Literary Twitter has come through for me once again. I sent a Tweet asking if anyone would like to recommend some reading for my upcoming trip to New York City. The response has been overwhelming and I thought I would share the suggestions I have gotten so far. I have chosen to list them alphabetically by author. If anyone has additional titles to add then please leave them in the comments:
The New York Trilogy by Paul Aster
The Cities (poems) by Paul Blackburn
Open City by Teju Cole
The Flea of Sodom by Edward Dahlberg
Manhattan Transfer by John Dos Passos
Time and Again by Jack Finney
Desperate Characters by Paula Fox
New York Revisited by Henry James
The Lonely City by Olivia Laing
Thieves of Manhattan by Adam Langer
Passing by Nella Larsen
Poet in New York by Federico Garcia Lorca
Faces in the Crowd by Valeria Luiselli.
The Assistant by Bernard Malamud
Brightness Falls by Jay McInerney
The Rosy Crucifixion Series by Henry Miller
Up in the Old Hotel by Joseph Mitchell
McSorley’s Wonderful Saloon by Joseph Mitchell
After Claude by Iris Owens
Harlem is Nowhere by Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts
Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney
Low Life by Luc Sante
Last Exit to Brooklyn by Hubert Selby Jr.
A Tree Growns in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
In Dreams Begin Responsibilities and Other Stories by Delmore Schwartz
Down these Mean Streets by Piri Thomas
Rules of Civility by Amor Towles
Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
The Colossus of New York by Colson Whitehead
The Book Binder's Daughter 
Hi
I missed your tweet otherwise I would have strongly recommended Manhattan Transfer by Dos Passos.
And Chester Himes or James Baldwin. And Jay McInerney.
No need to bother with Breakfast at Tiffany’s in my opinion.
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Thanks so much, Emma. I will add your recommendations to the list!
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The Rosy Crucifixion series by Henry Miller which consists of Sexus, Plexus and Nexus.
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Thanks so much, Jonathan. Great suggestion.
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After Claude by Iris Owens for 70s NYC squalor.
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The Colossus of New York by Colson Whitehead
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The Age of Innocence by Edith Warton (19th century NY)
Brooklyn by Colm Toibin (Irish immigrants in NY)
Bleeding Edge by Thomas Pynchon (post 9/11 weirdness)
Academy Street by Mary Costello (Irish immigrants in NY)
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Nice idea to collate all the suggestions here. Funnily enough, Teju Cole’s Open City had crossed my mind too – another great book.
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Great topic! I recommend Helene Hanff’s books, especially Underfoot in Show Business for a glimpse of a vanished Broadway by a would-be playwright. She also wrote a guide to NYC, Apple of My Eye, which is dated but still fun.
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Pleased to see Up in the Old Hotel on your list. How about Jami Attenberg’s Saint Mazie based on a woman featured in an essay in Mitchell’s collection, or Jay McInerney’s Brightness Falls, my favourite of his novels
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Thanks so much. Great suggestions, Susan!
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Have a wonderful trip, Melissa. Hope you’ll post on it!
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Thanks so much. I will definitely be posting about it!
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These are two books that come to mind for me (plus Open City) if you haven’t read them: The Lonely City by Olivia Laing (essay/memoir) and Faces in the Crowd by Valeria Luiselli.
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Low Life by Luc Sante
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A recent release might be enjoyable for your trip: The Gargoyle Hunters by John Freeman Gill. I hope to post some notes on it in a few days. Set around New York City in the 1970s when much of the architecture was changing, it’s a nice prompt to look up and appreciate the bridge across time that some of the buildings (and other constructions) in the city can provide.
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A recent release might be enjoyable for your trip: The Gargoyle Hunters by John Freeman Gill. I hope to post some notes on it in a few days. Set around New York City in the 1970s when much of the architecture was changing, it’s a nice prompt to look up and appreciate the bridge across time that some of the buildings (and other constructions) in the city can provide.
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I would second the recommendation of the Helena Hanff books, especially Apple of my Eye. Yes it is a little dated, but the buildings mentioned that no longer there add to the history of NY, albeit, tragically.
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I’d suggest Cosmopolis by Don DeLillo, and entirely agree with the suggestions of The Lonely City (which is beautiful) and The New York Trilogy. Both excellent reads.
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An offbeat suggestion for you – In the City by Colette Brooks is creative nonfiction that gets at the heart of what it means to live in and love a city. She doesn’t name names but she’s totally talking about New York. 🙂
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Open City, The Lonely City and Academy Street (all mentioned above) are excellent choices. I would also recommend City on Fire by Garth Risk Hallberg (though beware: it’s 900+ pages) and Why We Came to the City by Kristopher Jansma.
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Interesting list – I even own a few of them! 🙂
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