City People at The Corner Bookstore

FTC Disclosure: Embedded in the word “here” at the end of the post is an affiliate link and if you click on it (and purchase the book) I will receive a teeny-tiny commission. Happy reading!

Come one, come all to the Corner Bookstore on 1313 Madison Ave, where I had the great pleasure to attend the book launch party for Elizabeth Topp’s latest novel City People several weeks ago. 

Liz is a friend of a friend who was kind enough to tell me about the event, so I stopped by to check out her book release.

Topp is the author of Perfectly Impossible, of which my mom is a fan, and a born-and-bred New Yorker, spending her entire life in the same New York City apartment, thereby making her very well-equipped to write this novel. I have since read City People (check out my 2023 book review post) and can therefore tell you that it is a fantastic little novel about Upper East Side parents vying to have their kids accepted to an elite elementary school, and do so by fighting tooth-and-nail within the confines of their shallow social circle. There is other commentary as well: the trap of the lives these women lead, the trap of being an influencer, affirmative action in applications, and just overall being a woman in this context, but I don’t want to spoil it for you. 

I got a copy of my book signed, getting cut off in line by Al Franken (a shameless name drop, I know, but he was there). I purchased a few other books from The Corner Bookstore, which I will be able to read in about five years when I get done reading all of the other books I’ve purchased but have not read yet. 

Topp gave a quick speech about how this book came to be and how city people are secretly the best kinds of people. Hard to disagree. 

And if her novel sounds like it would appeal to you, be sure to purchase it here

The Tragic Queen,

Raquel

P.S.: Be sure to check out my most recent blog post Drunk Shakespeare