Gods of New YorkJonathan Mahler (Random House). This chronicle of New York spans four “convulsive and momentous” years of its history, from 1986 to 1989, an era that included AIDS as well as crack epidemics, widening corruption scandals, rising crime, and a dizzying Wall Street filled with junk bonds. The book follows activists, artists, politicians and tycoons—Larry Cramer, Spike Lee, Ed Koch, Rudy Giuliani, and Donald Trump, among others—as they vie to leave their mark, creating a legacy that is still felt today. Each chapter spans one year, changing characters and storylines in a narrative as expansive and multifaceted as the city itself.
tryingChloe Caldwell (“Grey Wolf”). In this brutally honest memoir about trying to get pregnant without IVF, Caldwell writes: “Supposedly the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results, but isn't that the same as trying to get pregnant and failing?” Caldwell, a writer and teacher, manages to be funny while touching on tender topics such as infertility and the discovery that her husband has an extramarital sex addiction. “I knew something was wrong,” she says. “I thought it might be a blocked fallopian tube, but it ended up being sex workers in Geneva.”
Illustration by Ben Hickey
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