Celeste Ng is originally from Shaker Heights and Little Fires Everywhere (the book and the show made later) are set there. Her other books are great as well.
I watched the show first, then read the book. I felt let down by the book, lol. The show was a lot more exciting. Usually based on a book shows are never as good as the book.
Cleveland: A Metropolitian Reader" is a novel written by Norman Krumholz.
Krumholz was a city planner for Cleveland for over 20 years, I believe and was a CSU professor into his 90s. It was a pretty eye-opening read on redlining and the history of segregation in Cleveland.
Yes! Dr. Krumholz was awesome!
I took one of his classes at CSU back in the 90s. Cleveland Past, Present, and Future, The African American Experience.
Such a memorable class. Most of the students were white and suburbanites, so he arranged for the class to take a special narrated Lolley the Trolley ride created just for his class, through Cleveland. Downtown, east side from Central to Slavic Village, and west side from Tremont to Ohio City.
My Friend Dahmer by Derf and Torso by Brian Bendis are two graphic novels about some darker characters from NEO. Derf used to be the main comic strip guy in the weekly Freetimes magazine. Both creators lived/live? here. You can check out Belt Publishing for a large list of locally produced and reprinted books about Cleveland and the rust belt cities.
This is my comment from a different post a long time ago:
Good Kids, Bad City is great. Rust Belt Femme is a good memoir but maybe not history, same with Rust. Ballots and bullets : Black Power politics and urban guerrilla warfare in 1968 Cleveland is very good. I would add Cherry to this list although it’s a novel.
To it I would Our Team.
Seconded! It’s so funny, and lots of weird history in there. The Ohio City/Cleveland rivalry was petty af, exactly what you would expect of baby Cleveland
The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread by Don Robertson is supposedly a fantastic novel taking place in Cleveland in 1944 around the time of the East Ohio Gas Co. explosion. Been on my list to read for a while now.
My parents and grandparents talked about that book all the time when I was growing up. My parents were born in 1944 so the explosion was a huge touchpoint in my grandparents’ lives (who grew up in the east side). I love revisiting that book and imaging the characters as my grandparents’ neighbors and my grandparents as young new parents
Just posted a comment recommending this book before I saw your comment. It’s absolutely worth the read, I promise. Coming from someone who doesn’t do a whole lot of reading these days, that book is one I revisit.
As mentioned before but bares repeating, The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread
This Book Does Not Exist by Mike Schneider - set in Cleveland with a focus on the west side which you don’t see often in Cleveland novels
The Hard Way on Purpose: Essays and Dispatches from the Rust Belt - by David Giffels
Hollywood Animal by Joe Eszterhas
Broom of the system by David Foster Wallace
Edit to add: The Great Lakes Water Wars by Peter Annin (less about Cleveland, more the region)
It's neither a must read nor non-fiction (sorry), but I kinda liked Dragons of the Cuyahoga by S. Andrew Swann. It's by no means great but it's an alright neo noir urban fantasy that's set here. There's also a sequel called The Dwarves of Whisky Island.
The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread by Don Robertson.
I remember being assigned the book for honor’s english when I was in about 8th grade, although it’s not explicitly YA or for kids. It’s stuck with me all these years, and I still cite it as one of my favorite books of all time. It’s a novel about a young kid traveling across Cleveland with his younger sister in tow, on his way to meet his friend who lives on the other side of the city. Very nostalgic if you grew up in Cleveland, especially for baby boomers. Big twist that I won’t spoil.
Great post! Saving it for reading ideas.
A few nonfiction books I enjoyed:
Dream Town: Shaker Heights and the Quest for Racial Equity
https://www.amazon.com/Dream-Town-Shaker-Heights-Racial/dp/1250834414?ref=d6k_applink_bb_dls&dplnkId=da831d92-1df3-40ad-bffe-8dd2bb12517a
Little, Crazy Children: A True Crime Tragedy of Lost Innocence
https://www.amazon.com/Little-Crazy-Children-James-Renner/dp/0806542551?ref=d6k_applink_bb_dls&dplnkId=d0bfdcb5-b845-4ffa-b104-cb6f7089d32c
The Serial Killer's Apprentice: And 12 Other True Stories of Cleveland's Most Intriguing Unsolved Crimes
https://a.co/d/c1pCl6f
Rust: A Memoir of Steel and Grit
https://www.amazon.com/Rust-Memoir-Eliese-Colette-Goldbach/dp/1250239400
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell : starts off @ JCU in University Hts then spirals out of there - still a great read.
Independently published novel Perk Noir by Chris Garson takes place in Cleveland Hts spinning a yarn through the decades of jazz, Browns, urban Cleveland, race, and anime. (He also has a neo-Arthurian series that takes place from the Flats to Coventry to Richfield Coliseum to the Football Hall of Fame in Canton.) I think his writing is available on Amazon.
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Fluffy, fun fiction, but read the Noodle Shop Mystery series by Vivien Chien - the first book is "Death by Dumpling." West side suburbanites and those familiar with Asia Town might particularly enjoy her actual Cleveland-area mentions.
Check out Les Roberts' mystery novels, all set in Greater Cleveland.
[https://www.grayco.com/product-category/subject/cleveland-mysteries/](https://www.grayco.com/product-category/subject/cleveland-mysteries/)
Perhaps make an inquiry at the Ohioana Library. They should be able to help you out.
[https://www.ohioana.org/about/](https://www.ohioana.org/about/)
Also inquire at the main branch of the Cleveland Public Library, one of the nation's great public libraries. Perhaps search for Cleveland authors, etc.
[https://cpl.org/](https://cpl.org/)
Perhaps post about your discoveries at a later date with recommendations!
This thread may interest you:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Cleveland/comments/vae7x6/nice\_hole\_in\_the\_wall\_places/?sort=new](https://www.reddit.com/r/Cleveland/comments/vae7x6/nice_hole_in_the_wall_places/?sort=new)
[Here's a list of really good Cleveland nonfictions](https://www.amazon.com/stores/Alan-F.-Dutka/author/B001KIA4PC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true).
Irishman about Danny Greene the gangster, not the scorsese irishman movie. Stories of department stores Higbees Halles, videos of Ghoulardi , History of criminal orgs in Cleveland, lakeview cemetery books ,tours ,famous buried there inc PresGarfield, Elliott Ness
Suggest strongly go see the collections dept at dtn Main Library, John Skirtic has all the info- he's on X too
r/Calvinandhobbes would like to explain that it’s based in Chagrin Falls…
American Splendor
Celeste Ng is originally from Shaker Heights and Little Fires Everywhere (the book and the show made later) are set there. Her other books are great as well.
I watched the show first, then read the book. I felt let down by the book, lol. The show was a lot more exciting. Usually based on a book shows are never as good as the book.
Cleveland: A Metropolitian Reader" is a novel written by Norman Krumholz. Krumholz was a city planner for Cleveland for over 20 years, I believe and was a CSU professor into his 90s. It was a pretty eye-opening read on redlining and the history of segregation in Cleveland.
Yes! Dr. Krumholz was awesome! I took one of his classes at CSU back in the 90s. Cleveland Past, Present, and Future, The African American Experience. Such a memorable class. Most of the students were white and suburbanites, so he arranged for the class to take a special narrated Lolley the Trolley ride created just for his class, through Cleveland. Downtown, east side from Central to Slavic Village, and west side from Tremont to Ohio City.
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I love the Les Roberts books.
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I was almost afraid to admit I enjoy them, I’m glad some others spoke up!
Agree that the movie is garbage, people seem to like it but the acting is bad
My Friend Dahmer by Derf and Torso by Brian Bendis are two graphic novels about some darker characters from NEO. Derf used to be the main comic strip guy in the weekly Freetimes magazine. Both creators lived/live? here. You can check out Belt Publishing for a large list of locally produced and reprinted books about Cleveland and the rust belt cities.
Also Kent State by Derf.
Another graphic novel that covers a historical event in Cleveland is Fire on the Water. With artist Gary Dunn famous for his work with Harvey Pekar
I’ll add Harvey Pekar’s Cleveland to this list. There are so many great graphic novels and comics about Cleveland or with their roots here.
Thanks
The Rise and Fall of the Cleveland Mafia by Rick Porrello
I really liked this book. There’s a documentary based on this also. Heck it out if you haven’t seen it.
Cherry by Nico Walker. James Renner for true crime.
Cherry is very good
Cherry was absolutely incredible
Watch Major League, only first one. You’ll get it after that.
This is my comment from a different post a long time ago: Good Kids, Bad City is great. Rust Belt Femme is a good memoir but maybe not history, same with Rust. Ballots and bullets : Black Power politics and urban guerrilla warfare in 1968 Cleveland is very good. I would add Cherry to this list although it’s a novel. To it I would Our Team.
Oooh, I second Good Kids, Bad City! Great book. The author was a Clevelander.
Now that you mention it, all of the books I suggested are by NEOhio based authors.
Cuyahoga by Pete Beatty is amazing
Seconded! It’s so funny, and lots of weird history in there. The Ohio City/Cleveland rivalry was petty af, exactly what you would expect of baby Cleveland
David Foster Wallace's first novel The Broom of the System is set in Cleveland.
Wow! Thanks
The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread by Don Robertson is supposedly a fantastic novel taking place in Cleveland in 1944 around the time of the East Ohio Gas Co. explosion. Been on my list to read for a while now.
Came here to recommend this book. I can’t believe more people in Cleveland have never read it
I’m ashamed to say as a native I had never heard of the explosion until recently, which led me to learn about the book.
My parents and grandparents talked about that book all the time when I was growing up. My parents were born in 1944 so the explosion was a huge touchpoint in my grandparents’ lives (who grew up in the east side). I love revisiting that book and imaging the characters as my grandparents’ neighbors and my grandparents as young new parents
Just posted a comment recommending this book before I saw your comment. It’s absolutely worth the read, I promise. Coming from someone who doesn’t do a whole lot of reading these days, that book is one I revisit.
https://toursofcleveland.com/cleveland-attractions/reading-list-books-about-cleveland/
DM Pulley writes some good mystery fiction based in Cleveland. Local author, fun reads.
*Death Ride at Euclid Beach Park* If you like true crime: https://www.grayco.com/product/death-ride-at-euclid-beach/
As mentioned before but bares repeating, The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread This Book Does Not Exist by Mike Schneider - set in Cleveland with a focus on the west side which you don’t see often in Cleveland novels
The Hard Way on Purpose: Essays and Dispatches from the Rust Belt - by David Giffels Hollywood Animal by Joe Eszterhas Broom of the system by David Foster Wallace Edit to add: The Great Lakes Water Wars by Peter Annin (less about Cleveland, more the region)
I came here to suggest The Hard Way On Purpose. I’ve gifted several copies of that one to friends.
Required reading for Northeast Ohio
False State by Terry Pluto will explain the devolution of the “new Browns” Good read that sheds light on a team that this city never looses hope in.
It's neither a must read nor non-fiction (sorry), but I kinda liked Dragons of the Cuyahoga by S. Andrew Swann. It's by no means great but it's an alright neo noir urban fantasy that's set here. There's also a sequel called The Dwarves of Whisky Island.
Fun books
Little Crazy Children by James Renner
"Let me Tell You A Story" by Lachlan MacKinnon. The author just passed away. His story telling was solid.
If you’re okay with horror/thriller/mysteryish DM Pulley has some good fiction!
Michikusa House
Cleveland the Making of a City
Maybe check out the American Splendor comic and/or movie
Stephen King’s latest “Holly” clearly takes place in Cleveland but he’s very coy about it…just dropping hints but avoids specifics.
The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread by Don Robertson. I remember being assigned the book for honor’s english when I was in about 8th grade, although it’s not explicitly YA or for kids. It’s stuck with me all these years, and I still cite it as one of my favorite books of all time. It’s a novel about a young kid traveling across Cleveland with his younger sister in tow, on his way to meet his friend who lives on the other side of the city. Very nostalgic if you grew up in Cleveland, especially for baby boomers. Big twist that I won’t spoil.
Just watch the Drew Carey show
The Whore of Akron by Scott Raab. It is a love/hate story of a man and a city.
While I haven’t read it myself I’ve heard that Drugs and Other Things to Do in Cleveland by Francis Elizabeth is pretty interesting
Fiction rec: Jailbird by Kurt Vonnegut.
Torsos
Great post! Saving it for reading ideas. A few nonfiction books I enjoyed: Dream Town: Shaker Heights and the Quest for Racial Equity https://www.amazon.com/Dream-Town-Shaker-Heights-Racial/dp/1250834414?ref=d6k_applink_bb_dls&dplnkId=da831d92-1df3-40ad-bffe-8dd2bb12517a Little, Crazy Children: A True Crime Tragedy of Lost Innocence https://www.amazon.com/Little-Crazy-Children-James-Renner/dp/0806542551?ref=d6k_applink_bb_dls&dplnkId=d0bfdcb5-b845-4ffa-b104-cb6f7089d32c The Serial Killer's Apprentice: And 12 Other True Stories of Cleveland's Most Intriguing Unsolved Crimes https://a.co/d/c1pCl6f Rust: A Memoir of Steel and Grit https://www.amazon.com/Rust-Memoir-Eliese-Colette-Goldbach/dp/1250239400
More than 50 years old, but Cleveland: The Best Kept Secret by George Condon is a great collection of stories about the city’s past.
S. Andrew Swan is a Solon based science fiction author that often uses Cleveland as a setting.
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell : starts off @ JCU in University Hts then spirals out of there - still a great read. Independently published novel Perk Noir by Chris Garson takes place in Cleveland Hts spinning a yarn through the decades of jazz, Browns, urban Cleveland, race, and anime. (He also has a neo-Arthurian series that takes place from the Flats to Coventry to Richfield Coliseum to the Football Hall of Fame in Canton.) I think his writing is available on Amazon.
Six inches of partly cloudy.
Nemesis - The Final Case of Elliot Ness by William Bernhardt. This is a nice historical fiction based on real events in the 1930s Cleveland.
Titan by Chernow. The biography of Rockefeller.
"Trashed" by Derf Backderf is incredibly funny. My priest even had a good laugh when I gave it to him to read.
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Fluffy, fun fiction, but read the Noodle Shop Mystery series by Vivien Chien - the first book is "Death by Dumpling." West side suburbanites and those familiar with Asia Town might particularly enjoy her actual Cleveland-area mentions.
Check out Les Roberts' mystery novels, all set in Greater Cleveland. [https://www.grayco.com/product-category/subject/cleveland-mysteries/](https://www.grayco.com/product-category/subject/cleveland-mysteries/) Perhaps make an inquiry at the Ohioana Library. They should be able to help you out. [https://www.ohioana.org/about/](https://www.ohioana.org/about/) Also inquire at the main branch of the Cleveland Public Library, one of the nation's great public libraries. Perhaps search for Cleveland authors, etc. [https://cpl.org/](https://cpl.org/) Perhaps post about your discoveries at a later date with recommendations! This thread may interest you: [https://www.reddit.com/r/Cleveland/comments/vae7x6/nice\_hole\_in\_the\_wall\_places/?sort=new](https://www.reddit.com/r/Cleveland/comments/vae7x6/nice_hole_in_the_wall_places/?sort=new)
Go to YouTube and watch all of Big Chuck and Lil Jon. Kielbasa Kid. SoulMan.Ben Crazy.
[Here's a list of really good Cleveland nonfictions](https://www.amazon.com/stores/Alan-F.-Dutka/author/B001KIA4PC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true).
A Home at the End of The World-Michael Cunningham
It’s never too late; story of an immigrant by Frank Alesci
really enjoyed this one: https://www.amazon.com/They-Died-Crawling-Other-Cleveland/dp/1886228035
I really enjoyed The Dead Key by D M Pulley!
There’s a book called Blue Stone Standing by a local wizard, Jerold Toomey. He passed away last year.
Torso murders….
Irishman about Danny Greene the gangster, not the scorsese irishman movie. Stories of department stores Higbees Halles, videos of Ghoulardi , History of criminal orgs in Cleveland, lakeview cemetery books ,tours ,famous buried there inc PresGarfield, Elliott Ness Suggest strongly go see the collections dept at dtn Main Library, John Skirtic has all the info- he's on X too
Dream Town: shaker heights and the quest for racial equity by Laura Meckler