Plus: Kat Von D vs. Jay Farrar
Over the transom and through the woods.
A Souljah, Not a Soldier
“Sister Souljah once rapped with the trailblazing hip-hop group Public Enemy and was denounced by then presidential candidate Bill Clinton for what he called extremist comments on racial violence,” Rashard Zanders writes for DNAinfo Chicago.
“To the more than 200 fans that came to see her speak at a South Side library over the weekend, she is better known as a beloved best-selling author who has written eloquent coming-of-age novels such as 1999’s The Coldest Winter Ever, which sold more than 1 million copies.
“Appearing Sunday at the Carter G. Woodson Regional Library at 9525 S. Halsted St., Souljah – who was born in the Bronx as Lisa Williamson – openly spoke about her career as an activist, musician, public speaker and literary powerhouse. Her resume now includes another book, A Deeper Love Inside: The Portia Santiago Story, a sequel to The Coldest Winter Ever, which was released earlier this year.”
Here’s Souljah in February with Sway.
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Here’s Souljah from way back yonder.
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Shining Chicago Girls
“Shining Girls is the story of a serial killer named Harper Curtis, a savage psychopath who hunts the alleyways of a stinking Hooverville in Depression-era Chicago,” Cory Doctorow writes for Boing Boing.
“Curtis is your basic remorseless nutcase who reels from one act of callous violence to another. Until he happens upon a boarded-up house where he seeks refuge from the people he’s wronged and a chance to rest up and lick his wounds from an unsuccessful encounter. And that house isn’t just a house, it’s the House, an unexplained and inexplicable haunted place that slips through time back and forth between the Depression and the early 1990s. In this house is a room, filled with the trophies of murdered girls and their names, written on the wall in Curtis’s own handwriting. Curtis learns that his destiny is to travel through the ages, killing the girls he’s already killed, taking the trophies he’s already taken.
“One of Harper’s victims is Kirby Mazrachi, but unlike the rest (and unbeknownst to Harper), Kirby survives his vicious attack. As Kirby matures, her obsession with the man who nearly killed her takes over her life, and she wrangles a job interning for the Chicago Sun-Times reporter who covered her attack all those years ago. She wheedles him into helping her pick up the details again, and slowly they begin to unravel the weird and awful truth.”
The teaser:
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Gravedigger’s Daughter
“Minnesota author Rachael Hanel will be in Chicago for an event for her new memoir, We’ll Be the Last Ones to Let You Down: Memoir of a Gravedigger’s Daughter (April, University of Minnesota Press),” the Press says.
Thursday, May 9th
7 p.m.
The Book Cellar
4736 N Lincoln Ave #1
* Co-event with author Barrie Jean Borich
“This book presents the unique, moving perspective of a gravedigger’s daughter and her lifelong relationship with death. It is also a masterful meditation on the living elements of our cemeteries: our neighbors, friends, and families and how these things come together in the eyes of a young girl whose childhood is suffused with death and the wonder of the living.”
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Jordan’s Trainer
“Star basketball trainer Tim Grover shares insider stories about Michael Jordan, Dwyane Wade, and others. He joins [Chicago Tonight] to discuss his new book, Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable, and explains what separates his superstar clients from the mere stars. Read an excerpt from the book.”
And watch the interview:
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Skokie Ink
A fan meets Kat Von D at a Barnes & Noble book signing last weekend in Skokie.
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Here she is talking about her new book.
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Jay Far, Far Away
Jay Farrar’s (Uncle Tupelo, Son Volt, Jeff Tweedy) new book is not being well-received.
* Jay Farrar Reveals Too Little In Frustrating Memoir.
* Farrar gets a “D” from the A.V. Club.
* Esquire also thinks it sucks.
* Brief excerpts from the Riverfront Times
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Freaks and Geeks
The 10 Best-Selling Chicago Business Books Of The Past 10 Years.
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Comments welcome.
Posted on April 26, 2013