In honor of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s birthday this week, we’re thinking about Gatsby…

... or, more precisely, we’re NOT thinking about Gatsby.

Writing-wise, one of Fitzgerald’s neatest tricks about The Great Gatsby is that even though it’s about the slick and tortured debonair, he isn’t the one telling the story. Readers’ impressions are all filtered through the mind of Nick Carraway—a dedicated but fickle narrator.

We asked our NYPL experts to name other books, written from the first-person perspective, that aren’t really about the narrators. Here’s what they recommended.

Fiction

Vladimir Nabokov's comedic novel, Pnin reads like a group of coworkers making fun of the office "Jerry." Through the eyes of his colleague (and, presumably, professional competitor) Professor Pnin is a physically and linguistically clumsy Russian emigre who just can't seem to catch a break. Though the narrator never misses a chance to point out Pnin's quirks and failures, he remains one of the most lovable and underrated characters in Nabokov's fiction.

Daybreak by Brian Ralph. It’s the consistent use of uniform panels that make this story so captivating, with monsters that are eerily elusive and never fully captured visually. The world is bleak and dying, but the characters are vibrant and alive. What we have here is a post-apocalyptic tale of end times, told through a first-person perspective that offers a unique twist... the “narrator” is YOU. —Daniel Norton, Mid-Manhattan

The Life and Death of Sophie Starkby Anna North is the story of an enigmatic film director, told post-mortem by those in her life: husband, girlfriend, friends, and family. Sophie is a walking contradiction—strong but frail, confident but insecure, loving but distant—but everyone agrees she’s an artistic genius. While these accounts are fairly symmetrical, the exact opposite is true in Rant: The Oral Biography of Buster Casey by Chuck Palahniuk. This story is told first-person by those who knew him, but with drastically different points of view, and the wild, dystopic, often disgusting story is funny and thoughtful but not for the faint of heart. —Rebecca Dash Donsky, 67^th Street

Breakfast at Tiffany’sby Truman Capote is the story of Holly Golightly from the perspective of her male admirers. She flits in and out of the scene, while they watch in bemusement. —Arielle Landau, Digital Experience

At one point in Donna Tartt’s debut novel, The Secret History, the narrator asks his readers something like, “What can I do to make you understand how this felt?” Destroying that fourth wall pulls you in so close to the narrator that he starts to become invisible and makes you complicit in the story, which is barely about the narrator at all and more about a classmate whom they (you?) murder in the first chapter. —Gwen Glazer, Readers Services

Children & Young Adult

Jerry Spinelli’s Stargirl.  The narrator, Leo Borlock, tells the tale of Susan Caraway, also known as “Stargirl.” Susan walks into the lives of Leo and his fellow classmates at Mica High and nothing is ever the same again. Susan dazzles, she astounds, she lifts up everyone around her, she is entirely true to herself, and she is unlike anyone else. She is 100% Stargirl and that is precisely why Leo is compelled to tell her story. —Jeff Katz, Chatham Square

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery fits the bill. The story is narrated by an aviator who has crash-landed in the desert and meets our title character, The Little Prince.  Our Little Prince is a traveler here on Earth from another planet, and it is his experiences and insights the aviator records in this story. A thought-provoking tale that speaks to children and adults on myriad levels. —Stephanie Whelan, Seward Park

Classics

Moby-Dick, which is excellent and funnier than you expect it to be, even considering the long descriptions of whaling minutae. It’s narrated by Ishmael, as we learn in the very first sentence, but it ends up being much more about Ahab and, of course, The Whale. —Kay Menick, Schomburg Center

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. The two main narrators (Lockwood, a wealthy outsider, and Nelly, a longtime family servant) are both peripheral to the story, and the entire structure of the novel is so complex that critics have likened it to a set of Chinese boxes. Barely contained within is the story of the obsessive, untamable passion of Catherine and Heathcliff, a narrative core that continues to enthrall readers, perhaps all the more because of the contrast with the elaborate framework surrounding it. —Kathie Coblentz, Rare Materials

The J.D. Salinger short stories told from the perspective of Buddy—Franny, Zooey, Raise High the Roofbeams, and Seymour. —Arielle Landau, Digital Experience

There are a lot of novels about politics, but few of them are great. Robert Penn Warren’s All The King’s Men is one of the great ones. Narrated by Jack Burden, a reporter turned governor’s aide, the novel tells the story of the rise and fall of Gov. Willie Stark, a demagogue whose life story bears more than a passing resemblance to that of Huey “Kingfish” Long.  The strength of the novel lies in watching Jack try to remain a dispassionate observer, only to end up just as tainted as almost every other member of Stark’s entourage. —Wayne Roylance, Selection Team

The Life of Johnson, written by James Boswell, provides the reader with a detailed and affectionately written description of the life of the acclaimed 18^th-century writer Dr. Samuel Johnson. Boswell, who was a friend of Johnson, recounts many conversations they had and describes numerous anecdotes he observed over the course of their friendship. Boswell wrote the biography from his own perspective, frequently expressing his own reactions to his friend’s comments and behaviors. —Christina Lebec, Bronx Library Center

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!

With refugee stories and heartbreaking images all around us due to the current situation in Syria, (you can read more at “Understanding the Syrian Refugee Crisis”) perhaps you have encountered questions from children.

What is a refugee? A simple definition from the Oxford Dictionary tell us that a refugee is: “A person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster.”

Here is a selection of recent books for children that talk about the refugee experience, as told by different voices from different places.

The Refugee Experience, Children’s Books

The Red Pencil by Andrea Davis Pinkney. The Story of Amira, a Sudanese girl.

I Lived on Butterfly Hill by Marjorie Agosín. The story of Celeste, a girl from Chile.

Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai. The story of a Vietnamese girl, Hà.

The Lily Pond by Annika Thor. The story of Stephie, a refugee from Austria.

Azzi in Between by Sarah Garland. A graphic novel depicting the story of Azzi.

A Long Walk to Water, A Novel by Linda Sue Park. Two children from Sudan, Salva and Nya, their stories.

90 Miles to Havana by Enrique Flores-Galbis. Julian's story, a boy from Cuba.

The Day of the Pelican by Katherine Paterson. The story of Meli, a gril from Kosovo.

Escaping the Tiger by Laura Manivong. Vonlai's story, a boy from Laos.

Shooting Kabul by N. H. Senzai. The story of Fadi, a boy from Afghanistan.

Do you have any other suggestions or recommendations?

Last month, the 96th Street Library celebrated its 110th birthday. In that spirit, the staff at the 96th Street Branch would like to thank our community for supporting the Library throughout its history. Because of you we have made great strides in the services we provide: popular monthly opera recitals and weekly films, children’s programs, book discussions, art showings, music concerts, technology classes, and more. Of course, we have not forgotten the bibliophiles in the community, so you can rest assured that there’s no shortage of books in print, audio, and e-book format waiting for you at the Library.

A Brief History

On September 1, 1905, the 96th Street Library opened its doors to the public. Housed in a beautiful Carnegie building, the Library was designed by the architecture firm Babb, Cook and Willard, and built by Isaac Hopper & Son. The façade of the library, styled in the late 19th century Italian Renaissance Revival, looks almost identical today to how it did in the early twenties.

Inside the 13,000 square foot interior are three floors with dramatic ceiling heights, elegant crown moldings of wood and plaster, original oak shelves, large pendant lights and tall arched windows that pass natural light into the first floor. Marble stairs lined with ornate cast-iron railings and carved wooden banisters connect the three floors; the vestibule, with its beautiful wall to ceiling wood carvings and molding links the main hallway to the exterior steps.

The high ceilings and large rooms present a stateliness that is complemented well by its subtle adornments. For the residents of the surrounding Carnegie Hill and East Harlem neighborhoods the Library is an emblem of the community as well as a refuge for those seeking an escape from the fast pace of the city.

Past meets present

While the historic building remains very close to its physical roots, the 96th Street Library has had major renovations in 1960 and 1991. Improvements include the addition of an elevator system, wheel chair access, central air conditioning, updated electric, carpeting, and, most recently, a new heating and fire suppression system. Some of these improvements would be crucial, allowing for the technological upgrades that would come at a later time.

Skipping past the era of card catalogs, main-frame-sized computers and giant laser discs, today, the 96th Street Library holds a number of upgraded desktop computers, laptops, new printers, copier machines, and free WIFI throughout the building. We also provide online access to free e-book and audiobooks for tablet and e-reader devices, effectively permitting twenty four hour access to library titles in electronic format.

As you can see, we love technology and try to incorporate it whenever we can. If you enjoy classic movies you’ll really appreciate our weekly film program. Using a high definition projector and surround sound, patrons are treated to a theater-like experience watching classic movies in the Library. Still, there’s a certain magic quality to the old projectors that digital ones just can’t reproduce. In that case we have these charming 16mm film projectors, which we use for the children’s film program. Many of the kids have never seen an old reel to reel projector before!

So whether you’re a fan of books, movies, or looking to read the latest issue of New Yorker magazine, the Library has you covered. Maybe you’re looking to take a computer class, need access to a computer, or want help with your tablet. We can help with that too! Now is a great time to come to your local library and see all that has changed about us—we like to think for the better!

Looking back on the Revolution in 1815, John Adams remarked that “The History of the United States never can be written” without the records of the Boston Committee of Correspondence. When it was formed in 1772, the BCC was the closest thing to an organizing body of the nascent American revolutionary movement.  From that year through 1774, when the First Continental Congress met in Philadelphia, the BCC corresponded with similar committees in hundreds of Massachusetts towns, as well as from every one of the thirteen colonies.  It was the central node in a growing revolutionary network.  According to Adams at least, the BCC was not merely significant for American history but also for world history. He argued that the BCC provided a model for future European revolutions.[1]

Though New York is perhaps an unlikely home the BCC records, they have been in the main branch on 42nd street since it first opened in 1911.  The Lenox Library—which, along with the the Astor Library and the Tilden Trust consolidated to form NYPL—acquired the BCC records in 1893, when it purchased the library of George Bancroft, the famous nineteenth-century historian.

As part of an ongoing project to digitize large portions of the New York Public Library’s early American manuscript collections, NYPL has made the records of the Boston Committee of Correspondence freely available online.  Over the next couple of months, I’ll periodically blog about the collection, especially with an eye toward making it accessible for students.  And we certainly hope this will reinvigorate researchers’ interest in the collection.  But keeping with the Library’s mission to make knowledge available to all, we hope everyone who is interested in the history of the American Revolution will also dive into this rich material.

[1] Adams quoted in Richard D. Brown, Revolutionary Politics in Massachusetts: The Boston Committee of Correspondence and the Towns, 1772-1774 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1970), vii.  A transcription of the full letter is available at Founders Online.

About the Early American Manuscripts Project

With support from the The Polonsky Foundation, The New York Public Library is currently digitizing upwards of 50,000 pages of historic early American manuscript material. The Early American Manuscripts Project will allow students, researchers, and the general public to revisit major political events of the era from new perspectives and to explore currents of everyday social, cultural, and economic life in the colonial, revolutionary, and early national periods. The project will present on-line for the first time high quality facsimiles of key documents from America’s Founding, including the papers of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison. Drawing on the full breadth of the Library’s manuscript collections, it will also make widely available less well-known manuscript sources, including business papers of Atlantic merchants, diaries of people ranging from elite New York women to Christian Indian preachers, and organizational records of voluntary associations and philanthropic organizations. Over the next two years, this trove of manuscript sources, previously available only at the Library, will be made freely available through nypl.org.
 

To say that the Schomburg Center's 90th Anniversary Gala was magical would be an understatement. Echoing one attendee's reaction, "It was enchanting." That sentiment reverberated around the Celeste Bartos Forum on September 28 at the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, decked floor to ceiling in beautiful courtyard decor—channeling the elegance of an institution that has welcomed such legends as Langston Hughes, Ruby Dee, Jacob Lawrence, Maya Angelou and Chester Higgins through its doors.

As our guests including Pulitzer Prize winner Isabel Wilkerson, author Charles Blow, and photographer Deborah Willis, flooded the lobby in their lavish eveningwear, bustling with excitement for the night's festivities, many gathered around our exclusive commemorative exhibit that honored our 90-year history with more than forty items from our collections—from a manuscript of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings to a James Brown button and an Augusta Savage sculpture maquette. That was just the beginning of an event that has continued to make headlines more than a week later. 

The lights dimmed as Anthony Marx, President of the New York Public Library, took to the stage for his opening remarks, followed by Schomburg Director Khalil Gibran Muhammad, who set the tone of the evening with an inspiring speech honoring the legacy of the Schomburg. Which was the perfect segue to this powerful video that captured the institution's remarkable history, wth special appearances by Schomburg curators and Junior Scholars, actor/activist Harry Belafonte, chef Marcus Samuelsson, and Thelma Golden, Director and Chief Curator of The Studio Museum of Harlem. 

Our emcees of the evening, Deborah Roberts and Al Roker, kept the momentum going by offering the floor to the night's honorees professor and poet Elizabeth Alexander, groundbreaking television producer Norman Lear, Ursula Burns, Chairman and CEO of Xerox, Vernon Jordan, Senior Managing Director of Lazard Frères & Co. LLC, and Franklin Thomas and Darren Walker of the Ford Foundation—who were each acknowledged for their contributions in the fields of Arts & Culture, Business Leadership and Philanthropy. 

And to cap off an already memorable evening, none other than First Lady Michelle Obama shared her gratitude of the Schomburg via a  moving video message that shed light on the significance of the cultural institution, offering a heartfelt congratulations for its National Medal win (it was Obama herself who presented the National Medal to the Schomburg at a White House ceremony in May). 

Even as guests filed out of the Bartos at the end of the gala, conversations of the night's events never wavered, which spoke volumes to not only the success of the evening but also how it ignited a deeper love and appreciation of an institution that is steadfast in its belief that "every month is black history month." With already 90 years behind it, the Schomburg will continue to not only collect history but also make history. 

What does the Schomburg Center mean to you? Tweet us @SchomburgCenter using #Schomburg90!

View our 90th anniversary photo album on the Schomburg's Facebook page. 

Photo credit: Terrence Jennings

On November 2, we will be recognizing five outstanding individuals for their achievements in the fields of art, culture, scholarship, and letters by naming them Library Lions at The New York Public Library's annual Library Lions gala.

This year, we are proud to recognize as our 2015 Library Lions:

• Alan Bennett, award-winning author and playwright
• Judith A. Jamison, heralded dancer and choreographer
• Maira Kalman, celebrated author and illustrator
• Karl Ove Knausgaard, groundbreaking novelist
• Gloria Steinem, world-renowned activist and author

​For over 30 years, the Library has honored those who have made significant contributions to New York City and to the creative community at large by naming them Library Lions, with previous honorees including South African President Nelson Mandela, author Elie Weisel, media mogul Oprah Winfrey, and director Martin Scorcese. Margaret Atwood, Dave Eggers, Kazuo Ishiguro, Robert B. Silvers and Anna Deavere Smith were last year’s Library Lions.

Congratulations to all five 2015 Library Lions honorees.

Learn more about our Library Lions gala, to be held November 2, 2015.

Earlier this week, we posted a list of podcasts, music, and books that make us happy—an idea inspired by the fine folks at NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour.

Today, we have Part 2: what’s making us happy in the realms of TV, cooking, art and design, libraries, and online thingamabobs, and then happinesses that defy categorization.

TV

Parks and Recreation is the first TV show I’ve ever binge-watched. The characters’ antics, camaraderie, friendship, and silliness just made me laugh and appreciate all the unique characters. Plus the fact that they really, really dislike the library and librarians made it funnier.

Leslie Knope:“The library is the worst bunch of people assembled in history. They’re mean, conniving, rude, and extremely well read, which makes them very dangerous.”

(And some of the main actors have recently written books!)—Adriana Blancarte-Hayward, Outreach

I am currently loving the show Portlandia, and I was happy to find that I have five seasons’ worth of shows to catch up on. The humor can be very quirky, but it totally gets me out of my head and makes me laugh. —Chasity Moreno, Epiphany

Tyra Banks’ new show and her super lifestyle experts are making me very happy. It covers all the things I love: fashion, food, life hacks, DIY stuff, and talk about the single life. This show pretty much is giving me all kinds of feels, in the good way. —Elisa Garcia, Bronx Library Center

Difficult People just wrapped up its first season on Hulu Plus. The first episode finds our heroes (Julie Klausner and co-star Billy Eichner) attempting to go into business together bottling library fountain water—”the coldest, most delicious water in the world.” The comedy of Julie Klausner makes me happy, even when she is acerbic, grumpy, or expounding at length on her love of “noodelles.” She just gets it. Check out her weekly podcast, YA novel, or 2009 dating memoir, I Don’t Care About Your Band.—Lauren Lampasone, Digital Experience

I’ve been enjoying the TV series Drop Dead Diva, which I affectionately think of as “lawyer lady.” The premise sounds like something out of a George Burns movie script. Between the fun characters, the guest stars, and the comedic foil of Margaret Cho, it makes me happy. —Jenny Baum, Jefferson Market

Okay, I know that saying watching the Scandinavian series The Bridge makes me “happy” may give some people pause… its storyline is dark and sometimes gruesome. But the pairing of Sofia Helin as a Swedish detective who displays traits consistent with Asperger syndrome with Kim Bodnia as her Danish counterpart makes this series binge-worthy. I’ve seen the first two seasons and the third just started airing in Sweden, so I can’t wait to be able to see it distributed stateside. Be forewarned: There is an American version of the series that is a pale imitator of the original. —Wayne Roylance, Selection Team

I live for Wednesday nights on FX. The League and You’re the Worst are both hilarious comedies about terrible people who are somehow sympathetic (well, some of them, anyway). Recommended for fans of It’s Always Sunny, Seinfeld, and other shows about selfish narcissists. —Rebecca Dash Donsky, 67^th Street

Something making me very happy is the return of Nashville, which is like Empire for fans of country music. The show has many great storylines that includes drama, love triangles, fights, and, of course, exceptionally great original music. —Lilian Calix, Hamilton Grange

British TV

I have been awaiting the return of Doctor Who series 9. It came back last week and I have not been disappointed! This photo will show what a nerd I am: My nails are Doctor Who-themed. —Dawn Collins, Wakefield

I’m in love with The Great British Bake Off, currently in series 6. Twelve ordinary Brits square off for two days each week in judged baking competitions that test their technical skills and creativity. The most recent showstopper competition had contestants building a three-tiered centerpiece in the shape of a nun, using only filled eclairs. Everyone is so nice to each other, so polite and supportive. I find episodes on YouTube (and the first season is on Netflix, too). —Anne Rouyer, Mulberry Street

Cartoons

Adventure Time always put me in a great mood.  Just a boy and a dog having adventures in the post-apocalyptic Land of Ooo.  Also, this: I’m a Buff Baby. —Susen Shi, Seward Park

This cartoon fan has recently discovered Steven Universe! Being the first show on Cartoon Network with a female creator, featuring a brilliant superhero/science-fiction plot with a cast full of powerful female characters is pretty awesome all on its own. But I’ve been watching clips of this show with my kids, and we all love to watch and sing along to it together. There’s just something about this cartoon that brings out the kid in me! —Stephanie Whelan, Seward Park

Cooking

Being a native New Yorker, there isn’t much incentive to cook with all the delicious cuisines this city has to offer, so I generally do not get much practice. Because of this, one of my guilty pleasures that brings me joy is Worst Cooks In America on the Food Network, hosted by Anne Burrell. After watching, I can see that although I do not cook as often as I should, I am not completely inept in the culinary department. I enjoy watching the contestants’ journeys from being one of the worst cooks in America to becoming fully capable individuals in the kitchen, and I learn some tips and tricks along the way as well. —Sandra Farag, Mid-Manhattan

I went apple-picking over the weekend, and I’ve gone into full on baking mode now that the weather is cooling down. Besides foodgawker, I’m getting my inspiration from The Apple Cookbook, An Apple Harvest, and The Apple Lover’s Cookbook. —Susen Shi, Seward Park

I’ve really been enjoying rewatching Julia and Jacques: Cooking at Home, a cooking series featuring culinary superstars Julia Child and Jacques Pépin. Each episode, they team up to make the same dishes, each using their own technique. Sometimes they admire each other’s approach and sometimes they agree to disagree, but they are always very cute together. If you’re feeling ambitious, you can even check out their cookbook! —Susie Heimbach, Mulberry Street

Art and Design

I know adult coloring is all the rage now, but my hobby is doing collage. I find it really takes me out of my own head and is very relaxing.  I love getting glue on my fingers like I did as a kid, and I love the idea of creating something new out of something old.  I use the books Collage Lab and Masters: Collage for inspiration. —Ronni Krasnow, Morningside Heights

I look forward to the happy arrival of The World of Interiors magazine each month at Mid-Manhattan Library. From country houses with tangled gardens to typography studios, there is a comfortable elegance to the whole thing. It is perfect for scrapbooking design elements for, or just fantasizing about, my dream home. —Jessica Cline, Mid-Manhattan

Something that made me happy this week was seeing a painting show by a woman named Dana Schutz at Petzel Gallery called Fight in an Elevator. This woman is the real deal. If I were a painter I may have thrown down my brushes.  Her work is bold and confident, a bit aggressive and full of vivid humanity.  ​Many of the paintings are large scale assemblies of a scene at the beach or in an airport or an elevator. They want to leap of the gallery wall and burst out of their canvases. Open until Oct. 24; not to be missed. —Lynn Lobash, Readers Services

Libraries

I’ve been really happy lately to have NYPL Interlibrary Loan at my fingertips. I like tracking down hard-to-find books like Dharma Punx or Notes To Myself, and early aughts music like the wonderful collaboration between Vic Chesnutt and Elf Power. It’s such a gift to hold material from libraries all over the country and think about the journey it has taken to get to you. Lately, more patrons have been using ILL, which also makes me quite happy! —Charlie Radin, Inwood

NPR!!! Because I believe in stereotypes. Just kidding… except in the case of librarians listening to NPR. :) —Michael Rios, Bronx Library Center

Fun Online

Full House Reviewed has been around for five years now, but it’s batting a cool 1.000 for me whenever I need something to lift my spirits. For the uninitiated, it’s a pretty simple concept: A guy who absolutely hates the late-1980s/early-1990s TV show Full House decided to write detailed, highly acerbic commentary of every episode in chronological order (my advice: start at the beginning).The results are really funny and might make you a little nostalgic for what is—in the cold, harsh light of 2015—a mindbogglingly awful television show. Good thing Fuller House arrives from Netflix in 2016? —Brian Stokes, Jefferson Market

I’m currently obsessed with the Korean variety show Running Man, which can be watched for free with English subtitles online, or you can start with episode 1 on its YouTube channel. If you’re interested to watch without subtitles, perhaps we should learn Korean with Mango Languages, available for free with an NYPL card. —Leslie Bernstein, Mott Haven

And the best promo for a database award goes to... Leslie, for promoting Mango Languages! To add to that, in case you didn’t know, Mango also offers “Spanish for Librarians.” —Dawn Collins, Wakefield

Happinesses that Defy Categorization

A double-dose of happiness came my way this weekend, when I finished Neil Gaiman’s The Ocean at the End of the Lane and had the great fortune to see Justin Vivian Bond at Joe’s Pub. Both experiences managed to give me a better feeling about life and provided a truckload of hope. I guess encounters with creative geniuses and their work can do that for a person! —Jeff Katz, Chatham Square

Two things: The first is John Scalzi’s Redshirts. Ensign Andrew Dahl is thrilled to be assigned to the fleet flagship, the Intrepid. He is not so thrilled when he discovers a sinister pattern in away team deaths. I grinned ear-to-ear at this Trek takedown, which turned into a pretty good sci-fi novel in its own right. The second little slice of happiness was brought to me courtesy of Star Wars. My older son had asked to watch The Phantom Menace, took one look at Jar Jar and said, “Dad, ANYTHING but this!” We proceeded to watch the original while I swelled with pride because my son is a Star Wars snob. No special editionsorprequels for him. Han shoots first. —Joshua Soule, Spuyten Duyvil

I just got a copy of “Super Smash Bros” for the Wii U and it’s fantastic. Now you can have eight players fighting at the same time, which is pure (semi-controlled) chaos and clears the mind nicely after a day of work. —Arieh Ress, Mid-Manhattan

The beautiful city of Stockholm always makes me happy, and on a visit there last month, I had the added pleasure of discovering a new art museum in a spectacular natural setting on an island in the nearby archipelago. Because of its location on a wild stretch of shoreline there, it is called Artipelag. You can read the fascinating story of the museum and its founders in The New York Times. I also love theater, and Stockholm’s Royal Dramatic Theater increased my happiness quotient during my week in town with two challenging productions of classic plays by Schiller and Ibsen. —Kathie Coblentz, Rare Materials

Three things made me happy this week. I read Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult and was blown away by the surprise ending. I watched Woman in Gold with Helen Mirren and was humbled to see the future giving justice to the past. I watched Cinderella, the theatrical film released in 2015, and felt its magic. Then I realized what those three different things—a murder mystery, a Holocaust story, and a fairy tale—had in common: love. A mother’s love, a daughter’s love, a love of life that relies on having courage and being kind. Each brought me happy tears. —Lois M. Moore, Mid-Manhattan

Staff picks are chosen by NYPL staff members and are not intended to be comprehensive lists. We'd love to hear your ideas too, 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!

"Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend.  Inside of a dog it's too dark to read."  —Groucho Marx

Dogs and books.  What could be better?  How about if we combine the two?  What do we get?  Books about dogs!  If you're like Groucho Marx and are a fan of books and dogs, here are a few titles that may interest you:

In 1956, J.R. Ackerley wrote My Dog Tulip, a memoir of his relationship with his Alsatian.  While many pet/owner relationship books often fall victim to a sickeningly-sweet mawkishness, Ackerley avoids that pitfall (he's too good a writer) as he describes their (chaste, thankfully) love affair and the nearly-Sisyphean task he has of trying to find a male dog for her to mate with.   The book was made into a very good animated film in 2011, which is also available through the library.

Speaking of films, several years ago, I had the pleasure of watching Clash of the Wolves, a 1925 silent movie starring none other than Rin Tin Tin.  Susan Orlean wrote Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend, an exceptional biography about the world's first canine matinee idol and the special bond he formed with his owner Lee Duncan, who found "Rinty" on the battlefields of France during the Great War.  The book is full of interesting information (including the fact that Orlean was so obsessed with Rinty that she began to question her sanity) and is as thrilling and exciting as a Rin Tin Tin movie.

Did you ever wonder whatever happened to the pit bulls used in the dog-fighting ring that Michael Vick was involved in?  Sports Illustrated contributor Jim Gorant explores the aftermath of that affair in The Lost Dogs: Michael Vick's Dogs and Their Tale of Rescue and Redemption.  Of the 51 dogs rescued,  most were successfully rehabilitated and are now living with loving families.  Some of the dogs are even being used as therapy animals.  Gorant also makes a convincing case that pit bulls are not more dangerous than other breeds.  They can be just as loving, sweet and loyal as any other dog... if given the chance.

Pulitzer Prize-winning science reporter Jon Franklin became interested in the relationship between humans and dogs after he adopted Charlie, a standard poodle.  So he did a lot of research and ended up writing a book about his findings called The Wolf in the Parlor: The Eternal Connection Between Humans and Dogs.   This historical survey examines the nearly simultaneous evolution of domesticated canids and homo sapiens.  He concludes that the two species have evolved symbiotically and are as essential to each other today as they were more than ten thousand years ago.

Mary Oliver is a member of a rare and exclusive breed of poets—one whose books become best sellers.  Some poetry lovers are perhaps distrustful of that success and poo-poo Oliver's poetry because of it.  In their eyes, they  may see poetry as being a difficult medium, one that can only be grasped by a rarified few.  If so, they must have certainly scoffed when she published Dog Songs, a collection of thirty-five poems and one essay about dogs.   What they might not understand is that Oliver's simple language masks her often profound insights into the natural world.  Exploring the natural world of dogs is an easy fit for her style, and her insights here are pitch perfect.

In choosing a dog-centered novel, I had a number of strong candidates (e.g., Paul Auster's Timbuktu, Peter Mayle's A Dog's Life and David Wroblewski's Edgar Sawtelle), but ultimately I opted to go with a tried-and-true classic:  Jack London's Call of the Wild.  If you haven't read the book since... well, since you were a child maybe, now might be a good time to revisit it, because the hundred plus years since it has been written have not diminished the luster of this beautiful story about Buck, a mixed-breed sled dog who must fight his way through life during the Alaskan Gold Rush of the 1890s.

Why do dogs bark?  Why do they play?  How come some like to play fetch and some don't?  If you've ever asked yourself any of these questions, then you will be interested in reading How Dogs Work by Raymond Coppinger and Mark Feinstein.  By exploring the biology of dogs, the authors delve into what makes dogs tick.  According to them, the shape of a dog is a major factor in how its psychological and behavioral aspects develop.  Thanks to this illuminating study,  we may find that Groucho Marx was wrong; that perhaps the inside of a dog isn't so dark after all.

Oh, and in case you were wondering who that handsome lad is at the top of the page, that's the domesticated canid that this particular homo sapien has a very symbiotic relationship with.  His name is Monk.

As part of the Early American Manuscripts Project, the Library has just digitized and made available online the Joseph Hawley papers. Hawley was a lawyer, legislator, and militia officer from Northampton, Massachusetts.  He also became one of the leaders of the American revolutionary movement in western Massachusetts. The collection contains  documents related to his private life,  religion in eighteenth-century America, and public affairs in Northampton and Massachusetts during the revolutionary era.

Hawley's commonplace book is also housed in the collection. Commonplace books were used to copy down extracts of books and other sorts of valuable information. As a lawyer, Hawley used his to collect material related legal matters. His commonplace book includes the most complete description of a major 1761 court case, which John Adams believed "was the first scene of the first Act of opposition to the Arbitrary claims of Great Britain" and set the American Revolution in motion.  You can read more about Hawley's commonplace book and the early American legal profession at The Junto: A Group Blog on Early American History.  

About the Early American Manuscripts Project

With support from the The Polonsky Foundation, The New York Public Library is currently digitizing upwards of 50,000 pages of historic early American manuscript material. The Early American Manuscripts Project will allow students, researchers, and the general public to revisit major political events of the era from new perspectives and to explore currents of everyday social, cultural, and economic life in the colonial, revolutionary, and early national periods. The project will present on-line for the first time high quality facsimiles of key documents from America’s Founding, including the papers of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison. Drawing on the full breadth of the Library’s manuscript collections, it will also make widely available less well-known manuscript sources, including business papers of Atlantic merchants, diaries of people ranging from elite New York women to Christian Indian preachers, and organizational records of voluntary associations and philanthropic organizations. Over the next two years, this trove of manuscript sources, previously available only at the Library, will be made freely available through nypl.org.

Born October 9, 1940, John Lennon spent his post-Beatles years (1971–1980) living and working in New York City. Commemorate Lennon's birthday and life in NYC by exploring an interactive map of landmarks, suggested books, and more.

Interactive Map

Suggested Books

John Lennon: The New York Years by Bob Gruen is full of photographs and recollections from Lennon's personal photographer and friend. If you want to learn a great deal more about Lennon in NYC—to the point of surveillance-level detail—dig into John Lennon: The FBI Files. (Lennon attracted the FBI's attention due to his opposition to the Vietnam War and association with anti-war activists.) Finally, younger readers can check out the biography John Lennon "Imagine" by Jeff Burlingame.

Still Looking for More?

See additional John Lennon materials available for research in the Music Division of the Library for the Perfoming Arts, as well as this Lennon quote necklace available from NYPL's Shop.

Each year Omnivore names a Hatchet Job of the Year for the best worst book review. Last year, the award went to AA Gill for a brutal takedown of Morrisey's Autobiography in which he wrote, "He has made up for being alive by having a photograph of himself pretending to be dead on the cover." Certainly, there can be some pleasure in a witty panning, but in the spirit of the Darwin Awards, we're highlighting some of the most laughably bad bad reviews. These are reviews with no critical teeth that nevertheless bare their fangs, reviews we remember for their faulty metrics and unexamined aesthetic prejudices. In short, these are some of the worst worst book reviews. Share your book review pet peeves with us in the comment section below!

Saturday Review review of Flannery O'Connor's Wise Blood
When "gloomy" is used as a literary pejorative.
"Her story is built around a fanatic who believes that there is no Christ, no redemption, and no soul, and who goes about preaching this doctrine with complete dedication. There are possibilities in the idea, but they are not realized, for one reason, because the individual is so repulsive that one cannot become interested in him... The result is inevitably a gloomy tale."

The New Republic review of Rick Moody's The Black Veil: A Memoir with Digressions (via EBSCOHost)
Apology unaccepted.
"I apologize for the abruptness of this declaration, its lack of nuance, of any meaning besides the intuitive; but as I made my way through Moody's oeuvre during the past few months I was unable to come up with any other starting point for a consideration of his accomplishment. Or, more accurately, every other starting point that I tried felt disingenuous, nothing more than a way of setting Moody up in order to knock him down. One of those starting points was this: "Rick Moody is a lot of things, but he is not actually dumb." This was an attempt at charity, and though I still think that it's true enough, I don't think that it matters; at any rate, his intelligence does not make up for the badness of his books."

Dress and Vanity Fair review of Willa Cather's O Pioneers!
Uh-oh O!
"Miss Willa Cather in 'O Pioneers!' (O title!!) is neither a skilled storyteller nor the least bit of an artist."

The Quarterly Review review of John Keats's Endymion: A Poetic Romance
Because why read when you can just be honest?
"Reviewers have been sometimes accused of not reading the works which they affected to criticise. On the present occasion, we shall anticipate the author's complaint, and honestly confess that we have not read his work."

Graham Lady Magazine review of Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights
A vicious review of an author who dared to live.
"How a human being could have attempted such a book as the present without committing suicide before he had finished a dozen chapters, is a mystery. It is a compound of vulgar depravity and unnatural horrors."

The London Spectator review of Herman Melville's Moby Dick
In which the canon of critics meets canonical literature.
"It is a canon with some critics that nothing should be introduced into a novel which it is physically impossible for the writer to have known: thus he must not describe the conversation of miners in a pit if they all perish. Mr. Melville hardly steers clear of this rule and he continually violates another by beginning in the autobiographical form and changing ad libitum into the narrative."

Every month, library staff members are bringing you 100 books we love—culled from the millions upon millions out in the world—via our interactive Staff Picks browse tool.

This month's highlight: Drowned City by Don Brown, an intense nonfiction graphic novel for young adults.

This graphic, historical account of Hurricane Katrina's assault on New Orleans is perfectly timed as we reflect on the decade that's passed since one of the nation's worst national disasters. The art is as incredible as the story is unbelievable, but Brown ultimately leaves readers with a hopeful tone for the future of the Crescent City. —Brian Stokes, Jefferson Market

Find a book you love too by sorting for age, characters, themes, and more on our Staff Picks page, and find more of our recommendations on the Bibliofile blog or on Twitter @NYPLRecommends.

Mini Health Job Fair on Tuesday, October 13, 2015, 10 am - 2 pm. Multiple employers for Home Health Aides with over 50 job openings. Participating Businesses include: Allwel, CIDNY-ILS, Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Homecare Council, Inc., The Avondale Care Group LLC. The Job Fair is for all interested jobseekers and will be held at New York State Department of Labor, 250 Schermerhorn Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201.

FDNY Outreach will present an information session on Tuesday,October 13, 2015, 10 am - 2 pm, for career opportunities as: EMT, Paramedic and Firefighter at Queens Career Center, 168-25 Jamaica Avenue, 2nd Floor, Jamaica, New York 11433.

Time Warner Cable will present a recruitment on Wednesday, October 14, 2015, 10 am - 3pm for Commercial installation Technicians (5 openings), Field Technicians (Residential, 10 openings) at New York State Department of Labor - Workforce 1 Career Center, 250 Schermerhorn Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201. Candidates must complete an Online Application and Assessment Test.

Spanish Speaking Resume Writing Workshop on Thursday, October 15, 2015, 12:30 - 2:30 pm, for all interested jobseekers and dislocated workers to organize, revise and update resumes, at Flushing Workforce 1 Career Center, 138 60 Barclay Ave. 2nd Floor, Flushing NY 11355.

New York Life Insurance Company will present a recruitment on Friday, October 16,  2015, 10 am - 2 pm, for Financial Services Professionals (5 openings), at Flushing Workforce 1 Career Center, 138-60 Barclay Avenue, 2nd Floor, Flushing, NY 11355.

If you would like to receive information for a future event showcasing employment opportunities at the Hotel Syracuse, please send an email to recruitment.dews@labor.ny.gov with 'Hotel Syracuse" in the subject line.

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.

The temperature is dropping, the leaves are falling, and here we are ready to begin another hockey season in New York. With the Islanders, Rangers, and Devils all promising to excite this season, it seems likely that both the hockey fanatic and novice alike will be itching for anything and everything related to their favorite sport. And lucky for them, the crack researchers here at the New York Public Library have it covered. From books and movies to websites and databases The New York Public Library has the info hockey fans of all ages want.

Books

Once the final horn sounds why not check out a book about your favorite team or player? The New York Public Library has a wide selection of books highlighting the legends of the game, written by some of best hockey reporters out there.

• The Hockey Book, from Sports Illustrated, is an excellent pictorial look at the game at its best. From great action shots to insightful interviews, this book is sure to fill your need for everything hockey.
• The Hockey Hall of Fame MVP Trophies & Winners outlines some of the more controversial decisions made for three of hockey’s most prestigious awards: the Hart Trophy, the Ted Lindsay Award, and the Conn Smythe Trophy.
• For those looking to learn the technical aspects of the game, The Hockey Handbookwill not disappoint.

• Black Ice: the Val James Story, looks at the career of the National Hockey League’s first African-American player, Val James, who made his debut with the Buffalo Sabres in 1982. An inspiring story for those interested in the history of hockey.
• With a title that says it all, theNew York Rangers: Greatest Moments and Playerswill appeal to Rangers fans of all ages with interesting facts and iconic photos.
• Fans of hockey broadcaster Don Cherry’s witty analysis and flamboyant suits will certainly enjoy reading his autobiography, Straight Up & Personal: the World According to Grapes.
• ​In Hockey Confidential: Inside Stories From People Inside the Game, hockey insider Bob McKenzie reveals both interesting and emotional stories from some of hockey’s most famous stars. A must read for the fan looking for stories you won’t read in the newspapers.

• If you love hockey, you know the name Gordie Howe, better known as Mr. Hockey. Fans can read about this legend’s career and life in his autobiography, Mr. Hockey: My Story.
• In Hockey’s Greatest Stars: Legends and Young Lions, author Chris McDonell profiles some of hockey's most prolific stars, past and present.
• Hockey fans interested in the history of the game should try Black Ice: the Lost History of the Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes, 1895-1925. A great look into a seldom discussed part of the game.

Younger fans of the game will be happy to know that The New York Public Library also has a number of books just for them. Give these a try:

• Henry Holton Takes the Ice, by Sandra Bradley
• Hockey, by Allan Morey
• Girls' Hockey, by Chris Peters
• How Hockey Works, by Keltie Thomas

Movies

Are movies more your thing? Well we've got you covered there too. Choose from this list of hockey classics that are sure to inject a little life into a cold and boring Friday night this winter.

• Slap Shot (No hockey movie list is complete without it)
• The Mighty Ducks (A '90s hockey classic)
• New York Rangers 1994 Stanley Cup Championship
• NHL Greatest Moments
• Red Army(An interesting look into the Soviet Union's Red Army Hockey team, told from the perspective of its captain, Slava Fetisov)
• Miracle (Gripping portrayal of the ups and downs of the 1980 USA hockey team led by Herb Brooks)

Databases

For those looking to reminisce, the library has a number of biographical and historical newspaper databases. Databases! That's right, where else could you read the article from the from the day the Islanders won their fourth Stanley Cup or find bio's on all your favorite hockey players?

• Biography in Context
• New York Times (1851-2011)
• New York Times (1980-Present)
• Newsday (1940-1986)

Websites and Podcasts

Let's not forget about all the information you can find about your local team online, including not only websites, but podcasts as well. Try some of the sites and podcasts listed below:

• NY Isles Blog is a great site for everything New York Islanders related, including a listing of podcasts.
• Blue Shirt Banter is an expansive blog dedicated to the New York Rangers. The blog also features a pretty lively comments section after each post.
• If you're looking for all things Devils, the Fire & Ice blog has you covered.
• And for general hockey news, try SB Nation's NHL Blog.

Did I miss anything? Great book, movie, or website you think belongs on the list? Let me know in the comments section below. Oh, and by the way, Let's Go Islanders.

Subscribe on iTunes.

Patti Smith, musical icon and National Book Award winner, hero to aesthetes and rebels, is an NYPL favorite. The last time Smith visited, she told us about her lifelong love affair with libraries. This week, in celebration of her new book M Train, the New York Public Library is proud to present Patti Smith discussing the authors she loves.

Prior to her appearance at Live from the NYPL, Smith was shown Sylvia Plath's notebooks held by the Library. She described the experience as a window into understanding Plath's lifelong identity as a poet:

"We saw her notebook from when she was a little girl and poems from when she wa seven, nine. It made me realize what a scattered child I was. She was so precise. She had her little notebook. She had her poems, all different stages of her life. She was truly a poet. She was just born a poet. It was very touching to see her manuscripts from childhood to later in life and beautiful that you have them."

Although Smith has now written two memoirs, she prefers fiction. One exception, however, is Jean Genet's The Thief's Journal, a work straddling autobiography and fiction, the real and imagined:

"The Thief's Journalis my favorite book of Genet's... I love it because he writes my kind of memoir. It's a memoir yet it's completely true and simultaneously completely false, because that's the kind of guy Genet was. But when I say false, I mean that's the part that he transforms truth into art. He elevates it as poetry. I don't even like reading memoirs. People say, 'Who's your favorite memoirist? Whose memoirs do you like?' I hardly ever read them. I like fiction really. Really strange that I should be writing nonfiction, but it just happened."

Despite her success as an author, Smith says she is reticent to meet authors whose work she loves. She ascribes this not to previous disappointments but to paroxysms of excitement:

"Every time I've met a writer, well not every time, it's always a disaster because I get so excited. I wrote this actually, so I'm repeating myself but it's a true thing: I feel like Chris Farley because I see an author I like that's alive, you know that's so rare to actually like a writer and they're actually living, and I get so excited. And all I can say is, 'Oh An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter! It was awesome. Oh The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle! It was awesome!' I don't have anything else to say really."

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

This week, we’ll be unveiling a new feature across the NYPL website: redesigned navigation menus that will improve the overall organization of the site and help you find what you're looking for more easily. This feature will help you move throughout the site with more control and understanding of where you are and discover new content in each area of nypl.org.

The new menus are called “mega-menus”—drop-down menus that incorporate icons and text, offering better organized layouts, and a visual design that presents all information at once with no scrolling. They’ve become very commonplace on the web, and complex sites like nypl.org can create a much more pleasant experience for visitors with a well designed navigation strategy that incorporates the use of mega-menus.

Our new navigation menus were designed by Ricardo Galvez, NYPL’s Digital Experience Designer, and Jinu Yang of Second Story, our partner design firm from Portland, Oregon. The development and programming of the feature was led by Rafael Hernandez.

See below to get a preview of the visual design being released this week, as well as a few helpful tips for familiarizing yourself with the new navigation. If you have any questions, comments, ideas or feedback, feel free to reach out to me and my team at webfeedback@nypl.org. We’ll read every email!

Navigation Sections 

Browse

Browse is where you'll find our catalog, staff recommendations, and more, bringing you together with our expert staff.
 

Learn

Learn highlights classes, educational resources, and information. Kids, teens, and adults can easily find programs and resources that fit their specific needs, while parents and teachers will discover invaluable materials for the classroom and beyond.
 

Attend

Attend  highlights exhibits and events throughout the Library system. Here you'll be able to deftly explore the latest LIVE at the NYPL events, book clubs, exhibitions, and more, right at your fingertips.
 

Research

Research is your gateway to collections, tips, our classic catalog, and important information about the vast resources available at NYPL. 
 

Find Us

Find Us integrates our location information and spotlights activities at branches and research sites. You can easily locate your desired branch while discovering what programs, classes, and projects are happening in one quick click.
 

Give

Give spotlights opportunities for membership, financial support for the Library, and volunteering. Here you'll learn about various ways to support the Library.
 

Get Help

Get Help allows you to effortlessly find the help you need, whether it's about managing your library card or a reference question for Ask NYPL. Get Help is your one-stop-shop when you have questions, comments, or concerns.
 

Helpful Tips

Where is the catalog?

You'll find our catalog in the first navigation section, Browse, labeled as Books/Music/DVDs.

How do I log in / sign in so that I can see my holds, pay fines, etc.?

Under Browse there is a menu feature that links to MyNYPL, your account. Alternatively, click Books/Music/DVDs in that same navigation section to go to our catalog and log in to your account from there.

Where is the Classic Catalog?

Under Research there is a menu feature links to our Research Catalog, which was previously known as Classic Catalog. Another way to access the Research Catalog is by clicking Collections in the Research section and then clicking Research Catalog.

How do I search your website?

Click the blue magnifying glass, then click your cursor on top of the text that says "What would you like to find?" Type your search term, then hit enter. 

A story about a house with a horrific past and the follow up to wildly popular Me Before You join the top 5 this week. 

#1 Recommendations for readers who enjoyed The Martian by Andy Weir, more survival stories:

Annihilationby Jeff Vadermeer

The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro

Lock Inby John Scalzi

#2 Recommendations for readers who enjoyed The Murder House by James Patterson and David Ellis, more creepy houses:

The Haunting of Hill Houseby Shirley Jackson

The Shiningby Stephen King (technically a hotel)

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

#3 Recommendations for readers who enjoyed After You by Jojo Moyes, more character-driven romance:

Shopgirlby Steve Martin

One Dayby David Nicholls

P.S. I Love You by Cecelia Ahern

#4 Recommendations for readers who enjoyed Make Me by Lee Child, more cool “Reacheresque” characters:

Jim Lasiter from Zane Grey’s Riders of the Purple Sage

Parker in Richard Stark’s The Hunter

The Gunslinger in Stephen King’s The Dark Tower

#5 Recommendations for readers who enjoyed The Girl in the Spider’s Web by David Lagercrantz, more Swedish crime fiction:

The Snowman by Jo Nesbø

Smilla’s Sense of Snow by Peter Høeg

Faceless Killersby Henning Mankell

On March 9, 2015, President Obama announced the White House's new TechHire Initiative to boost high-tech training and employment.  In his speech, he stated that, "…entire groups of people are underrepresented in the tech workforce, including women, blacks, Latinos, and Native Americans.  While we should improve our existing education pathways, we can also create new ones.  That's where the Microsoft NYC Tech Jobs Academy comes in.  Based on Microsoft's success in designing and delivering accelerated learning programs to members of the military using IT Academy curricula in combination with project-based learning, soft skills, hands-on instruction, and mentorship, the Tech Job Academy will give access to this type of training to unemployed and underemployed young adult in New York City…Finally, the program will match participants with companies in need for internships, job interviews, or full-time employment."

Tech Jobs Academy is a partnership between Microsoft, CUNY's  City Tech, and the NYC Tech Talent Pipeline.

This technical training program serves underemployed and unemployed NYC residents who are passionate about technology and ready to launch a new career in tech.

Participants will spend 16 weeks developing  highly sought after skills in cloud and server administration, and professional skills to help them enter the tech field.

This program combines real-world assignments, class projects, and labs, giving participants a chance to earn Microsoft certifications along the way.  They will also develop professional skills through workshops including resume reviews and mock interviews.

This intensive program will require candidates with grit and discipline to study full-time during the 16  weeks. No prior technical experience is required.

Eligibility

• At least 18 years old 
• High school diploma or equivalency
• Less than a 4-year degree
• Unemployed or underemployed (Individual less than $50K annual salary)
• NYC resident 
• Able to legally work in the U.S.
• Able to commit to full time training (minimum 40 hours per week)
• Available for employment immediately upon graduation
• Meet all federal selective service requirements, if applicable

Training starts January 4 to April 22 (9 a.m. -5 p.m.) at City Tech campus, downtown Brooklyn.

Applications will be screened on a rolling basis until October 23.  APPLYtoday!

Skelly lives in a haunted mansion, where she makes a surprising discovery…a bone! Who does it belong to? She asks the fish, her bat, a monster, and a carnivorous plant. No luck, of course. And the ghosts no longer had any bones to lose. Spiders and dolls do not have bones, either, so it could not be from them. What is a girl to do?

Skelly doggedly pursues her search throughout the antiquated mansion. She is determined to solve her conundrum.

Skelly, the Skeleton Girl by Jimmy Pickering, 2007

I love the colors and illustrations in this book.

• Jimmy Pickering's website
• Books about Halloween

Our Readers & Writers Shop in the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building recently welcomed a new employee for a day: Kevin the Cashier, from The Ellen DeGeneres Show! Kevin was kind enough to restock our Banksy books from the balcony, cater to one patron's need for a smaller book, and thoroughly clean our computer, among other shenanigans. Watch his hilarious day behind the register here: