The Brooklyn Follies by Paul Auster (2004)

Nathan Glass, divorced and recently fighting lung cancer, decides to move to Brooklyn. Comes back in contact with his nephew and his nephew's eccentric, bookstore-owning boss. A bit on the picaresque side, as they encounter characters all over Brooklyn and get entwined with their lives. Full of lots of lovely meditations on life, like:

"Like him, I have majored in English at college, with secret ambitions to go on studying literature or perhaps take a stab at journalism, but I hadn't had the courage to pursue either one. Life got in the way—two years in the army, work marriage, family responsibilities, the need to earn more and more money, all the muck that bogs us down when we don't have the balls to stand up for ourselves—but I had never lost my interest in books. Reading was my escape and my comfort, my consolation, my stimulant of choice: reading for the pure pleasure of it, for the beautiful stillness that surrounds you when you hear an author's words reverberating in your head."

Enchanted, Inc. by Shanna Swendson (2005)

Seamlessly blending fantasy and chick lit, this novel is about Texas girl who moves to NYC and gets a job with a company that creates magic spells. Endearing characters, hilarious situations, and despite the presence of magic and talking gargoyles and kissing frogs in Central Park, far more believable than most chick lit. See also the adorable sequel Once Upon a Stiletto, the third Damsel Under Stress, and the fourth and final novel, Don't Hex with Texas, which follows our heroine back to her family home, magic and all.