Elizabeth Strout, who won a Pulitzer Prize for
Olive Kitteridge, sold world rights to
Oh William! to
Andy Ward at Random House. The novel, RH said, is about a formerly married couple who are now friends. They watch their children grow up and reckon with their own pasts as they “unearth the kind of long-buried family secret that rearranges everything we think we know about those closest to us.” Strout was represented by
Molly Friedrich and
Oh William! is slated for October.
Putnam Goes ‘Orange’ for Yoon
Putnam’s
City of Orange by
Frankly in Love and the forthcoming
Version Zero). The adult novel is, Putnam said, an “intimate” tale about “a man who wakes up alone and injured in a postapocalyptic landscape and must find his way home.”
West Rogers Park, officially designated by the city of Chicago as the West Ridge community area, is home to the midwest’s largest Haredi, or strict Orthodox, Jewish community (some members view the term “ultra-Orthodox” as disparaging.) It’s known for the dark suits, fedoras, and beards, or headscarves and long dresses, worn by many adherents. By some estimates, Jews of various stripes make up about one in three of the 77,000-plus residents of West Ridge. The area also includes vibrant Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and Assyrian communities.
Nowadays West Rogers Park’s strict Orthodox community is primarily located between Peterson Avenue and Howard Street, and concentrated west of California Avenue. That boundary gave its name to neighborhood native Adam Langer’s 2004 memoir “Crossing California.”
With theaters shuttered and only so many blockbusters coming our way and one of those scintillating “blockbusters” being a movie about the writing of “Citizen Kane” we decided to tap into our reserves of merriness and give you our picks for what to watch on December 25.
We have curated some classics, some offbeat favorites and even some fare that we insist is Christmassy, even if it appears to be one protracted car chase through the apocalypse. All can be viewed without inhaling other people’s droplets or traipsing across a sticky theater floor.
PJ Grisar, Culture Reporter
“A Christmas Story” 1983, directed by Bob Clark