June 12, 2024

The best books of 2024…so far

20 minutes

Sara Tieman is not only an ace Promotions & PR Manager for WGN Radio, but she is also a voracious reader (and world traveler!) who stops by every now and again to tell John about some of the best books she’s reading. What’s on her 2024 list so far? John, Steve Alexander and Bob Kessler also offer up their suggestions.

https://serve.castfire.com/audio/5115666/5115666_2024-06-12-203606.128.mp3

Recommendations from John Williams:

Killing Time with John Wayne Gacy: Defending America’s Most Evil Serial Killer on Death Row – Karen Conti

The Year of Living Constitutionally – A.J. Jacobs

Baseball: The Movie – Noah Gittell

The Mother Tongue – English and How It Got That Way – Bill Bryson

Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning Liz Cheney

My Name is Barbra: A Memoir – Barbra Streisand

A Call to Serve: The Life of an American President, George Herbert Walker Bush – Jon Meacham

Sara Tieman’s reading list (year-to-date):

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store – James McBride

The Postcard – Anne Berest

Unbound: My Story of Liberation and the Birth of the Me Too Movement – Tarana Burke

Accidentally Engaged – Farah Heron

Playing Under the Piano: From Downton to Darkest Peru – Hugh Bonneville

Thicker than Water: A Memoir – Kerry Washington

Reykjavik: A Crime Story – Ragnar Jónasson and Katrín Jakobsdóttir

Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?: A Memoir – Roz Chast

Code Name Sapphire – Pam Jenoff

Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times – Katherine May

Tom Lake – Ann Patchett

The Nazi Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill – Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch

The Fury – Alex Michaelides

Mrs. Quinn’s Rise to Fame – Oliva Ford

When You Trap A Tiger – Tae Keller

Stash: My Life in Hiding – Laura Cathcart Robbins

Why We Read: On Bookworms, Libraries, and Just One More Page Before Lights Out – Shannon Reed

The Faraway World – Patricia Engel

Girl Abroad – Ellen Kennedy

What the River Knows – Isabel Ibañez

The End of the World is a Cul de Sac – Louise Kennedy

Seven Days in June – Tia Williams

The Women – Kristin Hannah

Demon Copperhead – Barbara Kingsolver

Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted – Suleika Jaouad

How to Solve Your Own Murder – Kristen Perrin

H is for Hope: Climate Change from A to Z – Elizabeth Kolbert

Size Zero: How I Survived My Life as a Model – Victoire Dauxerre

The House of Hidden Meanings: A Memoir – RuPaul

The Great Divide – Christina Henriquez

Blackmail and Bibingka – Mia P. Manansala

Wake Up with Purpose: What I’ve Learned in My First Hundred Years – Sister Jean with Seth Davis

Hunger Winter: A WWII Novel – Rob Currie

More book recommendations from Sara Tieman

Recommendations from Steve Alexander:

Healing Wounds – Diane Carlson Evans. If you like “The Women” by Kristin Hannah, you’ll like this as much of Hannah’s novel was based on this book. There’s much more detail about the struggle to get a women’s Vietnam statue added to the memorial in Washington, D.C.

Table for Two – Amor Towles. It’s a collection of short stories by a gifted writer.

Long Island – Colm Toibin. It’s a bit of a sequel to his “Brooklyn,” which became a hit movie and taught a lot of us how to pronounce ‘Saoirse.’

Being Henry is Henry Winkler’s wonderful memoir. It reminded me how grateful I am to have been raised by wonderful parents.

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store – James McBride who also wrote “Deacon King Kong” which I also loved.

Hello Beautiful – Ann Napolitano. A good read about a family with a variety of problems.

The Only Girl – Robin Green. She writes about her life as a writer for “Rolling Stone,” and later for TV shows like Blue Bloods.

Born to Run – Christopher McDougall. A remarkable story about long distance running, which I have no interest in doing and this book reinforces that.

The Widow Spy – Martha Peterson. It’s the story of a Cold War CIA case officer assigned to Moscow. How she got there and what she did there is fascinating.

Recommendations from Bob Kessler

‘There There’ by Tommy Orange

It lives up to the many accolades it’s earned. Gripping, heart-wrenching, compelling and essential. (2023 ‘One Book, One Chicago’ selection)

‘Peace Like a River’ by Leif Enger

An exceptional novel about a lot of things: hardships, saviors, selflessness and miracles but mostly about family. It’s worthy of multiple reads because of the richness of the text alone (especially the epic Western poem which is presented in excerpts written by one of the main characters).

‘Prophet Song’ by Paul Lynch

At times a horrifying depiction of a family amidst urban warfare but I still couldn’t put it down. While this is fiction, much of what happens is real life for far too many people in today’s world.

‘The Blues Brothers: An Epic Friendship, the Rise of Improv, and the Making of an American Film Classic’ by Daniel DeVise A detailed and delicious account of the rise of John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd’s careers and the creation of the movie. It reinvigorated my love for the film and the music it celebrates.

‘The Fetishist’ by Katherine Min Part page-turner, revenge/kidnapping tale, part social commentary and part love story, this was heartfelt, biting and a bit heartbreaking.

‘A Fire in the Canyon’ by Daniel Gumbiner The story isn’t exactly suspenseful or high-stakes … until it is. Uncontrollable climate events are the center of this and I was drawn in to the people, the place and sense of community in California wine country.

‘What a Fool Believes’ by Michael McDonald with Paul Reiser Like Michael McDonald’s music, very likable and approachable. It’s an honest, revealing telling of his life, career and journey to sobriety.

‘Why We Read – on Bookworms, Libraries and Just One More Page Before Lights Out’ by Shannon Reed Delightful and insightful. Her long-standing love of reading is palpable and jumps off the page. It’s inspired me in my own ‘reading life’ – to stick with it, go deeper, diversify and savor every word.

Recommendations from Producer Pete

Welcome to the O.C.: The Oral History by Josh Schwartz, Stephanie Savage, Alan Sepinwall

There Was Nothing You Could Do: Bruce Springsteen’s “Born In The U.S.A.” and the End of the Heartland by Steven Hyden

The City Is Up for Grabs: How Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot Led and Lost a City in Crisis by Gregory Pratt

Burn It Down: Power, Complicity, and a Call for Change in Hollywood by Mo Ryan

60 Songs That Explain the ’90s by Rob Harvilla

‘Choosing to Run: A Memoir’ by Des Linden

Play Like A Man: My Life in Poster Children by Rose Marshack

Country and Midwestern: Chicago in the History of Country Music and the Folk Revival by Mark Guarino

The Loop Files: An Oral History of the Most Outrageous Radio Station Ever by Rick Kaempfer