You’ve read everything by Jennifer Egan, Colson Whitehead (you call him “Cole”) and the Jonathans, and you’re even Facebook friends with Jonathan Ames. If you secretly believe you’re the +1 in n +1, we’ve got the next read for your McCarren Park beach towel. Literary Brooklyn is Evan Hughes’ new chronicle of the borough’s bookish icons, from rapscallions like Walt Whitman (the borough’s “first literary hipster”) and Henry Miller to Jhumpa Lahiri and her contemporaries. Unlike dutiful history books that guilt you from the shelf, this one really zips along. And we have three copies to give away to randomly chosen commenters on this post. Tell us your favorite Brooklyn book ever and why in the comments and you could win one of them. Also, Mr Hughes is being feted Tuesday night (August 16) from 7 to 9 at PowerHouse Arena, and everyone’s invited to hear him read and have a drink or two. (Go easy Brokertons). By the way, here’s a completely unrelated but nevertheless fun map of literary Brooklyn from the BPL.
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fortress of solitude! i learned so much about gowanus!
I will proudly state that my favorite Brooklyn book is probably Prospect Park West by Amy Sohn. Amy showed me what Park Slope was like all before I moved into it. I still am petrified to step into The Gate because of her characters’ interactions with the swinger couple. I mean, not all literature has to be super intellectual, right?
Motherless Brooklyn. Jonathan Lethem, I love you forever.
Not that I don’t love Lethem’s writing or any of the other fine Brooklynite writers out there, but Last Exit to Brooklyn by Hubert Selby, Jr. is my choice. It is my favorite for its anger, despair and crude joys. Its dialogue is pure Brooklyn of days gone by, written during those days. This book was around when today’s popular Brooklyn writers were in diapers.
Octopus Pie, Vol.1 by Meredith Gran. It’s a graphic novel, but it’s still set in Brooklyn and it just *works*
As an early childhood educator I have to give props to the children’s book “Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale” by Mo Willems. It’s an awesome story for both adults and children and the photo’s of Brooklyn are enchanting. Love it!
Sunset Park by Paul Auster! A great read that included a lot of trivia I was unaware of. I am looking forward to watching The Best Years of Our Lives again because of this book, I haven’t seen it in decades.
Martin Meza’s Stoeytime Books.
Martin Meza; Brooklyn Born
Just Trying to Make it in The Literary world. Have written a Short Story Book Amed for Children. Take a Look You May Like Them As Much As I Did (lulu.com/meza)
Motherless Brooklyn… great characters, original writing.
Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff. Not from NYC but from Cooperstown NY. She took historical fiction and mixed it with something magical, and it really rebirthed my joy of reading after college. Very enjoyable book.
“A Meaningful Life” by L. J. Davis. A hilarious book about gentrification. Should be required reading before anyone moves to Park Slope.
LJ Davis is interviewed in the book.
I teach elementary school. I have to go with Ezra Jack Keats!
To add “why” :: His books allow all children to experience the wonder of the city and world around them regardless of race, color, religion, etc. The little boy with the snowball in his pocket is African American: an important image for kids who often times don’t see children in literature that look like them. But it’s also a story that could easily have its pictures changed to show an Asian child, a Hasidic Jewish child, a Native American child, a white child…. the story is not about being a Black child, but being a CHILD. And all of his books are this way: accessible to all children because they are children not because of their specific background – yet allow children of many backgrounds to see themselves depicted on the pages.
Me me me!
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn! so interesting to read about my neighborhood 100 years ago
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn!
Jay-Z’s Decoded.
The Brooklyn Follies by Paul Auster. Funny & touching. Perfectly captures the essence of the borough.
“Snow In August” by Pete Hamill. When I first met him, I told him it was my favorite of his books, and he told me it was his favorite, too — but also his least-read. It a magical vision of 1940s Brooklyn through the eyes of an 11 year old boy.
Having grown up here, there’s many authors I feel a connection to, but I’ve got a soft spot for Frank McCourt’s Angela’s Ashes. His writing style is both casual and lush, and I found myself genuinely feeling for him and his family. I wish that there were other books that so profoundly changed my views of the life that I live. Probably my favorite memoir, period.
Motherless Brooklyn remains my favorite. Probably because I lived in the neighborhood at the time.
My Korean Deli. What a great snapshot of a neighborhood in flux as seen through the windows of your average corner shop (that is still standing today!). Brooklyn, in a nutshell.
And its still before noon in Hawaii!
The nifty random.org number randomizer has selected commenters Tiffany Gilbert, Laurie Mincielli and Sara Brainard. Congrats and and thanks for entering. Please send your mailing addresses to [email protected] and I’ll send you a book!