Posts by Elizabeth Waters

Classic New York City architecture, the cleverness of crows, the real Toscanini, being good, color and commerce, anarchists, a call to secularism, the Asian underground railroad, gourmet food carts, escaping the Nazis, environmental crisis, structural tile vaulting and sexual discrimination in the workplace. What do these disparate topics have in common?

Musical recipes... a soul food journey... a history of peanut butter... food bloggers... urban farmers and foragers...Dirt Candy... Julia Child... America's banana king... the hidden financial and political aspects of food... the astrological signs of the delicatessen... foodways of the African diaspora... cooking on TV. The Lunch Hour NYC exhibition currently at the Schwarzman Building has inspired us to offer some truly varied food related programs at the Mid-Manhattan Library. If you haven't seen this fascinating exhibit, which looks back at a century of New York lunches, why not combine a visit with one of our upcoming programs?

Welcome back to the Reader's Den for the final post in our discussion of The Eyre Affair by Japer Fforde. Did you enjoy this literary silliness? As mentioned in the earlier posts, this is the first novel in the Thursday Next series.

"The murders are tragic, obviously," I replied, "but Jane Eyre is the thing here... Jane Eyre is bigger than me and bigger than you."

“Governments and fashions come and go but Jane Eyre is for all time.”

Welcome back to My Mystery Summer. In Part I, I reported on some of my own summer reading and viewing and shared some lists of books and DVDs that we put together for our Mystery Summer program at the Mid-Manhattan Library. The previous post included some historical mysteries, Italian and other international mysteries, and international and British crime dramas. This time we have lists of classic mystery films and film noir, mysteries set in New York City, mystery shorts from our Story-time for Grown-ups program, teen mysteries, "bookish" mysteries, true crime, and mysteries from NYPL's online book discussion group, The Reader's Den. And don't forget 

“Take no heed of her.... She reads a lot of books.” 

Imagine a world where the military-industrial complex wants to control everything you do, where the media outlets seem to be competing to win an award for most inane or banal programming, where violent gangs battle over who really wrote Shakespeare’s plays, where you could find yourself trapped inside a poem, and a character from your favorite book just might save your life...

So what have you been reading this summer? Here at Mid-Manhattan we’ve been celebrating Mystery Summer with a monster film noir series on Wednesdays and Sundays, mysterious Story Times for Grown-ups, suspenseful selections in the Reader's Den, and and lots of reading and viewing lists. Personally, I’ve managed to do quite a lot of mystery reading over the past few months, but I’ve still got many more books on my For Later shelf. Fortunately, mystery reading (and viewing) is a year round activity, so we hope you’ll find some intriguing suggestions for the rest of the year on the lists of books and DVDs we put together for 

"I love talking about nothing, father. It is the only thing I know anything about," quips Lord Goring in Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband. At Mid-Manhattan Library's English Conversation Hour for intermediate, advanced, and native English speakers on Thursday evenings, we love to talk about anything of interest with people from all over the world who stop by for a chat. Everyone learns more about other countries and cultures and shares information and experiences about living in New York. And it's also a chance to practice speaking English in friendly surroundings, so come join the conversation! The English Conversation Hour will resume on January 12, 2012 and will 

Afghanistan, Algeria, Argentina, Belarus, Belgium, Benin, Bolivia, Brazil, Burma, China, Columbia, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, France, Gabon, Haiti, India, Iran, Italy, Japan, Khazakhstan, Korea, Martinique, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Nepal, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Senegal, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Taiwan, Turkey, Ukraine, Venezuela, Yemen... What do all of these countries have in common? The English Conversation Hour at the Mid-Manhattan Library! We've met and talked to people from all the countries listed during our Thursday evening coversation hours for intermediate, advanced, and native 

But of course it wasn’t finished. It never could be, it never would be, and it never will be.

Welcome back to the Reader’s Den for the final week of our discussion of The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester! The book tells the tale of the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), completed in 1928, but as the author notes at the beginning of the epilogue, it can never really be complete, since the English language itself is forever changing.

Welcome back to the October Reader’s Den! I hope you’ve enjoyed reading The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary as much as I have. I’ve appreciated the vivid portraits of the people involved in the creation of the “Dic,” and Simon Winchester’s literate prose had me running to the OED (the online edition) on a few occasions. I wanted to investigate such lovely but rarely encountered words as “pettifogging” and “gallimaufry.”

Thank you for stopping by the Reader’s Den for the second week of our discussion of The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary. Are you already engrossed in the trials and triumphs involved in the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED)? Did you enjoy the whirlwind tour of the evolution of the English language and its lexicography in chapter one?

Welcome to the latest installment of My Library, English Conversation Edition! We’ve been introducing you to some of the regular participants in the English Conversation Hour for intermediate, advanced and native speakers, which takes place at the Mid-Manhattan Library on most Thursday evenings at 6:30! We have a fabulous time meeting and chatting with people from all over the world. Feel free to drop by and join in the talk some week.

So far on this blog channel, we’ve met Tika from Japan and Youngsil from Korea. Now I’d like to present Guillermo!

Welcome to the October Reader’s Den!

Did you know that the word den has its origins in the Old English denn, meaning habitation of a wild beast? According to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), the first recorded use of denn is in Beowulf, around the year 1000. The figurative use of the word, meaning a place of retreat or abode, as in the “Reader’s Den” didn’t appear until a few centuries later.

There's lots of English conversation activity around NYPL this week! Participants are signing up for the We Are New York English conversation programs in several neighborhood libraries and registration for NYPL's intermediate level English conversation groups also started in different library locations. Mid-Manhattan Library has hosted WANY groups since September 2010.

What were you reading during Irene? Friday evening, Mid-Manhattan Library patrons were busy until 8 p.m. stocking up on books and DVDs to see them through the weekend storm. Some people were looking for fat 19th century novels, cozy mysteries, or vampire sagas to while away the weekend, while others had ambitious study or DIY projects in mind.

There's a whole lot of talking going on at Mid-Manhattan Library on Thursday evenings! People from all over the world have been coming to Mid-Manhattan Library's English Conversation Hour for intermediate and advanced speakers. It's a great way to meet people and practice speaking English. Some people are just passing through New York on a quick visit, while others are planning to stay longer, maybe even forever. We're having a wonderful time meeting these interesting people and sharing ideas and experiences, so we wanted to introduce some of our regular conversationalists to you.