Only in New York 2

 Book 40 of my 2021 Reading Challenge

Only in New York 2

by M.G. Crisci

Summary (via Goodreads)

published 2021

Among these 37 unforgettable short stories, you will learn how a school's Mascot Ram was accidentially murdered and Why Chiquita Bananas CEO jumped out a 44th Floor window on Park Avenue, .
You'll also discover how a stoned Neil Young perfomed in Milkwuakee, Joan Rivers sent up her husband at the Four Seasons Restaurant, and a group of mulit-millionaires consumed a prodigious amount of high fat Jewish comfort food at a landmark restaurant in a Bowery basement.
These are poignant, entertaining, and powerful stories about a Manhattan that is almost gone. Chronicled by a native New Yorker, with 37 original illustrations, Only in New York Vol 1 and 2, are must reads.

First Impressions/Judging a Book by Its Cover

I saw this book while browsing on NetGalley (full disclaimer below).  I'd read the first volume, giving it 3 stars, so I decided to read this one too.

I'm expecting similar things to the first volume - the author was a natural storyteller and I was entertained even if I didn't think every story was completely true.  I did note multiple typos and grammatical errors in the first volume so hopefully that has been improved.  

Since it's an electronic book I don't have much to say about it.  The title is clear in big block letters which drew my attention, jogging my memory about reading the first volume, so it was effective at grabbing my interest.

My Opinion

4 stars

**I received an electronic copy of this book via NetGalley and would like to thank the author and/or publisher for the opportunity to read and honestly review it**

He seemed to take feedback about his previous books to heart.  This kept the folksy chatty style of the first volume but was more polished and concise. I enjoyed this book even more than the first one.  I think since most of the top-shelf outlandish stories were used in the first volume, this volume had stories with a more personal feel.  It's still a life I know nothing about (the money earned, spent, lost, etc. is more than I can imagine) but it felt more grounded.  It's like a fisherman - maybe not everything is completely accurate but any embellishments are harmless.

I laughed at his description of hitting a ball "three manhole covers down the street" - that's true street ball! 

As I noted with the first volume, these books will be an absolute treasure to his family for historical purposes, especially this volume that focused more on family stories.  The illustrations were fun too.

I mentioned above in my first impressions that I was concerned about typos and I'm happy to say that was not an issue.  As an editing note since I read an ARC, the author added dates to help place the world around him but there was one that felt very out of place so I'm assuming it was either a typo of the date or of the anniversary.  "50th Anniversary Celebration" was listed as August 1994 which doesn't match their ages or any of the other stories.

I didn't realize how many books he's written and I'd read him again if I saw them.