Customer Reviews

Metropolis Found: New York Is Book Country 25th Anniversary Collection

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New York is Book Country was a wonderful annual book fair in Manhattan and to mark its 25th incarnation, the organizers published this collection of 32 short stories and essays. They all deal with New York City, many specifically address the question of how New York helped the author take up writing for a living. Several discuss the terrorist attacks of 9/11/2001 (the collection was published the next year). The list of writers ranges from Maya Angelou and bell hooks, to Laurence Block and Mary Higgins Clark, to restauranteur Danny Meyer. It was lavishly well produced, with heavy paper, a ribbon bookmark, raised cover, etc. Unfortunately, most of the essays and stories just aren't very interesting. They're self-indulgent and of little interest except to people who are already fans of the authors. The few exceptions include the essays by Ruth Reichl (on learning international cuisine from her public school classmates), Dennis Smith (on the memorial for firefighters in October 2002), R. L. Stine (musing on Jack Finney's book Time and Again), and a charming story by Peter Straub about a Manhattan superhero called "Electricman." The book is selling used for a couple of dollars, and is probably worth it for these essays, but most of the rest are a waste of time.