So… I read chick lit. It’s true, the sparkly pink kind, with high heels and cocktails on the front. The kinds of books my mother would call a brain snack, and I’m not afraid to admit it. As I’ve been devouring popular chick lit books lately, I’ve run across more and more set in DC – I just picked up Mindy Klasky’s Sorcery and the Single Girl and opened up the first page to find the story being set in a bakery in Georgetown.
I gobbled up both of Kristin Gore’s Sammy series books, Sammy’s Hill and Sammy’s House. Since Kristin Gore is Al Gore’s daughter, I bought her realistic viewpoint of both DC and Capitol Hill. Rebecca Flower’s Nice To Come Home To was a fun read since I was able to imagine exactly what her shop would look like set on upper Connecticut Ave. I’ve heard interesting things about Washingtonienne, and am looking for others – thoughts, dear readers?
What book set in DC has recently tickled your fancy? When you read them, do you find them mostly accurate or is it more a loosly-based 24 In DC translation of our city?
George Pelecanos is the man for books set in DC. He’s a great crime writer and his books are full of DC landmarks and history.
http://www.georgepelecanos.com
For some good DC inspired poetry, check out the list at http://www.poets.org/dc
Kim Stanley Robinson’s series that begins with “Forty Signs of Rain” and continues with “Fifty Degrees Below” and ends with “Sixty Days and Counting” are all set in modern-day (or near future) D.C. Worth reading if only for the different disasters that befall the city.
I have a copy of DC Noir that I am working my way through at molasses speed. It’s a collection of noir-style stories set in various regions of the city and was sufficiently popular that they’ve released a DC Noir 2 since I bought it.
If you like the hard-boiled genre it’s a good purchase and the short story format makes it a great nightstand book for when you want a short-ish read.
I definitely suggest Ana Marie Cox’s book (title escapes me). Total DC setting with just enough media-politco mixing to make it believeable
What I’m really looking forward is the next Dan Brown novel which will be set in D.C.
Ana Marie Cox’s book is Dog Days, and is pretty solid from what I understand.
There’s Christopher Buckley’s books which are funny but you don’t get a real sense of life beyond the monuments in them.
Ana Marie Cox’s Dog Days was a stinker, but if “set in DC” is the only criteria, it fits.
Dan Brown’s “Digital Fortress”