John Williams

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

Did you know August 9 is National Book Lovers Day? Our WGN Radio Book Club is back with the books they loved this past month. Perhaps you will find your next read in this list of book selections shared by John Williams, Steve Alexander, Bob Kessler and Sara Tieman. Or, revisit and reread a past favorite as John Williams did on a recent vacation!

John Williams (weekdays 10am-2pm, including The Wintrust Business Lunch)
The Fate of the Day: The War for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston, 1777-1780 (2025) – Rick Atkinson
This is the second volume of Atkinson’s wide-ranging history of the Revolutionary War.  Deep (800+ pages), detailed (with 300 reference pages) and intimate (how does one feed an army of 10,000, just strolled into town?), this is a readable history of the western world – not just America.  I don’t generally read military histories, but the personal touches and the prose in this book are amazing.  Soldiers don’t traipse through fields, they traipse through black walnut here and maize and rye there, past woolly bear caterpillars under clouds of specific design.  His portrayals are almost photographic.  You can see and hear and smell the camps, the battles, the marshes and the chaos of war.

The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook (2024) – Hampton Sides
Do I get to read (and report on) a book again?  This was fun to take along on vacation.  Captain Cook is a name in history, but here, a more fully formed human being. And the voyage to find a northwest passage and AND return a young man to his native Tahiti and “discover” Hawaii and survive the damn thing is just fantastical. 

Steve Alexander (agribusiness reporter)
The Honey Bus: A Memoir of Loss, Courage and a Girl Saved by Bees (2019) – Meredith May
I would have added and by her Grandfather to the subtitle. The author begins her story as her family is falling apart when she was five and her brother two. Their parents – a damaged and unfit mother and a father who could no longer tolerate the marriage – split. For unexplained reasons, the less capable parent got custody. That turned out to be what saved Ms. May and her brother. They moved across the country to the Carmel Valley of California where her mother’s parents took them in.

Their mother rarely got out of the bed, leaving her little brother in the care of their grandmother, and Meredith in the care of her grandfather, a gentle and kind man who was a part-time plumber and a part-time beekeeper. From him, she learned about the beauty and necessity of bees as he collected honey from his hives scattered for miles around the Big Sur area. From the bees, she learned how the community, the family, survived because of loyalty, generosity, teamwork, and sacrifice.

The honey they collected was brought back to a derelict army surplus bus that sat in grandpa’s backyard; the Honey Bus, where machines processed it and and countless jars were filled. It was hot, hard work, especially for a child, but she loved it and jumped at any chance to escape the disappointment and humiliation unfailingly dished out by her mother to spend time with her grandpa. He, and the bees, were a safe harbor for her and later for her brother when he got old enough to participate.

I can’t recommend this one enough. Her grandpa is a role model for all of us grandpas. Bonus: I learned a lot about bees.

In Kiltumper: A Year in an Irish Garden (2021) – Niall Williams and Christine Breen
This is a memoir of the couple’s 35 years tending a garden in a remote, rural area of western Ireland. It’s brilliant. A must-read for anyone who loves to garden, or who just loves wonderful writing.

I need to thank my wife, Diane, for introducing me to Williams. A playwright and novelist, he’s had some big hits, such as Four Letters of Love (1997), and This is Happiness (2019), and Time of the Child (2024).

This one is his first non-fiction effort since the 90s. When they were in their 20s, Williams and Breen decided to leave New York City and move to the Irish farmhouse her ancestors had inhabited since her great-great-great grandparents settled there. They intended to write, garden, and live a simpler life. Thirty-five years later, with two grown children and a few best-sellers under Niall’s belt, and with Christine hopefully in the final stages of recovery from cancer, they decided to jointly document a month-by-month year in their garden. Each chapter is one month, with memories in each of how they got to where they are from where they were. Watch the couple hosting a book club event at their home about this book in 2022.

A recurring theme is climate change, which they have a front-row seat to as stronger and more frequent winter storms blow in from the Atlantic, and summer droughts leave their well, their only source of water, dry for weeks.

If you’re a climate change denier, then this is not the book for you. In one passage, Williams writes:  “That the climate is changing is a fact that anyone who works with soil and plants knows.” He continues: “By the time the term ‘climate change’ has become ‘climate catastrophe,’ it will be too late.”  He goes on: “I do believe that in a hundred years, the future, if there is one, will judge our more than carelessness with a cold eye. We will be considered shameful, because we knew. Each report after the next. And because we had a chance to stop it.”

Complicating matters for the couple is the decision by government leaders far away in Dublin to allow wind turbines to be built across the “non-scenic” rural areas of Ireland, which includes just across the road from their home. The invasion of their privacy by something they support, clean, green, energy, creates a dilemma:  “Will we have to leave here? Will everything we have done over the past 34 years to make this place and make our life here be destroyed? If we have to leave, if we have to give up our life here, I think. And then, I have to let the rest of that thought end in ellipses.”

It’s a beautiful book, with poetic passages about emotions gardeners the world over experience; from optimism at the season’s beginning to giddiness at first harvest to heartbreak in the wake of storms and pests.  If you’re the kind of reader who likes to highlight notable or well-written sentences and passages for later reference, make sure your highlighter pen is fresh.

Bob Kessler (news) 
The River is Waiting (2025) – Wally Lamb
A touching, powerful and detailed novel of prison life and the inner life of a prisoner, a very likable man who’s made some terrible, life-altering mistakes. I found myself really pulling for him throughout this incredibly moving, inspiring and devastating novel. A testament to the human spirit and an indictment of many aspects of the prison system because inmates must walk an incredibly narrow path. Still, compassion, forgiveness and the possibility of redemption are never entirely absent. One of the best works of fiction I’ve read so far this year. It also has the distinction of bringing me to tears.

Fox (2025) – Joyce Carol Oates
A brilliantly written and structured work by one of the great contemporary American novelists. It’s about a very disturbing person and a series of events in and around a New Jersey boarding school. While there’s the suspenseful thread throughout, the expertly written prose along with the commentary on class, justice and patterns of abuse make it so much more than just a murder mystery.

The Place of Tides (2024) – James Rebanks
A really enjoyable quick read about an Englishman’s experience spending a season in northern Norway with a woman who for decades has looked after wild eider ducks, a species of bird that are prized for their downy feathers. His withdrawal from the hectic modern world has a transformative effect on him and  the book shows us the benefits of a healthy disruption in our routines.

Endling (2025) – Maria Reva 
An exceptional novel centered around the early days of the Russian invasion, a woman saving endangered snails in her home country and two others involved in matchmaking tours in Ukraine. It covers the internal struggles the country has suffered in the years leading up to the war, the exploitation of young women (and the men from around the world hoping to find ‘the one’), but mostly the confusion and total societal disruption brought on by war and the difficulty those in other parts of the world have with reconciling with such terrible events. Some chapters break away from the main story, taking the reader out of the narrative but effectively drive home the book’s main messages.

Sara Tieman (promotions & public relations manager and station bookworm)
Night Magic: Adventures Among Glowworms, Moon Gardens, and Other Marvels of the Dark (2024) – Leigh Ann Henion
This book was enchanting and it will probably make an appearance on my top 10 list for 2025. We have become afraid of darkness and it is to the detriment of both humans and the natural world around us. The author heads out in expeditions to watch salamanders in ephemeral ponds, synchronous fireflies in the Great Smoky Mountains, owls in her North Carolina neighborhood, bats, and moths. She takes her son to look for bioluminescence in their own backyard and to practice seeing differently. If you think reading about nature is a snore, Henion’s writing is engaging and will draw you right in. We have so many things to worry about – add preserving darkness to the list.

Kills Well with Others (2025) – Deanna Raybourn
This is a sequel to Raybourn’s 2022 book Killers of a Certain Age which made my top 10 list in 2023. Many books tried to ride the wave of success from Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club series and be copycats to the genre. Raybourn’s book was fresh and fun featuring four women “of a certain age” who were ex-trained assassins. I do encourage you to read the first one first to get to know the characters of Billie, Mary Alice, Helen, and Natalie. If you’re already familiar, then pick this one up and go on another adventure with this foursome. It’s the perfect summertime – or anytime reading. I’ll give the edge to Killers of a Certain Age, but I enjoyed revisiting these characters.

The Inmate (2022) – Freida McFadden
My mom has been reading a lot of Frieda McFadden’s books (she has quite the repertoire, including the popular The Housemaid series) and she encouraged me to try one. She recommended I start with The Inmate. In this story, a woman named Brooke returns to the town where she grew up and takes a job as a nurse practitioner at a men’s prison. She’s told not to reveal details about herself or be friendly with the inmates, but our main character Brooke is harboring a secret – she does know one of the prisoners and they are behind bars because of her. I’ll be honest – Brooke frustrated and annoyed me. What was most intriguing about this book is the final chapter – it’s twisty and creepy and for that alone it might be worth a read if thrillers are your genre of choice.

Boat Baby: A Memoir (2025) – Vicky Nguyen
TV journalist Vicky Ngyuen shares her family’s immigration story to the United States from communist Vietnam. Her parents, two uncles and an aunt escaped by boat on the South China Sea in a perilous journey to live as refugees before receiving sponsorship to come to America. In the States, the family navigates their new home amidst new tragedy and adapts to life in this new land, raising their daughter as an American. Vicky reveals her road to journalism and being a dutiful daughter. American has many immigrant stories; this is a peek into one family’s experience.

The great Mr. Fix-It, Lou Manfredini, joins John Williams to tell us the projects we need to be working on this week. Lou explains why now is a great time to do some drain maintenance on your showers, tubs, and sinks. Lou and John also chat about a viral online hoax that claims a person is living inside The Bean.

Listen to HouseSmarts Radio on WGN each Saturday morning at 6 am.

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

Craig Bolanos, Founder and Wealth Advisor at VestGen Wealth Partners, joins Jon Hansen, filling in for John Williams, to talk about the overall health of the markets and the economy, how market volatility has almost collapsed, why it’s a good time to rebalance your portfolio, Trump nominating CEA chair Stephen Miran to the Federal Reserve board, what’s likely to happen with rates when the Fed meets again, and the latest on President Trump’s trade deals.

Chris Anchor, Senior Wildlife Biologist, Forest Preserve District of Cook County, joins Jon Hansen, filling in for John Williams, to talk about the safety of swimming in the Chicago River. Chris said he would definitely swim in the river after years of improvements.

NewsNation Now anchor Connell McShane joins Jon Hansen, filling in for John Williams, to talk about the Texas legislators coming up to Chicago to avoid voting on a new map that would favor the GOP. Connell gets us up to speed on the latest developments.

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

It’s time once again for our Best of the Midwest feature! Are you trying to come up with some vacation ideas that are only a quick getaway from the Chicago area? Well, Jon Hansen has some great recommendations for your trip! Today, we take a trip west and visit the scenic river town of Clinton, Iowa! Sarah Smith, Director of Placemaking and Tourism, Grow Clinton, tells Jon where Clinton is located, how the town is in the midst of a major revitalization, how they utilize their beautiful riverfront, the breathtaking views from Eagle Point Park, the rich history of Clinton, the great events they have coming up, and why fall is a great time to visit. Sarah reminds us that Clinton ‘is a hometown and a destination.’

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