What are some good books about/set in New York (fiction/non-fiction) you recommend? http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,11687#msg-11687 Wed, 22 May 2013 23:08:29 +0000 Phorum 5.2.19 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,96617#msg-96617 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,96617#msg-96617 Up In The Old Hotel by Joseph Mitchell. He wrote for the New Yorker for decades and his profiles of various haunts and eccentrics of the 30s-60s are not only fascinating, but the writing is superb.]]> Rick Ask a New Yorker a Question Sun, 02 Dec 2012 12:41:27 +0000 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,96566#msg-96566 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,96566#msg-96566

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[cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com]]]> askanewyorker Ask a New Yorker a Question Thu, 23 Feb 2012 12:35:34 +0000 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,89595#msg-89595 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,89595#msg-89595
Just started New York by Edward Rutheford and enjoying it from the get go.]]> Salsa Ask a New Yorker a Question Wed, 07 Sep 2011 20:08:31 +0000 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,89577#msg-89577 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,89577#msg-89577
[www.amazon.com]]]> askanewyorker Ask a New Yorker a Question Tue, 06 Sep 2011 10:40:12 +0000 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,89549#msg-89549 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,89549#msg-89549
The tranquil life he led in the quiet enclave of Brooklyn Heights stood in sharp contrast to the glittering scene he adored on the other side of the Brooklyn Bridge, but for a few years in the 1950's and '60's, Truman Capote happily made his home in a yellow brick house on Willow Street. By turns wistful and farcical, A House on the Heights vividly evokes a neighborhood Capote described as among Brooklyn's "splendid contradictions," a world of grand homes and dimly recalled gentility, of mysterious warehouses and cartoonish street thugs, of antiques and dowagers, a broad yard overhung with wisteria, and the famous Esplanade with its incomparable view—all rendered in Capote's deft and stylish prose.
About the Author




[www.amazon.com]]]> askanewyorker Ask a New Yorker a Question Fri, 02 Sep 2011 10:57:06 +0000 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,89437#msg-89437 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,89437#msg-89437 Kelly Ask a New Yorker a Question Sun, 21 Aug 2011 20:35:21 +0000 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,88807#msg-88807 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,88807#msg-88807

Hurt people hurt people. Say Holden Caulfield was an alcoholic and Lolita was a photographer's assistant and somehow they met in Bright Lights Big City. He's blinded by love. She by ambition DIARY OF AN OXYGEN THIEF is honest hilarious and heartrending but above all a very real account of what we do to each other and what we allow to have done to us.

[nymag.com]





[www.amazon.com]]]> askanewyorker Ask a New Yorker a Question Mon, 13 Jun 2011 10:39:30 +0000 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,88770#msg-88770 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,88770#msg-88770
The book centers on the final publication night of the fictional New York World, the city's last afternoon newspaper. The ridiculously young publisher of the World, in his lack of wisdom, has decided to turn the paper into a website.


[articles.latimes.com]]]> askanewyorker Ask a New Yorker a Question Wed, 08 Jun 2011 15:00:21 +0000 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,88200#msg-88200 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,88200#msg-88200 Salsa Ask a New Yorker a Question Tue, 05 Apr 2011 20:33:16 +0000 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,88188#msg-88188 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,88188#msg-88188
Before she became the Godmother of Punk, Patti Smith was just some girl who came to New York in search of herself. We have a tendency to view her as always having been a rebel, guitar in hand, spouting her distinctive mix of poetry and invective at society. But the reality was that Smith came to New York as a refugee, uncertain of who she was and what she wanted to be. That's sometimes a bit hard to believe or realize, but in "Just Kids" Smith reveals just that: she wasn't one half as confident then as she is now, and that she had no idea what she was going to do once she arrived in New York. While this is true of almost everyone from her generation, it is somehow shocking and bizarre to ponder. More interesting was that her first lover and partner in New York was none other than future photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. The bulk of "Just Kids" is Smith's recollection of Smith's early years in New York with Mapplethorpe and how they came to create their own image as artists and autuers and to craft their image and art. Again, it seems weird to think of either of them as being anything other than fully formed individuals, and that, in and of itself, seems supremely bizarre. We seldom think of the intervening events that came to create them as artists, yet here is Patti Smith lying bare exactly how she came to be what she became. The result is a fascinating and spellbinding narrative that you can scarcely set down. Ultimately Smith learns that Mapplethorpe is gay and both go on to find their own loves and their own directions in life and in art. In that degree "Just Kids" feels like only the beginning of a captivating story, the transition to another chapter, and I sincerely hope, a transition to another volume of memories, as I'm no doubt certain that Smith has a wealth of other memories than span well into the 80s, 90s and beyond. But for now I'm heartened to hear what she has to say as for now, the era before she became Patti Smith. And rather than being a trip down memory lane, "Just Kids" reminds us that everyone had to start somewhere, and success is never easy or certain. Smith's prose also wonderfully captures an era of New York City that has largely faded to the mists of time and memory. It is a time and place I was glad to revisit for a while. Immensely enjoyable and quite readable "Just Kids" is probably one of the best rock autobiographies I've ever read!


[www.amazon.com]]]> askanewyorker Ask a New Yorker a Question Mon, 04 Apr 2011 10:54:42 +0000 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,87634#msg-87634 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,87634#msg-87634 "In WEEKENDS AT BELLEVUE Dr. Julie Holland tells the story of her own journey through medical school, residency, and beyond, and at the same time gives us startling insights into minds so damaged, human beings rendered so helpless by their own demons, that entities resembling souls can’t help but shine through. It’s a thrilling and meaningful trip. As I turned the pages I found myself thinking, over and over, Oh, poor novelist that you are, you really can’t make this stuff up."-Michael Cunningham, Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Hours and Specimen Days.
more


[weekendsatbellevue.com]]]> askanewyorker Ask a New Yorker a Question Fri, 28 Jan 2011 12:40:24 +0000 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,86066#msg-86066 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,86066#msg-86066 dawn Ask a New Yorker a Question Tue, 31 Aug 2010 09:36:27 +0000 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,85830#msg-85830 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,85830#msg-85830 Extremely loud and incredibly close, by Jonathan Safran Foer.
It's very good...about a little boy who lost his father in the world trade center attacks.]]> Kelly Ask a New Yorker a Question Thu, 12 Aug 2010 10:45:23 +0000 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,85687#msg-85687 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,85687#msg-85687
In "Hot Time in the Old Town," an engrossing account of this forgotten episode, Edward P. Kohn estimates that 1,300 people died in Manhattan and Brooklyn (the latter was technically not part of New York City at the time) as a result of high temperatures, high humidity and the unforgiving sun.





[online.wsj.com]]]> askanewyorker Ask a New Yorker a Question Wed, 28 Jul 2010 19:09:25 +0000 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,85219#msg-85219 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,85219#msg-85219
The Architect's Cookbook
One Writer's Unexpected Role in Charting the History of New York's Buildings



[online.wsj.com]]]> askanewyorker Ask a New Yorker a Question Thu, 03 Jun 2010 14:14:44 +0000 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,83098#msg-83098 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,83098#msg-83098

[books.google.com]
S

Synopses & Reviews

A monumental history of New York City, from the earliest Indian tribes to consolidation of the five boroughs into Greater New York in 1898
To European explorers, it was Eden, a paradise of waist-high grasses, towering stands of walnut, maple, chestnut, and oak, and forests that teemed with bears, wolves, raccoons, beavers, otters, and foxes. Today, it is the site of Broadway and Wall Street, the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty, and the home of millions of people, who have come from every corner of the nation and the globe.

In Gotham, Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace have produced a monumental work of history, one that ranges from the Indian tribes that settled in and around the island of Manna-hata, to the consolidation of the five boroughs into Greater New York in 1898. It is an epic narrative, a story as vast and as varied as the city it chronicles, and it underscores that the history of New York is the story of our nation. Readers will relive the tumultuous early years of New Amsterdam under the Dutch West India Company, Peter Stuyvesant's despotic regime, Indian wars, slave resistance and revolt, the Revolutionary War and the defeat of Washington's army on Brooklyn Heights, the destructive seven years of British occupation, New York as the nation's first capital, the duel between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton, the Erie Canal and the coming of the railroads, the growth of the city as a port and financial center, the infamous draft riots of the Civil War, the great flood of immigrants, the rise of mass entertainment such as vaudeville and Coney Island, the building of the Brooklyn Bridge and the birth of the skyscraper. Here too is a cast of thousands — Clement Moore, who saved Greenwich Village from the city's street-grid plan; Herman Melville, who painted disillusioned portraits of city life; and Walt Whitman, who happily celebrated that same life. We meet the rebel Jacob Leisler and the reformer Joanna Bethune; Boss Tweed and his nemesis, cartoonist Thomas Nast; Emma Goldman and Nellie Bly; Jacob Riis and Horace Greeley; police commissioner Theodore Roosevelt; Colonel Waring and his "white angels" (who revolutionized the sanitation department); millionaires John Jacob Astor, Cornelius Vanderbilt, August Belmont, and William Randolph Hearst; and hundreds more who left their mark on this great city.

The events and people who crowd these pages guarantee that this is no mere local history. It is in fact a portrait of the heart and soul of America, and a book that will mesmerize everyone interested in the peaks and valleys of American life as found in the greatest city on earth. Gotham is a dazzling read, a fast-paced, brilliant narrative that carries the reader along as it threads hundreds of stories into one great blockbuster of a book.

Review:
"This gigantic volume marvelously conveys the enterprise and enthusiasm that has fuelled the world's most exciting city from its earliest days." The Economist
Review:
"Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898 represents the most comprehensive examination to date of the city's history prior to 1900. Indeed, few historians today attempt synthetic and comprehensive interpretations of this magnitude." Timothy J. Gilfoyle, The Atlantic Monthly
Review:
"This book was 20 years in the making, but anyone interested in Americana or urban history will find it worth the wait." Library Journal
Synopsis:
Includes bibliographical references and index.

Synopsis:
In this epic, Pulitzer Prize-winning work, Burrows and Wallace have produced a monumental history of New York City--ranging from the Indian tribes that settled the island of Manna-hatta to the consolidation of the five boroughs into New York in 1898. 150 halftones. 15 maps.]]> askanewyorker Ask a New Yorker a Question Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:09:23 +0000 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,82043#msg-82043 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,82043#msg-82043
From Time to Time

both by Jack Finney]]> trs007 Ask a New Yorker a Question Fri, 31 Jul 2009 15:30:45 +0000 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,82022#msg-82022 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,82022#msg-82022 www.nydailynews.com]


After living on the streets of New York for some 13 years, Thomas Wagner wrote the book on homelessness.

Wagner, better known as "Cadillac Man" in Astoria, where he used to live under the viaduct, was honored Wednesday at City Hall for penning the critically acclaimed memoir, "Land of the Lost Souls: My Life on the Streets."



Read more: [www.nydailynews.com]]]> askanewyorker Ask a New Yorker a Question Thu, 30 Jul 2009 13:35:19 +0000 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,80917#msg-80917 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,80917#msg-80917 It was pretty good!]]> Kelly Ask a New Yorker a Question Sun, 19 Apr 2009 21:06:18 +0000 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,80914#msg-80914 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,80914#msg-80914

On September 12, 1609, Henry Hudson first set foot on the land that would become Manhattan. From the vantage point of today, its difficult to imagine what he saw, but for more than a decade, landscape ecologist Eric Sanderson has been working to do just that. Mannahatta: A Natural History of New York City is the astounding result of those efforts, reconstructing, in words and images, the wild island that millions of New Yorkers now call home. By geographically matching an 18th-century map with one of the modern city, examining volumes of historic documents, and collecting and analyzing scientific data, Sanderson recreates the forests of Times Square, the meadows of Harlem, and the wetlands of downtown. His lively text, which guides the reader through this abundant landscape, is accompanied by breathtaking illustrations that transport the reader back in time. Mannahatta is a groundbreaking work published to coincide with New Yorks quadricentennial that gives readers not only a window into the past, but inspiration for the future.


[foliobooks.cart.net.au]]]> askanewyorker Ask a New Yorker a Question Sun, 19 Apr 2009 14:45:33 +0000 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,80526#msg-80526 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,80526#msg-80526 nyyankeesrumors.com]


YOGI BERRA: Eternal Yankee by Allen Barra
By Bob Ruffolo on March 12th, 2009 at 10:58 pm

XHey Yankee Fan! If you are new here, you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates on this topic.
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YOGI BERRA: Eternal Yankee by Allen Barra
The first fully comprehensive biography about Yogi Berra was just released this month and I am excited to have received my copy today. Ever since I’ve been a Yankee fan, I’ve always known Yogi was a legend, but of course I only had the chance to see him in his senior years and hear everyone talk about the Yogi-isms. Well this book should answer any questions I may have about the former 3-time MVP and 10-time world champion...]]> askanewyorker Ask a New Yorker a Question Thu, 19 Mar 2009 19:48:22 +0000 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,78721#msg-78721 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,78721#msg-78721 Kelly Ask a New Yorker a Question Mon, 15 Dec 2008 23:00:13 +0000 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,78704#msg-78704 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,78704#msg-78704
[nymag.com]]]> askanewyorker Ask a New Yorker a Question Mon, 15 Dec 2008 15:46:48 +0000 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,76010#msg-76010 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,76010#msg-76010 Brooklyn Was Mine (book of essays by several writers)]]> JR Ask a New Yorker a Question Wed, 03 Sep 2008 04:39:35 +0000 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,72256#msg-72256 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,72256#msg-72256 Jean Ask a New Yorker a Question Tue, 29 Apr 2008 00:58:23 +0000 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,72033#msg-72033 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,72033#msg-72033
Austin, googled your book and it looks intriguing.]]> Salsa Ask a New Yorker a Question Tue, 22 Apr 2008 15:21:03 +0000 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,72029#msg-72029 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,72029#msg-72029
"Weegee's New York Photographs 1935-1960"

by a friend and found it extremely enjoyable.]]> Austin Baird Ask a New Yorker a Question Tue, 22 Apr 2008 14:11:21 +0000 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,72027#msg-72027 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,72027#msg-72027 [www.robertcaro.com]]]> askanewyorker Ask a New Yorker a Question Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:37:53 +0000 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,72026#msg-72026 http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,11687,72026#msg-72026

[www.randomhouse.com]]]> askanewyorker Ask a New Yorker a Question Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:18:31 +0000