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If you loved
Books like Metropolitan Life
A sharp, witty collection of essays capturing the absurdities and customs of city living. These 12 books are the closest matches in mood, pace and themes, with what each one shares with Metropolitan Life.
- cosmopolitan
- lively
- cynical
- urban
- 01
Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls
David Sedaris
A globe-trotting masterclass in finding the hilarious, grotesque, and surprisingly tender details hidden in everyday life.
- 02
I was told there'd be cake
Sloane Crosley
A wry and hilarious celebration of well-intentioned haplessness in the modern city.
- 03
Sex and the City
Candace Bushnell · 2001
A sharp, cocktail-soaked anthropological study of Manhattan's elite and their cynical, glittering mating rituals.
- 04
When You Are Engulfed in Flames
David Sedaris · 2008
A masterclass in turning everyday mortifications and neurotic spirals into sharp, surprisingly tender comedy.
- 05
Reasons to live
Amy Hempel · 1985
A masterclass in saying everything by saying almost nothing, wrapping profound grief in sharp, brittle wit.
- 06
Enormous Changes at the Last Minute
Grace Paley · 1975
A grounded collection of stories capturing the sudden shifts and everyday customs of 20th-century American life.
- 07
Bad behavior
Mary Gaitskill · 1988
A raw, disenchanted plunge into the longing and angst of an urban fringe generation desperate for connection.
- 08
Slow days, fast company
Eve Babitz
A sun-drenched, martini-soaked love letter to the glamorous decay of 1970s Los Angeles.
- 09
We are Never Meeting in Real Life
Samantha Irby
A wildly funny, unapologetically messy romp through the indignities of adulthood and the human body.
- 10
I Remember Nothing and Other Reflections
Nora Ephron
A sharp, hilarious, and ultimately heartbreaking conversation with your smartest friend over a very good lunch.
- 11
Further Tales of the City
Armistead Maupin · 1997
A breezy, gossipy love letter to a bygone era of queer liberation and the messy, beautiful reality of found family.
- 12
Primates of Park Avenue
Wednesday Martin
A sharp, voyeuristic safari through the glittering, cutthroat world of Manhattan's elite mothers that unexpectedly transforms into a moving testament to female solidarity.
