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Insomniac City

New York, Oliver, and Me

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Insomniac City

Written by: Bill Hayes
Narrated by: Stephen Bel Davies
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About this listen

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 48 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 city's 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 don't 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 75 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, a love song to the New York City and to all who have felt the particular magic and solace it offers.

©2017 Bloomsbury US (P)2017 Audible, Ltd
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An account of the experiences in the Big Apple. It's an easy read, a novel beautifully described and written well taking the reader into a different zone. Kept me interested throughout, The Insomniac City is a celebration in its own way.
Talking about the urban jungle, New York, the story reads through the everyday and normal moments that change one's course of life.

The story talks about Bill who moves to the city from San Francisco after the death of his partner and falls in love with a writer friend. It's one of the very beautiful memories.

What a memoir

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loved it!! so beautifully written.. will reread it at some point in the future 🥰

what a lovely book

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Just wonderful. If you are like me and like uplifting content that is also thoughtful, get this audiobook. Both the writing by Bill Hayes and the narration by Stephen Bel Davies are fabulous.

Outstanding. Uplifting. I want to hear it all over again.

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