blatant library propaganda
August 21, 2015 9:48 AM   Subscribe

The Best New York City Novels by Neighborhood

Whether you're into the grit and grime of the seedy underbelly of New York, or the romantic adventures offered up by its most beautiful places, there's a novel out there waiting to give you a glimpse of what NYC has going on.
posted by poffin boffin (22 comments total) 16 users marked this as a favorite
 
I love the idea of getting to know Williamsburg by reading both A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and Tropic of Cancer
posted by layceepee at 10:08 AM on August 21, 2015 [1 favorite]


How can any such list not include From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler?
posted by grae at 10:10 AM on August 21, 2015 [10 favorites]


That's exactly what I was thinking, grae.

Apparently the great Washington Heights/ Inwood novel has not yet been written. Have at it, Mefi Upper-Manhattan-ites!
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 10:13 AM on August 21, 2015 [1 favorite]


The only thing that makes me less mad about the lack of novels listed for Brooklyn is the even deeper lack of novels listed for Queens.
posted by griphus at 10:14 AM on August 21, 2015 [3 favorites]


As one of the commenters points out, L.J. Davis' pitch black gentrification comedy A Meaningful Life absolutely needs to be on any Clinton Hill / Ft. Greene resident's reading list. I read it years ago, and still think about it regularly. It's also one of only a handful of books that have made me laugh out loud on the bus.
posted by ryanshepard at 10:15 AM on August 21, 2015 [2 favorites]


Also if there was room for two Lethem novels there should've been room for Requiem for a Dream which takes place in both Coney Island and Brighton Beach.
posted by griphus at 10:17 AM on August 21, 2015 [2 favorites]


Demonic old cultists preying on the young and confused in order to usher in a new age of darkness and a fixation on babies? Sounds like the UWS alright.
posted by The Whelk at 10:38 AM on August 21, 2015


Books about New York City. How novel!
posted by vunder at 10:39 AM on August 21, 2015


Some good ones in YA, including what grae said. Staten Island: Paul Zindel. Bronx: Marilyn Sachs. Manhattan: Judy Blume, Norma Klein.
posted by Melismata at 10:47 AM on August 21, 2015 [3 favorites]


(In fact, growing up in Boston in the 70s/80s, literally everything I learned about NY was from the above four authors. When I finally visited there in the 80s, it was awesome.)
posted by Melismata at 10:49 AM on August 21, 2015 [1 favorite]


Inwood: The Basketball Diaries? Oh, that's not a novel, rats.
posted by Melismata at 10:50 AM on August 21, 2015


Yeah, so many of my favourites are not actually novels.
posted by poffin boffin at 10:53 AM on August 21, 2015


The sewers: Sewer, Gas, and Electric (Matt Ruff)
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 10:59 AM on August 21, 2015


I completely forgot Sewer, Gas and Electric takes place in NYC.
posted by griphus at 11:01 AM on August 21, 2015


I'm glad the first few comments there address the scandalous omission of Motherless Brooklyn.
posted by invitapriore at 11:53 AM on August 21, 2015


From Rockaway nails "Rot-away Beach" in the mid 80s.
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 12:00 PM on August 21, 2015 [1 favorite]


Apparently the great Washington Heights/ Inwood novel has not yet been written.

Jesus hopped Waited and Waited and Waited for the Fucking A Train
posted by davidjmcgee at 12:10 PM on August 21, 2015 [1 favorite]


Moby-Dyckman?
posted by davidjmcgee at 12:14 PM on August 21, 2015 [1 favorite]


no Harriet the Spy
no Pushcart War

methinks these grups have a limited view of genre
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 12:23 PM on August 21, 2015 [1 favorite]


As one of the commenters points out, L.J. Davis' pitch black gentrification comedy A Meaningful Life absolutely needs to be on any Clinton Hill / Ft. Greene resident's reading list.

I love this book. It should be on your reading list whether or not you live in NY.
posted by thivaia at 8:32 PM on August 21, 2015


Yes, came to complain about lack of Washington Heights/Inwood. The article almost made it up there with Morningside Heights, but just fell short.

But I guess there's a "docu-reality" TV show about Washington Heights? Does that count?
posted by tickingclock at 10:37 PM on August 21, 2015


Daniel Jose Older's Half-Resurrection Blues gives a great sense of Brooklyn, in addition to being a great urban fantasy novel. His YA novel Shadowshaper is also set in Brooklyn.
posted by JawnBigboote at 8:21 AM on August 22, 2015


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