New York City in Books

I still have a couple more NYC posts in me, and today I wanted to give a quick shout out to some of the books I used as reference for my trip.

First up, the full color New York City guide 2009 from Fodor's. I didn't get this in time to actually plan my trip with it, but I did browse through while I was there. It is organized by area and provides a great overview of things to do as well as places to stay, eat and shop. There is a nice balance of information and entertainment in the writing and I especially enjoyed the "close up" features such as the one on the history of Times Square. I will definitely use this to plan my next trip!

At BEA, I grabbed a copy of Lonely Planet's New York City Encounter, which claims to allow you to discover twice the city in half the time. It is a small format, 280 pager that can be easily carried with you when you are out and about. Organized by neighborhood, it presents a few must-sees as well as some "hidden gems". No listing for The Strand bookstore, so it loses some points with me. I liked the interviews with NYC residents and would have like to have seen more of these.

Speaking of The Strand, we picked up a copy of the classic children's picture book This is New York by M. Sasek. It give a lot of fun stats about NYC then and now such as how many elevators operate in the city, how many churches there are, and how many miles of streets need to be policed (6,000 miles). I love the illustrations - especially of the squirrels in Central Park.

We also bought a copy of the recently released A Walk in New York by Salvatore Rubbino. In it, a father and son spend a day in Manhattan starting in Grand Central Station and moving downtown visiting The New York Public Library, The Empire State Building and Union Square Park (all places I visited as well). It's both fun and full of interesting trivia.

What are your favorite NYC guidebooks or books set in NYC? I'd love some recommendations!