K.L. Kranes

No sleep till…Well, not Brooklyn. But we did stay up late getting into Manhattan last night. I think that’s close enough that I had to quote the Beastie Boys song. So, now, I’m happily in Manhattan, my former home. (I did live in Brooklyn for a little bit in a tiny apartment with an oddly huge, completely pink bathroom. Only in NYC people.) This is the first place I tried a knish. The first place I went to a professional basketball game. (My husband had season tickets to the Knicks once upon a time.) The place my daughter was born.  If I’m being honest, when I left the area, I left a little bit of my heart behind. NYC will always feel like home to me.

I’m back because I’m escorting my daughter on a trip with her dance company to take a class with the Rockettes and other assorted dance activities. (Super cool.) Since my book, The Travelers, is so aptly named for a trip, I plan to take it on a Flat Stanley-type tour of Manhattan while I’m here. But, that will be part of tomorrow’s blog (sneak peek pic of it here of resting up in the hotel for all the activities).

Today, I have an ode to New York, with 8 of my favorite New York-based movies and books!

1. Annie Hall  – Woody Allen is pretty much synonymous with New York and the story of the eccentric Annie and neurotic Alvy’s doomed romance is one of his best and, obviously, takes place (mostly) in New York. Although there is a brief trip to LA. We’ll forgive it for that. (Honorable mention: Manhattan)

2. Enchanted – Yes, there many movies that take place in New York. But I just love this one about an animated princess that becomes real and falls for a New Yorker.

3. The Warriors – As a child, this was a movie that played on Saturday afternoons all the time. I saw it in bits and pieces and didn’t really understand it. But, as an adult, when I watched it again, The Warriors took on another dimension. Come out and play!

4. Forever – This is a book about a man who is granted immortality as long as he never leaves the island of Manhattan – blessing or curse? (Blessing to me!)

5. The Great Gatsby – This classic tale of love and greed set in Jazz age New York still inspires and resonates today.

6. Breakfast at Tiffany’s  – Both the book and movie are iconic. Audrey Hepburn (as Holly Golightly) with her tall hair, black dress and diamond tiara still epitomizes New York glamour in my book (pun intended.)

7. The Goldfinch – This Dickinsonian tale of Theo, a boy living in New York, who loses his mother in a tragic event and then must learn to survive without her, takes place over several years and several places, but Theo always finds his way back to New York.

8. Catcher in the Rye – Holden Caufield’s 3 day exploration of New York is filled with teenage angst and rebellion that is cemented in literary history.