Posts by Corinne Neary

Happy New Year and welcome to 2013 in The Reader's Den!

Edith Wharton (1862-1937) was born in Greenwich Village into the wealthy New York Society that she would be famous for depicting in The House of Mirth and The Age of Innocence. Although she spent much of her life living in Newport, RI, Lenox, MA, and Europe, especially France, where she spent years in her later life, she is best known for her treatment of the stiff, conformist, aristocratic world of New York that she knew so well.

This week, we are wrapping up our second semester of French classes at Jefferson Market. After Saturday's class, we caught up with Shauna, one of the students.

Last month at Jefferson Market, our new romance book club had its first meeting. There were cupcakes, giveaways, a great discussion of Thea Harrison's Dragon Bound, and a lot of laughter.

Welcome back to the Reader's Den — this is our final week discussing David Mitchell's The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. Last week we covered part two of the novel, which focused on the midwife, Orito's abduction to the Mount Shiranui Shrine. This week we will finish up with the last three sections of the book, which include chapters twenty-seven through forty-one, in which Mitchell once again presents new narrators. The first is the slave called Weh, who narrates a short chapter exposing many of the hardships of his daily life. It is from his perspective that we learn Jacob has been working to translate the Japanese scroll containing the edicts of the shrine.

Welcome to week three of May in the Reader's Den! This week, we continue our discussion of The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell, focusing on Part II — chapters fourteen through twenty-six.

Welcome back to the Reader's Den! This week, we will be talking about part one - the first thirteen chapters - of David Mitchell's The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. With the exception of the opening chapter, the entirety of part one is told from the perspective of Jacob de Zoet during the first months of his residence on the island of Dejima, off the coast of Nagasaki, Japan.

Welcome to May in the Reader's Den! this month, we are discussing The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, the fifth novel from British author David Mitchell.

Since April 5th, the Jefferson Market Library has been hosting a series of watercolor classes for twenty adults, all aged 55+. This course, led by teaching artist Josh Millis, is funded by a grant from Lifetime Arts. The participants have been working on paintings inspired by Jefferson Market and other Village landmarks. This week, I spoke with students Leo, Judy, and Noreen, all regular patrons of Jefferson Market, to find out what they are enjoying about the class so far.

Starting April 5, 2012, local artist Josh Millis will be leading a series of watercolor classes for adults 55+ at Jefferson Market Library. These classes, as well as the gallery opening and reception on May 31, are made possible by a grant from Lifetime Arts. In this blog post, Josh tells us a little bit about his own experiences with art and teaching and gives us some great book recommendations!

Jennifer Crusie's Bet Me is more than a love story. It's also a book about calculating risk, eating food, taking chances, friendships, comedy, and did I mention food? After I finished the book last weekend, I immediately picked up the phone and ordered chicken marsala. If you've read Bet Me, you know why! And if you haven't read it yet, maybe you should. Unless, of course, you're trying to avoid doughnuts and Italian food, or if you're training for a marathon.

As one half of SmartBitchesTrashyBooks.com, Sarah Wendell has been reviewing books and blogging about all things romance since 2005. She's been interviewed by the New York Times about how e-readers have improved the lives of romance readers everywhere. Her latest book, Everything I Know About Love I Learned from Romance Novels, was released in October and has received positive reviews, and she is coming to Jefferson Market Library on February 1, 2012 at 7 p.m.!

Thank you for joining us in the Reader's Den this month! I hope you have enjoyed reading A Room with a View. Have you given any thought to what Lucy and George's future might hold? What about Charlotte Bartlett and Cecil Vyse?

A Room with a View begins its second part at the Honeychurch home in Surrey, a county in the south of England. Much has happened since we last saw Lucy: after she and Charlotte left Florence in a mad haste, they traveled to Rome, where they met fellow countrymen Cecil Vyse and his mother. As this section opens, Cecil is proposing to Lucy (for the third time) in the garden, as her mother peeks anxiously out the drawing room window. Once Lucy has accepted his proposal, we begin to see that Cecil is at best pretentious, and at worst positively insufferable.

E.M. Forster's 1908 novel, A Room with a View, is divided in to two parts: the first takes place in Florence, and the second in England. This week's questions will focus on part one, for those who are reading the book for the first time this month. I have read this book several times, and for me, it improves with each reading. Basically, I'm obsessed with both the book and the Merchant Ivory film adaptation, so please excuse my exuberance! I hope you are enjoying it as well, whether it is your first or your tenth read.

"So enamored is he of light and air blowing through his fictions that it is impossible for him to be dull or stuffy or anything but deliciously fresh and original," wrote Henry James Forman for the New York Times of E. M. Forster (1879-1970) in 1923. Who doesn't want a little light and air in their reading during the heat of summer, as well as some romance?

Has somebody recently called you Miss Fairgrounds or wished you a Happy Easter, Sugar... in June? You can find out what they meant in the basement of Jefferson Market Library.

What are you reading this summer? At Jefferson Market Library, we want to know!

I'm getting married next week, and if you, like me, are planning a wedding and wondering why you didn't just go to city hall, you should know that there are a wealth of resources at the New York Public Library. Whether you are trying to be thrifty, crafty, design your own flowers, or pick a location, you can find ideas at the library, and you won't have to pay a wedding planner for them.

The first Saturday of May is approaching, and with it comes derby day in Louisville, Kentucky, the city where I was born. It's a time when celebrities flock to town, the bars stay open all night, and the nation focuses on Louisville for the two minutes the Kentucky Derby takes to run. These books, films, and recording artists will give you a little bit of Kentucky any time of year.