Bill Hayes

Insomniac City

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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
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 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 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 Hayes's 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.
This book is currently unavailable
241 printed pages
Publication year
2017
Have you already read it? How did you like it?
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Impressions

  • Sofiia Semenkoshared an impression6 years ago

    Good if you want to wet your eyes a bit (or a lot). The most tender telling of love: to people, to being present, to a place. Slow, steady, so sincere it picks at you.

  • molysikucinglucushared an impression6 years ago
    👍Worth reading

    I just love every single pieces that written here. Such a good found!

  • b0026074741shared an impression6 years ago

    It is entertaining and educating at the same time

Quotes

  • Kristian Rank Nielsenhas quoted5 years ago
    I used to think that the only thing worse than having insomnia was having insomnia next to someone who falls fast asleep and stays soundlessly so till morning.
  • d68has quoted6 years ago
    “I just want to enjoy your nextness and nearness,” O says.
    He puts his ear to my chest and listens to my heart and counts the beats.
  • Michael Carmonahas quoted6 years ago
    “I don’t so much fear death as I do wasting life.”
    Oliver Sacks

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