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New York StartUp! 2015 Enters Its Final Stage

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New York StartUP! Business Plan Competition  is offered annually by the Science, Industry and Business Library of The New York Public Library in conjunction with its sponsor, Citi Foundation. This is  the 6th edition of the event for New York-based startup entrepreneurs with cash prizes totaling over $30,000. Entrants gain practical insights about starting and growing a business, while using the comprehensive small business resources at SIBL.

The 2015 edition begun in the late 2014 with a series of orientations. Some of which

Orientation

were packed to the capacity. Orientations were followed by four technical workshopsscheduled from January 2015 to April 2015.

In the course of writing their business plans, entrants received one-on-one help from business advisors who work in a variety of small business assistance organizations. Participants uploaded their finished business plans to the NY Start UP! Competition Fluid Review room site by June 9, 2015.

Business plans were then reviewed by a panel of judges, which consisted of fifteen busniess people and educators and led by Paisley Demby of PBN Consulting, LLC. They have picked eleven finalists. The finalists this year are: 

  • 3500 Voices Plus
  • Bridal Bouquet Holders
  • Community Kitchen
  • Fashion League, Inc.
  • Field & Clover
  • For Your Quest Media
  • Harlem Chocolate Factory
  • Just Jazzy Cakes
  • Magness Books
  • NYC Dogs Café and Lounge
  • We Intervene

On August 4, 2015 all finalists were invited to SIBL to pitch their respective businesses to the panel of judges. Below are some photos depicting this phase of the competition. The winners will be announced in September.

Harlem Chocolate Factory
Community Kitchen
NYC Dogs Café and Lounge
Judges at work


View short videos of 2014 and 2013 presentations of the awards.


Get Away from It All: Seven Escapist YA Books

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The steamy city, the packed streets, the specter of back-to-school that hovers ominously over the middle of August… leave it all behind with some escapist YA picks that transport readers to faraway lands.

Lost

Let’s Get Lost by Adi Alsaid
Hit the road with Leila, who’s driving from Louisiana to Alaska to see the Northern Lights in Alaska and meeting four compelling strangers along the way.

 

 

 

 

 

Mermaid

Mermaid in Chelsea Creek by Michelle Tea
Witches and mermaids are made real in this dark-magic tale that starts in a bleak, dirty, urban creek. Tea’s newly released sequel, Girl at the Bottom of the Sea, takes the mermaids from Massachusetts to Poland.

 

 

 

 

Scarab

The Clockwork Scarabby Colleen Gleason
Sherlock Holmes meets vampires meets turn-of-the-century London in this tale of two detective heroines.


 

 

 

 

Spirits

A Book of Spirits and Thieves by Morgan Rhodes
When two sisters open a package that arrived at their family’s bookstore, they release an ancient magic and a dangerous secret that sends readers on a suspenseful, fantastical journey.


 

 

 

 

Wildlife

Wildlife by Fiona Wood
Two 16-year-olds take turns narrating their summer adventures at a mandatory outdoor-education program in this U.S. debut from a popular Australian author.

 

 


 

 

 

Shadow

Shadow Scale by Rachel Hartman
The follow-up to the popular Seraphina features a desperate race to find more halflingshalf-humans and half-dragonslike Seraphina herself.  

 


 

 

 

 

Kiss Deception

The Kiss of Deception by Mary Pearson
After Princess Lia escapes her own wedding, she tries to disappear into a new life as a common barmaid… until two strangers find her. Hunger Games fans will find much to love in this tricky romance.

 

 

 

 


Staff picks are chosen by NYPL staff members and are not intended to be comprehensive lists. We'd love to hear your picks! Leave a comment and tell us what you’d recommend.

The Longest Afternoon: Looking Back on Waterloo

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The Longest Afternoon

Waterloo 200 has inspired some interesting books recently to help mark the signature passing of this noteworthy event in European history. Among the many aspects of this complex event. a few stand out. The gallant defense of the Chateau/farm known as Le Haie Sainte (named after the Savior perhaps) was one of the pivotal defensive positions the Duke of Wellington had chosen. As a master of the tactical defense, the Duke chose a number of key strongpoints to serve as breakwaters against the massive French assaults that he expected Napoleon to launch upon his line in order to break through to Brussels and win the campaign.

 1706012
Return from Elba to Battle of Waterloo, 1815. Image ID: 1706012

He entrusted this key position to the 2nd Light battalion of the King's German Legion (KGL). We should take a moment to describe who these particular Germans were. When the Electorate of Hanover (a minor German princely state) was overrun by the Napoleonic French in 1803- 04 the remnants of that old Royal army fled abroad. Because of past connections to the English Crown (George III was a descendant of the ruling House of Hanover in England) a special force of émigré Germans known as the King's German Legion was formed to fight along with the British army against Napoleon. This they did with great professionalism through the Iberian Peninsula Campaign with the Duke winning many laurels in both Portugal and Spain. Wellington considered them among his best troops as they combined German professionalism with English grit and determination. A powerful combination.

As a Light battalion they were adept at skirmishing and were not limited to the close order tactics of the line troops. They were also armed with the first mass produced rifle of that time. The Baker Rifle which was effective at 200-300 yards. All of these elements made the 2nd Light KGL uniquely suited to defend a Chateau like La Haie Sainte. Today the Chateau continues to run as an active farm and remains as a living monument to the events of June 18, 1815.

On that day the 360 men of the 2nd Light KGL under colonel Baring found themselves placed at the farm. They had already fought a battle, marched through soaking rain and had endured a sleepless, wet night. Like all the participants before the battle of Waterloo they were exhausted and fearful of what the day would bring. They would find themselves at the very epicenter of the day’s events.

In The Longest Afternoon: The 400 Men Who Decided the Battle of Waterloo, the author does a convincing job at giving us many individual stories of the men who comprised this small unit and what some of them had to say about the fight in their memoirs. He narrates the battle as it unfolds around the farm almost hour by hour. The first French assault of the day upon the center of Wellington's line came close to breaking it, and the élan of that assault nearly carried Le Haie Sainte as well. But the unexpected counter-attack by Lord Uxbridge's British Heavy Cavalry threw a wrench into Napoleon's plans and retrieves the situation. Thereafter the French never regain their energy as they mount a series of bloody, uncoordinated assaults. Gradually it occurs to Napoleon that La Haie Sainte is the lynchpin to Wellington's center. To pry it open it must be taken. Later Napoleon believed that an entire Division of 5,000 must have defended the farm. Not just a mere 400 odd men!

The French continue to throw themselves at the position with almost reckless abandon. The author believes close to 2,000 French casualties must have been sustained as the KGL riflemen could hardly miss the close packed French column assaults. Finally by six o:clock Colonel Baring knew the end had been reached. Down to less than half their original number, the Germans are also low on ammunition. The special Baker Rifle required its own ammunition. The wagon for this had been displaced somewhere during the previous day's retreat to Waterloo. It was nowhere to be found. Suddenly the brave defenders were faced with the prospect of fighting without bullets and with just bare hands, clubbed muskets and bayonets. The French proceed to climb on top of the farm and shoot down into their mass in the courtyard. It becomes a slaughter for both sides as men grapple with each other hand to hand in very close proximity. Baring's men can't last for long under these circumstances, and despite efforts to reinforce them earlier the farm has become an isolated bastion by days end. True to their form, the Germans are professionals. Not fanatics. They have fought to the point where they can no longer. Colonel Baring decides to fight his way out of the farm and back to the ridge with the remnants of his battalion. Only 46 survive from the original 360, although more turn up by nightfall. While they finally had to relinquish their key position, its gallant defense all afternoon contributes significantly to Wellington's eventual victory over Napoleon at day's end. With Prussian intervention coming by nightfall Napoleon has fought and lost his last battle.

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Return from Elba to Battle of Waterloo, 1815. Image ID: 1706015

Branden Simms has created an inspired work which provides a detailed look at how a small unit conducted itself in this period under extreme duress. His book is not only a military history, but a look at the actual people who took part in these events. He chronicles their lives on an almost hourly basis and we endure with them those momentous events that took place on that sultry afternoon 200 years ago on a small Belgian field. That farmland and structures remain active to this day which are owned by individuals aware of their historical significance. The author was privileged to know the current owner of La Haie Sainte and was able to spend actual time in the Chateau doing the research for this book. This is a fast paced work, which reads almost like a novel. Those wanting to see a famous, world changing event like waterloo from an intimate, human perspective should certainly find this fine work worthwhile. The defense of Le Haie Sainte is still admired and studied today by military academies. It remains one of the epic Last Stands in history.

Booktalking "Seven Days of Rage" by Paul LaRosa and Maria Cramer

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seven days

Philip Markoff used Craigslist to find women by looking for enticing ads in the erotic or adult sections of the web site. Then, he would meet them at swanky hotels. One of them was shot to death in the doorway of her hotel room. Her body was found half in her room and half in the hallway. Most of them were robbed, but the killer was apparently unconcerned about their lives, as he was caught on camera looking at his cell phone immediately after Julissa died.

By all appearances, the preppy-looking, six foot, three inches tall, 23-year-old medical student was the antithesis of such an apathetic, sadistic being. Most neighbors, relatives and friends expressed shock and disbelief that such tragedies could occur at the hands of Phil. Megan stood by her fiance, even when she learned that he was accused of murder. However, some who knew Philip said that he gave off a bad vibe, and they did not trust him.   

Trolling for victims online, Phil set up email accounts specifically to meet potential victims. Craigslist's response to the accusations was interesting, to say the least.

Seven Days of Rage: The Deadly Crime Spree of the Craigslist Killer by Paul LaRosa and Maria Cramer, 2009

I am a huge fan of the 48 Hours Mystery TV show, and I watch it every Saturdays that it airs. I was thrilled to find this book. However, I am not a fan of the title, because it seems that the motive of Phil Markoff's crimes is unclear.

Online Research: Where to Start

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The New York Public Library has a huge selection of online content to help with your research, whether it's finding a single article, tracing a family tree, writing a dissertation, or anything in between. Our go-to starting point for online research is our Articles & Databases page. By "databases," we really mean any website where you can access information, be it data, books, articles, sheet music, songs, videos, even guided tutorials. Many of these are purchased by NYPL, giving you access to rich, well-described material that you couldn't find just by searching through Google.

But with over 400 subscription databases and even more courtesy links to freely-available websites, it can be hard to figure out where to start. So, what are some tricks to picking your research square one?

The book-projector
The Book-Projector, George Arents Collection. Image ID: 407647

For starters, which best describes your current research need?

I am looking for a specific newspaper/magazine/journal.

Do you have the citation for an article and want to locate a copy? Whether the source is a newspaper, magazine, scholarly journal, or trade publication, you can search for it by title on our Find e-Journals by Title page. You can tell us if you're here at the Library or working remotely, and we'll list any online holdings we have for that title, with the dates covered and links to their content. For example, if I'm looking for an issue of Rolling Stone, I see that I can read any issue since August 1990 on my home computer, using my library card number and PIN.

Screenshot of e-journal search for Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone issues available remotely online through NYPL

And remember, if we do not have the title or date range you need electronically, you can search our catalog by journal title to see if we have it in print or on microfilm. If we don't have it in any format, you have a few options for what to do next.

Clicking on a database link will take you to that publication's holdings in the database, where you can navigate to the specific issue and article you want.

Screenshot of issue list for publication Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone's publication page in Academic Search Premier, where you can browse by issue

I am just beginning my research, and I want to search EVERYTHING.

While we do not presently have a way to search every single database at once, you can get pretty close by searching our three biggest database vendors: ProQuest, EBSCO, and Gale. Each of these providers lets you search across all of their products, which will give you the biggest bang for your buck if you want to look broadly.

I have already done some research, and I want a more targeted search.

If you do not want to cast such a wide net, but would rather target a small number of databases that best fit your research interest, consider filtering by subject. Subjects (found in the first drop-down box at the top of the Articles & Databases page) relate to the topics covered by a database—like Fashion, United States History, and Religion—as well as the type of content included, like Biography, Historical Newspapers, Encyclopedias, and Maps/Atlases/Cartography. Plus, when you narrow your list of databases by subject, any Library-recommended databases (marked with a star) will automatically move to the top of the list.

Top results in Articles and Databases after filtering by the subject Biography
Top results in Articles and Databases after filtering by the subject Biography

You will see a description of each database below its name. If you are interested in content from a particular region or time period, or if you are trying to differentiate between two similar-sounding databases, this is a good place to look. You can also click on a database's "More info" link to learn further details.

Lion? House? What do those icons mean?

The icon to the left of each database name indicates where you can access it:

Lion iconDatabase can be accessed at any NYPL library location, or while using NYPL wifi. Some databases can only be used at certain libraries (for example, the research libraries). This is noted in the "More info" link.
House iconDatabase can be accessed from any computer or web-enabled device in the world, using your NYPL library card number and PIN.
Globe iconThis is a freely-available website that requires no authentication or library privileges to use. Its link is provided as a courtesy.

Full text vs. indexes, or, why is my article not there?

Most of the databases we provide contain the full text of books, articles, and other kinds of documents. Some are provided as plain HTML text, while others are images that more faithfully reproduce the print original (if there is one).

One thing to be on the lookout for is a database with "index" in the title. This usually means that the database includes references to documents only—their citations plus added summaries or subjects to make them easier to find. These resources work a lot like the index in the back of a book: you search to find a person, place, or topic of interest, and then use the citation provided by the index to locate the source.

If we have the document referenced in an index, even if it's in another database, we try to include a link to make it easier to track down. Look for these links below an index's citation, like in these two search results:

Search results in Biography Index Past and Present showing links to full text content
Search results in Biography Index Past and Present showing links to full-text content

If the citation has no link, or if "Check 360 Link for Full Text" finds no full-text results, you can search the Library catalog to see if we have the publication in print or on microfilm. If NYPL does not own a copy, you can:

Questions?

If you have any questions about the collections, resources, and services we offer at NYPL, speak to a librarian! Visit a reference desk at any NYPL location, or make an appointment in advance.

If you are having trouble connecting to a database, or if it does not seem to be working properly, please let us know.

Job and Employment Links for the Week of August 23

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FDNY Outreach will present an information session for career opportunities as : EMT, Paramedic and Firefighter on Monday, August 24, 2015, 10 am - 2 pm, at Queens Career Center, 168-25 Jamaica Avenue, 2nd Floor, Jamaica, New York 11433.

Enrollment Now Open! SAGEWorks Boot Camp. This two-week long, intensive training course will provide participants with essential skills to lead them toward job placement. The first session starts on MondayFriday, from September 28 to October 9, 9:30 a.m.2 p.m. Participants must attend every day at the SAGE Center, 305 7th Avenue, New York, NY 10001.  SAGEWorks assists people 40 years and older in learning relevant, cutting-edge  job search skills in a LGBTfriendly environment.

SAGEWorks Workshop: Career Development Assessments on Monday, August 24 to Friday, August 28, 10 am - 6 pm, at The Sage Center, 305 7th Avenue, 15th Floor, New York, NY 10001.  This is a One-on-One Employment Assessment with SAGEWorks staff.  By appointment only.  SAGEWorks assists people 40 years and older in learning relevant, cutting-edge job search skills in a LGBT-friendly environment.

AlliedBarton Security Services will present a recruitment on Wednesday, August 26, 2015, 10 am - 2 pm, for Security Guards (100 openings), at the Bronx Workforce 1 Career Center, 400 E. Fordham Road, Bronx, NY 10458. 

Health Mini Job Fair will present a recruitment on Wednesday, August 26, 2015, 10 am - 2 pm.  Participating Businesses:  All Metro Health Care (10 openings), Atria Home Care (29 openings), Clinical Staffing Resources (20 openings), Ideal Home Health (3 openings) at Workforce 1 Career Center, 250 Schermerhorn Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201.

Sports and Arts in  Schools Foundation will present a recruitment on Thursday, August 27, 2015, 9:30 am - 12:30 pm, for Tutor and counselor (20 P/T Temp openings), Sports Specialist (10 P/T Temp openings),  Community School Director (20 openings), at Lower Manhattan Workforce 1 Career Center, 75 Varick Street, New York, NY 10013.

Imacuclean Cleaning Services, Inc. will present a recruitment on Thursday, August 27, 2015, 10 am - 2 pm, for Housekeepers/Housemen (10 openings), Food andd Beverage Servers (5 openings), Post Construction Worker (5 openings), at the New York State Department of Labor, Workforce 1 Career Center, 250 Schermerhorn Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201.

United Cerebral Palsy of New York City will present a recruitment on Thursday, August 27, 2015, 10 am - 3 pm, for Residence Program Specialist (25 openings) at the Bronx Workforce 1 Career Center, 400 E. Fordham Road, Bronx, NY 10458. 

New York Life Insurance company will present a recruitment on Friday, August 28, 2015, 10 am - 2 pm,  for Financial Services Professionals (5 openings), at Flushing Workforce 1 Career Center, 138-60 Barclay Avenue, 2nd Flooor, Flushing, NY 11355.

Fedcap Rehabilitation Services, Inc. will present a recruitment on Friday, August 28, 2015, 10 am - 2 pm, for Case Manager (17 openings), Outreach Specialist (6 openings), work Readiness Instructor (15 openings), job Developer (6 openings), at the Bronx Workforce 1 Career Center, 400 E. Fordham Road, Bronx, NY 10458.

Professionals for Non-Profits  will present a recruitment on Friday, August 28, 2015, 10 am - 4 pm, for Executive Assistant (5 Temp openings), Administrative Assistant (5 Temp openigs), Development Associates (5 openings), Social Workers (5 openings), Teacher Assistant (5 openings), at the New York State Department of Labor, Workforce 1 Career Center, 250 Schermerhorn Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201.

Job Postings at New York City Workforce 1.

Apprenticeship Opportunities in New York  City.         

The New York City Employment and Training Coalition (NYCE&TC) is an association of 200 community-based organizations, educational institutions, and labor unions that annually provide job training and employment services to over 750,000 New Yorkers, including welfare recipients, unemployed workers, low-wage workers, at-risk youth, the formerly incarcerated, immigrants and the mentally and physically disabled. View NYCE&TC Job Listings.

Digital NYC is the official online hub of the New York City startup and technology ecosystem, bringing together every company,  startup, investor, event, job, class, blog, video, workplace, accelerator, incubator, resource, and organization in the five boroughs. Search  jobs by category on this site.

St. Nicks Alliance Workforce Development provides Free Job Training and Educational Programs in Environmental Response and Remediation Tec (ERRT). Commercial Driver's License, Pest Control Technician Training (PCT), Employment Search and Prep Training and Job Placement, Earn Benefits and Career Path Center. For information and assistance, please visit St. Nicks Alliance Workforce Development or call 718-302-2057 ext. 202. 

Brooklyn Workforce Innovations helps jobless and working poor New Yorkers establish careers in sectors that offer good wages and opportunities for advancement. Currently, BWI offers free job training programs in four industries: commercial driving, telecommunications cable installation, TV and film production, and skilled woodworking.  

CMP (formerly Chinatown Manpower Project) in lower Manhattan is now recruiting for a free training in Quickbooks,  Basic Accounting, and Excel. This training is open to anyone who is receiving food stamps but no cash assistance. Class runs for eight weeks, followed by one-on-one meetings with a job developer. CMP also provides Free Home Health Aide Training for bilingual English/Cantonese speakers who are receiving food stamps but no cash assistance. Training runs Mondays through Fridays for six weeks and includes test prep and taking the HHA certification exam. Students learn about direct care techniques such as taking vital signs and assisting with personal hygiene and nutrition. For more information for the above two training programs, email: info@cmpny.org, call 212-571-1690, or visit. CMP also provides tuition-based healthcare and business trainings free to students who are entitled to ACCESS funding.

Nontraditional Employment for Women (NEW) trains women and places them in careers in the skilled construction, utility, and maintenance trades. It helps women achieve economic independence and a secure future. For information call 212-627-6252 or register online.

Grace Institute provides tuition-free, practical job training in a supportive learning community for underserved New York area women of all ages and from many different backgrounds.  For information call 212-832-7605.

Please note this page will be revised when more recruitment events for the week of August 23 become available.

A Little Light Bibliotherapy

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It’s hot. Really hot. And it’s easy to start to lose it in the city at this time of year.

So this week, we called upon our expert NYPL staff members to engage in a littlelightbibliotherapy. We asked them to recommend books that helped them stay sane and navigate life in Gotham. Here's what they suggested.

Advice & Self-Help

Loving

The Art of Loving by Erich Fromm was suggested to me in college by a professor, and it was my saving grace to staying calm in this bustling city. It’s a practical guide that made me mindful of other people and myself. What’s also great about this book is that it has been meaningful with every read from then til now. —Lori Salmon, Mid-Manhattan

 

 

 

 

 

How

One of the best most entertaining, pragmatic, and helpful books—perhaps the king of all self-help books—is Augusten Burroughs’ This Is How: Proven Aid in Overcoming Shyness, Molestation, Fatness, Spinsterhood, Grief, Disease, Lushery, Decrepitude & More—for Young and Old Alike. I borrowed a copy from the library and liked it so much I had to buy it. I’ll refer to it every now and then. I read it like some folks might take aspirin, only with none of the stomach churning side- affects. —James E. Soucé, AskNYPL

 

 

 

Peaceful

I would recommend Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids by Laura Markham for the weary summer parent who’s looking for practical advice for maintaining patience and empathy amid the day-to-day ups and downs with kids. I read aloud passages from this book to my husband because they sounded so familiar to situations we’ve faced with our two young boys (think evening tubby-time battles).  Next on my list: Peaceful Parent, Happy Siblings! —Susie Heimbach, Mulberry Street

 

 

 

Kettlebell

The only sure thing I’ve found that gives me inner peace (no matter what the situation) isn’t a book at all, it’s just moving around. Now, NYPL has a few books in particular that taught me how to move around better! Swinging kettlebells, sprinting once in a while, and lots of walking handles whatever stress might otherwise accumulate. Try Enter the Kettlebell!by Pavel Tsatsouline or The 4-Hour Body by Timothy Ferriss. —Andrey Syroyezhkin, Dorot Jewish Division

 

 

full

My suggestion for a self-help book that really does help is Jon Kabat-Zinn’ s Full Catastrophe Living. It helps the reader validate feelings and find ways to cope—and promotes yoga. Of course, escape helps too… when I most needed to cry but couldn’t, I turned to the Zeffirelli film of La Traviata. Two measures in to the Overture and I was sobbing. Barbara Cohen-Stratyner, Exhibitions

 

 

 

 

Philosophy

Work

I read philosopher Alain De Botton’s The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work this past long winter and now have been totally sucked into his School of Life YouTube Channel (sorry, you’re welcome?) and I’m waiting for How Proust Can Change Your Life. Sounds high-brow, but actually the aim is to make useful ideas in “high” culture accessible. —Emily Nichols, Children’s Programming

 

 

 

 

Consolations

I also turn to Alain De Botton for solace, especially his The Consolations of Philosophy. In this book he describes with sly humor the very human problems of some of the worlds’ greatest Western philosophers, and how their theories can be applied to everyday life. And anything by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh will provide a grounding dose of Zen towards approaching a maddening city with mindfulness and joy. —Sherri Machlin, Mulberry Street

 

 

 

 

Seneca

I’d recommend Seneca’s Moral and Political Essays, released by Cambridge University Press. In this collection of essays, Seneca expounds upon anger and forgiveness—two opposite forces within our nature, the former being the most base and impulsive, the latter being close to divinity. Not only does Seneca delve deep into the bitter harm of anger on society as well as the sweetness of mercy, but he includes a very early example of self-help: a guide on how we may avoid the pitfalls of anger itself. Certainly, such skills may come in handy in a city like New York... —Andrew Fairweather, Seward Park

 

 

 

Mysteries

Holmes

I first came to New York when I was starting college. Feeling alone and out of place, I turned to The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to get me through my first week in my new city. I sat by the fountain in Washington Square Park, eating raspberries and devouring this book. Though not a traditional self-help book, I found Holmes’ command of his surroundings and confidence to be the inspiration and help I needed to settle into my new home. —Alexandria Abenshon, Yorkville

 

 

 

Brown

Books have always been my happy place. Agatha Christie’s The Man in the Brown Suit which involves an intrepid female, a mysterious man, a trip to Africa, and a diamond heist. You start reading and suddenly the noise and crowds of New York fall away. —Anne Rouyer, Mulberry Street

 

 

 

 

The mystery novels that Carolyn Heilbrun wrote under the pen-name “Amanda Cross” by brought me back to New York City. I read Death in a Tenured Position in the year after I finished grad school at Columbia University. This novel had just the right combination of setting and philosophy (feminist/literary) that appealed to me at the time, and it presented a vision of a life well led in New York. Firmly cognizant of the inequalities and struggles of all New Yorkers, Heilbrun’s character Kate Fansler seemed to be able to live life as it actually is, with all of the messy bits and unfairness intact. It took me a few years to return, but once I did I stayed. I’m still here in New York and enjoying every minute of living life in the city. —Virginia Bartow, Special Collections

Fiction

Leopard

For heat wave therapy on a sultry August day, how about a tall cool read of Scandinavian noir? For instance, Jo Nesbø’s The Leopard, the eighth in the author’s series about the brilliant, burned-out Oslo cop Harry Hole. In this one, among other catastrophes, Harry and two fellow cops are buried by an avalanche that crushes a remote ski hut somewhere on a mountain in Norway. With the oxygen fast running out, Harry must summon all his resourcefulness to save himself, and if possible, at least one of his companions—but should it be the one showing signs of life, a fishy Finn he dislikes, or the fair Kaja, who may be past help already?  —Kathie Coblentz, Rare Materials

 

 

Tea

I reread Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul every few years to get myself to chill out. I relate to the state of mind of pinning all your desires on getting a pizza delivered to your hospital room in a backwards, non-pizza-delivering country, and then trying to deal with the pouty god Thor. The Hitchhiker’s trilogy (of five books, or six now) is especially good on airplanes if you’re scared of flying but will face anything to get out of the sweltering city, because what can possibly matter when you’re sharing Arthur Dent’s frame of mind while listening to Vogon poetry executions? —Jill Rothstein, Andrew Heiskell

 

 

 

Memoir

Sbux

I’d recommend How Starbucks Saved My Life. It’s a memoir about a high-powered ad executive who loses everything—his job, his house, his family—and is "reduced" to working at Starbucks. However, he ends up learning more than he ever thought possible about people, hard work, and life in general. —Ronni Krasnow, Morningside Heights

 

 

 

 

Attend

When in need of a good laugh or to get away from it all, I would recommend Will Not Attend by Adam Resnick. Sharp, cynical, and painfully awkward, Resnick recounts his life through short hilarous stories. —Susen Shi, Seward Park

 

 

 

 

 

Split

I would recommend Split by Suzanne Finnamore. It’s a memoir about when she had to go through a crushing divorce and raise her son on her own. She’s very genuine and readers going through something similar will feel themselves saying “I felt that!” throughout the book. She’s also very funny and witty. —Angie Miraflor, West Bronx Network

 

 

 

 

Children & YA

Sylvester

I remember a particularly hard time—I was new to New York, my family was more than 2,000 miles away, my beloved father’s health was beginning to deteriorate—and for one year I read William Steig’s little masterpiece Sylvester and the Magic Pebble to every class old enough to listen to it. A reworking of the old “be careful what you wish for” folktale motif, the line that lifted me every time I read it was “I wish I was myself again, I wish I was my real self again. And in less than an instant, he was.” Ah! Perfect. —Danita Nichols, Inwood

 

 

Am

When I was a teenager, I read the YA book I Am the Messengerby Markus Zuzak and it changed how I saw the world and the people I interact with on a daily basis. A story about a man in a dead-end place in his life and how his sense of purpose is revived by a mysterious benefactor who sends him playing cards with names and addresses on them. Our hero visits these people and changes their lives in small ways, figuring out what they need the most, and how he can help them (and himself). A beautiful novel I often revisit if I am feeling a bit lost. —Alessandra Affinito, Chatham Square Branch

 

 

 

Day

For all the new (or not-so-new) parents out there, On the Day You Were Born by Debra Frasier is a lovely picture book that brings me some perspective when I read it out loud to my son. Despite the incredible newness that a baby brings to your life, there are old rhythms—the cycles of the moon and stars, the tides of the oceans, the patterns of animals and plants—that ground us all in the natural world. —Gwen Glazer, Readers Services

 

Staff picks are chosen by NYPL staff members and are not intended to be comprehensive lists. We'd love to hear your picks, so leave a comment and tell us what you’d recommend.

And check out our brand-new Staff Picks browse tool for 100 new recommendations every month!

Booktalking "The Summer I Found You" by Jolene Perry

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Kate has been newly diagnosed with diabetes, and she is struggling to live with all of the new food restrictions, counting carbs, blood sugar checks and insulin injections. She is not as diligent as she should be, which pretty much drives her parents into the deep end.

Aidan is angry about the loss of his arm in the war. He has to learn how to accomplish everything with one arm. The stump on his shoulder and missing hand hurt, physical therapy feels like torture, and he needs to figure out what to do with his life. He is temporarily living with his aunt, uncle and cousins, Jen, and her sisters.

Jen is best friends with Kate, who is smitten with Aidan as soon as she spots him. Dating your best friend's cousin is a murky business that Kate is not sure that she wants to venture into. Aidan is not sure that he can be in a relationship at this point in his life, and he worries that Kate will not accept his disability.

The Summer I Found You by Jolene Perry, 2014

I like the fact that Kate and Aidan's perspectives are alternated in the book.


Kate Claxton Head Shots: This Week Only

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The Library for the Performing Arts is having a photogenic summer. Between Sinatra in the Oenslager Gallery and Geoffrey Holder in the Corridor Gallery, we have many examples of compelling images of great performers. We know their talents and accomplishments, but we can visualize them because something in their faces and stances spoke to the camera over their long careers. Head Shots is all about the photogenic—an exhibition that makes the visitor look at faces and postures designed to attract, as documented by the camera of that period.

We are extending Head Shots through December, but some of our examples of the earliest formats will be rotating out as of next week. The images in cabinet photographs can be damaged by exposure to light, even the dimmed exhibition lights, so they will be exchanged for other photographs of actors or images of other performers. The preservation term for this is “fugitive content” and we want to avoid that at all costs. So, today’s post will focus on the cartes de visite, cabinet photographs and stereograms of Kate Claxton, an intensely photogenic actress. Most of her remaining early format photographs are in character, so she will have to leave Head Shots for the remaining months.

Kate Claxton
Stereogram of Kate Claxton. Image ID: TH-03277

Claxton was a dramatic actress, working for much of her career with A. M. Palmer’s companies in New York. Like so many of her contemporaries, she became associated with a single role. At his Union Square Theater in 1874, she first played the role of Louise, the blind sister in Orphans of the Storm. The French novel by A. D’Ennery and Eugene Corman, as adapted for the stage by Palmer and N. Hart Jackson, dealt with two adopted sisters and their efforts to survive the French Revolution. Like A Tale of Two Cities and The Scarlet Pimpernel, it combined fictional and real characters and ended with a chase sequence to save Louise from the guillotine. If it sounds familiar, it is from the D. W. Griffith film starring Lillian and Dorothy Gish. Sensibly, Claxton had purchased the rights to the play and subsequent films and is now known in silent film history circles for her negotiations with Griffith. There is a commercial stereogram of Claxton with Kitty Blanchard as the sisters. If the pose looks familiar, it is because the Gish Sisters were depicted that way in the characters of Henrietta and Louise for the Griffith Productions. Its promotional text is extreme even for retail over-printed borders from the 1880s. It promoted John O. Shaw, Bath, Me [who sold] “an elegant assortment of Stereographics, Gold Pens and Pencils... the best assortment of Perfume in the City and a line of Toiletries.”

We selected Claxton for the display of early format headshots because she experimented with poses and outfits. There are close-ups in which her profile fills the carte de visite frame and full body images that show her fashionable garments. In modern usage, she “worked” or even “rocked” the camera. The blog’s key image exists as a cabinet photograph by Mora, NYC, and as a stereogram.

She is wearing a two-piece fitted walking dress, made with an overall graphic flower motif. She manages to command the high contrast textile (which might easily overwhelm others) and has arranged the skirt so that its bulk is behind her. There are additional cabinet photographs in this outfit, including one very unusual 7/8 back view. We are clueless about the footstool or ottoman and what is on it. Any ideas?

What Would Amanda Palmer Read?

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​Amanda Palmer—author, performance artist, and fabulous supporter of the New York Public Library—devoted some serious time and patience to help promote children's literacy on August 20.

Amanda Palmer

Brandishing a red ukulele and decked out in full body paint, Palmer posed as a statue (in the style of Damien Hirst’s Verity) on the front steps outside our 42nd Street Library. Onlookers and fans donated hundreds of children’s books, and Palmer’s husband, author Neil Gaiman, capped off the event by donating one of his own.

The donated books soon will be sent to branches throughout the system, where they will then be given away to young NYPL patrons to support their education and early literacy.

We couldn’t let her go without sneaking in a question about reading, of course, so we asked Palmer and Gaiman to name their favorite children’s books.

Here’s what they said…

Amanda's favorite children's books:

Velveteen Rabbit
The Velveteen Rabbit
Little Gold Shoes
The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes
Golden Egg
The Golden Egg Book
Ping
The Story about Ping
Lorax
The Lorax
Tikki
Tikki Tikki Tembo
Strega Nona
Strega Nona

Neil's favorite children’s books:

Wind in the Willows
The Wind in the Willows
Narnia
The Chronicles of Narnia series
Castle
anything by Diana Wynne Jones

Our thanks to Amanda Palmer and all those who helped put together this event in celebration of reading. Because of your generous support, children across the City will discover the joy of books!

For more information about early literacy programs and resources, visit ABC Read with Me.

Travel: A Reading List from Open Book Night

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On Friday, August 14, 2015, Mid-Manhattan Library hosted an intimate Open Book Night chat on the theme of travel. Books and destinations from around the world were discussed without the fuss of reserving airline tickets, hotels, cars, or even cruises. All types of travel were considered, and some new traveling recommendations were picked up along the way.

We began our journey with one bibliophile’s suggestion of Mark Twain’s travelogues, from which many learned that this American author and humorist was quite the globetrotter. Taking readers on train excursions from Marseilles to Paris, France, to pilgrimages of the Holy Land, to boat rides on the muddy waterways of the Mississippi, Twain’s records of his direct experiences include The Innocents Abroad (1869), Roughing It  (1872), A Tramp Abroad (1880), Life on the Mississippi(1883), and Following the Equator (1897).

Invisible Cities

Invisible Cities(1974) by Italo Calvino might be labeled a travelogue too. Here the author describes places that don’t necessarily exist on any map, but draw new representations in our minds. The story begins with a conversation between the two characters, Kublai Khan and Marco Polo. They are sitting in a garden, where the youthful Venetian explorer is entertaining the aging Mongol ruler with tales of the cities he has seen while journeying to the far reaches of Khan’s vast empire.

After passing these fictional sites, one could escape into the Italian cultural movement of the 14th to the 17th centuries to discuss The Ugly Renaissance: Sex, Greed, Violence and Depravity in an Age of Beauty (2013) by Alexander Lee, fantasizing about what it was like to live in the debaucheries of Italy behind the dazzling artworks of Michelangelo, Raphael, and Botticelli.

1,000 Places to See Before You Die

So, where does one go from there? 1,000 Places to See Before You Die (2011) by Patricia Schultz, recommended by an enthusiastic library patron who had just come back from India, is the ultimate guidebook for the traveler who wants to get a snippet on cities defined by Schultz as awe-inspiring for one reason or another. Shultz’s list, which has since been turned into a documentary television series, is supposed to win over the most avid traveler at heart. Please be generous in adding to this extensive index to make 1,001 places or more to explore!

This same patron commented on how he admired many people on his travels, because they seemed to be happier than people living in the United States, despite less favorable living situations. NYPL team member Elizabeth suggested reading Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World (2008) by Eric Weiner. In this book, Weiner travels the globe in an attempt to understand what makes some people and places happier than others. His starting point is the World Database of Happiness.

 A New American Journey

Hey, you never know, but you might even consider settings comprised of mountains, deserts, or grasslands for your next haven. Elizabeth also suggested The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey (2015) by journalist Rinker Buck, even though it sounds far grittier than any serene space for contemplation. This book reminds me of The Oregon Trail, a computer game I played in elementary school, in which players hit up the general store for supplies before packing up their covered wagons for a demanding journey from Independence, Missouri, to Oregon’s Willamette Valley on the Oregon Trail. In Buck’s memoir, the journalist takes his brother on a carefully plotted 2,000 something mile adventure, just like settlers journeying westward in the Great Migration of 1843.

But if your mule-drawn vehicle has a broken wheel, perhaps A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail (2007) by Bill Bryson, is a better situation. Leaving the wagon on the side of road, readers can put on their backpacks for a hike of all time from the Peach State of Georgia to the mining town of Centralia, Pennsylvania.

A History of New York in 101 Objects

Last, but not least, A History of New York in 101 Objects (2014) by Sam Roberts encourages readers from all walks of life to look at the Big Apple a little differently. Similarly, taking a walk around town or feeling inspired about your future excursion can begin with a book and little sense of adventure.

Thank you to all our book lovers who attended this program. Please make a book suggestion related to travel literature if you can in the comments section below, and we hope you won’t miss our next Open Book Night, to share recommendations with other readers at the Mid-Manhattan Library. The complete 2015 schedule is listed below. We meet on the second Friday of the month at 6 p.m. in the Corner Room on the First Floor. We’d love to see you there!     

  • September 11, 2015 - New York
  • October 9, 2015 - The Occult
  • November 13, 2015  - Thanksgiving
  • December 11, 2015 - Food and Cooking

Superhero Songs From Presley and Melody

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Presley and Melody have been performing at the library for years, and they always come up with new exciting shows and songs. This year, they made a show to coincide with the superhero summer reading theme. Melody always talks to the kids about the songs' subject matter in order to get them thinking, similar to how we discuss the books with kids at story time. This practice improves memory and helps them develop their cognitive abilities. She asked them who their superheroes were. She mentioned librarians, teachers, fire fighters, nurses, and military personnel. As usual, the two provided a fantastic time. There was a large crowd for this end of summer reading celebration at the Parkchester Library

Presley and Melody bring their own projectors that feature drawings and photographs that are related to the songs. They also sport the lyrics of the songs so that kids can sing along. This allows kids to participate, and it helps me if I am not familiar with the songs. They utilize props for every song so that the kids have fun objects to play with during the song. They engage with the kids, encouraging them to dance and sing along with the music. They also bring their own sound system, complete with microphones.

owl
Image ID: 414793

Owls Say What?

Melody asked the kids to recite the refrain of this song  "who who" in preparation for singing. She handed out popsicle sticks attached to pictures of owls for the kids to hold up. Pictures of catwoman, firefighters, nurses and other superheroes were featured.  

"You know who they are
who who
Heroes, heroines and superstars
Every single hero has a story"

Sunny Songs

Melody handed out popsicle sticks attached to pictures of suns, smiley faces and inflatable guitars for this song. Images of the sun and lyrics appeared on the projector screen.

"Here comes the sun
you are my sunshine"

erupt
Image ID: 81545

Volcano Song

Melody asked the kids if they knew what to do if a volcano erupts. She told them the people climb up the mountain sides to escape the cascading lava. She handed out maracas (hand rattles) and inflatable guitars. Images of the sea and volcanoes made the projector come to life.

"I don't know where I'm gonna go
when the volcano blows."

Best Day of My Life

I love this song, so I am always excited when they play it. Melody handed out popsicle sticks attached to pictures of flowers, sparkly wands, and inflatable guitars.

Amazing Superheroes

Superheroes such as the Hulk were featured for this song. Hand-held star props and inflatable guitars were issued to the kids to use. This is the summer reading 2015 theme song!

octopus
Image ID: 1115095

Octopus' Garden

Melody got the kids thinking about the superheroes of the sea with this song. She mentioned lifeguards and coast guards as heroes of the water. The kids got fish pictures on popsicle sticks, blue pompoms and inflatable guitars.  

Gummy Bears

This is the most hilarious song ever. Melody mentioned that she sees a lot of sugar in the library... hence the birth of this song. The kids were energetically jumping around as gummy bears with Presley and Melody. They were totally engaged with the thought of gummy bears in their tummies and a sugar high.

"I'm a gummy bear
I'm a yummy yummy gummy bear."

I look forward to hearing the new songs and seeing the new props and pictures that Presley and Melody develop in the future. They are an amazingly dynamic duo who are unusually creative. They get the kids to participate with the music and think about the linguistics involved with the words. I love their songs about nature.

Building Young Brains

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Yet more scientific evidence has emerged that—shocker!—reading books is good for young children. So, the question isn’t WHETHER to read to kids, it’s WHAT to read.

Here are seven newly released picture books perfect for kids’ parietal-temporal-occipital association cortexes… and the adults who love them.

One Family

One Family by George Shannon
Families come in all shapes and sizes… and numbers. This early counting book beautifully illustrates the diversity of city families, big and small.

 

 

 

Abukacha

Abukacha’s Shoes by Tamar Tessler
Cool collages and multimedia art enhance the tale of “the biggest shoes in the whole wide world”—a Holocaust story passed down through the author’s family.

 

 

Henry

Little Red Henry by Linda Urban
In this retelling of the “Little Red Hen” story, well-meaning helicopter parents will find a kind reminder not to hover too much.

 

 

Bird and Bear

Bird and Bear by Ann James
A day in the life of two friends—alike yet different—is the subject of this gentle story and its watercolor illustrations.

 

 

 

 

Pim

Where Is Pim? by Lena Landström
The Velveteen Rabbit finds a kindred spirit in Pim, a rag doll who’s spirited away by a dog in the park and eagerly sought after by his owner and pal.

 

 

 

Home

Home by Ellis Carson
What does “home” look like for people all over the world… or animals… or aliens?

 

 

 

 

Jack

Missing Jack by Rebecca Elliot
Grab the tissues before reading this story of an aging cat and the boy who loves him, but don’t despair.

 

 

 

 

Staff picks are chosen by NYPL staff members and are not intended to be comprehensive lists. We'd love to hear your picks, so leave a comment and tell us what you’d recommend.

And check out our Staff Picks browse tool for 100 new recommendations every month!

Podcast #75: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Zadie Smith on Race, Writing, and Relationships

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Subscribe on iTunes.

There are few authors as smart, powerful, and visionary as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Zadie Smith. Adichie's Americanah won the 2013 National Book Critics Circle Award with its delicious satire, while Smith took the Orange Prize for her moving transatlantic novel On Beauty. This week, we're proud to present Adichie and Smith discussing clear writing, race, and relationships on the New York Public Library Podcast.

Zadie Smith and Chimamanda Adichie

Not only did Adichie describe her aesthetic as one revolving around clarity, she also noted the pitfalls of falling for convoluted styling:

"Clarity's important to me. I forget who said that 'Prose should be as clear as a window pane.' I'm very much in that school, and it's the kind of fiction I like to read. The kind of writing that I like to read is writing that is clear. I think it's very easy to confuse something that's badly written as something that's somehow deep. If something is incomprehensible and the sentences are bad, we're supposed to say, 'Oh that's really deep.' It's not the kind of fiction I like to read, so I guess maybe when I'm editing I'm thinking about that. I'm thinking that the sentences I really admire are sentences that are lucid."

Many admirers of Americanah and Half of a Yellow Sun have observed the pleasures of reading about strong female characters moving through relationships. Adichie sees the romantic relationships in her fiction as diametrically opposed to the paradigm of the Mills and Boon romance novel:

"It took me a while to realize I really didn't like the Mills and Boon format, where the man decides. It's sort of the destiny of the relationship is in the hands of the man. And it's okay as well if they meet and don't like each other, then he grabs her at some point and she melts. You know that idea that a woman can't own her sexuality, can't own her choices? So this is the anti-Mills and Boon in many ways. The women in my world don't have to wait because they're women."

Adichie also parsed the differences in understandings of blackness in Nigeria and the United States, including the way in which African-American blacks might be seen differently than African blacks by white Americans and the way in which racial difference might be expressed differently between the two countries:

"In Nigeria, people will say 'sister,' but they don't mean it racially, so I think it's the understanding that it's racial that for me and for many immigrants from West Africa, it's just a little off-putting. It's a little disorienting because you don't quite get it. And I think it also has to be said that you very quickly realize that you're expected to play 'The Good Black' because you're not African-American; therefore, you're 'The Good Black.' White people will say, 'Oh, but you're different!' and you're not supposed to be, instead of being furious, because that's really an insult, you're supposed to be happy... There are many Nigerians who don't get it. There are also many Nigerian immigrants who are raising children here, children who are very affected by race because America is a society that's steeped in race whether we like it or not, but somehow the parents are oblivious. It's one of the things I wanted to explore in the novel. They're just completely oblivious, so the kid is the only black kid in an all-white school in Maine and the parent thinks it doesn't matter."

You can subscribe to the New York Public Library Podcast to hear more conversations with wonderful artists, writers, and intellectuals. Join the conversation today!

Dando la Bienvenida al Papa Francisco

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El Papa ya empezó su recorrido por Latinoamérica y tiene planes de visitar la Ciudad de Nueva York del 24 al 25 de Septiembre, 2015, movilizado en caravana abierta, y luego continuará por Filadelfia.  Para información en inglés oprima aqui.

El Papa Francisco nació bajo el nombre de Jorge Mario Bergoglio el 17 de diciembre de 1936 en Buenos Aires, Argentina y fue elegido pontífice de la Iglesia Católica Apostólica Romana el 13 de marzo de 2013 tras la renuncia del Papa Benedicto XVI. El Pontífice expresó su voluntad en ser llamado “Francisco” en honor a San Francisco de Asís y es el primer papa en ser llamado Francisco, además es el primer pontífice proveniente de América y de la orden jesuita.

Jorge Mario Bergoglio cursó sus estudios primarios en el colegio salesiano y luego de graduarse de la escuela secundaria, trabajó como técnico químico. Se inclinó por la vocación religiosa desde muy joven y decidió ingresar al noviciado de los jesuitas a los 21 años.  Completó varios estudios de ciencias clásicas y otras artes liberales,  y obtuvo su maestría en filosofia y teologia.  Fue profesor de Literatura y Psicología, director espiritual de los jóvenes integrantes en el ministerio y maestro de novicios. Fue ordenado sacerdote el 13 de diciembre de 1969 y  luego consagrado arzobispo de Buenos Aires el 28 de febrero de 1998. Tres años después fue considerado como uno de los candidatos al trono pontífice tras ser elevado a cardenal por el Papa Juan Pablo II el  21 de febrero de 2001. 

El Papa Francisco es conocido por su gran cualidad de humildad y dedicación por los pobres y marginados. El Papa Francisco ya ha aparecido como la “persona del año” en las portadas de mayores revistas tales como  TimeRolling Stone, y Advocate.

Vamos a dar la bienvenida al Papa Francisco y a conocer más sobre su legado espiritual a través de la variedad de recursos que ofrece la Biblioteca para adultos, jóvenes y niños ¡incluyendo obras escritas en sus propias palabras! Oprima aquí para ver la lista de recursos disponibles.

Para más información sobre el recorrido del Papa, sírvase visitar:

CNN

El Diario

Telemundo

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

Univision

Vatican Insider

Algunas de las obras también pueden estar disponibles en diferentes formatos. Para más información sírvase comunicarse con el bibliotecario de su biblioteca local. Síganos por ¡Twitter! Los amantes de la lectura y escritura podrían además disfrutar del club de libros latinos y la lista de lectura ReadLatinoLit de las Comadres y Compadres (en inglés y español). Para información sobre eventos favor de visitar: Eventos en Español. Más Blog en Español.


Yoga Books and DVDs

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Here are some recommendations of yoga material from our collections for the days you can't make it to the yoga studio:

Books

DVDs

Classes at the library

See all upcoming classes.

Jewish Genealogy: A Quick Online Guide

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Find out how to get information about your Jewish roots. Links to vital records, Holocaust resources, name origins, and Jewish genealogy collections.

Vital records

Birth, death, immigration, census, military service, civil marriage, and school records.

 1621139
Trajes y objetos domesticos, de culto y de musica de los Hebreos. Image ID: 1621139
ResourceDescriptionHow to use
Ancestrylibrary.comComprehensive genealogy site for vital records, especially U.S. sources; includes some scanned documentsSearch for individuals by name; add dates, places and other details to refine search.
JewishGenComprehensive, global Jewish genealogy site with databases, town sites, yizkor book translations, and research groups.Search databases for names and places, research towns, and register to connect with similar researchers.
SephardicGen/JewishGen Sephardic GenealogyComprehensive global site arranged by country, family name, topic. Includes information on Inquisition archives and numerous links.Search by name, country, or topic.
Stephen Morse One-StepSearch tools/shortcuts for finding vital records, and navigating calendars, maps, foreign alphabets and soundex.Choose topics and enter data.
 5038825
Zionist yeshiva, 1910. Image ID: 5038825

Holocaust

Find information about individuals, communities, and their fate during the Holocaust.

ResourceDescriptionHow to use
International Tracing ServiceCenter for documentation, information and research on Nazi persecution, forced labor and the Holocaust.Search inventories online; submit forms to request information.
United States Holocaust Memorial MuseumIncludes exhibitions, research resources, educational programs and resources, leadership training and commemorations.Search databases, find resources for survivors and victims, explore research and educational resources.
Yad Vashem - Central Database of Shoah Victims NamesWorld center for documentation, research, education and commemoration of the Holocaust.Search for names and places of Shoah (Holocaust) victims; submit information. Automated translations.
Yizkor Books Online700 yizkor books from NYPL and the Yiddish Book Center.Search by town or city name.
Yizkor Book Project (JewishGen)Bibliographic database and translations of yizkor books.Search by town or city name, country and region, check necrology database.
 1238123
Ketubbah. Calcutta, 1866. Image ID: 1238123

Name Origins

AuthorTitle
Beider, AlexanderA dictionary of Ashkenazic given names: their origins, structure, pronunciation, and migrations
Beider, AlexanderA dictionary of Jewish surnames from Galicia
A dictionary of Jewish surnames from the Kingdom of Poland
A dictionary of Jewish surnames from the Russian Empire
Faiguenboim, Guilherme, Valadares, Paulo
Campagnano, Anna Rosa
Dicionário sefaradi de sobrenomes : inclusive cristãos novos, conversos, marranos, italianos, berberes e sua história na Espanha, Portugal e Itália = Dictionary of Sephardic surnames : including Christianized Jews, Conversos, Marranos, Italians, Berbers, and their history in Spain, Portugal and Italy
Ackman-Ziff Family Genealogy InstituteReference Books on Jewish names (PDF)
AvotaynuConsolidated Jewish Surname Index (online database)
 1638368
Habit of a Polish Jewess in 1766. Femme Juixe Polonoise. Image ID: 1638368

Jewish Genealogy Collections

NameFocus
Ackman-Ziff Family Genealogy InstituteJewish genealogy resources at the Center for Jewish History, serving the
American Jewish ArchivesAmerican Jewish history and archives, including genealogy resources
AvotaynuJewish genealogy (online resource and print publications)
Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People (Jerusalem)Jewish history and genealogy
International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS)Jewish genealogy
JewishGenJewish genealogy, vital records, regional genealogy, yizkor books
Jewish Historical Institute (ZIH) Polish Jewry, including genealogy

New York Times Read Alikes: August 30, 2015

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Go Set a Watchman returns to the No. 1 spot this week, but two newcomers appear lower on the list. Read on!

Go Set a Watchman Cover

#1 Recommendations for readers who enjoyed Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee, more Southern Gothic:

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evilby John Berendt

Nothing Gold Can Stayby Ron Rash

The Violent Bear It Awayby Flannery O’Connor

 

 

 

The Girl On the Train

#2 Recommendations for readers who enjoyed The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins, more suspense novels told from multiple perspectives:

And Then There Was One by Patricia Gussin

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

The Sonby Jo Nesbø

 

 

 

Silver Linings

#3 Recommendations for readers who enjoyed Silver Linings by Debbie Macomber, more romances set in small towns:

On Mystic Lake by Kristin Hannah

The Next Always by Nora Roberts

Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor by Lisa Kleypas

 

 

 

Who Do You Love

#4 Recommendations for readers who enjoyed Who Do You Loveby Jennifer Weiner, more stories of love and families:

Belong to Me by Marisa de los Santos

Days of Awe by Lauren Fox

Everything Changes by Jonathan Tropper

 

 

 

Grey Cover

#5 Recommendations for readers who enjoyed Grey by E.L. James, more novels about sexual dominance and submission:

The Submissive by Tara Sue Me

Bared to You by Sylvia Day

Beautiful Oblivion by Jamie McGuire

 

 

 

Staff picks are chosen by NYPL staff members and are not intended to be comprehensive lists. We'd love to hear your picks, so leave a comment and tell us what you’d recommend.

And check out our Staff Picks browse tool for 100 new recommendations every month!

National Bestsellers at the Schomburg Gift Shop

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The Schomburg Gift Shop has reinvigorated one of its most popular displays, just in time for the new school year: Gift Shop Top Picks. Highlighting national bestsellers from notable publications such as The New York Times, Ebony, and Essence at the front of the store, the Shop continues to support the #BlackLivesMatter movement by celebrating prolific and emerging voices in black literature. 

From Harlem Nocturne by Farah Jasmine Griffin (a frequent Schomburg panelist) to Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in Americaby Ari Berman (who will be here September 16 to discuss his timely new book) the Shop aims to "showcase and promote the amazing influence of black authors and black-themed titles that should be considered required reading for the development of black consciousness," says Gift Shop Manager Luis De La Cruz. 

Stop by the Schomburg Gift Shop Monday through Saturday from 11 am to 6 pm and catch up on all our great reads! 

Fifty Shades of Hemingway

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Few figures in twentieth century American letters loom as large as Ernest Hemingway. Even though it has been a few years since any comprehensive biography has been published, incarnations of Hemingway continue to flourish within popular culture. Love him or hate him, there is no doubt that he was a fascinating personality whose literary legacy endures. His life was one where the lines between literature and experience were blurred. Bull-fighting, boxing, big game hunting and war were the stage for many of his stories and novels and these were adventures that Hemingway sought out himself. A Farewell to Arms was based on his time volunteering for the American Red Cross in Italy during World War I, where he was injured and hospitalized. For Whom the Bell Tollsfictionalizes his experiences during the Spanish Civil War.Nick Adams in the stories of In Our Timeand Jake Barnes in The Sun Also Riseswould both seem to be mere alter egos for the writer himself.

Hemingway
Image ID: TH-20452

Surely Papa became a celebrity in his own lifetime, and he continues to be a subject of much fascination. Perhaps as much has been written about Hemingway as was written by him. For a discussion of the making of Hemingway as a literary star, you may want to check out Hemingway and His Conspirators: Hollywood, Scribners and the Making of American Celebrity Culture(1997). A number of his stories were made into films. Perhaps the best known of these is The Killers, starring Ava Gardner and Burt Lancaster. If you are looking for a documentary about Hemingway and his relationship to one of the silver screen's greatest legends, last year's Cooper and Hemingway: True Gen chronicles the friendship between Hem and Gary Cooper. Looking for something heavier? Running From Crazy (2014), in which granddaughter Mariel explores her family's history of suicide and mental illness, might be a good choice.

A number of fictional portrayals of Hem can be found in recent films as well. A charming if slightly goofy version of the young Hemingway played by Corey Stoll can be found in the breezy Woody Allen film, Midnight in Paris (2011). Clive Owen offers a more realistic portrayal in the film Hemingway and Gellhorn(2012), which focuses on the romance between the the writer and Martha Gellhorn, the journalist and the third of his four wives. No one knew better than Gellhorn how Hemingway treated writing as a competitive sport. For more on their romance, betrayal and the Spanish Civil War, you may want to read Hotel Florida: Truth, Love and Death in the Spanish Civil War (2014), or to hear Gellhorn's side of the story, The Collected Letters: of Martha Gellhorn (2006).

The artist and writer John Dos Passos once noted that Hemingway was the only man that he knew who truly hated his mother. Perhaps it is not so surprising that his love life was turbulent and continues to inspire curiosity and feminist critiques. If you haven't already, Paula McClain's novel, The Paris Wife (2011), is an entertaining look at how Paris in the 1920s may have appeared to Hem's first wife, Hadley Richardson. In the same vein and even more ambitious, last year's, Mrs. Hemingway by Naomi Wood, which attempts to recreate all four wives. To learn more about the real Hadley, you might try Paris Without End: The True Story of Hemingway's First Wife(2011) by Gioia Diliberto. Perhaps the least is known about Hemingway's second wife, Pauline Pfeiffer, for whom he left Hadley, but if you would like to learn more, Ruth A. Hawkins' Unbelievable Happiness and Final Sorrow: The Hemingway Pfeiffer Marriage (2012) takes a look at the woman with whom Hemingway spent his most productive years as a writer. Mary Welsh, the last wife was also a writer and wrote her own memoir, How It Was, (1976) which is currently out of print.

What does one make of the is proliferation of Hemingways, a writer whose his literary philosophy could be summed up as "less is more?" Papa may have liked to think that he would have the last word in looking back at his life and determining what it all meant when he began to write his memoir of the early years with Hadley in Paris, A Moveable Feast. He wrote it in the last decade of his life, in the wake of so many lost friendships and failed marriages. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein and especially Pauline, his second wife, were not cast in a very favorable light. One might compare this Hemingway with the one that appears in the short history, The Hotel on Place Vendome: Life, Death and Betrayal at the Hotel Ritz in Parisby Tilar Mazzeo (2014). Here Papa is one of many journalists trying to be the first to reach Paris and the Ritz in particular after it has been freed from the Germans at the end of WWII, and you can't help but feel it was his own glorious past that Hem was trying to recapture. One can't blame him—there is something so intoxicating about those early days in Paris in the 1920s that they continue to haunt our collective imagination.

If you would like something meatier, Michael Reynolds's 5-volume biography might be just the thing to help you sort out fact from fiction. Beginning with The Young Hemingway(1986)and concluding with Hemingway: The Final Years (1999), Reynolds's study is well written and exhaustive. When you have finished delving into everything Hemingway, you may begin to think you know and understand him. Or, at least, as much as anyone can ever know anyone from words and images.

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