Staff Picks Category: New York City

Insomniac City: New York, Oliver, and me by Bill Hayes [Book]

view/request

Writer and photographer Bill Hayes has written a moving memoir that is equally a love letter to New York City and an affectionate portrait of his partner, the writer and neurologist Oliver Sacks. Through vignettes and diary entries we see the city and the people in it as Hayes does and his enthusiasm and affection are infectious. It’s a particular treat to see Sacks through Hayes’s eyes: here he is revealed, yes, as a brilliant scientist and writer and as a quirky genius with eccentric habits, but, more importantly, as the brilliant scientist and quirky genius whom Hayes adores and who adores Hayes in turn. As for the city, Hayes has a remarkable ability to meet, befriend, and like the people around him, and many of the passages that are not about Hayes and Sacks are about Hayes and the folks he meets: shop owners, skateboarders, dancers, artists, many of whom he meets through his photography. The photographs in the book, even when it is not clear how they relate to the text, further enhance the experience of, again, seeing through Hayes’s eyes.

Everything After by Jill Santopolo. [Book]

view/request

In Santopolo’s (The Light We Lost, 2018) latest, Emily Gold is a psychologist with a fulfilling practice, married to Ezra, a compassionate pediatric oncologist. They live in a lovely Manhattan apartment and are preparing to expand their family. Emily’s feelings about getting pregnant now are mixed with her feelings about a pregnancy thirteen years earlier, when she was a college student and musician on the cusp of success playing gigs with her talented boyfriend. Told in chapters that alternate between college Emily’s journal and grown up Emily’s thoughts, the reader learns more about Emily’s past than even her husband knows. A challenging week for her marriage, with problems at home and work, coincides with the appearance of her college boyfriend on the hit music charts (and a local performance), compelling Emily to question the decisions she made then and is making now. Life, love, and loss are themes throughout both timelines.

Offer this to fans of women’s stories like those by Rebecca Serle and Taylor Jenkins Reid, readers who appreciate a good “what if…?” and those who like interpersonal drama set in New York City.

A Dangerous Age by Kelly Killoren Bensimon with Teresa DiFalco [Book]

view/request

For the past twenty years, four Manhattanites have met weekly to discuss career changes, cocktails, classes, and connections. Now in their forties, Lucy is a former model and dilettante writer married to a famous artist; Billy is her childhood friend, a currently unemployed food and wine expert; Lotta is a Swedish art gallery employee and party girl; and Sarah is a socialite aspiring to social media and reality show fame. Over the course of one summer, Lucy receives an impossible assignment while her husband prepares for a comeback show, Billy explores supper club subscriptions as a source of income, Lotta descends into a drug fueled breakdown, and Sarah attempts to raise her profile enough to seduce a casting team. Along the way, the friends get together as a group to check in, and in pairs to dish on the others. Bensimon weaves together the tangled threads of their four stories to produce a conclusion that exhibits the drama and immediacy of a reality show in novel form.

Fans of Sex and the City and the Real Housewives franchise will enjoy the rarefied atmosphere, as well as readers and viewers of Gossip Girl and the like.

Starstruck: Photographs From a Fan by Gary Lee Boas [Book]

view/request

I’ve spent a considerable amount of time with the square amateur photo book that is know as Starstruck. I first discovered it in the little library of my friend’s basement/record studio. Often when someone is trying to get the tambourine part just right or the bass amplifier needs adjusting, I pick up a good book to browse… with pictures.

Starstruck is a collection of candid celebrity photos by Gary Lee Boas. The time frame ranges from 1966 (when the photographer was 15) until 1980. Boas was essentially an obsessed fan who would wait around Manhattan to catch stars going in and out of theaters, restaurants, clubs, etc. Although some shots are fairly washed out or rather out of focus, they’re all completely fascinating. There’s a charm to these shots and one can’t help but admire Boas’s obsession. Well, maybe “admire” isn’t the right word!

Even with images of massive celebrities like Katherine Hepburn, Michael Jackson, Jimmy Stewart or Jack Nicholson, the real star of this book is New York City. Accidentally, Gary Lee Boas gives us an excellent overall snapshot of the world’s greatest city at an electric time.

The We and The I [DVD]

view/request

Director Michel Gondry is mostly know for his heady, comedic films with cunning in-camera effects such as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind &The Science of Sleep and innovative music videos from Björk, Beck and the White Stripes. In The We and the I, Gondry scales back and tells a story via a bus ride through the Bronx. The French director workshopped this script with a group of teens over the course of three years and the result is this wonderful film.

We see the complex dynamics of high school relationships as we join a group of students after their last day of classes. There’s bullying, gossip, swagger, flirting, fighting, some genuinely funny conversations and many heartfelt moments, too. Throughout, the dialog is natural; we almost feel as though we’re watching a a documentary at times.

Despite this austere approach to filmmaking, Gondry’s presence is still felt with the occasional use of non-digital effects. A small boombox shaped bus rides around town at the intro. Later, we see an interesting scene where he superimposes a pizza shop directly through the window of the city bus. These moments perfectly interject surrealism and introduce lightness into this very realistic movie.

The Golem and the Jinni [Book]

view/request

The book begins with two separate plot lines… The Golem, though a fully formed woman, comes to life in the hull of a ship headed towards America and soon finds herself masterless in a world that she doesn’t understand. The Jinni on the other hand, awakes on the floor of a tinsmith shop in little Syria after a thousand years trapped in a bottle. As the novel continues the stories of the characters become entwined and, in a beautiful example of storytelling, all of the pieces of Wecker’s mythical world fall into place, leaving the reader satisfied yet sad to reach the end.

This genre bending novel has elements of historical fiction and fantasy. Wecker has clearly done a lot of research and paints a vivid picture of New York’s little Syria and Bowery neighborhoods during the turn of the century. Lovers of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell and The Night Circus will enjoy the rich detail and intricate plot line.