Liz M - me and NYC (2)

I moved to Brooklyn in August 2001, so this year will be my 20th in NYC. 2020 was a tough year for the city and now that NYC is fully open, I am looking forward to able going out and enjoying the place that I call home.

While I love reading and list-making, I do not enjoy writing and am perpetually behind on reviewing. I hope the excitement of adding a book to a category will encourage me to write at least a brief review.

For many, many years I have been reading primarily from he 1001-Books-to-Read-Before-You-Die list, Other reads are dictated by my real-life book club (which alternates contemporary literary fiction with non-fiction) and, now and again, a new novel found on LT or on my now favorite social media version of LT, Litsy (https://www.litsy.com/web/user/Liz_M).

Aside from reading, my weekdays are spent working for a large performing arts organization and my weekends are for eating brunch, walking around the city, visiting museums, cooking vegetarian meals for myself and/or baking cookies for co-workers.

ETA: I will treat the first six categories as mutually exclusive - a book can only be listed in one of them. However, I will try to fit each book into as many of the challenges as I can!

The Empire State Building, for a period of about 40 years was the world's tallest building. It is one of the most iconic sights in NYC and in my first two years in the city I visited (with guests) 4 or 5 times.

This category is for books from the 1001 Books-to-Read-Before-You-Die List:
1) Time's Arrow by Martin Amis
2) Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
3) The Drowned World by J. G. Ballard
4) She by H. Rider Haggard
5) Leaden Wings by Jie Zhang
6) Wise Children by Angela Carter
7) Chocky by John Wyndham
8) The Unknown Soldier by Väinö Linna
9) Under the Yoke by Ivan Vazov
10) The Garden Where the Brass Band Played by Simon Vestdijk
11) The Glimpses of the Moon by Edith Wharton
12) The Artamonov Business by Maxim Gorky
13) Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
14) Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs
15) Quartet by Jean Rhys
16) Hadrian the Seventh by Frederick Rolfe
17) Vipers' Tangle by François Mauriac
18) Bartleby & Co. by Enrique Vila-Matas
19) Locus Solus by Raymond Roussel
20)
21)

Possibilities: H(a)ppy, The Story of the Lost Child, H is for Hawk, A Girl is a Half-formed Thing, The Red Queen, The Colour, In the Forest, Schooling, Blonde, Everything You Need, Another World, Infinite Jest, The Unconsoled, The Triple Mirror of the Self, Black Water, Time's Arrow, Wise Children, Stone Junction, The Radiant Way, The Passion, The Diary of Jane Somers, Lanark, The Passion of New Eve, Humboldt's Gift, The Diviners, Gravity's Rainbow, Ada or Ardor, The Nice and the Good, The Birds Fall Down, August is a Wicked Month, Sometimes a Great Notion, V., Naked Lunch, Memento Mori, The Tree of Man, A World of Love, The Trusting and the Maimed, Between the Acts, At Swim-Two-Birds, The Years, All About H. Hatterr, The Glass Bead Game, The House in Paris, Testament of Youth, The Last September, Harriet Hume, Quartet, The Making of Americans, Jacob's Room, The Glimpses of the Moon, Women in Love, Night and Day, Tarr, Bunner Sisters, Tarzan of the Apes, Three Lives, Hadrian the Seventh, The Wings of the Dove, New Grub Street, She, Hard Times, Shirley, Mary Barton, Agnes Grey, Ormond, The Pilgrim's Progress

.

Second to only the Library of Congress, the New York Public Library is one of the largest systems in the US. As a resident of Brooklyn (separate library system), I was thrilled to discover that I could also hold an NYPL card. And once I started working in Manhattan with occasional late hours, I fell in love the the branch location kitty-corner to one pictured above, mostly because it was open until 11 pm. But I do love those lions!

This category is for books published by the New York Review of Books, read with Litsy's nyrbBookClub:
Jan: The True Deceiver by Tove Jansson
Feb: A Month in the Country by J. L. Carr
Mar: The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington
Apr: Skylark
May: During the Reign of the Queen of Persia by Joan Chase
Jun: Lolly Willows
Jul: The Go-Between
Aug: Free Day by Ines Cagnati
Sep: The Slynx by Tatyana Tolstaya
Oct: The Vet's Daughter by Barbara Comyns
Nov:
Dec:

One of the best views of the Statue of Liberty can be had from a free ride on the Staten Island Ferry. It was my favorite excursion with guests until one December day, since I insisted on the trip, my friend insisted we stay outside for the entire ferry ride.

This category is for books translated into English:
1) With My Dog Eyes by Hilda Hilst
2) The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree by Shokoofeh Azar
3) Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin
4) Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi
5) Memories of a Pure Spring by Dương Thu Hương
6) Snow and Shadow by Dorothy Tse
7) Khirbet Khizeh by S. Yizhar
8) The Hole by Hiroko Oyamada
9) Revenge by Yoko Ogawa
10) Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo
11) The Eighth Life (for Brilka) by Nino Haratischwili
12) Minor Detail by Adania Shibli
13) Untold Night and Day by Bae Suah
14) I Remain in Darkness by Annie Ernaux
15) The Employees: A Workplace Novel of the 22nd Century by Olga Ravn
16) Fair Play by Tove Jansson

Possibilities: 2666, A Void, The Adventures and Misadventures of Maqroll, Amerika, Baltasar and Blimunda, Bartleby & Co., The Cancer Ward, The Castle, Celestial Harmonies, The Child of Pleasure, The Daughter, The Death of Virgil, The Discovery of Heaven, Dog Years, The Engineer of Human Souls, Fado Alexandrino, The Idiot, In Search of Klingsor, Insatiability, Larva: Midsummer Night's Babel, The Last Temptation of Christ, The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr, Life: A User's Manual, Locus Solus, Lost Illusions, Memoirs of My Nervous Illness, Nadja, Nana, Obabakoak, The Third Wedding Wreath, The Time of Indifference, The Unknown Soldier, Wilhelm Meister, The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis

. . .

Union Square is a background of ordinary city life. In normal times I go through it two or three times a month and it is always a bustle of activity, whether from the greenmarket or whatever issue is provoking demonstrations and protest.

This category is for nonfiction books about Social Justice & Antiracism:
1) Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge
2) The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
3) I'm Still Here by Austin Channing Brown
4) Minor Feelings by Cathy Park Hong
5) Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man by Emmanuel Acho
6)
7)
8)
9)
10)
11)
12)

Possibilities: An African-American and Latinx History of the United States, America’s Original Sin, Biased, Blindspot, Caste, The Color of Law, Dying of Whiteness, The Fire Next Time, Have Black Lives Ever Mattered?, How Does It Feel to Be a Problem?, How to Be Less Stupid About Race, I'm Still Here, An Indigenous People’s History of the United States, Just Mercy, Me and White Supremacy, Mindful of Race, Minor Feelings, The New Jim Crow, So You Want to Talk About Race, Stamped from the Beginning, Tears We Cannot Stop, Uprooting Racism, The Ways of Whitefolks, When They Call You A Terrorist, Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?

The subway underpins the existence of the city. It goes most anyplace one needs to go and is used by most residents and tourists. In a culturally and ethnically diverse city, a city where nearly 800 different languages are spoken, the likeliest place to encounter dozens of individuals with backgrounds completely dissimilar to each other's is in the subway.

This category is for books written by authors from minority populations in their countries:
1) Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)
10)
11)
12)
13)
14)

1) Half-blood Blues by Esi Edugyan
2) The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill
3) What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours by Helen Oyeyemi
4) Deacon King Kong by James McBride
5) Cane by Jean Toomer
6) The World Doesn't Require You by Rion Amilcar Scott
7)
8)
9)
10)

1) An Equal Music by Vikram Seth
2)
3)
4)

1) Heart Berries by Terese Marie Mailhot
2) That Deadman Dance by Kim Scott

Possibilities: Girl Woman Other, Sharks in the Time of Saviors, Interior Chinatown, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, Dominicana, Black Leopard Red Wolf, In the Dream House, The Yellow House, Washington Black, A Lucky Man, Men We Reaped, Home Fire, The Book of Harlan, What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours, The Sellout, The Sympathizer, Everything I Never Told You, Oreo, Exit West, The Ungrateful Refugee, Bless Me Ultima, The Mixquiahuala Letters, The Power of Horses and Other Stories, Heart Berries: A Memoir, Winter in the Blood, Talking Indian: Reflections on Survival and Writing,

The very first time I ever visited NYC, I was working in a summerstock theater company in CT and our day off was Sunday. So on the last Sunday in June we got on a train and headed into the city. Exiting Grand Central Station we walked over to Fifth Avenue and were startled by the crowds and noise; it was the Gay Pride Parade. It was so fun and every place we went in the city was over taken by celebrations. It was a magical day.

This category is for books written by LGBTQIA+ authors:
1) The Nice and the Good by Iris Murdoch
2) On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
3) In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado
4) Spring by Ali Smith
5) Summer by Ali Smith
6) Jacob's Room by Virginia Woolf
7) The Heat of the Day by Elizabeth Bowen
8)
9)
10)
11)
12)

Cantoras, Confessions of a Mask, Frankissstein, Heartbreak Tango, Lolly Willowes, Naked Lunch, The Passion, Three Lives, The Tree of Man, The Passion of New Eve, You Exist Too Much

Although I live a block from Prospect Park, in these social-distancing times I find myself more often walking over to Greenwood Cemetery for outdoor excursions. Many, many fewer live people there.

This category is for miscellaneous books (likely to mostly be dead white men):

1) Confessions of an English Opium-Eater by Thomas De Quincey
2) Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope
3) Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz
4) A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe
5) All Systems Red by Martha Wells
6) These Women by Ivy Pochoda
7) Shit, Actually by Lindy West
8) Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
9) Artificial Condition by Martha Wells
10) All's Well That Ends Well by William Shakespeare
11) Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells
12) Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe

One of the apartments I lived in for a few years didn't have A/C. Fortunately, it was a few blocks from the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens and I had gotten a free one-year membership. My favorite reading seat was a covered wooden bench tucked away in the Japanese garden.

This is for my #ReadingAsia2021 challenge (12 books):

Afghanistan - Earth and Ashes
Bahrein
Bangladesh - Sultana's Dream
Bhutan
Brunei
Cambodia
China - Leaden Wings, The Three Kingdoms
Hong Kong - Snow and Shadow
India - English, August, An Obedient Father
Indonesia - Letters of a Javanese Princess, Beauty Is a Wound
Iran - The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree
Iraq - Frankenstein in Baghdad
Israel - Khirbet Khizeh, The Confessions of Noa Weber
Japan - The Hole, Breasts and Eggs, Revenge, Strange Weather in Tokyo, The Factory
Jordan
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Laos
Lebanon - Yalo
Malaysia - Evening Is the Whole Day, Though I Get Home, The Garden of Evening Mists
Maldives
Mongolia
Myanmar - Burmese Looking Glass
Nepal
North Korea
Oman - Celestial Bodies
Pakistan - Triple Mirror of the Self , Cracking India , Kartography
Palestine, State of - I Saw Ramallah, Men in the Sun, Minor Detail
Philippines - Awaiting Trespass, Dogeaters
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
Singapore - Or Else, The Lightning God
South Korea - Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982, Please Look After Mom, The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly
Sri Lanka - A Passage North
Syria - In Praise of Hatred, Death Is Hard Work
Taiwan - Notes of a Crocodile
Tajikistan
Thailand
Tibet
Timor-Leste
Turkmenistan
United Arab Emirates
Uzbekistan
Vietnam - Memories of a Pure Spring On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, The Sorrow of War, The Best We Could Do
Yemen

. . . . . .

It is disappointing, but not surprising, that other than the Statue of Liberty, I could not think of a iconic tourist attraction or important building celebrating women. I thought about Washington Square Park and connecting it to Jane Jacobs or MoMA, which was founded by three wealthy women. But then I was reminded of a podcast about Audrey Munson, otherwise known as "Miss Manhattan", a woman who for a time was the most famous model in America and whose likeness was used for hundreds of statues erected in parks and public squares and for sculptures adorning NYC buildings and installed in museums (photos above).

This is for my #ReadingWomen2021 challenge (12 books):

_____________ 1) A Book Longlisted for the JCB Prize
_____________ 2) An Author from Eastern Europe: Abigail, Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead
The New Jim Crow - 3) A Book About Incarceration
_____________ 4) A Cookbook by a Woman of Color
_____________ 5) A Book with a Protagonist Older than 50:
Momento Mori, Baba Yaga Laid an Egg, Frangipani House, Tirra Lirra by the River, Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont

With My Dog Eyes - 6) A Book by a South American Author in Translation
_____________ 7) Reread a Favorite Book
Heart Berries - 8) A Memoir by an Indigenous, First Nations, Native, or Aboriginal Woman: Halfbreed

The Hearing Trumpet - 9) A Book by a Neurodivergent Author
_____________ 10) A Crime Novel or Thriller in Translation:
The Hole, The Good Son

_____________ 11) A Book About the Natural World
_____________ 12) A Young Adult Novel by a Latinx Author
_____________ 13) A Poetry Collection by a Black Woman
Half Blood Blues - 14) A Book with a Biracial Protagonist:
The Icarus Girl, Everything I Never Told You, Oreo, Half Blood Blues

_____________ 15) A Muslim Middle Grade Novel
_____________ 16) A Book Featuring a Queer Love Story
_____________ 17) About a Woman in Politics
Fever Dream - 18) A Book with a Rural Setting:
The Colour, Everything You Need, Between the Acts

The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree - 19) A Book with a Cover Designed by a Woman
Celestial Bodies - 20) A Book by an Arab Author in Translation
_____________ 21) A Book by a Trans Author
_____________ 22) A Fantasy Novel by an Asian Author
Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race - 23) A Nonfiction Book Focused on Social Justice
_____________ 24) A Short Story Collection by a Caribbean Author

BONUS
25) A Book by Alexis Wright
26) A Book by Tsitsi Dangarembga
27) A Book by Leila Aboulela
28) A Book by Yoko Ogawa

According to wiki, The Met Museum's "permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments." It is a huge building, impossible to see in one visit or even in dozens and dozens of visits. Several years ago I decided that I would try to visit every single room. To make it more enjoyable I chose rooms randomly or invent a treasure hunt (all the representations of women reading books was a fantastic way to visit a dozen rooms in a single day!).

This is for my Around the Year in 52 ~26 books challenge:

January
1. A book related to “In the Beginning...”: Time's Arrow
2. A book by an author whose name doesn't contain the letters A, T or Y: Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race
3. A book related to the lyrics for the song "My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music: The True Deceiver
4. A book with a monochromatic cover: With My Dog Eyes

February
5. A book by an author on USA Today's list of 100 Black Novelists You Should Read
Cane, Girl Woman Other*, Friday Black*, The Sellout*, Black Leopard Red Wolf*, The Book of Harlan*, What is Not Yours is Not Yours*, Sharks in the Time of Saviors*, The Mothers, Sweet Summer, Queenie, Patsy, The Death of Vivek Oji, Telephone, The Ways of White Folks, The Fisherman, We Cast a Shadow, Real Life, Lot

6. A love story The Nice and the Good
7. A book that fits a prompt suggestion that didn't make the final list:
Book published before you were born: The Drowned World
8. A book set in a state, province, or country you have never visited Memories of a Pure Spring

March
9. A book you associate with a specific season or time of year
10. A book with a female villain or criminal She
11. A book to celebrate The Grand Egyptian Museum
12. A book eligible for the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation Snow and Shadow
13. A book written by an author of one of your best reads of 2020

April
14. A book set in a made-up place Mexican Gothic
15. A book that features siblings as the main characters Wise Children
16. A book with a building in the title
17. A book with a Muslim character or author

May
18. book related to "Past, Present, Future" That Deadman Dance
19. book related to "Past, Present, Future" Frankenstein in Baghdad
20. book related to "Past, Present, Future"
21. A book whose title and author both contain the letter "u" The Three Kingdoms, Volume 1: The Sacred Oath
22. A book posted in one of the ATY Best Book of the Month threads

June
23. A cross genre novel Piranesi
24. A book about racism or race relations Minor Feelings
25. A book set on an island The Hole
26. A short book (less than 210 pages) by a new-to-you author Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982

July
27. A book with a character who can be found in a deck of cards
28. A book connected to ice
29. A book that you consider comfort reading Artificial Condition
30. A long book

August
31. A book by an author whose career spanned more than 21 years Fair Play
32. A book whose cover shows more than 2 people Untold Night and Day
33. A collection of short stories, essays, or poetry
34. A book with a travel theme Free Day
35. A book set in a country on or below the Tropic of Cancer

September
36. A book with six or more words in the title
37. A book from the Are You Well Read in World Literature list
38. A book related to a word given by a random word generator
39. A book involving an immigrant

October
40. A book with flowers or greenery on the cover
41. A book by a new-to-you BIPOC author
42. A mystery or thriller
43. A book with elements of magic

November
44. A book whose title contains a negative
45. A book related to a codeword from the NATO Phonetic Alphabet
46. A winner or nominee from the 2020 Goodreads Choice Awards
47. A non-fiction book other than biography, autobiography or memoir
48. A book that might cause someone to react “You read what?!?”

December
49. A book with an ensemble cast
50. A book published in 2021
51. A book whose title refers to person(s) without giving their name
52. A book related to "the end"

Third Quarter Reading Ideas:

July:
Real-life book club: Sin in the Second City
nyrb-Litsy: The Go-Between
LT 1001 Book: Blaming
BookSpin: Bartleby & Co, Vipers' Tangle
#FoodandLit - Morocco:

August:
Real-life book club:
nyrb-Litsy: Free Day
LT 1001 Book: Burmese Days
BookSpin: I Remain in Darkness, Astradeni
#FoodandLit - Pakistan: Basti

September:
Real-life book club: Empire of Pain
nyrb-Litsy: The Slynx
LT 1001 Book: Promise at Dawn
BookSpin: The Slynx, Three Kingdoms
#FoodandLit - Guatemala:

-----------------------

Key:
strike through book linked - A book I read this year
strike through - A book I have read before and don't plan to reread
book linked - A book I am thinking of reading for the relevant group/challenge/theme
book title - A book that I haven't read and currently don't plan to read
* - A book I own (paper copy)

Fourth Quarter Reading Ideas:

October:
Real-life book club: Homeland Elegies
nyrb-Litsy: The Vet's Daughter
LT 1001 Book: Memento Mori
BookSpin:
#FoodandLit - Zambia:

November:
Real-life book club:
nyrb-Litsy: School for Love
LT 1001 Book: Blonde
BookSpin:
#FoodandLit - Mexico:

December:
Real-life book club:
nyrb-Litsy:
LT 1001 Book:
BookSpin:
#FoodandLit - Philippines:

-----------------------

Key:
strike through book linked - A book I read this year
strike through - A book I have read before and don't plan to reread
book linked - A book I am thinking of reading for the relevant group/challenge/theme
book title - A book that I haven't read and currently don't plan to read
* - A book I own (paper copy)

Mid-point Stats

Books read: 59
total pages read: 17,409
ave. # pages: 295

1001-list-books: 18 (31%)
Female Authors: 33 (56%)
In Translation: 21 (36%)
Non-fiction: 7

Pre-1800: 2
1800s: 4
1900-1949: 7
1950-1999: 17
2000s: 28

Libe books: 32 (54%)
Owned-pre-2021: 19 (32%)
Bought & read: 9 (14%)

New-acquisitions in 2021: 88

Hunh. Had I been thinking ahead, I could have posted new pictures for and/or finessed my categories (One World Trade center instead of Empire State Building, for example). Especially now that NYC is fully open and I have been out and about more.

Great new thread, Liz. I love your categories. You've done a lot of great reading this year.

Happy new thread! Will never say no to new pictures of NYC -- it's the only way I'm going to experience it these days ;)

Happy new thread! I see we are both doing the Around the Year in 52 Books Challenge, although I don't follow it week to week, just count my reads when/and if they fit.

Happy new thread!

>16 BLBera: Hi Beth! Spending two week mostly sitting in my mom's back yard, and with a few days at the cabin sititing on the dock, meant a lot of books got read!

>17 rabbitprincess: Hey RP. I get it -- the hardest part of the wait is watching everyone else get vaccinated and enjoying the world. You'll get there soon!

>18 DeltaQueen50: Hello Judy! I'm only planning to complete about half the challenge -- just the prompts that interest me, so I am only using books I read in the "correct" month. It just a method to help me to choose what to read next if I get paralyzed by too many choices. :)

>19 MissWatson: Thanks for stopping by! :)

Happy new thread, Liz! I hope we can meet up in the city soon.

I was thinking from some of your photo on the previous thread that you were maybe visiting your family back home and I see from your response to Beth that I was right :)

Happy New Thread!

>21 katiekrug: I am now back in the office so meeting in the city is easier. Opening night is Sep. 27, fyi.

>22 VictoriaPL: Thanks!

And I started a new thread only to promptly ignore it. ~sigh, eyeroll~



July Litsy Book Spin Bingo card.
Bookspin = Viper's Tangle
DoubleSpin = Bartleby & Co.