The Roller Rebels are coming!

Saturday, February 13, 2-4:30 pm

Join the Rebels for a viewing of Whip It, followed by a discussion with the team.

Register now

Return to summer

Nothing like February to make you long for warmth.  Find it at the friendly meeting of the adult summer reading group on Thursday, February 18, 7 pm at the Dix Hills building.  We’ll talk about favorite books and authors while we enjoy light refreshments and a short presentation.

2010 Book Oscars

The ALA awards are like the Oscars in the literary world.  Although there are many, here are the top winners for 2010, announced this week in Boston at the annual mid-winter convention.

You can reserve the books using the links below, or try downloading one to listen to on an iPod, or listening to it on cd.

• Caldecott: The Lion & the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney
• Newbery: When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
• Printz: Going Bovine by Libba Bray

Notable honored books include:

• Claudette Colvin: Twice Towards Justice by Phillip Hoose
• The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly
• Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin

Read like Larry

We encourage our patrons to display their favorite books, authors, movies, or music.  Would you like to share your passion?  Please contact Ellen or Rosemarie at the Reference Desk in Dix Hills.

Here’s what your neighbor Larry told us:

“There’s no better way to pass the time than reading…. having a book with me has allowed me to commute on the LIRR for more than 20 years by allowing me to share the lives of a host of characters whose adventures have taken me all over the world……….  During my earliest commutes on the subway (pre-LIRR) my companions were Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe, Lawrence Block’s Matt Scudder and Ed McBain’s Steve Carella (possibly the inspiration for Hill Street Blues), all read in paperbacks while standing back and forth to work in Manhattan.  Upon moving to Long Island, the more comfortable LIRR was off set with a much longer ride and the inevitable twice a month delays. So I expanded my authors by watching what others were reading, checking the library for the occasional bookmark that told me if I liked Vince Flynn, I’d like Brad Thor too  (and they were right) and checking out my friend’s home libraries while visiting.

I read for enjoyment.  At lunch it helps break up a day that has me away from home more than 60 hours a week.  I’ve followed Perri O’Shaugnessey’s Nina Reilly’s career as an attorney in Lake Tahoe, Nevada and Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch’s career as a detective in Los Angeles.  I’ve laughed out loud at the exploits of Janet Evanovich’s bounty hunter Stephanie Plum in New Jersey and toured Minnesota through the eyes of John Sanford’s Lucas Davenport.  And I’ve experienced the future through Robert J Sawyer’s fascinating science fiction novels including the inspiration for ABC’s Flash Forward and the world of Star Trek through many authors including my favorite, Peter David.

While reading brings enjoyment, so does sharing authors whose writing and characters have become so much a part of my life over the years.  I hope you’ll check out my bookshelf in January that will feature books from my favorite authors.

Larry”

Below are links to some of Larry’s favorites.

Writer Web Sites

Going mobile

You’re on the move; so are we.  As more and more of us become mobile users, the library wants to come along with you.  Please bookmark our mobile page on your device of choice – http://hhhlibrary.org/pda – and you’ll be able to search the catalog, place reserves, access research databases, even download media directly to your phone.  While you’re there, become our friend on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, or check in at foursquare.

Authors reveal the best books of 2009

Salon.com asked some of our favorite authors to recommend their best books of 2009.

Here’s a condensed list – for more details, click on the link at the bottom.  Leave us a comment and let us know what you think of these choices – thanks!

Nick Hornby:  The Financial Lives of the Poets, by Jess Walter

Judy Blume: Swimming, by Nicola Keegan

Anne Lamott:  What I Thought I Knew, by Alice Eve Cohen

Matthew Klam:  Lowboy, by John Wray

Junot Diaz:  Book of Clouds, by Chloe Aridjis

Lydia Millet: Far Bright Star, by Robert Olmstead

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: Zeitoun, by Dave Eggers

Juan Cole: Fault Line, by Barry Eisler

Colum McCann: The Book of Night Women, by Marlon James

Laura Lippman:  The Financial Lives of the Poets, by Jess Walter

Amy Sohn: Juliet, Naked, by Nick Hornby

Sean Wilsey: The Kids Are All Right, by Amanda, Liz, Dan and Diana Welch

Maud Newton: Book of Genesis, by R. Crumb

Tracy Kidder: Too Much Happiness: Stories, by Alice Munro

Dave Cullen: Sum: 40 Tales From the Afterlives, by David Eagleman

Geoff Dyer: Age of Wonder, by Richard Holmes

Curtis Sittenfeld: Tinsel: A Search for America’s Christmas Present, by Hank Stuever

http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2009/12/10/author_recommendations_2009/index.html

Put your reviews in the library catalog

The next time you look up an item in the library catalog, find the link for “see reviews/add a review.”  From there you can add your own review for any item, including (but not limited to) DVDs and CDs.   We hope you’ll consider adding your opinion – we’d love to see some Half Hollow Hills patrons when we search the catalog!

To be able to  review, you must first sign up for an account. This is so you can keep track of all the reviews you’ve done, and be able to do neat things (like link a review to a blog, MySpace, or your Facebook page).  The review will appear after approval by the library team.

Here are some reviews from other Suffolk libraries’ users.

The Lovely Bones

I spent several spooked out nights listening to Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones on cd last year.  Yes, it’s a wonderful book, but listening to the protagonist’s voice tell her story to me in my car was truly chilling. 

Have you read the book or listened to the audio?  Are you looking forward to the movie in January?  Here’s another place to explore and anticipate the movie:

Website & Trailer: http://www.lovelybones.com/

Pet Education and Information Fair

National Book Awards 2009

Since 1950, The National Book Awards have become the nation’s preeminent literary prizes, and The National Book Awards Ceremony and Dinner the most important event on our literary calendar. Today, the Awards are given to recognize achievements in four genres: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Young People’s Literature.

If you’re looking for something to read, try these:

Colum McCann won the fiction prize for “Let the Great World Spin,” a novel about daring, luck and mortality in the pre-digital world of 1970s New York.

T.J. Stiles’ biography of Cornelius Vanderbilt, “The First Tycoon,” was the nonfiction winner.

Keith Waldrop’s “Transcendental Studies: A Trilogy” won for poetry.

The young people’s literature award went to Phillip Hoose’s “Claudette Colvin,” based on the true story of an early civil rights heroine.