At the weekend, we watched On The Town, and while taking notes about things to see in New York, I remembered that a little while ago, Stuart asked for pre-New York book recommendations; like him, I like to do my literary homework before travelling. The thing is, an awful lot of novels are very-New-York, and even more are very-USA, which I think makes it difficult to single out a few for recommendation.
Of course I’ve read The Catcher In The Rye and we taped The Bonfire of the Vanities when it was on last week.
I mean to go down to the library and see if they have Breakfast At Tiffany’s later in the week; what else should I be looking for?
April 13, 2005
On The Town
I found “On Green Dolphin Street” by Sebastian Faulks to be very good and excellently New York.
I’d recommend the New York Trilogy, but I know you’ve already read it, because it was you being given it as a gift that alerted me to its existence!
On green dolphin street was a great book, once I got into it.
Hmm I tried to get into that once but failed after about a third… didn’t really seem to be going anywhere.. nicely written though.
How about Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas?
I recently bought a copy of On Green Dolphin Street, only to get home and find that I already owned it. Clearly it made a big impression on me. Sadly, for me, nothing by Sebastian Faulks has ever lived up to Birdsong.
For a more off-beat view you could try some Kinky Friedman
Aw nuts I think I just bodged that link…
Looks like it. What were you trying to link to?
Any of the Burke novels by Andrew Vachss would do well as a guide to what bits of New York to avoid…
For a slightly more romanticised view, “Brightness Falls” or “Bright Lights Big City” by Jay McInnerney would come recommended by me. Not that that’s worth a fart in a hurricane, but hey, who’s checking?
Catch-22
Just finished re-reading it after too long a time and probably enjoyed it more second time around.
“He’s got flies in his eyes, but he can’t see them because he’s got flies in his eyes.”
Priceless
Catch 22 is hardly New York!
Have you read ‘Kavalier & Clay’ by Michael Chabon, Karen? I forget if we’ve talked about it – it’s an amazing book, and very New York, dahlink.
I agree that Catch 22 is a fantastic book, but also that it’s not really a New York book.
Kavalier & Clay I shall definitely have a look for, since Stuart always makes good recommendations.
I wasn’t disagreeing that Catch 22 is a piece of genius, by the way…oh, and don’t be put off by the UK cover of ‘Kavalier…’. It’s better than it suggests.
Read:
Poetry:
Walt Whitman: Crossing Brooklyn Ferry
Hart Crane: TO Brooklyn Bridge
Novels:
Don DeLillo: Cosmopolis
Jonathan Lethem: Motherless Brooklyn
Hubert Selby Junior: Last Exit Broklyn
John Dos Passos: Manhatten Transfer
Bret Easton Ellis: Glamorama
Architecture:
Rem Koolhaas: Delirious New York
Watch:
Paul Auster: Smoke
Woody Allen: Manhatten
Martin Scorcese: Taxi Driver
Andy Warhol: Empire
Spike Lee: 25th hour;
Listen:
Music:
Stevie Wonder: Living for the City
Hope, that helps.
Wish you a nice trip.
Sven