When I was younger I was fascinated by the Salem Witch Trials, so it was a real treat when I finally went to Salem, Massachusetts, this fall to see the memorial there. I was struck by the simplicity of it. Just the names of the falsely accused and hanged carved into individual pieces of granite and I started thinking of why I was so fascinated by this period of history in the first place.

Was it the fact that so many people, mainly women, were wrongfully convicted and murdered for “consorting with the devil”? Was it the fact that almost all the accusers were young girls? That there's no definitive answers for why it happened?

Salem Village was so claustrophobic, insular and filled with paranoia, jealousy and greed. Add in the fear of an all-seeing God, that witches were real and impressionable teen girls with a flair for dramatics and you have a heady mix ripe for chaos and evil—of the human kind. Keeping all that in mind, I’ve put together a list of some of my favorite nonfiction and fiction books on the Salem Witch Trials, from NYPL’s children’s, YA and adult collections.

First, some background. The Salem Witch Trials took place in 1692 in Salem Village, Massachusetts in what is now the town of Danvers, MA about 30 miles from Salem. It was a small, isolated community of mainly farmers. It was winter, the nights were long and the inhabitants feared that they could be hit with Indian attacks at any moment. In late January, the daughter of Reverend Parris, Betty Parris and her cousin Abigail Williams started acting strangely. They contorted limbs, convulsed and crouched and cowered in terror. Soon other young girls joined them in these strange acts. A doctor said they were bewitched. In a moment of calm, the girls named three local women as their tormentors and accused them of being witches. All that spring and summer, there were trials where the girls named their tormentors and saw devils and ghostly specters. By the time the trials were shut down at the end of October, about 200 people would be accused, 50 would confess, 5 would die in jail, 19 would be hanged and one, Giles Corey, would be pressed to death. The questions of course are why did this happen and how could it have happened? With no real answers there’s only unproven theories. You’ll have to read the accounts, the theories and stories and figure that part out for yourself.

Nonfiction

Witch-Hunt: Mysteries of the Salem Witch Trials by Marc Aronson ( Teen)
Aronson lays out all the theories. Was it a rebellious teenager? A trick gone bad? Spoiled food causing hallucinations? An undercurrent of pagan faith? Plain old fear and paranoia of the "different"? Dig into the truth and debate the facts for yourself.

A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Witch Trials and the American Experience by Emerson W. Baker (Adult)
Perhaps it wasn't just one or two things that caused the trials to occur? Baker theorizes that it was a "perfect storm" of unique conditions that caused the villagers of Salem to lose it. An interesting perspective on the events of Salem and its legacy.

The Penguin Book of Witches ed. by Katherine Howe (Adult)
Full of actual first hand testimonies of the accused witches of Salem, trial transcripts, examinations of witnesses, warrants for arrest as well as transcripts for other witch trials in England and the colonies. A treasure trove for the curious!

Witches and Witch-Hunts: A History of Persecution by Milton Meltzer (Childrens)
Why were the people of Salem so afraid of witches? What are we so afraid of now? Meltzer looks at the fear and hysteria surrounding witches and witchcraft.

Six Women of Salem: The Untold Story of the Accused and their Accusers in the Salem Witch Trials by Marilynne K. Roach (Adult)
Who were the women involved and what happened to them? Here are in-depth and interweaving histories of some of the women of Salem Village, before and after the trials occurred.

Witches! The Absolute True Tale of Disaster in Salem by Rosalyn Schanzer (Childrens)
"Across the wide ocean they came..."  with these words the author begins a thorough examination of the horrors of 1692 and the history leading up to them. Contains wonderful woodcut illustrations.

The Witches: Salem, 1692 by Stacy Schiff (Adult)
Award winning author and researcher Stacy Schiff brings the witch trials to life in this brand new book. She highlights the roles of women and offers new insights into the tragic events.

Who Were the Accused Witches of Salem? by Laura Hamilton Waxman (Children)
Short on time? Part of a series on U.S. History, it explores all the key ingredients of the tragedy and the people involved.

Fiction

I, Tituba: Black Witch of Salem Village by Maryse Conde; translated by Richard Philcox (Adult)
A reimagined history of Tituba, the Barbadian slave of Reverend Samuel Parris, the minister of Salem Village. Raised by an old woman and taught herbal healing and how to communicate with the spirit world, Tituba uses her skills to help the Parris family but is misunderstood by the Puritan villagers and is accused of witchcraft. Often a footnote to history, here she proudly tells her story of survival.

The House of Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne (Adult/ Teen)
Set in Salem, a house has become evil—cursed and haunted by its dead. The house was seized by Colonel Pyncheon from Matthew Maule, who he tried and executed for being a witch. However, before his death Mr. Maule cursed Pyncheon and all his descendants to lives of misery and horrible deaths. Now 150 years later, descendants Clifford and Phoebe must try and break free from the burdens and tragedies of the past.  Author Hawthorne was a descendant of a judge of the witch trials and he also visited the Salem house he based the book on.

Wicked Girls by Stephanie Hemphill (Teen)
"We are not chosen to see. We have been choosing who we see."  —Mercy Lewis
It all started as a simple way to past the long winter nights, to tell each other's fortunes and guess at who their husband's would be but in the hand's of jealous queen bee Ann Putnam it becomes much more. Told in verse, we get the stories of accusers: Ann Putnam, her beautiful servant Mercy Lewis and her cousin Margaret Walcott.

Deliverance from Evil by Frances Hill (Adult)
As Salem descends into the madness of 1692, Reverend George Burroughs, a young eccentric, minister - formerly of Salem and now living in Maine—stands accused of being the witches' leader. His wife Mary and friend, Capt. White, must move heaven and Earth to prove him innocent.

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe (Adult)
While clearing out her grandmother's house, Ph.d student Connie finds a hidden key wrapped in a piece of parchment with the name "Deliverance Dane" written on it. She discovers that Deliverance was a herbalist and wise woman who lived in Salem Village in 1692 but what is her connection to the family and the house and why is Connie suddenly having nightmarish visions of the trials? Author Howe is a descendant of two accused Salem witches.

The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent (Adult)
Sarah is only 10 years old when she witnesses her mother Martha Carrier and her three older brothers arrested on charges of witchcraft. Martha will not lie to save her own skin but she tells her children to—anything to keep them from the hangman's noose. But why were Martha and her family accused—could it have something to do with a property dispute with an uncle? A story of family, sacrifice and betrayal. Author Kent is a descendant of accused/ condemned witch Martha Carrier.

Witch Child by Celia Rees (Teen)
In 1659 England, Mary Newbury witnesses the hanging, for witchcraft, of the woman who raised her. To keep her safe from accusations, she is whisked away by a beautiful stranger, who puts her on a boat bound for Puritan Massachusetts. She's told to never speak of her childhood or "abilities" and to be a good Puritan girl. This is her diary.

A Break with Charity by Ann Rinaldi (Childrens)
It begins in 1706 with Susanna English looking back at what happened during those fateful days of 1692. She knew there was wickedness happening in the Parris's kitchen, the girls playing a dangerous game—she's intrigued but repelled at the same time. However, she didn't speak out instead she got caught up in all the drama, and then it was too late to save her family and the village of Salem.

The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare (Childrens)
In 1687, after her father dies, Kit Tyler travels from her island home of Barbados to Puritan Connecticut to live with her Aunt. When she defies the community and befriends a wise woman, many consider a witch, she is put on trial for witchcraft. One of my all time favorite books!

Father of Lies by Ann Turner (Teen)
Lidda hears voices and has visions but in 1692 Salem, that can get you hanged. She knows the other girls are lying but to expose them she might expose herself.

October’s Open Book Night began with a 19th-century slasher story. We discussed Lizzie Borden and the fascinating tale of how she murdered her mother and father, and got away with it. Our patron gave us the famous rhyme:

“Lizzie Borden took an ax
And gave her mother forty whacks.
When she saw what she had done,
She gave her father forty-one.” —popular skip rope rhyme

Although Borden was accused of killing her father and  stepmother with an ax, and evidence and motive tied her directly to the crime, she was found not guilty.The gruesome murders remain unsolved to this day—though she still remains the prime suspect. The Lizzie Borden case has captured the American popular imagination, having been made into books, dance performances, movies, even operas!

Soon after hearing about Miss Borden, we began to discuss magical realism in fiction. One patron brought Martin Dressler: The Tale of An American Dreamer by Steven Millhauser, the story of the entrepreneur at the heart of  a mysterious hotel in New York City. As its main character (and his business) become larger than life, Millhauser’s novel begins to explore the supernatural elements inherent in the American dream. 

On a related note, another reader shared one of her favorite books, Wide Sargasso Sea, by Jean Rhys, which explores the background of Bertha, the madwoman in the attic in the novel Jane Eyre. This book is fascinating because it acts as a prequel to Charlotte Bronte's famous novel—and both books have plenty of curious supernatural elements that push and pull on the plot. We can see how the mysterious voices and violence that plague Rochester trace back to his first wife, a Creole heiress in Martinique, who in a moment of desperation consults an Obeah woman and unwittingly dooms her marriage and her sanity in one fell swoop. Witchcraft came up more than once during our discussion.  In addition to Rhys’s use of Obeah in her plot, one patron reminisced about Roald Dahl’s The Witches. A quirky, fun, and yet very scary  series of stories about child-hating crones. She said she loved reading the story as a child so much that she was inspired to dress up as a witch for a month! 

Our next book lover broughtThe Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo, a heartfelt mixture of historical fiction and supernatural intrigue. Based on the ancient Malaysian practice of marrying a young woman to a deceased first son, “The Ghost Bride” is the story of Li Lan who explores the shadowy world of the afterlife to save herself from marrying a dead guy, and learn about truth and desire. Though Li Yan, the ghost bride in question, is meant to placate the spirit of her deceased fiancé, she winds up learning a whole lot about herself. This book is great for readers looking for a story of personal growth and discovery—with a shadowy twist.

If you think that sounds grim, one reader was eager to share William Peter Blatty’s classic horror story; The Exorcist. For the uninitiated, the book is all about the demonic possession of a twelve year old girl and the subsequent exorcism of the demon by an elderly priest. It will make your head spin!

You don’t always need a priest to help us with the supernatural, as our patrons helpfully explained. One patron shared with us his knowledge of Edgar Cayce, known as the father of the New Age. Thomas Sugrue’s biography of Cayce, There is a River outlines the journey he took to become a prominent medical clairvoyant, psychic, Christian mystic, and household name. A prominent public figure in the earlier part of the 20th century, Cayce would make prophecies about topics as wide-ranging as aliens, Atlantis, the Civil War, and the afterlife. Our reader believes he had an influence over prominent people like George Washington Carver, Woodrow Wilson, and Nikola Tesla.

Likewise, we learned about the book, Journey of Souls: Case Studies of Life Between Lives by Michael Newton. Newton’s work explores reincarnation and the secrets of consciousness. This book was particularly exciting to our reader because it is filled with first-person accounts of memories from past lives, and provides an authoritative take on some of the details of the process of reincarnation.

Speaking of self-help, we also had a patron come equipped with her own self-published guide to prevent being hexed or otherwise victimized by the supernatural. Impressive! If you'd like to learn how to self publish, check out Dan Poynter's Self-Publishing Manual,  and The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing by Marlyn Ross and Sue Collier.

Please join us for our next Open Book Night on November 13 when our theme will be Thanksgiving. We’d love to hear about your favorite Thanksgiving books, be they stories, history, even your favorite cookbooks!

Past Open Book Nights

Click to see the list of books discussed.

• February 13, 2015 - Love
• April 10, 2015 - New Beginnings
• May 8, 2015 - Nature
• June 12, 2015 - Sports
• June 26, 2015 - Open theme
• July 10, 2015 - Open theme
• August 14, 2015 - Travel
• September 11, 2015 - New York

Upcoming Open Book Nights

• November 13, 2015 - Thanksgiving
• December 11, 2015 - Food and Cooking
• January 8, 2016 - In With the New
• February 12, 2016 - Love

This post was co-authored with Miriam Gianni, Mid-Manhattan Library.

With the end of October comes the most exciting showdown of the baseball sesason: the World Series, which kicks off tonight as our New York Mets square off against the Royals in Kansas City. We asked acclaimed author, fantasy baseball innovator, and first public editor of The New York Times Daniel Okrent to share his Fall Classic themed booklist, perfect for any fan of America's pastime. Grab one of his recommendations, and check out Okrent's own book on the game, Nine Innings, to get pumped up for some thrilling baseball this fall.

The Celebrant by Eric Rolfe Greenberg

The New Bill James Historical Abstract by Bill James.

Prophet of the Sandlots: Journeys with a Major  League Scout by Mark Winegardner.

Today is National Chocolate Day and, to our delight, The Harlem Chocolate Factory is here to stay.  This high-quality, locally-manufactured and responsibly-sourced “chocolate cultural experience” is the creation of Jessica Spaulding, owner and founder, who has been living, breathing and eating chocolate for as long as she can remember.

In college she tried to start a chocolate business, but the lack of time and business knowledge prevented her from making it happen. Very disappointed, she filed away her dream for “sometime in the future,” yet she continued to collect experiences and flavors of the world throughout her trips to Europe and South Africa.

Fast forward to 2014, when she was at her neighborhood library checking out books on (what else?) chocolate, and she noticed a flyer for the StartUP! Business Plan Competition that the Science, Industry and Business Library (SIBL) puts together, sponsored by the Citi Foundation.  The grand prize? $15,000 dollars.  A spark lit the fire again.

Jessica read all about the StartUP! Competition, watched all the videos, and looked up the previous winners’ businesses online. She attended an orientation session and decided to sign up for the upcoming competition.  It would give her “not only the business knowledge” she needed, but also “the certainty that the business advisors and mentors would tell the truth.” She wanted to make sure that her chocolates were really good, and not just a fantasy stemming from family and friends trying not to hurt her feelings.

Guided by her StartUP! instructors, advisors and her market research at the Business Library, where she utilized databases such as Mintel (a leader in consumer insights), she realized her idea was indeed a viable business. Everything came at lightning speed afterwards: she secured her domain name, set up a splash page and that very week she had an online order for $250 and an email asking “Can we come visit the Harlem Chocolate Factory?”

This has brought on enormous opportunities, yet it has been a whirlwind nonetheless. The Harlem Chocolate Factory can be found with a pop-up shop at Sugar Hill Market every Sunday in November, and Jessica is currently experiencing what many other entrepreneurs go through, which is learning to focus, evaluate and prioritize opportunities, given that all we have is 24 hours in a day.

Over the next few months her business will be incubated at the Hot Bread Kitchen, where she will learn how to create a production process and begin to scale.

Jessica’s proudest entrepreneurial moment so far came from winning the StartUP! Competition. Prior to that she felt that the business plan and her pitch were not good enough… and she recognizes that along with winning the grand prize, she won something much more important: the belief in herself, and the confirmation that it is indeed possible to start one’s own dream business. And entrepreneurs can make it happen with the help of the Business Library and its many advisors, mentors and business organizations that partner to give entrepreneurs the guidance they need.

When asked what she would tell other entrepreneurs about the StartUP! Business Plan Competition, she simply said “Just do it!” She knows that many people give up after the orientation session and their dreams just sit there for “some day,” but that day may never come if they don’t act. She says there is never an optimal time to start, so its a matter of believing in one’s self, not giving up, stop talking and start doing.

Our very best wishes for continued success to Jessica and the Harlem Chocolate Factory! 

Interested in participating in the next StartUP! Business Plan Competition? See the rules and eligibility and attend an orientation session.

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

If you are interested in getting in touch with Jessica, here's her contact information:

Jessica Spaulding
Owner & Head Chocolatier
Harlem Chocolate Factory
harlemchocolatefactory.com
info@HarlemChocolateFactory.com
646-623-8027

Kids have an amazing capacity for repetition. Here are a few collections of kids’ music to listen to around the house or in the car that you will be less likely to throw out the window upon the hundredth play.

The Muppets

The songs by Bret McKenzie (Flight of the Concords) are so clever and funny.

Yo Gabba Gabba! Music is Awesome!

Featuring songs by The Shins and Of Montreal.

Rockabye Baby!

Lullaby renditions of Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Kanye West, Jay-Z and more.

Reggae for Kids

No kid can resist the drum and bass lines.

Where the Wild Things Are

Original songs by Karen O (Yeah Yeah Yeahs) and the kids.

For more recommendations, see nypl.org/staffpicks

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

’Tis the season for a scare!

We went in search of some books that would be off the beaten path to the haunted house and asked our NYPL book experts to name some unusual, specific, super-cool sub-genres of horror.

Dangerous Vegetation

Day of the Triffids is the original zombie novel, in a way, if you accept that every zombie story is really actually a story about the people who are left behind. There are no walking dead, but the fight for survival is the same, and the triffids are far more terrifying than any slightly ambulatory overgrown artichoke has a right to be. —Kay Menick, Schomburg Center

Last year, I read three middle-grade fiction reads featuring carnivorous trees. In The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier, there’s a creepy tree growing straight through a home. It grants wishes to those who know how to ask, but will take a substantial price in return! This suspenseful tale of supernatural horror will make you think twice about relaxing against a tree trunk to read… —Stephanie Whelan, Seward Park

Dangerous vegetation is just the beginning in The World Jones Made. Philip K. Dick juggles five or six separate plot lines in this book, including a horrifying vision of six months after…?  The catalog offered me a different suggestion: “Do you mean A World Gone Mad?” It may have read the book. —Barbara Cohen-Stratyner, Exhibitions

New Weird

China Mieville writes in the sci-fi subgenre identified as New Weird. The name is... appropriate. Reading Perdido Street Station or Railsea will give any reader a nice glimpse into Mieville’s spectacularly warped vision of science fiction and fantasy. Mieville’s excellent with the prose as well. Perdido Street Station is almost a parable of scientific curiosity gone horribly awry as Isaac Dan der Grimnebulin unwittingly stumbles across a horrific new drug and its equally horrific production. The weird? Insect-headed lovers, sentient steampunk robots, vampiric moths that secrete drugs and more create an insane tapestry for readers willing to bend their minds. —Joshua Soule, Spuyten Duyvil

Lovecraft-iana

Last year I was browsing NYPL ebooks on my phone and stumbled on several collections of H. P. Lovecraft-inspired short stories. These are not stories written by Lovecraft but what amounts to (usually) well written fan fic. I read the first two Black Wings of Cthulhu collections and was very happy with them for the most part, but as I ran searches I found that there are thousands of stories in this genre. Some stories are about Lovecraft, some take place in the reality of one or another of his stories, and some are simply strange in the same kinds of ways that Lovecraftian tales are strange. —Arieh Ress

Mass Hysteria

U.S. history has been sprinkled with fascinating, mysterious cases of mass hysteria-- collective delusions rapidly spread throughout communities by fear-fueled rumors. (The earliest, and perhaps most well-known incidence, is the Salem witch trials.) My recommendation, however, is The Fever by Megan Abbott. Loosely based on the 2011 conversion disorder outbreak that happened among high school girls in LeRoy, New York, Abbott turns bewildering, emotional moments of adolescence into potential causes for a terrifying mass psychogenic illness. The result is a chilling thriller (think Gone Girl meets Pretty Little Liars) that will have readers’ hearts racing with the turn of every page.  —Lauren Restivo, 115^th Street

Creepy Animals

Here’s a children’s story about a vampiric bunny called Bunnicula: A Rabbit-Tale of Mystery by Deborah and James Howe.  Told from the point of view the family pets, the Monroe family is trying to figure out why their vegetables keep turning white with tiny fang marks.  Could it be the new family bunny? —Leslie Bernstein, Mott Haven

I still shudder a bit thinking of Alan Ahlberg’s  Improbable Cat. He looks like a cat, but what is he really? Something very very hungry... written for kids, but creepy enough for a grown up. —Danita Nichols, Inwood

Japanese Gore

You know we have to talk about Japanese gore, right?! And here at the NYPL we have plenty of senseless, bloodyrific cinema to keep you occupied. Just check your brain in the cauldron you’ll find at the door, and check out some of the carnage the Far East has graced us with. Try House, Helldriver, Meatball Machine, Dead Sushi, and The Machine Girl. —Joseph Pascullo, Grand Central

Historical Romance

How about historical romance haunted mental hospital horror? In Silence for the Dead by Simone St. James, it is 1919 and Kitty Weekes has falsified her resume for a job at an isolated mental hospital on the Cornwall coast. The hospital, Portis House, is filled with soldiers left shell-shocked by the horrors of World War 1. They are suffering from night terrors, nervous conditions, and a desperate despair, and most of them are hiding from their families in shame. But there’s something more sinister at work too: strange noises, odd cold spaces, weird black slime and a collective nightmare that they all refuse to talk about. To get to the heart of the horror and stop the evil, Kitty will have to trust a mysterious patient who might be a war hero or a mad man or perhaps both. —Anne Rouyer, Mulberry Street

Funny-Scary

I recommend Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith. It’s basically an extended version of the story Pride and Prejudice, except that the Bennets, Darcy, and other characters must also occasionally fight off zombies. This romantic, horrific and silly story inspired a trend of turning classic novels into comedy-horror stories, and has spawned a number of spin-offs of its own - including a prequel (Dawn of the Dreadfuls) and a sequel (Dreadfully Ever After) (both by Steve Hockensmith). It is currently being made into a movie.  —Christina Lebec, Bronx Library Center

Aliens

My favorite is Invasion of the Body Snatchers. The book, written by Jack Finney in 1955, is still creepy today and has spawned a slew of other sci-fi horror movies. Most people will know it as the 1978 movie with Donald Sutherland , but also check out the wonderful original movie from 1955, which is filled with spooky paranoia as one man tries to stop the takeover of his community by large seed pods that replicate and replace human beings. —Maura Muller, Volunteer Services

All gifs via Giphy.

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!

Max Brallier, author of Galactic Hot Dogs, is coming to KidsLIVE! November 13 at the Jerome Park Library. We asked him a few questions about his life as a writer.

When did you decide to become a writer?

Oh boy—I never know how to answer this question! I think I decided to become a writer after I sold my first book—before that it seemed too impossible, too unreal. But I had a general idea that I wanted to tell stories for a living at a pretty young age—elementary school or early middle school. I loved movies, and when watching them I often thought “That part was cool, but if something like THIS happened instead?” I was always thinking of alternative possibilities, action scenes, endings—and that’s how I realized I wanted to tell stories.

Do you have a special time to write or how is your day structured?

I can tell you it’s not structured well enough. :) I try to write in the morning, before I do anything else—just shower, coffee, then write. That seems to be the time of day when I’m most creative. Sometimes I write from home, sometimes I go to coffee shops. I tend to do one location until I stop being productive, and then I switch to the other for a while. I try do use the afternoons to take advantage of the freedom of the job: seeing a movie, playing videogames, meeting up with a friend, going for a bike ride, something like that. But, best laid plans...

Why do you write?

It’s a job that I love—and I love it for a buncha reasons! I love telling stories and inventing worlds. I love exercising that part of my brain. I love imaging things that don’t exist, and then putting them down on paper and seeing them sort of come to life. And because a lot of the writing I do is for children, I love that maybe I’m inspiring a kid the way I was inspired and influenced by books, comics, and movies as a kid. Also, every once in a while I get these absolutely adorable fan letters and emails from kids that just make my week.

Where do your ideas come from?

All around. No one place, really. Just thoughts, ideas things I see. The idea for Galactic Hot Dogs came from a memory of childhood + something I saw on the street + a desire to write an adventure set in space. And daydreaming. I guess that’s the real answer: all ideas come from plain ol' daydreaming.

Do you read much and if so who are your favorite authors?

I read a lot, but probably not as much as people might suspect. Favorite authors are tough—I tend to have favorite series, favorite works. I love and have loved Bone, Tintin, Stephen King, Frank Miller, Watchmen, Robert B. Parker, Conan the Barbarian, Brian Wood, Amulet, Elmore Leonard, Richard Stark, Mark Bowden, Neil Gaiman, Denis Lehane. I read a lot of short story collections—I have a lousy attention span. Currently reading The Best American Noir of the Century and Ready Player One.

Do you work out an outline or plot or do you prefer just to see where an idea takes you?

I outline like crazy. I use a big corkboard and notecards to plot things out, placing ideas in an Act 1, Act 2, Act 3 order and then moving them around and getting rid of them and adding more. And I have folders and files on my computer for each book idea, and I write down different ideas as they come. I used to just start writing and kind of follow the idea—but I found it very unproductive. There were a lot of wasted days, wasted words. I think a lot of writers would argue that those words and days aren’t actually wasted, it’s just part of the process—but I found it really frustrating.

That said—after outlining, when I start writing, I always seem to have better, funner ideas—and I’ll go with those. But they usually don't totally upend the plot.

How long on average does it take you to write a book?

It totally depends on the book. Some books—like activity books, sticker books, things like that—I can write in a week. My latest book, The Last Kids on Earth, took me three years from conception to completion—and it’s a short book full of pictures! I also find it hard to ever really figure out exactly how long a book takes, because I’m always writing more than one thing at once.

Where can you see yourself in 5 years’ time?

This question is giving me anxiety. I am FREAKING OUT. Zero idea. Hopefully, still writing for a living. Hopefully, sitting with family and friends somewhere, laughing, playing with an idea in the back of my head.

What is your favorite motivational phrase or quote?

I have three! Is that okay?

"First, find out what your hero wants, then just follow him!" —Ray Bradbury

“This is how you do it: you sit down at the keyboard and you put one word after another until its done. It's that easy, and that hard.” ―Neil Gaiman

"Most of the basic material a writer works with is acquired before the age of fifteen." —Willa Cather

How have libraries impacted your life?

Growing up, my local library was Reading Public Library, in Reading, MA. I hate to use this word, because it’s so overused, but it felt like a magical place. It was huge and sprawling and old and had a special odor. I used to ride my bike there after school and use the computer for hours, reading interviews with writers, reading essays about old movies. Sometimes there would be girls there, and I’d try to be cute and fail. Other times, I’d meet my best friends there and we’d just hang out and pretend to study. When I was younger, I raced through it’s sort of labyrinthine collection of halls and nooks and played epic games of tag. The Reading Public Library was a community hub in the way a really great library can be.

When most people think of horror movies, they usually think of lots of blood and a large body count: Friday the 13^th,Nightmare on Elm Street, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Dawn of the Dead are good examples.  And while I am no shrinking violet and can watch bloody mayhem with the best of them (Ichi  the Killer is one of my personal favorites of this type), the films that creep me out the most are the ones that mess with your head.  They aren’t necessarily straight-up horror movies, but there are aspects of all of them that will give you the willies. So if you’re in the mood for a shudder-inducing movie to watch during this Halloween season, here are a few options:

Nicholas Roeg’s 1973 supernatural thriller Don’t Look Now stars Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie as John and Laura Baxter, a grief-stricken couple (their young daughter drowned) who go to Venice where John will restore an ancient church.  Roeg masterfully uses the Venetian alleys and canals to great effect, conveying a sense of dread that is always lying underneath the beautiful surface.   I won’t give it away, but the scene that affected me the most was when John realized that his daughter was in danger.  All I will say is that it involves a photo slide, a glass of water and a seeping red ink spot.

The Vanishing is a 1988 Dutch-French film directed by George Sluizer.  The story is very simple: while on a road trip with her boyfriend, a young Dutch woman disappears when they stop for gas at a rest stop.  The boyfriend obsessively searches for her for several years.  He finally makes a public appeal, saying he just wants to know what happened to her.  The abductor contacts him and agrees to meet.  I won’t tell you how it ends, only that if you’ve had the misfortune of seeing the 1993 American remake starring Jeff Bridges and Kiefer Sutherland, the finale of the original is far superior, and far more frightening.

The story was so good that Alfred Hitchcock wanted to buy the screen rights, but Henri-Georges Clouzot beat him to it, and in 1955 he released Diabolique, a psychological thriller starring Simone Signoret, Vera Clouzot and Paul Meurisse.  The plot focuses on three people: Michel Delassalle (Meurisse), his wife Christina (Clouzot), and his mistress Nicole Horner (Signoret).  Nicole convinces Christina to help her murder Michel because he is so abusive to both of them.  They drown him in a bath tub and throw his body in a local swimming pool.   When the body rises to the surface, everyone will think that it was an accident.  Only the body never appears—even after the pool is drained.

If I told you that a Japanese film based on a Buddhist parable was scary, you’d probably be thinking “Buddhist parable?  How can that be scary?”  Trust me, this movie will creep you out.  The name of the film is Onibaba and Kineto Shindo directed it.  Released in 1964, the film is set during the mid-fourteenth century and focuses on three main characters: an old woman (Nobuko Otowa), her daughter-in-law (Jitsuko Yoshimura) and a neighbor who just returned from the war (Kei Sato).  The plot involves the women’s scheme of killing stranded soldiers for their armor and weapons, and a mask that, once worn, can’t be removed.  The film is stunningly shot in fields of tall, wind-whipped grass and the sound of the wind that accompanies most of the action is more unsettling than any mood music would be.

Audition is another Japanese film that you may enjoy… actually enjoy is probably not the right word here.  Let’s just say that you may enjoy squirming while watching it.  Released in 1999, and directed by “bad boy” director Takashi Miike (who by the way, also directed Ichi the Killer which I mentioned above), the film begins with widower Shigeharu Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi) being convinced by his teen-age son to begin dating again.  A film producer friend sets up mock casting calls where young women will audition to become Aoyama’s new wife.  Aoyama is smitten by Asami Yamazaki (Eihi Shiina), even though all of her references are unreachable.  He finally calls her at her home, where she has been waiting patiently by the phone for four days.  The only other object in the apartment besides the phone is a large sack.  What could it contain?  I must say that when I saw this film at a movie theater about 10 people got up and left– and it wasn’t because they were bored.  You have to have a bit of a strong stomach to watch this movie.  You have been dutifully warned.

Do you remember the director Adrian Lyne?  He directed some wildly over-the-top, trashy (though entertaining) films such as Flashdance, 9 ½ weeks and Fatal Attraction.   I think his best film by far is Jacob’s Ladder, a 1990 production starring Tim Robbins, Elizabeth Pena, Danny Aiello and Jason Alexander (yes, that Jason Alexander!)  Robbins plays Jacob Singer, a Vietnam veteran now working for the U.S. Postal Service.  He begins experiencing flashbacks and strange hallucinations involving demonic creatures.  When he talks to other men in his unit, they discuss an experimental drug that they may have been given.  Soon after, they all start to be killed off.   The ending of the film is not what you’d expect, though it makes perfect sense, and ultimately—unusually for an occult thriller—poignantly sad.

I'd be happy to hear what film (or films) give you the willies.  Let me know.

This Halloween staff of the Word Languages Collection at Mid-Manhattan Library would like to introduce our readers to some unusual creatures from around the globe.

Russia's rich folkloric tradition stems from a deeply ingrained pagan belief in magic forces that rule all aspects of one's existence. A great number of fascinating creatures inhabit Russian woods and lakes. If you live in a Russian countryside, you might be sharing your home with Kikimora and Domovoi.

Kikimora is a female house spirit, frequently believed to be wedded to Domovoi, a male house spirit of greater powers and standing.In the Russian lore, Kikimoras have been portrayed anywhere from a grotesquely deformed elf-like tiny woman to a fair maiden with a long braid. However, all portrayals have several common traits; Kikimoras tend to have various degrees of noticeable physical deformities (i.e. chicken extremities) and also appear to haunt the dwellings, where a child has died or the body of a child lies beneath the structure.They also can represent children that died unbaptized and other maternal misfortunes.

Kikimoras are elusive and tend to inhabit the crevices behind the hearth, large brick stoves, under the floor boards, or in the attics. In the lore of certain regions, Kikimoras can also live in the swamps and forests, where in other tales they inhabit various places, according to the season of the year. They are elusive creatures of great mischief, who make all sort of subtle, but very disturbing noises, gravely effecting humans and the domestic animals inside their dwellings. At times, they leave wet footprints on the house floor.

Their favorite pastime is spinning the yarn, especially during major religious holidays such as Christmas, when such activity is not advised to humans. Yard spinning can continue all night long with absolutely no results to show for in the morning.

Domovoi is a benevolent spirit, keeper of the dwelling and all its belongings. He has an appearance of a leprechaun-like, tiny old man with a long beard. According to the folklore, Domovoi lives his life in reverse, where he is born old and progresses through life becoming younger, reaching his demise as a newborn. Domovoi inhabits crevices behind the hearth, below the porch, in the attics and other out the way hiding places. Being the guardian of the dwelling, he looks after its occupants,defending them against evil spirits and mischief. Domovoi can become annoyed when the house is unkept, or if there's infighting in the family and makes his presence known through a series of unexplained and terrifying noises.

Baccoo is Domovoi's Caribbean cousin, residing chiefly in Guyana. This tiny misshapen bearded man inhabits the dwelling of his temporary patron. Unlike Domovoi, Baccoo, sometimes spelled Bacoo, comes into much closer contact with human beings. While he can be loyal and obliging, this creature is known for being incredibly demanding and impatient.To properly care for your Baccoo, you must feed him enormous quantities of milk and bananas. In exchange for food Baccoo might fulfill a particular wish or reward you with riches. Just like Domovoi, Baccoo is very found of causing all sorts of mischief. Ignore a Baccoo at your own peril, for he is capable of causing serious accidents. It is rumored that one unsatisfied and venguful Baccoo living Brooklyn, caused a house to burn down. It is quite difficult to get rid of a Baccoo. Baccoo can be trapped in a bottle, but doing so requires skill and patience. A bottle containing trapped Baccoo is usually given to fishermen to be discarded into the great depths of the ocean.

Bodies of water were particularly revered by in ancient Russia. Access to lakes and river is ultimately controlled by Vodyanoi, the ruler of the aquatic domain. Unlike his western counterpart, Vodyanoi does not resemble a human being. While some sources claim that he looks like an elderly men with a protruding belly, he is most often depicted as an amphibian of sorts. Vodianoi resides in an underwater castle, located next an abandoned water mill or under a whirlpool. Vodyanoi controls access to water and frowns upon people that disobey his rules of staying away from lakes and rivers at noon and after dark. Some describe him as a dangerous creature, for he loves to pull the bathers undert the water. It is rumored that he marries women that drown. If the new bride does not suit Vodianoi, her body will be found floating. Unrecovered bodies of drowned women attest to the fact that Vodyanoi does not wish to part from his new brides.

Latin America's rich folkloric tradition describes an equally intimidating denizen of lakes and rivers. The popular legend of La Llorona narrates a story of a woman that is feared by many in Mexico and several other Latin American countries. A proud woman commits a terrible deed of drowning her children in the river only to immediately regret the awful deed. She can't stop weeping for them even after her death. According to the popular belief, it is dangerous for children to wander alone late at night, as La Llorona is always on the lookout for her children and may take them instead.

For the last twenty years there have been rumors of a terrible blood-sucking beast roaming around the pastures of an island in the Carribean. Chupacabra, literally translated as a "goatsucker," is rumored to be responsible for the slaughter of domesticated animals in Puerto-Rico. It's difficult to envision this creature, as it is been alternatively described by witnesses to resemble an alien and a furry coyote-like animal, standing on two strong hind legs. The situation in Puerto Rico was causing so much concern, it is rumored that certain officials wished to intoduce a resolution asking for an official investigation into the existence of Chupacabra. Benjamin Radford wrote his personal account of an investigation into the the existence of this creature in Tracking the Chupacabra: The Vampire Beast in Fact, Fiction, and Folklore by Benjamin Radford.

Another fearsome beast wonders dark cobblestone streets of several Central American towns. El Cadeho is a dog-like creature that stalks the lonely travelers after dark. According to some versions of this legend, El Cadeho is found of hypnotizing his hapless victims with his fiery glowing red eyes. If you fall under his spell, your soul might be lost forever. Hector Gaitan, a popular writer from Guatemala, collected and recorded eyewitness accounts of encounters with El Cadeho in his bookLa calle donde tu vives.

According to other versions of a story in Guatemalan folklore there are two cadejos, black and white. White cadejo represents a spirit of light that protects all faithful believers, especially kids, from black cadejo. It's commonly agreed upon that that black cadejo can be kept away with the smoke of incense.

Nobel Prize-winning author Miguel Angel Asturias, included the story of El Cadeho into his popular Leyendas de Guatemala. New York Public Library owns a translated version of this book The Mirror of Lida Sal: Tales Based on Mayan Myths and Guatemalan Legends.

SAGEWorks Boot Camp - Enrollment Now open for November 30th.  SAGEWorks  assists people 40 years and older in learning relevant, cutting-edge job search skills in a LGBT _ friendly environment. This 2 week training takes place from Monday - Friday, 11/30 - 12/11 - 9:30 am - to 2:00 pm at the SAGE Center, 305 7th Avenue, New York, NY 10001.

Elite Educational Staffing  will present a recruitment on Monday, November 2, 2015, 10 am - 1 pm , for Substitute Teachers (10 F/T & P/T openings), at the Bronx Workforce 1 Career Center, 400 E. Fordham Road, Bronx, NY 10458.

Services for the Underserved, Inc. will present a recruitment on Tuesday, November 3, 2015, 9:30 am - 2 pm, for Case Manager (1 Bilingual English/Spanish opening), Case Manager (1 opening), Director of Social Services (1 opening), Entitlements Specialist (1 opening), House Manager (1 opening), Housing Specialist, Urgent Housing (1 opening),  Residential Aide, Urgent Housing (1 opening), Senior Case Manager (1 Bilingual English/Spanish opening), Senior Case Manager (1 opening), Maintenance Worker (1 opening), at  the New  York State Department of Labor - Brooklyn Workforce 1 Career Center, 250 Schermerhorn Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201.

Elite Educational Staffing will present a recruitment on Thursday, November 5, 2015, 10 am - 1 pm, for Substitute Teachers (10 F/T & P/T openings at the New York State Department of Labor,  Workforce 1 Career Center, 250 Schermerhorn Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201.

NYS Department of Labor Virtual Career Fair will be held on Thursday, November  5, 2015, 10 am - 1 pm for all interested jobseekers.  This virtual event  will feature businesses and jobs statewide, if you would like to attend this virtual career fair, please register at jobfair.labor.ny.gov

Syracuse Career Expo will be held on Thursday, November 5, 2015 from 11 am until 3 pm at The Oncenter on South State Street.  The event will feature at least 200 businesses and more than five thousand job opportunities.  Register Now

SolarCity Career Opportunities.  The NYS Department of  La bor is prescreening for the following three positions in Buffalo, NY:  Module Technician II, Process Technician I, Process Technician III.

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.

中國飲食文化,博大精深. 中國食譜對營養價值,烹調技法,養生治病都面面兼顧. 感恩節快到,讀者們又有否計劃宴請親戚朋友,歡聚一堂,過一個快樂的節日呢? 紐約公立圖書館收集了許多不同種類的食譜, 一定能夠讓你在這佳節過得滿堂歡慶,溢齿留香. Flyer

返屋企 · 食自己

余健志

9789888237005

Jacky很喜歡宴請親朋在家裏開餐聚會，幾乎每星期或者每兩個星期，他家裏總是高朋滿座，親朋相當捧場，甚至要「排隊」才能安排到家裏作客，而每次Jacky都會傾盡全力，攪盡腦汁，為親戚朋友想出一些特別菜式，希望他們可以盡情及滿足地享受美食。今次他將許多美味易煮易學的私房菜公開，這些私房菜沒有在他的餐廳售賣，全是Jacky在日常煮的家常菜。雖然說家常菜，但不失精緻和心思。 books.com.tw

肥媽私房菜

Cordero, Maria

9789888043903

肥媽入廚最令人印象深刻，是她那快速簡單的菜式，不論中、西、日、意、法、葡國及印度等的菜式，都是她的拿手好菜，故吸引到不少年輕女士、入廚多年的太太或愛入廚的朋友捧場。商務

向早餐致敬 : 给全家人的营养早餐大全

石艳芳主编

9787501999880

随着生活节奏的加快，很多人都没有时间做早餐，早上匆匆出门，在外面随便吃点东西。然而街边早餐不够卫生，长此以往会影响健康。最简单快捷的早餐做法，最营养的早餐搭配，最广泛的适用人群，如果你还在为没时间做早餐，不知道早餐吃什么，那么你一定不能错过这本早餐全书，只有你想不到全功效健康的早餐呦！ jd.com

幸福的晚餐 : 给全家人的养生晚餐大全

石艳芳主编

9787501999897

本书是一本专门为晚餐订制的养生菜谱大全，不仅为普通人群提供四季养生晚餐，还为成长中的孩子，怀孕的女性，中老年人群以及不同慢性病患者提供所需要的营养晚餐配方，包含了中医养生的智慧和营养学的膳食均衡，满足各种人群的需要。dangdang.com

超省錢!! 美味澎湃請客菜 : 76道中西經典佳餚, 歡迎常來我家吃飯!

柚子

9789863430667

本書提供76道各國經典佳餚，在每道料理標示食材成本，省下每一塊錢；提供烹調流程與省時撇步，不慌不忙完成每一道菜；精選十多道過年或請客皆宜的「吉祥年菜」，透過流程簡化且不失美味的概念，將繁瑣的手工菜輕鬆端上桌。 books.com.tw

天天吃。好素料理138道 : 你家廚房素飃香! 名師出菜譜, 教你輕鬆出好菜, 天天換著吃, 變著吃!

戚明春

9789866247941

本書從涼拌菜、素熱菜、煲湯、麵、糕點，甜味、鹹味、清淡的、濃郁的138道的精心素食，是家常菜，也是讓賓主盡歡的請客佳餚，從刀工、調味、食材、配料，道道色香味俱全，讓你在吃素時，也能吃到滿心的歡喜。 books.com.tw

手作中式點心

梁瓊白

9789865760175

百吃不厭的人氣中式點心，流傳的好滋味，要自己動手體驗,不必擔心食安問題，讓您美味放心吃.

books.com.tw

輕鬆規劃私宅派對餐點

楊舒婷

9789868870611

本書針對聚會形式、異國風味和季節變化三大主題，收錄「不失敗！家庭派對料理」、「Hola！Spanish Cuisine」、「It’s time for fruit」和「Autumn Recipes」四套共21道料理，透過精緻的圖文解說和簡省的料理步驟，讓你發現在家準備派對食物其實比想像中容易。 cp1897.com.HK

This week, we asked our NYPL book experts to name some books that aren’t technically scary—not horror or dystopia or anything else intended to freak you out—but that have some kind of eerie, haunting element they just can’t get out of their heads.

Their answers surprised us! There was consensus this week on a few books, including two much-loved children’s books that, it turns out, many people find deeply creepy.

Picture Books

For all out, unintentional creepiness, my vote goes to The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. I get goosebumps every time I think of it. Give until you die? I don’t think so! This book is really gruesome. Supposedly a tale of unselfishness, I think it is a tale of unbelievable, self-centered greed. —Maura Muller, Volunteer Office

Much has been written about the back cover of The Giving Tree. Scariest. Portrait. Ever. —Billy Parrott, Mid-Manhattan

That kid is the worst, and then he murders the tree. I always really bothered by that book too. Glad I’m not the only one. —Anne Rouyer, Mulberry Street
 

I know I may offend someone with my creepiest not-supposed-to-be-creepy book, but I even shudder as I post Robert Munsch's Love You Forever. A book celebrating parent-child love, but mom climbing through the bedroom window to rock and sing “I love you forever” to her grown up son”? SO creepy. Can always envision the horror film this could become. —Danita Nichols, Inwood

I would definitely go with Love You Forever. I received this book when my daughter was still young and was excited to read it to her. The beginning is lovely and then the story gets totally creepy towards the end. As much as I love my daughter, I would not climb through her window to cuddle her while she was an adult and I would hope she would not do the same to me when she got older. I understand the overall point of the story; however, some of those images are forever imprinted on my brain. —Sandra Farag, Mid-Manhattan

Fully agree with that one. The first half of the book made me smile with recognition, and as the son aged, I grew increasingly disturbed… give the kid some autonomy! —Kasia Kowalska, Business Development

As a child, I always found Tomie dePaola’s The Legend of Old Befana a terrifying read. The story is about a cranky old woman who is fond only of cleaning and baking. After meeting a group traveling to find the newborn baby Jesus, she dismisses their invitation to join them finding the baby. However, after cleaning up her house and baking a gift for him, she decides to accept their invite and travels out to find them. BUT SHE NEVER DOES! She never finds them, no matter how far she travels or for how long.  I know that it’s a beloved traditional story, but it was a horrifying concept for me as a child, and it’s still kind of terrible when I think about it as an adult. —Katrina Ortega, Hamilton Grange

The whimsical Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, which was otherwise my absolute favorite book as a child, has a picture where a (normal-sized) pancake has landed on a boy’s face. Something about the boy’s shocked, open-mouthed expression and the illustrator’s line made this small part of the book terrifying. I think it was my first experience with the uncanny valley, and it was always unsettling for me. —Leah Labrecque, 58^th Street

 

I found Maurice Sendak’s stories to be disturbing, especially In the Night Kitchenand Outside Over There. Dream-like, but not happy dreams. Any of the old folk stories or Grimm’s or H.C. Andersen’s tales, like Hansel & Gretel, have creepy elements in them. Witch plotting to fatten and roast children. The image of the two bad sisters in Cinderella hacking off their feet so they could stuff them in the glass slipper. Creepy stuff. —Anne Barreca, Battery Park City

Creepiness for Kids & Young Adults

I have always loved A Wrinkle in Time yet have always been creeped out by the disembodied brain called “It.” I actually was more disturbed by the fact of It being a disembodied brain than by the things It did (e.g. controlling people like automatons). —Melisa Tien, Library for the Performing Arts

The thing in A Wrinkle in Time that disturbed me most was the bit about getting sent to a reality in which they couldn’t move at all (it was a brief stopover on the way somewhere else) and Meg getting frozen. I’m not entirely claustrophobic, but that kind of absolute immobility gave me the heebie-jeebies. —Arieh Ress, Mid-Manhattan

I’m currently reading When by Victoria Laurie and while the book is more mystery and crime-based, the main character’s ability to see people’s pending date of death just floating above their heads (even in pictures!) is giving me the heebie-jeebies!  What a horrible thing to know! —Jessica DiVisconte, Administration

Graphic Novels

In Ozma of Oz, Dorothy and her chicken and Tik-Tok end up in the home of a princess who has a collection beautiful heads she swaps out when she feels like it.  Even as a kid reading it I understood the character’s cabinets full of heads she could change into was a comment on vanity and closets full of clothes, but it’s still pretty creepy. —Christopher Platt, Library Services

In David Small’s graphic memoir Stitches, young David awakes from what he thought was a routine surgery to find that he cannot speak because his vocal cords were removed. Freaking terrifying. —Caitlin Colman-McGaw, Programming
 

Raina Telgemeir’s graphic novel Smile, in which she describes in detail all the nightmarish parts of dental work she had to endure as a result of a roller skating accident, only exacerbated my fear of dentists.  I read the book with my hand over my mouth the entire time! —Ronni Krasnow, Morningside Heights

Creepiness for Grown-Ups

I’m reading Chocky by John Wyndham for the first time. This book (despite the subject matter, an imaginary friend who at times “possesses” the boy in the story) is not very scary. But some of the boy’s drawings that weren’t painted directly by him are described as people whose “figures have a curious, attenuated, not to say scrawny look” that I imagine as something along the lines of an Alberto Giacommetti sculpture or drawing. —Jenny Baum, Jefferson Market





 

Theodore Roscoe’s epic history of the American submarine fleet in World War II, Pig Boats, had me tossing with nightmares about being crushed by an iron fist in deep water. These usually happened after I finished a chapter detailing how destroyers dropped depth charges on American crews who could only ride the explosions out in hopes their hulls would survive. —Joshua Soule, Spuyten Duyvil

One of the eeriest details in Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves is when Will Navidson measures the outside of his house and comes up with the figure 32’ 9¾”. That matches the architectural plans, which is fine, except for the fact that when he measures the inside of the house, the total comes to 32’ 10”. The inside of the house is a quarter of an inch longer than the outside. He measures again and again—even drilling into walls to get more accurate readings, but still comes up with the same discrepancy. Deliciously creepy. —Wayne Roylance, Selection Team

[Spoiler alert!]The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender had an unexpectedly creepy moment for me. In this novel with elements of magical realism, the main character discovers that she can taste people’s emotions in food.  The rest of her family have similar “gifts,” and the part that really gave me the heebie-jeebies is when her brother, who’s been disappearing for longer and longer stretches of time, is revealed to be a chair. Eee! —Susan Tucker Heimbach, Mulberry Street

The first 18 lines or so of The Soul of the Night, by Chet Raymo. He very memorably and effectively describes how much is actually happening in the brief moment during a random accident. A small child was lifted in the air for an instant, but between the Earth’s spinning and its orbit around the sun and the rotation of the Milky Way the child flew hundreds of miles through the galaxy. A fine membrane separates the seemingly peaceful and the infinitely vast and chaotic, and in the universal scope of things, the fineness of that separation troubles me to no end. —Billy Parrott, 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!

Here at Mid-Manhattan Library, we are just starting to build a community of writers for National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo. For the uninitiated, NaNoWriMo is a yearly event in which writers from around the globe attempt to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. That’s 1,667 words per day! It’s a fun and interactive way to finally finish a novel you’ve always wanted to write, to get into the habit of writing on a regular basis, and to meet, workshop, and collaborate with other writers in your community. Once you set aside the stress inherent in the herculean task of writing a novel in a month, it’s really a win-win-win situation. At least, that’s what we NaNoWriMo people will be telling ourselves this November, as we battle writer’s block, plot holes, and our social calendars!

At our introductory session, we heard all about the books our ambitious writers are hoping to complete. We heard story ideas of all kinds: historical fiction, psychological drama, crime, romance, mystery, dystopian sci-fi, experimental fiction—you name it, we heard about it. While we’re all (more or less) strangers to one another now, during the course of the month we’ll be meeting twice a week to work on our novels. We’re sure to get to know each other (and our work) well!

Going into NaNoWrimo, whether it’s your first or your fifth time participating, there are two approaches writers usually take: they plan, or they “pants,” meaning they prefer to just fly by the seat of their pants as they conceive and compose their novels. Neither approach is necessarily better than the other, though there are obvious pros and cons to both. At Mid-Manhattan, we have quite the combo of planners and pantsers—it will be interesting to see which camp fares better throughout the month!

Once per week, we’ll be posting an update so that the greater NYPL community can get to know our writers and follow their progress. Who knows—maybe the next big best-seller will be written right here on the 4th floor! Of our 26 or so participants, six have volunteered to be the mascots for NaNoWriMo at Mid-Manhattan. Will they hit a patch of writer’s block and decide to set aside their project for next year? Or will they “win” the month, having completed their 50,000 word goal? Stay tuned here to find out, and look for #mmlwrites on Twitter for more updates by our writers.

Novelist:Alethea B.

Working Book Title:Dreaming Havana

What’s your novel about?

It’s set in the 1950’s. A woman moves from Cuba to New York City. It details her journey through language and culture, as she struggles with the constraints of family and Catholicism while working toward fulfilling her dream of becoming a jazz singer and composer.

Have you done NaNoWriMo before?

This is my 7th year!

Are you a planner or a pantser?

I’m a planner in life, but not when it comes to my writing.

How are you feeling about participating in NaNoWriMo?

I feel ready to start, to do this. I hope and I am determined with NYPL to complete a 50k+ draft of my novel.

Novelist:Alexis C.

Working Book Title: Woman in White

What’s your novel about?

A vengeful ghost in New York City who is seeking out the boyfriend who drove her to commit suicide.

Have you done NaNoWriMo before?

Nope. I’m a first-timer!

Are you a planner or a pantser?

I’m a pantser who is trying to be a planner.

How are you feeling about participating in NaNoWriMo?

I'm excited and anxious. Not only is this the first time I'm participating in NanoWrimo but it's also my first time even attempting a novel-length work.

Novelist:Ira C.

Working Book Title: Originally, How the West Was Lost. Sadly, I think that book title is taken by many works already so I have to think of something else.

What’s your novel about?

My story so far is part dystopian sci-fi, part literary fiction—think Kurt Vonnegut meets Arthur C. Clarke meets Douglas Adams.

Have you done NaNoWriMo before?

I’ve done NaNoWriMo once, last year, but I gave up after a couple of days!

Are you a planner or a pantser?

I’d say I am 20% planner, 80% pantser.

How are you feeling about participating in NaNoWriMo?

I’m a combination of confident, excited, and apprehensive!

Novelist:Rhonda E.

Working Book Title:Untitled

What’s your novel about?

It’s a piece of historical fiction set during World War I.

Have you done NaNoWriMo before?

I’ve never participated in NaNoWriMo before.

Are you a planner or a pantser?

Definitely a planner. I’ve been doing research for quite some time!

How are you feeling about participating in NaNoWriMo?

I am very excited about participating in NaNoWriMo. I usually write alone so I think it will be an invigorating experience to work around other creative people.

Novelist: Genee B.

Working Book Title: The Amethyst

What’s your novel about?

A sci-fi fantasy novel about a distant planet that is ruled by a tyrannical king. Who has cemented his rule by eliminating the entirety of the royal bloodline. But there have been whispers of a prophecy of an off-worlder who would end the mad king's rule.

Have you done NaNoWriMo before?

No, I've never done NaNoWriMo before.

Are you a planner or a pantser?

I'm definitely a pantser.

How are you feeling about participating in NaNoWriMo?

I'm feeling overwhelmed and I'm not quite sure where to start.

Novelist: Nancy A.

Working Book Title:Blue Magic (subject to change)

What’s your novel about?

A remote island in the South Pacific that’s under the spell of an ancient curse.

Have you done NaNoWriMo before?

This is my first time!

Are you a planner or a pantser?

Planner. I’ve been vigorously outlining this project for the better part of a year!

How are you feeling about participating in NaNoWriMo?

I’m mostly worried that I’ve bitten off more than I can chew, but also looking forward to actually, finally, writing my book!

Interested in joining us for a write-in session? We meet at the following dates in the PC lab on the 4th floor:

• Monday, November 2, 6:30pm
• Saturday, November 7, 2:30pm
• Monday, November 9, 6:30pm
• Saturday, November 14, 2:30pm
• Monday, November 16, 6:30pm
• Saturday, November 21, 2:30pm
• Monday, November 23, 6:30pm
• Saturday, November 28, 2:30pm

Space at these write-ins is sure to fill up fast, so make sure you reserve your seat by registering for each session by clicking the links above.

Decades before Pelham Parkway-Van Nest got its hard-earned hyphen, another more subtle change was underway.

As the Soviet Union crumbled, hundreds of thousands of Russian Jews made their way to New York City. Many settled in Brighton Beach and Sheepshead Bay, but others found their home in this pocket of the East Bronx. As the demographics of the neighborhood shifted, so did the library’s collection.

Over the years, this population has earned a reputation as “voracious readers,” and the library manager here, David Nochimson, has rushed to feed the bookworms. The New York Public Library as a whole has more than 85,000 Russian items for adults, with more than 19,000 in Mid-Manhattan’s world language collection. But more and more books are making their way to Pelham Parkway-Van Nest. The branch circulated more than 4,000 Russian items in fiscal year 2013-14, an increase of nearly 50% from the previous year. While the number of Russian-language books housed at Pelham Parkway-Van Nest changes daily, it has swelled to around 1,000.

And that’s not 1,000 copies of Anna Karenina.

The shelves are stocked with popular reads, like women’s magazines Good Housekeeping and Cosmo, and well-worn paperbacks in patrons’ mother tongue. The branch subscribes to Russian newspaper V Novom Svete, or “In the New World.” There are movies and music—and if a patron is looking for a title written in the cyrillic alphabet, library staff is there to help work the catalog. It all goes to show that the character of the branch has morphed along with its demographic. Because the Library isn’t a static thing, it’s an organism that is reinventing itself as frequently as New York.

"We've gradually allowed the size of our Russian collection to grow over the past few years to meet the demand, and it's paid off,” Nochimson said.

The same thing happened on the Lower East Side. The Seward Park branch opened its iconic doors in 1909, when the neighborhood was dominated by Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. As they moved out and Asian immigrants moved it, that branch has found itself decades later in Chinatown. The demographics changed, but the Library’s mission did not.

If you visit Seward Park today, you’ll see a full slate of activities in Chinese: From morning tea to karaoke to bilingual birdies, which teaches children to read in both English and Chinese. From the multilingual signs to its more than 16,000 Chinese items in circulation, library manager Lakisha Brown recognizes Seward Park’s changing needs and is meeting them head-on. The evolution may have been gradual but it’s far from over. The neighborhood will keep on changing, and the library will keep on supplying books in whatever language residents read.

Nowhere is that more clear than on Roosevelt Island, an idyllic spot across the East River from the U.N.

Library manager Nicole Nelson’s patrons come from all over the world. Many are diplomats, U.N. support staff, their spouses, and their children. They are highly educated, and they are looking for books in their native tongue while living so far from home. And whether they’re looking for children’s books in Japanese or literature in Swahili, Nelson turns to the Library’s considerable resources, fills the requests, and tries to anticipate the next trend. Her branch is decorated with children’s books in more languages than you can count, and everywhere Nelson walks people are saying thank you.

In whatever language they speak.

To serve veterans and their families, and celebrate the Veterans Small Business Week, the U.S. Small Business Administration presents Veterans Business Resources Day on Wednesday, November 4, 2015,  8:30 am to 12 pm at 26 Federal Plaza, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10278.

Four Panels

• Planning and starting your business
• Financing
• Selling your products and services to the government
• Resources and assistance

One-on-one meeting with

• Lenders
• Business counselors
• Government agencies
• Veterans Organizations

MUST RSVP  to man-li.lin@sba.gov or phone Teresa Detelj at 212-264-1319

With Halloween just a day away and the New Year's Eve around the corner, this is the time of year I once again think about “The End of Days.” Remember the nervous anticipation of Y2K? Or the rampaging fury of Hurricane Katrina? We don't just fear, predicate and anticipate the end of the world. We also find enjoyment in watching and acting out these horrific scenarios.

Has role-playing apocalyptic games desensitized us? Does watching the Walking Dead prepare us? Are we really ready for alien invasions, zombies, and other end-of-the-world events?

According to Nostradamus, the Mayans, Hollywood, and the many lores of various cultures throughout time of Ragnarök, the Day of Judgment, the Rapture etc. the world should have or will be ending (sometime) soon and if this dismal end is to come, then I must ask... are we ready?

In honor of Halloween and the approaching New Year and of course for all you doomsday preppers, survivalists and pessimists out there: here’s a list of movies, television shows, books and music to prepare, educate, and keep you company for the end of civilization as we know it. Enjoy!

Books / Comics

The Walking Deadby Robert Kirkman
The world we knew is gone. The world of commerce and frivolous necessity has been replaced by a world of survival and responsibility. An epidemic of apocalyptic proportions has swept the globe, causing the dead to rise and feed on the living. In a matter of months society has crumbled: no government, no grocery stores, no mail delivery, no cable TV. In a world ruled by the dead, the survivors are forced to finally start living.

Hoarders, Doomsday Preppers, and the Culture of Apocalypseby Gwendolyn Audrey Foster
The culture of twenty-first century America largely revolves around narcissistic death, violence, and visions of doom. As people are bombarded with amoral meta narratives that display an almost complete lack of empathy for others on television, in films, and on the internet, their insatiable appetite for excessive pain and routine death reflects an embrace of an endlessly warring culture. Foster explores this culture of the apocalypse, from hoarding and gluttony to visions of the post-apocalyptic world.

The Massive by Brian Wood
In a post-war, post-Crash, post-disaster, post-everything world, the environmental action trawler Kapital scours the earth's oceans for its missing sistership, The Massive, while struggling to redefine its core mission. Captain Callum Israel, a man who dedicated his life to the ocean, now must ask himself--as our planet dies--what it means to be an environmentalist after the world's already ended.

2012 Extinction or Utopia: Doomsday Prophecies Explored by J. Allan Danelek
Is 2012 the end of the world as we know it? From 2012 to global warming to worldwide pandemics, doomsday scenarios play an increasingly large role in our lives. Do any of these apocalyptic scenarios pose a real, urgent risk? Why does our modern culture continue to embrace these bleak beliefs, and how are they affecting our world?

The Practical Preppers Complete Guide to Disaster Preparedness by Scott Hunt
The world we live in is an unstable one. From natural disasters of biblical proportions to concerns about the economic downturn and government shutdown, the hits just keep on coming. No matter the concern, the solutions are the same. Scott Hunt, the owner of Practical Preppers—the consultant firm featured on every episode of the hit Nat Geo show "Doomsday Preppers" (recent episodes had 15 million viewers)—and an experienced engineer and homesteader, offers readers a complete and detailed guide to sustainable living.

Tools for Survival: What You Need to Survive When You're On Your Own by James Wesley Rawles
Details the tools needed to survive anything from a short-term disruption to a long-term, grid-down scenario. Field-tested and comprehensive, Tools for Survival is certain to become a must-have reference for the burgeoning survivalist/prepper movement.

New York City-Based Movies

Cloverfield

New York is suddenly under attack from a Godzilla-like monster who stomps through midtown, destroying everything and everybody in sight.

I am Legend
Robert Neville is the last human survivor in what is left of New York City. A pandemic has left only 1% of the population alive and most of those who survived are no longer human.

The Day After Tomorrow
After climatologist Jack Hall is largely ignored by U.N. officials when presenting his environmental concerns, his research proves true when an enormous "super storm" develops, setting off catastrophic natural disasters throughout the world.

Other Movies

The Road
A holocaust has destroyed the world. Civilization lies in ruins. Nothing grows. The Man and his young son, the Boy, struggle across the devastated, post-apocalyptic landscape, pushing their belongings in a shopping cart, hoping to reach the coast. It is almost impossible to find any food. Life on the road is a deadly game of hide, seek, and devour with bloodthirsty bands of roving, starving, survivalist types, many of whom have fallen into cannibalism. The Man carries the curse of remembering the world as it once was, while for the Boy, the world has always been destroyed, any intimation that life was once different is foreign to his existence. Love--of the Man and Boy for each other--is the one testament to a humanity that remains, even in the face of total chaos.

Deep Impact
As a comet approaches the earth which might not be destroyed or diverted before it reaches earth, each individual struggles in the face of extinction to find what most matters to him or her.

The Matrix
The day-in, day-out world is the real world is merely perception. In reality it is a hoax perpetrated by an all-powerful artificial intelligence that control us. A small group of humans has found a way out of the construct, and is now fighting for the future of the human race.

Reign of Fire
A brood of fire-breathing dragons emerges from the earth and begins setting fire to everything, establishing dominance over the planet.

Resident Evil
A team of paramilitary commandos must battle flesh-eating undead, killer mutant dogs and a supercomputer's deadly defenses before an unleashed virus consumes humanity.

Television Shows / Documentaries

Revolution
In this epic adventure thriller, a family struggles to reunite in a post-apocalyptic American landscape: a world of empty cities, local militias and heroic freedom fighters, where every single piece of technology-computers, planes, cars, phones, even lights-has mysteriously blacked out-forever. A grand romantic saga about family-not just the family born into, but the family chosen. A swashbuckling journey of hope and rebirth, seen through the eyes of one strong-willed young woman.

Sleepy Hollow
Ichabod Crane (Tom Mison), a British expatriate who dies in the American Revolution, is revived in upstate New York during the time of the cell phone - as is the evil Headless Horseman, who plans to annihilate mankind! Teaming with a feisty police lieutenant (Nicole Beharie), Crane races to vanquish the newly unearthed dark forces - or face the impending apocalypse. Contains all episodes of season 1, including the 2-part season finale!

The 100
Ninety-seven years after nuclear Armageddon destroyed the planet, humanity's sole survivors live on the Ark, an aging space station experiencing overpopulation and inadequate resources. When faced with difficult choices, the Ark leaders decide to send 100 juvenile prisoners back to Earth to test its living conditions.

Doomsday Preppers
Examines the beliefs, motivations, and day-to-day routines of a number of Americans who have adopted a lifestyle centered on survival.

American Blackout
What if the Doomsday Preppers were right all along? Hacking into urban infrastructures isn't science fiction anymore, it's in the news every day. A 90-minute docudrama reveals in gritty detail the impact of what happens when a cyber attack on the United States takes down the power grid. The question is: when the lights go out, what do we do next?

Songs / Albums

Halloween After Dark

"Bad moon rising" by Creedence Clearwater
"Don't fear the reaper" by Blue Öyster Cult

Documentby R.E.M

"It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)"

Night Visions by Imagine Dragons

Sometimes you know what you want to read—everyone is reading it and talking about it, or it’s your book club assignment, or it’s the sequel of the last book you loved. But sometimes you want to look around and be surprised by something new.

We’ve added a new service to our suite of recommendation tools: NoveList, an interactive database that specializes in readers’ advisory. NoveList employs 80 full-time librarians who put their own personal knowledge into book recommendations.

So how do you use it?

Search for a book—let’s use Gone Girl—in our catalog.

Scroll down to the “NoveList Recommendations” section...

… and find more titles you might like. Hover over “Why this match?” to find out why NoveList picked that particular book.

Keep scrolling for another nice facet of NoveList: appeal terms, genre, and subject terms.

Appeal terms help readers cut across genres. Romances can be just as suspenseful as thrillers; fantasy titles can be just as beautifully written as literary fiction. You may love a mystery, but not because it is a mystery; you love it because of its atmosphere and converging plot lines.

In NoveList, these appeal terms are linked—so, if you like a book because it is “quirky” or “witty,” you can select the term and find other titles are similarly tagged. We often find ourselves using it to answer readers’ advisory questions.

NoveList also has a feature designed for series readers, who like to stay with characters over many books. NoveList provides the order of a particular series and suggests similar series in addition to stand-alone titles.

Sometimes, the thrill of the chase—the act of finding a book you didn’t even know existed—is the best part. We hope you’ll enjoy using NoveList.  —The Readers Services Department

Three libraries responding to changing language needs in their communities.

Come join us for an Author @ the Library talk this November at Mid-Manhattan Library to hear distinguished non-fiction authors discuss their work and answer your questions.

Author talks take place at 6:30 p.m. on the 6th floor of the Library, unless otherwise noted. No reservations are required. Seating is first come, first served. You can also request the author's books by clicking on the book cover images below.

	MONDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2015 The Spirit of New York: Defining Events in the Empire State's History with Bruce W. Dearstyne, who served as a program director at the New York State Archives and on the staff of the Office of State History. This lecture presents New York State history by exploring sixteen dramatic events, from the launch of the state government in April 1777 to the tragedy of September 11, 2001. Great political changes, historical turning points, and struggles for social, racial, and environmental reform are explored. The momentous events illustrate the “spirit” of New York—the elusive traits that make New York State unique and a leader among the fifty states—and the complexity of its history.
	TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2015 1932: The Rise of Hitler and FDR —Two Tales of Politics, Betrayal, and Unlikely Destiny with David Pietrusza, a notable historian and bestselling author, who has written or edited over three dozen books. This illustrated lecture is the tale of spell-binding leaders versus bland businessmen and out-of-touch upper-class elites and of two nations inching to safety but lurching toward disaster. It is 1932's nightmare—with lessons for today.
	WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2015 Walking Queens: 30 Tours for Discovering the Diverse Communities, Historic Places, and Natural Treasures of New York City's Largest Borough with Adrienne Onofri, a licensed NYC sightseeing guide and the author of Walking Brooklyn. This illustrated lecture explores the distinctive architecture, landmark buildings, popular eateries, ethnic enclaves, celebrity residences, art and performance spaces, and natural scenery, of Queens, heralded as the most multicultural place on Earth and home to more than 2.3 million people who speak at least 150 different languages.
	THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2015 Operation Nemesis: The Assassination Plot that Avenged the Armenian Genocidewith Eric Bogosian, an actor, playwright, and novelist of Armenian descent. 2015 marks the 100 years since the Armenian Genocide. This reading and discussion crafts a masterful account of the conspiracy of assassins that hunted down and killed the perpetrators of the genocide. The killings are set in the context of Ottoman and Armenian history, and show the era's history, rife with political fighting and massacres.
	TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2015 The Witch of Lime Street: Séance, Seduction, and Houdini in the Spirit Worldwith David Jaher, who has been a screenwriter and a professional astrologer. This illustrated lecture features the enthralling story of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Harry Houdini, and the so-called Witch of Lime Street, whose lives collided in an era when science verged on embracing the paranormal.
	THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2015 Madame Jumel Collects with Margaret A. Oppenheimer, the author of The Remarkable Rise of Eliza Jumel: A Story of Marriage and Money in the Early Republic. This illustrated lecture features the amazing Eliza Jumel, who was raised in a brothel, indentured as a servant, confined to a workhouse while her mother was in jail, yet rose to become one of the richest women in New York.
	MONDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2015 White House Crosswords, with David J. Kahn, a longtime crossword constructor, who has appeared in all the major papers and writes customized crosswords for individuals, corporations and not-for- profits. One of the country’s top puzzle makers talks about his fascination with U.S. presidents and what makes them great material for crosswords.
	TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2015 The Hirschfeld Century: Portrait of an Artist and His Age with David Leopold, Hirschfeld authority, who, as archivist to the artist, worked side by side with him and has spent more than twenty years documenting the artist’s extraordinary output. This illustrated lecture brings together the artist’s extraordinary eighty-two-year career, revealed in hundreds of his iconic black-and-white and color drawings, illustrations, and photographs—his influences, his techniques, his evolution from his earliest works to his last drawings.
	WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2015 No One Helped Kitty Genovese, New York City, and the Myth of Urban Apathy with Marcia M. Gallo, Associate Professor of History at University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and the author of Different Daughters. This illustrated lecture examines one of America's most infamous true-crime stories: the 1964 rape and murder of Catherine “Kitty” Genovese in a middle-class neighborhood of Queens, New York.
	TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2015 Suspicious Minds: Why We Believe in Conspiracy Theories with Rob Brotherton, an academic psychologist and science writer. This illustrated lecture explores the history and consequences of conspiracism, and delves into the research that offers insights into why so many of us are drawn to implausible, unproven and unprovable conspiracy theories.
	MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2015 The Dakota: A History of the World's Best-Known Apartment Building, with Andrew Alpern, an architectural historian, architect, and attorney, who has published ten books, including five about apartment houses in New York City. This illustrated lecture spotlights, arguably the best-known residential address in the world, home to dozens of New York City's most famous artists, performers and successful executives.

The Author @ the Library posts include authors discussing their recent nonfiction works at the Mid-Manhattan Library. Don’t miss the many other interesting free classes, films, readings, and talks on our program calendar. Enjoy short story readings of The Lottery by Shirley Jackson and The Secret Lives of Walter Mitty by James Thurber at Story Time for Grown-Ups - American Classicsin November. If you enjoy talking about books, come share your favorite books with Thanksgiving themes with other readers at Open Book Nighton Friday, November 13.

From our past posts:

Open Book Night reading lists and Author @ the Library blog posts

All of our programs and classes are free, so why not come and check one out? Looking forward to seeing you soon at the library!

Welcome back to the October 2015 edition of the Reader's Den! This is our final week  of Just Call Me Superhero by Alina Bronsky. If you missed any of this month's discussions, then you can revisit earlier posts:

Part 1: welcome, book introduction, and author information

Part 2: discussion and reflection (mid-month)

There are not any discussion questions; however, feel free to discuss any points that came to mind as you finished the book. At the end of the post, there is also a list of suggested titles with themes similar to those within Just Call Me Superhero.

If you enjoyed, this novel, then I highly recommend reading Alina Bronsky's previous works, Broken Glass Park (2010) and The Hottest Dishes of Tartar Cuisine ( 2011), which also feature anti-heroes. Though both admittedly sound quite dark and possibly depressing from the descriptions, be assured that they are peppered with dark humor and whit throughout.

Broken Glass Park: Seventeen-year-old Sacha Naimann dreams of writing a novel about her mother and killing the man who murdered her, Sacha's stepfather Vadim, while struggling to care for her younger siblings and leave behind her painful childhood.

Reviews

"Whether it's autobiographical or not, Bronsky writes with a gritty authenticity and unputdownable propulsion, capturing the egotism and need of a girl just beginning to understand her own power." -Vogue 

"Surprising, poetic, extremely well-crafted . . . recalls the narrative art of Zadie Smith."- K÷lner Stadtrevue

"Youthful, fast-paced, at times sad, never sugarcoated. Broken Glass Park tells the story of a marvelous reawakening."-Modern Zeiten

"Playful, audacious and brimming with verve . . . A gripping read."-Book Reporter (Germany)

The Hottest Dishes of Tartar Cuisine: Rosa's schemes to abort her daughter Sulfia's fetus after learning of the pregnancy, take her granddaughter Aminat after the baby's birth, and move the family out of the Soviet Union eventually lead to tragedy.

Reviews

"What begins as a cruel comic romp ends as a surprisingly winning story of hardship and resilience." — The New Yorker

"Bronsky lands another hit with this hilarious, disturbing, and always irreverent blitz." — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"A rich, funny and unspeakably delicious novel" — Bookslut

"Bronsky's great gift is humor." — Los Angeles Times

Here are some of my personal favorites, which also feature anti-heroes (and are available for checkout at NYPL with your library card):

• Native Son by Richard Wright: Right from the start, Bigger Thomas had been headed for jail. It could have been for assault or petty larceny; by chance, it was for murder and rape. Native Son tells the story of this young black man caught in a downward spiral after he kills a young white woman in a brief moment of panic. Set in Chicago in the 1930s, Richard Wright's novel is just as powerful today as when it was written—in its reflection of poverty and hopelessness, and what it means to be black in America.
• The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath: The Bell Jar chronicles the crack-up of Esther Greenwood: brilliant, beautiful, enormously talented, and successful, but slowly going under—maybe for the last time. Sylvia Plath masterfully draws the reader into Esther's breakdown with such intensity that Esther's insanity becomes completely real and even rational, as probable and accessible an experience as going to the movies. Such deep penetration into the dark and harrowing corners of the psyche is an extraordinary accomplishment and has made The Bell Jar a haunting American classic.
• The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger: Holden, Caulfield, knowing he is to be expelled from school, decides to leave early. He spends three days in New York City and tells the story of what he did and suffered there.
• The Watchmen by Alan Moore: It all begins with the paranoid delusions of a half-insane hero called Rorschach—but is he really insane or has he, in fact, uncovered a plot to murder super-heroes and possibly millions of innocent civilians? Following two generations of masked super-heroes from the close of World War II to the icy shadow of the Cold War comes this groundbreaking comic story—the story ofThe Watchmen.
• Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk: The rise of a terrorist organization, led by a waiter who enjoys spitting in people's soup. He starts a fighting club, where men bash each other, and the club quickly gains in popularity. It becomes the springboard for a movement devoted to destruction for destruction's sake. 
• Catch 22 by Joseph Heller: Set in the closing months of World War II in an American bomber squadron off the coast of Italy, Catch-22 is the story of a bombardier named Yossarian who is frantic and furious because thousands of people he has never even met keep trying to kill him.
• American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis: In a black satire of the eighties, a decade of naked greed and unparalleled callousness, a successful Wall Street yuppie cannot get enough of anything, including murder. Patrick Bateman moves among the young and trendy in 1980s Manhattan. Young, handsome, and well educated, Bateman earns his fortune on Wall Street by day, while spending his nights in ways we cannot begin to fathom. Expressing his true self through torture and murder, Bateman prefigures an apocalyptic horror that no society could bear to confront.
• A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess: Told through a central character, Alex, the disturbing novel creates an alarming futuristic vision of violence, high technology, and authoritarianism. A modern classic of youthful violence and social redemption set in a dismal dystopia whereby a juvenile delinquent undergoes state-sponsored psychological rehabilitation for his aberrant behavior.

By no means is this list comprehensive. What are some of your favorites?

Come back to the Reader's Den in November for a discussion on Gone Girl  by Gillian Flynn and Medea by Euripides.

Happy reading!

David Hare comes to Books at Noon this week to discuss his latest work, The Blue Touch Paper: A Memoir.

When and where do you like to read? 

On holiday, on trains, or on planes, sustainedly. I hate interruption. Simenon said you should be able to read a good book in a sitting.

What were your favorite books as a child?

Enid Blyton, Agatha Christie, and Oscar Wilde. The Guinness Book of Records. The Beano Annual.

What books had the greatest impact on you? 

Raymond Williams’s Culture and Society determined the path of my life—literally. I read it and decided to go and study with the man who wrote it, because its definition of what culture is and what it should be is so generous and inspiring. As my life has gone by, Raymond’s influence on me seems to have grown.

Would you like to name a few writers out there you think deserve greater readership? 

I campaigned for a couple before they were widely known in the UK—I read Richard Yates a long time ago, and I also championed Stefan Zweig. There are some great young playwrights out there these days—Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig, Anya Reiss, James Graham, Barney Norris.

What was the last book you recommended? 

Oh, I just read Robert Dowling’s biography of Eugene O’Neill, and before I could put it down, it was taken from me by a companion who couldn’t wait. As Tennessee Williams says “O’Neill lived for the American theatre, and he died for it.” The story of his life is extraordinary and inspiring.

What do you plan to read next? 

Edna O’Brien’s got a new novel out called The Little Red Chairs. I bet it’s good. And I have to read Purity by Jonathan Franzen. He’s one of the few writers I really can’t wait to hear from. I want to know what he’s thinking now, because I know it’s going to be worth taking on board. I feel as readers once did of Dickens, that you can’t wait for the next installment.