our friends have and think it's definitely worth the trip, so maybe we can sneak out of the Chicagoist offices around lunch time, pop open our umbrellas, and scurry over there......

When Nathaniel Rich (yes son of Frank Rich and brother of Simon Rich) left his hometown of New York City for California to write his first book, San Francisco Noir the fiction bug was already in his head. While he was busy collecting information on the city and its legendary films, he was scratching ideas about languages and the idea of colossal writers on the back of his notebook, ideas aching to be explored. But......

The listed events were chosen by the editors of Chicagoist and brought to you by the 2009 Toyota Corolla. International Pop Overthrow Since this mini-festival takes it's name from Material Issue, the seminal power-pop group from Chicago, it makes sense that tonight's show is headlined by current Chicago power-pop maestros Frisbie. Double Door, 1572 N Milwaukee, 7:30 p.m., $10, 21+ Clubs Samantha Ronson spins at Crimson Lounge tonight. Her brother is Mark Ronson --......

If you've been longing to hear a writer talk about ghosts, cadavers, and sex, today is your lucky day. Author Mary Roach is blessing the Chicago area with her expertise in all three arenas. Roach first grabbed our attention with her excellent book Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, in which she explored what happens with our bodies after we shuffle off our mortal coils. Medical school, cadaver farms, organ donations; she covered it......

Anyone who says editors can't write can see for themselves if that adage is true tomorrow evening when Nathaniel Rich, editor of The Paris Review, reads from his debut novel The Mayor's Tongue. We think the text is clear and beautiful, in opposition to the characters in the novel, who can't seem to communicate with each other in the same language. The novel focuses on two plots that both travel from New York City to......

No, not that Iron Man. Proving the Cubs aren't the only day baseball game in town, baseball great and first ballot Hall of Famer Cal Ripken, Jr. will be in town next Wednesday to promote the paperback release of his book, Get in the Game: Eight Elements of Perseverance That Make the Difference. Just a warning, though: this is not a baseball memoir, but rather more of a self-help book. No matter, as he is......

The listed events were chosen by the editors of Chicagoist and brought to you by the 2009 Toyota Corolla. World Music Allá takes on a bunch of different influences and whip it into an intriguing Latin rock blend heavily informed by '60 French pop. Their debut, Es Tiempo, swerves all over the musical map, sucking in influences and spitting them back out, reconfiguring the sounds to suit their own needs. In fact it's almost......