November 2007

A Flock of Flamingos

We are the proud owners of 70 pink flamingos. Would you like to flock someone for their birthday, anniversary, or just for fun? You may borrow them for a week for only a $25 donation to the Library.

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New Fiction

• The Almost Moon - Alice Sebold
  
• The Abstinence Teacher - Tom Perrotta
• Hotel De Dream - Edmund White
  
• Tomorrow - Graham Swift
  
• The Girl with Braided Hair - Margaret Coel
  
• The Street of a Thousand Blossoms - Gail Tsukiyama
  
• Exit Ghost - Philip Roth
• Where Angels Go - Debbie Macomber
• Hide and Seek - Fern Michaels
• You've Been Warned - James Patterson & Howard Roughan
  
• The Headmaster's Dilemma - Louis Auchincloss
  
• The Bone Garden - Tess Gerritsen
  
• The Choice - Nicholas Sparks
  
• Making Money - Terry Pratchett
  
• The Bridge of Sighs - Richard Russo
  
• The Air We Breathe - Andrea Barrett
  
• Run - Ann Patchett
  
• Blonde Faith - Walter Mosley
  
• The Secret Life of Josephine: Napoleon's Bird of Paradise - Carolly Erickson
  
• Engleby - Sebastian Faulks
  
• Trespass - Valerie Martin
  
• The Elephanta Suite - Paul Theroux
  
• The Tell-Tale Horse - Rita Mae Brown
• Kissing Christmas Goodbye: an Agatha Raisin Mystery - M. C. Beaton
• The Gift - Richard Paul Evans
  
• World Without End - Ken Follett

New Non-Fiction

• Just Sy Nu: Yiddish for Every Occasion (When English Just Won't Do) - Michael Wex
• Brother, I'm dying - Edwidge Danticat
• Leonard Maltin's 2008 Movie Guide
• Affordable Remodel: How to get Custom Results on any Budget - Fernando Pages Ruiz
• 50 Buildings You Should Know - Isabel Kuhl
• Cook with Jamie: My Guide to Making You a Better Cook - Jamie Oliver
• Telephone Ringing in the Labyrinth: Poems 2004-2006 - Adrienne Rich
• The Zen of Fish: The Story of Sushi from Samurai to Supermarket - Trevor Corson
  
• Religious Literacy: what every American needs to know - and doesn't - Stephen Prothero
  
• The Diana Chronicles - Tina Brown
  
• Other Colors: Essays and a Story - Orphan Pamuk
  
• Lawrence and Aaronsohn: T.E. Lawrence, Aaron Aaronsohn, and the seeds of the Arab-Israeli conflict - Ronald Florence
  
• American Masala: 125 new classics from my home kitchen - Suvir Saran
• The Art of Simple Food: notes, lessons, and recipes from a delicious revolution - Alice Waters
• God on Trial: Dispatches from America's Religious Battlefields - Peter Irons
  
• Pure Dessert: true flavors, inspiring ingrediends, and simple recipes - Alice Medrich
  
• The Great Upheaval: America and the birth of the modern world 1788-1800 - Jay Winik
  
• The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War - David Halberstam
  
• The Zookeeper's Wife: a war story - Diane Ackerman
  
• Roast Chicken and Other Stories - Simon Hopkinson
  
• The Seventh Daughter: My Culinary Journey from Beijing to San Francisco - Cecilia Chiang with Lisa Weiss
• The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World - Alan Greenspan
  
• Create Jewelry Crystals: dazzling designs to make and wear - Marlene Blessing and Jamie Hogsett
  
• The Twisted Sisters Knit Sweaters: A Knit-to-Fit Workshop - Lynne Vogel
  
• Knitting for Him: 27 Classic Projects to Keep Him Warm - Martin Storey & Wendy Baker
  
• The Elements of Organic Gardening: Highgrove, Clarence House, Birkhall - HRH The Prince of Wales with Stephanie Donaldson
• A History of Iraq - Charles Tripp
  
• How to Cook Everything Vegetarian: Simple Meatless Recipes for Great Food - Mark Bittman
  
• 1001 Ideas for Kitchen Organization: The Ultimate Source Book for storage ideas and materials - Joseph R. Provey
  
• Real Simple Cleaning: Your Room-by-room guide to a beautiful house - Kathleen Squires
  
• The Vegetable Dishes I Can't Live Without - Mollie Katzen

New Audios

All CDs unless noted

• The Almost Moon - Alice Sebold
  
• The Abstinence Teacher - Tom Perrotta
  
• Just Say Nu: Yiddish for Every Occasion (When English Just Won't Do) - Michael Wex
  
• The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World - Alan Greenspan
  
• The Street of a Thousand Blossoms - Gail Tsukiyama
  
• Run - Ann Patchett
  
• The Bridge of Sighs - Richard Russo
  
• The Secret Servant - Daniel Silva
  
• Dead Heat - Dick Francis
  
• The Careful Use of Complimants - Alexander McCall Smith
  
• The Great Upheaval: America and the birth of the modern world 1788-1800 - Jay Winik

New DVD's

• Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee
  
• A Mighty Heart
• As You Like It - Kevin Kline
• Absolutely Fabulous - White Box

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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.

Having a
Bad Day

Books in which nothing seems to go right for the characters or situations go from bad to worse.

Bank, Melissa -
The Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing

Chabon, Michael -
Wonder Boys*

Colapinto, John -
About the Author

Crusie, Jennifer and Bob Mayer -
Agnes and the Hitman

Davidson, MaryJanice -
Undead and Unwed

Dorsey, Tim -
Florida Roadkill;
Hammerhead Ranch Motel;
Cadillac Beach;
Torpedo Juice;
Big Bamboo;
Hurricane Punch

Dubus, Andre -
House of Sand and Fog*

Evanovich, Janet -
Stephanie Plum series:
One for the Money*;
Two for the Dough*;
Three to Get Deadly*;
Four to Score*;
High Five*;
Hot Six*;
Seven Up*;
Hard Eight*;
Visions of Sugar Plums*;
To the Nines*;
Ten Big Ones*;
Eleven on Top;
Twelve Sharp*;
Plum Lovin'*

Garber, Joseph -
Vertical Run*

Haddon, Mark -
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime*

Hiassen, Carl -
Skinny Dip*

Kafka, Franz -
The Trial*

Lethem, Jonathan -
Motherless Brooklyn*

McEwan, Ian -
Saturday*

Mills,Kyle -
Smoke Screen

Moore, Christopher -
Fluke: Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings;
A Dirty Job*;
Coyote Blue*

Smith, Scott -
A Simple Plan and The Ruins

Sophocles -
Oedipus Rex*

Stabenow, Dana -
Break-up

Weldon, Fay -
Worst Fears*

Westlake, Donald -
Dortmunder books:
What's so Funny*;
Watch your Back!*;
The Road to Ruin*;
Bad News*;
Don't Ask*;
Bank Shot*

* In the Stone Ridge Library collection

Compiled with help from the subscribers of the Fiction_L mailing list.

Fall Round Table:

HEALTH CARE in the
United States

Tuesday, November 13,
7pm at the Library

Please join us for a lively discussion about Health Care in the United States. The Round Table format is designed as a forum to explore topics that have had an impact on our lives, and provides an opportunity to share viewpoints and expertise. Former library trustee Mike Wallace will once again serve as moderator.

“This is certainly an important issue that has implications politically, nationally, and at the State and local level,” said Library Director Jody Ford. “The purpose of this discussion is to invite people with insights, experience and questions relating to health care to sit down together and discuss them, so that participants will gain practical and helpful information.”

Topics will include a wide range of health care issues: prescription drugs, various “umbrella” agencies that offer health insurance, Universal Health Care, COBRA, senior issues, among others.

For information or inquiries, please call the library’s Program line at 687-8726.

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Holiday Workshops … Gingerbread, Wreaths, Pomanders

Thursday, Nov. 29,
3:30- 5:30pm

Please join us in the Library to decorate gingerbread houses and wreaths and to make pomanders, on Thursday, November 29, at 3:30pm. Library Board President Suzanne Hauspurg will provide baked gingerbread houses and holiday wreaths and materials for us to decorate them. Since supplies are limited we ask that people register. There will be a modest supplies fee. Julianna Muth, our Children’s Librarian, will be working on gingerbread people with the children at the same time. Please call Diane DeChillo at 687-8726 to register, or Julianna at 687-2044 to register for the children’s program.

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Downloadable Audiobooks are Back

Downloadable audiobooks are available once again thanks to Ulster County funding.

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New Kids' Catalog

The Mid Hudson Library System has introduced a new "kid Friendly" catalog. Check it out!

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Tea Time Book Group

Wednesday, November 14th,
4pm in the Reference
room

The selection this month is The Known World by Edward P. Jones. An epic that takes an unflinching look at slavery in all its moral complexities.

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

Books are available at the library.

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HOLMES & CO.
Mystery Lovers Book Group

Thursday, Nov. 29,
4pm in the Reference Room

The selections for this meeting include two books: Tunnel Vision by Sara Paretsky and Quiet as a Nun by Antonia Fraser, and a short story: The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb by Arthur Conan Doyle

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Scrabble

Mondays, November 5, 19, 26

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, November 3, 10, 17, 24
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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ON THE SHELVES

Poughkeepsie Journal 10.7.07
On the Shelves with Anne Jordan

Leave a Mystery Thriller by your Nightstand

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.

For those who like mysteries and thrillers, the following are exciting novels that will keep you turning the pages.

A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny; St. Martin's Minotaur. This is the second in her Three Pines series. Penny takes us to a curling match in Three Pines, a quaint Quebecois village.

During this match, the most detested resident of Three Pines, CC de Poitiers, is electrocuted in front of a crowd who noticed nothing until CC was dead. It is up to Chief Inspector Armand Gamache to first figure out how someone could be electrocuted in the middle of a frozen lake nowhere near electricity in front of so many witnesses. Once he figures out how it is done, it is then time to sift through the many delightful and not so delightful characters to find the murderer.

Gray Ghosts by William G. Tapply; St. Martin's Minotaur. Stony Calhoun is back for his second adventure, and hopefully there will be many more. Calhoun is half owner of a bait and tackle shop in Maine where he also works as a fly-fishing guide.

His memory only dates back several years due to, as he is told, a lightning strike. However, he is visited on occasion by a man he assumes works for the U.S. government who checks on him to see if any memories from his previous life have returned.

Instinctively, Calhoun knows if that should ever happen, he should never admit it. On one of his fly-fishing outings, he and his client come across a charred body on a tiny island. Not long after, this same client is murdered and Stony finds himself in the thick of the investigation.

The story line moves along at a good pace, Calhoun is an intriguing multifaceted character and Tapply leaves us waiting for more fly-fishing adventure.

Ghostwalk by Rebecca Stott; Spiegel & Grau. This story begins with the discovery of Elizabeth Vogelsang's drowned body by her son, Cameron Brown.

Elizabeth was researching a potentially controversial biography of Isaac Newton at the time of her death and Cameron convinces his former lover, Lydia Brooke, to finish the work. Lydia reluctantly agrees and immerses herself in the world of 17th-century Cambridge University, alchemy, glassmaking and murder.

The story is told by Lydia to Cameron as she relates the events that unfolded while she worked her way through Elizabeth's findings.

She starts to wonder if the deaths of men from the 17th century are somehow connected to Elizabeth's drowning. A subtle haunting of Brooke begins to escalate and envelope her as ghosts of 17th-century Cambridge enter Brooke's 21st-century world.

Last Breath by George D. Shuman; Simon & Schuster. Shuman brings back Sherry Moore in this terrifying novel that should have you slamming the book shut and barricading the doors.

Moore is such a compelling character, you are pulled into the story and you can't stop until the end. Moore is a beautiful, blind woman who has an unusual talent, she isn't sure is a gift or a curse. By holding the hand of a dead person, she can see what they were thinking in the last 18 seconds of their life.

Most members of law enforcement and the media treat her with scorn, although they can't argue her success rate and turn to her in moments of desperation.

In Last Breath, the bodies of three women are found and the attorney general of Maryland comes to Sherry for help. Shuman uses his experience in law enforcement to work in the complexities of police work and the intricacies of the different agencies vying for jurisdiction on such a high-profile case.

The serial killer, known as the "Gas Mask Killer," is both intrigued and worried about this woman who has the potential to "unmask" him and send him to prison. He decides Sherry has to die and goes about making her his next target.

Anne Jordan is director of the Staatsburg Library, a member of the Mid-Hudson Library System. For more information, visit www.staatsburg.lib.ny.us.

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!

HubbleSite

Devoted to NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. Contains news; photographs of "stars, planets, galaxies, nebulae, and strange celestial phenomena" taken by the telescope; a FAQ; educational resources and games; and more. Winner of the 2007 Webby Award for science. more
Hubble Heritage Project Lots of images taken by the Hubble Telescope. more

BUY GIFTS, BOOKS AND MORE

We have a partnership with the New York Public Library that can make your shopping fast, easy and beneficial to the Library. Purchase items at the Library Shop by clicking on the link below and the Stone Ridge Library will receive a 15% commission. More

Eleanor & Harry: The Correspondence of Eleanor Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman

Facsimiles and transcriptions of the 1945-1959 correspondence between Eleanor Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman. The correspondence shows how "from a formal, often wary, political relationship developed also a strong friendship. Ultimately, Harry Truman designated Eleanor Roosevelt as his representative on the United Nations and 'First Lady of the World.'" Includes biographies, lesson plans, photos, and related links. A joint project of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library. more

Reading Wilde, Querying Spaces: An Exhibition Commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the Trials of Oscar Wilde

Material about British author Oscar Wilde ("novelist, poet, playwright, aesthete, reputed homosexual, enigma"), who was convicted in 1895 of practicing "indecent acts." The exhibit of printed and manuscript works "trace[s] the powerful impact of Oscar Wilde in the aesthetic, political, spiritual, and moral circles of late-Victorian England." Includes discussions of Wilde's epigrammatic theater, Wilde in America, and prison and personal letters. From New York University (NYU) Library. more

The Writings of James Fenimore Cooper

This website "provides information on the on-going scholarly work of 'The Writings of James Fenimore Cooper,'" the goal of which is to "provide readers with sound scholarly editions of Cooper's major works, based wherever possible on authorial manuscripts." The site includes a list of the institutional holdings of Cooper manuscripts, images of the author, links to electronic versions of hard-to-find works, and other information about this 19th-century author. Maintained at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. more

The Alliance for Climate Protection

The mission of this organization, founded by former U.S. vice president Al Gore, "is to persuade the American people -- and people elsewhere in the world -- of the importance and urgency of adopting and implementing effective and comprehensive solutions for the climate crisis." Its site features articles with suggestions for reducing climate change at home and at work, stories about people who are working to help solve the crisis, and video clips. more

The European Discovery of the Pacific

This version of a talk by a cartographic historian discusses the European discovery of the Pacific Ocean by Vasco Nunez de Balboa in September 1513 and how a 1507 world map published in Strasbourg appears to show "America North and South as two very large island-continents ... and beyond them lies an ocean stretching some thousands of miles west." Includes image of the 1507 map. From a UK retailer of maps and travel books. more

Henson, Jim: Muppeteer-Producer

Profile of Jim Henson, who was "responsible for perhaps the most recognizable and beloved television characters of all time -- the puppet/marionette hybrids better known as the Muppets." Provides highlights of Henson's career and listings of television series (such as "Sesame Street" and "Fraggle Rock"), films (including "The Dark Crystal" and "Labyrinth"), publications, and further reading. Includes links to related essays. From the Museum of Broadcast Communication. more

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1949: William Faulkner

Profile of novelist and poet William Faulkner, winner of the 1949 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his powerful and artistically unique contribution to the modern American novel." Features a biography, bibliography (listing titles such as "The Sound and the Fury," "As I Lay Dying," and "Light in August"), Nobel presentation speech and banquet speech, video of the awards ceremony, and related links. From the Nobel Foundation. more

Arctic Passage

Website accompanying a PBS Nova program on the Northwest Passage, an Arctic route from the Pacific to Atlantic ocean, focusing on the failed attempt of British expedition led by Sir John Franklin and the successful attempt of the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen. Highlights include an interactive map tracing the routes, analysis of the provisions carried by Franklin's ships, slide show of artifacts from the Franklin expedition, and an essay on the future of the passage. more
Breaking the Ice: Canada and the Northwest Passage - Archival audio and video clips, images, and short essays about the Northwest Passage. From the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). more
The Search for a Northwest Passage -This exhibit focuses on the "many explorers [who] have ventured into the inhospitable Arctic regions in search of the Northwest Passage. From the British Library. more

Languages of the World

Learn about language families and individual languages and dialects throughout the world. Use the interactive language map to access material about languages on each continent, and browse to find background, educations opportunities, and links to related material for dozens of languages and dialects. From the National Virtual Translation Center (NVTC), a governmental agency founded "for the purpose of providing timely and accurate translations of foreign intelligence for all elements of the Intelligence Community." more
Enduring Voices: Saving Disappearing Languages "Every 14 days a language dies. By 2100, more than half of the more than 7,000 languages spoken on Earth ... will likely disappear." This goal of this project "is to document endangered languages and prevent language extinction." From National Geographic and the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages. more

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