Greg Zimmerman
@gregzimmerman.bsky.social
📚 Bookseller: @roscoebooks.bsky.social
🛠️ Daily Editor: @chicagorevbooks.bsky.social
✍️ Marketing and communications: @storystudiochicago.bsky.social
📝 Book Reviewer: open.substack.com/pub/thenewdorkreviewofbooks
Chicagoan. Marquette alum. Runner
🛠️ Daily Editor: @chicagorevbooks.bsky.social
✍️ Marketing and communications: @storystudiochicago.bsky.social
📝 Book Reviewer: open.substack.com/pub/thenewdorkreviewofbooks
Chicagoan. Marquette alum. Runner
Pinned
The New Dork Review 10 Best Books of 2025
Okay, maybe not "best" books, but definitely my FAVORITE books.
thenewdorkreviewofbooks.substack.com
FINALLY! Here are the 10 best -- or at least my favorite -- books of 2025.
#books
#booksky
thenewdorkreviewofbooks.substack.com/p/the-new-do...
#books
#booksky
thenewdorkreviewofbooks.substack.com/p/the-new-do...
Book 2: My Struggle, Book 5, by Karl Ove Knausgaard
Bad news: I only have one book left in this series I really like.
Good news: That one book left is 1,200 pages. 😅
This one is tied with No. 4 as my favorite. Why are these so compelling?!
#books
#booksky
substack.com/profile/3501...
Bad news: I only have one book left in this series I really like.
Good news: That one book left is 1,200 pages. 😅
This one is tied with No. 4 as my favorite. Why are these so compelling?!
#books
#booksky
substack.com/profile/3501...
Greg Zimmerman (@thenewdorkreviewofbooks)
Book 2: My Struggle, Book 5, by Karl Ove Knausgaard
Bad news: I only have one book left in this series I really like.
Good news: That one book left is 1,200 pages. 😅
This one is about Knausgaard’s ...
substack.com
January 3, 2026 at 10:18 PM
Book 2: My Struggle, Book 5, by Karl Ove Knausgaard
Bad news: I only have one book left in this series I really like.
Good news: That one book left is 1,200 pages. 😅
This one is tied with No. 4 as my favorite. Why are these so compelling?!
#books
#booksky
substack.com/profile/3501...
Bad news: I only have one book left in this series I really like.
Good news: That one book left is 1,200 pages. 😅
This one is tied with No. 4 as my favorite. Why are these so compelling?!
#books
#booksky
substack.com/profile/3501...
😅
"When you're running, all your troubles and concerns just melt away. It's beautiful. You become really present because running wears away the cartilage in your hip, knee, and ankle joints, which causes such intense pain that you lose the ability to focus on anything else." buff.ly/vv8JElo
You Should Try Running, According to Me, Your Friend Who Won’t Shut Up About Running
Have you tried running? It’s exhilarating. Really, I mean it. Running changed my life. Before running, I’d order pasta without telling everyone I w...
buff.ly
January 3, 2026 at 2:25 AM
😅
Book 1 of 2026: The Running Ground, by Nicholas Thompson
One of my metrics for judging a good running book is whether or not it gets me motivated to run. This one did. Maybe as much as or more than just about any running book I’ve read.
substack.com/profile/3501...
#books
#booksky
One of my metrics for judging a good running book is whether or not it gets me motivated to run. This one did. Maybe as much as or more than just about any running book I’ve read.
substack.com/profile/3501...
#books
#booksky
Greg Zimmerman (@thenewdorkreviewofbooks)
Book 1 of 2026: The Running Ground, by Nicholas Thompson
I don’t know what my running life will look like this year — I’m sort of planning to back off a bit and I’m “officially” retired from maratho...
substack.com
January 2, 2026 at 3:53 PM
Book 1 of 2026: The Running Ground, by Nicholas Thompson
One of my metrics for judging a good running book is whether or not it gets me motivated to run. This one did. Maybe as much as or more than just about any running book I’ve read.
substack.com/profile/3501...
#books
#booksky
One of my metrics for judging a good running book is whether or not it gets me motivated to run. This one did. Maybe as much as or more than just about any running book I’ve read.
substack.com/profile/3501...
#books
#booksky
Even if you don't factor in that this guy is a MAGA moron, this was the WORST contract in sports history, and it's not close.
The Angels paid $11.1 million PER HOMER for this effing clown.
www.mlb.com/news/anthony...
The Angels paid $11.1 million PER HOMER for this effing clown.
www.mlb.com/news/anthony...
Rendon's Angels tenure comes to end with restructured contract (source)
ANAHEIM -- The Angels and third baseman Anthony Rendon have agreed to restructure the last year of his contract and he won’t play in 2026, a source told MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand on Tuesday.
Rendon, who...
www.mlb.com
December 30, 2025 at 11:35 PM
Even if you don't factor in that this guy is a MAGA moron, this was the WORST contract in sports history, and it's not close.
The Angels paid $11.1 million PER HOMER for this effing clown.
www.mlb.com/news/anthony...
The Angels paid $11.1 million PER HOMER for this effing clown.
www.mlb.com/news/anthony...
Reposted by Greg Zimmerman
The older I get the less I understand about writing or reading and the more I just want to experience it in my bones. It's that uncertainty, however difficult, that gives me great joy. I think this is why AI is so appalling. It offers, and still can't even deliver, lifeless, bland certainty.
December 30, 2025 at 8:46 PM
The older I get the less I understand about writing or reading and the more I just want to experience it in my bones. It's that uncertainty, however difficult, that gives me great joy. I think this is why AI is so appalling. It offers, and still can't even deliver, lifeless, bland certainty.
Writers! Do you jolt awake at 3:30 am thinking things like "James would've been wearing a coat, so there's no way they could've seen what was printed on his T-shirt," or are you a normal and well-adjusted writer? (Follow up: Is "normal and well-adjusted writer" an oxymoron?)
#writersofbluesky
#writersofbluesky
December 30, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Writers! Do you jolt awake at 3:30 am thinking things like "James would've been wearing a coat, so there's no way they could've seen what was printed on his T-shirt," or are you a normal and well-adjusted writer? (Follow up: Is "normal and well-adjusted writer" an oxymoron?)
#writersofbluesky
#writersofbluesky
I don't think this is a new photo, but it's new to me -- look, there's the distinguished @andymboyle.bsky.social browsing at Madison Street Books in this year's city bookstore rankings!
www.timeout.com/chicago/shop...
www.timeout.com/chicago/shop...
The best bookstores in Chicago
Discover a new novel to get lost in.
www.timeout.com
December 30, 2025 at 2:42 PM
I don't think this is a new photo, but it's new to me -- look, there's the distinguished @andymboyle.bsky.social browsing at Madison Street Books in this year's city bookstore rankings!
www.timeout.com/chicago/shop...
www.timeout.com/chicago/shop...
Last bookstore shift of 2025 — 11 years and counting!
Highlights of this year included selling books at an offsite Pulitzer on the Road event, hosting runner Keira D’Amato at a packed in-store event, and making fun of the Zon.
Lucky to get to do this. The world is on fire. Read more books.
Highlights of this year included selling books at an offsite Pulitzer on the Road event, hosting runner Keira D’Amato at a packed in-store event, and making fun of the Zon.
Lucky to get to do this. The world is on fire. Read more books.
December 30, 2025 at 1:47 AM
Last bookstore shift of 2025 — 11 years and counting!
Highlights of this year included selling books at an offsite Pulitzer on the Road event, hosting runner Keira D’Amato at a packed in-store event, and making fun of the Zon.
Lucky to get to do this. The world is on fire. Read more books.
Highlights of this year included selling books at an offsite Pulitzer on the Road event, hosting runner Keira D’Amato at a packed in-store event, and making fun of the Zon.
Lucky to get to do this. The world is on fire. Read more books.
Book 73: What We Can Know, by Ian McEwan
A structurally and thematically inventive meditation on the lives of artists, their inspirations and processes, and truly what we can (and mostly can’t) understand about them from what they leave behind after they’re gone.
buff.ly/Bf9AW5g
#books
#booksky
A structurally and thematically inventive meditation on the lives of artists, their inspirations and processes, and truly what we can (and mostly can’t) understand about them from what they leave behind after they’re gone.
buff.ly/Bf9AW5g
#books
#booksky
Greg Zimmerman (@thenewdorkreviewofbooks)
Book 73: What We Can Know, by Ian McEwan A structurally and thematically inventive meditation on the lives of artists, their inspirations and processes, and truly what we can (and mostly can’t)…
substack.com
December 28, 2025 at 5:22 PM
Book 73: What We Can Know, by Ian McEwan
A structurally and thematically inventive meditation on the lives of artists, their inspirations and processes, and truly what we can (and mostly can’t) understand about them from what they leave behind after they’re gone.
buff.ly/Bf9AW5g
#books
#booksky
A structurally and thematically inventive meditation on the lives of artists, their inspirations and processes, and truly what we can (and mostly can’t) understand about them from what they leave behind after they’re gone.
buff.ly/Bf9AW5g
#books
#booksky
Radical left scum…and their humans.
December 27, 2025 at 7:17 PM
Radical left scum…and their humans.
Best albums of 2025, says me:
5. Machine Head, Unatoned
4. Sleep Token, Even in Arcadia
3. Black Map, Hex
2. Deftones, private music
1. Spiritbox, Tsunami Sea
🤘🤘🤘
5. Machine Head, Unatoned
4. Sleep Token, Even in Arcadia
3. Black Map, Hex
2. Deftones, private music
1. Spiritbox, Tsunami Sea
🤘🤘🤘
December 26, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Best albums of 2025, says me:
5. Machine Head, Unatoned
4. Sleep Token, Even in Arcadia
3. Black Map, Hex
2. Deftones, private music
1. Spiritbox, Tsunami Sea
🤘🤘🤘
5. Machine Head, Unatoned
4. Sleep Token, Even in Arcadia
3. Black Map, Hex
2. Deftones, private music
1. Spiritbox, Tsunami Sea
🤘🤘🤘
Lovely piece in the @chicago.suntimes.com about how a reporter's love of @rebeccamakkai.bsky.social's novel THE GREAT BELIEVERS inspired her reporting and long article about Unit 371.
chicago.suntimes.com/news/2025/12...
chicago.suntimes.com/news/2025/12...
How my love of fiction led me to report on the real impact of Chicago's first AIDS unit
The AIDS floor at Illinois Masonic Medical Center was featured in Rebecca Makkai's "The Great Believers," leading a reporter to tell the true story about Unit 371.
chicago.suntimes.com
December 24, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Lovely piece in the @chicago.suntimes.com about how a reporter's love of @rebeccamakkai.bsky.social's novel THE GREAT BELIEVERS inspired her reporting and long article about Unit 371.
chicago.suntimes.com/news/2025/12...
chicago.suntimes.com/news/2025/12...
People who are trying to cram a bunch of really short books into the last week of the year to meet an arbitrary book-total reading goal are the same people who don't understand why total innings pitched isn't a precise metric for gauging pitcher durability. 😎
December 24, 2025 at 4:19 PM
People who are trying to cram a bunch of really short books into the last week of the year to meet an arbitrary book-total reading goal are the same people who don't understand why total innings pitched isn't a precise metric for gauging pitcher durability. 😎
The Ls are piling up, Donnie.
BREAKING: Supreme Court deals Trump a defeat on bid to deploy National Guard in Illinois
Supreme Court deals Trump a defeat on bid to deploy National Guard in Illinois
The conservative-majority U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday denied a request from President Donald Trump’s administration to allow the Republican president to deploy National Guard troops to Illi…
trib.al
December 23, 2025 at 9:38 PM
The Ls are piling up, Donnie.
This year's been tough, but we found plenty of joy, too.
And just like that, I finished editing one of our last @chicagorevbooks.bsky.social reviews of the year!
...which also reminded me: it's been a year since I joined the masthead as a daily editor. What a joy to edit writers you adore and be part of the @storystudiochicago.bsky.social community!
...which also reminded me: it's been a year since I joined the masthead as a daily editor. What a joy to edit writers you adore and be part of the @storystudiochicago.bsky.social community!
December 23, 2025 at 8:30 PM
This year's been tough, but we found plenty of joy, too.
C'mon, Bluesky. This post KILLED on Threads 🤣
Murakami signing with the White Sox is bizarre enough it feel like something that would only happen in a Murakami novel.
December 23, 2025 at 2:32 PM
C'mon, Bluesky. This post KILLED on Threads 🤣
Reposted by Greg Zimmerman
@meganstielstra.bsky.social's "Urgency and the Personal" essay class begins on 1/8 -- this 4-session online class focuses on how to tell our own stories in ways that make them equally urgent to others.
Don't miss this! buff.ly/oNFCsxM
#writingcommunity
Don't miss this! buff.ly/oNFCsxM
#writingcommunity
Urgency and the Personal Essay: Four Lessons on What to Say, How to Say it, Revision, and Submitting with Megan Stielstra - StoryStudio Chicago
"I’ve written a hundred course descriptions in my career, but over the past few months these paragraphs feel new and charged and vital. What does it mean to write in this time? To write of this time?…
buff.ly
December 23, 2025 at 1:14 AM
@meganstielstra.bsky.social's "Urgency and the Personal" essay class begins on 1/8 -- this 4-session online class focuses on how to tell our own stories in ways that make them equally urgent to others.
Don't miss this! buff.ly/oNFCsxM
#writingcommunity
Don't miss this! buff.ly/oNFCsxM
#writingcommunity
Reposted by Greg Zimmerman
I hope somehow more people see it this way than if she had just let it run.
December 23, 2025 at 3:32 AM
I hope somehow more people see it this way than if she had just let it run.
Reposted by Greg Zimmerman
At the end of the year, we think it's vitally important to celebrate wins! In our latest newsletter, we spelled out our 10 best successes of 2025:
buff.ly/2hlmao1
#writingcommunity
buff.ly/2hlmao1
#writingcommunity
December 22, 2025 at 8:31 PM
At the end of the year, we think it's vitally important to celebrate wins! In our latest newsletter, we spelled out our 10 best successes of 2025:
buff.ly/2hlmao1
#writingcommunity
buff.ly/2hlmao1
#writingcommunity
I wrote about environmental issues for 15 years. What he's talking about (though he has no idea it's what he's talking about) is called embodied energy.
The embodied energy to build wind turbines is FAR less than their lifetime output. So yes, wind turbines are green, you blithering idiot.
The embodied energy to build wind turbines is FAR less than their lifetime output. So yes, wind turbines are green, you blithering idiot.
Burgum on wind energy: "It wasn't even actually green because when you look at the components, the magnets, the blades, everything that goes into building this thing, you can really question whether it was green in the first place"
December 22, 2025 at 8:27 PM
I wrote about environmental issues for 15 years. What he's talking about (though he has no idea it's what he's talking about) is called embodied energy.
The embodied energy to build wind turbines is FAR less than their lifetime output. So yes, wind turbines are green, you blithering idiot.
The embodied energy to build wind turbines is FAR less than their lifetime output. So yes, wind turbines are green, you blithering idiot.
Reposted by Greg Zimmerman
While we already ran a list of the best books we read in 2025 last week, it pains us to leave so many out. Sooo we’re offering another “best of 2025” list—introducing the best debuts we read in 2025.
chireviewofbooks.com/2025/12/22/t...
chireviewofbooks.com/2025/12/22/t...
The Best Debuts We Read in 2025 - Chicago Review of Books
A delectable selection of books from this year's first-time authors.
chireviewofbooks.com
December 22, 2025 at 5:18 PM
While we already ran a list of the best books we read in 2025 last week, it pains us to leave so many out. Sooo we’re offering another “best of 2025” list—introducing the best debuts we read in 2025.
chireviewofbooks.com/2025/12/22/t...
chireviewofbooks.com/2025/12/22/t...
The @chicagorevbooks.bsky.social has a fantastic list of the best debuts of 2025!
My contributions: Deep Cuts, by Holly Brickley; Pan, by Michael Clune; Sky Daddy, by Kate Folk, and The El, by @tvayyyy.bsky.social.
chireviewofbooks.com/2025/12/22/t...
#books
#booksky
My contributions: Deep Cuts, by Holly Brickley; Pan, by Michael Clune; Sky Daddy, by Kate Folk, and The El, by @tvayyyy.bsky.social.
chireviewofbooks.com/2025/12/22/t...
#books
#booksky
The Best Debuts We Read in 2025 - Chicago Review of Books
A delectable selection of books from this year's first-time authors.
chireviewofbooks.com
December 22, 2025 at 5:29 PM
The @chicagorevbooks.bsky.social has a fantastic list of the best debuts of 2025!
My contributions: Deep Cuts, by Holly Brickley; Pan, by Michael Clune; Sky Daddy, by Kate Folk, and The El, by @tvayyyy.bsky.social.
chireviewofbooks.com/2025/12/22/t...
#books
#booksky
My contributions: Deep Cuts, by Holly Brickley; Pan, by Michael Clune; Sky Daddy, by Kate Folk, and The El, by @tvayyyy.bsky.social.
chireviewofbooks.com/2025/12/22/t...
#books
#booksky
This is wild.
Nothing is real anymore.
Nothing is real anymore.
This is a wild hack. a16z gave a million dollars to startup called Doublespeed. They use a phone farm to flood social media with AI generated influencers and ads. A hacker remotely broke into the phone farm, unmasking the AI influencers/fake accounts, gave us the data www.404media.co/hack-reveals...
Hack Reveals the a16z-Backed Phone Farm Flooding TikTok With AI Influencers
A hacker gained control of a 1,100 mobile phone farm powering covert, AI-generated ads on TikTok.
www.404media.co
December 22, 2025 at 3:14 PM
This is wild.
Nothing is real anymore.
Nothing is real anymore.
Murakami signing with the White Sox is bizarre enough it feel like something that would only happen in a Murakami novel.
December 21, 2025 at 5:22 PM
Murakami signing with the White Sox is bizarre enough it feel like something that would only happen in a Murakami novel.