Podcast Summary: "Summer Reading Challenge: What's the Best Book About or Set in New York?"

Podcast: All Of It with Alison Stewart (WNYC)
Episode Air Date: August 20, 2024
Theme: Exploring the best books about or set in New York City as part of WNYC's Summer Reading Challenge

Episode Overview

This episode centers on the Summer Reading Challenge's "book about or set in New York" category. Host Alison Stewart is joined by producer Jordan Lof to discuss their favorite New York books—both classic and modern. The show also features passionate listener recommendations, creating a communal celebration of New York City’s literary landscape.

What Makes a New York City Book?

Defining the Category – [02:36]

• Books can be set anywhere in New York State, but for today's focus, the conversation zooms in on "the five boroughs."
  • “For the purposes of our conversation, we're just going to talk about books set here in New York City, the five boroughs...for the category in general, I'm counting any book set in the great state of New York.” – Jordan Lof
• “What makes a New York City novel?”
  • Captures a “moment in time” and the unique issues facing New Yorkers—past and present.
  • Modern novels delve into rent prices, young adulthood struggles, work-life balance, class, and racism.
  • “Reading Edith Wharton feels like you're sort of time-traveling to a New York that feels unrecognizable to me today...What’s interesting about modern New York fiction is a lot of it is focused on the issues that I think people today really care about...” – Jordan Lof [03:07]

Listener Recommendations & Highlights

Contemporary and Modern Picks

• Netherland by Joseph O’Neill [04:07]

  • Caller Will praises this 2008 novel for capturing the post-9/11 “drifty displacement” and the city’s vastness.
  • “There was a sort of drifty displacement on the part of the protagonist. And I think that we were all a little drifty and displaced as we absorbed the shock of what had happened.” – Will [04:07]
  • Notes its unique depiction of South Asian cricket culture in NYC.

• The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt [05:54]

  • Celebrated for its immersive New York scenes, especially set in the Met Museum.
  • “You just feel like you’re right there in the Met and all over, really.” – Stacy [06:11]

• Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann [15:04]

  • Caller Gina highlights the novel’s interwoven New York narratives and its “magical” character studies around the famous World Trade Center tightrope walk.
  • “It goes on to get into these amazing characters, two of which are brothers who were born in Ireland and emigrated to New York. It's really a magical book.” – Gina [15:30]

• My Mrs. Brown by William Norwich [09:47]

  • A quieter novel about transforming one’s life via a trip to Manhattan, recommended by a dental hygienist caller.

• A Hero Ain't Nothin' But a Sandwich by Alice Childress [17:27]

  • Focuses on a boy growing up in the Bronx, struggling with drugs and poverty.
  • “It's about a kid growing up in the poor part of the Bronx and dealing with drugs and getting out of there.” – Peter [17:29]

Classic NYC Books

• Stuart Little by E.B. White [05:09]

  • Cited for its whimsical New York setting that appeals to both children and adults.

• A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

  • Mentioned via text and callers as a timeless favorite.

• The House of Mirth & The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton [06:30]

  • First woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
  • Explores the “perils of upper class society in New York for women at the tail end of the Gilded Age.”
  • “There is no mirth in the House of Mirth, which is true. It is a really tragic story about a woman named Lily Bart who is slowly pushed to the margins of New York high society.” – Jordan Lof [06:30]
  • Recommended for fans of the "Gilded Age" TV show.

• Passing by Nella Larsen [07:24]

  • A 1929 Harlem-set classic on race, identity, and female friendship.
  • “It's a really impactful book for how sparse the pages are.” – Jordan Lof [07:24]

Curated Recommendations from the Hosts

For the Summer Reading Challenge

• My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh [11:05]

  • “Grotesque” novel set in NYC, featuring a protagonist self-medicating into a coma during the 2000s.
  • “It's not about rest and relaxation, let's just say.” – Alison Stewart [11:18]
  • “I think it's Moshfegh's best use of her sort of grotesque nastiness for a purpose and for commentary.” – Jordan Lof [12:01]

• Luster by Raven Leilani [12:10]

  • Follows a struggling Black artist in Bushwick who gets entangled with a white suburban couple in New Jersey.
  • “It's a book that really encapsulates the difficulties of finding your voice and your path in this city when you know your financial means are not unlimited and you're struggling to find yourself.” – Jordan Lof [12:52]

• Severance by Ling Ma [14:17]

  • Dystopian pandemic novel set in NYC; a meditation on modern work culture and city life.
  • “What this fever does is it causes people to keep repeating routines compulsively until they die.” – Jordan Lof [14:24]

Beyond Fiction

• Ladies and Gentlemen, The Bronx is Burning by Jonathan Mahler [16:43]

  • Chronicles 1977 NYC through baseball, politics, and the city’s social upheaval.
  • “It's not just about baseball. It's also about our city’s history in that year.” – Jordan Lof [17:03]

• The Power Broker by Robert Caro [15:52]

  • Recognized during its 50th anniversary as the tome on urban development and Robert Moses.
  • “If someone out there manages to read the Power Broker in two weeks, I would like you to let us know. Please tag us on social at all of it. Wnyc…Would love to see evidence that you could, that could be accomplished.” – Jordan Lof [16:17]

Additional Gems & Listener Love

• The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg [13:16]

  • A beloved children’s classic about two siblings camping out in the Met Museum.
  • “That was a favorite of mine as a kid, too, and it used to make me want to hide in the museum at night.” – Jordan Lof [13:42]

• Waterworks by E.L. Doctorow [09:05]

  • A noir set in 19th century NYC with “gritty people in good jobs as policemen” and city transformations.
  • “It was just very interesting how the city becomes part of the book.” – Craig [09:36]

• A Hazard of New Fortunes by William Dean Howells

  • Set in 1890s New York; recommended via text.

• The Assistants by Camille Perri

  • Contemporary NYC novel tackling corporate greed.

Notable Quotes

• “My favorite part about New York City novels is how they capture a certain moment in time in New York City history.” – Jordan Lof [03:07]
• “I love the book The Alienist. I love for all the details about old New York.” – Alison Stewart [03:52]
• “Where else are you going to find a book where the price of an apartment is the main factor in personal relationships?” – Text message [08:54]
• “He can get in the minds of all of those characters in such a profound way.” – Jordan Lof on James Baldwin [08:37]

Timestamps to Key Segments

• [01:05] Start of main segment; Alison introduces the Summer Reading Challenge
• [02:36] What “counts” as a New York book and what makes a NYC novel
• [04:07] Listener Will recommends Netherland by Joseph O’Neill
• [05:09] Sally recommends Stuart Little by E.B. White
• [06:30] Discussion of Edith Wharton classics with Jordan
• [07:24] Review of Passing by Nella Larsen
• [08:03] James Baldwin and his NYC literature
• [11:05] Modern fiction: My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh
• [12:10] Luster by Raven Leilani
• [13:16] Children’s lit: The Mixed-Up Files… from Colleen
• [14:17] Dystopian NYC: Severance by Ling Ma
• [15:04] Gina's recommendation: Let the Great World Spin
• [15:52] The Power Broker and feat of reading it in two weeks
• [16:43] Baseball and NYC history: Ladies and Gentlemen, The Bronx is Burning
• [17:27] Peter’s quick pick: A Hero Ain’t Nothin’ But a Sandwich

Overall Tone

The episode is warm, lively, and highly engaged with New York’s literary culture—reflecting the diversity and specificity of experiences represented in books about or set in the city. Both host and listeners exhibit a genuine love for literature’s ability to reflect, critique, and capture the soul of New York.

Call to Action

Join the reading challenge and submit your books at
WNYC.org/summerreading
“You've got two weeks. I believe in you.” – Jordan Lof [17:47]

For more recommendations and to join the conversation, visit the show page and follow along on social media.