The city’s book club is back in session.
The Gracie Book Club, which first lady Chirlane McCray and the Gracie Mansion Conservancy launched last year, returns for a second season this month.
The first season’s selection focused on the city’s immigrant experience.
This time around, the four fiction and nonfiction books convey NYC during the 1940s, to coincide with the 75th anniversary of Gracie Mansion.
“These books have a different perspective on the times,” McCray said. “The nonfiction gives people a sense of the history, the framework, that the stories are set in.”
The club kicks off with the 1946 novel “The Street,” followed by the 2014 nonfiction book “City of Ambition,” the 1952 novel “Invisible Man” and the 2010 nonfiction book “Helluva Town.” A book will be read each season, about every three months, with in-person discussions that are livestreamed, starting with “The Street” on Oct. 16 at 6 p.m. at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (515 Malcolm X Blvd.). Free tickets are available on a first-come, first-serve basis now through Oct. 12 at nyc.gov/graciebookclub or by calling 311.
In its first year, the book club had 1,300 members, nearly 900 discussion participants and more than 9,000 online viewers.
McCray walked us through this year’s picks.
