Top 10 Books That Take Place in New York

This week's topic from The Broke and the Bookish's meme Top Ten Tuesday is the Top 10 Books that Took Place in ________ Setting. Since I absolutely love my hometown, I filled in the blank with NEW YORK!

Top 10 Books That Take Place in New York 

Shop Indie Bookstores 1. Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale by Mo Willems

I love this book. I also love how I discovered it. I was in the Barnes & Noble on Court Street in Brooklyn. I was having a pretty crappy day dealing with the disability people in the Department of Ed office across the street and I escaped to the bookstore for a little unwinding before I set out for my journey home. I ended up in the children's section where this book caught my eye. I had never heard of it before. I was surrounded by strangers - children and their parents - and I couldn't stop myself from smiling from ear to ear and laughing out loud. Knuffle Bunny will forever be my Brooklyn book love. I didn't buy this book that day, but I did buy myself a brand new copy of the next book on my list!



Shop Indie Bookstores 2. Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume 

This is probably the first book I ever read that took place in New York City. There were so many reasons why I related to this book and fell deeply in book love with it and its New York backdrop was definitely one of them. The world was so real to me and so unlike those that I was reading about in other books.



Shop Indie Bookstores 3. The Pigman by Paul Zindel

Reading this book just plain freaked me out. It didn't just take place in New York City, it took place in STATEN ISLAND! That's really where I live. While it has been so long that most of the story escapes my memory these days, I will never forget reading "Staten Island Zoo" or "Clove Lakes Park" in the print of a truly legitimate book that I was reading and thinking, Whoa! We matter.



Shop Indie Bookstores 4. The Dead and The Gone by Sarah Beth Pfeffer

This is the second book in a trilogy (Books one and two do not have to be read in order) that I absolutely loved. The moon comes too close to Earth, wreaks havoc on our weather and we are thrust into a survival situation. While book one is written from the prospective of a girl somewhere else n America, The Dead and The Gone dealt with the calamity of my own city under this natural disaster. I LOVED THIS and I need to read this book again sometime soon!  



Shop Indie Bookstores 5. The Percy Jackson Series by Rick Riordan

While Percy and the Half-Bloods do travel all over the country, home base is in New York. Camp HalfBlood is in Long Island and Olympus is smack dab in the middle of Manhattan. Riordan has helped me find magic and myth on the streets of my city.   



Shop Indie Bookstores 6. The Underland Chronicles by Suzanne Collins 

Similar to Percy, Gregor and his family spend most of their time seemingly apart from New York, but the fact is - they are under it. I haven't finished reading the entire series yet, but I already know the next time I am in Central Park that I need to watch my back for any creatures coming out of the entrance to the Underland found there!



Shop Indie Bookstores 7. The Gunslinger by Stephen King

My husband and I argued over this one as he continued to say, "The Gunslinger takes place in an alternate universe!" Yes. This is true, but its attachment to "our world" is in New York. Just like Gregor and Percy, this series gave me the sense that my city holds secret doorways every way just waiting to whisk me off to someplace mysterious! 



Shop Indie Bookstores 8. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

I love how this book captures a New York I never knew. The New York of my ancestors. This is really such a beautiful book that captures a culture, a time, and a place I have no right to feel nostalgia for.



Shop Indie Bookstores 9. The Godfather by Mario Puzo

As half of my family is Sicilian-American, I loved every setting of this book! Just like A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, I felt like this book gave me a sense of my city's history and, perhaps what some of my family saw as they grew up here and traveled here from Sicily.  



Shop Indie Bookstores 10. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

 I reluctantly add this book to the list because, to be honest with you, I don't love the book. However, as I reflected upon my choices to write about today, I realized that the one aspect of the story I loved was the setting. I found myself daydreaming away about Long Island, the city, Gatsby's travels in between and, again, what my hometown must have looked like once upon a time... 

Do you have any favorite books that take place in your hometown?

What about favorite books that take place in mine - New York City? Which ones am I missing?  

 

How To Pick Your First Graphic Novel

I have noticed that every time I write on Rivera Runs Through It about a great graphic novel I just read, the comments fill up with a bunch of "I've been meaning to read graphic novels"-type of sentiments. I understand that jumping into this may be an overwhelming idea, so I wanted to share my advice on how one might get started on such an adventure since it is something I think more readers need to do.

What is a Graphic Novel?

Let's just begin with a basic definition of what a graphic novel is. According to Wikipedia, graphic novels are defined in the following way:

A graphic novel is a book made up of comics content. Although the word "novel" normally refers to long fictional works, the term "graphic novel" is applied broadly, and includes fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work. It is distinguished from the term "comic book", which is used for comics periodicals.

 Now that we got that out of the way, let's get to my step-by-step plan to get you reading graphic novels!

Step 1: 

Decide what genre of graphic novels you would like to start reading.

Honestly, this is possibly the most important step on the list. You need to understand that the "graphic novel" is not a genre, it is a medium. Just as film can be thought of as a separate medium that delivers stories, so, too, are graphic novels. Within the graphic novel medium you will find fiction and nonfiction books. You will find memoirs, superhero books, scifi, horror, paranormal and... well... just about every genre of book you will find in your ordinary book store. Understanding this fact is pivotal to you understanding that there is definitely a graphic novel in the world that you will likely love to read!

Step 2: 

Find a good comic book shop near you to explore.

I recommend that you explore a comic book shop rather than a bookstore or a library for a number of reasons. First of all, a comic book shop will have a much larger collection of books for you to look through. Secondly, unlike a bookstore or library where (most of the time) graphic novels are all bundled together in one section of the store, comic book shops are more likely to have their books organized by genre, or will at least be able to direct you to your genre of choice. The final, and perhaps most important reason for you to go to a comic book shop is for the important role its employees play in step 3.

Step 3:

Ask for recommendations.

Bookstore employees are among the best-read people on the planet. This remains true of comic shop employees. They read books by the box-fulls nearly every week. For the most part, if you have found yourself a very good comic book shop, you will find that most of the books on the shelves have been read by at least one person who works there. If you can find the person who is interested in the same genre as you, then you have found someone who can probably build you a reading list for life!

Step 4:

Get your first graphic novel.

Notice I didn't say "buy." While I absolutely want you to fully support the awesome comic book shop that has helped you out thus far, I can understand the trepidation that comes from entering into this brand new world of reading with pictures. So, if you are feeling nervous about your first steps into the graphic novel world, you'll be happy to find out that libraries have been growing their graphic novel collections every year - they *might* have the book you are ready to check out. Of course, once you fall in book love, I implore you to get back to your shop and BUY THAT BOOK!

Step 5:

Read your first graphic novel.

Remember that when you read a book your eye travels from left to right and then down the page. In graphic novels, like in comic books, your story will be told in panels containing pictures, dialogue, narration, and, sometimes even sound effects. For people who are used to reading only words on a page, this may be overwhelming or confusing. A well written and designed graphic novel will flow in a way that flows naturally with the movement of your eye. However, as a graphic novel newbie, you might want a little more instruction on how to do this, check out the How to Read a Comic Book eHow for a quick 5 step list that'll help you out.

Step 6: 

Repeat.

At this point, you either fell in love with graphic novels, you are still undecided, or you had a horrible experience.  If you fell in love, take note of the writer, the artist, the genre and even the publishing company. These are all things that will lead you to your next graphic novel love and will help your comic shop buddies recommend a new title for you. Take all of this information and begin the process again now more informed about your own preferences as a graphic novel reader.

For the rest of you: DO NOT GIVE UP YET! I am sure you have read plenty books that you don't like, this does not mean that you do not like books. The same goes for graphic novels. If you didn't love your first graphic novel, head back to the top of the list and begin again. Just like those who fell in love with their first graphic novel, you too are now more informed about your preferences as a graphic novel reader. Think about what bothered you about this book, or, at the very least, didn't hook you. Was it the art, the writing, the tone, or the story itself? When you get back to your comic book shop, let them know you didn't like the book and why you think you didn't like it (they didn't write it, so they won't be offended), this will help them recommend something new to you.

Further Reading

Here are a couple of other posts that I found that may be of interest to you as you start your journey:

• A Guide To Start Reading Comic Books Noah Kuttler has a fantastic "Comic Book Reader Do and DO NOT list" that includes so many awesome tips that I almost plagiarized the whole post to include here. Instead, it inspired this "further reading" section of the post, just so you could get it from the source!
• 50 Best of the Best Graphic Novels Forbidden Planet, a virtual and brick and mortar comic book shop gives you a virtual recommendation list to get started with. I've only read five on the list so far, but this list includes a whole bunch of my "must-reads" on it.
• The Top 100 Graphic Novels This website is a work in progress, so the writer hasn't reached number one yet, but (as of this writing) it has from #100 all the way through #15 which should give you a lot of great stuff to read before you reach the best of the best according to the site's author.
• Picturebooks Anonymous Picturebooks Anonymous is the name of the graphic novel book club I am a member of in my local comic book shop, Comic Book Jones. Here on Rivera Runs Through It, I have listed the books the club has read so far (including the ones I haven't even read yet), to give you an idea of all of the stuff we have read together. 

 
That's it for now. I wish you, as always, happy reading. I look forward to hearing about your experiences and your great graphic novel finds!

Have you already fell in graphic novel love? 

What graphic novel do you recommend?

Is there a particular genre of graphic novels you are most curious about?

Tell us about your favorite comic book shop!

 

Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters Book VS. Movie Review

Tuesday morning I checked Fandango and nearly flipped my lid when I realized there was going to be an early showing of Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters. I told my husband to forget whatever he had planned for the night: we were going to the movies.
 
And so we did. Because, based on the trailer, I could tell that they had done a much better job on this sequel than they did on the hugely disappointing Lightning Thief movie adaptation.

And they did. I'd be lying if I said they did not.

I fear that I can not say that they did much better. These movies continue to break my heart. The casting is absolutely perfect, the acting spans from pretty good to awesome, and the special effects work well. The glaring mistake that keeps chipping away at what I believe should be a runaway film franchise on par with Harry Potter is the missed opportunities for WORLD BUILDING.

The Wonderful World of the Percy Jackson Books and its Movies

If you have not read the Percy Jackson books, then you are missing out. Rick Riordan has brought Greek mythology to our modern world in the same way JK Rowling brought us magic. It lives within our world without us seeing it. Mere mortals are shrouded under what is called "the mist" so that we can not see the mythical creatures as they truly look, we cannot perceive the magic or superhuman feats that the half-boods or the gods may be performing right in front of us. However, just like in Harry Potter, they are happening all around us. Rick Riordan has built a world filed with characters, conflicts, and landmarks not only unique to his story, but that are also in ours. He brought Olympus, the Underworld and many other landmarks of the Greek myths to America and housed them within our cities, under our mountains and all of the other places that make so much sense once the mist is lifted from the reader's eyes. For me, half the fun of reading these books is learning where the gods are hiding among us. The other half of the fun is going on the quest with the heroes where they battle monsters, meet gods and, somewhere in between, struggle with many of the things ordinary kids do - growing up in single-parent homes, learning disabilities, being bullied in school, and feeling ashamed of a brother who is different are just a few.

For some reason these movies take all of that wonderfulness and come away with this: some heroes go on a quest where they meet a couple of gods and battle one or two monsters. That's it. The world is gone. The real-life problems that make these heroes relate-able are all but missing, those that are present are forced in uncomfortably leaving me screaming, "Show me, don't tell me!" There is no evidence in these movies that all of this is happening in our world, which, for me, is one of the coolest aspects of the story.

What Could Have Been

I walked out of the movie tonight heart-broken again, not because the movie was horrible, but because I know it was not good enough to sell books. It has been my opinion from the moment I read this series that it would take only one well-made Percy Jackson film to turn Percy Jackson into the next Harry Potter. I'm giving up on that now, and I've come up with a new theory: give up on the movies, this needs to be an epic TV show.

My Final Thoughts

Percy fans, go ahead and see this movie, but brace yourselves. I think you'll enjoy the casting, but you are going to feel rushed. For those of you who have not read Percy, I am curious to hear what you have to say about this movie - does it capture your interest? Does it maintain it?

In the end, I'm not sure if there will be a third film - I'm waiting for the box office numbers to determine that - but who knows? Maybe the third time will be the charm!

Have you read the Percy books?

 How were you introduced to the books?

 Have you seen Sea of Monsters? What did YOU think?

What's Up Wednesday

Ready for the rundown? Each Wednesday, for What's Up Wednesday Jaime Morrow asks us What we're reading, what we're writing, what inspires us and what else we're up to. Here are my answers:

What I'm Reading

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I need to finish The Fantastic Family Whipple, so I'm setting my focus on that one until I finish it up.

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My graphic novel group picked 1602 by Neil Gaiman for our next meeting which I am super excited about, but I have to let it sit (I have to finish it by August 26th if you want to read it with me!). I also got a bunch of audiobook review copies that I am looking forward to listening to, but I'm not even going to mention them because I AM NOT READING ANYTHING ELSE UNTIL I FINISH THE WHIPPLES! (Here's hoping I get through it by the end of the day!)

What I Am Writing

I am blogging like crazy and trying to find the balance. So far the only writing I have been able to do outside of my posts here on Rivera Runs Through It and those on StoryDam, has been my contribution to the Trifecta Writing Challenges that I have been posting each Thursday. I know I will be able to screw my head back on in September, so that's just about the only reason I am looking forward to the end of summer.

What Inspires Me Right Now

The incredible weather.  Here in Staten Island, the last week has been nothing but sunny and in the mid seventies. I have done everything in power to get outside every single day, even bringing my laptop out to the front lawn just to get my posts written without missing out on the beauty.

What Else I'm Up To

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I went to an early showing of Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters which I will be writing a review of as soon as I finish this post.

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As I mentioned earlier, my graphic novel book club met this Monday. We discussed The Poor Bastard which more people liked than I thought possible. 

I have been hanging out with my cousins kids this week. They are adorable and hilarious.

Last Saturday was my five year anniversary, which was low-key awesomeness. (I posted tons of pictures on my Instagram, which there is a link to in the sidebar.)

Your turn!

What are you reading?

What are you writing?

What's inspiring you RIGHT NOW?

and...

What else have you been up to? 

10 Books I Wish Had Sequels

This week's topic for Top Ten Tuesday from The Broke and the Bookish blog is

10 Books I Wish Had Sequels
 
More specifically, they called it, "Top Ten Books I Wish Could Have Had Sequels (they were complete stories but you just could have read more and more about these characters or set in that world)." With nearly every single on of my selections, I was happy with the ending, I merely wish there was some way I could venture back into their worlds for a new story. Here they are:

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1. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

I just finished this audiobook (read by Wil Wheaton) on Sunday night, and I am heart-broken that I have no more adventures in the future or in the OASIS. This book was so much fun with its futuristic nostalgia about the decade I grew up in!

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2. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

This is another read from this summer. It is also another steeped in nostalgia (just not my own). However, it is my curiosity about the Hemlocks and the world they live in that leaves me wanting for more. I love the mystery that surrounds so much of this story, it keeps me dreaming, but those dreams would love Mr. Gaiman to paint another picture.

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3. The Help by Kathryn Stockett 

I don't know what it was about this book. Of course, I have no desire to live in such a time that this book took place in, but when I finished the book I was physically unable to start another fiction book. I was wrapped up in the reality of that world. The only way I could shake free of it was to read a couple of nonfiction books before heading into something new. With a reaction like that, I feel like I would enjoy a second story to keep the world and those characters alive.

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4. A Wrinkle In Time by Madeline L'Engle 

I didn't read this book until I was in college (maybe even later, now that I think of it...). I loved it. Not only do I wish I read it sooner, I wish there was more of it. In fact, thinking about this right now is making me want to re-read it!

****WISH GRANTED!!!****

My blog readers have informed me that I have been living in the dark:  There ARE sequels to A Wrinkle in Time! How happy am I???
Due to this fact, I need a replacement wish and, after reading the responses of other book bloggers this week, I quickly came to realize that I left out another one of my high school favorites. So, without further adieu, I give you:

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4. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

For a long time this book has been on my re-read list. It is my best friend's all time favorite book. Back in high school I remember being shocked that I was so enamored with this classic. When we started the book, I was so sure it was going to be torture! By the second assigned reading, I was flying past the class and gobbling it up. That was over twenty years ago and I'm still wanting to step back into that universe!

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5.  The Number Devil by Hans Magnus Enzensberger

Not enough people know about this book. As a math teacher who loved reading, I was always looking for a book like this to share with my students. When I found it, I couldn't believe it. When I finished it, I wished it would just go on and on forever. It is not easy to weave math into a story in a way that could be perceived as fun as well as entertaining. In fact, if you know of any other math stories, please let me know!

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6. Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

This definitely is on my list of must re-reads. When I read this book in high school I was excited that we were reading such a cool book. It was so much weirder than anything else we had done and I was enthralled by it. I think I could have stayed in that world, just to learn more about it.


Shop Indie Bookstores 7. The Lord of the Flies by William Golding

This is another dangerous and intriguing world introduced to me in my high school English class that I would have enjoyed hanging with for more than one book. I have always had a fascination with survivor stories, so when I put this book here, it also stands for others like Robinson Crusoe and Island of the Blue Dolphins.

8. After the Bomb by Gloria D. Milkowitz

Speaking of survival stories, I might as well give a nod to the one that started it all for me: After the Bomb. I read this book when I was very young. My cousin and I were pen pals and she mailed me this book. I loved it. I still think about it until this day. It was a cold war book, for sure, but I often wonder "what happened next?" A more recent book that did have a sequel that gave me the sense that I did get to extend the life of my childhood favorite was Life As We Knew It.

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9. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Who couldn't use some more of Scout, Atticus and (my favorite) Boo Radley????

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10. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling

No. Seven books were not enough. Sorry Ms. Rowling, I know you are probably done with this world, but I'm not sure we will ever be!


I honestly can not believe how difficult this week's list was for me. It seems I have a tendency to read books that are a part of a series. This is not a lifelong habit, just one I have picked up in th last decade or so. I'd like to thank The Broke and the Bookish for bringing this to my attention. Sometimes I miss the solidity of a singular novel. I suppose (as is evidenced by my recent reading of Ready Player One and The Ocean at the End of the Lane) I have started to realize this on some level!

Which books have pulled you in so deeply in one book that you have just wished there was some way you could crawl back into its world even though your story was complete?