Seven NYC books that capture the city’s many sides

Jonathan Wells is the author of a memoir, The Skinny, and three collections of poems: Debris (2021), The Man with Many Pens (2015), and Train Dance.

The Sterns Are Listening is his first work of fiction.

At Lit Hub he tagged seven books that "do for me and New York City what I think the best writing does: animate, transform and illuminate." One title on the list:

Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence

Set in the 1870s but written in the 1920s, Edith Wharton’s novel of morals and manners was set during New York’s “gilded age.” Its center was Broadway and 23rd street. The Trinity church where Edith Wharton was married is located on 24th Street West of Broadway.

From my office window, I looked down on its roof and exterior for ten years but rarely went beyond the plaque on the brick commemorating her wedding. Trinity was sold to the Serbian Orthodox community in 1945 when most of its parishioners had moved uptown. When it burned down in 2016, I felt that I (and Edith) had lost a touchstone in the city.

Read about the other entries on the list.

The Age of Innocence also appears on Véronique Hyland's list of eight memorable literary “It” Girls, Therese Anne Fowler's six favorite books list, the Barnes & Noble Review's list of five top books on Gilded Age New York, Frances Kiernan's five best list of books that helped her understand the ways of New York society and David Kamp's list of six books that are notable for their food prose, and is among Elaine Sciolino's six favorite books, Mika Brzezinski's 6 best books and Honor Blackman's 6 best books.

--Marshal Zeringue