http://www.nypress.com/articles.sec-24-1-books.html As pop musicians from Keith Richards to Prodigy have published their life stories in the last few years, the timing couldn’t be better for Le Freak, the recently released autobiography of bajillion-selling guitarist/producer Nile Rodgers. Considering that his career encompasses both a stint in the Apollo Theater’s house band and compositions that have inspired countless hip-hop samples, Rodgers may well be considered the bridge between the Rolling Stones and Mobb Deep]]> There is a lot of ground covered in Paul La Farge’s Luminous Airplanes, from the Great Disappointment of the 19th century to a time when computers were the province of dedicated insomniacs obses]]> In their latest issue, Our Town Downtown talks to author and "cultural historian" (though he hates the title) Anthony Pappalardo about his new book, Live...Suburbia and what it was like growing up in the Suburbia of the late 80s/ early 90s. ]]> The case of Sybil, the pseudonym for a young woman suffering from 17 multiple personalities as the result of some Gothic child abuse at the hands of her monstrous mother, became a cultural touchston]]> There’s a word in Danish that doesn’t translate to English. Google Translate will tell you that “hygge” means “cozy” or “coziness,” but it really means much more than that. Hygge, pronounced “hue-gah,” is the happy, satisfied laziness you feel when it’s raining outside and you’re curled up on the couch. It’s the feeling of being at home—of being comfortable—that all humans crave.]]> Pinpointing precisely all of the things that are wrong with Ben Loory’s collection of short stories is difficult, but a reader’s experience with the collection, Stories for Nighttime and Some For the Day, can be summed up thusly: the book leaves you with sore eyes. Not because the language is particularly lush or dense, but because of the number of times Loory’s stories inspire eye rolls of disappointment and desperation.]]> Any discussion of Rosanne Cash these days must include some reference to her lively, busy Twitter page, which details everything from the new shoes she bought to the things she worries about at three in the morning. This being Cash, however, her 3 a.m. fears aren’t the usual insomniac’s. Instead of mortality, she wonders on Twitter “What if there’s a sprinkler & it goes off when I’m sleeping & my red hair color gets on the pillow & someone thinks it’s blood.” Cash saves her dark nights of the soul for her music. ]]> Amy Waldman, a Brooklyn resident and former New York Times reporter now embarking on a literary career, has written a novel about Islams place in America. But The Submission may surprise you, for in generating narrative momentum, Waldman doesnt rely on the real yet receding threat of terrorism]]> A YEAR AND A HALF AGO, Colin, an active member of the DIY punk scene, found himself sitting in his room with a friend, feeling unfulfilled. Trying to picture the perfect job, a title came to him: Pizza Consultant.]]> TECHNICALLY SPEAKING, KATY Weselcouchs debut graphic novel, The Floundering Time, is a work of fiction.]]> KATE CHRISTENSEN'S MOST recent novel consists of philosophic insight, technical proficiency and narrative vigor wrapped around a rather undistinguished core. The Astral's rich mixture of i]]> NEW YORK NIGHTCLUBS are places of myth. Who knows what delicious debauchery goes on in those dens of iniquity? Jeremy Kost does, and he's made a career of inviting us beyond the velvet ropes to the go-go boys, drag queens and delicious eye candy that light up the night. His new book, It's Always Darkest Before Dawn, takes his subjects beyond documentation and transforms them into metaphors of personal representation.]]> Elliot Allagash By Simon Rich, out now In this novel from humor writer Rich, a one-time New York Press coverboy, a Manhattan prep school outcast named Seymour gets a makeover from Elliot Allagash, a wealthy and brash transfer student. To Sound in the Know: When hired by Saturday Night Live at the age of 24, Rich became the youngest writer in the shows history.]]> First lady of Greenpoint letters Kate Christensen will be dropping this new novel, focused on a fifty-something poet and his fractured family in and around the infamous Franklin Street building The Astral, in June. Expect fascinating, intricate characters and the name-checking of plenty of neighborhood institutions; perhaps reading this at the counter of Peter Pan Donuts wouldn't be the worst idea you ever had.]]> NATHAN LARSON, RENOWNED film composer and guitarist in bands Shudder to Think, Hot One and A Camp, has written a novel.]]> Over the next decade, he would expand his sphere of influence into other cultural realms, including art, design and style. He became close with the influential graffiti artist Jean-Michel Basquiat after inviting him onto his cult-favorite cable-access show, TV Party,.]]> IF ELLEN WILLIS were alive today—and not just alive, but the age she was when she was writing the pieces that have been compiled in Out of the Vinyl Deeps, the new collection of her essays as a rock critic— she would undoubtedly live in Brooklyn and play in a band. And her band would be skilled, innovative and ahead of its time, just like Willis' work as a writer and cultural critic. ]]>