Attention Entrepreneurs!

In May we will celebrate our 2nd Annual Small Business Month with an entire month of free programs just for you.  They will include web design, branding and starting a home-based business to name a few.  For more information, check the Business Link section on our homepage or call (631)421-4530 x378.

Foreign Correspondent

I love foreign movies. Not all of them are great but they always seem to make me think. (I can’t say that for ninety percent of Hollywood movies.) In this blog I will periodically highlight a couple of foreign films that I feel worthy of notice. Here goes.

Shower (Chinese)
A beautiful, bittersweet film. Shower is about family, community and modernity encroaching on tradition.

Da Ming is the oldest son of a bath house owner, who has left the mundane life of his family’s small town for a successful career in the big city. He has not kept in touch with his family and it is apparent that he has conflicted feelings about them and his hometown. He returns home when he thinks his father has died. The problem is Da Ming’s father is alive and well and hard at work at his bathhouse. He has been cleverly tricked by his handicapped brother Erming. Da Ming decides to stay a few days and sees the important role his father plays in the community and the loving relationship he has with his brother. In the short time Da Ming spends with his family he realizes that it is he who is living an empty life and is envious of the full one that his father and brother enjoy. Unfortunately everything about the life they’ve known is about to end and Da Ming must take stock of his family’s future

13 Tzameti (French)
A dark, psychological film in eerie black and white about an impoverished young man. Sebastian is struggling to support his immigrant family. While doing a job, fixing a roof, he overhears a conversation about a letter which promises to be a lucrative job offer for his employer. His employer is a drug addict who overdoses and dies. The letter with the lucrative job offer literally falls into Sebastian’s lap. Sensing the opportunity of a lifetime, he follows the series of veiled instructions contained in the letter. He assumes the dead mans identity and unknowingly dodges a police sting operation. Sebastian has no idea what he is getting himself involved in. Let’s just say his new career will have great earning potential but the health benefits, not so good.

Chris Garland

New books and movies on the shelves now

Click on the picture for a better look – then pick the item you like and click to place a reserve!

Riding With Rita

Riding with Rita

I’d like to introduce readers of this blog to a great new service provided by the library. You may have seen our displays around the buildings for NextReads, a newsletter that is delivered to your email. NextReads will provide you with great reading and listening suggestions. There are many customized reading lists, including Audiobooks– choose one or all to be delivered to you monthly. The selections are linked directly to our catalog so you can request any item you want right from the newsletter. You can sign up right here at the top of our blog.

These are the books I have been listening to this month:

Dispatches from the Edge: A memoir of War, Disasters, and SurvivalBy Anderson Cooper read by the Author
Z
This book is not about wars and natural disasters. It is about Anderson Cooper. We have seen his news coverage, but here we see how and why he got into the business of crisis reporting. There are more than glimpses of his early family life- his famous mother, the death of his father, and his brother’s suicide – an interesting look into the psyche of this television personality.

Thunderstruck by Erik Larson read by Bob Balaban
ZZ
As he did in Devil in the White City, the author tells two stories in this book. The concurrent events are the development of cross Atlantic telegraphy and the investigation of the brutal murder of Belle Elmore, wife of Dr. H.H. Crippen. The ZZ’s come from the Marconi section, which details the development of wireless -including scientific, academic, and business rivalries. No Z’s for the murder mystery, which was suspenseful and which ultimately tied into the scientific developments.

Imperium: A Novel of Ancient Rome by Robert Harris read by Simon Jones
Not a Z to be had!!!!
An excellent historical novel, read to perfection! This is a gripping story of the rise to political power of Marcus Cicero, told by his slave and secretary Tiro. The reader gives life to the narrator and the various speakers, especially Cicero who is known as the greatest orator in Rome. I was fascinated by the many parallels to our contemporary legal system, politics and current events. I was so grateful to the reader for pronouncing those Roman names, saving me the ordeal of sounding them out in my head if I had read the text instead of listened. I highly recommend this book.

More media, movies, music

Ride the     

The library website is taking on more and more.  We’ve become more than just the virtual branch we first imagined.   At first we didn’t even think we NEEDED a website (why do we have to be “worldwide?”)  Then, it was a place for us to publicize our programs and list our policies (along with lots of cute animated gifs.)  Then a link to search the catalog from home and place reserves.  You could search our extensive databases and do research on anything you imagined.  Live Librarian came along and you could chat with us (sure, we can help with your homework while you talk to your friends)  E-books.  E-Audiobooks. E-Library. E-Reference.  But it’s time we moved from E 2 U.

We’ve got FREE movies, FREE music, FREE audiobooks to download!  It’s still in beta, but look what’s coming with Suffolk Wave.  We’ve also got more movies and TV from MyLibraryDV and audiobooks from Recorded Books.  Our site is a stroll down the virtual media aisle, and all you need is a library card (not a credit card.)  We’re a physical space with books and librarians and chairs and sunny windows, and a virtual place for research beyond Google and entertainment besides YouTube. 

Hop on the Reference Express

We decided we wanted to help our patrons find what they need faster. Now there is a new reference station directly across from the check-in desk in the Dix Hills building. We’re calling it “Express Reference” because a lot of times people just want to reserve an item, or need help finding that book they know is here somewhere, or have a question about one of our new services. It’s our job to help you get what you want, so make sure your first stop in the Library is the express route.

Latest book discussed at the Melville Book Group

As always, it was a lively discussion about today’s book, Zabelle by Nancy Kricorian. We had 3 new participants; I hope they come back again. And we were missing a few of our regulars.

It was an interesting story about an immigrant family and piqued my interest about the Armenian massacre of 1915 – 1916. I did a little research online and shared it with the group. If you are interested in reading the book go to http://alpha3.suffolk.lib.ny.us/search~S23/t?SEARCH=zabelle in the catalog to request a copy. There was a lot of discussion about families, relationships and what it must have been like coming to the United States.

Book groups amaze me. Everyone there is an avid reader but it quickly becomes apparent that it is more than just reading the book, sharing your thoughts is just as important.

Here’s to more books and more book discussions.

LONG ISLAND READS – 2007 – THE COLOR OF WATER BY JAMES MCBRIDE

I am excited about discussing The Color of Water, a black man’s tribute to his white mother by James McBride. This is a great discussion book (I have read it once before) and as an added bonus he will be speaking at the Farmingdale Public Library on Sunday, April 29th. For information about how to get tickets, go to http://www.longislandreads.org/meettheauthor.html. Tickets may be requested beginning March 28th.

The Melville book group will be discussing it at its regular monthly meeting on Friday, April 13th, 12 noon at the Melville library building, 510 Sweet Hollow Road, Melville. Join us, we would love to have you and if that is not possible, post your thoughts about the book here.

Our new, beautiful, Melville building

We’ve been working on fixing up the Melville building exterior. It now has a new roof, siding, and windows. It’s just gorgeous.

What’s the next Great Children’s Book?

   Get ready for two new email newsletters for children from NextReads: Picture Books and Kids’ Books.

Picture Books, written for parents and other interested adults, showcases the best new picture books being published and also offers thematic lists of picture books sure to captivate young imaginations. Preview

Kids’ Books, a newsletter for later-elementary through middle school ages, gives young readers a steady supply of book recommendations from the library—from the latest fiction to exceptional new nonfiction, as well as great older books that kids will enjoy.    Preview 

Parents or kids can subscribe directly from our website, our virtual branch open 24/7, or click on the NextReads button at the top of this page.