Are You Clumping Trubs? A Novel by Ron Abraytis. North Augusta, South Carolina: The Writers Block Publishing Company, [1995.] 190p.

A sexual abuse victim as a child, Jerry Applegate is struggling to accept his sexual identity in Chicago's gay community, where he functions as an interested observer but reluctant participant. Yet, Applegate is convinced that someday, at some gay bar or at somebody's house party, he will run into the perfect man, if he only waits long enough. He rushes to wait, for he has to be available, and the wait turns into a wonderful frolic of bar hopping, flirting, gossip, near hits and misses, and too much sexual intrigue to fathom, before Mr. Right appears.

Artie and Pink Marsh, Two Novels by George Ade. Drawings by John T. McCutcheon. Introduction by James T. Farrell. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, [1963.] 224p. (Chicago in Fiction)

Two short novels reprinted in one volume focus on a white office clerk (Artie) and a black shoe-shine man (Pink Marsh) in 1890s Chicago.

The Best of George Ade, Selected and Edited by A. L. Lazarus. With Illustrations by John T. McCutcheon. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, [1985.] 254p.

Lazarus has pulled together a representative selection of Ade's best fables, short stories, plays, essays, verses and songs, and letters.

CONTENTS: The Fable of Sister Mae, Who Did as Well as Could be Expected.--The Fable of the Lawyer Who Brought In a Minority Report.--What They Had Laid Out for their Vacation.--The Fable of the Man Who was Going to Retire.--The Fable of How the Fool-Killer Backed Out of a Contract.--The Fable of the Two Mandolin Players and the Willing Performer.--The Fable of the Grass Widow and the Mesmeree and the Six Dollars.--The Fable of What Happened the Night the Men Came to the Women's Club.--The Fable of Lutie, the False Alarm, and How She Finished about the Time that She Started.--The Fable of the Honest Maney-Maker and the Partner of His Joys, such as They Were.--How "Pink" Was Reformed.--The Alfalfa European Hotel.--Effie Whittlesy.--Sophie's Sunday Afternoon.--Olof Lindstrom Goes Fishing.--The Buell Cherry.--Our Private Romance.--The Mystery of the Back-Roomer.--Mr. Payson's Satirical Christmas.--Dubbley, '89.--The Intellectual Awakening in Burton's Row.--Il Janitoro.--In the Roof Garden.--When Father Meets Father.--The Judge's Son.--Aunt Fanny from Chautauqua.--Miss Tyndall's Picture.--The Sultan of Sulu.--Home Cooking.--The Money Present.--After the Skyscrapers, What?--A Breathing-Place and Play-Ground.--In Chicago but Not of It.--Musical Comedy.--The Joy of Single Blessedness.--One Afternoon with Mark Twain.--Mark Twain-Emissary.--Indiana.--Hoosier Hand Book.

Christian Science Monitor, 1/23/1986, p. 21.

Seven Moves, [by] Carol Anshaw. Boston [and] New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1996. 220p.

When Taylor Heyes disappears from her Chicago home, her lover and housemate of two years begins a frantic search to find her. A psychologist and counselor, Chris's probing into Taylor's life reveals attributes of Taylor's character and their life together to which she had been blind before.

Kirkus, 7/15/1996, p. 984. Publishers Weekly, 9/9/1996, p. 64.

Kane & Abel, [by] Jeffrey Archer. New York: Simon and Schuster, [1980.] 540p.

Two men from very different backgrounds cross swords in the business arena and launch a feud that is not reconciled for many years. William Kane is a Boston banker; Abel Rosnovski is a Chicago hotel magnate.

Best Sellers, 5/1980, p. 42. Kirkus, 2/15/1980, p. 74. Library Journal, 3/15/1980, p. 740. N. Y. Times Book Review, 7/6/1980, p. 9. Publishers Weekly, 1/18/1980, p. 132.

The Prodigal Daughter, by Jeffrey Archer. New York: The Linden Press/Simon & Schuster, 1982. 464p.

A sequel to Kane & Abel, The Prodigal Daughter is the story of Abel Rosnovski's daughter Florentyna, as she grows up in Chicago During World War II, enters local politics, marries the son of her father's arch enemy, and eventually runs for the vice-presidency of the United States. The Prodigal Daughter is the kind of story from which dreams are made, and Florentyna's story is made particularly appealing by a modern British storyteller who does a credible job of developing character, time, and place.

Booklist, 5/15/1982, p. 1193. Best Sellers, 9/1982, p. 212. Kirkus, 4/1/1982, p. 428. Library Journal, 6/1/1982, p. 1110. N. Y. Times Book Review, 7/11/1982, p. 14. Publishers Weekly, 4/30/1982, p. 47.

The Evening News; Stories by Tony Ardizzone. Athens and London: The University of Georgia Press, [1986.] 161p.

Eleven short stories, many of them set in Chicago, reflect family life and family relationships in a modern urban setting.

CONTENTS: My Mother's Stories.--The Eyes of Children.--The Evening News.--My Father's Laugh.--The Daughter and the Tradesman.--Idling.--The Transplant.--The Intersection.--World Without End.--The Walk-On--Nonna.

Booklist, 9/1/1986, p. 29. Publishers Weekly, 8/29/1986, p. 387.

Heart of the Order, [by] Tony Ardizzone. New York: Henry Holt and Company, [1986.] 314p.

Danny Bacigalupo, a poor kid from Chicago's North Side, grows up playing baseball in the alley behind his home. As he grows to manhood, baseball becomes more and more a part of his life, a passion that he cannot shake. One tragic flaw mars an otherwise assured destiny--a fly ball from Danny's bat strikes and kills Mickey Meenan, an eight-year-old first baseman, during a game of sandlot baseball. Heart of the Order is Danny's version of his life in baseball from the alleys to the high school baseball field, and finally to the Minor Leagues, playing for the Denver Dynos. His friendship with a black ball player when being black wasn't cool; his struggle with memories of Mickey Meenan; his climb to Majors and his one time at bat; his experiences as an unwed father; and the final reconciliation of his struggles against life form an intriguing literary collage, with coming of age a major theme juxtaposed with baseball in well-defined Chicago, Mississippi, and Kansas settings.

Kirkus, 6/1/1986, p. 802. Library Journal, 7/1986, p. 103. Publishers Weekly, 8/29/1986, p. 387. U S A Today, 8/14/1986, p. 2C.

In the Name of the Father, by Tony Ardizzone. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1978. 208p.

Chicago parochial schools provide Tonto Schwartz with a formal education, but the city itself is responsible for turning him into a street-wise kid able to survive in the tough north side neighborhood where he lives. As Tonto grows into manhood, the reconciliation of his formal and informal educations is complicated by the ending of a serious love affair, the death of his best friend in Vietnam, a confrontation with police during the Democratic National Convention of 1968, and an industrial accident in which he loses a portion of his hand in a press. Set in the 1950s and 1960s, this novel analyzes some of the problems of youth which led to the disenchantment and riots of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Booklist, 11/15/1978, p. 525. Kirkus, 7/15/1978, p. 760. Library Journal, 9/1/1978, p. 1658. Publishers Weekly, 7/31/1978, p. 90.

Taking It Home; Stories from the Neighborhood, [by] Tony Ardizzone. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, [1996.] 155p.

Ardizzone explores life in Chicago's North Side Italian neighborhood in twelve short stories that run the gamut from baseball to Catholicism.

CONTENTS: Baseball Fever.--Nonna.--The Eyes of Children.--My Mother's Stories.--Ritual.--The Language of the Dead.--The Man in the Movie.--The Daughter and the Tradesman.--World Without End.--Ladies' Choice.--Idling.--Holy Cards.

The Great Pretender, [by] James Atlas. New York: Atheneum, 1986. 277p.

Another coming-of-age novel set at least partially in the Chicago area, The Great Pretender concerns Ben Janis, a second generation Jewish youth caught between parental expectations and natural teenage desires. Growing up in Evanston, the son of an intellectual father determined to make a scholar of his son, Ben haunts the local bookshops, writes mediocre poetry, joins in dinner table discussions of Joyce and Proust, and feels appropriately guilty when he daydreams of girls and sex. He daydreams anyway. When daydreams become reality, Ben does some fancy adolescent footwork manipulating girlfriends and parents to his own advantage, until maturity finally kicks in. Although it takes him longer than some to make the transition, his story is a fun-filled adventure that will be viewed nostalgically by many who have made the trip.

Booklist, 3/15/1986, p. 1042. Kirkus, 3/15/1986, p. 400. Library Journal, 6/1/1986, p. 139. New Leader, 5/5/1986, p. 19. New Republic, 5/12/1986, p. 35. Newsweek, 6/16/1986, p. 74. N. Y. Times Book Review, 5/18/1986, p. 13. Publishers Weekly, 4/4/1986, p. 49. Time, 7/7/1986, p. 61.