New York Novels

New York City has an awful lot going for it. Three of its most remarkable features are its amazing landmarks and cultural institutions, the diversity of its neighborhoods, and, of course, the flourishing literary communities in these neighborhoods that pull it all together. Famously, New York is one of those rare places where you can walk a single mile and experience several unique, rare, and special places one after the other. What's more, the people you'll meet along the way are equally as unique, rare, and special (also: weird) as the spaces they inhabit. It's no wonder that New York is one of the most written-about places on the planet! Whether you're into the grit and grime of the seedy underbelly of New York, or the romantic adventures offered up by its most beautiful places, there's a novel out there waiting to give you a glimpse of what NYC has going on.

For the reader who just can't get enough of those busy city streets, or is just dying to know where exactly in the five boroughs their favorite characters are inhabiting, here is a list of famous New York City-based novels according to the neighborhood in which they take place—complete with an interactive map of nearby landmarks and attractions!

Manhattan

Financial District

• American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis
• Manhattan Transfer by John Dos Passos
  Nearby: Battery Park, Wall Street

World Trade Center

• Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
  Nearby: 9/11 Memorial Plaza, City Hall, Brooklyn Bridge

Chinatown

• Shoplifting from American Apparel by Tao Lin
• Chinatown Beat by Henry Chang
  Nearby: Columbus Park, Canal Street

The Bowery

• Up in the Old Hotel by Joseph Mitchell
  Nearby: The Tenement Museum

Five Points

• The Gods of Gotham by Lyndsey Faye

Lower East Side

• Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart
• Lush Life by Richard Price
  Nearby: The Williamsburg Bridge, Katz's Delicatessen

SoHo

• The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner
• A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
  Nearby: Art Galleries, Luxury Boutiques

Alphabet City

• Call It Sleep by Henry Roth
  Nearby: Tompkins Square Park, Union Square

Greenwich Village

• Great Jones Street by Don Delillo
• Washington Square by Henry James
  Nearby: Washington Square Park, New York University, Cooper Union, St. Mark' s Place, The Public Theater

Flatiron District

• Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow
  Nearby: The Flatiron Building, Madison Square Park, Empire State Building

Gramercy

• Time and Again by Jack Finney

Chelsea

• Netherland by Joseph O'Neill
  Nearby: The Chelsea Hotel, The Highline

Midtown

• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
  Nearby: Grand Central Station, Bryant Park, the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, The Crysler Building, The United Nations

Times Square

• A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
  Nearby: Theater District, Restaurant Row, Port Authority

Fifth Avenue

• Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote
  Nearby: Rockefeller Center, Radio City Music Hall, Carnegie Hall

Central Park

• The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
  Nearby: The Central Park Zoo, The Central Park Carousel, Strawberry Fields, Belvedere Castle, The Boathouse

Upper East Side

• The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
• The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
• The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
  Nearby: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Guggenheim, Gracie Mansion

Upper West Side

• Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin
• Open City by Teju Cole
  Nearby: The American Museum of Natural History, The Dakota

Morningside Heights

• The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster
• Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love by Oscar Hijuelos
  Nearby: Columbia University

Harlem

• Push by Sapphire
• Jazz by Toni Morrison
• Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
• Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin
  Nearby: The Apollo Theater, The Cloisters, Highbridge Park

Brooklyn

Greenpoint

• The Astral by Kate Christensen

Williamsburg

• A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
• Tropic of Capricorn by Henry Miller
• The Chosen by Chaim Potok
  Nearby: The Williamsburg Waterfront, McCarren Park, Weylin B. Seymour's

Bedford-Stuyvesant

• Brown Girl, Brownstones by Paule Marshall
  Nearby: Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn Museum, Pratt Institute

Downtown Brooklyn

• Brooklyn by Colm Toibin
  Nearby: BAM, Barclay's Center, Brooklyn Navy Yard

Brooklyn Heights

• 10:04 by Ben Lerner
  Nearby: Brooklyn Bridge, Brooklyn Heights Promenade

Boerum Hill

• The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem
  Nearby: New York City Transit Museum, Prospect Park

Park Slope

• The Brooklyn Follies by Paul Auster
• Snow in August by Pete Hamill

Flatbush/Ditmas Park

• The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
• Sophie's Choice by William Styron
  Nearby: Brooklyn College

Sunset Park/Bay Ridge

• Last Exit to Brooklyn by Hubert Selby Jr.
  Nearby: Green-Wood Cemetery, Sunset Park, Dyker Beach Golf Course

Brighton Beach

• The Museum of Extraordinary Things by Alice Hoffman

Queens

Astoria

• The Ask by Sam Lipsyte

Sunnyside

• Dissident Gardens by Jonathan Lethem

Flushing

• Native Speaker by Chang Rae Lee
• Preparation for the Next Life by Atticus Lish
  Nearby: Flushing Meadows Corona Park, World's Fair Playground, Citi Field

Woodside

• We Are Not Ourselves by Matthew Thomas
  Nearby: Museum of the Moving Image, Queensboro Bridge

Rockaway Beach

• Rockaway by Tara Ison

Bronx

South Bronx

• Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann
  Nearby: Yankee Stadium

University Heights

• Billy Bathgate by E.L. Doctorow

West Bronx/Fordham

• The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe
  Nearby: Fordham University, Bronx Zoo

Staten Island

Port Richmond

• Small Mercies by Eddie Joyce
• The Swing Voter of Staten Island by Arthur Neresian
  Nearby: Statue of Liberty, Staten Island Ferry, Snug Harbor, Verrazano Bridge

Is this map missing something? Let us know in the comments section!