Great reading that provides a sense of the city, from the Traveler online Ultimate Travel Library.
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Suggested reading from Steven Rothman, president of the Philobiblon Club, a group of librarians, printers, binders, and book lovers founded in 1893.
The Autobiography of Ben Franklin (1791)
Originally penned as a memoir for his son, Franklin “captured colonial Philadelphia and the nuances of daily life in wonderful detail.”
Kitty Foyle: The Natural History of a Woman, by Christopher Morley (1939)
A successful career gal of humble origins is torn between beaus from the Main Line and Main Street. “Fascinating portraits of the privileged Main Line and working class Frankford.”
Black Friday, by David Goodis (1954)
Melancholy, hardboiled noir thriller about a guy on the lam who shows up broke in the middle of a Philly winter. “A look at the skid row and pawn shops and seamy side of the city in the early 1950s.”
The Philadelphian, by Richard Powell (1956)
“A bitingly accurate look at the post-war years in the city as it follows an Irish family whose fourth generation makes a bid for both success in a Philadelphia law firm and society.”
God’s Pocket, by Pete Dexter (1983)
A fading, alcoholic newspaperman tries to interpret an insular working class neighborhood, where folks don’t welcome insights from outsiders.
The Price of a Child, by Lorene Cary (1995)
Novel based on a woman’s true-life escape from slavery in 1855 to the City of Brotherly Love, a stronghold of Quaker abolitionists.
In Her Shoes, by Jennifer Weiner (2002)
“Young professionals living and loving in Center City.”
