John Williams

John Williams brings you another round of Speed Jokes. Keep sending yours to [email protected].

It’s mid-October and we’ve been getting the first taste of cooler weather. As the chilly season settles in, there’s time to think about some good books to keep us occupied during the cold winter ahead. Fortunately, we’ve got a book club to help with that! Here are some new recommendations from Steve Alexander, Bob Kessler and Sara Tieman. (John Williams is taking the month off, having recently returned from a trip to Portugal. But he’ll have some new selections for the November list.)

Steve Alexander (agribusiness reporter)

Cher: The Memoir Part One (2024)

I don’t have much to add to John’s review in January: “Every few pages it’s another ‘wow, what a weird life she led!’ You’ll cheer Cher on from page one even though you know Sonny will be nothing but trouble.”

Nor, to Sara’s review in May: “…wow, what a life Cher has led starting with a tumultuous upbringing and colorful family past. The name drops and stories are fun and the author bio is a fitting mic drop in and of itself: ‘Cher is a global icon.’” 

I will add that Sonny was a—-well, no, I won’t speak ill of the dead.

A Marriage at Sea (2025) by Sophie Elmurst

I think John or Sara or Bob or all three of them raved about this true story from 1972. A young couple were stranded at sea after a whale knocked a hole in their boat and they watched from a rubber raft as it sank. That’s when a months-long oddysey of often hair-raising and improbable survival began. I’ll just add that if you battle high blood pressure, you may want to skip this one, or consume it in small doses. It’s intense, exhausting, and hard to put down. And I loved it.

No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality (2020) by Michael J. Fox

Somehow, I missed this one five year ago but it was available on my library app as I waited for my books on hold. 

This is his third memoir (Lucky Man and Always Looking Up) and as hard as his life had become, it becomes even more difficult in this book thanks to a spinal tumor, and a devastating fall. His unfailing making-lemonade-out-of-lemons optimism is challenged to the point where he talks about “getting out of the lemonade business.”

Despite those fleeting dark thoughts, there are many times I found myself smiling, even laughing. He is a funny man, often self-deprecating. All of the emotions he’s feeling as he tells his story come through in his voice—and that’s what I recommend: Listen to this one. Michael is the narrator. His speech has been affected by Parkinson’s Disease to the point where it’s often difficult to understand him. I had to slow down the speed on the app by 10 percent to make it easier. It’s well worth it. As fond of, and impressed by, Michael J. Fox as I was before, I was even moreso after finishing this one.

Currently, I’m reading Tom Lake (2023), a novel by Anne Patchett. 

Bob Kessler (news)

The Doorman (2025) Chris Pavone

An historic Manhattan residential building serves as a metaphor for the hierarchy of modern society. What starts out as an examination of the lives of those who live and work there – and how vastly different they are – becomes a worthwhile page-turning thriller involving police brutality, urban protests and international arms dealing.

Via Ápia (2022) Giovanni Martins

Contemporary life in the Rocinha favela in Rio de Janiero, Brazil is told through a series of intertwined vignettes.  The characters, both admirable and flawed, struggle with the many issues related to poverty yet community support, deep friendship, romantic and parental love endure amidst the hardships.

Absolute Beginner (2023) Kevin Armstrong

The author appeared on some of the best David Bowie recordings in the later part of his career and I’ve always wondered about him as a person. This memoir shows his deep love of music and it shows in his writing not only about Bowie but also other collaborators including Iggy Pop and Thomas Dolby. He’s definitely someone who is comfortable not directly in the spotlight, but adjacent to it, which provides a unique perspective on music making.

The Natural (1952) Bernard Malamud

I watched the Robert Redford film soon after his death and it inspired curiosity about the source material. While both share most of the characters and much of the story architecture, the tone is very different. The book is less of a celebration of the game of baseball as the film and it’s a much bleaker outlook on humanity.  While the movie packs an emotional punch, the book is a more subtle examination about the relationship between ability and achievement and the ways both often don’t fit into the modern world.

Sara Tieman (promotions & public relations manager emeritus and station book club international correspondent)

The Impossible Fortune (2025) – Richard Osman

Osman took a year’s hiatus from his bestselling “The Thursday Murder Club” series to release We Solve Murders in 2024 which is to become its own detective series with the characters of Amy Wheeler and her father-in-law Steve Wheeler. But for 2025, Osman has returned to the Coopers Chase retirement home to reconnect with Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim, and Ron. The book begins at the wedding of Joyce’s daughter Joanna to Paul where the best man enlists the help of Elizabeth before going missing. Joanna and former union leader Ron take more of the starring role in this installment. As always in “The Thursday Murder Club” series, there are poignant moments that are both sweet and sad. If you’re new to this series, please start with the first and work your way through (the first book still reigns supreme for me). But if you’re looking for a fun book with smart writing and believable characters you’ll care about, this book (and the series overall) are for you. Fans of these books should know Osman plans to switch off between the two series, so it appears we won’t reconnect with the four crime-fighting retirees until 2027. 

Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism (2025) – Sarah Wynn-Williams 

If you are a Facebook user, then you should read this memoir by Sarah Wynn-Williams who writes of the years she was employed by what was then Facebook and is now Meta. The former diplomat from New Zealand pitched what she saw as her dream job to Facebook, helping to lead global public policy because she saw Facebook’s potential and believed it could change the world for the better. In reality, it is careless people with too much money, power, and their own whim who run a platform that has incited genocide, taken advantage of teens, propelled people to power, cooperated with authoritarian regimes, and created division and mistrust. Not to mention working at the constant threat of sexual harassment from all corners. Meta has sued Wynn-Williams over this book and they don’t want you to read it. Seems an even better excuse to pick up a copy. 

On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century Graphic Edition (2021) – Timothy Snyder and illustrated by Nora Krug

I pulled this book out of my personal collection for a re-read in anticipation of John’s upcoming staged conversation with Founding Father Thomas Jefferson. “History does not repeat, but it does instruct….History can familiarize, and it can warn.”  In addition to that quote from the prologue,I’ll also share this, and you can see why this book and the discussion between John and TJ align: 

“We might be tempted to think that our democratic heritage automatically protects us from such threats. This is a misguided reflex. In fact, the precedent set by the Founders demands that we examine history to understand the deep sources of tyranny, and to consider the proper responses to it. Americans today are no wiser than the Europeans who saw democracy yield to fascism, Nazism or communism in the twentieth century. Our one advantage is that we might learn from their experience.” 

The graphic edition is adapted from Snyder’s 2017 book of the same name and it packs a punch in 120 pages. The observations imparted here are eye-opening and some have already reached our doorstep. I love this collaboration with Nora Krug, a German artist and illustrator. (Sidebar, for more on Nora Krug, her 2018 Belonging: A German Reckons with History and Home is a must-read.)  Read. Be prepared. Read some more. 

My reading list for Banned Books Week (Oct 7 – 11): Nineteen Minutes (2007) by Jodi Picoult which is among the top books banned in school districts across the US. You will also find me currently reading The Sirens (2025) by Emilia Hart, The Finest Hotel in Kabul: A People’s History of Afghanistan (2025) by Lyse Doucet and Raising Hare: A Memoir (2024) by Chloe Dalton. 

Enjoy this edition of “The Best of Speed Jokes.” What was your favorite joke of the week? Keep sending your jokes to [email protected]!

NewsNation Now anchor Connell McShane joins John Williams to talk about when we might see an end to the government shutdown, and to give us the national view on what’s happening in Chicago regarding ICE raids.

Laura Walker, Executive Director of the Hegeler Carus Foundation, joins John Williams to tell us everything we should know about the the upcoming immersive ‘The Mansion is NOT Haunted‘ Tours! Laura talks about the beautiful Hegeler Carus mansion, where it’s located and how you can get there, what makes the mansion and its history so unique, how their general tours work, and their upcoming Christmas tours.

Northwestern University economics and history Professor Joel Mokyr joins John Williams to discuss winning the 2025 Nobel Prize for Economic Science. Professor Mokyr tells John about how surprised he was when it was announced he was a winner of the Nobel Prize, when he did the research that won the prize, what is so revelatory about his research, and if he thinks the U.S. is doing a good job of nurturing innovation.

Dr. Joshua Baker, President of Midwestern University, joins John to talk about recently becoming the 10th president of Midwestern University, what he’s learned about the new role, how many students attend the university, where the student body comes from, what distinguishes Midwestern University from other schools, the programs that are in the most demand right now, the acceptance rate at the school, and the importance of leaning into a ‘student first’ mentality.

John Williams brings you another round of Speed Jokes. Keep sending yours to [email protected].

The Mincing Rascals this week are John Williams of WGN Radio, Eric Zorn, publisher of The Picayune Sentinel, Austin Berg, Executive Director of the Chicago Policy Center and the The Last Ward, and political pundit Marj Halperin! The Rascals kick off the podcast breaking down the ICE activities throughout the Chicago area over the last week. What do the Rascals think are the biggest things we need to be paying attention to? Austin says if you can find a tamale vendor who had been convicted of a homicide, he will give you $1000. At the request of the Trump administration, Facebook suspended a popular Chicago ICE-sighting group. Marj calls this action, ‘sinister.’ Should social media companies be able to silence civil disobedience. The ‘No Kings’ protests are planned across the U.S. on Saturday. John thinks these protests are going to be the biggest we’ve seen. Mayor Johnson will outline his 2026 budget. The Rascals break down Johnson’s plan to close a $1.15 billion budget shortfall including a head tax proposal. And finally, it’s time for red light, yellow light, green light! What are the Rascals recommending (or not recommending) this week?

Bob Bertog, president of Bertog Landscape Co. in Wheeling and a certified landscape professional with the National Association of Landscape Professionals, joins John Williams to answer all of your lawn and garden questions. Bob says we are right about average on rain for the month. He’s not concerned about grass, but trees and shrubs still need to be watered.