Ten top books to read before you go to New York City

Jessica Colley is a freelance travel and food writer. For Fodor's, she tagged ten books to read before you go to New York City, including:

Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem

Readers seeking a page-turner with New York City in the background should check out Motherless Brooklyn, a detective novel set in contemporary Brooklyn. The author, born in New York, tells the store of Lionel Essrog, an orphan from Brooklyn with Tourette’s. Lionel gets mixed up with a small-time mobster in this detective story that combines crime-solving with serious social questions.

Read about another book on the list.

Motherless Brooklyn is on Douwe Draaisma's five best list of novels that focus on mental disorders.

--Marshal Zeringue