Goodbye to All That (2021) Writers On Loving and Leaving New York edited by Sari Botton
Elisa Albert recommends
A Gorgeous Excitement (2025) Cynthia Weiner "A Gorgeous Excitement is the rarest blend of charm and suspense, at once delightful and terrifying, an expertly written non-coming of age that also serves as cautionary tale, as quintessentially haunting as New York City itself. Read it on a bench in Central Park, but only before night falls."
Next Stop (2024) Benjamin Resnick "Uncanny, riveting, and strangely prescient, Next Stop is that rarest of narratives: a glimpse into an unthinkable past, present, and future all at once. Only a magician or a mystic could pull off such a thing."
The Singer Sisters (2024) Sarah Seltzer "An expertly-imagined family drama, suffused with hard truths, deep betrayal, and a most generous, surprisingly steadfast love."
City of Laughter (2024) Temim Fruchter "City of Laughter is a bountiful, curious, huge-hearted celebration of desire and memory, illuminating the eternal, indestructible nature of queer inheritance, and reminding us yet again that history is folklore and folklore is history."
Wine People (2023) Michelle Wildgen "An intoxicating story of friendship, workplace politics, entrepreneurship, and, of course, the elixir of the Gods, Wine People is all the wine metaphors and then some. Savor it."
Old Flame (2023) Molly Prentiss "Old Flame asks all the important questions: What if women are people? What if relinquishment of the Self is a good thing? How does a person make good on the past while charting a future? What does it mean to no longer be young?"
Shmutz (2022) Felicia Berliner "Malamud meets Melissa Broder in this deeply charming, soulful novel. Not since Eve tasted the forbidden fruit has a story about curiosity and shame felt so vital. Berliner has given us a true comedy: beautifully rendered, fully earned, and suffused with love."
The Appointment (2020) Katharina Volckmer "The Appointment is an epic truth bomb, a radical, hilarious roller-coaster, raw and wild as they come. The way this novel delights in itself, taking pleasure in its singularity and perversity, is the perfect antidote to boredom and bullshit."
The Body Double (2020) Emily Beyda "The Body Double is an epic read and Emily Beyda is a thrilling writer. Fame, beauty, youth, and artifice have rarely been mined for such narrative gold. Fantastic in every sense of the word."
Indecent (2018) Corinne Sullivan "Indecent asks the hard questions about just how low low self-worth can make a person go, and the even harder questions about what it means to truly grow up."
