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NYPL Across and Down: A Crossword Puzzle

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On December 21, 1913, the first known published crossword appeared in the New York World newspaper. It was the concoction of the journalist Arthur Wynne and appeared in a diamond shape. Today, in celebration, we're challenging you to complete our New York Public Library-themed crossword!

NYPL Crossword

Fill out the puzzle online, or download the PDF to print if you prefer pencil-and-paper style. (Stumped? We'll post the answers Wednesday.)

NYPL Crossword2

Across

4. Last name of the first superintendent of the library
5. The Schwarzman Building was constructed on the site of the old ______.
8. Number of ex-Olympic athletes on the NYPL staff in 1926
10. Author who made his last public appearance at NYPL alongside Gunter Grass
12. Who you gonna call from this 1984 cult classic filmed at NYPL?
16. Architect responsible for converting Jefferson Market Library from a courthouse to a library
19. Branch library adjacent to Tappen Park and the Old Village Hall
20. Author whose crutches are held by NYPL
22. The original glum donkey is held by the Library with his friends Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, and Kanga
23. On ________30, 1929, the Main Reading Room has its busiest day in history
24. "Rip Van Winkle" author and president of the library's Board of Trustees from 1848-1859

Down

1. Type of marble used to construct Schwarzman Building exterior
2. There's the "Song of Myself" and there's the locks of his hair at NYPL.
3. Edward Land developed the process for the ______ Land Camera at the Library.
6. Author of Heir to the Glimmering World, a book set  partially at NYPL
7. This HBO Series starring Sarah Jessica Parker has filmed at NYPL
9. During WWII, _______ intelligence forces researched at the NYPL Map Division.
11. Branch library named after the first rector of Chelsea's Church of the Holy Communion
13. Donated $5.2 million to construct sixty-five branch libraries in 1901
14. Writer of 1493 letter held by NYPL, detailing "discovery" of New World
15. During the Subway Series of 2000, the southerly Lion donned a ________ baseball cap.
17. Barnes Avenue branch library in the Bronx
18. Last name of mayor who named Patience and Fortitude during the Depression
21. Author of The Feminine Mystique, which was written in the Library’s Frederick Lewis Allen Memorial Room


Children's Literary Salon in Retrospect: Alice in Wonderland on December 13, 2015

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Central Park
murkmad via Flickr

I was happy to learn more about the book, Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, during this unique kid lit salon at the Stephen A Schwarzman Building. It is the 150th anniversary of the book's publication, and this event was a panel discussion of how the book has influenced librarians, teachers, authors and illustrators in their crafts. Jeanne Lamb, coordinator of Youth Collections for BookOps, introduced the panelists. Monica Edinger is author of the blog Educating Alice, and fourth-grade teacher. Dana Sheridan works at the Cotsen Children's Library of Princeton University. Robert Sabuda is a pop-up book artist and creator. Charles Santore is an illustrator from Philadelphia. Sheridan moderated the discussion.

What Does Alice Mean to You?

Sheridan wanted to discuss the history of the book. She asked the panelists to describe their first memory of the Alice book.

Sabuda opined that the book was lengthy, and he loved the fact that adults in the book were horrible.

Edinger's father first read the book to her when she was eight years old. She read it repeatedly, and she wants to become Alice.

Santore did not read the book until he was in art school, when he was about 20 years old. 

alice philosophy

Sheridan felt that the book was always there. The Disney movie stuck in her mind. She asked which character the panelists felt most connected with.

Edinger has been a teacher for decades. She reads the book aloud to her students.

Sheridan asked what other books have influenced the panelists.

Edinger mentioned The Princess and the Dragon and The Wizard of Oz. She gravitates towards fantasy.  

Sabuda likes the Cheshire Cat. He felt like that character had some unspoken knowledge of what was occurring. 

Sheridan asked if there were other characters with magical powers in the book, and the consensus was no.

Santore loved the Alice book, but he put it aside after he initially encountered it. Prior to 1985, he did magazine and advertising illustrations. Then, he started illustrating Alice books. He ensures that the body language in the illustrations remains true to the characters. 

art alice

Sabuda stated that authors and illustrators rarely communicate in traditional publishing houses, even if they are married. The illustrators give life to the characters, and it can seem daunting to follow in the footsteps of other illustrators of classic children's works.

Sheridan mentioned that Carroll was English. She asked how Alice remains relevant today.

Alice in Action in the Classroom

Edinger is not sure of the word relevant, but her students really enjoy the book. Adults also appreciate the book. She reads the book to her class, and she does verbal annotations. None of the parents have objected to the book.

Sheridan reminded us that many people objected to what they perceived as the "nonsense" in the Alice book when it was first published. She asked Edinger to discuss the tea party that she has with the kids.

Edinger shows the kids a variety of Alice books that have different illustrators. They discuss the pictures, she has them memorize poetry in the book, such as Jabberwocky. She has a tea party and games, including crochet. 

Sheridan found some crochet mallets that were designed as ostriches. The original Alice had 37 images, which Carroll drew himself. 

Santore mentioned that the word "wonderland" has been associated with the drug culture. When he is illustrating Alice books, he deals with Alice and the other characters in the circumstances that they are in. When Alice has grown big in the small room, the reader is not sure whether she will get through to the next page. Each illustration should be a surprise. Readers should not see replicas of essentially the same illustration throughout a book. Illustration is a matter of design, composition and perspective.

carroll

Sabuda believes that illustrators cut through the fog to just the meat and potatoes of the book. Artists should focus on the essentials of what is going on without getting distracted by irrelevant details. 

Sheridan asked Edinger what she says to students who do not like the book.

Edinger said that one boy wished that the book had more excitement in it. However, overall, her kids love being read to, and they engage in many Alice-related activities. She does not expect the kids to read it on their own, but they love the experience they get with it in the classroom.

Illustrating a Classic

Sheridan asked Santore to describe how he went about illustrating Alice books.

Santore always starts illustrating books by reading the text and making doodles. He is choreographing the book. He does no research on the book at the beginning of the process so that he can work without preconceived notions. Illustrators cannot expect the editors to tell them what they want. He enjoyed using a real girl as a model for his illustrations of the Alice books. 

Sabuda stated that most illustrators use models, but he does not like to do that. He does much historical fiction by just sketching them from his imagination. He feels daunted by photographs and models; he feels that he does not have time for them. His parents started getting him pop-up books when he was a child, and he is fascinated by the engineering that is involved with these books. He never experiences artist block when working on a book; he always knows the direction that it will go in.

Santore does not like the word creativity. He simply creates problems when working on a book and solves them. 

other alice

Sheridan asked which aspect of the Alice book resonates most with the panelists.

Sabuda likes the baby pig and the Duchess. They freaked him out when he was a boy.

Edinger likes the mock turtle.

Sheridan mentioned the Jabberwocky poem; it was the first poem that she read, and it has stuck with her.

Santore enjoys the tea party scene. However, there were so many moments and iconic images associated with the book, such as the image of the caterpillar and Alice. 

Audience Questions

Someone  asked about Lewis Carroll's relationships with girls, given the fact that he wrote the story for one of his own daughters, who was named Alice.

Sabuda told us that ideas of love in the Victorian era were different than they are today. 

Edinger stated that girls often stayed home with the governesses while boys went to school. 

Sheridan mentioned that Alice was always polite, even when talking to a caterpillar. 

An audience member told us that there was much segregation by age and gender in the Victorian era.

Sabuda stated that many books published before Alice were highly moralistic.

Another great kid lit salon! Hope you can join us for the next intelligent conversation amongst authors, librarians, teachers and aficionados of children's literature.

pub history

Upcoming Children's Literary Salons

Saturday, February 6, 2016 at 1:30 PM
Reading Is Visual With Michael Ardndt
Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
 
Saturday, March 5, 2016 at 2 PM
Meet the Founding Editors of the CBC Diversity Committee
Stephen A. Schwarzman Building

Resolutions to Ring in the New Year

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New Years greetings.
New Years greetings.


As December comes to a close, and we're stuffed with food, friends, and family, many look toward the new year as a time for pause and reflection. Looking for inspiration for your New Years resolution to make 2016 your year? Here are a few quotes from some of our favorite artists and writers on making—and not making—resolutions:

1. “A new heart for a New Year, always!”―Dickens, The Chimes

2. "I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're Doing Something." ―Neil Gaiman, journal.neilgaiman.com

3. "And now, let us believe in a long year that is given to us, new, untouched, full of things that have never been…"―Rilke, Letters of Rainer Maria Rilke

4. "Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual…"―Mark Twain, Mark Twain's Notebooks and Journals

5. "I made no resolutions for the New Year. The habit of making plans, of criticizing, sanctioning and molding my life, is too much of a daily event for me.” — Anaïs Nin, The Early Diary of Anaïs Nin, Volume 3, 1923-1927

6. "You’re off to great places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting…so get on your way!" ― Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You'll Go!

7. "If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is―infinite."― William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

 

Silas Deane: Reading and Parenting in Revolutionary America

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Family history is the most personal form of history.  But due to a dearth of records, in many cases it has to be written about in an impersonal way.  As genealogists and family historians know well, letters and diaries are often scarce, while birth, death, census, and baptismal records are abundant.  With slightly different goals in mind, historians confront the same lack of personal sources by turning to statistics, novels, and proscriptive literature in order to understand families in a given period.  Yet neither strategy fully captures the personal and emotional interactions that are the foundation of family life.

As The New York Public Library has started to make available digitized collections in early American history, one question I have been asked frequently is why political elites are so well represented.  Given that there are so many editions of many of their letters freely available through online databases or print at most research libraries, isn’t it just an inefficient use of resources?  One of the great virtues for historians of these particularly well-documented individuals, is that a lot of their family correspondence survives, though it is not always included in edited volumes that focus on political events.   And through these papers we can glimpse family life at an emotional level.

Deane Letter 1
Deane to  Sarah (Sally) Webb, April 17, 1767

Silas Deane is a good example of what I mean.  Though trained as a lawyer, Deane became a successful merchant during the 1760s.  As the imperial crisis took hold, he served as a Continental Congressman.  Deane is probably best remembered for a kerfuffle in Congress over allegations that he embezzled money while serving as a diplomat in France.  Active as he was in revolutionary politics, he is unsurprisingly well represented in the multi-volume Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774-1789.  In the late nineteenth century, the New York Historical Society also published five volumes of Deane’s papers, which covered the years from 1774 to his death in 1789.

NYPL holds a small collection of Deane’s letters, which includes five letters to his stepdaughter Sarah (Sally) Webb.  All from the late 1760s, none appear in the published editions of Deane’s correspondence.  The letters range from devastating to heart warming to utterly quotidian.  Taken together, they comprise a small archive of one father’s relationship with his stepdaughter.  

In the first letter, Deane informed Sally that her mother was very ill and he was making arrangements for her to travel home to Connecticut from Boston.  Understandably, he feared the letter “will greatly alarm you.”  Though he could not console Sally in person, he did his best in the letter, urging her to “remember [that] your Dear Mama has been very low & Dangerous before this & God has in Mercy spared her.  The same god is still able to do it” again.  As he often did, Deane signed the letter “your affectionate parent & friend."  Sally’s mother, Mehitable Nott Webb Deane, died later that year.  

Deane Letter 2
Deane to  Sarah (Sally) Webb, June 19, 1768

A year later, in the spring of 1768, Sally returned to Boston to finish her education.  Deane was sure that Sally “will make so wise an improvement of the advantages now in your hands.”   But Deane also cautioned Sally that at this “most critical, & important period of life” she would confront “a thousand byroads which lead to Ruin, & but one Path, that leads to the wish’d for stage of true Happiness.” To help her navigate this tumultuous moment, he offered ready advice, mostly about reading and writing, which he called the “two great essentials in life.”

What books Sally chose to read and how she went about reading them would bear directly on her future happiness.  Deane urged his stepdaughter to “learn to pronounce the most Difficult words, with propriety.”  He recommended that she “never read in haste but with moderation,” to ensure she understood what she read.  This was especially true of the Bible.  Ultimately, he advised her that “no Book where the Language is indecent or the subject trifling, ought to claim your present Attention” because they would do nothing to set her on the right path.

What to make of this fixation on reading habits?  Deane seemed to believe that reading would influence Sally’s character and morals, as well as how she was seen in the world. Deane’s advice on reading was tantamount to advice on living a happy, worthwhile, and fulfilling life.  

I don’t like the term founding fathers very much.  Yet we can learn a lot when we take the term literally, when we study the founders as fathers, and as family men.  Well documented as they are, founding era political elites are great fodder for historians looking to study family life in early America.  No doubt Deane’s theory of parenting differed sharply from non-elites, for whom books were not as readily available, nor as intimately connected to their sense of self.  The Silas Deane Letters are powerful nonetheless because they provide a fleeting glimpse on intimate family relations in the revolutionary era.  

Further Reading

Lorri Glover, Founders as Fathers: The Private Lives and Politics of the American Revolutionaries (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2014).  Historians have used founding-era political elites in similar ways to study the nature of friendship in the period.  For example, Cassandra A. Good,Founding Friendships: Friendships Between Men and Women in the Early American Republic(New York: Oxford University Press, 2015); and Richard Godbeer, The Overflowing of Friendship: Love Between Men and the Creation of the American Republic (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009).

On  Silas Deane, see Liz Covart, “Silas Deane, Forgotten Patriot,” Journal of the American Revolution (Allthingsliberty.com), July 30, 2014, ; and Louis W. Potts, “Silas Deane,” American National Biography.

About the Early American Manuscripts Project

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

Elisa's Favorite Books of 2015

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It’s been an exciting reading year for me—it’s been a year of mixed reading emotions, and books that have made me scream and wonder, why is this happening?! I also read that books that made me say "wow, I can completely identify with this," and wondered if they had been written just for me. Please note: not all of my favorite books were published in 2015, and are not listed in any particular order of preference—they are all my favorites!

Why not me?

Why Not Me?by Mindy Kaling

In Why Not Me? Mindy Kaling takes us into the sometimes complicated world of adulthood. In this book she goes through various experiences, in witty, laugh-out-loud, insightful essays of the various stages of her life. She discusses friendships, fashion, dating, her fears, and her relationship with B.J. Novak that she describes as "weird as hell."

theconcernsofmindykaling.com

 

 

 

Girls like us

Girls Like Us by Gail Giles

Young adult realistic fiction at its best. This is the story of Quincy and Biddy. These two young women are thrown together as roommates to live in their first "real world" apartment after graduating from their high school special needs program. Hard-hitting and compassionate,  the unlikely friendship of these two young women helps them to find strength and support in each other.

gailgiles.com

 

 

 Find passion, embrace fear and create sucess on your own terms

The Sweet Life: Find Passion, Embrace Fear, and Create Success on Your Own Terms by Dulce Candy Ruiz

If you make it on YouTube, you can make it anywhere! This is the story of Dulce Candy Ruiz, one of the top YouTube stars and beauty gurus, with over 2 million subscribers.

During the first part of the book Dulce talks to us about growing up in Mexico, her journey to the United States and fighting for our freedom in Iraq. The second part of the book focuses on creating your own style, building a personal brand, marketing/creating a YouTube Channel, and building healthy relationships.

DulceCandy.com

 

 Vol 1, No Normal

Ms. Marvelby Willow G. Wilson

I truly enjoyed reading Ms. Marvel. I loved how refreshed I felt reading it, and how it so well represented the #WeNeedDiverseBooks campaign, and the importance to portray a different array of characters. It’s important to keep in mind that the purpose of the #WeNeedDiverseBooks campaign is not solely about Black, Latino, White characters, it's also about representing other cultures, disabled, Gay/lesbian, unconventional family structures, and all of the things that makes us different. In Ms. Marvel Kamala Khan is a teenage Muslim Pakistani American girl who has new found super powers and she’s ready to take on the world!

gwillowwilson.com

 

More happy than not

More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera

I loved, loved this book even though it took me for an emotional ride worse than a roller coaster!

This is an awesome debut by young adult author Adam Silvera. This book will break you, make you question, and ask yourself what did I just read? All I can say is that this book will break your heart in the best possible way... if there is such a thing? It will be physically/emotionally impossible to put down and it will make you realize that you have more reasons to be more happy than not.

adamsilvera.com

 

Written in the stars

Written in the Stars by Aisha Saeed

In Written in the Stars, Aisha Saeed takes us into the life of teenager named Naila. She’s growing up in America so she's allowed to be a teenager and study what she wants when she goes away to college. It all changes when her family finds out she’s fallen in love with a boy named Saif. This book gives us an insight into arranged marriages and cultural patterns.

aishasaeed.com

 

 

 

The boy in the black suit

The Boy in the Black Suit by Jason Reynolds

Jason Reynolds is an extraordinary talent. The Boy in the Black Suit is intense. It takes you through the thought process of 17-year-old Matt going through grief, loss and acceptance. It’s a captivating story that travels through the streets of Brooklyn and reminds you of your first love.

jasonwritesbooks.com

 

 

 

Self-help

Self-Help by Miranda Sings

Miranda Sings is hilarious! With more than 5.5 million subscribers to her YouTube channel and over 700 million views, she’s one of You Tube’s top stars! In this unhelpful, candid, super funny, how-to guide, Miranda offers advice and tutorials in signature Miranda style that will have you laughing out loud.

mirandasings.com

 

Year of Yes

Year of Yesby Shonda Rhimes

Year Of Yes is a memoir written by Shonda Rhimes, the super talented creator/producer of Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, Scandal, and How to Get Away With Murder. In this memoir Shonda shares her journey of unhappiness to happiness by just starting to say YES to things, people, and social events that bring her happiness and no to everything that is the total opposite of that. During the year of yes she found her inner voice and started living fearlessly.

twitter.com/shondarhimes

 

 

Between the world and me

Between the World and Meby Ta-Nehisi Coates

Between the World and Me: let’s just consider it a classic and Ta-Nehisi Coates the voice of this generation. James Baldwin did it with The Fire Next Time, and Ta- Nehisi Coates has inspired us with Between the World and Me. Insightful. Powerful. Thought Provoking. National Book award winner.

theatlantic.com/author/ta-nehisi-coates

 

 

 

Let the great world spin

Let The Great World Spinby Colum McCann

Let The Great World Spin is a masterpiece. It’s riveting, engaging, driven by setting which is New York in all its loveliness, promises, sadness and mysteries of the 1970s. There are twelve protagonists that this talented writer manages to weave together as one. This book will take through a tour-de-force of emotions while reading, but in the end you will be thankful you stuck through it.

colummccann.com

 

 

New York Times Read Alikes: December 27, 2015

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Grisham, Patterson, Baldacci, Koontz and welcome back to The Martian this week in the top five. 

Rouge Lawyer

#1 Recommendations for readers who enjoyed Rogue Lawyer by John Grisham, some enduring legal thrillers:

Presumed Innocentby Scott Turow

Anatomy of a Murderby Robert Traver

Defending Jacobby William Landay

 

 

 

Cross Justice

#2 Recommendations for readers who enjoyed Cross Justice by James Patterson, mystery/thrillers and family ties:

Descent by Tim Johnston

Freedom’s Child by Jax Miller

City on Fire by Garth Risk Hallberg

 

 

 

The Guilty

#3 Recommendations for readers who enjoyed The Guilty by David Baldacci, more suspense with assassins:

Headhunters by Jo Nesbø

61 Hours by Lee Child

The Intern’s Handbook by Shane Kuhn

 

 

 

The Martian

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

Annihilation by Jeff Vadermeer

The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro

Lock In by John Scalzi

 

 

 

Ashley Bell

#5 Recommendations for readers who enjoyed Ashley Bell by Dean Koontz, suspense with female detectives:

American Woman by Robert Pobi

Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes

Five by Ursula Poznanski

 

 

 

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.
 

Celebrate the Holidays With the Schomburg

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Kwanzaa - 1990, Brooklyn. Courtesy of Chester Higgins, Jr./ChesterHiggins.com
Kwanzaa - 1990, Brooklyn. Courtesy of Chester Higgins, Jr./ChesterHiggins.com

Schomburg Communications Pre-Professional Alicia Perez recently uncovered holiday treasures from our ample collections. Here, she shares a few of her favorites:

‘Tis the season! Time to place an angel at the top of the tree, light a candle in the kinara, and celebrate holiday traditions across the globe. For each custom you and your loved ones cherish, the Schomburg has something special in our collections to commemorate it.

Visit our Photographs and Prints Division and you’ll discover gems such as “Kwanzaa-1990, Brooklyn” (seen above) by photographer Chester Higgins, which highlights a community lighting candles of the kinara.

Even more treats can be found in our Jean Blackwell Huston Research and Reference Division, especially if you’re looking for some holiday-themed literature the entire family can enjoy. Nikki Grimes’s Under the Christmas Tree and Lucille Clifton’s Everett Anderson's Christmas Coming are just two examples from the vast collection.

The Jean Blackwell Huston Research and Reference Division also houses great educational resources like Maulana Karenga’s Kwanzaa: A Celebration of Family, Community, and Culture, a 1998 book that expands on the weeklong celebration he founded more than 30 years prior. You can research more books like these in our online catalog.

The holiday season brings out the foodie in all of us. Make your family feast a hit by looking through some of the historical Christmas menus from the segregated all-black 10th Cavalry at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, housed in our Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Book Division and available in our digital collections. Some tasty ideas include oyster soup, roast fresh ham with giblet gravy, roast turkey with walnut dressing, and marshmallow layer cake!

From the Schomburg family to yours, happy holidays!

Podcast #41: Neil Gaiman Reads "A Christmas Carol"

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Subscribe on iTunes.

Even huge Charles Dickens fans may not know that A Christmas Carol is organized in five stanza-like sections called "staves." They might not know the author's only surviving "prompt" copy of the book, that is, Dickens's own annotated version used for live readings, is held at the New York Public Library. But it's without a doubt that Neil Gaiman gives one of the greatest deliveries of the classic holiday tale. Made up to resemble a nineteenth century man by Jeni Ahlfeld, the author was transformed for a performance at the New York Public Library, and his engaging reading captured the liveliness of Dickens' prose. And so, as is our NYPL holiday tradition, we're sharing Gaiman's delightful performance of A Christmas Carol. We hope you enjoy it as part of your family tradition too.

Neil Gaiman Christmas Carol

Gaiman was joined by BBC researcher and author Molly Oldfield, who revealed a little known fact about Dickens: The author was a great lover of cats, so much so, that he even used a macabre feline letter opener. Oldfield explained:

"New York was the first place I visited when I decided to write The Secret Museum. The Library's Berg Collection of English and American Literature was kind enough to show me some of their literary treasures that belonged to one of England's greatest writers: Charles Dickens. We're really lucky that the object I wrote about in The Secret Museum is on display today... it's a letter opener, a very special feline letter opener made out of the paw of Dickens's beloved pet cat Bob. Now, Dickens had at least three cats. The first one was called William until Dickens realized that actually she's a girl and renamed her Williamina. Williamina had kittens, and Dickens kept one which he called The Master's Cat that used to snuff out his candle to catch his attention. A third cat was called Bob, after Bob Cratchit, Scrooge's overworked clerk in A Christmas Carol. When dear Bob passed on in 1863, Dickens's sister-in-law realized that Dickens was so upset, so she had one of Bob's little paws, which once padded around the author's lap, immortalized as a letter opener, which Dicken's kept at his side at Gad's Hill as he wrote and used every morning to open his mail."

As eccentric as his letter-opening habits may have been, Dickens was a great orator. Oldfield described his use of the prompt copy at two readings in New York City as nearly rockstar-like:

"Now Dickens used this rare Christmas treasure here in New York at Christmastime in two performances in 1867. The first performance was at a Steinway piano display hall on East 14th Street and the second at a church in Brooklyn. People lined up in the snow for tickets. Some even slept outside for a spot in the crowd. And the queue by opening time was a mile long... Now the way that Dickens liked to prepare for one of his readings was to drink two tablespoons of rum mixed with cream for breakfast, a pint of champagne for tea, and half an hour before he went on stage he would knock back a sherry with a raw egg beaten into it."

To hear Gaiman recite A Christmas Carol with the annotations Dickens himself used, listen to the rest of this special holiday podcast episode. As the Ghost of Christmas Present might say, you have never seen the like of Gaiman's Dickens rendition before. 

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


Reader's Den: The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian, Part 3

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Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser
The beginning of a beautiful friendship.

It is time to bring this year's round of Reader's Dens to a close, and we will finish with some recommendations for folks wanting some gruesome sword and sorcery. After traipsing through the Hyborian Age with our bloody-handed hero, and I use the term "hero" loosely, what more is there? Try some of these books to start:

A Land Fit for Heroes
I can't see a thing in this stupid fog, can you?

The Knight and the Knave of Swords by Fritz Leiber. This collection features Leiber's most famous characters: the barbarian Fafhrd and his diminutive companion the Gray Mouser. Rogues, scoundrels and treasure hunters, these two formed a fast friendship and cut a swathe through the seamy streets of Lankhmar. There is a humanity in their bond that Conan, perhaps, lacks.

Liveship Traders
Just enjoying a sunset.

Richard K. Morgan's A Land Fit for Heroes trilogy is brutal, unrelenting and a blistering read. Ringil Eskiath is a war hero and a drunk, homosexual lout. He does not exactly endear himself to the local populace where he drinks his days and nights away. He is also one of the best swordsmen alive and his chance encounter with an ancient, forgotten enemy wielding hidden magic starts The Steel Remains, the first book in the series.

If you're in the mood for some high seas grit and derring do, Robin Hobb's Liveship Traders Trilogy, beginning with Ship of Magic, will satisfy readers demanding some world-building meat on a novel's bones. Liveships, built from special wood found only in the exotic Rain Wilds, are the only boats capable of traversing the acidic Rain Wild River. Any other lumber dissolves quickly, so the Rain Wilders and Bingtown traders depend on the liveships for traffic in the ancient artifacts of the mysterious Elderlings. Althea Vestrit is ready to inherit her family's liveship Vivacia when her father's death quickens the boat, bringing the figurehead to life.

Demon Cycle
Would you mess with this dude?

Peter V. Brett also brings to life a world where humanity is going extinct during constant demon attacks. Wards, ancient runes painted on wood or engraved in stone, are the only means of fending off the brutal assaults. Arlen, son of Jeph, watches the demons devour his mother during one attack, inspiring a burning desire for revenge in The Warded Man, the first novel in Brett's Demon Cycle. The demons only come out at night, meaning the war must be waged in darkness and shadow.

Night Angel Trilogy
Go ahead. Make his day.

Another war waged in darkness is the orphaned Azoth's in Brent Weeks'The Way of Shadows. Struggling to survive in the city of Cenaria's Warrens, Azoth sees the world's deadliest assassin, Durzo Blint, make short work of a pack of attackers. Blint, of course, catches Azoth in the act and forces a promise from him never to reveal what he saw in the shadowed street. Azoth's travails carry him through Weeks' Night Angel Trilogy.

There are so many more examples of the genre but it would take the remainder of this year to list even a quarter of them so that wraps our Reader's Den for December. May your winter nights be filled with tales of grim, iron-handed heroes trampling a path to riches, glory or simply survival.

The Moviegoer: Noel Marshall's 'Roar': Lions, and Tigers, and... Panthers! Oh My!

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Every once in a while, a filmmaker comes along who succeeds at creating cinematic alchemy: he or she makes a film that is essentially dross, but for whatever reason, it turns into gold. It becomes a magical viewing experience. Or more simply, it’s a film that is so bad, it is actually good. Now, there are a lot of bad films out there. The highway to movie heaven is littered with the wreckage of bad ideas made even worse once they were actually captured on film. Examples include Howard the Duck, Glitter, and Highlander 2: The Quickening. These films—and others of their ilk—are unwatchable. There is no saving grace, no performance, no strange plot twist that makes them worthwhile to at least hang on until the bitter end.

But occasionally, a film is released that defies expectations. Yes, it’s terrible. But for some reason, your eyes are glued to the screen. You can’t stop watching it! Tom Laughlin’s Billy Jack and Paul Verhoeven’s Showgirls are examples of this rare breed. Just recently, a 1981 film was released on DVD that I would include in the pantheon of “Great Bad Movies.” The film is called Roar, and it was directed by Noel Marshall. Marshall was the executive producer of The Exorcist, and in 1972 he bought Africa USA, a Hollywood animal compound with his wife Tippi Hedren (The Birds, Marnie, etc.) He wrote a screenplay for Roar and over the next several years, they filmed the movie at their Hollywood animal sanctuary.

In the film, Marshall plays Hank, a scientist living in Africa, who wants to see if different types of big cats can live in the same environment, so he stocks his compound with over 100 lions, tigers, cheetahs, jaguars, leopards and cougars. His wife, played by real wife Tippi Hedren, arrives with their three children (played by Marshall’s two sons and Tippi’s teen-aged daughter Melanie Griffith) to visit him. Unfortunately, Hank forgets what time they are supposed to arrive, and they take a bus to his compound while he heads off to the airport to meet them. Needless to say, they arrive at an empty house—empty except for the hundred or so big cats who are prowling around. They panic and try to fend off the cats until Hank can return and show them that the cats aren’t really dangerous. That, ladies and gentlemen, is the rickety, bare-bones story upon which this remarkable film hangs.

But that is of no importance. For you are not watching the film because of the plot. You are watching it to see cats raising up and putting their paws in people’s faces, or “playfully” putting people’s heads in their mouths, or periodically rear up and start fighting each other, and then watch Hank—remarkably—insert himself into the middle of the scuffle trying to break them up. At one point, Hank breaks up a fight and he walks away with his hands streaming blood. That injury was probably one of the least serious mishaps that occurred on set. All told, 70 cast and crew members were injured during the filming, including Tippi Hedren (a fractured leg caused by being thrown from the back of an elephant), Melanie Griffith (bites that caused her to have facial reconstructive surgery), Noel Marshall (so many puncture wounds that he developed gangrene), assistant director Doron Kauper (throat bitten open and an ear almost ripped off), and cinematographer Jan de Bont (scalped by a lion, requiring 220 stitches to reattach it).

Needless to say, this film would never be able to be made today (and that’s probably a good thing). But luckily for us (if not for the cast and crew), it was made; and just like watching a train wreck or a roadside accident, you can’t keep your eyes off of it.

Watch the trailer and then check it out from the library.

Paris, je t'aime! A Love Letter to Paris

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Paris
Rainy day in Paris. November 2015. Image Courtesy of Alexandra Jakstas

Literature, fine arts, photography, as well as every other form of creative self-expression has conditioned the world to equate Paris with romance. A few years ago cinematography contributed yet another film to the subject heading of Paris ( France ) - Drama. Paris, je t'aime is a melange of loosely connected vignettes, representing eighteen arrondissements of La Ville Lumière.

The most poignant and affecting episode of this film involves a letter carrier from Denver. Carol is in Paris for the first time and on her own. While she is eager to practice her diligently learned conjugations, most of her attempts to engage Parisians in conversation are unsuccessful. Carol consoles herself by looking at art and fantasizing of delivering mail to the inhabitants of charming homes, located on the quaint cobblestones streets. On the fifth day of her vacation Carol has an epiphany. Savoring a baguette sandwich on a bench of a lovely park, she is gripped by a previously unencountered and overwhelming moment of joie de vivre. Carol joyfully confesses her love for Paris and is convinced that her feelings are reciprocated.

If you've never visited Paris, you might be tempted to dismiss this scene as mawkish and contrived. It would be disingenuous for me to do so, because my personal love affair with Paris commenced in a similar tragicomic manner. I did not expect the Paris of my childhood dreams to be matched by reality and landed at Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle with a strong sense of foreboding. Just like Carol, I was smitten with the city's visual grandeur, mesmerized by the simple elegance of style Parisians possess, enamored with everyone's ability to enjoy life. I felt intensely alive after emerging from the Catacombs, determined to live a life of modest significance after visiting Père-Lachaise. In his poem In "Paris with You," James Fenton substitutes the world ‘Paris’ for "love." To fully comprehend the magical revivifying effect Parisian "love" could have on your life, you must experience Paris. If you haven't  done so ,  visit Paris for the pleasure of feeling intensely alive and  out of solidarity with joie de vivre.

The following list of books about Paris includes works of history, travelogues, esoteric guides and books with lots of pictures. All of the materials in this list are available at the Mid-Manhattan Library. If you are as determined as Carol to learn French, you are welcome to check out a few volumes inla langue de Molière. They are available at Mid-Manhattan's World Languages Collection. Anyone learning French can benefit from NYPL's Mango Languages, a self-paced language learning tool, available to all NYPL patrons. For a excellent selection of travel guides consult the Around the World with Travel Guides post.

Paris Metro

Paris Underground: The Maps, Stations, And Design Of The Métro by Mark Ovenden

It would be impossible to get lost in Paris with this informed and captivating volume. This book focuses on social history of Paris Metro and contains beautiful illustrations of Art Nouveau stations and Art Deco signage.

 

Food Lover's Guide to Paris

The Food Lover's Guide To Paris: The Best Restaurants, Bistros, Cafés, Markets, Bakeries, And More by Patricia Wells

Visiting a country with an infinite varieties of cheese? You need this newly revised edition of a classic guide to food in Paris.

 

 

 

 

Paris vs. New York

Paris Versus New York: A Tally Of Two Cities by Vahram Muratyan

The differences between New York and Paris displayed in a graphic format.

 

 

 

 

 

Unexpected Paris

Unexpected Paris: A Contemporary Portrait: A Photographic Journal by by Nicolas Guilbert

This new book is painfully self-aware, but not without a number of spontaneous and enjoyable images.

 

 

Brassai

Brassaï: For The Love Of Paris by Agnès de Gouvion Saint-Cyr

Hungarian-born photographer celebrates the beauty of Paris.

 

 

 

 

We'll Always Have Paris

We'll Always Have Paris: American Tourists In France Since 1930 by Harvey Levenstein

Humorous and scholarly book on the history of our love affair with France.

 

 

 

 

 

Five Nights in Paris

Five Nights in Paris: After Dark in the City of Light by John Baxter

This very unusual guidebook will not disappoint your senses. John Baxter invites all visitors to Paris to devote each single night of a trip to the pleasure of one of your senses.

 

 

 

 

Every Woman's guide to Romance in Paris

Every Woman's Guide To Romance In Paris by Caroline O'Connell

A personal tour of this authors favorite romantic spots, with many off the beaten path.

 

 

 

 

 

Quiet Corners of Paris

Quiet Corners Of Paris: Unexpected Hideaways, Secret Courtyards, Hidden Gardens by Jean-Christophe Napias

This directory of quite and quaint corners is conveniently organized by each individual arrondissement.

 

 

The Most Beautiful Walk in the World

The Most Beautiful Walk in the World: A Pedestrian in Paris by John Baxter

John Baxter is the ideal tour guide you never had. He has that rare gift of being able to bring history to life without any references to dry and boring facts.

 

 

 

 

Paris Style Guide

The Paris Style Guide: Shop, Eat, Sleep by Elodie Rambaud

Want a special light bulb from Paris to illuminate your life ? Paris Style Guide will direct you to the right boutique. Leather suppliers, ceramics, kitchenware, a basket specialists and a great number of bric-à-brac stores have the potential of transforming any dwelling into a chic Parisian apartment.

 

 

 

Bright Lights Paris

Bright Lights Paris by Angie Niles

If you want to shop and dine like a native Parisian, this guide is for you. Young women from each arrondissement have their own style and myriad of boutiques and cafes that cater to their needs. If you must know which cafe in Le Marais is currently in vogue, or which boutique is popular is Saint-Germain-des-Pres, read this book.

 

 

Paris to the Moon

Paris To The Moon by Adam Gopnik

While on a temporary assignment in Paris, the author shares his impressions of the city. He is frequently juxtaposing the cultural differences between his true home in New York and his Paris.

 

 

 

 

The Only Street In Paris

The Only Street In Paris: Life On The Rue Des Martyrs by Elaine Sciolino

Former bureau chief of The New York Times and an author of La Seduction: How the French Play the Game of Life, Elaine Sciolino wrote a love letter to her neighborhood in Paris.

 

 

 

 

 

The Other Paris

The Other Paris by Luc Sante

After writing about New York, Luc Sante acquired an encyclopedic knowledge of the seedier side of Paris, while in residence at NYPL's Cullman Center.

 

 

 

Parisians

Parisians photographs by Peter Turnley; forewords by Edouard Boubat and Robert Doisneau; text by Adam Gopnik and Peter Turnley

Mosaic of images that impressed the author.

 

One Thousand Buildings of Paris

One Thousand Buildings Of Paris photography by Jorg Brockmann and James Driscoll; text by Kathy Borrus

Brief descriptions of architecturally significant structures of Paris.

 

 

 

 

 

Into a Paris Quartier

Into A Paris Quartier: Reine Margot's Chapel And Other Haunts Of St.-Germain by Diane Johnson

An American in Paris offers personal recollections of the self-appointed intellectuals of the Left Bank.

 

 

 

 

How Paris Became Paris

How Paris Became Paris: The Invention Of The Modern City by Joan DeJean

Detailed examination of the urban planning that transformed a 17th century Paris into the magnificent city we know today.

 

 

 

 

 

 an adventure history of Paris

Parisians: An Adventure History Of Paris by Graham Robb

Written for the pleasure of thinking about Paris, this vividly imagined and well-researched episodic history features the lives of famous and infamous Parisians.

 

 

 

 

 

Seven Ages of Paris

Seven Ages Of Paris by Alistair Horne

A celebrated historian follows the history of Paris from Caesar to de Gaulle.

 

 

 

 

 

Paris Capital of the World

Paris: Capital Of The World by Patrice Higonnet; translated by Arthur Goldhammer

Not a factual history, but a fascinating account of city's rich mythology.

 

 

 

 

Paris to the Past

Paris To The Past: Traveling Through French History By Train by Ina Caro

Not enough time to visit the rest of France? Intensely passionate and knowledgeable about French history, Ina Caro offers an opportunity for a number of day trips back into the past.

 

 

 

 

 

Blood Royal

Blood Royal: A True Tale of Crime and Detection in Medieval Paris by Eric Jager

When mad kind's lustful and scheming brother is brutally slain in the middle of Paris, there is no shortage of suspects. The task of locating the guilty party is entrusted to the provost of Paris, Guillaume de Tignonville. Authors meticulous knowledge of medieval Paris transports the readers into the narrow dangerous alleys, putrid smell of rotting copses of criminals on display terrify the witnesses and jog their memory.

While the science of detection is frequently attributed to a fictional character, the leading protagonist of this historical account of true crime in 14 century Paris exhibits amazing powers of deduction and skillful use of forensic evidence.

 

Paris a Secret History

Paris: The Secret History by Andrew Hussey

If you would like to know how the other half of Paris managed to survive throughout famines, poverty, pestilence and political upheaval, this book will kep you informed.

 

 

 

 

 

A Passion for Paris

A Passion for Paris: Romanticism and Romance in the City of Light by David Downie

This fascinating travelogue of Paris focuses on the nature of the city's eternal romantic appeal. If you wish to revel in the lives and loves of the famous Parisians of the last two hundred years, this book is a perfect guide to the capital of romance.

NYPL Across and Down: Crossword Puzzle Answer Key

'Clueless' Translated from Valley Girl to 19th Century English

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Jane Austen's Emma was first published on December 23, 1815. Since then, it's seen many iterations, including the Amy Heckerling adaptation Clueless, a cult classic in its own right. In Clueless, Emma, a well-intentioned but insensible matchmaker, becomes the valley girl with a heart of gold, Cher. Harriet, her single friend, becomes Tai, the new girl in high school, and Mr. Knightley becomes Cher's ex-stepbrother Josh. To commemorate Emma and one of our favorite book-to-film retellings, we're matching moments from Clueless to their counterparts in Jane Austen's novel, translating from valley girl to nineteenth century English. Why? Because, as Cher would say, "Duh, it's like a famous quote!"

Clueless

Clueless Speak: "It is one thing to spark up a doobie and get laced at parties, but it is quite another thing to be fried all day... Loadies generally hang on the grassy knoll over there. Sometimes they come to class and say bonehead things, and we all laugh of course, but no respectable girl actually dates them."

19th Century Translation: "He is very plain, undoubtedly—remarkably plain:—but that is nothing compared with his entire want of gentility. I had no right to expect much, and I did not expect much; but I had no idea that he could be so very clownish, so totally without air. I had imagined him, I confess, a degree or two nearer gentility."

Clueless 2

Clueless Speak: "Cool picture!"

19th Century Translation: "'You have given Miss Smith all that she required,' said he; 'you have made her graceful and easy. She was a beautiful creature when she came to you, but, in my opinion, the attractions you have added are infinitely superior to what she received from nature.'"

Clueless 3

Clueless Speak: "You know, I don't get you, Cher. You flirt with me all year... Tai!? Why would I go with Tai?... Don't you even know who my father is?"

19th Century Translation: "'Never, madam,' cried he, affronted in his turn: 'never, I assure you. I think seriously of Miss Smith!—Miss Smith is a very good sort of girl; and I should be happy to see her respectably settled. I wish her extremely well: and, no doubt, there are men who might not object to—Every body has their level: but as for myself, I am not, I think, quite so much at a loss. I need not so totally despair of an equal alliance, as to be addressing myself to Miss Smith!—No, madam, my visits to Hartfield have been for yourself only; and the encouragement I received—"

Clueless 4

Clueless Speak: "This is a bunch of junk that reminded me of Elton, but I wanna burn it because I am so over him." 

19th Century Translation: "'This was really his,' said Harriet.—'Do not you remember one morning?—no, I dare say you do not. But one morning—I forget exactly the day—but perhaps it was the Tuesday or Wednesday before that evening, he wanted to make a memorandum in his pocket-book; it was about spruce-beer. Mr. Knightley had been telling him something about brewing spruce-beer, and he wanted to put it down; but when he took out his pencil, there was so little lead that he soon cut it all away, and it would not do, so you lent him another, and this was left upon the table as good for nothing. But I kept my eye on it; and, as soon as I dared, caught it up, and never parted with it again from that moment....Yes, simpleton as I was!—but I am quite ashamed of it now, and wish I could forget as easily as I can burn them. It was very wrong of me, you know, to keep any remembrances, after he was married. I knew it was—but had not resolution enough to part with them.'"

Clueless 5

Clueless Speak: "Do you remember that time at the frat when I was totally depressed and he asked me to dance with him and he was really flirty?"

19th Century Translation: "I was thinking of a much more precious circumstance—of Mr. Knightley's coming and asking me to dance, when Mr. Elton would not stand up with me; and when there was no other partner in the room. That was the kind action; that was the noble benevolence and generosity; that was the service which made me begin to feel how superior he was to every other being upon earth."

Clueless 6

Clueless Speak: "I was really bad today. I had two mochaccinos. Now I feel like ralphing."

19th Century Translation: "Emma's eyes were instantly withdrawn; and she sat silently meditating, in a fixed attitude, for a few minutes. A few minutes were sufficient for making her acquainted with her own heart. A mind like hers, once opening to suspicion, made rapid progress."

Clueless 7

Clueless Speak: "He's just like this slug who hangs around the house... What am I stressing about? This is, like, Josh! Okay, okay, he's kind of a Baldwin. But what does he want with Tai? She couldn't make him happy. Josh needs someone with imagination, someone to take care of him, someone to laugh at his jokes, in case he ever makes any. Oh my God, I love Josh. I'm majorly, totally, butt-crazy in love with Josh!"

19th Century Translation: "Till now that she was threatened with its loss, Emma had never known how much of her happiness depended on being first with Mr. Knightley, first in interest and affection.—Satisfied that it was so, and feeling it her due, she had enjoyed it without reflection; and only in the dread of being supplanted, found how inexpressibly important it had been. She had herself been first with him for many years past. She had not deserved it; she had often been negligent or perverse, slighting his advice, or even wilfully opposing him, insensible of half his merits, and quarrelling with him because he would not acknowledge her false and insolent estimate of her own."

Clueless 8

Clueless Speak: "Look, I have been in agony the past week, and I can't even believe I went off the way I did... I'm the 'tard here. Cher, you've been nothing but super duper nice to me... Oh Cher, I'm really sorry."  

19th Century Translation: "Harriet was a little distressed—did look a little foolish at first: but having once owned that she had been presumptuous and silly, and self-deceived, before, her pain and confusion seemed to die away with the words, and leave her without a care for the past, and with the fullest exultation in the present and future."

Clueless 9

And now, we're outtie. If you can't get enough, check out As If! An Oral History of 'Clueless' as told by Amy Heckerling, the Cast, and the Crew by Jen Chaney.

The Librarian Is In Podcast, Ep. 1: Introducing Ourselves

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Hello, listeners!

On the very first episode of NYPL's brand-new podcast, Frank and Gwen talk about book shame, their reading origin stories, the glory of Jefferson Market, and why some young people are saying "swell" without irony.

Stuff we mentioned on the show...

What We're Reading Now

    Farthing  by Jo Walton

    farthing

    Fatherland by Robert Harris

    The Man in the High Castle: book by Philip K. Dick and TV show on Amazon

    Everyone Brave Is Forgiven by Chris Cleve

    Days of Awe by Lauren Fox

    Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown, plus our blog post about The Essential Board Book Library

    Children's book author Enid Blyton, Black Beauty by Anna Sewell, and Pippi Longstocking (by Astrid Lindgren, of course!)

    Hot Topix-with-an-X

    "Best books of the year" lists from the New York Times, the Atlantic, Book Riot, NYPL, a million other places...

    Dead Wake by Erik Larson

    The movie Spotlight and A History of Loneliness by John Boyne

    Guest Stars

    Frank's childhood library in Long Island

    Gwen's childhood library in Pennsylvania

    NYPL's Staff Picks, encouraging the serendipity of browsing

    Turning Our Pages

    NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast

    City of Night by John Rechy

    Edmund White's NYT article about young people's obsession with New York City in the 1970s

    St. Mark's Is Dead by Ada Calhoun

    Programs at the beautiful Jefferson Market Library:

    jefferson market
    Standing tall in the East Village


    Aziz Ansari's book, Modern Romance, and his Netflix show, Master of None

    Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge and NYPL's suggestions for it

    Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Orlando by Virginia Woolf, and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

    Thanks for listening, and find us online @NYPLRecommends, the Bibliofile blog, and nypl.org. Or email us at recommendations@nypl.org!

    To Emma Woodhouse On Her 200th Birthday, With Love

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    Jane Austen penned six perfect novels, and today Emma turns 200. In honor of the heroine’s enduring popularity, here are the Top 5 observations made by our dear Ms. Woodhouse, illustrated by images from our Digital Collections:

    “I always deserve the best treatment because I never put up with any other.”

    Emma is introduced to us as “handsome, clever, rich,” and she thinks being adored is her birthright. She doesn’t question her social status any more than her hair color. To her, life is a dream — and we're just living in it.

     As if

    “As if.”

    OK, so Alicia Silverstone wasn’t technically an Emma. But she was definitely a Betty. Clueless follows the plot of the book to a T, and Emma’s irreverent, self-absorbed attitude is captured in her catchphrase with an L.A. twist. For a translation of Cher's Valley Girl quotes into Emma's winesome prose, check out this post by Tracy O'Neal.

    Music sheet

    “Without music, life would be a blank to me.”

    Emma is a girl who loves the more genteel things in life: painting, riding, and tea parties with her friends. To her, life is a series of happy, easy exchanges within Britain’s best. Which is what makes it so funny when she makes these “profound” declarations about how life should be lived.

    Witch

    “Wickedness is always wickedness, but folly is not always folly.”

    Emma may be a busybody, an ingenue, and a silly girl, but she isn’t wicked. Even when she meddles in her friends’ business and makes a mess of their love lives, she means well. She also has the ability to recognize her own folly, which is a redeeming quality.

    Love

    “If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more.”

    Emma has a flare for the melodramatic, but here she’s being over-the-top and surprisingly sincere. After so many pages of frivolity, it’s heartwarming to see Emma express real, deep emotion toward Mr. Knightly. And we are left rooting for their happily ever after.

     

    Tabrizia's Favorite Books of 2015

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    Well, here it is! The end of year has arrived. I have to say 2015 has been a great reading year for me. As always, I encountered books that I could not believe were ever written. However, there were a few books that made me fall in love with reading all over again. I want to share that feeling with you, so here are my favorite books for my 2015 reading year! Not all of these books were published in 2015.

    The Sound of Glass

    The Sound of Glass by Karen White

    I love reading Karen White's books. She just has a natural gift of storytelling  that keeps you hooked. Through White's storytelling, you are bound to have a deep connection with the characters and White did not disappoint in this narrative. What I loved about this book is the realistic characters that are portrayed. You can feel the heart-wrenching emotion, the determination and the endurance that I love seeing in main characters.

     

     

     

    The Diviners

    The Divinersby Libba Bray

    Another great YA novel from one of my favorite authors. I read A Great and Terrible Beauty series when I was in high school and when I discovered that she began another series, I knew that it definitely on my reading list for this year. It did not disappoint! The magical world Libba Bray created made me realize how much I miss her writing.  Although the book is long (576 pages), in my opinion, it's worth it. This captivating story will make you forget the length altogether.

     

     

    A Court of Thorns and Roses

     A Court of Thorns and Rosesby Sarah J. Maas

    2015 was a year I read out of my comfort zone and this book definitely fits that criteria. This book had it all: magic, fantasy, intrigue, passionate romance, all written so beautifully. I normally don't read books like this but since this book received a lot of buzz, I thought I would give it a try and I am so glad I did. This gorgeously imagined fairytale had me yearning for more of the story (which is great since the next part of the series comes out next year).

     

     

     

    The Perfect Comeback of Caroline Jacobs

    The Perfect Comeback of Caroline Jacobsby Matthew Dicks

    For anyone who was teased and bullied when they were young and  would love to tell their tormentor off: this is the book for you. For me, reading this was an eye-opener and allowed me to really reflect on my life. It also focused on an important issue that should be more widely discussed. 

     

     

     

    Ms. Marvel Vol. 1

    Ms. Marvel Vol. 1: No Normal by G. Willow Wilson; illustrated by Adrian Alphona

    Everyone needs to read this! I don't normally read a lot of graphic novels, but this particular series is set apart from the rest.  There need to be more diverse books in both children and young adult books and this graphic novel is a shining example of that statement. I easily identified with Kamala Khan. When she gets her new powers, she tries to be like every other superhero out there. But she learns that it is important not be like Iron Man or Captain America but just to be herself, the superhero she needs to be.

     

     

    Royal Wedding

    Royal Wedding by Meg Cabot

    Reading this was like visiting an old friend. I read the The Princess Diaries series when I was younger. So when I heard Cabot wrote a novel with Princess Mia Thermopolis all grown-up, I was skeptical at first. I am always hesitant when authors decide to continue a concluded book series. I am afraid I won't have the same love for the series now compared to what I had for it in the past. But as always, Cabot did not disappoint. All the humor and the wit just came rushing back, the reason I love Cabot and this series. It just made me feel like a teenager again.

     

    New York Times Read Alikes: January 3, 2016

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    A few popular titles that slipped off the list for a time are back this week: The Martian, The Girl on the Train, and All the Light We Cannot See

    Rogue Lawyer

    #1 Recommendations for readers who enjoyed Rogue Lawyer by John Grisham, some enduring legal thrillers:

    Presumed Innocentby Scott Turow

    Anatomy of a Murder by Robert Traver

    Defending Jacobby William Landay

     

     

     

    The Martian

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

    Annihilationby Jeff Vadermeer

    The Strainby Guillermo Del Toro

    Lock In by John Scalzi

     

     

     

    Cross Justice

    #3 Recommendations for readers who enjoyed Cross Justice by James Patterson, mystery/thrillers and family ties:

    Descent by Tim Johnston

    Freedom’s Childby Jax Miller

    City on Fireby Garth Risk Hallberg

     

     

     

    All the Light We Cannot See

    #4 Recommendations for readers who enjoyed All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, more titles with blind protagonists.

    Homer & Langleyby E.L. Doctorow

    How to Paint a Dead Manby Sarah Hall

    What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt

     

     

     

    The Girl On the Train

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

    And Then There Was Oneby Patricia Gussin

    Murder on the Orient Expressby Agatha Christie

    The Son by Jo Nesbø

     

     

     

    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.

    CEIS Mini-College and Career Fair Series 2016

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    The New York Public Library Career, Education and Information Services (CEIS) is pleased to announce that our Annual New Year's Blitz: Mini College and Career Fairs for Veterans and Community will be hosted by George Bruce Library, Allerton Library, Washington Heights Library, Francis Martin Library, 125th Street Library, Bronx Library Center, Grand Concourse Library and Morrisania Library in January.

    Please join us and meet with Recruitment Specialists and Employers from varying industries including Retail, Manufacturing, Security and Law Enforcement, Construction, Office of Emergency Management (OEM), Warehouse, Animal Control of NYC, just to name a few!

    Meet with College Admission Specialists from Monroe, Fordham University, SoBro, Trident, Hostos, Bronx Community Colleges and many more about available classes, internships, financial aid and scholarship information.

    Community resources and information will be available from a wide range of social service agencies and organizations.

    Those interested with sprucing up their resumes are invited to schedule their appointments with CEIS.

    CEIS Mini-College and Career Fair Series Schedule

    Friday, January 8, 2016 at 11 AM
    George Bruce Library Mini Career Fair 2016 (Veterans Welcome)
    518 W 125th Street, New York, NY

    Thursday, January 14, 2016 at 11 AM
    Allerton Library Mini Career Fair 2016
    2740 Barnes Avenue, Bronx, NY

    Tuesday, January 19, 2016 at 11 AM
    Washington Heights Library Mini Career Fair 2016
    1000 St. Nicholas Avenue, New York, NY

    Friday, January 22, 2016 at 11 AM
    Francis Martin Library Mini Career Fair 2016
    2150 University Avenue, Bronx, NY

    Tuesday, January 26, 2016 at 11 AM
    125th Street Library Mini-College and Career Fair 2016
    224 E 125th Street, New York, NY

    Wednesday, January 27, 2016 at 11 AM
    CEIS-CB7 Bronx Library Center Mini-College and Career Fair 2016
    310 E Kingsbridge Rd., Bronx, NY

    Thursday, January 28, 2016 at 11 AM
    Grand Concourse Library Mini-College and Career Fair 2016
    155 E 173rd Street, Bronx, NY

    Friday, January 29, 2016 at 11 AM
    Morrisania Library Mini-College and Career Fair 2016
    610 E 169th Street, Bronx, NY

    Please bring resumes and dress in business attire.

    For more information, please contact Robyn L. Saunders, Career Coach or Mr. Kabir: CEIS Information Assistant at 718-579-4260, or ceisdepartment@gmail.com

    Mini Career Fairs 2016 Landscape.jpg

    11 Quotes from The Rose Society by Marie Lu

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    Art by Marie Lu
    Adelina by Marie Lu

    The Rose Societyis the dark and fascinating sequel toThe Young Elites. The trilogy tells the story of Adelina Amouteru. A girl who was betrayed and came back for revenge… The final book in The Young Elites Trilogy will be published in 2016.

    Here are my favorite quotes from the book:

    1. “Your idea of nice is different from others'.” (p.12)
    2. “Save your fury for something greater.” (p.17)
    3. “You are powerful, mi Adelinetta, but you have all the charisma of a burnt potato pudding.” (p.82)
    4. “Why can’t I be the one to strike first, to hit so early and with such fury that my enemies cower before they can ever think of turning on me?” (p.97)
    5. "You were doing just fine. You could have run away. That was another option, you know, aside from murder. You should consider it sometime, because it works splendidly." (p.101)
    6. “We help whoever can get us the most gold.” (p.169)
    7. “I considered them my friends, until they weren’t.” (p.192)
    8. “A thief must be both be both patient and impatient to be good, must have impeccable timing. Right?” (p.211)
    9. "I'm trying to say that you are living in a world of illusions, of your own creation. You are in love with something that no longer exists." (p.320)
    10. "You live because I say so, and you will do as I command." (p.367)
    11. "I will keep you, until the day I choose not to. You have destroyed and harmed all that is dear to me. In return, I want you to know what that feels like. I will not kill you. I will keep you alive. I will torture you. Until your soul is dead." (p.375)

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    The Smart Cookies' Guide to Making More Dough

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    cookies

    Andrea, Angela, Katie, Robyn and Sandra were inspired by an Oprah Winfrey show on personal finance to not only take a look at their desperate financial straits, but to do something about it. They found each other, formed a money group, and they helped each other learn about financial foibles and develop better financial habits.

    In America, finance is a taboo conversation topic. It is hard to talk about, and people think that you are greedy if you broach the subject. However, people need to get honest about their finances and learn about money so that they can make and reach reasonable financial goals for themselves.

    People need to look at all of their expenses and sources of income. Planning a budget (or spending plan) can help immensely. Oftentimes, people are unaware of how much money they spend and where they spend it until they begin tracking expenses. Knowledge is necessary in order to change entrenched habits. People cannot buy everything they want, and they do not need to buy things simply because they are "on sale." Also, it is best to avoid using shopping to cure the blues.

    It is also possible to increase income by asking for a pay increase at work and/or turning a hobby into a part-time job. Investing money is necessary to enjoy the beauty of compound interest. Cutting hidden expenses (like Starbucks every day) can save hundreds of dollars every year. 

    Forming a money group with like-minded individuals can help potential savers to learn more about money and develop strategies in a supportive environment. 

    The Smart Cookies' Guide to Making More Dough: How Five Young Women Got Smart, Formed a Money Group, and Took Control of Their Finances by The Smart Cookies with Jennifer Barrett

    The group's name and the cover of this book appealed to me. It's been a while since I've read a book on personal finance. I learned more strategies from this enterprising and upbeat group. You can turn your financial life around just as these women did. 

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