New York City Book Haul (January 2020)
After spending my college years in Manhattan, I find myself itching for a trip back to New York City at least annually. I’m lucky to have dear friends that still live there, so it’s easy (and an absolute joy!) to make it back to visit them. I try to make a conscious effort on every trip to mix my favorite haunts like Bosie’s Tea Parlor and Mamoun’s Falafel and new discoveries. (Go to Jacob’s Pickles on the Upper West Side. Trust me, just go. Don’t let the obscenely long wait deter you.)
But, my friends in New York know I absolutely have to visit my favorite bookstores every time I’m in the City without fail: McNally Jackson, Housingworks Bookstore, and The Strand (which I recently posed about here). It’s simply non-negotiable and one of my favorite ways to spend an afternoon below 14th Street. I set a budget (or else I’d have a real crisis on my hands) and come home with a stack of treasures to delight myself with over the coming months. Here’s the haul from my trip to New York a few weekends ago.
The Plot Against America by Philip Roth
As much as I love dystopia, historical fiction, and authors that bring them together, I’ve found myself pulling away from anything in recent months that reminds me too much of the current events I’ve been avoiding. Yet, a $5 price tag and enthusiastic sales clerk at the Housingworks check-out table convinced me to suck it up and give an alternative historical fiction novel a go. In The Plot Against America, Charles Lindbergh wins the 1940 U.S. presidential election against Franklin Roosevelt, and anti-semitic, isolationist chaos ensues. I discovered after I returned home that HBO is releasing a mini-series based on Roth’s book in March, so I’m hoping to read through it before the show comes out.
The Magicians by Lev Grossman
Someone described The Magicians to me as “grown-up Harry Potter,” so I knew the trilogy would be in my near reading future. This story of a young man discovering and attending a magic college seems to combine all my favorite things: fantasy, New York City, and coming-of-age drama. I’m here for it. I’ll also admit that, as a former viewer of the TV show Once Upon a Time, I’m on the hunt for a new Netflix time-suck, and Syfy’s adaptation of Grossman’s trilogy seems very up my alley.
Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
My friend recommended this book to me while we were browsing in McNally Jackson. I am absolutely one of those people that gets overwhelmed by all the incredible books out there to read, so I love when people tell me about their favorites. Octavia Butler was obviously a goddess among men: did you know she was the first science-fiction author to win a MacArthur Genius Grant? (Thanks Wikipedia.) I’ve been meaning to get my hands on one of her books for while now, and this story of a modern black woman pulled back in time to the days of slavery seems like a fascinating place to start.
Severance by Ling Ma
I picked up this book primarily because of the seemingly universal love it’s received since its release in 2018. I found it on the Staff Recommendations shelf at the Strand, accompanied by a note calling it “a darkly humorous novel about consuming New York’s resources (both metaphorical and literal)” with “a post-apocalyptic plot that favors the exploration of human absurdity over surreal campiness.” I decided to give it a try, though I’m typically not drawn to zombie apocalypse narratives. I’ll certainly share my thoughts about this one on The Bookish Sheep.
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
I have always loved science-fiction and fantasy. Game of Thrones, The Martian, Origin - I love it all. Yet, I’ve become increasingly committed to reading more of the incredible science-fiction and fantasy written by womyn, particularly womyn of color. (I’m planning on writing a post about this topic - stay tuned!) When I found The Fifth Season on the “Best of the Best” table at the Strand, I was surprised I’d never heard of N.K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth series before. A critically-acclaimed, Hugo-winning fantasy trilogy written by a black woman from the Midwest? Sign me up!
A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab
This book combines two of my favorite genres: fantasy and historical fiction. The story takes place across parallel universes: Red London -- magical and mysterious -- and Grey London -- ruled by King George III. I absolutely love when the location in which a story takes place becomes a character, and the little I know about A Darker Shade of Magic makes me hopeful London will take on a life of its own in the text.
Princesses Behaving Badly: Real Stories from History Without the Fairy Tale Endings by Linda Rodriguez McRobbie
My only non-fiction purchase on this trip, Princesses Behaving Badly spoke to the conflict between my feminist heart and the secret (not-so-secret) desire to be a princess that gripped me from the first time I watched Cinderella at the age of two. The book catalogues short descriptions of real princesses throughout history who became pirates, kept male concubines in drag, wore masks made of meat, or engaged in some other fascinating behavior that would probably render them unfit to star in a Disney movie.
She Would be King by Wayétu Moore
The note accompanying She Would Be King on the Staff Favorites shelf at the Strand drew me in. An employee named Andrew wrote: “I love books that feel like a folktale, familiar without being stale. From the first page, Wayétu Moore’s debut feels like a favorite story I haven’t heard since childhood. This is magical realism at its best, refracting the founding of Liberia through a prism, so that we may see our own world all the more clearly. Equal parts funny, sweet, romantic, brutal, and wondrous.” If you tell me “folktale” and “magical realism,” I’m probably hooked.