| SCHEDULE
SEPTEMBER 15, 2008
Washington, DC
Hyman S. and Freda Bernstein Literary Festival
8:00 PM
Cafritz Center for the Arts
SEPTEMBER 21, 2008
New York, NY
New York Is Book Country
Central Park
Details To Be Announced
OCTOBER 23, 2008
Wilmette, IL
Borders Books
Details TBA
NOVEMBER, 2008
Denver, CO
Details TBA
NOVEMBER, 2008
South Orange, NJ
Details TBA
SPRING, 2009
“One of the very best recent novels of New York” (USA Today), a hilarious and wildly entertaining tale about real estate in Manhattan.
A New York Times Editor's Choice
“Langer has that rare combination of fierce intelligence, wicked wit and the ability to make you turn pages at wrist-splintering speed. This is one of the very best recent novels of New York.”—USA Today
“Wacky and wonderful… [a] quintessentially New York tale.”—New York Daily News
“[A] glorious comedy of gentrification, rent control and love. Langer’s witty novel is an ode to a gritty stretch of real estate on the Upper West Side.”—New York Post
“Inventive, funny and touching … It’s all a delight, ingeniously plotted and expertly written.”—St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“A New York City novel par excellence.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred)
Hailed by newspapers across the country as a hilarious and definitive novel of New York City, Ellington Boulevard showcases Adam Langer’s enormous wit, humor, and literary chops, first evidenced in his beloved debut novel Crossing California.
Centering on the fate of one apartment before, during, and after the height of New York’s real estate boom, Ellington Boulevard tells the story of Clarinetist Ike Morphy and his dog Herbie Mann, who are about to be evicted from their apartment on West 106th Street. Langer creates an unforgettable cast of characters: the Landlord, a recovered alcoholic and womanizer who has newly found Judaism and a wife half his age; the Broker, an out-of-work actor whose new profession finally allows him to afford theater tickets he has no time to use; the Broker’s new Boyfriend, a second-rate actor who composes a musical about the sale of 2B (“Is there no one I can lien on if this boom goes bust?”). There’s also the Buyer, a trusting young editor at a dying cultural magazine; the Buyer’s Husband, a disaffected graduate student taken to writing bawdy faux-academic papers; and the Buyer’s Husband’s Girlfriend, a children’s book writer with a tragic past.
With the laugh-out-loud humor that made Crossing California a favorite book of the year among critics across the country, Ellington Boulevard is an ode to New York. It’s the story of why people come to a city they can’t afford, take jobs they despise, sacrifice love, find love, and eventually become the people they never thought they’d be—for better and for worse.
Adam Langer, the author of Crossing California, earned his brokerage certification while writing Ellington Boulevard. Born in Chicago, he now lives on Manhattan’s Duke Ellington Boulevard with his wife, daughter, dog, and a pair of pigeons who roost on his air conditioner.
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