Reading the States: New York

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

Great Bookstores:
The Strand
Argosy Book Store
Community Bookstore
Shakespeare and Co. Booksellers
Posman Books 

BookBook 

BONUS: The Best New York City Novels by Neighborhood 

*Books I've Read 

Photo by moi.

Brooklyn, Books and Tree of Codes

(The book I got, Tree of Codes, and me at the bookstore where I bought it)

I always buy books as souvenirs. I’m sure it’s a bad habit (books are heavy!) but I can’t help myself. I’ve bought copies of Alice in Wonderland in Oxford, Kafka in Prague and Treasure Island in California (Stevenson’s stomping grounds). Each time the book becomes a beloved part of my library.

While in Brooklyn last weekend, I stayed in a gorgeous neighborhood, Park Slope, and found out that it’s a place many authors call home. This group of literary greats includes two of my favorites, (who happen to be married), Jonathan Safran Foer and Nicole Krauss. So it was only fitting that I buy one of their books as a memento of my trip.

I’m crazy excited about the one I got…

(How the inside of the book looks)

Have any of you heard about this book, Tree of Codes? Foer took another book, “The Street of Crocodiles,” and cut an entirely new novel out of that text. It’s an unbelievable idea and turns the book into a piece of art. I’ve had my eye on it for awhile, but it’s not one that’s easy to find at a used bookstore.

My sister had the brilliant idea to cut a piece of card stock into a size, slightly larger than the book, and read it by placing the paper behind each page as you read it. I think it will work wonderfully and I can’t wait to try it.

(The book with a sheet of dark paper behind one page)

So I'm curious…
Do you buy books as souvenirs?
What do you think of this concept for a book, art or just a hassle to read?

*Last photo by moi, middle photo from here.

Brooklyn

Brooklyn
by Colm Toibin
★★★★

Eilis is a young woman living with her mother and sister in Ireland in the 1950s. She moves to New York City to find work and struggles with homesickness. When she leaves her sheltered life in Ireland she’s sweet and young and has never had to truly care for herself. Her older sister Rose has always looked out for her, but once she’s in America she’s forced to grow up.

Yes it’s a coming-of-age tale and it’s an immigrant’s tale, but more than anything it’s Eilis’ tale. The writing is lovely and there are some scenes that I can’t get out of my head, like her tumultuous first ship crossing to America.

It’s hard to put your finger on exactly what makes Toibin’s story so memorable. It’s not filled with melodrama or terrifying twists, it’s just one simple story, but he writes it in such an accessible, lyrical way. He also manages to capture a difficult level of awkwardness in the scenes between Eilis and her mother that anyone who’s once been a teenager would recognize. There’s a palpable sense of indecision and frustration that feels true to life as you near the end. I was left wanting to read more from the talented author.

You’ve Gotta Read This and The Complete Booker both have reviews if you want to hear more.