Summer reading: WGN’s July booklist

John Williams

Find the next read for your beach bag (or next vacation road trip) from these titles our WGN Radio Book Club have shared. There are fiction and non-fiction titles, plus audiobooks in our curated July list.

https://serve.castfire.com/audio/7516763/7-11-25_Sara_Tieman_WGN_Radio_July_Book_Club_Meeting_2025-07-11-173703.128.mp3

John Williams (weekdays 10am-2pm, including The Wintrust Business Lunch)
Runs in the Family: An Incredible True Story of Football, Fatherhood, and Belonging (2025) – Sarah Spain and Deland McCullough
Chicago’s Spain unearths the story of Deland McCullough – a late blooming football player from Youngstown, Ohio, whose talent and tenacity took him to the verge of NFL greatness. But this isn’t that story. It’s the story of a younger man – and his brother – who endure poverty and abuse and a mother whose actions both propel and endanger them. McCullough’s search for his father ends in a way you won’t see coming. Certainly McCullough didn’t. Hear John’s conversation with Sarah Spain about the book here.

Murder in the Dollhouse: The Jennifer Dulos Story (2025) – Rich Cohen
Did this really happen or was it an NCIS episode? Jennifer Dulos was rich and beautiful and protected by her father and his wealth. Until he died. Her husband – the father of her five children – was charming and…never satisfied. Their contentious divorce is the stuff of legends. The murder is almost a backdrop to the any things that lead up to it. Reading this book, you will say, Jennifer, Get out. But you know its too late.

The History of the World in 6 Glasses (2006) – Tom Standage
It’s a neat conceit – we can relate to wine and tea and coffee and so on. But how did they come to be the staples of countries, continents, generations? Well, here you go. (And if I asked you what is the beverage that tells America…you would get it right?) Cheers!

Steve Alexander (agribusiness reporter)
The Mistress and the Key (2024) – Ben Mezrich
This is the guy who first made it big with Bringing Down the House (2002), the story of M.I.T. students who beat the system in Las Vegas. He borrows from that theme with this piece of what I’d call historical fiction. It’s about a modern day card counter who gets involved in chasing down a Revolutionary War secret that involves Ben Franklin, Paul Revere, the LIberty Bell, Mozart, and an apartment in the Eiffel Tower. Fun read, although it drags in a few spots.

Great Black Hope (2025) – Rob Franklin
I’d call this debut novel a whodunit with a protagonist I can’t relate to but I find the pickle he’s gotten himself into intriguing. Smith is a black, queer, club-going recent Stanford graduate working a bland corporate job in NYC, much to the dismay of his upper class parents who’d expected him to be like his siblings: a doctor or a lawyer. His life explodes when his roommate and closest friend, the daughter of a famous soul singer, dies mysteriously, and he is arrested for cocaine possession at a club. At a time he should be upwardly mobile, he’s spiraling downward, and while his class offers him protection, his race does not.

I’m currently reading The Doorman (2025) by Chris Pavone. No heavy lifting, which satisfies my July reading regimen.

WGN Radio Book Club

Bob Kessler (news)
Fever Beach (2025) – Carl Hiaasen
This is Hiaasen doing what he does best — a comedic crime novel amidst Floridian hijinks, quirky protagonists and feckless villains. The stakes this time have to do with far-right fringe groups and election interference. Fans will find his take on contemporary issues and the overall wackiness familiar, but there’s a big difference between this and his earlier novels. It’s not that his writing has changed, but rather present-day reality has become closer to his writing.

My Name is Emelia Del Valle (2025) – Isabel Allende
A fantastic historical novel from the perspective of a young journalist during the Chilean Civil War of 1891. It’s an historically edifying journey of self-discovery and personal awakenings that transcend any particular era. One of the best books I’ve read so far this year.

Brothas Be, Yo Like George, Ain’t That Funkin’ Kinda Hard on You?: A Memoir (2017) – George Clinton
George Clinton created a joyous universe of music that always makes me feel good when I tap into it. As a guidebook for the many, many Parliament/Funkadelic and related recordings that make up that universe, this is wonderful. As an overall memoir, it’s interesting but gets a little lost in the weeds when it describes the financial misfortune he’s suffered because of unscrupulous managers. It’s an unfortunate, valid cautionary tale that’s all too common in the music industry but it gets a bit bogged down in who ripped off whom. Still, if you love P-Funk or are curious about it, this is a great listening companion, straight from the man himself.

Truck: A Love Story (2006) – Michael Perry
This is just the kind of book you would expect to pick up in a charming independent bookstore in Wisconsin (which I did). And, it’s just as charming and small town-y as its title and cover design present. What is unexpected is how the book is about more than just fixing up an old truck (which is what attracted me to it). I don’t want to give away much more but would rather let the story unfold for new readers in the way it did for me.

Spent: A Comic Novel (2025) – Alison Bechdel
I’m new to the works of Alison Bechdel so this as a first dive-in might not do her larger body of work justice. It’s an uber-meta graphic novel about how the author living on her Vermont pygmy goat farm is growing frustrated at how the streaming series based on one of her books is turning out and is becoming a bit envious of her partner’s YouTube success while the author struggles to come up with what to do for her next work . . . which turns out to be . . . this book! It had me rolling my eyes at just how on-the-nose it is. But since I’m a newbie, I’m not sure how much is meant to be satire. Despite all that, I really enjoyed how the story is told and I’m still thinking about the piece as a whole. I found the account of the reconciled relationship with her politically opposite sister really lovely and would have read an extended entire book about that.

The Spinning Heart (2012) and Heart, Be at Peace (2024) – Donal Ryan
This older novel and its new sequel really live up to the adage ‘write what you know.’ The author clearly not only intimately understands his specific region of Ireland at two specific periods of time, but he really knows people. It’s impressive how his writing changes voices through this series of first-person accounts (each chapter is told by a different character) where we learn about his region and those who populate it. Their interlocking stories show how economic conditions impact societies in ways that are unpredictable and have wide-ranging repercussions. Steve Alexander mentioned these books in June and you can read his review of Ryan’s books here.

Jeff Carlin (producer of The Chicago Way with John Kass podcast)
I’m Your Huckleberry: A Memoir (2020) – Val Kilmer
This is a poetic autobiography from a true artist. Kilmer interweaves his family’s complex history, his own struggles with ego, wisdom on love & religion, and his own poetry written over the course of his life. I highly recommend this but be forewarned, if you listen to the audiobook, there are three different narrators given Kilmer’s battle with throat cancer. I give this 5 out of 5 bookmarks!

Power, Sex, Suicide: Mitochondria and the Meaning of Life (2005) – Nick Lane
This is a deep scientific dive into the origins of life on Earth, fosucing on Nick Lane’s theory that two billion years ago, mitochondria were bacteria living independent lives and that their capture within larger cells was a turning point in the evolution of life, enabling the development of complex organisms. Science heavy and slightly outdated by scientific standards (written in 2006) but overall a really well written dive into the origins of life. I give this 3.5 bookmarks.

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (1985) – Patrick Süskind
Honestly, I fell into this piece of historical fiction because the narrator, Nigel Patterson, is one of my favorites. This is a dark, well researched look at obsession, poverty, lust, and of course, murder in eighteenth-century France. The protagonist is born in poverty but has an unusually keen sense of smell which takes him into the pantheon of high-society. It’s an interesting, albeit depraved at times story that is very well written. I give this 3 bookmarks.

The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory (1999) – Brian Greene
This is a modern classic in physics and a must read for anyone who is really curious and/or confused about string theory & a multi-dimensional universe. Brian Greene does a great job of making these really complex subjects tangible. This book is great for all readers and will expand your understanding of the universe in a brilliantly simple way. I give this 5 bookmarks.

Sara Tieman (promotions & public relations manager and station bookworm)
The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World (2024) – Robin Wall Kimmerer
The author wrote the 2013 bestseller Braiding Sweetgrass (2013) which is on my ‘to read’ pile but this latest book by Wall Kimmerer is a delightful short non-fiction book that challenges readers to look at the serviceberry, a plant known by many names, including shadbush, and how it shares its resources. The author calls this living in the gift economy versus our current market economy which is ruled by the threat of scarcity. It’s an invitation to live in community and temper excess when we know we have enough.

If You Would Have Told Me: A Memoir (2023) – John Stamos
This was one of my three audiobooks for the month and a 10/10. John Stamos can write (or has a great editor) and his phrasing moved me to tears at several points in his book. The audio version is read by Stamos with a foreword written and voiced by Jamie Lee Curtis, one of his longtime friends. He is candid about his career, divorce, relationship with The Beach Boys, struggles with alcoholism, becoming a father, and the death of family and friends (Bob Saget). He wrote honestly about how hard it was to become a father, discussing fertility struggles when that is rarely discussed by anyone, especially men. I’ve always loved Uncle Jesse, but I gained a respect for John Stamos through this memoir.

There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension (2024) – Hanif Abdurraquib
In February, Steve Alexander wrote of this non-fiction book, “This is a book I encourage you to listen to, not read.” Steve’s description moved me to place the audiobook version on hold at the library and my hold was ready this June. Steve was not wrong. The audiobook is the way to go – you want to hear Abdurraquib read his book. The pace varies in intensity, not unlike a basketball game. But you don’t have to love (or even care about) basketball or sports to be moved by this book. Abdurraquib is a poet and his writing is beautiful, weaving in his story of growing up in Ohio, LeBron James, The Fab Five, success, failure, fathers, hair, music and culture. I hope to pick it up one more time this year and read it, because there were lines I wanted to write down and keep close.

More book recommendations from Sara Tieman