Book Chamber | March 21

Tuesday, March 21, 2023 — 6:30 pm

Travel back to the South Side Chicago ghetto of the ’50s and ‘60s, then a Polish neighborhood in Stuart Dybek’s I Sailed With Magellan, a collection of stories recounting memories of Perry Katzek with detail of local color. Perry, the little boy, croons in dives to earn whiskey for his uncle Lefty Antic and a rootbeer for himself; the youth meets eccentric locals such as Chickenman; the teenager hatches a plan to raise money for a trip to Mexico by stealing and re-selling orchids. You can laugh at most stories, but ponder some solemn moments, too. The book rates listing in Francine Prose’s Books You Should Read Immediately. Dybeck’s mastery of the short story genre won him the O’Henry award.