NYPL Blogs

Oskar Schell, a precocious nine-year-old who lives in New York City, is the protagonist In Jonathan Safran Foer’s popular post-9/11 novel, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Oskar's active mind keeps endlessly creating new inventions, most of them somehow related to saving lives and making connections with other people. In other words, he's trying to find a way to prevent “the worst day” from ever happening and thus regain the human connection he lost when his father was killed in the World Trade Center attacks on September 11, 2001. As Oskar says, he is "wearing heavy boots." 

Are you familar with Goodreads? Goodreads is a Free "social cataloging" website that allows people to sign up and list books to create their own catalogs and reading lists, as well as to share book suggestions and create group discussions. It's very popular.

The books listed below were chosen as winners of the 2012 Goodreads Choice Awards, "the only major book awards decided by readers."

Do you need a BIG push towards realizing that elusive goal of business ownership? If so, the 2013 New York StartUP! Business Plan Competition offers you the option for multiple wins: a piece of the more than $30,000 "pie" of cash prizes, technical training, one-on-one business advisory, and participation in a vibrant small business network. But, hurry! There is just a week left to meet the first requirement -- attending an orientation.

My professional adventures, rooted in my own fascination with and questions about who we are as humans (how we identify ourselves, how we are layers of each version of our selves over time, how we become trapped in our elderly bodies, how we relate, how we die, how we cope, how we mourn) have been constantly honed in my work — asked and answered over and over within the context of audio/visual materials. I hopped from grant to grant to build new programs for years, describing, preserving and providing access to artworks, dance, oral histories, home movies, and various forms of performance because I believe these arts to be celebrations of humanity. I want to support them. I want 

As we come to the close of another year, I always look forward to the "best of" lists and discovering interesting games I may have missed. Over the next several weeks, NYPLarcade will be showcasing six video game titles from 2012, which were not covered in our other game series this year: Jenova Chen, Horror Games, and International Games Day (Music Games).

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?

In the aftermath of the devastation of Hurricane Sandy, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is hiring local employees to help with the recovery of many communities impacted by the storm.

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.

Washington Square Park, Manhattan, iPad drawing ©2012 Fotis Flevotomos on Vimeo.

On October 25, 2012, we posted "Drawing on the iPad," a brief introduction to digital drawing for people with or without vision loss. The present video is an example of the playback feature of the Brushes app.

Extry! Extry! Extry! Read all about it! Newsflash! Morningstar Investment Research Center — in the New York Public Library's subscription — is now available to NYPL Library Card Holders offsite.

I took figure skating lessons on roller skates when I was five years old, and for us, skating was a family affair. My sister, brother, mother and I skate. I knew when I moved to New York City that I would cave eventually and begin ice skating, since there is only one roller skating rink in New York City at the southern tip of Staten Island. It would take me three hours to get there... much too long.

For the week of December 2, 2012 we have hardcover fiction, hardcover non-fiction, and hardcover advice & misc. books.

Here are scans of the color plates of U.S. Plant Patents received at SIBL for the weeks of November 6 and 13, 2012.

As Hollywood films about the passage of the 13th Amendment go, Lincoln is certainly the best one ever made! There really aren't any others. I saw it with my sons, sixth and 12th graders in Brooklyn public schools. They loved the film and saw it as an exciting movie about American history. Would they recommend it to other kids, I asked. "Yes," they agreed, "Lincoln is a movie that all students should see."

I agree Lincoln is a great film. But it's not perfect.

The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts is pleased to announce the release of the Dorothy Loudon Digital Exhibition.

In an environment of globalization, economic volatility and rapid advancement of technologies, the American world of work is evolving with an upward spiral of academic requirements and qualifications. In preparing for the 21st century workplace, an increasing number of students are enrolling in both public and private higher education institutions. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, education pays.

Okay, you're probably busy putting the finishing touches on your wizard's robe and/or brushing the hair on your furry hobbit's feet so that you will be as stylish as possible when you arrive at the movie theater to catch a midnight showing of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey later this month.

The Hunger Games

Some of the best books that I have ever read were ultimately made into movies. However, as you might already know, the books are always better than the movie. Jaws by Peter Benchley was so much scarier when I read it than when I viewed it on the big screen. Carrie by Stephen King gave me nightmares, and even though the movie lived up to my expectations, the book was better.

The holidays are right around the corner, and if you need a break from all that shopping, New Dorp Library is the place to go! We've got just what the kiddies are looking for this year: stories, read alouds, and a pajama party! Teens can have an awesome time playing those new video games they love, or making new friends! Adults can learn about that new computer they got as a present and save some cash by learning how to make jewelry to give as a great gift!