Kate Zambreno

What was formerly "Chicago Book Week" has now stretched to a month-long festival, which begs the question, have we as a city become more literate or does it just take us longer to read? The centerpiece of the Chicago Public Library-sponsored festival is still the citywide reading event "One Book, One Chicago," this fall's selection being Tim O'Brien's 'Nam tome "The Things They Carried." Perhaps like Oprah's new classics club, Mayor Daley wanted to give his "City of Big Readers" more time to luxuriate with the assignment. (Can't you just picture literary housewives struck by an existential-sort-of crisis: Should I read with my city or my Oprah?) Anyway, if you feel like taking a break from your civic-minded literary pursuits and want to hear a real live author read, October features a rich lineup of mostly local literati. This week the Baffler boys discuss their newest anthology, "Boob Jubilee," at 57th Street Books, a stop in what will be Tom Frank's farewell tour of sorts, as we're losing him to the East Coast. Other notables include poet Edward Hirsch, author Maxine Hong Kingston, and mystery writer Sara Paretsky reading from her newest V.I. Warshawski installment.

Chicago Book Festival runs through October at various venues throughout the city. See our listings for more information.

(2003-10-01)

Also by Kate Zambreno

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