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Up in the Old Hotel

4.48 of 5 stars 4.48 · rating details · 1,150 ratings · 163 reviews

Saloon-keepers and street preachers, gypsies and steel-walking Mohawks, a bearded lady and a 93-year-old “seafoodetarian” who believes his specialized diet will keep him alive for another two decades. These are among the people that Joseph Mitchell immortalized in his reportage for The New Yorker and in four books—McSorley's Wonderful Saloon, Old Mr. Flood, The Bottom of t...more

Paperback, 736 pages

Published June 1st 1993 by Vintage (first published 1992)

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I Love New York City

24th out of 386 books — 154 voters

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

Best Non-Fiction (non biography)

260th out of 2,087 books — 3,728 voters

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Sep 24, 2008 Tom rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: essays

One of those rare treasures that just gets better with age. A one-man lesson in the cleanest yet most lyrical non-fiction you're likely to find anywhere. Whenever I need to clear my head and cleanse my soul, I pull out this book and reread any one of dozens of favorite passages. A kind of poetry of the streets -- Whitman would've loved Mitchell, I'm convinced of it!
I'd match "Joe Gould's Secret" with any famous novella in American Literature.
So many favorite lines ...
"Done by aproned, middle-a...more

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Jan 29, 2012 Kathleen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, adult

What is it about me and the old guys these days? I can't seem to get enough of them. Mitchell, a prolific staff writer for The New Yorker magazine, chronicled daily life in hidden corners of New York City in the 1930s and 1940s, from McSorley's Saloon, a men's only bar in the Village, to Gypsy neighborhoods on the outskirts of town. When my brain is abuzz from too much screen time and ringing cell phones, I like nothing more than taking a step back into old time New York City with Joseph Mitch...more

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Mar 16, 2012 Ensiform rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, non-fiction

A collection of pieces, mostly factual but with a few fiction stories thrown in, that originally appeared in the New Yorker during the 1940s and ‘50s. Most of these stories focus on the strange and larger than life characters who populated New York in the Depression and afterwards --- eccentric barmen, street preachers, Bohemians, gypsies, fishermen, a bearded lady, a Calypso singer, and more. Mitchell’s beat is the Bowery, the Fulton Fish Market, and the Hudson River. He talks about the poverty...more

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Sep 12, 2011 Mandy Jo rated it 4 of 5 stars

This week’s headline? Old New York

Why this book? Friend's mom's recommendation

Which book format? Shabby trade paperback

Primary reading environment? Shady park bench

Any preconceived notions? Of a time

Identify most with? Joseph Mitchell himself

Three-word quote? “yellow-haired blonde"

Goes well with? mussels, cheese, onions

I spent three months trying to read this, eschewing all other books, and I can't say my time wouldn’t have been better spent reading something else.

There's a certain brand of jour...more

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Aug 20, 2011 Jack Silbert rated it 5 of 5 stars

I wanted to read this collection since 1992, when it first came out. Finally, last November, my friend Fiona loaned me her well-worn copy. It had been to Alaska and back with her, and who knows where else. At some point early in the new year, I began to read the book, first reinforcing the cover with clear packing tape.

Fiona, you know me too well. The book was a revelation, one of the best I've ever read. Even if I took my sweet time with it. Its 700+ pages hold 37 of Mitchell's New Yorker essay...more I wanted to read this collection since 1992, when it first came out. Finally, last November, my friend Fiona loaned me her well-worn copy. It had been to Alaska and back with her, and who knows where else. At some point early in the new year, I began to read the book, first reinforcing the cover with clear packing tape.

Fiona, you know me too well. The book was a revelation, one of the best I've ever read. Even if I took my sweet time with it. Its 700+ pages hold 37 of Mitchell's New Yorker essays, including a few short stories, ranging from 1940 to 1964. The first covers McSorley's Wonderful Saloon, and I was immediately hooked. McSorley's survives—I first visited in the summer of 1990—but for the most part the book chronicles a forgotten New York. And it's the rough-and-tumble side, the Bowery, the Seaport, after hours at the police station, the bars, diners, cemeteries, and everywhere in between. And oh the characters he meets, poets and preachers, iron workers and movie-house managers, schemers and dreamers.

Along the way we watch Mitchell grow as a writer. His earliest pieces often end abruptly. He becomes a more nuanced storyteller. He takes some stabs at fiction but I think soon realizes that real life is where the action is. I can see a strong influence on a later New Yorker writer (and another favorite) John McPhee, especially in Mitchell's later work. They both become so enmeshed in their topic that they want to convey every detail, and just when it seems too much, a character is introduced to put a human face on the story. (Interestingly, the two men provide the only two pieces I've ever read about shad.) But Mitchell gets the nod, because he's much more willing to get down and dirty, and at the end of the day, his topics are just more fun.

And so for months, I carried the book with me wherever I went, bus stations and train stations, snowstorms and heat waves, and yes, even to Alaska and back. I treasured every essay. To first-time readers of Mitchell's work, I suggest skipping the 2008 introduction by David Remnick till you're finished. (There's a bit of a spoiler. Why do introduction writers for old reprinted books assume we've read them before?) The book ends beautifully. Mitchell, who's accompanied us through a quarter century journey, meeting countless friends along the way, finally reveals himself, and it all comes together. This is just about perfection.(less)

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Apr 12, 2011 Diane A Brown rated it 3 of 5 stars

Mitchell, a well known reporter has filled a role in history that will always be remembered and loved by those who lived the life he wrote about.

The people in his stories are unique and have qualities some would find interesting. His writing is very descriptive and he captures countless details not understood or seen by the casual passer-buyer. You can easily place yourself as a fly on the wall soaking in your surroundings.

If you read “Up in the Old Hotel” with literary merit in mind then you w...more

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Jan 10, 2011 Nycdreamin rated it 5 of 5 stars

An amazingly entertaining collection of stories written by Joseph Mitchell, this book should be required reading for any American Literature class in high schools. Mitchell, in his incredibly descriptive writing style, tells tales of some of the people he met in the 1920's - 1950's in and around the vicinity of NYC. Some of the stories contianed in this volume are longer, more complete versions of stories that appeared in an earlier Mitchell collection, "My Ears Are Bent." To read them again her...more An amazingly entertaining collection of stories written by Joseph Mitchell, this book should be required reading for any American Literature class in high schools. Mitchell, in his incredibly descriptive writing style, tells tales of some of the people he met in the 1920's - 1950's in and around the vicinity of NYC. Some of the stories contianed in this volume are longer, more complete versions of stories that appeared in an earlier Mitchell collection, "My Ears Are Bent." To read them again here, in their original, uncut versions, was a delight as the stories were more fully fleshed out, giving the reader a much fuller experience.

In this book are stories about real characters: a lady who worked at a ticket booth at a movie theater near the Bowery who was friend and donor to many a down-and-out man that she met on the streets of the city. Then there's the story about the bearded "Lady Olga" and her life spent performing in circus side-shows. There is an extensive story about the Gypsy population of New York City and the lifestyle they led. Other people to read about in this collection include the "Don't Swear Man," a guy on a one-man mission to eradicate profanity on the city streets; a great story about the Mohawk Indians and how they became some of the most skilled high-steel workers in the nation. There's "Old Mr. Flood," an old city dweller who had spent a good deal of his life on and around the Fulton Fish Market. Mitchell tells other sea tales of boat captains and oysterman. There's a story about the history of the Rat population and problem in the city and the potential disasters they could cause. Many, many more very interesting characters appear in this book - I won't list them all so to save some surprise if you choose to read the book. The final story in this volume is "Joe Gould's Secret," a meandering tale about a man who wandered the streets of NYC, observing an listening, for a few decades during the bohemian era. Most everyone seemed to know, or know of, Joe Gould. Gould claimed to be writing a book he called "An Oral History Of Our Time." Mitchell had decided he would write a piece on Gould and his book for a publication he was working for at the time and through the course of about a year or so, Mitchell spent a good many hours listening to Gould and his seemingly never ending tales. Throughout the course of his sometimes nearly maddening dealings with Gould, Mitchell makes an accidental discovery about the truth of the "Oral History." He shares the discovery with the reader - but I can't tell you about it here - you'll have to read it for yourself.(less)

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Dec 01, 2012 Cindy Light rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Another well worn favorite of mine. Here's a review:

Journalist Joseph Mitchell, whose death in in May 1996 at the age of 87 merited a half-page obituary in the New York Times, pioneered a style of journalism while crafting brilliant magazine pieces for the New Yorker from the 1930s to the early 1960s. Up in the Old Hotel, a collection of his best reporting, is a 700-page joy to read.
Mitchell lovingly chronicled the lives of odd New York characters. In the pages of Up In the Old Hotel, the reader...more

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Nov 24, 2009 Eric rated it 4 of 5 stars

A disclaimer: I only read about 2/3rd's of this book. It's around 750 pages, but some of the stories were either too antiquated to read or were of a topic too sensitive for me to read (ex. the raising of terrapins for future consumption - couldn't handle that. Although, it did remind me of the magical Terrapin Station!). Otherwise, Mitchell's book is fantastic. He was a reporter for the New Yorker from the 1930's to the 1990's. These stories are all profiles he made of the common man and, specif...more

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Andy Great review. Worthy of McSweeny's or the Times. I'm in awe. I must read now...
Nov 25, 2009 09:23am

Eric Thanks, Brother.
Nov 27, 2009 07:59am

Eric A brief diversion (I don't blog or twitter so here we go):

The Flaming Lips' "Embryonic" vs. Animal Collective's, "Merriweather Post Pavilion"

I've list...more A brief diversion (I don't blog or twitter so here we go):

The Flaming Lips' "Embryonic" vs. Animal Collective's, "Merriweather Post Pavilion"

I've listened to both of these albums back to back over the last week about 4 or 5 times each. There's no question each is incredibly ambitious and original and way ahead of the 2009 best-of field (although there are some delicious other albums out there). For me, these albums almost cancel each other in their unique, singular majesty.

The lyrics on these albums are secondary for me. I appreciate them, but the sound is what keeps me coming back. MPP strikes me as warmer. There's a feeling of optimism even amongst some of the more subdued songs. Everything sounds crisp and fresh and, in some places, sounds like there are 50 tracks stacked on top of each other. In a sense I liken the sound as chewy or maybe even meaty. It's so thick that you almost feel like you're swimming in it. AC obviously spent a lot of time mixing MPP and it shows.

The lyrics on MPP are pretty solid, but not of a quality that matches the music. I can't differentiate who's singing, but one of the singers textures his lyrics much more with abstract images and concepts, while the other's lyrics are more straight-forward and repetitious. Most of the time both approaches work well, but after repeated listens the music from My Girls and Also Frightened dwarfs the lyrics. This kind of slack lyricism is about the only criticism of MPP I can think of. It's the one thing that keeps this from being my album of the year.

Album of the year: Embryonic. Even upon first listen Embryonic is devastating. As with MPP the sound is the first thing that reels you in. I envision the Lips playing in a cold, spacious room with cords everywhere and a huge sense of purpose. It's clear that this was never meant to be a singles album or a happy album. Steven Drozd's heroin addiction must have been a prime subject for the feel of Embryonic. That feeling is like that of Miles Davis' 'On The Corner" - sinister, dark, with a dash of insanity. That might be taking it a little far, but it's pretty foreboding. There are a lot of sounds that make me think of pteradactyl's screeching - and I love that.
It's hard to deny that Embyonic is kind of a mess that barely holds together, which (maybe not so strangely) is a quality that most of my favorite albums possess.

Another great twist is that Wayne Coyne doesn't sound like himself at all (a la late60's Dylan - Nashville Skyline, John Wesley Harding, etc.) and sounds fairly possessed throughout. I'll admit there are a couple of songs on Embryonic that are lyrically grating, particularly the Karen O vehicles - she's just awful. The album has so many songs though - most of them brief -that this end's up being relatively minor criticism. Ultimately, that's part of the draw: the sprawling, fearless nature of this album is arresting. It's not ashamed or afraid to be depressing and, as a result, ends up being a confident career-defining album for Lips.

What's strange is that I listen to MPP more often because I'm already depressed enough and Embryonic is taxing. Still, the power of Embryonic is undeniable and honestly 10 or 20 years down the line I think its stature will grow to overshadow the also great MPP.(less)
Dec 04, 2009 11:52am

Oct 07, 2012 Josh Hamacher rated it 5 of 5 stars

Joseph Mitchell is best known as a writer for The New Yorker from 1938 until 1996, although he only produced until 1964. This thick volume (over 700 pages) collects all of the stories from four of his books ("McSorley's Wonderful Saloon", "Old Mr. Flood", "The Bottom of the Harbor", and "Joe Gould's Secret") plus a few previously uncollected stories.

I don't think I had ever heard of Joseph Mitchell before I started reading this book. I don't even really remember why I picked it up, as it's not s...more

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Mar 06, 2010 Jake rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: history, sociology, short-stories

Easily the best book about New York that I have ever read. I think if Joseph Mitchell had focused on fiction, instead of reporting, he would have been a match for Hemingway- they share a passion for short, declarative sentences, and for stories about noble, damaged people. And like Hemingway, you sense that despite his huge talent, Mitchell was also damaged and sometimes deeply depressed. Maybe that's why he stopped writing after he published "Joe Gould's Secret"– his sadness just got the better...more

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Jun 18, 2012 Steve Turtell rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is one of the books I had to ration because I never wanted it to end. Of all the writers who have taken New York City as their subject, none is better than Joseph Mitchell. I once referred to "the Joseph Mitchell tradition" to Fran Lebowitz in conversation and she shot back: "That's not a tradition, that's a talent." Amen to that. One of a kind. I have read some of the essays repeatedly: "Mazie" about the saintly ticket taker in a Bowery movie theater, "The Mohawks in High Steel," and "Up i...more

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Dec 16, 2008 Frank rated it 4 of 5 stars

I'm going to give this four stars provisionally since I haven't read the whole thing or even the majority of it. I bought this book in order to read the final piece in it, "Joe Gould's Secret," which Janet Malcolm called Joseph Mitchell's masterpiece.

I can see why Malcolm, author of The Journalist and the Murderer, a classic study of the ethical quandaries of the relationship between writer and subject, would be drawn to this piece. It's a fascinating and entertaining account of Mitchell's relat...more

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Mar 31, 2013 Matt Chic rated it 5 of 5 stars

First things first. Up in the Old Hotel actually contains four books by Joseph Mitchell:

McSorley’s Wonderful Saloon
Old Mr. Flood
The Bottom of the Harbor
Joe Gould’s Secret

And the majority of the book is nonfiction (a lot of which appeared in the New Yorker), but Old Mr. Flood and three other chapters are fictional. Feel that’s worth noting. Now the review...

I could tell I was gonna love this book about three pages into McSorley's Wonderful Saloon. And as far as I’m concerned, Up in the Old Hotel...more

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Apr 08, 2013 Eddy Allen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: arts-and-historical

Saloon-keepers and street preachers, gypsies and steel-walking Mohawks, a bearded lady and a 93-year-old “seafoodetarian” who believes his specialized diet will keep him alive for another two decades. These are among the people that Joseph Mitchell immortalized in his reportage for The New Yorker and in four books—McSorley's Wonderful Saloon, Old Mr. Flood, The Bottom of the Harbor, and Joe Gould's Secret—that are still renowned for their precise, respectful observation, their graveyard humor, a...more

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Jan 24, 2013 Connie Courtney rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is a book that I come back to again and again. Stunning, otherwordly! It is a series of short stories by Joseph Mitchell who worked at the New Yorker. All of the stories are about real people who lived in NYC during the 30's and 40's. You are treated the the world of Mc Sorley's Wonderful Saloon, a bar that came into existence in the late 1800's. A bar with a potbellied stove for heat, various cats running around, a crusty owner from Ireland who collected strange memorabilia and hung it on...more

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Dec 24, 2011 Charles rated it 5 of 5 stars

True New York stories circa 1930 to 1950 or thereabouts. Truly amazing writing that brings the nooks and crannies of the city to life. The author tends to leave himself almost entirely out of these essays and lets the characters (and these are some SERIOUSLY INTERESTING characters) speak and act for themselves. Drunks. Geniuses. Bartenders. Fishermen. Religous zealots. Gypsies. Best of all, these essays are excellent sources of history, as they capture a time and place that is gone forever. Each...more

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Dec 09, 2011 Dianne rated it 4 of 5 stars

There's a lot of reading in this book and very good reading it is. Joseph Mitchell was a reporter in New York city during the 1930's and 40's so he knows how to tell a story; "Up In The Old Hotel" contains 37 of them. It takes a while to get through this book but it's pleasant reading and interesting stories so I don't think you'll mind the time.

The people in these stories are (for the most) real. They are the everyday people he got to know on the streets and in the diners and taverns of the cit...more There's a lot of reading in this book and very good reading it is. Joseph Mitchell was a reporter in New York city during the 1930's and 40's so he knows how to tell a story; "Up In The Old Hotel" contains 37 of them. It takes a while to get through this book but it's pleasant reading and interesting stories so I don't think you'll mind the time.

The people in these stories are (for the most) real. They are the everyday people he got to know on the streets and in the diners and taverns of the city. There are many of them, so I'll just highlight some that stood out to me.

First, meet the Rev. Mr. James Jefferson Davis Hall, a street preacher who doesn't approve of soda fountains, dry-cleaners or modern women. "They've gone hog-proud and hog-wild. Wearing britches, wearing uniforms, straining their joints for generations to come with high-heeled shoes...their mouths smeared and smiddled and smoodled with paint, and their cheeks and their fingernails." The Reverend spends his days answering calls - he gives out his phone number and invites people in trouble to call him - and his nights walking Broadway, standing in the doorways of bars and preaching the consequences of drinking.

Then there's Jane Barnell, the bearded lady who began her career at the age of four, when she was given away to a traveling circus. She's had four husbands and in public wears a veil and a scarf around her neck to hide the beard.

Mazie P. Gordon is the "bossy yellow-haired blonde" who works the sidewalk ticket booth at a movie theater seven days a week from 9 am to 11 pm. She knows everybody and hears all the neighbourhood gossip. After work at night she walks the bowry handing out cakes of soap and change to people who need them.

And there's Phillipa, a 9 year old girl with an IQ of 185 who has been writing music since she was three years old, and John Smith, who writes big cheques and gives them out to people who are nice to him, untroubled by the fact that he has no money at all.

One of my favourites is Arthur Samuel Colbourn, head of the Anti-Profanity League. Arthur, know as the "No-Swear Man" has handed out over six million cards asking "Please do not swear, nor use obscene or profane language. These cards are for distribution. Send for some - they are free. "His address is included on the card.

One story, called "A Mess Of Clams" is about the day he went out with a "buy-boat" off Long Island that came back carrying 145 bushels of clams destined for various markets and restaurants in the city. Another story is about the KKK, and another about the rodents that live in and around the city.

One story was very different. It was a sad account of a lonely man living in a furnished room. Short, and unique in that the authour wasn't involved in the story in any way, it had a completely different feel, like fiction. Mitchell does say in the introduction that though most of the book is true, some is fictional. I don't think it will matter to you when you're reading, because in the end it's all just good.

I recommend this one to anyone who's looking for something interesting to read; it's not a page-turner so if that's what you like it may not be for you.

Favourite quote:
"...it takes almost a lifetime to learn how to do a thing simply." (less)

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Aug 21, 2011 Mario rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a collection of writings by Joseph Mitchell, who began writing for New Yorker in 1938, and actually comprises four previously published titles: McSorley's Wonderful Saloon, Old Mr. Flood, The Bottom of the Harbor, and Joe Gould's Secret. The bulk of these pieces are non-fiction. I've read all of the non-fiction pieces but for Joe Gould's Secret, which is considered Mitchell's masterpiece. I'm skipping the few fiction pieces for now and saving his masterpiece for another time, because I f...more

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Jan 14, 2009 James rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, memoir, lincoln-park-group, kurzgeschichte

This is a wonderful and readable collection of Mitchell's essays, in which he lovingly describes haunts like the Fulton Fish Market and McSorley's, one of the last bars in America to admit women, and profiles various folk and colorful denizens of New York City's nether regions, most famously, Joe Gould, the bohemian character with whom he is inevitably and eternally linked. Mitchell demonstrates great skill as a writer by letting his subjects seemingly speak for themselves, all the while renderi...more

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Apr 01, 2008 Dennis rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Everyone who loves New York, Everyone who loves the New Yorker

I re-read this book every couple of years. It's both a way to time travel to the New York of the earlier twentieth city and an immersion in that compelling yet somehow effortless prose that drives me to pick up the New Yorker every time I see it. I want to visit the New York Mitchell describes, and I feel deeply cheated that it's gone.
This isn't just New York, the center of the civilized world, it's New York as a place that grew up out of a Dutch settlement surrounded by long grass at the confl...more

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Jul 26, 2010 Teri rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Teri by: Bill Holcomb

Shelves: bookclub-2010, 2010, fiction, non-fiction, new-york

Have wanted to read this book for years. Chose for our June 2010 book club so I will finally read it. I really want to!!

Four books published as one. All of the articles were published in the New Yorker. Superb writing by Joseph Mitchell. Many stories I look forward to reading again. Favorites: the two articles about the gypsies, "Dragger Captain" about Captain Ellery Thompson.(Loved Ellery!!). "The Mohawks in High Steel" about Indian riveting crews, "Up in the Old Hotel" which is about a restaur...more

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Dec 26, 2012 Jon Choi rated it 4 of 5 stars

Brilliant, lively, an up-close description of the pulsating heart of New York life. "Up in the Old Hotel" collects stories from Mitchell's time as a reporter, mostly writing on the eccentric working class. He spends time wandering through graveyards with retired African-American pastors, patronizing bars, and interviewing the fascinating, salt-crusted denizens of the New York City docks of the 50's. Entertaining in the extreme - a glimpse into a vanished real New York.

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Jan 06, 2013 Kevin Frisch rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, fiction

"In the opinion of many (which is a by no means modest way of saying 'in my opinion'), the finest writer on The New Yorker is Joseph Mitchell." So wrote Brendan Gill, a bright light himself among that publication's constellation, in his 1975 memoir "Here at The New Yorker." He knows of what he writes. To open "Up in the Old Hotel" is to put oneself in the hands of a veteran reporter, which Mitchell was, and an unerring stylist, which Mitchell also was. The pieces, some fictional, many not, first...more

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Jan 25, 2012 Hayden rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is truly one of my all-time favorite books ever. The compilations of stories.. Or should I say portraits, puts me right there in time and space. Joseph Mitchell's style and prose is truly amazing. Although written in a journalist's hand, Mitchell is so thoughtful and appreciative of the subtleties of his subjects. While painting in bold and vibrant strokes, his perception and astute nature allow the reader insight into the personalities of the people and places that he writes about to an ex...more

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Nov 03, 2009 Katie Knight rated it 5 of 5 stars

I'm re-reading this now. Each essay reveals something new and surprising about early 20th century New York City. My favorites are the Old Mr. Flood essays, where you learn a lot about Fulton Fish Market and the characters that wander there. I never expected to be so engrossed in a essays about fishmongering (I'm vegan), but everything is so lively and quotable and delightful, it really doesn't matter how you feel about fish.

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Dec 01, 2010 Melissa rated it 4 of 5 stars

I confess that I didn't read every page--the fishing descriptions got a little old. And it's such a big book that I did get overwhelmed at times.
But the writing is the kind that you can wrap yourself up in. Mitchell's character studies can't be beat, and it's a wonderful slice of New York and American history.
I only wish I had discovered him in smaller pieces!

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Jul 07, 2009 Ian Vasquez added it

An unassuming, interesting collection of nonfiction pieces. Mitchell, a journalist and former staffer at the New Yorker who died in 1996, has been called a writer's writer; he wrote in simple, declarative style and with deep empathy for his subjects. Many of his stories were written in the '20s and 30s but sound as fresh as any journalism being written today.

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Jul 20, 2012 Michael rated it 4 of 5 stars

Gracefully written stories of old New York. Marvelous characters that are preserved by Mitchell from being forgotten by history. Incidentally, the author had a major writer's block in his later years and came to work at "The New Yorker" every day for years but didn't produce any copy. Can you imagine any empoyer today with that kind of compassion?

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Jul 28, 2011 Marissa rated it 3 of 5 stars

I liked this book for about the first half of it, but as the stories went on and on, and none of them contained any real plot, I became worn out. By the time I reached Joe Gould's Secret I gave up. After 500 pages, I wasn't interested in revisiting a character I had already read about earlier.

Mitchell is a gifted writer, but I think I should have tackled each of his works individually. Trying to read them all back to back was exhausting. It also didn't help that I had two books I was anxious to...more

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About Joseph Mitchell

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Joseph Mitchell was an American writer who wrote for The New Yorker. He is known for his carefully written portraits of eccentrics and people on the fringes of society, especially in and around New York City.
-Wikipedia

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The Bottom Of The Harbor (Vintage Classics)

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“Also, I had not yet found out about time; I was still under the illusion that I had plenty of time - time for this, time for that, time for everything, time to waste.” — 2 people liked it

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