Fizzy Thoughts created a February mini-challenge for the New York Reading challenge, which is:
For the month of February, your task (should you choose to accept it) is to compile a list of ten things about New York. It can be a reading list, a list of songs, restaurants, places to visit (or that you’d like to visit), places to avoid…whatever you want to share.
Yesterday I shared my favorite book set in New York City. Of course, many, many books share the Manhattan setting – every time period, every age group, every genre. These ten random (not ranked) NYC-based books from my library portray the flavor of the city:
- Eloise by Kay Thomson – ”My name is Eloise, and I live at The Plaza!” begins the classic children’s picture book about a precocious six-year-old who lives at “the tippety-top” of The Plaza hotel with her dog (Weenie) and her governess (Nanny). We never meet Mummy, but apparently she’s been in the background teaching Eloise how to order room service and “charge it, please!”
- Writing New York: A Literary Anthology, ed. by Phillip Lopate – fantastic (and thick) volume of writings about New York. Read this one before you leave home; it’ll break your back on a commute.
- Time and Again by Jack Finney – Time travel in New York. We see the sights of the city (especially the areas around Gramercy Park and Central Park) over two periods, and there’s a bit of a mystery as well. I generally have a hard time with science fiction (and wouldn’t time travel imply science fiction?), but I really liked this one.
- The Puzzle King by Betsy Carter – Manhattan through an immigrant’s eyes
- Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer – extremely incredible novel set in the wake of the 2011 attacks; protagonist is a young boy. Really, incredible.
- 31 Hours by Masha Hamilton – Powerful, thought-provoking, discussion-making. Maybe you shouldn’t read this one on the subway.
- The Red Leather Diary by Lily Koppel – non-fiction weaving the life of a diarist from the 1930s with the life of the journalist who discovered the diary.
- Beg, Borrow, Steal: A Writer’s Life by Michael Greenberg – collection of essays by the author of Hurry Down Sunshine. Short pieces, well done.
- Fodor’s New York City 2009 - The 2010 edition is out now. Do pick up a travel guide to study if you’re not familiar with the city; I also like the DK Eyewitness guides.
- MOMA Highlights, ed. by Harriet Schoenholz Bee – and take time to sight-see, visit a museum. I bought this when I met my sister-in-law in New York for the day. We spent several hours in the Museum of Modern Art, and with this nice souvenir I am able to peruse more of the collection from the comfort of home.
What’s your list of ten things about New York?
Nice list! I also really liked Time and Again…a great way to learn about New York, and a great way to trick people into reading sci-fi
I’m participating in the New York Challenge too. If you’re interested in seeing my NY list, it’s over at bookwanderer.
Nice list! I didn’t even think of a couple of those books. I read Harriet the Spy for the challenge, which kind of felt like cheating!
Taryn – thanks, I’m heading over to BookWanderer now.
Kathy – Oh, that’s not cheating! HARRIET THE SPY is one of my favorites … you get a true kids’-eye-view of the city.
Not sure I can come up with ten NY books, but Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential about the underbelly NY restaurants was great! We lived in NY at the time and I was suspicious everytime I entered a restaurant.
I am so sad I missed this challenge! Truthfully, I can’t think of too many books set in NYC off the top of my head.. wait, that’s a lie: THE SCARPETTA FACTOR, THE KINGDOM OF OHIO, THE BEST OF EVERYTHING, CROSSING WASHINGTON SQUARE PARK… ohoh is it too late to join?!?!
I love your list though, EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE is a personal fave.
And I haven’t read a single book on that list!
I like Eyewitness Guides, too…they have purty pictures. They’re a bit heavy to lug around on the trip, though. But they make excellent before-the-trip resources.
I haven’t read any of those books either. And I am so brain dead, I can’t think of any.
Melissa – Oh, I’d have a hard time reading Kitchen Confidential – I don’t think I’d want to eat in ANY restaurant ANYwhere!
Novelwhore – THE KINGDOM OF OHIO is on my wish list; I haven’t (yet) read the others. And, no, it’s not too late to join.
softdrink – I think I brought my San Francisco guide (relatively slim) when I went there; other than that, like you, I find them too heavy to tote along, and leave them at home (or at least in the hotel, after the day’s planning)
Sandy – You’re a morning person, aren’t you?! You could read ELOISE when you’re tired …
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is a great book. As for The Red Leather Diary, I really couldn’t get into it. The premise sounded so exciting but the execution left me bored.
I’ve read several of these–Time and Again being one of my all time favorites! Being a native New Yorker, I am interested in all things New York! I can’t wait to read the new Edward Rutherford novel, New York.
The 2010 Newbery winner, When You Reach Me is set in NYC, and although it is kid’s fiction, it is an excellent novel and a must read if you are a fan of Madeleine L’Engle or if you just enjoy time travel books–and it is most excellently written!
I personally, felt The Kingdom of Ohio was not so great–I wanted to love it, but it was just not so great to me, and the overuse of footnotes did not work for me! They just distracted me!
what a great list – there are some new ones here for me to add to my TBR!
One of my favorite NY novels is Forever by Pete Hamill.
thanks for the great list of books.