10. "Waking Up in Chicago"
This is part travel book, part musical history. It doesn't do either very well. Chicago is too large in size and stature for such a short work.
Claire Hughes is a London based music writer. She moved to Wicker Park for a summer to write this book. A novel idea. I'd like to move to London to write a book about that music scene and history. I won't because it's absurd to think that anyone could take on such a task and do a decent job, at least with such a low word count.
The book isn't a total wash. I did learn some basic history of house music and get an outsiders perspective of the avant-garde jazz scene. If Ms. Hughes stuck to the facts and cut down on pages of prose on the gorgeous lake, homeless and wise fountain watchers and the beauty of music, I might have enjoyed more.
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