When you’ve finished your morning paper, pick up one of these books to join in on New York City’s largest unofficial reading group: The Subway Book Club. As the crisp fall breeze practically pushes you into a park with a warm latte in hand, take a few minutes out of your commute to read in a public space. And what better to read in the city than new books that take place in New York City?
‘The Assistants’
By Camille Perri
Anyone who’s ever worked an entry-level role will easily be able to relate to 30-year-old Tina Fontana, who works as an executive assistant to a CEO. NYU student debt may seem like nothing to someone with nine digits in his bank account, but Tina is sinking in it — but what if she just used some company funds to pay off what she owes? This quick-paced look at excess, wealth, morality and revenge — recently out in paperback — is very much a true New York story.
‘The Address’
By Fiona Davis
New York’s most famous apartment building may very well be The Dakota — the co-op where John Lennon was shot, where countless other celebrities lived and where Rosemary (fictionally) dealt with her haunted baby. But what really goes on between the exclusive walls of the Dakota? Davis’ historical novel, told through the eyes of a late-19th-century servant and a recently out-of-rehab socialite circa 1985, lets you into the impossible-to-access halls and private quarters of this elusive building.
‘The World of Tomorrow’
By Brendan Mathews
This highly anticipated debut novel takes readers back to 1939, when Irish immigrants Francis and Michael Dempsey cross the Atlantic (thanks to some stolen funds) to join their brother Martin in Manhattan. This literary exploration of family, deception and ambition takes readers on a historic tour of New York City, through the lens of recent immigrants.
‘A Beautiful, Terrible Thing’
By Jen Waite
This memoir, which has drawn comparisons to “Big Little Lies” (but it’s true!), takes place in Astoria, where the former server and actress and new mom finds out her husband is a sociopath — cheating, lying, the whole deal. Waite takes readers through the emotional process of discovering her ex’s secret life, learning that the man she thought would be her partner for life is not at all who she thought he was.
‘City of Dreams: The 400-Year Epic History of Immigrant New York’
By Tyler Anbinder
Long before New York had to be declared a sanctuary city, the entire metropolis was created and sustained by immigrants. This comprehensive history traces the influence immigrants from all over the globe have had in shaping New York to be the city we know today. It’s out in paperback Oct. 10, so you won’t have to lug around the 700-plus-page hardcover edition.
