RSSBooks & Literature

Latest News

Shelf Life: 'Dreaming in French'

Jane Ammeson Times Correspondent

It reads like the plot of a novel – three women from different backgrounds spend time in the early 20s in Paris, returning to the U.S. transformed. One, raised in an upper crust East Coast society family and named “Deb of the Year,” would bec…

Michelle Obama at book-signing: 'Buy away'

DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press

Michelle Obama on Tuesday returned to the business of selling her first book, and she started by telling scores of people waiting in line at a popular bookstore to "buy away" because Mother's Day is coming.

'Moms Who Drink and Swear: True Tales of Loving My Kids While Losing My Mind'

Jane Ammeson

“I am an over-educated, opinionated, tenderhearted mother of two who has a potty mouth and a bleeding heart,” writes Nicole Knepper as an introduction to her blog, chicagonow.com/moms-who-drink-and-swear.

'In the Body of the World'

Jane Ammeson

Diagnosed with Stage 3 uterine cancer and already emotionally vulnerable from having worked with Congolese women who had beenbrutally raped, the barriers that Eve Ensler had erected to ward off.her own memories of childhood trauma, came flood…

The new book group? Women form 'Lean In' circles

JOCELYN NOVECK AP National Writer

"Remember - you are your own brand," business coach Franne McNeal was telling some 100 women crowded into a downtown Manhattan office lounge one evening last week.

'First Son: The Biography of Richard M. Daley'

Jane Ammeson Times Correspondent

Beaten by Harold Washington in the Democratic mayoral primary in 1983, Richard M. Daly threw his hat into the ring one more time after Washington's death in 1987.

State of the American library

American Library Association

Libraries and their staff continue to play a responsive role in their communities by providing key resources as budgets are reduced.

Digital public library with vast archive opens

HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer

Some of the country's top research institutions have combined to launch a massive online archive.

Shelf Life: 'Snapper'

Jane Ammeson Times Correspondent

For the last decade Brian Kimberling has lived in Bath, England and before that years spent years in Mexico, Turkey and the Czech Republic teaching and developing websites. But he never forgot his Indiana roots and even now yearns for Indiana…

Schererville native tells how she made online dating sites work for her

Jen Pallay Times Correspondent

A Northwest Indiana native has garnered national attention for a book she wrote about love and how she found it.

New book examines the post-closure fate of steel mill country

Jane Ammeson Times Correspondent

Any of us who grew up in the steel mill belt lining the shores of Lake Michigan knows how the downsizing and closing of the once powerful industry which employed hundreds of thousands and generations of families, was overwhelming.

Brothers Emanuel: A Memoir of an American Family

Jane Ammeson Times Correspondent

Many memoirs seem to be about overcoming a dysfunctional past but what stands out in "Brothers Emanuel: A Memoir of an American Family" by Ezekiel Emanuel is how much love, structure and encouragement the siblings received.

Shelf Life: 'Evil in All Its Disguises'

Jane Ammeson Times Correspondent

In Hilary Davidson’s third mystery "Evil in All Its Disguises" featuring travel writer Lily Moore, it’s not all Champagne and good times.

Mies van der Rohe analyzed in new book

Jane Ammeson

Mies van der Rohe, one of the most acclaimed modernist architects of the mid 20th century, left his imprint on Chicago.

Facebook exec's new book urges women to 'lean in'

BARBARA ORTUTAY AP Technology Writer

For a book that has yet to be released, Sheryl Sandberg's "Lean In" - part feminist manifesto, part how-to career guide - has got a lot of people talking.

'Captive Audience: The Telecom Industry and Monopoly Power in the New Gilded Age

Jane Ammeson Times Correspondent

Suffered heart palpitations last time you clicked open your cell phone bill? Wondered why your unlimited data package morphed into a monthly limit that seemingly reaches the top just a week or so into your billing cycle? And why can your son’…

Former justice pens history book about the Court

RASHA MADKOUR Associated Press

"Out of Order: Stories From the History of the Supreme Court" is readable, accessible and full of riveting anecdotes, even if the level of detail may occasionally bore the casual reader.

Storm Kings: The Untold Story of America's First Tornado Chasers

Jane Ammeson Times Correspondent

Lee Sandlin grew up in the Chicago suburbs, but he had a fascination with his father's stories about the tornados that roared across the flat plains of rural Oklahoma.

Chicago's cable car system uncovered

Jane Ammeson Times Correspondent

The term cable cars, so quaint, picturesque and San Francisco. But back in the late 1800s, Chicago streets rumbled with the sounds of the largest cable car system the world had ever seen.

Library of Congress has plan for saving recordings

BRETT ZONGKER Associated Press

The Library of Congress unveiled an extensive plan Wednesday to help libraries and archives nationwide preserve recorded sound to guard against losing historic recordings as has happened with those by George Gershwin, Frank Sinatra and Judy Garland.

Shelf Life: Author explores hidden history of "Sealab"

Jane Ammeson Times Correspondent

The 1960s were a time of watching rockets launch from Cape Canaveral, blasting men into space as we raced the Soviet Union to reach the moon. On TV, we could see hunky blonde Lloyd Bridges fight crime while swimming beneath the waters in the …

The Classic Approach: Time-true favorite books of children vary by generation

By Philip Potempa philip.potempa@nwi.com, (219) 852-4327

While sorting and reviewing the existing book collection, Kristal Rada, head of Youth Services Department at Portage Library, decided it was time for some early spring cleaning.

Best-selling author's inspiration ripped from the headlines

Jane Ammeson Times Correspondent

Gone Girl tells the story of a couple who in the financial downturn decide to leave a glamorous life in Manhattan and start over in a small Missouri hometown.

Shelf Life: Blackett's War

Jane Ammeson Times Correspondent

By spring of 1941, their seas decimated by the onslaught of Nazi U-boats, the British War Cabinet changed tacks by hiring former navy officer Patrick Blackett as director of the World War II antisubmarine effort. Blackett, who would go on to…