Reddit mentions of Winter's Tale

The last excellent work of fiction I read was City of Dreams by Beverly Swerling. The book that I feel best captures the feeling of New York City, however, is Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin.

I mostly read nonfiction books about New York City history, and I'll share a few of my favorites with you. The definitive tome, of course, is Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898 by Mike Wallace and Edwin Burrows. Another favorite of mine, as I love the history of New Amsterdam, is Island at the Center of the World:The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony That Shaped America by Russell Shorto. One of the most fascinating subjects I have been learning about is Native American history at the period of first European contact, and I really recommend checking out Adriaen Van Der Donck's A Description of New Netherland (The Iroquoians and their World), which many scholars agree is just as much of a significant work as William Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation, and would be the definitive guide to the new world if it had been written in English. Evan Pritchard's Native New Yorkers: The Legacy of the Algonquian People of New York also offers an incredible look at native culture.

If you are interested in the subway system, check out Stan Fischler's fantastic Uptown, Downtown. One of the most underrated books I have picked up recently explores the construction of the amazing Grand Central Terminal, and I learned an incredible amount from it: Grand Central's Engineer: William J. Wilgus and the Planning of Modern Manhattan. If you are interested in urban planning, I would also suggest The Measure of Manhattan: The Tumultuous Career and Surprising Legacy of John Randel Jr., Cartographer, Surveyor, Inventor.

At this point I've read a ton of nonfiction books about the city, so if you have any questions or want any other recommendations, feel free to ask!

Oh my goodness, you absolutely cannot have a magical realism rec list without Mark Helprin's Winter's Tale on it! (Okay, maybe you could, but in my view it'd be like...like having a historical fantasy rec list without Guy Gavriel Kay on it. A travesty. Unless you're deliberately leaving off hugely successful books.)

The book is not at all like the movie of the same name. Like many magical realist novels, it's hard to describe; plus I find it hard to talk about because, as Benjamin DeMott said in his New York Times review, "I find myself nervous, to a degree I don’t recall in my past as a reviewer, about failing the work, inadequately displaying its brilliance."

It is a love letter to the New York City of the past, and of (at the time of the book's publication) the future. At times exhilarating, at others heartbreaking, simultaneously full of wry humor and grand vision. I suppose the back-of-book blurb I have on my battered, much-read copy is as good an overall description as any: "Vault into the cold, clear air across a frozen, fabulous time of love and laughter with Peter Lake, master thief, and his flying white horse. Thunder toward the 21st century, leading lunatics, lovers, rascals, and dreamers over snowdrifts, through raging storms, furious battles, walls of ice and pillars of fire, to the golden city of our glorious future."

this isthe cover to one of my favorite books of all time:
http://www.amazon.com/Winters-Tale-Mark-Helprin/dp/0156031191/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1314131907&sr=8-1

You might enjoy The Golem and the Jinni...It's set in turn of the century New York, and has strong cultural and religious overtones. The magical aspects of it are quite secondary to everything else.

A Winters Tale...the movie apparently sucked, but the book has stuck with me for quite some time. It's a lyrical piece of magic realism, much stronger on the realism. Another book on turn of the century New York.

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell may be a bit more magic than you'd like, but it's astonishingly good. It's what Jane Austen would have produced if she'd decided to write a fantasy novel.

The Night Circus is good.

Overview

Overall, pretty good.. needs a fair amount of wordsmithing, but I think you're doing a fair job of getting you personality across

Photos

Your main sucks wind, it doesn't look like the person in any of the other photos. I suspect it's the most recent, but it's focus is so bad it makes you look kind of like the brown eyed office bound older brother of the blue eyed mad bro who's out in the world having a great time in all the other pictures.

How much time are we talking about between the oldest and most recent pictures here?

You're 22, you've changed a lot in just the last year, for that matter 3 years. None of these should be more than 6 months old.

My self-summary

>Here's a hint... My name's not Steve! Recent University grad, Computer Science major. I'm very easy going and love to meet new people. I'm interested in traveling, photography, techy stuffy and love vinyl records.

Beeb! Hipster alert!

You're hopefully going to put most of this in it's appropriate section, so it really doesn't belong here.

Then come back here and give it a fresh try.. make this section why you like all the things you're mentioning in the other sections.. All of those are what you're passionate about, this section should be why you're passionate about it.


What I’m doing with my life

> Just graduated University! Currently working in IT for a corporate office. My coffee mug says that I'm the worlds greatest computer whizz.

I hope your coffee mug doesn't really say that, and if it does I hope you take it home, otherwise I will guess at least one fellow employee has taken a piss into your mug.

This is what you're doing in the "what's occurring in your life" sense not "What are your life goals and what are you doing to achieve them" sense. The question can go either way, I'm personally more fond of the later.

I’m really good at

Meh.. not terrible, not fantastic.

The first things people usually notice about me

Leave it blank, let it disappear.

Favorite books, movies, shows, music, and food

Not bad.. covering most bases.

No book? Not even a single favorite book?

Winter's Tale Paperback – by Mark Helprin

Get it.. wait till the first snowflakes start to fall, open it and start reading. Thank me or tell me it was crap when you finish reading it.

The six things I could never do without

Fair enough.

I spend a lot of time thinking about

> If the Oxford Comma is truly a necessity.

Yep. It's like ending a SQL statement with out a ;

On a typical Friday night I am

Paint a more vivid picture. Give the potential date reading your profile something they can mentally place themselves into. Do you frequent sports bars, wine bars, craft brew taprooms, live music, what?

The most private thing I’m willing to admit

No.. clear it, make it go away.

You should message me if

I was good with that until you used Adventure.

NO.

http://www.amazon.com/Winters-Tale-Mark-Helprin/dp/0156031191/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335458478&sr=8-1
Same photo on my favorite book's cover