- Sue Kwong
This winter, the Reader has set a humble goal for itself: to determine the Greatest Chicago Book Ever Written. We chose 16 books that reflected the wide range of books that have come out of Chicago and the wide range of people who live here and assembled them into an NCAA-style bracket. Then we recruited a crack team of writers, editors, booksellers, and scholars as well as a few Reader staffers to judge each bout. The results of each contest will be published every Monday, along with an essay by each judge explaining his or her choice. The Reader reader who best predicts the judges’ rulings will win a trip to Mexico.
Were we determining which author is more Chicago-ish, it would be no contest. Though neither was born in the city, Terkel moved here as an child, qualifying him for “What parish?/What high school?/Who sent ya?” residency standards. More importantly, just look at him! As teens, my future wife and I snuck into the Eight Men Out movie premiere downtown, and I recall watching Studs (surrounded by White Sox ephemera) artlessly demolish a hot dog then laugh with cronies as Vienna Beef bits flew. It felt like I was freebasing Chicago-ism.
Working was the clear favorite among voters, with 59 percent of votes. Round two begins January 13.
