New York

[Pecksie]

Hey everyone,

I'd like to have some recommendations about NY-related reads. Fiction, poetry and memoirs are equally welcome, as long as they take place in or refer to that city.

To give you an idea of what I like --- Already on my 'to read' shelf are O. Henry, Edith Wharton, Isaac Bashevis Singer and some others. Recently, I also read and enjoyed Claire Messud's 'The Emperor's Children'.

Thanks! :coolgleamA:

[Patrick_Bateman]

Bright Lights, Big City

and of course any excuse

American Psycho

[freudianslip]

Snow in August--Pete Hammill
Time and Again--Jack Finney

Two fantasy novels of NYC

[AbOvo]

The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster is a fun read. The Recognitions by William Gaddis is set in NYC, but I'm not sure if you'd be interested based off of your aforesaid likes.

[Virgil]

JD Salinger: The Catcher in the Rye and short stories.

Henry James: Washington Square

Fitzgerald's, The Great Gatsby

Ralph Elison's, Invisible Man

Paul Auster has a bunch of novels set in NYC, especially The New York Trilogy

Actually Moby Dick starts in NYC but obviously moves on.

[sixsmith]

Underworld - Don DeLillo
Desperate Characters - Paula Fox
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay - Michael Chabon

Aren't parts of Wharton's House of Mirth also set in NYC?

[Pecksie]

Thanks for all the recommendations! Some of the books you guys mention I've already read (like the wonderful Washington Square), others are new to me. Will check them out. Keep the ideas coming! :)

[kasie]

I'm so pleased to see this thread, Pecksie - I was thinking of starting a similar one myself as I'm New York-bound next March and would like to build up a feel for the city before I go. I 've read some of the titles mentioned and have others lined up on the shelf - started Underworld last week and was bowled over by the opening section, am looking forward to finding out if the rest of it keeps up that standard of writing, which I'm sure it will.

I also have Mark Helprin's Winter's Tale. The edition I have has a wonderfully evocative cover picture of Grand Central Station which caught my eye in Waterstone's but I haven't read any of it yet.

I recently read Joseph O'Neill's Netherland - I enjoyed it tremendously and I don't think it would be a SPOILER (though I'd better warn in advance) to ask: Is there really a New York Cricket League as described in the story? I'd love to think it really exists! Virgil? Anyone?

[David Lurie]

I also have Mark Helprin's Winter's Tale. The edition I have has a wonderfully evocative cover picture of Grand Central Station which caught my eye in Waterstone's but I haven't read any of it yet.

read it carefully, it's a masterpiece.

[lichtrausch]

I just came across this NYC book list on another forum. No idea about the quality of the books.

1.Lindsay Kelk – I heart New York
2.Miranda Dickinson – Fairytale of New York
3.Mary Carter – Shell take it
4.Lauren Weisberger – The Devil wears Prada
5.Plum Skyes – Bergdorf Blondes
6.Plum Skyes – The Debutante Divorcee
7.Rachel Pine – The Twins of Tribeca
8.Nicola Kraus – The Nanny Diaries
9.Meg Cabot - The Boy next Door
10.Candace Bushnell – Lipstick Jungle
11.Liz Ireland – How I stole here Husband
12.Anne Dayton – Emily Ever After
13.Liz Ireland – Three Bedrooms in Chelsea
14.Leanne Shear – The perfect Manhattan
15.Lauren Weisberger – Everyone worth knowing
16.Kathleen Flynn-Hui – Beyond the Blonde
17.Karen Yampolsky – Falling out of Fashion
18.Josa Young – One Apple tasted
19.Alison Pace – City Dog
20.Carolyn Mackler – Love and other four letter words

http://www.literaturschock.de/literaturforum/index.php/topic,14714.msg460116.html#msg460116

[Pecksie]

I just came across this NYC book list on another forum. No idea about the quality of the books.

1.Lindsay Kelk – I heart New York
2.Miranda Dickinson – Fairytale of New York
3.Mary Carter – Shell take it
4.Lauren Weisberger – The Devil wears Prada
5.Plum Skyes – Bergdorf Blondes
6.Plum Skyes – The Debutante Divorcee
7.Rachel Pine – The Twins of Tribeca
8.Nicola Kraus – The Nanny Diaries
9.Meg Cabot - The Boy next Door
10.Candace Bushnell – Lipstick Jungle
11.Liz Ireland – How I stole here Husband
12.Anne Dayton – Emily Ever After
13.Liz Ireland – Three Bedrooms in Chelsea
14.Leanne Shear – The perfect Manhattan
15.Lauren Weisberger – Everyone worth knowing
16.Kathleen Flynn-Hui – Beyond the Blonde
17.Karen Yampolsky – Falling out of Fashion
18.Josa Young – One Apple tasted
19.Alison Pace – City Dog
20.Carolyn Mackler – Love and other four letter words

http://www.literaturschock.de/literaturforum/index.php/topic,14714.msg460116.html#msg460116

Hmmm... they sound like chick lit. But still, thanks for all the suggestions! I've started Louis Auchincloss's 'Manhattan Monologues'. I hadn't liked another book by him, 'Her Infinite Variety', but decided to give this one a chance, seeing as I'd already bought it and it was about NY :)

[dfloyd]

I saw Bobby Thompson hit the homerun off Ralph Branca on tv. TV was so new then; not many people had one. The remaining book sections do not match the rest of the book. I finally gave up on it.

For contemporary NY, try 'Sex and the City.' Not a book, but this tv program tells you how it is with four lucious chicks having sex in the city.

[Silvia]

Kafka Was the Rage: A Greenwich Village Memoir by Anatole Broyard. In the preface the author says:" This book is always a narrative, a story that is intimate, personal, lived through, a young man excited and perplexed by life in New York City at one of the richest times in its history" that is, the period after World War II. He continues: "My story is not only a memoir, a history-it's a valentine to that time and place". I think you might enjoy this one if you give it a try.

[Gregory Samsa]

Chronicles by Bob Dylan.

[Pecksie]

Kafka Was the Rage: A Greenwich Village Memoir by Anatole Broyard. In the preface the author says:" This book is always a narrative, a story that is intimate, personal, lived through, a young man excited and perplexed by life in New York City at one of the richest times in its history" that is, the period after World War II. He continues: "My story is not only a memoir, a history-it's a valentine to that time and place". I think you might enjoy this one if you give it a try.

Sounds interesting, plus I love memoirs! Will check it out! Thanks.

[Helga]

Woody Allen's books and short stories, think they all take place in New York... the short stories are great!

[Buh4Bee]

You may also want to also watch some films to see what it looks like as well as understand the attitude.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_set_in_New_York_City