Friday, March 18, 2016

Ten top New York books

Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney's new novel is The Nest.

One of her ten favorite New York books, as shared at the B&N Reads blog:
Random Family, by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc

This non-fiction book by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc reads like a novel. For eleven years she immersed herself within an extended family in the Bronx and chronicled their struggles to survive the grip of tenacious poverty, the government’s “war on drugs” and its policy of mass incarceration. I still think about the people in this book and wonder where they are and what they’re doing. A brilliant and necessary reminder of the unfathomable chasm that divides the rich and poor, the lucky and unlucky, in New York.
Read about the other entries on the list.

Random Family is among Nick Hornby's six favorite books.

Also see Jay McInerney's five essential New York novels, five novels that explore the dark side in New York City, Edmund White's top 10 New York books, The Great New York City Novel, Frances Kiernan's five best books about New York society, Russell Shorto's five best books on the history of New York City, and Joanna Smith Rakoff's five favorite books of New York stories.

--Marshal Zeringue