Best of
New-York

2017

Insomniac City: New York, Oliver, and Me


Bill Hayes - 2017
    But, at forty-eight years old, having spent decades in San Francisco, he craved change. Grieving over the death of his partner, he quickly discovered the profound consolations of the city's incessant rhythms, the sight of the Empire State Building against the night sky, and New Yorkers themselves, kindred souls that Hayes, a lifelong insomniac, encountered on late-night strolls with his camera.And he unexpectedly fell in love again, with his friend and neighbor, the writer and neurologist Oliver Sacks, whose exuberance--"I don't so much fear death as I do wasting life," he tells Hayes early on--is captured in vignettes throughout. What emerges is a portrait of Sacks at his most personal and endearing, from falling in love for the first time at age seventy-five to facing illness and death (Sacks died of cancer in August 2015).

Meet Me in the Bathroom: Rebirth and Rock and Roll in New York City 2001-2011


Lizzy Goodman - 2017
    But as the end of the millennium neared, cutting-edge bands began emerging from Seattle, Austin, and London, pushing New York further from the epicenter. The behemoth music industry, too, found itself in free fall, under siege from technology. Then 9/11/2001 plunged the country into a state of uncertainty and war—and a dozen New York City bands that had been honing their sound and style in relative obscurity suddenly became symbols of glamour for a young, web-savvy, forward-looking generation in need of an anthem.Meet Me in the Bathroom charts the transformation of the New York music scene in the first decade of the 2000s, the bands behind it—including The Strokes, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, LCD Soundsystem, Interpol, and Vampire Weekend—and the cultural forces that shaped it, from the Internet to a booming real estate market that forced artists out of the Lower East Side to Williamsburg. Drawing on 200 original interviews with James Murphy, Julian Casablancas, Karen O, Ezra Koenig, and many others musicians, artists, journalists, bloggers, photographers, managers, music executives, groupies, models, movie stars, and DJs who lived through this explosive time, journalist Lizzy Goodman offers a fascinating portrait of a time and a place that gave birth to a new era in modern rock-and-roll.

Bolivar


Sean Rubin - 2017
    Sybil knows that there is something off about her next door neighbor, but she can't seem to get anyone to believe her. Everyone is so busy going about their days in the busy streets of New York City that they don't notice Bolivar. They don't notice his odd height, his tiny arms, or his long tail. No one but Sybil sees that Bolivar is a dinosaur. When an unlikely parking ticket pulls Bolivar into an adventure from City Hall to New York’s Natural History Museum, he must finally make a choice: continue to live unnoticed, or let the city see who he really is.

Tenements, Towers & Trash: An Unconventional Illustrated History of New York City


Julia Wertz - 2017
    A perfectly charming, sidesplittingly funny, intellectually entertaining illustrated history of the blocks, the buildings, and the guts of New York City, based on Julia Wertz's popular illustrated columns in The New Yorker and Harper's. In Tenements, Towers & Trash, Julia Wertz takes us behind the New York that you think you know. Not the tourist's New York-the Statue of Liberty makes a brief appearance and the Empire State Building not at all-but the guts, the underbelly, of this city that never sleeps. With drawings and comics in her signature style, Wertz regales us with streetscapes "Then and Now" and little-known tales, such as the lost history of Kim's Video, the complicated and unresolved business of Ray's Pizza, the vintage trash and horse bones that litter the shore of Brooklyn's Bottle Beach, the ludicrous pinball prohibition, Staten Island's secret abandoned boatyard, and the hair-raising legend of the infamous abortionist of Fifth Avenue, Madame Restell. From bars, bakeries, and bookstores to food carts, street cleaners, and apartments both cramped and grand, Tenements, Towers & Trash is a wild ride in a time machine taxi from the present day city to bygone days of yore.

Next of Kin


James Tucker - 2017
    Ten-year-old Ben Brook is the lone survivor of the brutal murder of his wealthy family at their upstate New York compound. But from the moment he evades death, Ben’s life is in constant danger. Can NYPD detective Buddy Lock keep the boy safe from a killer intent on wiping out the entire Brook clan?When two more massacres decimate the Brookses’ ranks, Buddy’s hunt narrows. But his challenges grow as power, money, and secret crimes from the family’s past stand in the way. With Ben more and more at risk, Buddy steps closer to the edge, forcing a relentless killer to become more brazen, brutal, and cunning. Saving the boy will put all of Buddy’s skills to the test…and risk the lives of everyone he loves.

Vanishing New York: How a Great City Lost Its Soul


Jeremiah Moss - 2017
    But today, modern gentrification is transforming the city from an exceptional, iconoclastic metropolis into a suburbanized luxury zone with a price tag only the one percent can afford.A Jane Jacobs for the digital age, blogger and cultural commentator Jeremiah Moss has emerged as one of the most outspoken and celebrated critics of this dramatic shift. In Vanishing New York, he reports on the city’s development in the twenty-first century, a period of "hyper-gentrification" that has resulted in the shocking transformation of beloved neighborhoods and the loss of treasured unofficial landmarks. In prose that the Village Voice has called a "mixture of snark, sorrow, poeticism, and lyric wit," Moss leads us on a colorful guided tour of the most changed parts of town—from the Lower East Side and Chelsea to Harlem and Williamsburg—lovingly eulogizing iconic institutions as they’re replaced with soulless upscale boutiques, luxury condo towers, and suburban chains.Propelled by Moss’ hard-hitting, cantankerous style, Vanishing New York is a staggering examination of contemporary "urban renewal" and its repercussions—not only for New Yorkers, but for all of America and the world.

Arbitrary Stupid Goal


Tamara Shopsin - 2017
    The center of Tamara’s universe is Shopsin’s, her family’s legendary corner store/restaurant/hangout, run by her inimitable dad, Kenny—a brilliant, loquacious, contrary, huge-hearted man who, aside from dishing up New York’s best egg salad on rye, is Village sheriff, philosopher, and fixer all at once. We follow Kenny as he pursues his destiny through early factory jobs, superintendent gigs, and crossword-puzzle mania. His temper flares as often as his humor, keeping Tamara, her mom, and her siblings constantly off-balance but giddy to be along for the always bracing ride. And the cast of supporting characters is unforgettable—oddballs and misfits, cops and con men, sax players and waitresses, longshoremen and poets, and crafty Willoughby “Willy” Jones, an old-time swindler and lady-killer from the South who improbably becomes Kenny’s foil and best friend. All comers find a place at Shopsin’s table and feast on Kenny’s tall tales and trenchant advice along with the incomparable chili con carne.At its core, Arbitrary Stupid Goal is about the secrets of living an unconventional life, which is becoming a forgotten art. It’s a place where serendipity trumps logic and overplanning can cause you to miss out on the fun of a midnight walk to the giant bubbling margarita glass perched precariously over the Mexican joint on Seventh Avenue. It’s about taking the day as it flows, treasuring experiences over things, and embracing the crazy but essential messiness of relationships.Filled with clever illustrations and witty, nostalgic photographs and graphics, and told in a sly, elliptical narrative that is both hilarious and endearing, Arbitrary Stupid Goal is an offbeat memory-book mosaic that will encourage readers to rediscover the vital spontaneity that we may have unwisely traded for the shelter of predictability.

New York Bound


Rachel Wesson - 2017
    Nora Doherty has spent years hearing tales of Doc Erin’s skill and kindness, but she anticipates her arrival with mixed feelings. She can’t wait to meet the amazing woman her gran worked for, but isn’t at all thrilled with her mother’s insistence that she return with Doc Erin to Clover Springs—as a mail order bride. Robbie Fenton has been tasked with protecting Doc Erin and her party, but who will protect him when he sets eyes on the beautiful Nora Doherty? With New York City buried under over twenty inches of snow and millions of people stranded in a complete white-out, Erin, Nora and Robbie’s mettle is tested as they frantically struggle to help. Will Erin, Nora, Robbie survive to see futures of their own?

Holly Freakin' Hughes


Kelsey Kingsley - 2017
    She has it all, but at the ripe age of thirty-one, she wants more. She wants to be married, she wants a family, and she's going to have it all with Stephen. At least, that's what she thought, until Stephen announces he's gay, and the domino effect of unfortunate events begins. She soon finds herself unemployed, single, and living in her sister's house on Long Island, working as her niece's babysitter for less than minimum wage. She's pretty certain she's destined to live in the Land of Mediocrity forever.And then, her niece runs face-first into a tall, handsome man at the bookstore.* * *Holly Freakin' Hughes is an HFN title about acceptance, feeling good enough, and the reality that the grass isn't always greener on the other side. NOTE: This book contains some strong language and sexual situations. Age discretion is advised. This book will also be a part of a series of at least three books. They just haven't been born yet. Patience is appreciated.

The Christmas Shop at Central Park


Jo Bartlett - 2017
    How can she when the most important people in her life are no longer around to enjoy the festivities – because of her? Hiding out in her grandparents’ failing micro-pub, she wants to forget that the season of goodwill even exists; but her grandmother has other ideas. It’s time for Libby to face her fears – and Christmas – head on. And what better way to immerse herself in the celebrations, than working in her great aunt’s Christmas shop, just a few blocks from Central Park? Making new friends is the easy bit, but leaving the past behind proves much more difficult. The only way Libby can cope is by taking long walks in Central Park and joining an art therapy group to help her express her emotions. Harry Stanwick is a Central Park Ranger, who’s as beautiful on the inside as he is on the outside. He seems to know instinctively when Libby wants to talk and when she just needs to be left alone. Working with Harry and the rest of her new friends to save an old off-Broadway theatre and community centre from closure, Libby finally starts to remember the magic of Christmas. But she can’t stop questioning her right to be happy when her parents are gone. Can Harry convince Libby that she deserves her own Christmas miracle, or will she leave her heart -and her chance of happiness - in the Christmas shop at Central Park?

4 3 2 1


Paul Auster - 2017
    From that single beginning, Ferguson’s life will take four simultaneous and independent fictional paths. Four identical Fergusons made of the same DNA, four boys who are the same boy, go on to lead four parallel and entirely different lives. Family fortunes diverge. Athletic skills and sex lives and friendships and intellectual passions contrast. Each Ferguson falls under the spell of the magnificent Amy Schneiderman, yet each Amy and each Ferguson have a relationship like no other. Meanwhile, readers will take in each Ferguson’s pleasures and ache from each Ferguson’s pains, as the mortal plot of each Ferguson’s life rushes on.As inventive and dexterously constructed as anything Paul Auster has ever written, yet with a passion for realism and a great tenderness and fierce attachment to history and to life itself that readers have never seen from Auster before. 4 3 2 1 is a marvelous and unforgettably affecting tour de force.

Going Into Town: A Love Letter to New York


Roz Chast - 2017
    On trips into town, they would marvel at the strange visual world of Manhattan--its blackened sidewalk gum-wads, "those West Side Story-things" (fire escapes)--and its crazily honeycombed systems and grids.Told through Chast's singularly zany, laugh-out-loud, touching, and true cartoons, Going Into Town is part New York stories (the "overheard and overseen" of the island borough), part personal and practical guide to walking, talking, renting, and venting--an irresistible, one-of-a-kind love letter to the city.

I Know You'll Find Me


Jennifer Youngblood - 2017
     After a rough road, Victoria Compton’s life is finally starting to fall into place. She has her own dance studio and a handsome, rich boyfriend who wants to whisk her away for the weekend to his condo in the Bahamas. Things take an unexpected turn when Victoria makes an impromptu visit to Dominic’s office and witnesses a murder. Her life spirals out of control as she takes her two kids and flees New York to someplace Dominic will never think to look for her—Salt Lake City, Utah. With new identities and a cover story, Victoria and her kids try to build a new life while living in constant fear that Dominic might find them. Victoria never expects to meet Hudson Lawrence, a rough and tumble cop with piercing blue eyes and ripped muscles. She certainly doesn’t plan on kissing him in the storeroom of the restaurant where she works or slapping him afterwards—twice! Sparks fly as Victoria fights against the growing attraction, fearing Hudson will discover the truth and wreck her new life. Tensions escalate as the threat of Dominic looms over them and Victoria must decide if she can trust Hudson with her secret as well as her heart. Included in this book are bonus excerpts of False Identity and Love on the Rocks.

Kat Greene Comes Clean


Melissa Roske - 2017
    When Mom isn’t scrubbing every inch of their Greenwich Village apartment, she’s boiling the silverware or checking Kat’s sheets for bedbugs. It's enough to drive any middle schooler crazy! Add friendship troubles to the mix, a crummy role in the class production of Harriet the Spy, and Mom's decision to try out for "Clean Sweep,” a competitive-cleaning TV game show, and what have you got? More trouble than Kat can handle. At least, without a little help from her friends.

The Address


Fiona Davis - 2017
    But when a chance encounter with Theodore Camden, one of the architects of the grand New York apartment house The Dakota, leads to a job offer, her world is suddenly awash in possibility—no mean feat for a servant in 1884. The opportunity to move to America, where a person can rise above one’s station. The opportunity to be the female manager of The Dakota, which promises to be the greatest apartment house in the world. And the opportunity to see more of Theo, who understands Sara like no one else...and is living in The Dakota with his wife and three young children.

Lights Out Super Boxset: EMP Survival in a Powerless World


James Hunt - 2017
    But when an EMP brings New York to its knees, Kate must fight to survive amid the terror descending upon the city and rescue her family.StaticMillions of citizens have been thrust into the unknown, breeding fear into the minds and souls of those seeking to survive. Wren Burton, an architect from Chicago, has been engulfed by the chaotic aftermath of an EMP blast. Her family is injured. The enemy is unknown. And help is nowhere to be found.

Street Warrior: The True Story of the NYPD’s Most Decorated Detective and the Era That Created Him


Ralph Friedman - 2017
    100 off-duty arrests. 6,000 assists. 15 shootings. 8 shot. 4 kills. These are not the performance statistics of an entire NYPD unit. They are the record that makes Detective 2nd Grade Ralph Friedman a legend.Friedman was arguably the toughest cop ever to wear the shield and was the most decorated detective in the NYPD’s 170-year history. Stationed at the South Bronx’s notorious 41 Precinct, known by its nickname “Fort Apache,” Friedman served during one of the city’s most dire times: the 1970s and ‘80s, when fiscal crisis, political disillusionment, an out-of-control welfare system, and surging crime and drug use were just a few of its problems.Street Warrior tells an unvarnished story of harrowing vice and heroic grit, including Friedman’s reflections on racial profiling, confrontations with the citizens he swore to protect, and the use of deadly force.

Making Waves


Laura Moore - 2017
    But living and working among the upper crust has never tempted Dakota to follow in her mother's jet-setting footsteps. Anytime the drama on land gets too outrageous, Dakota finds calm surfing the Atlantic waves. But when sexy mogul Max Carr hires her, it rocks her balance in a big way.Max works hard, but he's never had to put any effort into winning over a woman until now. With her stunning beauty and keen intelligence, Dakota is worth the effort. But it is plain she has no interest in a casual fling, and that's all Max with his grief-stricken heart can offer. But one fraught night changes everything, with consequences neither Dakota nor Max anticipated. Now they must navigate the rough waters of society gossip and devastating secrets that threaten their fragile relationship. If they can trust in the strength of their growing feelings, they ll find that the dreams they ve been chasing are close enough to embrace . . . together."

Marilyn in Manhattan: Her Year of Joy


Elizabeth Winder - 2017
    As the plane's engines rev she breathes a sigh of relief, lights a cigarette and slips off her wig revealing a tangle of fluffy blonde curls. Marilyn Monroe was leaving Hollywood behind, and along with it a failed marriage and a frustrating career. She needed a break from the scrutiny and insanity of LA. She needed Manhattan.In Manhattan, the most famous woman in the world can wander the streets unbothered, spend hours at the Met getting lost in art, and afternoons buried in the stacks of the Strand. Marilyn begins to live a life of the mind in New York; she dates Arthur Miller, dances with Truman Capote and drinks with Carson McCullers. Even though she had never lived there before, in New York, Marilyn is home.In Marilyn in Manhattan, the iconic blonde bombshell is not only happy, but successful. She breaks her contract with Fox Studios to form her own production company, a groundbreaking move that makes her the highest paid actress in history and revolutionizes the entertainment industry. A true love letter to Marilyn, and a joyous portrait of a city bursting with life and art, Marilyn in Manhattan is a beautifully written, lively look at two American treasures: New York and Marilyn Monroe, and sheds new light on one of our most enduring icons.

Two and Two: McSorley's, My Dad, and Me


Rafe Bartholomew - 2017
    This is the landmark watering hole where Abraham Lincoln campaigned and Boss Tweed kicked back with the Tammany Hall machine. Where a pair of Houdini's handcuffs found their final resting place. And where soldiers left behind wishbones before departing for the First World War, never to return and collect them. Many of the bar's traditions remain intact, from the newspaper-covered walls to the plates of cheese and raw onions, the sawdust-strewn floors to the tall-tales told by its bartenders.But in addition to the bar's rich history, McSorley's is home to a deeply personal story about two men: Rafe Bartholomew, the writer who grew up in the landmark pub, and his father, Geoffrey "Bart" Bartholomew, a career bartender who has been working the taps for forty-five years.On weekends, Rafe Bartholomew would tag along for the early hours of his dad's shift, polishing brass doorknobs, watching over the bar cats, and handling other odd jobs until he grew old enough to join Bart behind the bar. McSorley's was a place of bizarre rituals, bawdy humor, and tasks as unique as the bar itself: protecting the decades-old dust that had gathered on treasured artifacts; shot-putting thirty-pound grease traps into high-walled Dumpsters; and trying to keep McSorley's open through the worst of Hurricane Sandy. But for Rafe, the bar means home. It's the place where he and his father have worked side by side, serving light and dark ale, always in pairs, the way it's always been done. Where they've celebrated victories, like the publication of his father's first book of poetry, and coped with misfortune, like the death of Rafe's mother. Where Rafe learned to be part of something bigger than himself and also how to be his own man.By turns touching, crude, and wildly funny, Rafe's story reveals universal truths about family, loss, and the bursting history of one of New York's most beloved institutions.

The Pope's Suicide


Steve Richer - 2017
     It isn't old age or a disease. He is found hanging in a bathroom while on an official visit to New York City. All signs point to a suicide and NYPD detective Donnie Beecher is put in charge of the investigation. It's the last assignment he wants. Because of his tragic past, he has no love for the Catholic Church. His marriage is falling apart, his teenage daughter is getting mixed up with the bad crowd. But soon clues start piling up. What if the Pope was assassinated? In Vatican City, young and idealistic Father O'Dwyer is beginning to wonder the same thing. Why are the cardinals around him so secretive? Why do they keep whispering about the mysterious San Marino letter? With his superiors breathing down his neck for a swift resolution, Beecher teams up with Officer Emma Aldridge, a former nun. Failure means not just an end to his career but a shift of power in international relations which could lead to war. Together, they will need to find out what really happened to the Pope. ...and try not to get killed in the process.

Power Struggle


Paige Fieldsted - 2017
    These days I only want hot sex. Jameson Beck is experienced, confident, and sinfully sexy— a perfect distraction from the murder trial taking over my life. But now I’m expected to work with him every day and ignore his never-ending advances? Yeah, right. I can’t keep my distance, not even with Jameson threatening everything I’ve worked for over the past ten years. And he's making me want the very thing I'd sworn off: love. Olivia Roberts, the blonde bombshell. She’s hot, feisty, and isn’t afraid to talk dirty. She fights me at every turn, but that only makes me want her more. Too bad she’s the one person standing between me and the partnership I’d do anything to get. Olivia makes me question it all. I thought my career was enough. I thought I didn’t need love. But now I don’t think I can live without it. Or her.

Brides Of Wichita Falls: Ruby, Grace, Lily, Charity, Hannah, Rebecca, Sophie, Ellie Sweet Historical Western Romance: Mail Order Brides Boxed Set Volumes 1-8


Cyndi Raye - 2017
     Wichita Falls is set in the 1800's after the railroad was finished. Join match-maker Miss Addie as she finds brides for the hard-working men as they build a promising western town like no other! Come along and help to build this historical town with inspirational, clean & wholesome stories of mail order brides and their surprising adventures. Old West romance

Ghosts of St. Vincent's


Tom Eubanks - 2017
    Vincent’s Hospital was sold in 2010 to create multi-million-dollar homes. In its 161 years of existence, the legendary institution treated survivors of the Titanic, tended to victims of both World Trade Center attacks, and served as Ground Zero of the AIDS Crisis.With honesty, humor, and flights of historical fancy, GHOSTS OF ST. VINCENT’S tells the hospital’s story through the eyes of a man who spent a winter on its 7th floor AIDS ward and survived just in time for the drug “cocktail” that saved so many lives.Featuring appearances by indomitable icons, from poet Edna St. Vincent Millay to director Sidney Lumet to photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, with appearances by Ed Koch and The Ramones, among others, GHOSTS OF ST. VINCENT’S explores coming out and coming back from the dead, gender fluidity and gentrification, the price of forgiveness, the cost of survival, and the ephemeral nature of New York City.

Punk Avenue: Inside the New York City Underground, 1972-1982


Phil Marcade - 2017
    From backrooms of Max’s and CBGB’s to the Tropicana Hotel in Los Angeles and back, Punk Avenue is a tour de force of stories from someone at the heart of the era. With brilliant, often hilarious prose, Marcade relays first-hand tales about spending a Provincetown summer with photographer Nan Goldin and actor-writer Cookie Mueller, having the Ramones play their very first gig at his party, working with Blondie’s Debbie Harry on French lyrics for her songs, enjoying Thanksgiving with Johnny Thunders’ mother, and starting the beloved NYC punk-blues band The Senders. Along the way, he smokes a joint with Bob Marley, falls down a mountain, gets attacked by Nancy Spungen’s junkie cat, become a junkie himself, adopts a dog who eats his pot, opens for The Clash at Bond’s Casino, opens a store named Rebop on Seventh Avenue, throws up in some girl’s mouth, talks about vacuum cleaners with Sid Vicious, lives thru the Blackout of 1977, gets glue in his eye, gets mugged at knife point, plays drums with Johnny Thunders’ band Gang War, sets some guy’s attache-case on fire, listens to pre-famous Madonna singing in the rehearsal studio next to his, gets mugged at gun point, O.D.s on heroin, gets saved by a gentle giant named Bill, lives at night… Never sleeps…  A very funny book.

The Wine Lover's Daughter: A Memoir


Anne Fadiman - 2017
    A renowned literary critic, editor, and radio host, Clifton was born in Brooklyn, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants, and spent the rest of his life trying to get away from it.An appreciation of wine along with a plummy upper-crust accent, expensive suits, and an encyclopedic knowledge of Western literature was an essential element of Clifton s escape from lower-middle-class Brooklyn to swanky Manhattan. The Wine Lover's Daughter traces the arc of a man's infatuation, from the glass of cheap Graves he drank in 1927 in a Parisian department store; to the Chateau Lafite Rothschild 1904 he drank to celebrate his eightieth birthday, when he and the bottle were exactly the same age; to the wines that sustained him during the last years of his life, when he was blind but still buoyed, as he had always been, by hedonism.Wine is the spine of this touching memoir; the life and character of Fadiman s father, along with her relationship with him and her own less ardent relationship with wine, are the flesh. A poignant and thoughtful exploration of love, ambition, class, family, and the pleasures of the palate, The Wine Lover's Daughter is a splendid return to form by one of our finest essayists.

The Subway Stops at Bryant Park


N. West Moss - 2017
    A remarkable talent.”—Michael Knight, The Typist“Moss’s lyrical collection of stories is beautifully held together by deft observations of city life combined with great sensitivity to the humanity beating beneath it all.”—Brad Gooch, Flannery“Incredibly well-conceived and written.”—Patrick Samway, Walker Percy, a Life“Exquisitely written and quietly powerful…an unforgettable cast of characters, each with a unique and compelling narrative, who are inextricably linked to Bryant Park—safe haven against the secrets, disillusionments, fears, and losses engulfing their lives.”—Patrick Perry, executive editor, The Saturday Evening Post“Luminous stories…for their deep compassion, their concern for human struggles, their reverence for work and love and fortitude, and their delight in everyday human generosity. This is the kind of debut we need.”—David Ebenbach, Into the WildernessBryant Park becomes a microcosm of humanity and an elegy for a lost New York. From the doorman of 40 years to the woman obsessed with receipts; the man who sweeps the park, the tourists, the homeless; life with its pathos and raucous beauty shines in these characters, who all delight in the park’s tiny world of laughter and music.N. West Moss’s work has appeared in The New York Times, Salon, The Saturday Evening Post, and elsewhere. Writing awards include the 2015 Great American Fiction Contest from The Saturday Evening Post and two Faulkner-Wisdom gold medals. West teaches creative writing at William Paterson University in New Jersey.

Signs of Hope: Messages from Subway Therapy


Matthew "Levee" Chavez - 2017
    He brought a table and chairs to subway platforms and spoke with anyone keen on conversing. A practiced listener and secret keeper for commuters, Chavez showed up in the subway a day after the presidential election with stacks of brightly colored sticky notes. "Express yourself," he told passersby. The response was electric.As the colorful squares spread along the tiled wall, a vast mosaic of personal messages took shape, beautiful to behold, rich with personality, cathartic and consoling. Calling himself "Levee"--one who supports the city's emotional tide--Chavez turned a communal underground maze into an ever-changing, ever-growing art space known as Subway Therapy. Thousands have picked up the mantle to create Subway Therapy walls in cities across the nation, including San Francisco, Oakland, Seattle, Boston, and Washington, D.C.Capturing the feelings leaping from the wonderfully diverse 3-x-3-inch notes and weaving in quotes from Chavez and participants about the project, Signs of Hope's intimate reflections, humorous musings, fond remembrances, and fierce calls to action reach out with unencumbered love to one another and to us. Individually, these "posts" bravely bring the personal and the momentary into the open. Together, they show us a vision of inclusivity, communication, and hope.

New York Christmas: Recipes and stories


Lisa Nieschlag - 2017
    This book features 50 recipes that contain that spirit, including Blueberry Brownies, Maple Glazed Ham, and an unforgettable cheesecake, as well as a host of lovely Christmas stories from the Big Apple to enjoy over apple cider.

All the Agents and Saints: Dispatches from the U.S. Borderlands


Stephanie Elizondo Griest - 2017
    Ravaged by drug wars and barricaded by an eighteen-foot steel wall, her ancestral land had become the nation’s foremost crossing ground for undocumented workers, many of whom perished along the way. The frequency of these tragedies seemed like a terrible coincidence, before Elizondo Griest moved to the New York / Canada borderlands. Once she began to meet Mohawks from the Akwesasne Nation, however, she recognized striking parallels to life on the southern border. Having lost their land through devious treaties, their mother tongues at English-only schools, and their traditional occupations through capitalist ventures, Tejanos and Mohawks alike struggle under the legacy of colonialism. Toxic industries surround their neighborhoods while the U.S. Border Patrol militarizes them. Combating these forces are legions of artists and activists devoted to preserving their indigenous cultures. Complex belief systems, meanwhile, conjure miracles. In All the Agents and Saints, Elizondo Griest weaves seven years of stories into a meditation on the existential impact of international borderlines by illuminating the spaces in between and the people who live there.

Dorothy Day; The World Will Be Saved By Beauty: An Intimate Portrait of Dorothy Day


Kate Hennessy - 2017
    Her life has been revealed through her own writings as well as the work of historians, theologians, and academics. What has been missing until now is a more personal account from the point of view of someone who knew her well. Dorothy Day: The World Will Be Saved by Beauty is a frank and reflective, heartfelt and humorous portrayal as written by her granddaughter, Kate Hennessy. Dorothy Day: The World Will Be Saved by Beauty challenges ideas of plaster saints and of saintly women. Day is an unusual candidate for sainthood. Before her conversion, she lived what she called a “disorderly life,” during which she had an abortion and then gave birth to a child out of wedlock. After her conversion, she was both an obedient servant and a rigorous challenger of the Church. She was a prolific writer whose books are still in print and widely read. While tenderly rendered, this account will show her as driven to do good but dogmatic, loving but judgmental, in particular with regards to her only daughter, Tamar. She was also full of humor and laughter, and could light up any room she entered. An undisputed radical heroine, called “a saint for the occupy era” by The New Yorker, Day’s story unfolds against a backdrop of New York City from the 1910s to the 1980s and world events spanning from World War I to Vietnam. This thoroughly researched and intimate biography provides a valuable and nuanced portrait of an undersung and provocative American woman.

Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk


Kathleen Rooney - 2017
    While she strolls, Lillian recalls a long and eventful life that included a brief reign as the highest-paid advertising woman in America—a career cut short by marriage, motherhood, divorce, and a breakdown.A love letter to city life—however shiny or sleazy—Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney paints a portrait of a remarkable woman across the canvas of a changing America: from the Jazz Age to the onset of the AIDS epidemic; the Great Depression to the birth of hip-hop.

What the Dead Leave Behind


Rosemary Simpson - 2017
    . . As the Great Blizzard of 1888 cripples the vast machinery that is New York City, heiress Prudence MacKenzie sits anxiously within her palatial Fifth Avenue home waiting for her fiance s safe return. But the fearsome storm rages through the night. With daylight, more than two hundred people are found to have perished in the icy winds and treacherous snowdrifts. Among them is Prudence s fiance his body frozen, his head crushed by a heavy branch, his fingers clutching a single playing card, the ace of spades . . . Close on the heels of her father s untimely demise, Prudence is convinced Charles s death was no accident. The ace of spades was a code he shared with his school friend, Geoffrey Hunter, a former Pinkerton agent and attorney from the South and a former Pinkerton agent. Wary of sinister forces closing in on her, Prudence turns to Geoffrey as her only hope in solving a murder not all believe in and to help protect her inheritance from a stepmother who seems more interested in the family fortune than Prudence s wellbeing . . . Filled with richly colorful characters, fascinating historical details, and thrilling moments of suspense, What the Dead Leave Behind is an exquisitely crafted mystery for the ages.

Money, Murder, and Dominick Dunne: A Life in Several Acts


Robert Hofler - 2017
    As a television and film producer in the 1950s–1970s, hobnobbing with Humphrey Bogart and Natalie Wood, he found success and crushing failure in a pitiless Hollywood. As a Vanity Fair journalist covering the lives of the rich and powerful, he mesmerized readers with his detailed coverage of spectacular murder cases—O.J. Simpson, the Menendez brothers, Michael Skakel, Phil Spector, and Claus von Bülow. He had his own television show, Dominick Dunne's Power, Privilege, and Justic. His five best-selling novels, including The Two Mrs. Grenvilles, People Like Us, and An Inconvenient Woman, were inspired by real lives and scandals. The brother of John Gregory Dunne and brother-in-law of Joan Didion, he was a friend and confidante of many literary luminaries. Dunne also had the ear of some of the world's most famous women, among them Princess Diana, Nancy Reagan, Liz Smith, Barbara Walters, and Elizabeth Taylor.Dunne admitted to inventing himself, and it was that public persona he wrote about in his own memoir, The Way We Lived Then. Left out of that account, but brought to light here, were his intense rivalry with his brother John Gregory, the gay affairs and relationships he had throughout his marriage and beyond, and his fights with editors at Vanity Fair. Robert Hofler also reveals the painful rift in the family after the murder of Dominick's daughter, Dominique—compounded by his coverage of her killer's trial, which launched his career as a reporter.

Worn in New York: 68 Sartorial Memoirs of the City


Emily Spivack - 2017
    The tank top Andy Warhol’s assistant wore to one of their nightclub outings together. The jacket a taxi driver put on to feel safe as he worked the night shift.  —These and over sixty other clothing-inspired narratives make up Worn in New York, the latest volume from New York Times bestselling author Emily Spivack. In these first-person accounts, contributors in and out of the public eye share surprising, personal, wild, poignant, and funny stories behind a piece of clothing that reminds them of a significant moment of their New York lives. Worn in New York offers a contemporary cultural history of the city—its changing identity, temper, and tone, and its irrepressible vitality—by paying tribute to these well-loved clothes and the people who wore them. Includes contributions from:Adam Horovitz Amy Heckerling Andre Royo Anna Sui Aubrey Plaza Catherine Opie Coco Rocha Dick Cavett Eileen Myles Fab 5 Freddy Gay Talese Genesis Breyer P-Orridge JD Samson Jenji Kohan Jenna Lyons Kyp Malone Lena Dunham Pee Wee Kirkland Thelma Golden Timothy Greenfield-Sanders

How to Murder Your Life


Cat Marnell - 2017
    After a privileged yet emotionally-starved childhood in Washington, she became hooked on ADHD medication provided by her psychiatrist father. This led to a dependence on Xanax and other prescription drugs at boarding school, and she experimented with cocaine, ecstasy… whatever came her way. By 26 she was a talented ‘doctor shopper’ who manipulated Upper East Side psychiatrists into giving her never-ending prescriptions; her life had become a twisted merry-go-round of parties and pills at night, and trying to hold down a high profile job at Condé Naste during the day.With a complete lack of self-pity and an honesty that is almost painful, Cat describes the crazed euphoria, terrifying comedowns and the horrendous guilt she feels lying to those who try to help her. Writing in a voice that is utterly magnetic – prompting comparisons to Brett Easton Ellis and Charles Bukowski – she captures something essential both about her generation and our times. Profoundly divisive and controversial, How to Murder Your Life is a unforgettable, charged account of a young female addict, so close to throwing her entire life away.

Stranded in the Jungle: Jerry Nolan's Wild Ride: A Tale of Drugs, Fashion, the New York Dolls and Punk Rock


Curt Weiss - 2017
    In spite of numerous opportunities for success, he became a tragedy. Jerry Nolan came out of New York in the 1970s as part of two of the most influential and infamous bands of the time, the proto-punk New York Dolls and Johnny Thunders' Heartbreakers. Jerry had what it took to be a star, but his battles with heroin continually stymied his career and ultimately ended his life. Despite this, he is remembered as a cross between a Martin Scorsese film character and jazz legend Gene Krupa: a stylish, urban, wisecracking, trendsetting raconteur, who was also a powerhouse drummer. Stranded in the Jungle: Jerry Nolan's Wild Ride - A Tale of Drugs, Fashion, the New York Dolls, and Punk Rock tells Jerry's story through extensive research and interviews with those closest to him: bandmates, friends, lovers, and family members, including new interviews with members of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame bands the Sex Pistols, the Ramones, Talking Heads, and Blondie. It gives firsthand accounts of not only Jerry's life and struggles but the earliest history of punk rock in both New York and London, highlighting his notorious and incendiary musical partner, Johnny Thunders.

Carving Out A Path


Lorraine Bartlett - 2017
    Artisans Alley takes center stage in those books, but the merchants--and their businesses--are just as intriguing. They all have stories to tell ... and that's what the Life on Victoria Square companion series is all about.       So settle back and really get to know the merchants. Learn about their lives, and how life on Victoria Square affects them. It might just make a profound impression on you, too! SPOILER ALERT:  These stories take place AFTER the 4th novel, DEAD, BATH and BEYOND.)CARVING OUT A PATH:  A young shoplifter not only swipes a couple of hand-carved figurines from Ray Davenport, owner of Victoria Square's Wood U gift shop, but barrels into and injures Katie Bonner, manager of Artisans Alley. Upon his escape, the police are called, but before the ink is dry on the report, the boy's grandmother drags the would-be thief back to return the purloined items. She's got an agenda and great expectations. Can Ray come through in a pinch?

Lowly


Alan Felsenthal - 2017
    LOWLY is part invocation, part invitation. The poems in this debut collection consider death, rebirth, and love, while exploring the symbols that make life bearable. Here, ancient mythology and philosophy are examined through contemporary situations, brought forth by a voice that oscillates between humorous and plaintive tones "I invent stories. Out of other stories. I can only repeat what I have heard. // A scruple is the enemy of a moment." LOWLY is a restorative work with rhythmic lines that will resonate with the reader long after the book is closed."

Vermin 2.0: Hunger Pains


Lee Gabel - 2017
    When super-sized vermin turn up in his apartment, his phobia pushes him over the edge. But it isn’t one or two rats. A hybrid colony – genetically superior, strong, and super intelligent – has moved into the basement... and living flesh is on the menu.Pets and tenants disappear, leaving behind a wake of carnage Sam is powerless to stop. Now, with his estranged son Bradley dumped on his doorstep, Sam must switch into protection mode – if he can.Faced with impossible odds, Sam hires Bertha O’Connor from Detest-A-Pest Exterminators Inc. She runs the only outfit brave enough – or crazy enough – to take the job. O’Connor and her crew need backup and drag Sam and Bradley along for the battle. But this horde of super-rats may be smarter than anyone had bargained for...

NY Is for New York


Paul Thurlby - 2017
    The concrete jungle we call New York has never been more spectacular!P.S. If you look carefully, you'll notice an animal on every spread, exploring the city sights with you!

Lost and Found in Harlem: A Ross Agency Mystery


Delia C. Pitts - 2017
    What’s a jobless, homeless private detective to do? He’s feeling more than a little lost. Shelba Rook’s “home” was in fact a room in a Harlem brothel. Not only does the catastrophic fire at Auberge Rouge take the few items he could call his earthly possessions; it ends up killing an innocent woman. As Rook struggles to find a job, his thoughts keep returning to the woman at the Auberge Rouge. Who was she? Did someone set the fire intending to kill her? As Rook ponders these mysteries, he stumbles on one of Harlem’s best-kept secrets—the Ross Agency. The detective agency, run by the magnanimous Norment Ross and his far more practical daughter, Sabrina, takes tiny neighborhood cases the police are too busy to solve. They’re looking for a new agent, and Rook knows a job is a job. Rook may look down on the types of cases Norment and Brina take, but the two will prove to be invaluable allies as he searches for an arsonist and a murderer. From tiny cases to huge investigations, the Ross Agency is ready for anything!

Rettie and the Ragamuffin Parade: A Thanksgiving Story


Trinka Hakes Noble - 2017
    The pandemic ravaged families, leaving thousands of children as orphans. But in the tenement apartments of New York City's Lower East Side, one young girl is determined to keep her family safe. While her mother is sick with consumption, nine-year-old Loretta (Rettie) Stanowski does all the cleaning, washing, shopping, and cooking for her family. To earn money, she washes rags for the rag picker and cleans the halls and stairways of their apartment building. But Rettie knows the best way to get even more money is to participate in the Ragamuffin Parade that marches down Broadway Avenue on Thanksgiving morning. With the influenza outbreak, quarantines are ordered and large gatherings are banned. Will the parade be cancelled?

The Best Polish Restaurant in Buffalo


William Kowalski - 2017
    A masterful blend of historical and modern fiction by a best-selling, award-winning author, THE BEST POLISH RESTAURANT IN BUFFALO chronicles a century of life in America for one humble Polish farm girl and three generations of her descendants in Buffalo, New York.

New York in the Snow


Vivienne Gucwa - 2017
    But every once in a while it changes completely. At first a few flakes will fall, then more, and more. Hardened New Yorkers rush for warmth and, while they're absent, an amazing, glistening almost deserted winter wonderland momentarily appears.It is these moments that phenomenally popular photo-blogger Vivienne Gucwa lives for. She has been documenting them for more than a decade, rushing out to capture the city in snow. Of all the photos that have made her the celebrated, award-winning success that she is, it is these that are most loved, both online and in print. Here they are offered in a sumptiousvolume to be enjoyed by anyone who loves New York, whether from afar, as an occasional visitor, or if you've never left the Big Apple.

Wolf Season


Helen Benedict - 2017
    Rin, an Iraq War veteran, tries to protect her blind daughter and the three wolves under her care. Naema, a widowed doctor who fled Iraq with her wounded son, faces life-threatening injuries and confusion about her feelings for Louis, a veteran and widower harboring his own secrets and guilt. Beth, who is raising a troubled son, waits out her marine husband's deployment in Afghanistan, equally afraid of him coming home and of him never returning at all. As they struggle to maintain their humanity and find hope, their war-torn lives collide in a way that will affect their entire community.

Magnetic City: A Walking Companion to New York


Justin Davidson - 2017
    Now, his extensive, inspiring knowledge will be available to a wide audience. An insider's guide to the architecture and planning of New York that includes maps, photographs, and original insights from the men and women who built the city and lived in it--its designers, visionaries, artists, writers--Magnetic City offers first-time visitors and lifelong residents a new way to see New York.Includes walking tours throughout Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx - the Financial District - the World Trade Center - the Seaport and the Brooklyn waterfront - Chelsea and the High Line - 42nd Street - the Upper West Side - the South Bronx and Sugar HillPraise for Magnetic City"An intimate, seductive guidebook."--The New York Times"An enthralling new book makes clear that I'm not alone in my home-town infatuation . . . lends nuance, texture and historical perspective to my impression that New York City has never been so appealing or life-affirming as it is today."--New York Post"[Davidson] combines a keen intelligence, experience, observational skills, expertise (especially but not solely architectural), and an elegant writing style to make this beautifully produced book indispensable."--Booklist (starred review)"A street-level celebration of New York City in all 'its perpetual complexity and contradiction' . . . a worthy companion to Alfred Kazin's A Walker in the City and the American Institute of Architects guides to the architecture of New York as well as a treat for fans of the metropolis."--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)"Justin Davidson does more than direct our feet to New York's hidden monuments. He explains the structure of the city with a clarity that would be bracing even for a Gotham habitue, but more than that, he finds the meaning in every building and byway."--Andrew Solomon, National Book Award-winning author of Far from the Tree"Mr. Davidson's exceptional knowledge of our beloved city is inspiring. Magnetic City is now my official chaperone."--Patti LuPone"Justin Davidson has a mind alive to every signal, and his brilliant prose style transmits that electricity in black-and-white type. He is thus born to the task of capturing the chaotic splendor of New York City on the page."--Alex Ross, author of Listen to This"Justin Davidson's beautiful tours of New York City invoke and redouble our love of the metropolis."--Jerry Saltz, senior art critic, New York

Saved at the Seawall: Stories from the September 11 Boat Lift


Jessica DuLong - 2017
    Jessica DuLong reveals the dramatic story of how the New York Harbor maritime community heroically delivered stranded commuters, residents, and visitors out of harm's way. Even before the US Coast Guard called for all available boats, tugs, ferries, dinner boats, and other vessels had sped to the rescue from points all across New York Harbor. In less than nine hours, captains and crews transported nearly half a million people from Manhattan.Anchored in eyewitness accounts and written by a mariner who served at Ground Zero, Saved at the Seawall weaves together the personal stories of people rescued that day with those of the mariners who saved them. DuLong describes the inner workings of New York Harbor and reveals the collaborative power of its close-knit community. Her chronicle of those crucial hours, when hundreds of thousands of lives were at risk, highlights how resourcefulness and basic human goodness triumphed over turmoil on one of America's darkest days.

The Shores of Our Souls


Kathryn Brown Ramsperger - 2017
    official fleeing family obligations in 1980s war-torn Lebanon meets Dianna, escaping her rural Southern roots to become a researcher at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Will their love be enough in this war-torn, conflict-weary world? Ramsperger's debut novel gives an entirely new perspective on the controversial conflicts in our hearts and in our history.

Greater than Ever: New York's Big Comeback


Daniel Doctoroff - 2017
    Deputy Mayor Daniel L. Doctoroff led New York's dramatic and unexpected economic resurgence after the September 11 terrorist attacks. With Mayor Michael Bloomberg, he developed a remarkably ambitious five-borough economic development plan to not only recover from the attacks but to completely transform New York's economy: New neighborhoods were created. Hundreds of thousands of jobs were generated. The largest municipal affordable housing plan in American history was completed. Ground Zero was rebuilt. And New York adopted a pathbreaking sustainability plan. None of this was straightforward. New York has some of the most entrenched financial and political interests anywhere, and it has a population that is quick to let its public officials know exactly what is on its mind. Doctoroff's plans for a New York Olympic Games and a stadium on the West Side crashed and burned, but phoenix-like he engineered the transformation of the city anyway.Greater than Ever is a bracing adventure--when can-do attitude dove headlong into New York's unique realpolitik of "fuggedaboutit" -- during which the city was changed for the better.

Keys to the City


Lisa Schroeder - 2017
    Luckily, Lindy has the help of a new friend, a happy dog, and a special journal, as she hits the streets of New York City to unlock her secret talents!

The Others


Matthew Rohrer - 2017
    In a Russian-doll of fictional episodes, we follow a midlevel publishing assistant over the course of a day as he encounters ghost stories, science fiction adventures, Victorian hashish eating, and robot bigfoots. Rohrer mesmerizes with wildly imaginative tales and resonant verse in this compelling love letter to storytelling.this nightthey all seemed asleepfor a while the stark shadowsheld meonly my mind movedwildly behind my eyesuntil I heard a tinysong coming from the driversong of a bandit’s brokenheart, song of his betrayalI slept and dreamed I was awakeMatthew Rohrer is the author of Surrounded by Friends (Wave Books, 2015), Destroyer and Preserver (Wave Books, 2011), A Plate of Chicken (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2009), Rise Up (Wave Books, 2007) and A Green Light (Verse Press, 2004), which was shortlisted for the 2005 Griffin Poetry Prize. He is also the author of Satellite (Verse Press, 2001), and co-author, with Joshua Beckman, of Nice Hat. Thanks. (Verse Press, 2002), and the audio CD Adventures While Preaching the Gospel of Beauty. He has appeared on NPR’s All Things Considered and The Next Big Thing. His first book, A Hummock in the Malookas was selected for the National Poetry Series by Mary Oliver in 1994. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, and teaches at NYU.

The Playground


Shannon Heuston - 2017
    Then sixth grade happened. Suddenly finding herself a favorite target of bullies, Rachel endures an endless year of escalating abuse. Adults turn a blind eye, or worse, blame her. At the end of that year, she vows to forget what happened at George Washington Elementary and move on with her life. Unfortunately, this is easier said than done, as she finds herself caught in a life long trap, continuously seeking validation from abusive men who remind her of her long gone bullies. The Playground illustrates the lasting trauma caused by childhood bullying, demonstrating how it continues to adversely affect the life of its victims many years after the bullies have vanished. Note: This book contains some sexually explicit scenes. It is intended for mature audiences only.

Florine Stettheimer: Painting Poetry


Stephen Brown - 2017
    Stettheimer collaborated with Gertrude Stein and Virgil Thomson, befriended (and took French lessons from) Marcel Duchamp, and was a member of Alfred Stieglitz and Georgia O’Keeffe’s artistic and intellectual circle. Beautifully illustrated with 150 color images, including the majority of the artist’s extant paintings, as well as drawings, theater designs, and ephemera, this volume also highlights Stettheimer’s poetry and gives her a long overdue critical reassessment.    The essays published here—as well as a roundtable discussion by seven leading contemporary female artists—overturn the traditional perception of Stettheimer as an artist of mere novelties.  Her work is linked not only to American modernism and the New York bohemian scene before World War II but also to a range of art practices active today. Flamboyant and epicurean, she was an astute documenter of New York and parodist of her social milieu; her highly decorative scenes borrowed from Surrealism and contributed to the beginnings of a feminist aesthetic.

Nuclear Family: A Tragicomic Novel in Letters


Susanna Fogel - 2017
    Told entirely in letters to a heroine we never meet, we get to know the Fellers through their check-ins with Julie: their thank-you notes, letters of condolence, family gossip, and good old-fashioned familial passive-aggression.Together, their missives - some sardonic, others absurd, others heartbreaking - weave a tapestry of a very modern family trying (and often failing) to show one another they care.The titular "Nuclear Family" includes, among many others:A narcissistic former-child-prodigy father who has taken up haiku writing in his old age and his new wife, a traditional Chinese woman whose attempts to help her stepdaughter find a man include FedExing her silk gowns from Filene's Basement.Their six-year-old son, Stuart, whose favorite condiment is truffle oil and who wears suits to bed.Julie's mother, a psychologist who never remarried but may be in love with her arrogant Rabbi and overshares about everything, including the threesome she had with Dutch grad students in 1972.

The Happy End / All Welcome


Mónica de la Torre - 2017
    De la Torre builds, fastens, cuts, pastes, performs, and extrudes a variety of poems to suit this most serious situation comedy: poems as job interviews, poems as postings, poems as questionnaires, reports, speeches, lyrical rants... At its heart, this playful bricolage explores the norms of the workplace and its notions of competence, while tackling office design, performativity, and skilled vs. deskilled creative labor.

Chief Engineer: Washington Roebling, The Man Who Built the Brooklyn Bridge


Erica Wagner - 2017
    --Washington RoeblingHis father conceived of the Brooklyn Bridge, but after John Roebling's sudden death, Washington Roebling built what has become one of American's most iconic structures--as much a part of New York as the Statue of Liberty or the Empire State Building. Yet, as recognizable as the bridge is, its builder is too often forgotten--and his life is of interest far beyond his chosen field. It is the story of immigrants, of the frontier, of the greatest crisis in American history, and of the making of the modern world.Forty years after the publication of The Great Bridge, David McCullough's classic chronicle of how the East River was spanned, Erica Wagner has written a fascinating biography of one of America's most distinguished engineers, a man whose long life was a model of courage in the face of extraordinary adversity. Chief Engineer is enriched by Roebling's own eloquent voice, unveiled in his recently-discovered memoir that was previously thought lost to history.The memoir reveals that his father, John-a renowned engineer who made his life in America after humble beginnings in Germany-was a tyrannical presence in Washington's life, so his own adoption of that career was hard won. A young man when the Civil War broke out, Washington joined the Union Army, building bridges that carried soldiers across rivers and seeing action in many pivotal battles, from Antietam to Gettysburg-aspects of his life never before fully brought to light. Safely returned, he married the remarkable Emily Warren Roebling, who would play a crucial role in the construction of the unprecedented Brooklyn Bridge. It would be Washington Roebling's grandest achievement-but by no means the only one.Elegantly written with a compelling narrative sweep, Chief Engineer will introduce Washington Roebling and his era to a new generation of readers.

The Harlem Charade


Natasha Anastasia Tarpley - 2017
    SHADOW. FUGITIVE.Harlem is home to all kinds of kids. Jin sees life passing her by from the window of her family's bodega. Alex wants to help the needy one shelter at a time, but can't tell anyone who she really is. Elvin's living on Harlem's cold, lonely streets, surviving on his own after his grandfather was mysteriously attacked.When these three strangers join forces to find out what happened to Elvin's grandfather, their digging leads them to an enigmatic artist whose missing masterpieces are worth a fortune-one that might save the neighborhood from development by an ambitious politician who wants to turn it into Harlem World, a ludicrous historic theme park. But if they don't find the paintings soon, nothing in their beloved neighborhood will ever be the same... In this remarkable tale of daring and danger, debut novelist Natasha Tarpley explores the way a community defines itself, the power of art to show truth, and what it really means to be home.

First Time Ever


Peggy Seeger - 2017
    Her father was the noted musicologist Charles Seeger; her mother, the modernist composer Ruth Crawford; and her brother Pete, the celebrated writer of protest songs.After studying at Radcliffe College, in 1955 Peggy left to travel the world. It was in England that she met the man, some two decades older and with a wife and family, with whom she would share the next thirty-three years: the actor, playwright and songwriter Ewan MacColl. Together, Peggy and Ewan helped lay the foundations of the British folk revival, through the formative - and controversial - Critics Group and the landmark BBC Radio Ballads series. And as Ewan's muse, Peggy inspired one of the twentieth century's greatest love songs, The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.Peggy's life comprises art and passion, family and separation, tragedy, celebration and the unexpected - and irresistible - force of love. It would by any standards be an extraordinary story, but what elevates her account is the beauty of the writing: it is clear-eyed and playful, luminous and melodic, fearless, funny and always truthful, from the first word to the last.

A Place to Call Home: Tradition, Style, and Memory in the New American House


Gil Schafer III - 2017
    Essentially, Schafer believes a house is truly successful when the people who live there consider it home. It's this belief--and Schafer's rare ability to translate his clients' deeply personal visions of how they want to live into a physical home that reflects those dreams--that has established him as one of the most sought-after, highly-regarded architects of our time. In his new book, A Place to Call Home Schafer follows up his bestselling The Great American House, by pulling the curtain back on his distinctive approach, sharing his process (complete with unexpected, accessible ideas readers can work into their own projects) and taking readers on a detailed tour of seven beautifully realized houses in a range of styles located around the country--each in a unique place, and each with a character all its own. 250 lush, full color photographs of these seven houses and other never-before-seen projects, including exterior, interior, and landscape details, invite readers into Schafer's world of comfortable classicism. Opening with memories of the childhood homes and experiences that have shaped Schafer's own history, A Place to Call Home gives the reader the sense that for Schafer, architecture is not just a career but a way of life, a calling. He describes how the many varied houses of his youth were informed as much by their style as by their sense of place, and how these experiences of home informed his idea of classicism as a set of values that he applies to many different kinds of architecture in places as varied as the ones he grew up in. Because while Schafer is absolutely a classical architect, he is in fact a modern traditionalist, and A Place to Call Home showcases how he effortlessly interprets traditional principles for a multiplicity of architectural styles within contemporary ways of living.Sections in Part I include the delicate balance of modern and traditional aesthetics, the juxtaposition of fancy and simple, and the details that make each project special and livable. Schafer also delves into what he refers to as "the spaces in between," those often overlooked spaces like closets, mudrooms, and laundry rooms, explaining their underappreciated value in the broader context of a home. Part of Schafer's skill lies in the way he gives the minutiae of a project as much attention as the grand aesthetic gestures, and ultimately, it's this combination that brings his homes to life. Part II of the book is the story of seven houses and the places they inhabit--each with a completely different character and soul: a charming cottage completely rebuilt into a casual but gracious house for a young family in bucolic Mill Valley, California; a reconstructed historic 1930s Colonial house and gardens set in lush woodlands in Connecticut; a new, Adirondack camp-inspired house for an active family perched on the edge of Lake Placid with stunning views of nearby Whiteface Mountain; an elegant but family-friendly Fifth Avenue apartment with a panoramic view of Central Park; a new timber frame and stone barn situated to take advantage of the summer sun on a lovely, rambling property in New England; a new residence and outbuildings on a 6,000 acre hunting preserve in Georgia, inspired by the historic 1920s and 1930s hunting plantation houses in the region; and Schafer's own, deeply personal, newly-renovated and surprisingly modern house located just a few feet from the Atlantic Ocean in coastal Maine. In Schafer's hands, the stories of these houses are irresistibly readable. He guides the reader through each of the design decisions, sharing anecdotes about the process and fascinating historical background and contextual influences of the settings. Ultimately, the houses featured in A Place to Call Home are more than just beautiful buildings in beautiful places. In each of them, Schafer has created a dialogue between past and present, a personalized world that people can inhabit gracefully, in sync with their own notions of home. Because, as Schafer writes in the book, he designs houses "not for an architect's ego, but [for] the beauty of life, the joys of family, and, not least, a heartfelt celebration of place."

A World of Cities (Walker Studio imprint)


James Brown - 2017
    From Shanghai, Berlin, and Cairo to Seoul, Delhi, and Rome, explore each locale by way of bold illustrations and unlock a miscellany of intriguing facts. Did you know that Prague has the world's oldest still-working astronomical clock? Or that there are more museums in Mexico City than anywhere else in the world? In a follow-up to international bestseller A World of Information, printmaker James Brown has skillfully rendered each city in a stylistic nod to vintage travel posters, while incorporating historical and cultural facts for inquisitive minds to devour. Wander the distinctive cities of the world, all from the comfort of your favorite reading nook.

Blitt


Barry Blitt - 2017
    Barry Blitt's cartoons have been lampooning American politics and culture for decades. His iconic New Yorker covers are defining images for our times, earning him adoration from critics and fans and piles of hate mail from everyone else.This lavish full-color collection showcases more than a quarter century of Blitt's work: his wry and provocative New Yorker covers, from the Obama fist bump heard round the world, to George W. Bush's drowning cabinet, to the myriad (and counting) misadventures of Donald Trump; Blitt's long-running collaboration with Frank Rich on The New York Times op-ed page; and his work for Vanity Fair, Time, Entertainment Weekly, and others. Blitt also shares his private sketchbooks, drafts, and uproarious rejected illustrations, offering readers an illuminating view into his creative process.Featuring the author's hand-scrawled annotations and self-deprecating witticisms, more than one hundred never-before-seen sketches and drafts, and essays from Blitt's collaborators and peers, including Frank Rich, Francoise Mouly, and Steve Brodner, Blitt is a visual delight and a rollicking trip into the mind of an utterly original artist.

The Knish War on Rivington Street


Joanne Oppenheim - 2017
    Then the Tisch family opens a store across the street—selling square knishes—and Benny's papa worries. So he lowers his prices! But Mr. Tisch does too. As each knishery tries to outdo the other, Benny helps his papa realize there's room on Rivington Street for more than one knishery.

Bittersweet Symphony


Rebecca McNutt - 2017
    until the mysterious happenings took it over, including a mass murder of eleven people on Floor 17.The year is 2005. The tower has been neglected, cheapened by the horrors that happened on the land. Tony Barone, the executive of an advertising agency, plans to rent out Floor 17 at a discounted price, dragging with him his four employees and his ten-year-old daughter, Selena. Madson Tower has something sinister at work within its walls... and to face it, they'll all have to first face their own mangled pasts and bad memories.

The Two-Headed Serpent


Paul Fricker - 2017
    The heroes face the sinister conspiracies of an ancient race of monsters hell-bent on taking back a world that was once theirs. Working for Caduceus, a medical aid organization, the heroes will loot a lost temple in the forests of Bolivia, go head-to-head with the Mafia in New York City, face a deadly epidemic in the jungles of North Borneo, uncover the workings of a strange cult in dust-bowl-era Oklahoma, infiltrate enemy territory inside an awakening volcano in Iceland, face the horrors of hideous medical experiments in the Congo, race to control an ancient and powerful artifact on the streets of Calcutta, and ultimately travel to a lost continent for a desperate battle to save humanity from enslavement or annihilation!Packed with nine adrenalin-fuelled adventures, Keeper advice, gorgeous full-color maps and player handouts

The Best of Poetry in Motion: Celebrating Twenty-Five Years on Subways and Buses


Alice Quinn - 2017
    The poems are by an eclectic mix of writers, from Sappho and Sylvia Plath to W. H. Auden, Rita Dove, Seamus Heaney, Nikki Giovanni, Patrick Phillips, and Aracelis Girmay. Each of the 100 poems gathered here has, in sixteen lines or less, the power to enliven the quotidian, provide nourishment for the soul, and enchant even the youngest among us.

Seven Million: A Cop, a Priest, a Soldier for the IRA, and the Still-Unsolved Rochester Brink's Heist


Gary Craig - 2017
    Suspicion quickly fell on a retired Rochester cop working security for Brinks at the time--as well it might. Officer Tom O'Connor had been previously suspected of everything from robbery to murder to complicity with the IRA. One ex-IRA soldier in particular was indebted to O'Connor for smuggling him and his girlfriend into the United States, and when he was caught in New York City with $2 million in cash from the Brink's heist, prosecutors were certain they finally had enough to nail O'Connor. But they were wrong. In Seven Million, the reporter Gary Craig meticulously unwinds the long skein of leads, half-truths, false starts, and dead ends, taking us from the grim solitary pens of Northern Ireland's Long Kesh prison to the illegal poker rooms of Manhattan to the cold lakeshore on the Canadian border where the body parts began washing up. The story is populated by a colorful cast of characters, including cops and FBI agents, prison snitches, a radical priest of the Melkite order who ran a home for troubled teenagers on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and the IRA rebel who'd spent long years jailed in one of Northern Ireland's most brutal prisons and who was living underground in New York posing as a comics dealer. Finally, Craig investigates the strange, sad fate of Ronnie Gibbons, a down-and-out boxer and muscle-for-hire in illegal New York City card rooms, who was in on the early planning of the heist, and who disappeared one day in 1995 after an ill-advised trip to Rochester to see some men about getting what he felt he was owed. Instead, he got was what was coming to him. Seven Million is a meticulous re-creation of a complicated heist executed by a variegated and unsavory crew, and of its many repercussions. Some of the suspects are now dead, some went to jail; none of them are talking about the robbery or what really happened to Ronnie Gibbons. And the money? Only a fraction was recovered, meaning that most of the $7 million is still out there somewhere.

Sense of Occasion


Harold Prince - 2017
    In this fast-moving, candid, conversational, and entertaining memoir, Harold Prince, the most honored director in the history of the American theater (22 Tony Awards and counting), looks back over his 70-year (and counting!) career. Featuring original material from Contradictions: Notes on Twenty-Six Years in the Theatre, Prince provides a fresh, new perspective on his writing from the vantage point of today. Sense of Occasion gives an insider's recollection of the making of such landmark musicals as West Side Story, Fiddler on the Roof, Cabaret, Company, Follies, Sweeney Todd, Evita, and Phantom of the Opera, with Prince's perceptive comments about his mentor George Abbott and his many celebrated collaborators, including Leonard Bernstein, Jerome Robbins, Stephen Sondheim, John Kander, Boris Aronson, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Angela Lansbury, Elizabeth Taylor, Zero Mostel, Carol Burnett, and Joel Grey. As well as detailing his titanic successes that changed the form and content of the American musical theater, Prince even-handedly reflects on the shows that didn't work, most memorably and painfully Merrily We Roll Along . Throughout, he offers insights into the way business is conducted on Broadway, drawing sharp contrasts between past and present. This thoughtful, complete account of one of the most legendary and long-lived careers in theater history, written by the man who lived it, is an essential work of personal and professional recollection.

Dinner with DiMaggio: Memories of An American Hero


Rock Positano - 2017
    As told by Dr. Rock Positano, DiMaggio’s closest confidante in New York during the final years of his life, Dinner with DiMaggio is an intimate portrait of one of America’s most enduring heroes.This memoir of a decade-long friendship reveals the very private DiMaggio as he really was—sometimes demanding, sometimes big-hearted, always impeccable, loyal, and a true stand-up guy—while serving up illuminating stories and rare insights about the people in his life, including his teammates, Muhammad Ali, Sandy Koufax, Woody Allen, and more. In 1990, Dr. Rock Positano, the thirty-two-year-old foot and ankle specialist, was introduced to DiMaggio, the pair brought together by a career-ending heel spur injury. Though Dr. Positano was forty years younger, an unlikely friendship developed after the doctor successfully treated the baseball champ’s heel. At the start, Joe mentored Rock but came to rely on his young friend to show him a good time in New York, the town that made him a legend. In time, the famously reserved DiMaggio opened up to Dr. Positano and talked about his joys, his disappointments, and his sorrows as he reflected on his extraordinary life. The stories and experiences shared with Dr. Positano comprise an intimate portrait of one of the great stars of baseball and icon of the twentieth century.

The Improv: An Oral History of the Comedy Club that Revolutionized Stand-Up


Budd Friedman - 2017
    By providing a stage for them to riff on everything from race and religion to politics and sex, the Improv not only generated legions of comedy fans, it reinvented the art form by overturning the comedy traditions of the Borscht Belt.Budd Friedman’s legendary comedy club wasn’t the first to feature comedians, but it was the first of its kind to present comedians in a continuous format, and the first one to give unknown performers the opportunity to try out new material in front of a live audience—with the opportunity to be discovered by talent agents and late-night TV bookers.The Improv is an oral history of the most important comedy club in America, emceed by Budd Friedman himself, and featuring in-depth interviews with some of the most important names in comedy —including Jay Leno, Michael Keaton, Bill Maher, Larry David, Larry Miller, Jeff Garland, Jerry Stiller, Kevin Nealon, Gilbert Gottfried, Joe Piscopo, Tim Reid, Will Shriner, Roseanne Barr, Judd Apatow, Robert Klein, Richard Lewis, Leslie Moonves, Howie Mandel, Bill Engvall, Lily Tomlin, Rick Newman, Norman Lear, Billy Crystal, Alan Zweibel, Dick Cavett, Fred Willard, Jimmie Walker, David Steinberg, and many more!The Improv gives readers an exclusive, insider look at what really happened on stage and off-mike. From the revelry and the rivalry to the smash hits, near misses, love affairs, show biz politics, chemical experimentation, exhilarating rises, tragic downfalls and just plain fun, The Improv features true insiders’ accounts of a unique institution in America’s cultural history and the man who unofficially provided the laugh track for an entire nation.

It Happened at Two in the Morning


Alan Hruska - 2017
    murder of a business tycoon and finds himself held captive with the murdered man's arrogant daughter. The two escape and go on the run, trying to stay one step ahead of a hitwoman while Tom unravels the mystery behind the violence.Alan Hruska is the author of the novels Borrowed Time, Pardon the Ravens and Wrong Man Running, the writer of several plays, and the writer and director of multiple films, most recently The Man on Her Mind. A former trial lawyer, he is a New York native and a graduate of Yale University and Yale Law School.

Harlem Unbound


Chris Spivey - 2017
    African Americans flee the oppressive South for greener pastures, creating a new culture in Harlem. The music of Fats Waller and Duke Ellington pours out of the city’s windows and doorways, and the sidewalks are crowded with women in stylish skirts with silk stockings, and men in white gloves and Chesterfield coats. There’s a feeling of possibility in the air, like never before. But even in this land of promise, Harlem is a powder keg. While classes and cultures collide, Lovecraftian horrors lurk beneath the streets, creeping through dark alleys and hidden doorways into the Dreamlands. What Great Old One shattered our reality? Can you hold it together and keep the Mythos at bay for one more song?

Blue Money


Janet Capron - 2017
    So begins Blue Money—a mostly true account of life in New York's gritty downtown scene— and an intimate, no-holds-barred portrait of prostitution in the lawless era before AIDS and the War on Drugs. Janet quickly embraces "the Life" and despite a ferocious addiction to speed and semi-frequent hallucinations, she manages to keep things professional, whether she's dressed as a genie at the Sultan's Retreat or playing Eve in a live sex show. But her past is catching up to her, and the fast life can’t go on forever. The brothels and ginmills become increasingly hard to navigate as the streets turn violent and her own intense love affairs collapse. Janet Capron’s voice is bold, darkly comedic, and explicit, offering a complicated depiction of what it means to be truly liberated even in the face of her own radical descent into Avenue C penury and addiction.

Frommer's Easyguide to New York City 2018


Frommer's - 2017
    It has been the best-selling guide to the city for the last four years. Though she deals with luxury choices as well as bargains, she makes a special effort to overcome New York's reputation for stratospheric prices, ferreting out scores of moderately-priced options in lodgings, meals, attractions, entertainment and more. Like all Easy Guides, this annually-researched and popular best-seller is Quick to Read, Light to Carry--and colorfully written.Fully updated yearly, and printed in large, easy-to-read type, the book contains:Handy pull-out map and bulleted maps throughoutSelf-guided walking toursExact prices and subway directions for every listing in the bookOpinionated advice on what to see and what to skipInsightful discussions of New York's history and culture 16-page photo guide with vibrant photographs About Frommer's: There's a reason that Frommer's has been the most trusted name in travel for more than sixty years. Arthur Frommer created the best-selling guide series in 1957 to help American servicemen fulfill their dreams of travel in Europe, and since then, we have published thousands of titles became a household name helping millions upon millions of people realize their own dreams of seeing our planet. Travel is easy with Frommer's.

The Engagement Game: Why I Said "I Don't" to Marriage and "I Do" to Me


Joi-Marie McKenzie - 2017
    What she doesn't have is a husband.Ambitious, confident, and successful, Joi-Marie believes she has it all figured out. At 28 years old, she has an enviable job as a producer, covering entertainment in New York City. Her close-knit family is loving and encouraging, and her boyfriend, Adam, is as close to perfect as you can get -- except for the fact that he won't propose.Like most women, Joi-Marie has a checklist of what the perfect life looks like. She has the career, the friends, the apartment, and the lifestyle she has always wanted. But, when the husband she wants doesn't fall into place, she decides to play the game-theengagement game-in order to get Adam to drop down on one knee.After receiving a laundry list of advice on how to secure a proposal -- even researching how to cook "engagement chicken" -- Joi-Marie realizes that, in the process of trying to attain her perfect life, she has slowly become a person she doesn't recognize. With this discovery, she must make a decision: pretend to be someone she's not in order to have the life she envisioned. . .or have the courage to be herself and find her happily ever after in a way she never expected.

Her Leading Man


Maggie Dallen - 2017
    . . or is it?An avid knitter and manager of a yarn store in New York City, Caitlyn finds herself at loose ends after getting dumped by her long-time, live-in boyfriend. What better way to move on then to find a man like the old-school movie stars that she dreams about? But her first attempt at online dating is a disaster. Especially when the date turns out to be the new renter of a room in her apartment.Wall Street powerhouse Ben needs a place to crash while his condo is being renovated. Love is the last thing on his mind since he’s just getting over a breakup. But he can’t resist a challenge, especially one like his prim and proper new roommate. A do-gooder with a heart of gold, Caitlyn is spearheading a fight to save an old theater, while Ben is working for the developer trying to tear it down. Sparks will fly, but they may not be enough to ignite big-screen romance . . .

The Appalachian Trail: Hiking the People's Path


Bart Smith - 2017
    Now, eighty years after its completion, the A.T. remains America's premier hiking trail and is known as "the People's Path."This beautifully illustrated book officially published with the Appalachian Trail Conservancy highlights this legendary footpath with more than 170 spectacular contemporary images taken by the foremost hiking photographer in America. The photographs allow readers to experience the trail as if their boots were on the path--passing by the iconic white trail blazes, taking in the surrounding wilderness at scenic overlooks, meeting other hikers at lean-tos or shelters, and freezing at the sight of a black bear, moose, or other majestic wildlife. This book is perfect for anyone interested in conservation, outdoor recreation, or American history, or for those who dream of one day becoming thru-hikers themselves.

Storied Bars of New York: Where Literary Luminaries Go to Drink


Delia Cabe - 2017
    Every chapter profiles an influential bar and comes complete with photographs, a laundry list of the writerly clientele, a recipe for the establishment’s signature cocktail (as well as which authors were likely to order it), and a snapshot of its place in New York culture at the time of its eminence, as demonstrated by quotes from authors and excerpts from magazine reviews.In a city where there is almost too much to explore, this guide will make finding your favorite erudite-cool drinking spot that much easier.

Urban Shocker: Silent Hero of Baseball's Golden Age


Steve Steinberg - 2017
    Urban Shocker was a fiercely competitive and colorful pitcher, a spitballer who had many famous battles with Babe Ruth before returning to the Yankees. Shocker was traded away to the St. Louis Browns in 1918 by Yankees manager Miller Huggins, a trade Huggins always regretted. In 1925, after four straight seasons with at least twenty wins with the hapless Browns, Shocker became the only player Huggins brought back to the Yankees. He finally reached the World Series, with the 1926 Yankees. In the Yankees’ storied 1927 season, widely viewed to be the best in MLB history, Shocker pitched with guts and guile, finishing with a record of 18‑6 even while his fastball and physical skills were deserting him. Hardly anyone knew that Shocker was suffering from an incurable heart disease that left him able to sleep only while sitting up and which would take his life in less than a year. With his physical skills diminishing, he continued to win games through craftiness and well-placed pitches.  Delving into Shocker’s baseball career, his love of the game, and his battle with heart disease, Steve Steinberg shows the dominant and courageous force that he was.Purchase the audio edition.

Jessica Jones - Marvel Legacy Primer Pages


Robbie Thompson - 2017
    Get caught up on all things Jessica Jones with these Marvel Primer Pages and then check out the start of Jessica Jones in Marvel Legacy in Jessica Jones #13.

Incendiary: The Psychiatrist, the Mad Bomber and the Invention of Criminal Profiling


Michael Cannell - 2017
    The race to catch him would give birth to a new science called criminal profiling.Grand Central, Penn Station, Radio City Music Hall―for almost two decades, no place was safe from the man who signed his anonymous letters “FP” and left his lethal devices in phone booths, storage lockers, even tucked into the plush seats of movie theaters. His victims were left cruelly maimed. Tabloids called him “the greatest individual menace New York City ever faced.”In desperation, Police Captain Howard Finney sought the help of a little known psychiatrist, Dr. James Brussel, whose expertise was the criminal mind. Examining crime scene evidence and the strange wording in the bomber’s letters, he compiled a portrait of the suspect down to the cut of his jacket. But how to put a name to the description? Seymour Berkson―a handsome New York socialite, protégé of William Randolph Hearst, and publisher of the tabloid The Journal-American―joined in pursuit of the Mad Bomber. The three men hatched a brilliant scheme to catch him at his own game. Together, they would capture a monster and change the face of American law enforcement.

Sugar Baby


Eve Montelibano - 2017
    A BARGAIN. A BATTLE. The Billionaire and the Virgin. Billionaire Joshua Landis III is a king in Wall Street. He's a corporate raider, powerful, ruthless. Business digests call him The Conqueror, for the obvious reasons- his seemingly unquenchable thirst for power and dominance. My father is in jail for a crime he didn't commit, and Joshua is using the opportunity to take over my father's company, my inheritance. He's playing with my family like puppets dangling at his fingertips, helpless and dependent on his perverse whims. But I'm done being this predator's prey. I'm done being the hunted. I won't let him win. I won't let him destroy my family. He will not steal my future! I have a mission. I'll conquer Joshua Landis III. At all costs. I'll use the oldest trick in the game of power, the weapon that launched a thousand ships, toppled empires and caused the damnation of mankind. My femininity. I'll offer something a man with a colossal ego like Joshua couldn't possibly resist or refuse. My virginity. I swear Joshua Landis III will be mine. My puppet. My slave. MINE!

Williamsburg Shorts


Lucio Zago - 2017
    

A Field Guide to Long Island Sound: Coastal Habitats, Plant Life, Fish, Seabirds, Marine Mammals, and Other Wildlife


Patrick J. Lynch - 2017
    The Sound and its coastlines are home not only to myriad species of plants and animals—from shorebirds and turtles to whales, seals, and fish—but also to more than twenty million people.   Until now there has been no one-stop reference for those interested in exploring the Sound’s rich natural history. Author, photographer, and scientific illustrator Patrick Lynch has filled this gap. Brimming with maps, photographs, and drawings, Lynch’s guide introduces readers to the full breadth of the Sound’s environs from shorelines to deepest waters. With coastal areas at particular risk from climate change and pollution, his timing couldn’t be better. Whether readers are interested in the area’s geology and meteorology, its history of human intervention, or simply locating nature reserves and bird sanctuaries, they’re sure to find Lynch’s compendium indispensable.

111 Places in Queens That You Must Not Miss


Joe DiStefano - 2017
    See and taste the world, travel back in time, and experience nature all without leaving the confines of Queens. Home to immigrants from Azerbaijan to Vietnam and everywhere in between, Queens is truly a melting pot of cultures and cuisines. Eat your way through China, Malaysia, Romania, and visit a Tibetan dumpling speakeasy - no passport necessary. Visit the birthplace of religious freedom in America and then tour local Hindu, Thai and Korean temples. Marvel at migratory birds and terrapins and visit the oldest tree in New York City. Whether you're a first time visitor or a long-time resident, you'll find 111 hidden places in Queens. The most majestic of New York City's boroughs is yours to explore and discover.

Empty Suitors


Mia Chediak - 2017
    After a lifetime of doing what others thought was best for her, she decides to try a new recipe for finding love and quickly learns that a touch of humor makes everything taste better.The reader joins Julie over the course of a year for the rockiest ride of her life. You'll laugh and cry with Julie as she learns volumes about life, friendship, love and loss on her journey. A poignantly funny novel that is a tribute to perseverance, wit, wisdom, and the unlikely sources from which they can come.

Curated Stories: The Uses and Misuses of Storytelling


Sujatha Fernandes - 2017
    Heartbreaking accounts of poverty, mistreatment, and struggle may move us deeply. But what do they move us to do? And what are the stakes in the crafting and useof storytelling?In Curated Stories, Sujatha Fernandes considers the rise of storytelling alongside the broader shift to neoliberal, free-market economies. She argues that stories have been reconfigured to promote entrepreneurial self-making and restructured as easily digestible soundbites mobilized towardutilitarian ends. Fernandes roams the globe and returns with stories from the Afghan Women's Writing Project, the domestic workers movement and the undocumented student Dreamer movement in the United States, and the Misi�n Cultura project in Venezuela. She shows how the conditions under whichcertain stories are told, the tropes through which they are narrated, and the ways in which they are responded to may actually disguise the deeper contexts of global inequality. Curated stories shift the focus away from structural problems and defuse the confrontational politics of social movements.Not just a critical examination of the contemporary use of narrative and its wider impact on our collective understanding of pressing social issues, Curated Stories also explores how storytelling might be reclaimed to allow for the complexity of experience to be expressed in pursuit oftransformative social change.

The Doorman's Repose


Chris Raschka - 2017
    The Doorman’s Repose collects ten stories about 777 Garden Avenue, one of the craggiest. The first story recounts the travails of the new doorman, who excels at all his tasks except perhaps the most important one—talking baseball. Others tell of a long-forgotten room, a cupid-like elevator, and the unlikely romance of a cerebral psychologist and a jazz musician, both of whom are mice. Because the animals talk and the machinery has feelings, these are children’s stories. Otherwise they are for anyone intrigued by what happens when many people, strangers or kin, live together under one roof.

Cities (In Focus)


Libby Walden - 2017
    This super-sized book delves into the cultural, social, and historical identities of ten world-famous cities, from London to Sydney and New York to Tokyo. Readers can lift the gate-folded pages on every spread to find out more about each city!

Street: New York City 70s, 80s, 90s


Carrie Boretz - 2017
    It is common knowledge that the city was on rocky ground for many of those years but these are not pictures filled with drama or strife. Instead Boretz was always more interested in the subtle and familiar moments of everyday life in the various neighborhoods where she lived, before much of the graffiti was scrubbed away and the city sanitized and reborn to what it has since become.For so many living in and visiting New York today, it is forgotten or altogether not known how different so many parts of the city were during that time. Many of these pictures show the reality of the streets then, where every day workers, the homeless, the affluent, and tourists all shared the common space, providing examples of how one of the greatest cities in the world was one often filled with contradictions. But there is also a timeless element to these images as children still play in the parks, streets, and schoolyards, commuters still face the elements daily as they wait, there are still regular demonstrations and parades, and the whole spectrum of the joys and pitfalls of humanity are still visible most anywhere a person looks.For Boretz nothing was scripted, it all played out right before her. As Patti Smith said, "You need no rationale, no schooling. It's love at first sight. You see something and you have to capture it. Instinctive, bang, you feel one with it." Indeed, Boretz doesn't have a philosophy about shooting other than trusting her instinct: she saw, she shot, she moved on, always looking for moments that made her heart beat faster. It was the continual rush of knowing that at any time she could come upon something real and beautiful. That is why and how she shot and why and how herSTREETis so special.

Doc Savage: Ring Of Fire #1


David Avallone - 2017
    Return to the 1930s for a thrilling four-issue miniseries reuniting the Twilight Zone: The Shadow creative team of writer David Avallone and artist Dave Acosta!

Rocky Hill Romance Holiday Collection: Two novels, two novellas


Barbara Bretton - 2017
    2 full-length novels – 2 novellas Mrs. Scrooge - Patty Dean wants a father and when she meets bartender Murphy O'Rourke at her fourth grade Career Day presentation, she knows she's met the man of her mother's dreams! But can she convince her Mrs. Scrooge of a mom that it was time to give Christmas -- and love -- a second chance? Bundle of Joy - Everyone in town knew Caroline and Charlie just weren't meant for each other. Like oil and water or chalk and cheese, the ex-Navy cook and the beautiful shop owner were a bad match, and although the small New Jersey town was filled with inveterate matchmakers, even the most determined of the lot had to admit this was one match that would never happen. But nobody had figured on Caroline and Charlie getting locked in a storage vault with an automatic timer set for the next morning . . . The Year the Cat Saved Christmas - Christmas used to be the happiest time of the year in the big house on the hill. But this year when the clock strikes midnight on Christmas Day, it will all be over. Can Sebastian, a wily Maine Coon cat, find a way to bring his people back home or will this holiday be their last? Just in Time - Kate O’Callaghan was the girl next door. Tony Marino was the boy who wanted to see the world. She yearned for a home with a white picket fence. He wanted to live out of a backpack and never wake up in the same place twice. Their teenage marriage didn’t stand a chance. But now, eight years after they said goodbye, Kate and Tony are back home in Rocky Hill, New Jersey for a family celebration when they discover that the sparks between them burn hotter than ever. A future together seems impossible to everyone but their matchmaking moms, but one wonderful, unforgettable night is a whole other story. Little do they know that their one wonderful night will turn out to be even more unforgettable than they’d dreamed . . .

The 500 Hidden Secrets of New York


Michiel Vos - 2017
    What are the 5 most beautiful buildings? Where can you find the best places to eat oysters? Which are the 5 best bars in Brooklyn? The 500 Hidden Secrets of New York reveals these good-to-now addresses and many more.

Langston's Salvation: American Religion and the Bard of Harlem


Wallace D Best - 2017
    Known for his poetry, plays, and social activism, the importance of religion in Hughes' work has historically been ignored or dismissed. This book puts this aspect of Hughes work front and center, placing it into the wider context of twentieth-century American and African American religious cultures. Best brings to life the religious orientation of Hughes work, illuminating how this powerful figure helped to expand the definition of African American religion during this time.Best argues that contrary to popular perception, Hughes was neither an avowed atheist nor unconcerned with religious matters. He demonstrates that Hughes' religious writing helps to situate him and other black writers as important participants in a broader national discussion about race and religion in America.Through a rigorous analysis that includes attention to Hughes's unpublished religious poems, Langston's Salvation reveals new insights into Hughes's body of work, and demonstrates that while Hughes is seen as one of the most important voices of the Harlem Renaissance, his writing also needs to be understood within the context of twentieth-century American religious liberalism and of the larger modernist movement. Combining historical and literary analyses with biographical explorations of Langston Hughes as a writer and individual, Langston's Salvation opens a space to read Langston Hughes' writing religiously, in order to fully understand the writer and the world he inhabited.

Sights in the City: New York Street Photographs


Jamel Shabazz - 2017
    Photographing in the streets put Shabazz right in the heart of all of the action; he carried his camera everywhere he went, from Harlem to Times Square, the Lower East Side to downtown Brooklyn, always set and at the ready. Like a fisherman seeking a fruitful catch, Shabazz ventured into locations full of life and uncertainty in hopes of capturing a unique moment. Consisting of 120 color and black-and-white photographs taken between 1985 and the 2000s, most of which have never been published, Sights in the City is the testament of Shabazz's visual journey.

Making His Move


Susan Scott Shelley - 2017
     Rod Fraser should be on top of the world--his hockey team just won the Cup. But as the backup goaltender, he didn't see any ice time during the playoffs, and the victory felt hollow. Now a free agent, he's hoping for a starting job with another team, but prospects aren't looking good. He returns home to Holiday, NY to wait for news and to bring the Cup to his hometown. When he sees his best friend's sister, who he's had a thing for forever, and who is now single, nothing can hold him back from pursuing her heart. Arielle Charton returned to Holiday eight months earlier, to rebuild her life and mend a broken heart. The shy artist can't believe that Rod, her first crush, wants her too. But as drawn to him as she is, can she learn to trust again? Her heart wants to say yes, but her brain says no. Given his history of jumping from interest to interest, she's afraid she's the next new thing and he'll drop her when the thrill has worn off. She can't afford--literally or emotionally--to allow another man to distract her from her goals. Rod has made his living making impossible saves but it's going to take a huge play to convince Arielle that she's won his heart.

Women Will Vote: Winning Suffrage in New York State


Susan Goodier - 2017
    Susan Goodier and Karen Pastorello highlight the activism of rural, urban, African American, Jewish, immigrant, and European American women, as well as male suffragists, both upstate and downstate, that led to the positive outcome of the 1917 referendum. Goodier and Pastorello argue that the popular nature of the women's suffrage movement in New York State and the resounding success of the referendum at the polls relaunched suffrage as a national issue. If women had failed to gain the vote in New York, Goodier and Pastorello claim, there is good reason to believe that the passage and ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment would have been delayed.Women Will Vote makes clear how actions of New York's patchwork of suffrage advocates heralded a gigantic political, social, and legal shift in the United States. Readers will discover that although these groups did not always collaborate, by working in their own ways toward the goal of enfranchising women they essentially formed a coalition. Together, they created a diverse social and political movement that did not rely solely on the motivating force of white elites and a leadership based in New York City. Goodier and Pastorello convincingly argue that the agitation and organization that led to New York women's victory in 1917 changed the course of American history.

June Sparrow and the Million-Dollar Penny


Rebecca Chace - 2017
    June is a wealthy orphan who’s lived in New York City her whole life. But on June’s twelfth birthday, she suddenly loses her fortune and is forced to move in with an aunt she’s never even met, in the tiny town of Red Bank, South Dakota, a place so small that it doesn’t even have a traffic light.Now June has to live on a farm with grouchy Aunt Bridget, who sees her best friend as potential bacon! Then one day, June finds a mysterious Penny Book that her mother used to keep. She is instantly intrigued by what her mother called the Big One, the rarest and most valuable of all pennies. Finding it could be June’s ticket back to New York and her old life. But the only guide June and Indigo have is a cryptic list her mom left behind.To decode the list and find the Big One, June and Indigo enlist the help of some new friends in Red Bank and turn the town upside down in their search. But the most surprising mystery of all may be what brought June to Red Bank in the first place—and what is most valuable to her in the end.