Your source for information on the latest and greatest in reading arts and entertainment!

Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Did you see that we were in the news...?

tv harry potter alan rickman hogwarts newspaper

Yup! 
Merrick Library was featured in a recent issue of Newsday!  
Read it here, and yay us!

Kohana Bloom, 7, of Merrick waits for her StretchThat's our 3D printer featured in the article!

Remember we also have:
museum passes, Roku streaming sticks, kid tablets, 108 digital magazines (108!)...


learn foreign languages and trace your heritage too! 

Sunday, January 29, 2017

New titles added to...our Staff Picks!

george clooney

Made ya look!

New additions to Staff Picks are:

The Ballroom by Anna Hope
The Tea Planter's Wife by Dinah Jefferies
The Wonder by Emma Donohue


Saturday, January 28, 2017

Circling the Sun by Paula McLain is our featured book this coming Wednesday...

film flying meryl streep africa 1985


Join us Wednesday, February 1st at 2:30 pm as we discuss Paula McLain's latest bestseller, 
Circling the Sun:


this story brings to life a fearless and captivating woman—Beryl Markham, a record-setting aviator caught up in a passionate love triangle with safari hunter Denys Finch Hatton and Karen Blixen, author of the classic memoir Out of Africa.
Brought to Kenya from England as a child and then abandoned by her mother, Beryl is raised by both her father and the native Kipsigis tribe who share his estate. Her unconventional upbringing transforms Beryl into a bold young woman with a fierce love of all things wild and an inherent understanding of nature’s delicate balance. But even the wild child must grow up, and when everything Beryl knows and trusts dissolves, she is catapulted into a string of disastrous relationships.

Image result for beryl markham footageBeryl forges her own path as a horse trainer, and her uncommon style attracts the eye of the Happy Valley set, a decadent, bohemian community of European expats who also live and love by their own set of rules. But it’s the ruggedly charismatic Denys Finch Hatton who ultimately helps Beryl navigate the uncharted territory of her own heart. The intensity of their love reveals Beryl’s truest self and her fate: to fly.




Friday, January 27, 2017

Say hello to our newest Museum Pass!

trains

Welcome to our newest museum pass: 



And don't forget all the other terrific 
museum passes we already have!
All museum passes can be reserved online and up to 3 months in advance by Merrick Library cardholders 
(in good standing, of course).

Thursday, January 26, 2017

A Rediscovered Mark Twain Fairy Tale is Coming Soon!

mark twib

Mark Twain is on the radar lately for his recently discovered fairy tale and for author Robert Coover's newest, Huck Out West. 

Read about the fairy tale here.

As for Huck Out West by Robert Coover, here's the synopsis:

"At the end of Huckleberry Finn, on the eve of the Civil War, Huck and his pal Tom Sawyer “light out for the Territory” to avoid “sivilization.” In Robert Coover’s vision of their Western adventures, Huck joins the Pony Express, scouts for both sides in the Civil War, joins a bandit gang, finds an ill-fated pal in a Lakota tribe and finds himself in the Black Hills just ahead of the 1876 Gold Rush." 
Sounds pretty good to me.
Image result for huckleberry finn 

Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Mary, Mary, Mary...

snl amy poehler tina fey weekend update mary tyler moore


"Mary Tyler Moore, whose witty and graceful performances on two top-rated television shows in the 1960s and ’70s helped define a new vision of American womanhood, died on Wednesday in Greenwich, Conn. She was 80."


mary tyler moore the mary tyler moore show mary tyler moore show

Feeling a little wild?

western

Like "wild west" wild?
You wouldn't expect it but I do love a good western.
PW came up with a list of the 10 Great Westerns You've Never Read. 



A recent favorite is 
The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt. 







I've read 2 of them. Guess I'd better get busy. 

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Goody goody gumdrops...!

creature from the black lagoon

Our friends at LitReactor.com have given us THE MOST anticipated list of horror novels for 2017!
And YOU know your friends here at Merrick Library will make sure we have them. 
Read the article here.
Included is the newest from Bird Box author Josh Malerman: Black Mad Wheel and Deadland's Benjamin Percy appears on the list with The Dark Net. I'm also thrilled to see John, The White Van Darinelle's sophomore effort, Univseral Harvester here as well. 
   
LOTS to look forward to!
Also, me:
horror halloween scared spooky spooked


Monday, January 23, 2017

POSTPONED THIS EVENING!

The Property Tax Assessment Grievance Workshop has been postponed to Monday, January 30th, 7-8:45pm.

AMC announces a new series...

robot


Titanic and Avatar director James Cameron will host, "James Cameron's Story of Science Fiction".
According to our friends at Unbound Worlds the series (2018) will start with sci-fi's humble beginnings to where we are with it today. And trust me, it's everywhere!
 Read the article here. 
Unbound World recommends readers get a head start with one of my favorite books of 2016:




Of course it's terrific and of course we have it!

happy excited yes win star trek


Saturday, January 21, 2017

Public Libraries: A Love Letter

peanuts charlie brown sally brown

Here's a little bit of this wonderful letter from Jen Sherman of BookRiot:

"Some of the library users I interviewed went to the library regularly mainly to take their children to storytime. Some attended book clubs or knitting groups, forming friendships and connections with neighbours that lasted years. Others used it as a place to unwind and de-stress, somewhere to hang out that was welcoming, pleasant, and free."
"I remain constantly amazed by the library: how it is open and accessible, how anyone can come in and read books on their shelves, how I can read books for free. I love the principles that underpin many public libraries—that knowledge and information should be accessible and free, that public spaces and social connections are important, and that collaboration, creation, and community enrich lives. And I remain ever grateful that they exist. To librarians and libraries everywhere, thank you."

No, thank YOU Jen Sherman. 
And a great big THANK YOU to all our supportive patrons who have been with us for so many years. We appreciate all of you!

kiss spongebob spongebob squarepants flirting blow kiss


Friday, January 20, 2017

Speaking of Edgar Allan Poe, this just happened....

scared nervous shaking kermit terrified

The 2017 Edgar Finalists have been announced! Read the whole list here!

Best Novel: 
The Ex by Alafair Burke 
Where It Hurts by Reed Farrel Coleman 
Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye 
What Remains of Me by Alison Gaylin 

Before the Fall by Noah Hawley 

Best First Novel:
Under the Harrow by Flynn Berry 
Dodgers by Bill Beverly 
IQ by Joe Ide 
The Drifter by Nicholas Petrie 
Dancing with the Tiger by Lili Wright 
The Lost Girls by Heather Young 


Thursday, January 19, 2017

Get your amontillado ready...

edgar allan poe

Happy birthday Edgar Allan Poe, born on this day in 1809. 
Two fun facts:
NFL team Baltimore Ravens take their name from the Poe's famous poem.  Every year on this day, the famous Poe Toaster shows up at Poe's grave site in Baltimore.
Check out all things Poe here.



Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, 
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore— 
    While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, 
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. 
“’Tis some visitor,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door— 
            Only this and nothing more.” 
-first stanza from The Raven

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

#bookbeforemovie



Our Wednesday Afternoon Book Discussion read "Mudbound" back in 2012. Totally worth revisiting. Totally worth seeing it with this cast. 
Click here to read more about the movie.

Tuesday, January 17, 2017

The Alienist comes to TNT later this year...




and will star Dakota Fanning, Daniel Bruhl and Luke Evans.

The Alienist is set in 1896 New York, psychologist--or in period terminology, an alienist--Laszlo Kreizler joins forces with journalist John Schuyler Moore to track a vicious serial killer. Newly appointed police commissioner, Theodore Roosevelt, hires the two men in the murder investigation. They are joined by Sara Howard, a brave and determined woman who works as a secretary in the police department. 

Sunday, January 15, 2017

We love our paperback mysteries...

mystery


It hasn't been cold enough to really curl up by the fire with a good mystery, but what the heck. 
Check out these great paperback mysteries... anyway.

Our friends at BookRiot.com came up with this list of recent titles you may have missed.
Here's a sample:
investigation-j-m-lee crooked-house everything-we-keep twilight-wife yesternight Place any of these on hold here!

Saturday, January 14, 2017

RIP William Peter Blatty.


Image result for the exorcist

Kinda hard to forget this movie. Or the book.
Here's more info from the NYT.

Friday, January 13, 2017

Wishing us all well!

CBC cat clock luck friday the 13th

108 free magazines??

hooray

Yep!  Got internet? Get 108 free magazines on any internet enabled device. 
Try it here. 
Here's a few to peak your curiosity:
O, The Oprah Magazine Men's Health GQ Golf Digest
 The New Yorker Vanity Fair  Vogue The Economist
And there are 100 more to choose from...

Thursday, January 12, 2017

#bookbeforemovie

A Dog's Purpose movies dogs puppies\



You'll be seeing alot of that hashtag in 2017! 
We have the book by W. Bruce Cameron of course... including the follow-up.
Place your reserve for either right here:
A Dog's Purpose 
A Dog's Journey
Interested in some other W. Bruce Cameron titles click here.

dog smiling tail shiba wagging