A review by ecstaticlistening
Among Other Things, I've Taken Up Smoking by Aoibheann Sweeney

4.0

This was a perfect book to read as I prepare to leave NYC. Sweeney captures all the awkwardness that comes from being new in this city--from feeling under dressed and unfashionable at all times, to not knowing what a "regular" coffee is, to learning how to walk with the crowd. My favorite observation about New Yorkers is about weather. In the rain, "they seemed to feel as if the weather was meant for someone else, or somewhere else," and isn't that always the way with New Yorkers? Some days I feel like a bunch of Californians somehow ended up in the Northeast, surprised to find that it gets cold or snows or rains or is generally intemperate 75% of the year. I've been trying to pin that attitude down for years.

Oh, the story is lovely, too, and Sweeney builds characters that make sense, like people you have met. This book got me devouring books in a way I haven't for years. I'm writing this review, and I hardly ever do that anymore.