The Best Books Set In New York City

We discuss some of the best books about or set in New York City to recommend to newcomers or longtime residents hoping to learn more about the city they call home. Julie Golia, the associate director of manuscripts, archives, and rare books and the Charles J. Liebman curator of manuscripts for The New York Public Library, shares some of her favorite titles and we take listener suggestions. Also, the library created its own list of 125 books to celebrate their 125th anniversary year.

Here's a list of all the NYC books discussed in this conversation:

• "City of Girls" by Elizabeth Gilbert
• "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay" by Michael Chabon
• "The Fortress of Solitude" by Jonathan Lethem
• "Lush Life" by Richard Price
• "Let the Great World Spin" by Colum McCann
• "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith
• "Another Brooklyn" by Jacqueline Woodson
• "The Bonfire of the Vanities" by Tom Wolfe
• "The Colossus of New York" by Colson Whitehead
• "The New York Trilogy" by Paul Auster
• "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• "Motherless Brooklyn" by Jonathan Lethem
• "A Little Life" by Hanya Yanagihara
• "The New York Nobody Knows" by William B. Helmreich
• "The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger
• "The House of Mirth" by Edith Wharton