New York City is a magical place. It must be for the things we put up with to live here. Where else is asking a broker if a listed apartment has a kitchen, a real question?Where else do people compete for fifth floor walkups — and still turn to Craigslist to enlist some stranger to move in and pay half the rent?
For better or for worse, you meet people who are so different from you that your paths certainly never would have crossed anywhere else. Celebrating — or commiserating — New York City life are three books, all released this summer:
Related: The best summer books of 2015
Related: ‘Will I ever get married?’ Not if you live in New York City — sorry
“Eavesdropper: Overheard On The Streets” by Mete Erdogan
This colorfully illustrated hardback makes for a great coffeetable book or hostess gift. It’s a collection of 100 outrageous comments author Mete Erdogan overheard in NYC. What makes it really cool is that Erdogan includes the exact place he heard said comment:Waffles & Dinges, Mission Cantina, the corner at Metropolitan and Bedford all pop up in the book. Here are some of our favorite lines:
“When is Drake not relevant?”
“You’re yelling at me with your eyes!”
“How weird would it be if birds’ knees bent forward?”
“The worst thing about this weather is the small talk people try to make about it.”
“Infinite Home” by Kathleen Alcott
Most New Yorkers never take the time to get to know their neighbors, but the Brooklyn brownstoneresidents in this novel are different. All eccentric misfits, the collection of tenants have come to form a makeshift family, with Edith, the widowed landlady at the center of it all. But when Edith’s mind starts to go, an unfortunate side effect to her old age, her son arrives threatening to evict the residents. We told you that you’d be able to relate.
Related:Bidding wars grow in Brooklyn
Related: New York City rent costs are as crazy as ever
“New York in a Dozen Dishes” by Robert Sietsema
Robert Sietsema was a restaurant critic at the Village Voice for over 20 years, so he knows where to eat in this city. Discover the best the city has to offer through his collection of food essays about everything from how he discovered Katz’s Delicatessen in the 1970s (let’s just say the Lower East Side has changed a lot) to his quest to find the perfect plate of egg foo young. If you enjoy eating your way through NYC, this book is for you.
Related: Katz’s Deli in Brooklyn? Massive DeKalb Market Hall is taking shape
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