Insomniac City: New York, Oliver, and Me by Bill Hayes (English) Paperback Book

Description: Insomniac City by Bill Hayes A moving celebration of what Bill Hayes calls "the evanescent, the eavesdropped, the unexpected" of life in New York City, and an intimate glimpse of his relationship with the late Oliver Sacks. FORMAT Paperback LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Publisher Description "A beautifully written once-in-a-lifetime book, about love, about life, soul, and the wonderful loving genius Oliver Sacks, and New York, and laughter and all of creation." --Anne Lamott Bill Hayes came to New York City in 2009 with a one-way ticket and only the vaguest idea of how he would get by. But, at forty-eight years old, having spent decades in San Francisco, he craved change. Grieving over the death of his partner, he quickly discovered the profound consolations of the citys incessant rhythms, the sight of the Empire State Building against the night sky, and New Yorkers themselves, kindred souls that Hayes, a lifelong insomniac, encountered on late-night strolls with his camera. And he unexpectedly fell in love again, with his friend and neighbor, the writer and neurologist Oliver Sacks, whose exuberance--"I dont so much fear death as I do wasting life," he tells Hayes early on--is captured in funny and touching vignettes throughout. What emerges is a portrait of Sacks at his most personal and endearing, from falling in love for the first time at age seventy-five to facing illness and death (Sacks died of cancer in August 2015).Insomniac City is both a meditation on grief and a celebration of life. Filled with Hayess distinctive street photos of everyday New Yorkers, the book is a love song to the city and to all who have felt the particular magic and solace it offers. Author Biography Bill Hayes is the author of The Anatomist, Five Quarts, and Sleep Demons. He is a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship in nonfiction and was a visiting scholar at the American Academy in Rome. He is a frequent contributor to the New York Times and his writing has appeared in the New York Review of Books and Salon, among other publications. His photographs have been featured in Vanity Fair, the New York Times, and the New Yorker. He lives in New York. billhayes.com Review [A] loving tribute to Sacks and to New York ... Read just 50 pages, and youll see easily enough how Hayes is Sackss logical complement. Though possessed of different temperaments, both are alive to difference, variety, the possibilities of our rangy humanity; both are avid chroniclers of our species ... Frank, beautiful, bewitching--[Hayess photographs] unmask their subjects best and truest selves. -- Jennifer Senior New York Times Remarkably poignant. Readers will find themselves wishing the two men had more time, but as Hayes makes clear, they wasted none of the time they had. Publishers Weekly [Insomniac City] seems written in heightened states of feeling that infuse every detail with meaning and transient beauty. Shelf Awareness A unique and exuberant celebration of life and love. Kirkus Reviews Like Patti Smiths haunting M Train, Hayes book weaves seemingly disparate threads of memory into a kind of sanctuary -- a secret place where one can shake off the treasured relics of past lives and prepare to be reborn anew. San Francisco Chronicle Hayes turns out to be that particular kind of big-city denizen, the irrepressible soul who treats the pavement like a cocktail party. -- Peter Lewis Barnes & Noble Hayes captures both the frenetic, exhilarating pace of New York City as well as the whimsy, fun and romance of the years he spent with Sacks. New York Post Insomniac City is resoundingly about life--about being wide awake to possibility, to the beauty of every fleeting moment. Oprah.com Hayes beautifully depicts the life and night light in a city which never sleeps. As you read this beautifully written book, you feel as if you are walking through the streets of New York and living this insomniac citys night life. This is an extremely enjoyable read for those who never stop fancying New York. Washington Independent Review of Books Buy a box of tissues and pray for snow: This is the perfect weekend February read, and will have you alternately bawling and giddily clapping your hands for the lovers that may not have had the time they deserved, but certainly made the best with the time that they had. Newsweek, "The Best New Book Releases" As eloquent in its silences and visuals as it is in its telling of the secrets of the heart... The brilliance of Insomniac City is that almost Tolstoy-an directness and concretion of observation, both down-to-earth and downright visionary. Bay Area Reporter Poetic and profound ... What emerges from this dual love letter is a lyrical reminder that happiness and heartache are inseparably entwined... Insomniac City is an ineffably splendid read in its entirety, a mighty packet of pure aliveness. Brainpickings That life permeates every page of Insomniac City, a dual love story of a powerful relationship that will shortly end but, also, of a city that is constantly reinventing itself. Counterpunch Breathtaking ... Its the kind of book that makes you stay up late without regret ... Hayes precise and affectionate observations of his newly adopted city, its denizens, subways, bodegas, and landmarks allow the reader to experience it through fresh eyes. Palette Magazine Insomniac City is a beautiful memoir in which Oliver Sacks comes wonderfully to life--a double portrait that also provides a vivid picture of New York Citys neighborhoods and people. The ending is exquisitely wrought, heartrending and joyous. -- Joyce Carol Oates Like New York, the city he celebrates so poignantly in this book, Bill Hayes mixes memory with desire to create a heartbreakingly gorgeous story of love, loss, and renewal. -- Azar Nafisi, author of READING LOLITA IN TEHRAN Insomniac City is a love story to New York and the people we cherish, for Bill Hayes, the late Oliver Sacks. With prescience and tenderness, written with a sharp eye and a camera attuned to life on the streets, Hayes has composed a gorgeous memoir on why place matters to the soul of our humanity. I loved every single sentence in this quiet night-book, erotic and evocative, at once. -- Terry Tempest Williams, author of THE HOUR OF LAND A lyrical love letter to his partner of six years, Dr Oliver Sacks, and to New York City itself. Through a series of tender vignettes, we meet the characters from the streets of Manhattan, and we are brought into the cocoon of Oliver Sacks apartment. Irish Times No lack of tenderness in Insomniac City, Bill Hayess memoir of his life in New York with the writer and neurologist Oliver Sacks. Guardian A love letter to Sacks, but also to New York... Overheard remarks, curious reflections by Sacks, poetic observations keep the narrative moving. -- Edmund White Guardian Long Description "This touching memoir of the late neurologist Oliver Sacks, by a photographer and writer with whom he fell in love near the end of his life, turns a story of death into a celebration." - The New Yorker "A beautifully written once-in-a-lifetime book, about love, about life, soul, and the wonderful loving genius Oliver Sacks, and New York, and laughter and all of creation." - Anne Lamott Bill Hayes came to New York City in 2009 with a one-way ticket and only the vaguest idea of how he would get by. But, at forty-eight years old, having spent decades in San Francisco, he craved change. Grieving over the death of his partner, he quickly discovered the profound consolations of the citys incessant rhythms, the sight of the Empire State Building against the night sky, and New Yorkers themselves, kindred souls that Hayes, a lifelong insomniac, encountered on late-night strolls with his camera. And he unexpectedly fell in love again, with his friend and neighbor, the writer and neurologist Oliver Sacks, whose exuberance--"I dont so much fear death as I do wasting life," he tells Hayes early on--is captured in funny and touching vignettes throughout. What emerges is a portrait of Sacks at his most personal and endearing, from falling in love for the first time at age seventy-five to facing illness and death (Sacks died of cancer in August 2015). Insomniac City is both a meditation on grief and a celebration of life. Filled with Hayess distinctive street photos of everyday New Yorkers, the book is a love song to the city and to all who have felt the particular magic and solace it offers. Review Quote "Like New York, the city he celebrates so poignantly in this book, Bill Hayes mixes memory with desire to create a heartbreakingly gorgeous story of love, loss, and retrieval." Azar Nafisi, author of READING LOLITA IN TEHRAN " Insomniac City is a love story to New York and the people we cherish, for Bill Hayes, the late Oliver Sacks. With prescience and tenderness, written with a sharp eye and a camera attuned to life on the streets, Hayes has composed a gorgeous memoir on why place matters to the soul of our humanity. I loved every single sentence in this quiet night-book, erotic and evocative, at once." Terry Tempest Williams, author of THE HOUR OF LAND "Remarkably poignant. Readers will find themselves wishing the two men had more time, but as Hayes makes clear, they wasted none of the time they had." Publishers Weekly "Bill Hayes has an unusual set of skills . . . He is part science writer, part memoirist, part culture explainer." The New York Times "All laud and honor to Hayes." The Washington Post on THE ANATOMIST "This beguiling brew of fascinating scientific facts and illuminating, poignant anecdotes makes Five Quarts something like blood itself: vital and pulsing with energy." Entertainment Weekly "Playful and powerful . . .profoundly moving . . . Hayes writes with so much panache that reading this book is thrilling." The Boston Globe on FIVE QUARTS "Bill Hayes is on his way to becoming one of those rare authors who can tackle just about any subject in book form, and make you glad he did. . . . [ Five Quarts ] equips even a casual reader with the knowledge to gain new insights into life." San Francisco Chronicle "Hayes, a lifelong insomniac, pursues sleep as avidly and lyrically as Nabokov pursued butterflies." San Francisco Chronicle on SLEEP DEMONS " Promotional "Headline" Amazons Best Biographies and Memoirs of the Year List A moving celebration of what Bill Hayes calls "the evanescent, the eavesdropped, the unexpected" of life in New York City, and an intimate glimpse of his relationship with the late Oliver Sacks. "A beautifully written once-in-a-lifetime book, about love, about life, soul, and the wonderful loving genius Oliver Sacks, and New York, and laughter and all of creation."--Anne Lamott Details ISBN162040494X Author Bill Hayes Pages 304 Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Year 2018 ISBN-10 162040494X ISBN-13 9781620404942 Format Paperback Imprint Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Subtitle New York, Oliver, and Me Place of Publication New York Country of Publication United States DEWEY B Short Title Insomniac City Language English Audience General/Trade Publication Date 2018-01-16 NZ Release Date 2018-01-16 US Release Date 2018-01-16 UK Release Date 2018-01-16 Illustrations B&W photos throughout; B&W photos throughout AU Release Date 2018-01-31 We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! TheNile_Item_ID:160907461;

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