The most recommended books about Illinois

This book is one of the first I read in the genre, and it’s not overtly funny, which is why it’s here. I love books that are dramatic and show character growth while adding in humor. It doesn’t have to be over the top and should play to what the characters are going through. The main character talking to her fish isn’t something I expected to find in a book about finding love after loss, but it’s there along with some hilarious side characters that work in a bakery with Molly. The levity in those moments helps separate from some of the harder moments as our main character, Molly falls for the love of her life’s little sister in a small town where everyone knows everyone else’s business.

A friend recommended One Last Shot at Forever while I was researching my first book and I’m glad he did. Ballard demonstrated that great sports writing rarely is about the sport itself. He uncovered clash of cultures in a changing world, intraschool politics, the power of personal relationships, a fun baseball story, and more. He hooked me in the prelude with the head baseball coach acknowledging that “coaching” was the team’s weakness that season—I needed to know more about that guy. Then Ballard kept my attention through the final chapter. It was a fun read.

I have always sought out the strange and unusual. This book covers many different phenomena. Whether it is ghosts, aliens, legends, cryptids, or just weird lore, this book has a wide scope. I live in the state and occasionally participate in investigations of these subjects. I even wrote a play Ghosts, Aliens, and Bigfoot. This book almost reminds me of being with my grandfather as a child. He loved to scare with local legends and ghost stories spun with his special brand of creepiness and humor. Reading this late at night took me back to those special times.

My husband, Ted, is a gardening fanatic, so we listened to The Growing Season audiobook together to find out more about vegetable gardening. Instead, we happily discovered the story was about Sarah Frey’s business growing commercial crops rather than a backyard garden. She grew up in Illinois helping her mother deliver cantaloupe to local grocery stores. At 15 years old, when her mother could no longer make the deliveries, Sarah took on the route. I cheered her on as she lived her life with determination and purpose to grow that business for her family. The small route developed into a well-respected family-owned multi-state produce business.

The Hunting Accident is a graphic novel that explores a fictionalized version of the life of Matt Rizzo: a prisoner whom Leopold knew in the 1930s.

While the book is more focused on Rizzo’s story, Leopold also plays a big part, and I recommend it because it’s a very unique way to experience this story. Rizzo was blinded while committing the crime which got him sent to prison, and the book focuses on Rizzo adjusting to living without his sight while Leopold adjusts to living without Loeb, who was murdered shortly before Rizzo’s arrival.

The artwork is detailed and sometimes disturbing as it portrays the pair navigating the prison and searching for purpose, connections, and meaning in their lives. 

David is a fellow food writer and friend of mine and we’ve enjoyed many dinners and events out at local restaurants.

Many years ago he started an online forum for the food-obsessed in Chicago, and that was before “blogs” and Substacks and even social media. Monica is a longtime local food writer and NPR contributor. They both are true authorities on the dining scene here so their stories about the history and lore of various beloved Chicago/Midwestern dishes (beyond deep dish and Italian beef sandwiches) are really exciting to read. 

The oral historian and radioman Studs Turkel takes us around American without leaving his Chicago via Division Street America. Sparsely contextualized by his interstitial commentary, Turkel exercises his embracing interviewing skills to bring poignant stories of the non-celebrity class into sharp, relevant focus. This same type of unornamented approach earned a Nobel Prize in literature for Belarussian journalist Svetlana Alexievich and her Chernobyl.

I particularly like the way V. I. vigorously pursues every lead, no matter how dangerous the quest. I also appreciate the vignettes of Chicago, where I was born and raised.

Dual mysteries challenge the tough, savvy, energetic private investigator, V.I. Warshawski. In the process of solving these mysteries, V. I. confronts current social issues of extreme importance, to wit, political corruption, sex trafficking, immigration opponents, and her own familial skeletons in the closet. 

Who doesn’t like a good treasure story? When you are an experienced metal detectorist, such as me, this book makes total sense. Much research is packed into the book which covers states: Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky. Even though only one of these legends came near my home, I enjoyed reading about the history and scanning the old maps. The book’s appearance reminds me of a personal journal written by an old explorer.

This will not provide a treasure map with an X mark on where to dig, but for me, it does incite an itch to dust off the old Gold Bug and take a backroads to drive looking for a promising site to explore and recede to an earlier time when grandma might have lost her broach in the chicken pen.

Despite being published in 1975, Hal Higdon’s book about the Leopold and Loeb case remains the definitive account, at least to me.

If you’re looking for a factual, in-depth look at the crime, investigation, and sentencing hearing, look no further. Higdon was able to interview and correspond with dozens of people who were close to the case and who personally knew the killers and victim. He weaved those recollections into the narrative along with newspaper reports and quotes from the court documents in addition to the rest of his vast research, which gives his book a wonderful richness and depth.