Subway reads that stuck

Marcus Hale

@uptownpaperbacks

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Ten books I've actually finished on the A train between Inwood and midtown, which is saying something because that ride gives you plenty of time to bail on a bad one. These aren't necessarily the "best" books ever written, whatever that means, they're just the ones where I missed my stop, or read standing up holding a pole like an idiot because I couldn't put it down. Mix of fiction and city nonfiction, since half of what I read is trying to understand this place I've lived my whole life. Grab a few, sit at the bar, judge me later.

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Subway reads that stuck — 8 items
Name	Book	Why it stuck with me
1The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem	The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem	Brooklyn gentrification and comic books and growing up white in a mostly Black neighborhood, all tangled together. Rereads like a mixtape from a friend who's smarter than you. If you're into Dylan and Mingus rattling around the same paragraph, this is for
2Just Kids by Patti Smith	Just Kids by Patti Smith	Chelsea Hotel, broke and beautiful, before the city got so expensive it forgot how to make artists. I read the Mapplethorpe chapters twice in a row on the train once and missed 168th Street entirely. If you're into origin stories, this is for you.
3The Power Broker by Robert Caro	The Power Broker by Robert Caro	This one's a doorstop and a half but it explains why the Cross Bronx Expressway ruined a neighborhood and why your commute is the way it is. Took me four months, worth every page. If you're into knowing exactly who to blame for city planning, this is for
4Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem	Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem	A detective novel narrated by a guy with Tourette's, which sounds like a gimmick until you're three chapters in and it's the only voice that makes sense. Reads fast, like the L train on a good night. If you're into hardboiled noir with a twist, this is fo
5Netherland by Joseph O'Neill	Netherland by Joseph O'Neill	Cricket in Staten Island, post 9/11 loneliness, a guy trying to figure out what home means after his marriage falls apart. Slow burn, but it sat with me for weeks after. If you're into quiet, sad, gorgeous sentences, this is for you.
6Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney	Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney	Second person narration about a coked-up fact-checker falling apart in 80s Manhattan, and somehow it still feels true about ambition and burnout here. Short enough to finish in a weekend. If you're into stylish self-destruction, this is for you.
7Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann	Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann	Built around Philippe Petit's tightrope walk between the Twin Towers, but really it's a dozen lives in 70s New York bumping into each other like strangers on a platform. Structure alone is worth studying. If you're into interconnected stories, this is for
8Here Is New York by E.B. White	Here Is New York by E.B. White	Barely a hundred pages, written in 1948, and somehow still nails exactly what it feels like to live here, the loneliness and the electricity of it both. I keep a spare copy just to hand to people leaving town. If you're into short essays that hit hard, th