Reading the States: New York

Friday, August 17, 2012


State: NEW YORK

Fiction: 
- Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close* by Jonathan Safran Foer
- A Tree Grows in Brooklyn* by Betty Smith
- The Great Gatsby* by F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Wonderstruck* by Brian Selznick
- Falling Man* by Don Delillo
- Martin Dressler* by Steven Millhauser
- Forever* by Peter Hamill
- Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist* by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
- Dash and Lily's Book of Dares* by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
- Ironweed by William Kennedy
- Nobody’s Foo*l by Richard Russo
- The House of Mirth* by Edith Wharton
- The Crazyladies of Pearl Street by Trevanian
- Billy Bathgate by E.L. Doctorow
- Clara and Mr. Tiffany* by Susan Vreeland
- Eloise* by Kay Thompson
- The Brooklyn Follies* by Paul Auster
- The History of Love* by Nicole Krauss
- The Age of Innocence* by Edith Wharton
- The Thieves of Manhattan by Adam Langer
- Daddy Was a Number Runner by Louise Meriwether
- The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster
- The Bell Jar* by Sylvia Plath
- Let the Great World Spin* by Colum McCann
- Washington Square* by Henry James
- The Submission* by Amy Waldman  
- The Catcher in the Rye* by J.D. Salinger
- The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay* by Michael Chabon
- The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe
- Breakfast at Tiffany’s* by Truman Capote
- The Alienist* by Caleb Carr
- The Nanny Diaries* by Emma Mclaughlin, Nicola Kraus
- Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang by Joyce Carol Oates
- Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin
- Drown by Junot Diaz
- American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
- The Devil Wears Prada* by Lauren Weisberger
- The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud
- Motherless Brooklyn* by Jonathan Lethem
- Brooklyn* by Colm Tóibín
- New York by Edward Rutherfurd
- The Cricket in Times Square* by George Selden
- Invisible Man* by Ralph Ellison
- The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper
- The Legend of Sleepy Hollow* by Washington Irving
- Time and Again* by Jack Finney
- An Object of Beauty by Steve Martin
- The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
- A Gesture Life by Chang-Rae Lee

Nonfiction:
- Tis* by Frank McCourt  
- Here is New York* by E.B. White
- The Gangs of New York by Herbert Asbury
- The Tender Bar by J. R. Moehringer
- 84, Charing Cross Road* by Helene Hanff
- The Great Bridge* by David McCullough
- Kitchen Confidential* by Anthony Bourdain
- Random Family by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc
- Just Kids* by Patti Smith

Authors Known for Writing in or about the State:
- J.D. Salinger
- Richard Russo
- Julia Spencer

Authors Who Lived Here:
BRONX

- Edgar Allan Poe
- James Baldwin

BROOKLYN
- Jhumpa Lahiri
- Jennifer Egan
- Jonathan Safran Foer
- Nicole Krauss
- Edwidge Danticat
- Maurice Sendak
- Walt Whitman
- Ezra Jack Keats
- Henry Miller
- Paul Auster

MANHATTAN- Norman Mailer
- E.E. Cummings
- Dorothy Parker
- William S. Burroughs
- Edna St. Vincent Millay
- Truman Capote
- Edith Wharton
- Langston Hughes
- Madeleine L’Engle
- John Updike
- Saul Bellow
- Zora Neale Hurston
- Salman Rushdie
- W.H. Auden
- O. Henry

QUEENS
- Jack Kerouac

STATEN ISLAND
- Frank McCourt
- Henry David Thoreau

Photo by moi.

5 comments:

Alex (The Sleepless Reader) said...

I guess it comes as no surprise that of all the states you covered, this is the one that I've read more about. 10 from your list, with 5 in the TBR waiting for their turn. Of these 5 I'm especially curious about Winter's Tale, which I'm saving for the winter.

Ana S. said...

What Alex said. Also, one day I'll make it over there and visit The Strand. One day!

Nikki Steele said...

Wow! I'm still surprised by all the research you must do for these write-ups. I am constantly making mental notes of these for the time when I may go on vacation to NY (likely) or even Nebraska (perhaps not as likely).

Showing the literature from a certain state really opens up more about that state and how we can get past the quick sketches we've made of each one. Read: NY is only the City and Nebraska is only farms. Thanks Melissa!

Jeanne said...

I had no idea there would be so many. How about Bonfire of the Vanities, too?

Melissa (Avid Reader) said...

Alex - I've been saving Winter's Tale for a winter read as well. Maybe we'll have to coordinate.

Ana - You would love the Strand! It's just amazing.

Nikki - Thanks! I'm hoping people can use these posts when they plan trips. There's a tab at the top of the blog that has links to all of the state posts so people can find them quickly.

Jeanne - Actually that one is in there!