new york city

The Battle for Room 314 by Ed Boland, published in 2016, tells the compelling story of his year teaching in an inner-city high school in New York City. As a young man, Boland worked for Project Advance, a non-profit working to place low-income, inner-city students in elite boarding schools and eventually Ivy League universities; however, he begins to feel unfulfilled and wants to widen his impact to help more deserving students. Therefore, he goes back to school to get his teaching degree and ends up getting hired in an inner-city high school –this story follows the trials and tribulations of

Behold the Dreamers tells the story of two different families who were brought together by the Lehman Brothers collapse. Jende and Neni Jonga emigrate from Cameroon, Africa to New York City with their young son, Liomi. Jende is a loyal chauffeur who does not talk about what he hears his boss say in the car. Jende is proud of the car he drives and his ability to support his family. Coming to America is everything Neni dreams of and more. The Edwards family give Neni a job helping out during the summer at their home in the Hamptons. Cindy Edwards is a socialite, nutritionist, and mother who says

The In Death murder mystery series is based on Lieutenant Eve Dallas solving homicides in 2058 New York City. Eve, with her troubled past and guarded demeanor, works tirelessly to give the dead the justice they deserve. Coupled with Roarke, Eve's billionaire and tech savvy husband, she often finds herself digging through cases with his help. Along with standing for the dead, Eve must face the demons in her own past. These futuristic crime novels will keep you guessing until the last page!

You can read any book out of order for a suspenseful murder mystery, or read in order to follow the

Aspiring writer, Guinevere Beck, thinks nothing of her “chance” meeting with Joe Goldberg, the guy at the local bookstore. The fact that he happens to be her perfect match down to the last detail just shows how lucky she is to have found him. Right?

Joe Goldberg knows it is meant to be when Guinevere Beck walks into his bookstore, but fate moves too slowly. Joe takes matters into his own hands and soon enough, with help from social media, Joe finds out everything he needs to know. Armed with her address, best friends’ names, access to her email, and so many other details of Beck’s life, Joe

I recently started watching the television show White Collar. As with most shows that I stick with, it’s the characters and how they interact that keep me interested.

Neal Caffrey is a thief and con man who is nearing the end of his prison sentence. When he escapes, it’s up to FBI agent Peter Burke to recapture him. Burke offers Caffrey a deal--help the FBI apprehend some of the more difficult-to-catch criminals in exchange for conditional freedom. Despite the limitations--he’s wearing a tracking device and can only be on his own within a two mile radius--it still beats being in a jail cell

This book is one of those novels that makes you want to keep a notebook near you, so you can write down all the terribly witty and wonderful things people say (maybe in hopes of using them yourself someday and coming off as spontaneously brilliant as the heroine). Set in 1938 New York City, this book follows a group of men and women through the most important year of their lives. A sparkling picture of the city as well as 1930s society, this book covers jazz, tragedy, love, friendship, ambition, morality, and somehow manages to give all of these topics their due. Katey, the heroine, is as

I had not experienced The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald before I read it this month for my book club. I didn't know what I was missing! A great story about class and status, relationships, wealth, power, lost love, and loyalty. I listened to this rather than read it. Actor, Tim Robbins was the narrator and did a fabulous job of capturing the essence of the book and the characters. The other great thing about the audio version is that it included letters from the author to his publisher, friends, and fellow writers. You find out exactly what Fitzgerald thought of this work and what

In the four short stories contained in A Contract With God, Eisner examines life in the 1930’s Bronx tenements that sprung up in New York after WWI. These neighborhoods accommodated the influx of immigrants and bred a close neighborliness ripe for mining stories. Eisner does this brilliantly.

In the title story, a young Russian Jew has come to American to escape the pograms that were sweeping through his country. When tragedy strikes, he becomes bitter, rejects the contract he had made with God, and quickly accumulates vast material wealth. Predictably, he realizes that money can’t buy the