City of Girls

Author: Elizabeth Gilbert
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AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Eat Pray Love and The Signature of All Things, a delicious novel of glamour, sex, and adventure, about a young woman discovering that you don't have to be a good girl to be a good person.

"A spellbinding novel about love, freedom, and finding your own happiness." - PopSugar

"Intimate and richly sensual, razzle-dazzle with a hint of danger." -USA Today
"Pairs well with a cocktail...or two." -TheSkimm

"Life is both fleeting and dangerous, and there is no point in denying yourself pleasure, or being anything other than what you are."

Beloved author Elizabeth Gilbert returns to fiction with a unique love story set in the New York City theater world during the 1940s. Told from the perspective of an older woman as she looks back on her youth with both pleasure and regret (but mostly pleasure), City of Girls explores themes of female sexuality and promiscuity, as well as the idiosyncrasies of true love.

In 1940, nineteen-year-old Vivian Morris has just been kicked out of Vassar College, owing to her lackluster freshman-year performance. Her affluent parents send her to Manhattan to live with her Aunt Peg, who owns a flamboyant, crumbling midtown theater called the Lily Playhouse. There Vivian is introduced to an entire cosmos of unconventional and charismatic characters, from the fun-chasing showgirls to a sexy male actor, a grand-dame actress, a lady-killer writer, and no-nonsense stage manager. But when Vivian makes a personal mistake that results in professional scandal, it turns her new world upside down in ways that it will take her years to fully understand. Ultimately, though, it leads her to a new understanding of the kind of life she craves - and the kind of freedom it takes to pursue it. It will also lead to the love of her life, a love that stands out from all the rest. Now eighty-nine years old and telling her story at last, Vivian recalls how the events of those years altered the course of her life - and the gusto and autonomy with which she approached it. "At some point in a woman's life, she just gets tired of being ashamed all the time," she muses. "After that, she is free to become whoever she truly is."
Written with a powerful wisdom about human desire and connection, City of Girls is a love story like no other.

Reading around NYC- A Bookish Guide (General Lit Part 1!)

If you are looking for some NYC based books to read- look no further! This list is vetted by my book club (@pagingthroughthecity) where we read a new book set in NYC every month and discuss them where they are set!
Check out our June events that were just posted if you are local!

Recommended Books and Locations

1. Book: Just Kids by Patti Smith
   Where to Read: Washington Square Park
   Why? This memoir is a time capsule of a NYC that has quickly changed, but Washington Square Park seems to be one pocket that seems similar to the energy of Patti Smith’s NYC.

2. Book: The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
   Where to Read: Central Park, specifically Bethesda Fountain Area
   Why? Esther tries to find solace at the Boston Common after a difficult time interning in NYC. Being out in nature has helped.

3. Book: A Woman is No Man by Etaf Rum
   Where to Read: Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, specifically with pizza at Elegant Pizzeria.
   Why? This multigenerational story of immigration, culture and assimilation is confined mostly to the neighborhood of Bay Ridge.

4. Book: Go Tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin
   Where to Read: James Baldwin Park
   Why? Baldwin has been such an important literary figure and honoring him with a beautiful park in Harlem is just a small part of his legacy.

5. Book: City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert
   Where to Read: The rooftop at Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library (SNFL)
   Why? Although the theater and block where most of the book action takes place was demolished for the Port Authority Bus Terminal, this public rooftop is a great place to soak up the energy of midtown Manhattan and read.