New York is, of course, the greatest city in the world, as any New Yorker will be happy to tell you—this columnist included. The thriving metropolis is a center of arts, culture, and business, and it’s been the subject of countless books, weighing in on everything that makes New York, New York. Here are three such titles, all recommended by Kirkus Indie.
It’s been said that any conversation about New York will eventually get around to the subject of real estate, as construction of new buildings never seems to stop. In The New Kings of New York (2022), Adam Piore looks at developments such as Manhattan’s Hudson Yards, Columbus Circle, and the site of the former World Trade Center as well as prominent developers, including Steve Ross and Harry Macklowe.
Heart of New York (2022) offers Canada-based author Emil Rem’s third-person account of a family trip to the city during a rough winter: “The whole family had been traipsing the sky-scrapered streets of New York, passing one modern building after another, waging their own war against the scalding wind chapping their faces.” Along the way, our reviewer writes, he provides tales of “antic, detailed escapades” that take place at various landmarks, such as the Upper East Side’s Argosy Book Store.
Patricia Faith Polak’s 2018 poetry collection, Manhattan Melody, presents a wonderfully offbeat song of the city. “Mornings at Seven,“ plays a tune that any New Yorker will find familiar: “City blocks with donuteries, druggeries, and dry cleaners; / air temperate, as if March had rinsed it, / pounded it against the travertine on skyscrapers / until it was like a favored pair of jeans.” Kirkus’ reviewer notes “the poet’s invested, compelling, and exciting voice” and points out that the “specificity of Polak’s references…provides the text with a gentle veneer of poetic effervescence.”
David Rapp is the senior Indie editor.
