By: Isabel Crabtree

While doom-scrolling through Twitter on day 24 of quarantine, I came across a conversation that struck a chord with me. It described how two friends were homesick for a city they live in. Being stuck in isolation is a challenge for everyone, but one unexpected twist is how nostalgic it’s making New Yorkers feel for even the most quotidian aspects of the city. 

I miss wandering the streets of the Lower East Side and getting a peek of the bridges, walking beneath stretching tree branches in Brooklyn, waiting for the train in Queens. I’m lucky to have everything I need in my apartment, but I still feel…homesick? However, I find solace in books about our beloved city. Here are eight books set in New York that relish their location unlike any other. Sink into your comfiest chair and follow the footsteps of New Yorkers (real and fictional) from the safety of your living room. I recommend dog-earing the pages to find your favorite spots once we can go outside again…

A New York City book list to get you through Quarantine

1. Meet Me in the Bathroom by Lizzy Goodman

This book is an oral history of the rock and roll renaissance of early 2000s New York. To a music nerd, it’s also a scavenger hunt. Featuring interviews with artists from The Strokes to Regina Spektor to Vampire Weekend, it shows how the city shaped these bands and vice versa, all through the words of the people who experienced it. Look out for mentions of clubs, bars, venues, restaurants, and street names that you can visit post-pause. Last summer, I remembered anecdotes from this beloved book as I walked around the East Village in search of the old bars The Strokes frequented. Hopping off the train at Marcy Ave in Williamsburg took on an additional shiver of excitement when I realized Karen O had tread the same steps and sidewalks. 

2. In the Midst of Winter by Isabel Allende 

This mystery centers around a Brooklyn brownstone housing two academics. One an energetic visiting professor from Chile, the other a reserved son of Holocaust survivors. When a car accident brings another character to the house, the three share their life stories while snowed-in. The tales bring readers into the Southern Hemisphere, but always circle back to one snowy street in New York. Haunted by pasts threatening to take over their lives, the unlikely trio show that New York City really is a home to anyone who needs it. 

3. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

Now is the perfect time to dig into this classic coming-of-age novel that follows Francie Nolan and her family in the Williamsburg slums of the early twentieth century. Take note of street names and descriptions of buildings that can still be found around Brooklyn. Look out your window for a flowering tree as we wait out this spring inside. Or, if you’re like me and all you can see from your apartment is a cement lot…try growing your own houseplants and bring spring inside. 

4. Face It by Debbie Harry 

Debbie Harry is easily one of the coolest New Yorkers in history. Her new(ish) memoir outlines her life from birth through the heyday and break up of Blondie. Join my favorite punk as she apartment-hops, works anywhere that will take her, and picks up inspiration from the city as she develops as an artist. Reading about her artistic coming-of-age even inspired me to use the city around me in my writing and photography, and it might do the same for you. 

5. From the Mixed Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konisburg 

After taking a virtual tour of the Met, experience the museum through the eyes of 12-year-old Claudia Kincaid and her younger brother Jaime, runaways from Connecticut. Sleep in the antique bed of Irwin Untermyer, take a bath in the fountains, and hide from anyone in a uniform. My mom got me this book to read in the way-back of the family car while we drove from Rhode Island to New York for a weekend away right before Christmas. We saw the Rockettes, ate at the Palm Court, and of course saw the Met all dressed up for the holidays. Maybe I was already a New Yorker back in third grade…

6. Just Kids by Patti Smith 

The first of Patti Smith’s many projects about New York, this memoir chronicles the relationship between Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe as well as the relationship between Smith and New York. The “godmother of punk” moved to New York in 1967 when she was 20 years old. Here, she outlines different neighborhoods she lived in and people she met—all of which influenced her music and writing and Mapplethorpe’s visual art. When I first moved to New York, this book was my guide to the artist’s haven of New York. Reading about Patti and Robert splitting sandwiches when they ran out of money while I ate discount pasta on the rooftop of my Crown Heights sublet made me feel connected to this New York icon.  

7. The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney 

As New York tries to be strong in the midst of a pandemic, many have fled the city. Most of the characters in this book probably would have, too. This story follows four adult siblings as they duke it out over a promised inheritance. The city is their battleground, from drug deals in Central Park to a failing publishing house in Dumbo. The Nest will make you laugh while also making you long for parts of the city you never thought you’d miss…like Grand Central.

8. A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara 

Yes, this is that long book that made all of your friends cry. I promise it’s worth it! What better time to get lost in a 800 page book than now? Following four college roommates through multiple decades after they all move to New York, one of my favorite parts of this book are  the descriptions of Jude’s long walks through the city. At a time when we can’t wander the city on a whim, follow the protagonist of this masterpiece as he treads and drinks up and down Manhattan. 

You can find all these books on bookshop.org, where 10% of sales go to support independent bookstores. Or try New York Public Library which has over 300,000 ebooks and audiobooks. Their digital resources are available for free 24/7. Or, of course, Amazon.

Isabel Crabtree is a freelance music and culture writer currently living in Brooklyn. She is an avid book-reader, food-eater, and concert-goer. Her bylines can be found in Esquire, Loud & Quiet, and more. Find Isabel on Twitter @crabtreeisabelm or visit isabelcrabtree.com to read more of her work and talk about books!

Thanks, Isabel, for sharing your story! If you have favorite NYC books that didn’t make this list, please share them below. I’ll be sharing guest posts from NYC creatives whose careers are being affected by Coronavirus during this New York “pause”. If you’d like to learn more, read this previous post: COVID-19 in NYC: Everything is weird and scary and I want to help by paying you to write for my blog. Thanks for reading and STAY SAFE, NYC!