98 books like The Shambling Guide to New York City

By Mur Lafferty,

Here are 98 books that The Shambling Guide to New York City fans have personally recommended if you like The Shambling Guide to New York City. Shepherd is a community of 11,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Tune in Tomorrow: The Curious, Calamitous, Cockamamie Story of Starr Weatherby and the Greatest Mythic Reality Show Ever

Alex Shvartsman Author Of The Middling Affliction: The Conradverse Chronicles, Book 1

From my list on funny and snarky fantasy set in New York City.

Why am I passionate about this?

I've lived in Brooklyn for over 30 years now. I've always had a weakness for fun, snarky urban fantasy where the city is always a supporting character—and sometimes a major one. One day I decided to write a short story in the style of Simon R. Green's Nightside books, only instead of London, it'd feature New York City. And thus, the Conradverse was born. I tend to combine action, humor, real Brooklyn and NYC locations and history, and copious pop culture references when writing in this setting, and I seek out other books that do a great job at handling some or all of these elements.

Alex's book list on funny and snarky fantasy set in New York City

Alex Shvartsman Why did Alex love this book?

A struggling actress catches her big break when she's hired onto a reality TV/soap opera show produced by and watched by mythical creatures. They're fascinated with humans and more than willing to accept the soapiest of soap opera plots as reality. Dawn is an entertainment journalist and she mixes humor with insider details that make the set seem authentic. Well, as authentic as a set populated with fawn producers, cameradryads, and security dragons can get.

Although much of the story happens on set, the New York City bits by this Brooklyn-based author feel both authentic and fun to me.

By Randee Dawn,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Tune in Tomorrow as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

She's just a small town girl, with big mythic dreams.

Starr Weatherby came to New York to become... well, a star. But after ten years and no luck, she's offered a big role - on a show no one has ever heard of. And there's a reason for that. It's a 'reality' show beyond the Veil, human drama, performed for the entertainment of the Fae.

But as Starr shifts from astounded newcomer to rising fan favorite, she learns about the show's dark underbelly - and mysterious disappearance of her predecessor. She'll do whatever it takes to keep her dream job…


Book cover of The Hex Is In: The Fast Life and Fantastic Times of Harry the Book

Alex Shvartsman Author Of The Middling Affliction: The Conradverse Chronicles, Book 1

From my list on funny and snarky fantasy set in New York City.

Why am I passionate about this?

I've lived in Brooklyn for over 30 years now. I've always had a weakness for fun, snarky urban fantasy where the city is always a supporting character—and sometimes a major one. One day I decided to write a short story in the style of Simon R. Green's Nightside books, only instead of London, it'd feature New York City. And thus, the Conradverse was born. I tend to combine action, humor, real Brooklyn and NYC locations and history, and copious pop culture references when writing in this setting, and I seek out other books that do a great job at handling some or all of these elements.

Alex's book list on funny and snarky fantasy set in New York City

Alex Shvartsman Why did Alex love this book?

Mike Resnick is a master of writing humor, and Hex collects all of his Harry the Book stories, a Damon-Runyon style tales of a down-on-his-luck bookie and his oddball crew, operating out of a booth in a Manhattan bar. I love this noir-ish version of NYC with zombies, werewolves, and even dragons mixing with human New Yorkers who are even more colorful.

If you love this book, Resnick's Hunting the Unicorn (and sequels) take place in the same setting. 

By Mike Resnick,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Hex Is In as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From boxing matches to dragon races to elections, there's no wager Harry won't cover—so long as the odds are right.

Harry the Book operates out of a Manhattan bar booth, with his personal wizard and his zombie bodyguard close at hand. He'll dope out the odds on any sort of contest, even if that gets him into a heap of trouble.

Be it conniving gamblers, lovelorn wizards, or flea-bitten werewolves, when it comes to the misadventures of Harry and his crew one thing is certain: the hex is always in.

This book contains fifteen tales of Harry the Book—the complete…


Book cover of Dead Jack and the Pandemonium Device

Alex Shvartsman Author Of The Middling Affliction: The Conradverse Chronicles, Book 1

From my list on funny and snarky fantasy set in New York City.

Why am I passionate about this?

I've lived in Brooklyn for over 30 years now. I've always had a weakness for fun, snarky urban fantasy where the city is always a supporting character—and sometimes a major one. One day I decided to write a short story in the style of Simon R. Green's Nightside books, only instead of London, it'd feature New York City. And thus, the Conradverse was born. I tend to combine action, humor, real Brooklyn and NYC locations and history, and copious pop culture references when writing in this setting, and I seek out other books that do a great job at handling some or all of these elements.

Alex's book list on funny and snarky fantasy set in New York City

Alex Shvartsman Why did Alex love this book?

Dead Jack is a zombie private detective with fairy dust addiction and a homunculus sidekick. He plies his trade in the Five Cities of Pandemonium which are very clearly the five boroughs of New York City.

I'm a sucker for a snarky voice first and foremost. Staten Island-based Aquilone melds horror and humor into a page-turner series that deliver my recommended daily dose of Vitamin Snark.

By James Aquilone,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Dead Jack and the Pandemonium Device as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"Dead Jack is wicked fun! Undead noir with a devious sense of humor. Highly recommended!" ― Jonathan Maberry, New York Times bestselling author of V-Wars and Rot & Ruin

JACK WOULD DO ANYTHING FOR DUST―MAYBE EVEN SAVE THE WORLD!

Dead Jack and the Pandemonium Device kicks off a wild and irreverent fantasy / horror series following the exploits of a zombie detective and his homunculus frenemy. In the fast-paced novel, the drug-addicted zombie detective and his shapeshifting sidekick battle and outsmart supernatural creatures, from tough-guy leprechauns to sex-obsessed shark women and insane bat gods, in a hellish, alternate New York…


Book cover of Brooklyn Knight

Alex Shvartsman Author Of The Middling Affliction: The Conradverse Chronicles, Book 1

From my list on funny and snarky fantasy set in New York City.

Why am I passionate about this?

I've lived in Brooklyn for over 30 years now. I've always had a weakness for fun, snarky urban fantasy where the city is always a supporting character—and sometimes a major one. One day I decided to write a short story in the style of Simon R. Green's Nightside books, only instead of London, it'd feature New York City. And thus, the Conradverse was born. I tend to combine action, humor, real Brooklyn and NYC locations and history, and copious pop culture references when writing in this setting, and I seek out other books that do a great job at handling some or all of these elements.

Alex's book list on funny and snarky fantasy set in New York City

Alex Shvartsman Why did Alex love this book?

If Indiana Jones was based in Brooklyn and was also an expert at magic and arcane lore, you'd have Piers Knight, the titular character of this book. Although a bit lighter on humor than the other entries here, I found this book to be fun and snappy, and as an additional bonus delves into the real (and weird!) historical factoids about New York City.

By C. J. Henderson,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Brooklyn Knight as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Professor Piers Knight, an esteemed curator at the Brooklyn Museum, is regarded by many on the staff as a revered institution of his own, if not an outright curiosity. Knight's portfolio includes lost civilizations; arcane cultures, languages, and belief; and, more than a little bit of the history of magic and mysticism. His colleagues don't know that, in addition to being a scholar of all things ancient, he is schooled in the uses of magical artefacts, the teachings of forgotten deities, and the threats of unseen dangers. If a mysterious object surfaces, Professor Knight makes it his job to figure…


Book cover of Girls They Write Songs About

Sarah Priscus Author Of Groupies

From my list on complex, chaotic female friendships.

Why am I passionate about this?

I'm fascinated by stories about complicated friendships because they speak to our eternal need to be part of something. Everyone wants to have friends, especially when we’re young, but what if those friendships aren’t good for us? What happens when self-interest motivates our social choices? It seems there’s often a fragile boundary between love and hate. This volatile intensity becomes addictive. I'm a Canadian writer with a BA in English from the University of Ottawa. When writing fiction, I love exploring the toxic threads of jealousy, ambition, and obsession that both bind us together and tear us apart.

Sarah's book list on complex, chaotic female friendships

Sarah Priscus Why did Sarah love this book?

I adored Charlotte and Rose’s heartbreaking friendship.

First, Charlotte and Rose come of age in the late nineties, a perfect pair with an inseparable bond taking on New York City. As they grow up, it’s their individual problems and decisions that loosen the bolts holding them together. Some friendships shape us into who we are, so losing a friend brings grief and anger.

Charlotte and Rose are both rich, fully realized characters with goals that don’t always align. Bauer’s brilliant prose makes this a book I could read again and again.

By Carlene Bauer,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Girls They Write Songs About as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'The instant feminist classic our generation has been waiting for' Ada Calhoun, author of Why We Can't Sleep

What happens when growing up means growing apart?

1997. New York.

Earnest, bookish Rose.

Brash, extrovert Charlotte.

When they moved to New York in the late nineties, coffee cost less than a dollar and you could still smoke in bars. You could stay up drinking all night, sat in vinyl booths patched up with duct tape.

Everyone has their own New York, and for Rose and Charlotte it was a place to feed their ambition, a place to dance and party and…


Book cover of The Wise Women

Caroline Leavitt Author Of With or Without You

From my list on hidden gems that won’t stay hidden for long.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a voracious reader, an author, and also a book critic, so hundreds of books cross my desk. What I love the most is the feeling of discovery—reading a book whose likes I haven’t seen on any bestseller list or on a front display in a bookstore. There are so many, many hidden gems—books that have stayed with me long after the publication day, and I always want others to have the same devotion to them that I do!

Caroline's book list on hidden gems that won’t stay hidden for long

Caroline Leavitt Why did Caroline love this book?

Maybe not a hidden gem (it was a Good Morning America Buzz Pick), but this one surely should be in everyone’s book bag.

New York City’s the bustling backdrop of this wildly witty novel about two adult daughters and their meddling advice columnist mother. Clementine struggles with working and bringing up her six-year-old boy, and her one comfort is the beautiful Queens home she thought she owned—right up until she discovers her husband has mortgaged their house for his failing start-up.

Sister Barb has a cheating girlfriend, and advice columnist mom has issues of her own! Can Wendy swoop in to save the day? Or does she? Smart, smart fun.

By Gina Sorell,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Wise Women as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A Good Morning America Buzz Pick and one of Read With Jenna's Most Anticipated Books of 2022

"I laughed and shook my head in recognition as the three Wise women crashed through love relationships, terrible advice, and delightful moments of connection. The Wise Women is a smart and tender novel about how hard-and vital-it is to find the place where we belong." -Amanda Eyre Ward, New York Times bestselling author of The Jetsetters and The Lifeguards

A witty and wildly enjoyable novel, set in New York City, about two adult daughters and their meddling advice columnist mother, for readers of…


Book cover of The Chosen

Matthew Arnold Stern Author Of The Remainders

From my list on Jewish families in crisis.

Why am I passionate about this?

Reseda, California plays an important part in my novels. I grew up there in a middle-class Jewish family, and we experienced the turmoil of the 1960s and 1970s. My parents got divorced, and my brother and I were raised by our working mom until she became paralyzed by a stroke. I found refuge in writing. I wrote The Remainders in 2016 during a tumultuous time when issues of family conflict, homelessness, and the growing cruelty of society came into focus. Still, I believe decency and compassion will prevail. The books I write and enjoy reading seek to find light in the darkest of circumstances.

Matthew's book list on Jewish families in crisis

Matthew Arnold Stern Why did Matthew love this book?

If you want to understand the struggle Jews like me face in modern America, read this classic novel.

Two Jewish boys—one secular and the other expected to follow in his father’s footsteps as a Chasidic rabbi—grow up in 1940s Brooklyn against the backdrop of World War II and the founding of Israel. It shows the conflict we face between family expectations and assimilating in a country where we don’t feel fully welcome.

By Chaim Potok,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Chosen as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A coming-of-age classic about two Jewish boys growing up in Brooklyn in the 1940s, this “profound and universal” (The Wall Street Journal) story of faith, family, tradition, and assimilation remains deeply pertinent today.

“Works of this caliber should be occasion for singing in the streets and shouting from the rooftops.” —Chicago Tribune

It’s the spring of 1944 and fifteen-year-olds Reuven Malter and Danny Saunders have lived five blocks apart all their lives. But they’ve never met, not until the day an accident at a softball game sparks an unlikely friendship. Soon these two boys—one expected to become a Hasidic rebbe,…


Book cover of A Pickpocket's Tale: The Underworld of Nineteenth-Century New York

John Oller Author Of Rogues' Gallery: The Birth of Modern Policing and Organized Crime in Gilded Age New York

From my list on crime and punishment in the Gilded Age.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’d written modern true crime before—a book that helped solve a 40-year-old cold case—and wanted to try my hand at historical true crime. I live in Manhattan, home to the greatest crime stories of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, so I was able to see the actual locations where the grisliest murders, the biggest bank heists, and the crookedest con games took place. What really drew me in, though, were the many colorful, unforgettable characters, both good and bad, cops and robbers, who walked the bustling streets of Old New York during the fascinating era known as the Gilded Age. 

John's book list on crime and punishment in the Gilded Age

John Oller Why did John love this book?

If you read one biography/memoir of a Gilded Age criminal, make it this one. It tells the story (often in his own words) of the celebrated pickpocket George Appo, an odd little half-Chinese, half-Irish, one-eyed fellow who could make $800 in a few days when most working men made less than that in a year. Appo would rivet New Yorkers when he testified about his second career as a “green goods” con man, working to swindle gullible out-of-towners who came to buy purported counterfeit money at a discount, only to discover that there was nothing but sawdust inside the packages they carried away. Appo refused to name names, though, as he was a self-described “good fellow.”  

By Timothy J. Gilfoyle,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked A Pickpocket's Tale as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In George Appo's world, child pickpockets swarmed the crowded streets, addicts drifted in furtive opium dens, and expert swindlers worked the lucrative green-goods game. On a good night Appo made as much as a skilled laborer made in a year. Bad nights left him with more than a dozen scars and over a decade in prisons from the Tombs and Sing Sing to the Matteawan State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, where he reunited with another inmate, his father. The child of Irish and Chinese immigrants, Appo grew up in the notorious Five Points and Chinatown neighborhoods. He rose as…


Book cover of Tough Jews: Fathers, Sons, and Gangster Dreams

Paul M. Levitt Author Of Come with Me to Babylon

From my list on arresting gangsters.

Why am I passionate about this?

My father came from Ukraine, and every summer took the family to stay on a farm in an immigrant community in southern New Jersey, Carmel, a community begun by the Baron de Hirsch Foundation, which settled Jews from all over Europe. Italian immigrants also settled there. I lived in a family that spoke to their siblings in three languages, Yiddish, Russian, and Ukrainian. Hence, I was privy to the loves and losses of people who felt estranged from their language and often yearned to return to their country of origin.

Paul's book list on arresting gangsters

Paul M. Levitt Why did Paul love this book?

Tough Jews is a short history of Jewish-American gangsters and their Italian colleagues with whom they made common cause. It is here for the first time that we understand why Arnold Rothstein was the most important gangster in America.  Having introduced "organized" into organized crime, he promised underworld figures the help of the famous attorney William Fallon if they landed in trouble and agreed to look after their families if they got sent up the Hudson (to Sing Sing). I am struck by the fact that Cohen makes his history personal, by means of his own contacts with the people who know the inside story of how the Jewish gangsters thrived—or didn't. He sits down with them; he eats with them; and he gets them to remember how it once was in the days of Dutch Schultz, Legs Diamond, and Arnold Rothstein.

By Rich Cohen,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Tough Jews as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Award-winning writer Rich Cohen excavates the real stories behind the legend of infamous criminal enforcers Murder, Inc. and contemplates the question: Where did the tough Jews go?

In 1930s Brooklyn, there lived a breed of men who now exist only in legend and in the memories of a few old-timers: Jewish gangsters, fearless thugs with nicknames like Kid Twist Reles and Pittsburgh Phil Strauss. Growing up in Brownsville, they made their way from street fights to underworld power, becoming the execution squad for a national crime syndicate. Murder Inc. did for organized crime what Henry Ford did for the automobile,…


Book cover of Small Admissions

Tracy Dobmeier and Wendy Katzman Author Of Girls with Bright Futures

From my list on college admissions mania.

Why are we passionate about this?

When each of our older boys were in the midst of the college admissions process, our husbands suffered life-threatening health crises. It was such a bizarre coincidence that we both experienced intense brushes with mortality during this time of high anxiety. The juxtaposition between health and college admissions gave us a unique perspective and led us to explore the impacts of college admissions anxiety on families, friendships, students, and school communities. We had entirely plotted Girls With Bright Futures and were nearly through the first draft when the Operation Varsity Blues college admissions scandal broke in March 2019. We felt like the headlines had been ripped from our manuscript!

Tracy's book list on college admissions mania

Tracy Dobmeier and Wendy Katzman Why did Tracy love this book?

We read several popular novels that explore competitive school environments. One of the best in this sub-genre is Small Admissions, by Amy Poeppel, which provides a fictional glimpse into the cut-throat world of Manhattan prep school admissions and ultra-competitive parents. Poeppel crafts a fun, wicked read with sharp dialogue. We could easily imagine what would happen when the children in Small Admissions apply to college…their parents would fit in well with the characters in our book.

By Amy Poeppel,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Small Admissions as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

People's Book of the Week

"The Devil Wears Prada meets Primates of Park Avenue." -The New York Times

"Perfect for fans of Curtis Sittenfeld's Prep."-Booklist

Top 6 Books You Need to Read-BuzzFeed

Best Books to Give Every Book Lover on Your List-Town and Country

One admission can change your life...forever.

When ambitious grad student Kate Pearson's handsome French "almost fiance" ditches her, she definitely does not roll with the punches, despite the best efforts of family and friends. It seems that nothing will get Kate out of pajamas and back into the world.

Miraculously, one cringe-worthy job interview leads to…


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