February 2008

New Fiction

• The Reserve – Russell Banks
  
• The Savage Detectives – Roberto Bolano
  
• People of the Book - Geraldine Brooks
  
• Diary of a Bad Year - J.M. Coetzee
  
• The Secret Between Us – Barbara Delinsky
  
• The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao – Junot Diaz
  
• The Gathering - Anne Enright
  
• My Mistress's Sparrow is Dead - edited by Jeffrey Eugenides
  
• Then We Came to the End - Joshua Ferris
  
• Shadow Music - Julie Garwood
  
• The Shooters: a Presidential Agent novel - W.E.B. Griffin
  
• Duma Key – Stephen King
  
• Bleeding Kansas - Sara Paretsky
  
• Out Stealing Horses - Per Petterson
  
• The Commoner – John Burnham Schwartz
  
• Ice Trap – Kitty Sewell
  
• Dreamtime: a Collection of Short Stories - Robert F. Steiner
  
• Man Gone Down - Michael Thomas

New Non-Fiction

• Memo to the President Elect: How we can Restore America's Reputation and Leadership - Madeleine Albright
  
• Taste: The Story of Britain Through Its Cooking - Kate Colquhoun
  
• Used Car Buying Guide – Consumer Reports
  
• My Life as a Traitor - Zarah Ghahramani
  
• Choosing the President 2008: a Citizen’s Guide to the Electoral Process – League of Women Voters, editec by Bob Guldin
  
• Tree Shaker: The Story of Nelson Mandels - Bill Keller (may be kids)
  
• Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook – Isa Chandra Moskowitz & Terry Hope Romero
  
• Teach Yourself Visually: Excel 2007 - Nancy C. Muir
• In defense of Food - Michael Pollan
  
• The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century - Alex Ross
  
• Green Housekeeping - Ellen Sandbeck
  
• Gotcha Capitalism: How the Hidden Fees Rip You Off Every Day-And What You Can do About It – Bob Sullivan
  

New Audios

All CDs unless noted

• People of the Book - Geraldine Brooks
• Plum Lucky - Janet Evanovich
  
• Dead Cert - Dick Francsis (tape)
  
• My life as a traitor - Zarah Ghahramani
  
• Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
  
• Painter of Battles - Arturo Perex-Reverte

New DVD's

• Flight of the Conchords
  
• Project Runway, season 3
  
• Weeds, season 2

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BOOKLISTS

Every month in this spot we feature reading suggestions. These include historic fiction, science fiction, mysteries, and more. Many of these titles can be found in the Mid Hudson Library System.

Based on the Book

Movies being released in 2008

Quick, read the book before you see the movie.

21 – “Bringing Down the House” by Ben Mezrich – Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth

Adam Resurrected – by Yoram Kaniuk – with Jeff Goldblum, Willem Dafoe

Alice – “Alice in Wonderland”* (J) by Lewis Carroll – with Sarah Michelle Geller, Jean Marsh

America – “In America”* by Susan Sontag

Angels & Demons* – by Dan Brown – with Tom Hanks, Naomi Watts

Appaloosa* – by Robert B. Parker – with Viggo Mortensen, Renee Zellweger

Atlas Shrugged* – by Ayn Rand – Angelina Jolie

Body of Lies – by David Ignatius – Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe

Bond 22 – based on Ian Flemings characters – Daniel Craig, Judy Dench

Boone’s Lick* – by Larry McMurtry – Tom Hanks, Julianne Moore

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas* – (YA) by John Boyne – David Thewlis

Brideshead Revisited – by Evelyn Waugh – Emma Thompson, Michael Gambon

Choke – by Chuck Palahniuk – Kelly McDonald, Sam Rockwell, Anjelica Huston

City of Ember* – (YA) by Jeanne DuPrau – Bill Murray, Tim Robbins

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian – “Prince Caspian: the Return to Narnia”* (J) by C. S. Lewis – Liam Neeson

Cirque du Freak* – (YA) by Darren Shan – John C. Reilly

Coraline* – (J) by Neil Gaiman – Dakota Fanning, Ian McShane

Curious Case of Benjamin Button* – by F. Scott Fitzgerald – Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchette, Tilda Swinton

The Duchess – “Georgiana, Dutchess of Devonshire”* by Amanda Foreman – Keira Knightly, Ralph Fiennes

Elegy – “The Dying Animal”* by Philip Roth – Penelope Cruz, Ben Kingsley

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince* – (J) by J. K. Rowling – Daniel Radcliffe

I, Lucifer – by Glen Duncan – Daniel Craig, Ewan McGregor

In the Electric Mist* – by James Lee Burke – Tommy Lee Jones, Mary Steenburgen

Inkheart* – (J) by Cornelia Funke – Brendan Frazer, Helen Mirren

Journey 3-D – “Journey to the Center of the Earth” by Jules Verne – Brendan Frazer

Jumper – by Steven Gould – Hayden Christensen, Samuel L. Jackson, Diane Lane

Little Scarlet* - by Walter Mosley – Mos Def, Jeffrey Wright

Marley and Me* – by John Grogan – Jennifer Aniston, Owen Wilson

Motherless Brooklyn* – by Jonathan Lethan – Edward Norton

My Dog Tulip* – by J. R. Ackerley – Christopher Plummer, Isabella Rossellini

The Mysteries of Pittsburgh* – by Michael Chabon – Sienna Miller, Mena Suvari, Peter Sarsgaard

Nights in Roanathe* – by Nicholas Sparks – Diane Lane, Richard Gere

Nim's Island – (J) by Wendy Orr – Jody Foster, Gerald Butler

The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency* – by Alexander McCall Smith – Jill Scott

The Other Boleyn Girl* – by Philipa Gregory – Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson, Eric Bana

The Oxford Murders – by Guillermo Martinez – John Hurt, Elija Wood

Phantasmagoria: The Visions of Lewis Carroll – “Alice in Wonderland” and “Through the Looking Glass” by Lewis Carroll – Evan Rachael Wood, Tilda Swinton, Marilyn Manson

The Reader by Bernard Schlink – Nicole Kidman, Ralph Fiennes

Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates – Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet

The Road – by Cormac McCarthy – Viggo Mortensen, Guy Pearce

The Thomas Crown Affair 2 – “Light of Day” by Eric Ambler – Pierce Brosnan

The Time Traveler's Wife* - by Audrey Niffenberger – Rachael McAdams, Eric Bana

The Villa Golitsyn – by Pier Paul Read – Alan Rickman, Annette Benning

Where the Wild Things Are – by Maurice Sendak – Catherine Keener, Paul Davis

A Wilderness of Monkeys – “Piece of Work”* by Laura Zigman – Nia Vardalos

* - in the Stone Ridge Library collection
(J) - Juvenile collection
(YA) - Young Adult collection

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Tea Time Book Group

Wednesday, Feb. 13th,
4pm in the Reference
Room

The selection this month is Saving Fish From Drowning by Amy Tan. Twelve American tourists join an art expedition that begins in the Himalayan foothills of China - dubbed the true Shangri-La - and heads south into the jungles of Burma. But after the mysterious death of their tour leader, the carefully laid plans fall apart, and disharmony breaks out among the pleasure-seekers.

Join us in the Reference Room for lively Discussion and light refreshments.

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HOLMES & CO.
Mystery Lovers Book Group

Thursday, February 21,
4pm in the Reference Room

The selections for this meeting include two books: The Flanders Panel by Arturo Perez-Reverte and League of Frightened Men by Rex Stout, and a short story: The Adventure of Beryl Coronet - a Sherlock Holmes mystery by Arthur Conan Doyle.

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Scrabble

Mondays, February 4, 11, 18, 25

6-8pm in the
Reference Room

Scrabble players meet every Monday in the Library's Reference room. Newcomers are welcome!

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Knitting Group

Saturdays, Feb. 2, 9, 16, 23
10am-noon

The Stone Ridge Library Knitters meet every Saturday morning from 10am - 12noon. All ages and experience levels can join us and drop-in knitters are also welcome. We each bring our own supplies and do our own work, but one of the best things about us is that whatever obstacle or confusion you might encounter, you're likely to receive as much comment and advice as you need to get where you're going with a project. Some of us can help toward the repair of knitted or crocheted items too.

The group is sociable and lively, and our conversation and sharing is just as wide-ranging as our projects. We are especially interested in the UFOs (Un-Finished Objects) that members bring in and love the show and tell of projects under way and being finished, new or old, simple or complex. Though knitting is our love and mainstay, we graciously adapt ourselves to stray crocheters and those of us who simply must take to the hook when the spirit moves. We share articles, magazines and books on knitting. Donations of yarn to the Library get made up into items for sale at the Library Fair and during the winter holidays for the benefit of the Library. Some of us also knit things for local hospitals or for the U.S. troops.

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E-Codes

The municipal code
for the town of Marbletown is now
on the internet. Click here and choose New York from the State Index, then select Marbletown from the list. Click to open the Table of Contents, or use the search box to perform a keyword search.

For example, you want to know if you need a building permit for that new deck you're thinking about, type in "building permit" and several options come up including: Chapter 99: BUILDING CONSTRUCTION; Chapter 200: ZONING; Chapter A205: FEES; and Chapter 169: SUBDIVISION OF LAND. Yes, you do need a permit and you can find out how much that permit will cost you too. more

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ON THE SHELVES

Poughkeepsie Journal 1.6.08
On the Shelves with Josh Cohen

Novels take interesting looks at humanity's future

On the Shelves is a monthly column by a rotating list of mid-Hudson Valley library directors who comment on notable books coming to your local public library.

Starting a new year tends to get people thinking about the future. Here are some books that contemplate a variety of futures and might spur thoughts about our own.

The Android's Dream, by John Scalzi; Tor Science Fiction

The alien race the Nidu have a tradition that an electric blue sheep (shades of Philip Dick's novel) must accept the leader of the planet, but no blue sheep exist.

Unfortunately for Earth, the Nidu say if the sheep is not produced, they will invade the planet. Harry Creek is hired by the Defense Department to find the blue sheep. Harry and a young woman locate the blue sheep, but there are a number of competing forces that either want to help or thwart the effort making for a complicated political thriller. Fans of Sci Fi and Dashiell Hammett will like this adventure.

Jimi Hendrix Turns Eighty, by Tim Sandlin; Riverhead

In the year 2022, a more immediate future is created as straight-lace Guy Fontaine has a delusionary episode ending in him driving a golf cart along the freeway.

His daughter places him in a Bay Area nursing home full of aging hippies. This culture shock is only the beginning for Guy as he ends up inadvertently starting a takeover of the nursing home.

Drugs, revolution and free love are all parodied in this view of '60s radicals in their 80s.

Making Money: A Novel of Discworld, Terry Pratchett; Harper

Although Pratchett's novels exist in a different world, his witty style always forces readers to reconsider their own reality.

We last saw Moist Von Lipwig saving the post office by inventing stamps and he has now been asked to take charge of the national bank.

As always, this is dangerous territory as the ruler, Lord Vetinari, has hidden agendas and negative consequences for failure. Von Lipwig does well, this time inventing paper money, but when he finds all the gold backing that money is missing, and a new type of Golem appears, things do not look so bright.

Off Armageddon Reef, by David Weber; Tor Science Fiction

Because an alien race, the Gbaba, who target planets that have reached a certain level of technology, defeated Earth, the few human survivors have escaped to another planet to recreate society.

Only this time, to avoid notice of the Gbaba, they forbid the development of any technology. This creates a permanent feudal society controlled by the Church of God, until Merlin Athrawes, an android based on a human personality, awakens and begins supporting new ideas.

The Kingdom of Charis is open to innovation and Merlin's assistance leads to the Church of God declaring war. This is the first title in a planned series.

The Dark River, by John Twelve Hawks; Doubleday

The second book of the Fourth Realm Trilogy picks up with the Brethren developing even more technological devices to control society.

The Travelers, who can visit different realms, oppose the Brethren, but are down to the last two of their kind.

Unfortunately, one of the two has joined the Brethren. This series looks at a society where people are monitored and controlled through technology.

Josh Cohen is the executive director of the Mid-Hudson Library System, which provides a shared library automation system and resources to 66 public libraries in Columbia, Dutchess, Greene, Putnam and Ulster counties.

Can't decide on what to read? Visit
Mid Hudson for links to lists of titles that might attract your interest.

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GREAT WEBSITES!

Project Sunlight

Project Sunlight is a new New York state website developed by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and his team. It "allows you to easily access statewide government information that until now has been scattered and difficult to retrieve." The site includes instructional videos, a list of bills, a member items map, a list of legislators and who has contributed to their campaigns, links to other government sites and more. more

Journeys & Crossings

This website brings "to life some of the Library [of Congress]'s most exciting and historically significant materials through Webcasts offering the personal insights of the staff who know them best." Some of the Webcast topics include school gardens, Rosie the Riveter, Pearl Harbor oral histories, and May Day. Includes video and transcripts for each session, and links to related material. More online discussions are planned for the future. From the Library of Congress. more

Annual Credit Report

This site "allows you to request a free credit file disclosure, commonly called a credit report, once every 12 months from each of the nationwide consumer credit reporting companies: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion." Includes a FAQ. Sponsored by Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. more
Understanding Your
FICO Score
"This booklet provides a thorough description of credit scoring, including ways credit scoring can help you, the relationship between your credit report and your credit score, what a FICO score considers, and interpreting your score." Details about what a FICO score considers include payment history, amounts owed, length of credit history, new credit, and types of credit in use. It's a PDF document. From Fair Isaac Corporation, creator of the FICO score. more

Get Lost

"Get Lost is a collective portrait of downtown New York. Twenty-one international artists were invited to create a personal view of the city and draw a map of downtown New York, uncovering a territory that is both real and imaginary. ... Get Lost brings together fictional landscapes, utopian visions, private memories, and obsessive instructions to explore Manhattan, its past, present, and future." Browse by artist. From the New Museum, New York. more

Craftster Best of 2007

The "best" projects of 2007 from Craftster.org Craftster is "a repository for hip, off-beat, crafty diy (do it yourself) projects. People who have crafty urges, but who are not excited by cross stitched bunnies and crocheted toilet paper cozies, can show off their current craft projects, ask advice on future projects and get inspiration for new endeavors. Special emphasis is placed on projects that involve recycling, reusing and repurposing existing objects." more

Twenty Top 10's
of 2007

"Tech tricks, tips and downloads for getting things done." from Lifehacker. Including Free Windows Downloads, Food & Drink Hacks, USB Thumb Drive Tricks, Wi-Fi Boosts, Free Wallpaper, Fonts and Icon Sources, Ways to Sleep Smarter and Better, Google Products You Forgot All About, Ways to Clean Up Your PC, Mac OS X Tweaks, Free Mac Downloads, and more. more

Universities With
the Best Free
Online Courses

"No tuition money? No problem! There are many top universities that offer free courses online. This list ranks some of the best free university courses for people who want to enhance personal knowledge or advance in their current field." Including MIT, Tufts, Carnegie Mellon, Stanford. From Education Portal. more

CareerJournal.com: 50+ Professionals

Compilation of articles about job hunting and career planning for people aged 50 years and older. Some of the topics covered include top employers and job locations, early retirement, age bias, online job opportunities, and adding value to a workplace. From the Wall Street Journal's executive career website. more
job-hunt The purpose of this website is "to provide the most comprehensive listing of useful Internet-accessible job-search resources and services on the Web." Browse annotated listing of job resources by location and industry or profession, networking resources, and other job and career websites. Includes job-hunting basics and advice. From human resources and career planning professionals. more

America's Walking: Pedometers

This article provides an overview of the use of a pedometer for fitness walking activities. It discusses how to calibrate a pedometer and use it to record the number of steps walked, with the goal of walking 10,000 steps or more a day for health benefits. Includes a link to more detailed information about the 10,000-step concept. From "America's Walking," a television series and website about walking. more
The 10,000-Step Guide to Fitness This feature describes the concept of walking 10,000 steps per day (using a pedometer to keep track) to obtain health benefits. "The British Heart Foundation (BHF) says 10,000 steps a day (about five miles) can give you a healthy heart and reduce body fat." It includes quick tips regarding the 10,000-step challenge, statistics on fitness in Britain, and an illustrated description of how a pedometer works. From the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). more

Simply Soups: The Ultimate Comfort Food

"There's something extremely satisfying about a hot, bubbling pot of soup on the stove on a cold winter's night." Use this site to find dozens of recipes for broths and stocks, chilis, chowders, cream and cheese soups, onion soups, and vegetable and meat soups. Also includes recipes for dessert soups, fruit soups, and a listing of cold soups. more

The Great Race

Website for the centennial celebration in 2008 of the 1908 New York to Paris automobile race. "In a re-run of that milestone event, the 2008 Great Race will depart New York City on 30 May 2008 and travel 35,000 km (22,000 miles), to Paris, France and finish on 2 August." Features background about the original race, and details about the 2008 race, including a listing of race participants and vehicles. From the race promoters. more

The Principles of Uncertainty by Maira Kalman

Collection of a year of whimsical and thought-provoking blog entries from illustrator, author, and designer Maira Kalman. Features her delightful, colorful illustrations with associated commentary such as: "My brain is exploding. Trying to make sense out of nonsense." These blog entries were published in book form in October 2007. From The New York Times. more

Visual Dictionary Online

Definitions of "more 20,000 terms ... [and] more than 6,000 stunning illustrations of a wide variety of objects from all aspects of life." Also includes audio clips of pronunciations. Searchable, or browsable by topics: astronomy, earth, plants, animals, humans, food, housing, clothing, arts and architecture, communications, transportation and machinery, energy, science, society, and sports and games. From Merriam-Webster. Note: may not work properly in all browsers. more

Muir Woods National Monument, California

Website for this park in Marin County, California, that was proclaimed a National Monument by President Theodore Roosevelt on January 9, 1908. "Muir Woods become the 7th National Monument, and the first created from land donated by a private individual." Features a timeline, brief background about John Muir and William Kent (who donated the land), and details about animals and plants (such as the old-growth coastal redwoods). From the National Park Service (NPS). more

International Year of the Potato 2008

This 2008 celebration "will raise awareness of the importance of the potato -- and of agriculture in general -- in addressing issues of global concern, including hunger, poverty and threats to the environment." Provides background about potato plants and potato production around the world, activities for children, events listings, and related material. Also available in Spanish, French, Arabic, and Chinese. From the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. more

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Contact Us

Phone: 687-7023

E-Mail: Webmaster

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