New Fiction

• In the Kitchen -Monica Ali
• A Princess of Landover -
  Terry Brooks
• Smash Cut -
  Sandra Brown
• Rain Gods -
  James Lee Burke
• The Signal -
  Ron Carlson
• The Puzzle King - Betsy Carter
• Await Your Reply -Dan Chaon
• South of Broad -
  Pat Conroy
• Intervention -
  Robin Cook
• Day after Night - Anita Diamant
• Homer & Langley -E.L. Doctorow
• Past Imperfect - Julian Fellowes
• Even Money -
  Dick Francis and
  Felix Francis
• An Echo in the Bone - Diana Gabaldon
• The White Queen - Philippa Gregory
• Women in Purple: Rulers of Medieval Byzantium -
  Judith Herrin
• A Separate Country - Robert Hicks
• In the Heart of the Canyon -
  Elisabeth Hyde
• Exiles in the Garden - Ward Just
• The Lost Art of Gratitude - Alexander McCall Smith
• Labor Day -
  Joyce Maynard
• A Gate at the Stairs - Lorrie Moore
• Both Ways is the Only Way I Want It: stories - Maile Maloy
• Desirable Daughters - Bharati Mukherjee
• Little Bird of Heaven - Joyce Carol Oates
• Hardball - Sara Paretsky
• Alex Cross's Trial - James Patterson
• The Spire - Richard North Patterson
• The Deep Blue Sea for Beginners -
  Luanne Rice
• That Old Cape Magic - Richard Russo
• A Monster's Notes - Laurie Sheck
• The Last Song - Nicholas Sparks
• This is Where I Leave You -
  Jonathan Trooper
• The Maples Stories - John Updike
• Sweeping Up Glass - Carolyn Wall
• Best Friends Forever - Jennifer Weiner
• Hothouse Orchid - Stuart Woods
• Woman from Shanghai -
  Xianhue Yang
• A Happy Marriage - Rafael Yglesias

New Non-Fiction

• The Case for God - Karen Armstrong
• What Color is Your Parachure 2010: a Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career-Changers - Richard N. Bolles
• Born Round: the Secret History of a Full-Time Eater - Frank Bruni
• East to the Dawn: the Life of Amelia Earhart - Susan Butler
• Israel is Real: an Obsessive Quest to Understand the Jewish Nation and its History - Rich Cohen
• Notes on Cooking - Lauren Braun Costello
• The National Parks: America's Best Idea - Dayton Duncan, Ken Burns
• Stormy Weather: the Life of Lena Horn - James Gavin
• Hope for Animals and Their World: How endangered Species are being Rescued from the Brink -
  Jane Goodall
• Byzantium: the Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire - Judith Herrin
• Horton Foote: America's Storyteller - Wilborn Hampton
• Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know - Alexandra Horowitz
• Soul of a Dog: Reflections on the Spirits of the Animals of Bedlam Farm -
  Jon Katz
• Traveling with Pomegranates: a Mother-Daughter Story - Sue Monk Kidd and Ann Kidd Taylor
• Strength in What Remains: a Journey of Remembering and Forgiveness -
  Tracy Kidder
• I Can Make You Sleep: Overcome Insomnia forever and Get the Best Rest of Your Life m- Paul McKenna
• Fatal Journey the Final Expedition of Henry Hudson: a Tale of Mutiny and Murder in the Arctic -
  Peter C. Mancall
• A Member of the Family: the Ultimate Guide to Living with a Happy, Healthy Dog - Cesar Millan
• Why This World: a Biography of Clarise Lispector -
  Benjamin Moser
• The Bolter: the Story of the Wild, Beatuiful, Fearless Idina Sackvill - Frances Osborne
• Fidel and Che: a Revolutionary Friendship -
  Simon Reid-Henry
• Shea Good-bye - Keith Hernandez & Matthew Silverman
  
• 2010 Guide to Literary Agents: Where and How to Find the Right Agents to Represent Your Work - Chuck Sambuchino, editor
• Cheap: the High Cost of Discount Culture - Ellen Ruppel Shell
• Cartwheels in a Sari: a Memoir of Growing up Cult -
  Jayanti Tamm
• The Hidden Life of Deer: Lessons from the Natural World - Elizabeth Marshall Thomas
• The Evolution of God - Robert Wrightm

New Audio Books

• Corsair - Clive Cussler
• Medusa - Clive CusslerThe Memoirs of Mary Queen of Scots - Carolly Erickson
• Even Money -
  Dick Francis and
  Felix Francis
• Shooting Stars - Lebron James
• Skeleton Hill - Peter Lovesey
• A Gate at the Stairs - Lorrie Moore
• What French Women Know - Debra Ollivier
• Why Our Health Matters - Andrew WeilC

New DVD's

• Away We Go - John Krasinski, Maya Rudolph
• The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency - Jill Scott
• State of Play - Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Helen Mirren
  
• A Walk on the Moon - Diane Lane, Viggo Mortensen
  

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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.

Visit the Library to pick up a copy of the booklist-of-the-month brochure and check out a book from our current display.

Centennial Booklist

2000-2009

2000

• In America - Susan Sontag
• California Girl - T. Jefferson Parker

2001

• The Corrections - Jonathan Franzen
• The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay - Michael Chabon
• John Adams (NF) - David McCoullough BIO Adams

2002

• Atonement - Ian McEwan
• Nights in Rodanthe - Nicholas Sparks

2003

The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
Lies (And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them (NF) - Al Franken
• The Great Fire - Shirley Hazzard

2004

• My Life (NF) - Bill Clinton
• The Known World - Edward P. Jones
• The News from Paraguay - Lily Tuck
• Eats, Shoots and Leaves (NF) - Lynn Truss 428.2 Tru
• Big Russ and Me (NF) - Tim Russert BIO Russ

2005

• The March - EL Doctorow
• A Breath of Snow and Ashes - Diana Gabaldon
• 1776 - David McCoullough
• True Believer - Nicholas Sparks

2006

• The Echo Maker - Richard Powers
• The Audacity of Hope (NF) - Barack Obama 973.049 Oba
• Rise and Shine - Anna Quindlen
• Wisdom of Our Fathers (NF) - Tim Russert

2007

• The Children of Hurin - JRR Tolkein
• Sacred Games - Chandra Vikram

2008

• Shadow Country - Peter Mattheissen
  
• The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao - Junot Diaz

2009

• The Gravedigger's Daughter - Joyce Carol Oates
  
• The Yankee Years - Joe Torre

FALL BOOK SALE

Saturday, October 10, 2009
10am - 2pm
(rain date Oct. 17)

Our popular fall book sale promises to provide a browsing and shopping treat for bibliophiles as the air becomes crisp and the leaves begin to turn color. Books for everyone! Home baked goods will also be available.

Knitted items, made by members of the library’s knitting club will also be available - a great opportunity for early bird holiday shoppers.

Our Monday morning volunteers are currently making gift baskets for this sale and we are looking for "gift items" such as notepaper, soaps, jewelry, candles and china.

We are accepting donations of books in excellent condition and are requesting that your home baked goods be brought to the Library any time on Friday or Saturday morning.

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Roundtable Discussion

Friday, October 16
7pm in the Reference Room

Our annual Roundtable discussion will take place this year on Friday, October 16th at 7pm at the library. We will be discussing: Public Debate in America: the Origins of Emotionalism and The Case for Civility. Please come share your thoughts with your neighbors on this important issue. The Roundtable will be moderated by former trustee Michael Wallace.

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The New York Council for the Humanities

The New York Council for the Humanities has awarded the library a reading and discussion grant to take place this fall and winter. Dr. Joseph Keefe, Professor Emeritus of English at SUNY Ulster, will facilitate the discussions that will focus on the theme, Coping with American Identity: Four Viewpoints.

The meetings offer an opportunity for participants to share their views on the readings in a lively and congenial exchange in the Library’s reference room at 4:00 p.m., using the Tea Time Book Discussion timeslot, on the following dates. Books, listed below, will be available at the Circulation Desk one month prior to the event. Summaries will be available one week before the meetings.

• Wednesday, October 14 – Desirable Daughters by Bharati Mukherjee
  
• Thursday, November 12 – Typical American by Gish Jen
  
• Wednesday, December 9 – How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent by Julia Alvarez
  
• Wednesday, January 13 – Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

For registration and other information, please call Diane DeChillo, Program Manager at 687-8726. The program is free and open to the public.

Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

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Iraq: Making Peace with Many Truths

Friday, November 6, 7pm
Marbletown Community Center

Lorna Tychostup, an independent journalist who has worked in Iraq over the past several years will share her personal experiences and offer insights into some of the positive outcomes that are taking place within the country. Her presentation includes some 200 photos that serve as a backdrop to her review of the ongoing situation.

Tychostup is Senior Editor at the Chronogram and has just completed her Master of Science Degree at New York University's Center for Global Affairs with concentrations in International Relations and the Middle East. The program is free and open to the public. A question and answer session and a reception will follow the presentation. For more information and a look at some of her work go to Lorna's website.

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The New Yorker Discussion Group

Friday, October 9 at 3:30pm in the Reference Room

The following articles were chosen from The New Yorker Magazine for discussion.

• Critic at Large - Missing Woman: Amelia Earhart's flight by Judith Thurman
  Sept. 14, p.102
  
• Reporter at Large - Trial by Fire: Did Texas execute an innocent man? by David Grann
  Sept. 7, p. 42A
• Books - The economics of pirate ships by Caleb Crain
  Sept. 7, p. 72
  
• Annals of Education - The Rubber Room: The battle to make teachers accountable by Steven Brill
  August 31, p. 30
  
• Our Local Correspondents - Useless Beauty What's to be done with Governors Island by Nick Paumgarten
  August 31, p. 56
  
• Profiles - The Untouchable Michael Bloomberg's power by Ben McGrath
  August 24, p. 38
  
• Letter from California - Plugged In: Is the electric car in the future? by Tad Friend
  August 24, p. 50

Please bring your “wish list” of articles for discussion from current New Yorker magazines for the October meeting. Our facilitator will make the selections at the beginning of the meeting.

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MEDIEVAL BOOK GROUP

Wednesday, October 14
7pm, Biography Room

The primary reading for this meeting is Women in Purple: Rulers of Medieval Byzantium by Judith Herrin. This is the story of three Byzantine empresses from 780 to 856.

For a more general view of Byzantium, read Judith Herrin’s Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire.

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HOLMES & CO.
Mystery Lovers
Book Group

Thursday, October 15,
4pm, Biography Room

The selections for this meeting include: Wolf in the Shadows by Marcia Muller and The Sign of Four - a Sherlock Holmes mystery by Arthur Conan Doyle.

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Knitting Group

Every Saturday
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

Authors put characters in
new situations

Poughkeepsie Journal 9.6.09

Once we find authors we like, we wait for each of their new releases to see what new plots they can provide for us. Some authors seem to find a formula and stick with it, but others follow up with new ideas and situations.

A Quiet Flame - Philip Kerr's series Berlin Noir follows the career of Bernie Gunther, a private detective in 1930s Germany.

Kerr creates the feel for the time and an understanding of how the average person felt about the rise of the Nazis.

In the next book, The One From the Other, it is postwar Germany and Kerr re-creates the atmosphere of the times as Gunther gets involved in an intricate investigation.

In A Quiet Flame, he picks up Gunther sneaking out of Germany on a boat to Argentina. This novel follows him in Argentina on a case that involves the Nazis who have fled, but whose past is catching up with them.

The Stalin Epigram - Robert Littell writes spy novels with a touch of surrealism. His earlier work, Company, took a hard look at the CIA/KGB relationship through the Cold War years and now Epigram looks at Stalinist Russia.

When Osip Mandelstam writes a 16-line poem criticizing Stalin, his life becomes increasingly difficult. Littell provides not only a suspenseful account of Mandelstam's arrest and trials, but also includes the reactions of several characters involved, including Stalin, and the philosophical question of how to fight tyranny.

Secret Speech - Tom Robb Smith's earlier work, Child 44, followed the efforts of Leo Demidov to track down a serial killer in 1950s Soviet Union.

In this Secret Speech, Demidov's career has stabilized but his past comes back to haunt him.

Ironically, it is Khrush-chev's dramatic speech condemning Stalin that creates a complicated scenario for him in trying to redeem the past.

In order to save his adopted daughter, Demidov must liberate a gang leader from a Gulag. His attempt is fraught with conflicting interests as the power struggles created by the secret speech make it impossible to determine who he can count on.

The Tourist - Olan Steinhauer's series of books take place in an unnamed Eastern European country under communism where he re-creates the atmosphere of paranoia and suspicion.

The Tourist leaves the series, but continues the theme as a black operations agent, Charles Alexander, faces a crisis in his life.

Black ops agents have no identity and move from task to task and when asked what they do say they are tourists.

Alexander's job, on Sept. 11, 2001 is to find an American agent who has disappeared with $3 million. The job goes bad, with him getting shot, leading to his moving back to New York, a desk job and a wife.

Six years later, on what seems like a simple mission, he is drawn back into his tourist identity, which reverts back to the earlier botched job. Only this time, he will find out the whole truth.

If you liked Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Identity, you should enjoy this.

Fall of the Templars - Robyn Young's two earlier books focused on the Crusades and an inner group of the Knights Templar.

Will Campbell, who we met in the earlier books, Brethen and Crusades, is back in France, which is close to war with Britain over disputed areas of what is now France.

The Templars are drawn into this with a deal to support Britain's attempt to control Scotland. Campbell leaves the Templars to help Scotland, but must return to France to make a deal with the French.

The Templars now consist of a variety of factions that eventually lead to their mass arrest by the king and the pope.

Young gives a realistic picture of the time while writing a readable, suspenseful novel.

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. He is also the 2008-2009 president of the New York Library Association.

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

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GREAT WEBSITES!

Swine Flu: H1N1

The New York State Library has put together a long list of websites from the Center for Disease Control, the World Health Organization and others. more

Smithsonian Photography Initiative

This site is designed to "introduce you to Smithsonian's extraordinary collections of photographs and to an understanding of the integral roles photographs play in our lives." Features the program "Click! Photography Changes Everything," which "is a collection of essays and stories by invited contributors and visitors like you discussing how photography shapes our culture and our lives." Also includes a link to the related blog "The Bigger Picture." From the Smithsonian Institution. more

Drug Interactions: What You Should Know

Fact sheet about drug interactions (drug-drug, drug-food/ beverage, drug-condition), which "may make your drug less effective, cause unexpected side effects, or increase the action of a particular drug. Some drug interactions can even be harmful to you." Includes a section on reading labels on over-the-counter (OTC) medicines, and examples of drug interaction warnings. From the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). more

Picturing America

This National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) initiative "brings masterpieces of American art into classrooms and libraries nationwide." The program "uses art as a catalyst for the study of America -- the cultural, political, and historical threads woven into our nation's fabric." Includes online annotated images arranged by time period and themes (such as freedom and equality, democracy, and creativity). Also includes information about how schools may acquire prints and links to lesson plans. more

Live From the NYPL

Website for a series of "conver-sations, debates & perform-ances" held at the New York Public Library (NYPL). Learn about upcoming events and find transcripts and audio/video files for selected past programs such as Toni Morrison in conversation with Fran Lebowitz, a conversation on the 2008 election, "Dead from the NYPL" on obituaries, and a tribute to John Updike. Archive goes back to 2005. From the NYPL. more

Memorial Hall Museum Online: American Centuries

"Explore American history [from a New England perspective] with hands-on activities, exhibits, lessons, historic documents and artifacts." Features "a digital collection of approximately 2000 objects and transcribed documents," lesson plans, and online exhibits about turns of centuries (1700, 1800, and 1900), Shay's Rebellion, and the 1704 raid on the Deerfield, Massachusetts, settlement. Also includes videos about early American tools, information about historical costume, and more. From the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield, Massachusetts. more

University Libraries: Foreign Information by Country

Collections of links to information about countries and territories of the world. Find guides from individual countries, portals to country information, and country profiles by governments and by international organizations. Some of the country sites are only in native languages. Includes links to related topics such as treaties and travel. From the University of Colorado at Boulder Libraries. more

Tobacco Bag Stringing

This illustrated report focuses on tobacco bag stringing (sewing drawstrings into small cotton tobacco bags), a late 19th and early 20th century activity of "families throughout the tobacco-growing regions of North Carolina and Virginia [who] earned much-needed income." Includes an overview of tobacco bag stringing during the Great Depression, letters, profiles of workers, and over 140 photos. From the University of North Carolina Library Digital Collections. more

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Phone: 687-7023

E-Mail: Webmaster

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