Off the Shelf

BKLYN BookMatch: Earth Month

 Bklyn BookMatch is a readers' advisory service that uses what readers like (and dislike) to create customized reading recommendations based on the interests or needs of patrons. Kimberly Behan, a children's librarian at Adams Street Library, created an Earth Month-inspired reading list for all ages. Visit bklynlibrary.org/bookmatch to request your own BookMatch, and check out BPL's upcoming environmental programs.The Day the River Caught Fire by Barry Wittenstein: The True story of how a 1969 fire in one of America's most polluted rivers brought the environmental movement to the…

Wicked: An Untangling of Adaptations

Chelsee Morris

My introduction to the land of Oz came when I was a child via my mother’s VHS tapes. I was four, five and six, and at least once every weekend I watched our tape of The Wizard of Oz. It was a good deal: my mom would have a designated time to nap while I sat spellbound for hours by the colors and music and wonder.My first encounter with Wicked was more incidental, through the mercy of an iHeartRadio's shuffled radio station when I was still too young to have money for music streaming services. I loved the songs, and when I was a teenager, I was given tickets to see the musical which I loved…

11 Holiday Gifts for the Library Lover in Your Life

Jennifer

The holiday season is upon us. If you have a library lover in your life, then Brooklyn Public Library has the perfect gift for them. From hoodies and tote bags to scarves depicting your favorite historical architecture, supporting your library has never looked so good! Card Catalog Holiday Cards  Are you lucky enough to remember the joys of using the card catalog to search for a book at the library? Fall into some book-ish nostalgia with these illustrated holiday cards--featuring a range of celebrations from Christmas to Ōmisoka, Hanukkah to Lunar New Year--as a reminder…

Haitian Heritage Book Bingo Reading Challenge

As soon as you step out of the Newkirk Avenue-Little Haiti subway stop, it's obvious that Haitian heritage has deep roots in Brooklyn. Haitian-American literary culture has a great history here, with so many incredible writers calling Brooklyn home, such as author Edwidge Danticat, New Yorker staff writer Doreen St. Felix, and poet Anaïs Duplan.This fall, we invite you to honor Haitian literature, culture, and history with a book bingo reading challenge!From now until November 21st, we challenge you to:Read or listen to a book about Carribean historyRead a book written in Haitian KreyolRead…

New, Quality Books to Help Celebrate the Jewish Holidays

There is a Jewish holiday every month in the Jewish calendar, each with its own story, celebrations and unique foods, and each celebrated a bit differently by various Jewish communities from around the world. Without Jewish books showing the authentic Jewish holiday experience, it can be hard to learn about these holidays.According to two veteran Jewish librarians, Susan Kusel and Heidi Rabinowitz, many of the popular Jewish holiday books that make it front and center in bookstores and library displays are not contemporary books nor do they highlight the diversity of the Jewish people. As the…

Literary Matchmaker: Brooklyn Parks Edition

Refreshing Recipe Books for Summer Cooking

 This post was written by Emily Chao, who is completing a marketing internship at Brooklyn Public Library. From picnics and barbecues to pool parties and beach days, summer cooking is all about balancing the outdoor heat with savory meals and refreshing treats. If you’re looking to expand your palate and cooking expertise before the season ends, here are some recipe books that stand out:  Salad Party: Mix and Match to Make 3,375 Fresh Creations by Kristy Mucci With its flip book design, say goodbye to decision fatigue by mixing and matching dressings, toppings, and…

Audiobooks for Every Occasion

Audiobooks meet readers at a cross section of ages, literacy skills and/or physical mobilities. This summer, line up some good ones for when you’re outside (say, browsing the branches) or enjoying a solitary moment. Commercial audiobooks are searchable in BPL’s catalog, while accessible talking books are available for request from National Library Services here. Here are our recommendations: For doing dishes with headphones onLend charm to an unremarkable domestic act.The Guest Cat by Takashi HiraideNegroland by Margo JeffersonPostcards from the Edge by Carrie Fisher For gardening…

Beat the Heat with BPL

 This post was written by Emily Chao, who is completing a marketing internship at Brooklyn Public Library. The summer is off to a sweltering start, but don’t let the heat stop your fun. If you’re looking for a place to cool off and enjoy eclectic activities from fitness classes to live performances, be sure to check out Brooklyn Public Library! Live PerformancesBPL hosts great artists all summer long, and the performances are free for everyone! Enjoy outdoor evening shows with BPL Presents on Central Library’s Plaza, including musical performances like the charismatic music and…

Celebrating Pride and Joy

During the month of Pride, it can sometimes be difficult to find the joy in Queer media. So many tropes emphasize the pain, suffering and angst of Queer existence—and while these stories do reflect many aspects of Queer culture, we are not a monolith. Many members of the LGBTQIA+ family have uplifting moments of life that they wish to express with the world. Queer joy is as hard-won as our rights and it should be celebrated, too. As Pride 2024 comes to an end, we encourage you to check out this selection of books and films for adults that embrace the lighter side of queerness, as well as…

An Interview with "Browse the Branches" Winner Penelope Pigeon

Browse the Branches invites Brooklynites to visit all 62 locations in person to see for yourself the unexpected treasures you can find at each Brooklyn Public Library location. We've been amazed by how many winners have already completed the challenge, but this week a very special winner flew into Central Library to collect her prize: Penelope Pigeon. As the first of her species to finish, she was kind enough to let us share her winner questionnaire to help encourage the city's feathered friends to take part in the Browse the Branches challenge. Your name: Penelope PigeonTelephone number…

Book Bingo Round-Up! My 23 Books of 2023

While the very first book I finished in 2023 was for BPL’s Book Bingo game, I crammed most of the squares into the last three months of the year, furiously flipping pages to complete my bingo card. And I can very happily say that, despite my procrastination, I completed the whole thing—bonus square included! Here’s my 2023 BPL Book Bingo list in the order in which I read them, and with the corresponding bingo category in bold: I began with a classic graphic novel in January, Maus I and II by Art Spiegelman, which I purchased from Books Are Magic on Smith Street. It was a somber read, but I’…

Spoonable Wonders: Cookbooks to Carry You Through the Cold Months

A fig tree beside my building fruits in late August. If both hands are free, and private property isn’t sacred to you, either, you can munch figs while plucking their Matisse-shaped leaves to wrap fish in for dinner later. Fall begins when the fruits shrivel and plop to the sidewalk. This is now. Nature is telegraphing that it’s time for soaking beans, preheating ovens and waking the heavy beast that is the cast iron pot. Staying warm indoors is the goal of autumn cooking. So too, perhaps, is making a meal that requires one table setting: a spoon. For that, you cannot go wrong with the books…

Viewing the October 14 Solar Eclipse

Have you ever witnessed a solar eclipse? When the moon passes over the sun at just the right angle, it can look like the sun is missing in the middle of the day! While eclipses happen every year, it's not common to see one where you live. In October and April, there will be two partial eclipses visible from Brooklyn!  On Saturday, October 14 we will be able to see an Annular Solar Eclipse. This celestial event will cross over the US from Oregon to Texas. In Brooklyn, you won’t see any daytime darkness. This eclipse will cover about 20% of the sun at its peak at 1:22pm. The annular…

Make Fall Fun with BPL

Ahhh....autumn in Brooklyn! Ideally the season means crunchy leaves, sugary apple cider donuts, and sunny walks through Prospect Park. I love to plan trips upstate for hiking and pumpkin picking and excitedly swap out my summer dresses and sandals for sweaters and boots. Unfortunately, a New York fall can also look like rain-soaked leaves and chilly weekends where you're better off staying inside instead of searching your closet for waterproof shoes. Luckily, the Library has tons of books and programs to carry us through the wind, chill, and precipitation so we can…

20 Books By Your Favorite Podcast Hosts

Yesterday, I was trying to convince a friend that we had to see a movie because “a lot of people had told me it was really great,” but, when pressed, I admitted “people” was just the host of a podcast I had recently listened to. In fact, I frequently find myself making this confession or prefacing an anecdote, fun fact, or recommendation with, “So I heard on this podcast...”   More often than not, I’m talking about BPL’s flagship podcast Borrowed.  Podcasts are one of my favorite sources of information because they, like books, are educational and accessible, and foster a…

Audiobooks for Your August Adventures

It’s that time of year, when New Yorkers with a car are headed out of town for beaches, mountains, tents—anywhere that isn’t miles of uninterrupted concrete and squashed lanternflies—while those who don’t have wheels are making beelines for New York City’s great parks, equipped with cold beverages, blankets, and the desire not to use one’s eyes for anything other than cloud-gazing and staring into long, green blades of grass. If you’re like me, you like to have a story to disappear into as you do all this escaping and relaxing (and because you’re reading a library blog, you probably are like…

Make Summer Fun with BPL

Summer. The season of sunshine, perspiring drinks, outdoor activities, and grains of sand that show up in every space and surface you encounter well into December. School is out—and even for those of us who left academic lives several moons ago – the freedom and possibility of these days are as wired into our collective DNA as is the urge to seek shelter from a rainstorm, hot chocolate from frigid temperatures, or binge watch episodes of Atlanta after a long, exhausting day.  (Just me?)  Summer is a break from our normal lives.  A chance to seek blue skies, rocky…

This Is How You Lose the Time War (and Win at Book Publicity)

It all started with a Tweet. Twitter user @maskofbun posted a picture of This Is How You Lose the Time War, a 2019 novel by Amal El Mohtar and Max Gladstone. The tweet said:    read this. DO NOT look up anything about it. just read it. it's only like 200 pages u can download it on audible it's only like four hours. do it right now i'm very extremely serious. pic.twitter.com/Pzb2FWvFlg — bigolas dickolas woIfwood (@maskofbun) May 7, 2023   And the Internet paid attention. A book that got reasonable critical acclaim when it was first published has now rocketed up sales…

The Families We're Born Into & the Families We Create

In honor of LGTBQIA+ Pride and considering that Father’s Day also happens to be in the same month, here are some suggested readings that discuss families we are born into and families we create. These books expand an understanding of queer and trans life, which may to some seem lonely, isolated or disconnected from the concept of a family, and for those of us continuing to work through relationships with the families we are born into these books could provide insight into similar experiences or new ideas.   In Our Work is Everywhere: An Illustrated Oral History of Queer and Trans…

Celebrate Jewish American Heritage Month with Yiddish Fiction in Translation

Danielle Winter

In honor of Jewish American Heritage Month, here are some books to check out from Brooklyn Public Library that are Yiddish fiction in translation. You will find the themes in these stories are not foreign to today’s reader; they focus on the immigrant experience, women’s issues, love, fitting in and standing out, and the inner mind. Oedipus in Brooklyn and Other Stories was written by the Galician-born Yiddish female writer Blume Lempel (1907-1999) and translated from Yiddish by Ellen Cassedy and Yermiyahu Ahron Taub. Lempel moved to Paris in 1929 and emigrated to the United States in…

It's Complicated: A Mother's Day Booklist

Today we’re considering literature that spotlights complex and chaotic motherhood through themes of upheaval and diaspora, shame and the supernatural. Being a mother is intense (understatement) and these titles take it seriously, using it as a springboard for creating rich, challenging art. So we don’t skim over books in which motherhood is the least complicating factor characters deal with: try Sandra Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street (1984), in which Esperanza’s artistic, kind mother is a protective presence in abrasive surroundings. Or Jan Morris’s Conundrum (1974), in which receiving…

The Poetry of Hip-Hop

What counts as poetry? Is it always tidy print marching down the path to find two roads diverging in the woods then stopping to wait for a death metaphor? Is it a barbaric yawp from the best minds of your generation from a poet who doesn’t even know it? What if we went beyond the confines of Western Lit 101 to uncover poetry that resonates with us now? At the most fundamental level, hip-hop and poetry both play with sound, turning them into meaning and then back to sound again, declaimed alone or to the sound of a drum machine or coiled inside a catchy song, verse/rhythm/rhyme from Tupac…

Make Spring Fun with Brooklyn Public Library

Let me get this out of the way first: spring is my least favorite season. I think it’s a tease. If it’s gray and frigid in the morning, you’ll be sweating through your work shirt and squinting in the sun by the afternoon. Sure, there are daffodils and magnolia trees—but are the buds really worth the sneeze sessions that come with them? Easter egg hunts were fun when we were kids, but now I contemplate lanternfly egg hunts, and spring is full of trepidation! But I don’t want to be the curmudgeon who wears turtlenecks until Memorial Day. I’d like to be the kind of person who delights in the…

A New Direction in Women's Liberation

My family thought I would be different than the other Neal women. I was born in 1979: disco was waning, hip-hop was burgeoning, and punk was morphing into New Wave. The dust was settling on many revolutions. It was a period of coasting on the waves of all that was won for the women before me. I took advantage of the opportunities afforded to Gen X women. I moved around the country at will and without care. I was the first in my immediate family to earn a bachelor's degree and then the first to receive a graduate degree. I've sat in rooms with corporate executives; I have my own stock…

Pi Day: Celebrate Literary and Mathematical Constants  

BPL Book Bingo: Reading Across the Ages

Kimberly Behan

In the Spirit of Collaboration: Virgil Abloh at the Brooklyn Museum

A few weekends ago, after a beautiful Saturday morning of yoga on the Brooklyn Museum stoop, I had the chance to make it out to their special exhibition: Virgil Abloh: “Figures of Speech.” It celebrates the life and work of the late fashion designer, architect, DJ, artist and entrepreneur Virgil Abloh, well-known for his fashion brand Off-White, among many other projects.         View this post on Instagram                       A post shared by Brooklyn Museum (@brooklynmuseum…

BPL Book Bingo! 23 Books for 2023

Each time a new year rolls around, it seems the age-old resolution to “read more books” does too. This year, we challenge you to not only read more books but to read 23 books for 2023! And, we've developed a list to guide your reading and encourage you to step outside your comfort zone.   So, in 2023, we challenge you to read: A book for the new year (check out some of our New Year's booklists for inspiration!)  A book with a bookmark from a previous patron   A book in translation   An audiobook or eBook …

Make Winter Fun with Brooklyn Public Library

Struggling with the post-holiday blues? Brooklyn Public Library offers a variety of free activities that can help you stay busy, engaged and warm this season—here are just a few! Culture Pass There are dozens of arts and cultural activities you can access completely free of charge by making a reservation through Culture Pass! Sign in with your library card credentials at culturepass.nyc and you’ll find free passes for more than 75 different locations around the city. You can use Culture Pass to visit museums, take a brisk stroll through the Brooklyn Botanic Garden or Wave…

An Open Book: Our New Audio Tour of Central Library

An Open Book   By design, BPL’s Central Library has always been an open book. Now patrons can step into a multi-storied journey through the building designed to mimic the pristine pages of a new book with our recently-launched Central Library Audio Tour. From the Art Deco styling of the limestone façade to the aborted subway platform many floors below, you can take our audio tour with you as you wander around our historic building. If this legendary listen leaves you craving more, check out the reads below.   Style of the Period  The most striking features of Central…

Protect Yourself! Resources for NYC Library Privacy Week

Melissa Morrone

Once again it's Library Privacy Week here in New York City! This is the time of year when New Yorkers can take advantage of an extra concentration of classes and other resources at library branches throughout the city, as well as virtually. Library Privacy Week is an initiative of NYC Digital Safety, a collaborative project of Brooklyn Public Library, the New York Public Library, Queens Public Library, and METRO Library Council that helps train library staff to be reliable sources of information on digital privacy and security. Want to dive into some of these resources yourself?…

The Surprisingly Local Roots of Classic Thanksgiving Dishes

As I flipped through cookbooks for Thanksgiving prep, I encountered one that shifted my perception on our world and its history: The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen by Sean Sherman and Beth Dooley. Sherman is an Ogalala Lakota Sioux and James Beard Award-winning chef who runs Owamni, a highly esteemed Indigenous restaurant based in Minneapolis. His cookbook only uses ingredients native to the Americas, with a heavy emphasis on North American ingredients, such as trout, cranberries, duck, juniper, maple, wild rice and the three sisters. Notably, it does not use any European staples such as…

Department Spotlight: Government & Community Relations

Over the summer, I hosted some family members who were visiting New York City for the first time. They experienced the typical city sights: towering buildings, crowded trains, garbage-covered sidewalks, and endless options for lunch—but with the August 2022 primary elections just a few weeks away, they also observed an impressive number of campaign posters decorating store windows and campaigners handing out fliers on street corners. While they had anticipated the gigantic buildings and subway rats, they were surprised by the bold strangers asking if they were registered to vote. They were…

What We’re Reading on the 10th Anniversary of Hurricane Sandy

Bound by the Atlantic Ocean and the Hudson Estuary, the land on which New York City sits has always been a place defined by water. But it wasn’t until the devastation of Superstorm Sandy, which hit New York 10 years ago this week, that many of us began to understand what being surrounded by water means for our city’s safety and future. Superstorm Sandy, which made landfall in New York City on October 29th, 2012, devastated neighborhoods throughout the five boroughs. Streets, houses and subway stations were overwhelmed with water as New York’s aging infrastructure faced historic storm surges…

Halloween BookMatch! Costume-Based Reading Recommendations

What are you going to be for Halloween?! Much like an astrological sign, a Halloween costume can reveal an awful lot about a person—so in the spirit of spooky season, step into Off the Shelf's office and we'll advise what book pairs best with your holiday attire. Psst! Don't see your costume on the list? Try the Library's free BookMatch service to receive personalized book recommendations for your friends, your family and even your most fiendish foes!   VAMPIRE Fledgling written by Octavia E. Butler You thought I was going to say Dracula, right? While it is a classic, I…

A Global Look at Indigenous Peoples Day

I come from Australia, a country that has a terrible history with the treatment of its own Indigenous peoples, Australian Aboriginals. The grievous atrocities committed upon these people since the arrival of white colonialists from England in 1788—and throughout colonial times and onwards—are too numerous and horrific to mention, ranging from genocide to diaspora.  When Captain James Cook first landed on the shores of what is now called Botany Bay, encountering the local Aboriginal people, it was declared that this land was “Terra Nullius.” The literal translation is a land that is…

Reproductive Injustice: the Overturning of Roe v. Wade & What that Means for US

Words Hold Power: Reclassifying Library Materials

“Oppressive language does more than represent violence; it is violence; does more than represent the limits of knowledge; it limits knowledge...it must be rejected, altered and exposed.” -Toni Morrison, Nobel Lecture December 7, 1993 The categories we use to refer to groups of people are not simply neutral descriptors but often implicitly come with various associations or value judgements, which influence how society perceives them. Language is not stagnant and tends to change to better fit how we see ourselves. The Alternative Classification Committee works to address and interrupt…

Author Interview: Max Gross

I’m always excited when an author agrees to participate in an interview for Off the Shelf, so when Max Gross, author of rave-reviewed The Lost Shtetl, agreed to sit for an interview and join the New Utrecht branch for a discussion of his debut novel, let’s just say I was exceedingly happy. Gross’s book is an attentively crafted thought experiment on what might happen if a Polish shtetl slipped away from the outside world, unwittingly escaped the Nazi’s warpath, then collided with modern society. The catalyst for this “lost'' shtetl's reconnection with the modern world? The suspected…

Books to Help You Get Moving

If there is one thing I really hate, it's moving. Naturally, I seem to move almost every year. My most recent move was last month—to Brooklyn with my husband and son, so I could commute to my public library job more easily. After so many moves, you might assume I am an expert, but I admit the stress and difficulty has caught me off guard each time. Until this time. This time, to ease my dread of the task ahead, I decided to hit the books at the library beforehand. Here's a list of some of the fiction and nonfiction that resulted from this process, in case you are planning a move too.…

Summer Reads for City Wanderers

With the summer solstice now behind us, the days are going to start getting shorter, bit by bit. But don’t despair—there are still plenty of brightly lit evenings ahead! Taking a long, meandering walk is one of the great pleasures of living in a big city, and the extra daylight means this is one of the prime times of year for aimless urban ambling. If you need a bit of inspiration to get off that couch, we’ve got you covered with this list of books that explore the art of walking in the city. Bon voyage! Twenty Minutes in Manhattan - One-time Village Voice architecture critic,…

The Secret to Limitless Urban Gardening

Orla O.

I first became interested in gardening in middle school. My friends and I found ourselves at a farmers market one day after school and we immediately noticed the rows of plants in black plastic pots. Right away I was fascinated by all of the tiny green sprouts and I couldn’t believe how many different varieties of plants they had that I was used to seeing in recipes. I went home with a basil plant and a mint plant that day and I did my best to keep them alive and thriving in little pots on my window sill through the summer. While I enjoyed caring for these two plants, I didn't think that…

Summer Solstice Reads: How to Handle 15 Hours of Daylight

The summer solstice is upon us once again. I’ve always loved the solstice. Who doesn’t love the start of summer and all it entails: ice cream cones, flip-flops, the smell of sunscreen on the beach? But this year, the solstice feels even more fitting to the timeline in which we are existing. The longest day of the year? That is exactly what the past few pandemic years have felt like: one weird, nebulous, chaotic and LONG year spanning multiple years. In the year of our lives, 2020 to present has been its longest day. Linear time no longer feels true to experience, so even a day where the…

Happy Birthday, BPL!

If there is one thing I love it’s a birthday—especially mine (September 2; send books!) and that of my most loved ones. Something about turning a year older and celebrating the day you were born is just so special to me. So it’s with extreme excitement that, my first summer as a librarian at Brooklyn Public Library (BPL being a loved one for me), I get to celebrate the Library’s 125th birthday (BPL, you look great. You don’t look a day over 21.). All summer long, BPL will have programming for all ages to commemorate this epic birthday bash, and to get you into the spirit of…

Books with a Hook: For Mateys Who Love Our Flag Means Death

How did we luck into such deeply funny, sweet and dramatic queer-pirating adventure as Our Flag Means Death (OFMD)? Pirate movies and shows are known, by and large, for being neither sweet nor queer (not a lot of matey¹-cuddling in Black Sails, alas). And yet, for all of the de rigueur tropes–leather-clad pirates, pitched battles, swordfights, swashbuckling, treasure-hunting–OFMD sails past the commonplace gritty sea tale and glides into a rainbow sunset of love and friendship, where men have a chance at gentleness and women are people too.   The show follows…

Dear Class of 2022:

You’ve put in all the work, crossed that grand stage, moved your tassel from right to left, and had the big celebration with family and friends. Perhaps a great many of you already know your next steps: offers from colleges or potential employers, maybe a new city or country to explore, maybe staying home for an extended break before the “real world” begins? Wherever you may find yourself, Brooklyn Public Library provides resources and guidance on what’s next through our Business & Career Center (B&CC). Your library card is the key to accessing sites like Brainfuse JobNow or Career…

A (Folk)Tale as Old as Time: 3 Folklore Retellings

I recently went to see Hadestown on Broadway. If you’re unfamiliar with the musical, it is a retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth. The story goes like this: Eurydice is trapped in the Underworld as a result of a deal she made with Hades. Orpheus travels there to rescue her, and they are told that they can walk out of Hell, but if he looks back at Eurydice as they walk out, she has to return to the Underworld permanently. Just as they’re about to escape, Orpheus is plagued by doubt and turns to make sure that Eurydice is still following him. She gets pulled back into Hell as he laments…

Author Interview: Elisheba Haqq

Lauren

Elisheba Haqq is a writing professor at Rutgers University, a registered nurse, and the author of Mamaji, a memoir about the loss of her mother, growing up as part of an immigrant family in Minnesota, and persevering through an abusive childhood. In this interview, she discusses her writing career, explains her research process, and recommends a few of her favorite books. Off the Shelf (Ots): Mamaji is an extremely personal memoir about the loss of your mother, as well as the horrific emotional, physical and financial abuse that you and your older siblings endured. I felt like I was reading…

Read it on the Page, See it For Yourself: What to Read on International Museum Day

Books have a unique power to transport us to faraway places both real and imagined—but they can also bring us fresh perspectives on places that are right down the street! In New York City, we’re surrounded by an incredibly diverse collection of collections: museums of all sorts and sizes, filled with everything from modern art and detailed dioramas to abstract sculpture and period furniture. Whatever you find fascinating, there’s likely an exhibit on it tucked away somewhere in the five boroughs. This year, to celebrate International Museum Day, we’ve rounded up eight of our favorite books…

Borrow a Telescope: One Teen's Mission to Share the Stars

The Telescope Lending Library launched on a clear night in November 2021, with an outdoor viewing event attended by an enthusiastic mixture of public, library staff and members of the Amateur Astronomy Association (AAA) of New York. Absent from this experience, however, was the eleventh-grade astronomy lover whose plan to lend telescopes as freely as books—evolved over months of proposals and Zoom conferences—was finally coming to fruition.  Yui H.’s passion for astronomy began with a different plan, formed at age nine while living in Singapore, after several screenings of…

Poem in Your Pocket: 7 Poems & Their Reverberations

The Academy of American Poets launched National Poetry Month in April 1996. The goal of National Poetry Month is to remind all that in a world awash in text, poetry matters. Every April since, poetry readers and nonreaders alike can’t help but notice poetry cropping up amongst the blooms of spring—poems suddenly adorning sandwich boards and subway cars, Instagram feeds, drivetime radio and especially in local library displays. This year, Off the Shelf invited four lovers of poetry to contribute a post for a Poem in Your Pocket series to gift our readers a new poem for every day of the week.…

PowerUP! to the People 

In 2003, the PowerUP! Business Plan Competition launched to support and grow Brooklyn's entrepreneurial spirit and small businesses. Since then, PowerUP! has nurtured 9,000+individuals with 1,200+business plans and awarded more than $500,000 to Brooklyn entrepreneurs. Some of our most notable success stories are the Bogota Latin Bistro, Greenlight Bookstore and Island Pops. Although the pandemic brought many challenges to Brooklyn neighborhoods, and to our city as a whole, PowerUP! continues to be an exciting presence and program supporting local business startups. …

Poem in Your Pocket: 7 Stages of Grief

The Academy of American Poets launched National Poetry Month in April 1996. The goal of National Poetry Month is to remind all that in a world awash in text, poetry matters. Every April since, poetry readers and nonreaders alike can’t help but notice poetry cropping up amongst the blooms of spring—poems suddenly adorning sandwich boards and subway cars, Instagram feeds, drivetime radio and especially in local library displays. This year, Off the Shelf invited four lovers of poetry to contribute a post for a Poem in Your Pocket series to gift our readers a new poem for every day of the week.…

Poem in Your Pocket: 7 Poems by Women

The Academy of American Poets launched National Poetry Month in April 1996. The goal of National Poetry Month is to remind all that in a world awash in text, poetry matters. Every April since, poetry readers and nonreaders alike can’t help but notice poetry cropping up amongst the blooms of spring—poems suddenly adorning sandwich boards and subway cars, Instagram feeds, drivetime radio and especially in local library displays. This year, Off the Shelf invited four lovers of poetry to contribute a post for a Poem in Your Pocket series to gift our readers a new poem for every day of the week.…

Poem in Your Pocket: 7 Poems for National Poetry Month

The Academy of American Poets launched National Poetry Month in April 1996. The goal of National Poetry Month is to remind all that in a world awash in text, poetry matters. Every April since, poetry readers and nonreaders alike can’t help but notice poetry cropping up amongst the blooms of spring—poems suddenly adorning sandwich boards and subway cars, Instagram feeds, drivetime radio and especially in local library displays. This year, Off the Shelf invited four lovers of poetry to contribute a post for a Poem in Your Pocket series to gift our readers a new poem for every day of the week.…

Earth Works: Books, Music, and More for our Planet

In honor of our March 13 concert with the Orchestra of St. Lukes, "Earthworks", we have put together a list of books and more to get you thinking about the intersection between music, nature, and climate change.  Silences So Deep: Music, Solitude, Alaska by John Luther Adams is a meditative memoir about the composer’s time in Alaska, in which he reflects on friendship, music and art, framed by a landscape facing a climate crisis.  But you don’t have to travel so far when thinking about the natural world. It can be easy to overlook the vibrancy of urban…

Spotlight: Macon Library, a Classic Carnegie Representing the Bed-Stuy Community

Macon Library, located at 361 Lewis Avenue, is one of the best-preserved Carnegie branches in Brooklyn. Opened in 1907, the two-story, Classical Revival-style building retains its original fireplaces, oak paneling, alcoves and wooden benches, along with the warm charm that has welcomed the Bedford-Stuyvesant community for more than one hundred years. With Bedford-Stuyvesant being rich with African American history, BPL staff. local residents and community leaders made the preservation of that history a priority with the Dionne Mack-Harvin Center, Macon Library's African American…

Finding Hope & Recovery Between the Pages

The past several years have been tough for all of us, whether we found ourselves dealing with the pandemic directly, watched the devastation it caused around the world, or felt its impacts on work, school and our social lives. Every time we have taken a few steps forward, it has frequently felt like several steps back and it’s been hard, I think, for us all to catch our collective breath before there’s something new to worry about. As we inch towards the promise of spring and renewal, here are some books that deal with carving out space to heal, grieve and take care of our minds and bodies…

The Change the Subject Project: Addressing Bias in the Library Catalog

The Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) is a thesaurus of controlled vocabularies used in subject indexing of bibliographic records by libraries, archives and museums. Subject headings are assigned to items in a library catalog to facilitate users’ search and discovery of resources relating to similar subject matter. In Brooklyn Public Library’s catalog, subject headings are listed as tags under the details tab in the bibliographic record. Users can click the subject heading tags and explore related resources in the library’s collection. Subject headings facilitate access and…

What to Read for Read in the Bathtub Day

Historically, I have not been a bathtub person. I was in fact anti-bath for many years. Apparently, it only takes a global pandemic to make me a bathtub devotée. As with many in the world, these past two years have confined me to my apartment much, much more than I would like. So last winter, desperate to discover a new space in the one-bedroom I share with my now-husband and dog—after first exhausting all other options (e.g. our windowless sub-basement, the bit of floor in front of our radiator), I turned to the once-dismissed fixture taking up half of our bathroom. And oh, how much I was…

Groundhog Day: Books You Can Read Over and Over Again

Ah, Groundhog Day. I grew up in Pennsylvania, not far from the home of the notorious Punxsutawney Phil and his yearly weather prediction on February 2. This is a ritual that derives from the Pennsylvania Dutch superstition that if a groundhog can see its shadow on February 2, it will retreat back into its burrow and spring won’t arrive for six more weeks. This was a relatively small, obscure rural tradition until the 1993 Bill Murrary movie Groundhog Day, which brought prominence to the event (and party that happens in Phil’s hometown). The film also forever tied the idea of Groundhog Day to…

The Fashion Show that Helped Launch a Movement

See the Movie, Read the Book: Christmas Edition

Christmas was last week, but that doesn't mean it's over. Just ask any die-hard Hallmark Channel viewer—they've been enjoying holiday flicks since before Daylight Saving Time, and will probably watch more for weeks to come. There's a definite lure to the comfort these movies depict: fireplaces galore, cups of tea and cocoa, fair isle sweaters, hats and scarves (barely worn but ever-present), and true love realized through the magic of Christmas. And guess what? All of that holly-jolly splendor is even better when it takes place in a good book.  Grab a candy cane and check out…

Happy Festivus! A Mini Booklist About Families

Raquel Penzo

"I've got a lot of problems with you people, and now you're gonna hear about it!" So began our introduction to the Festivus, a winter holiday invented by Frank Costanza (Seinfeld, 1989-1998) as an alternative to Christmas. It involves a metal pole intead of a tree, The Airing of Grievances—where you tell everyone gathered why they've pissed you off—and the very exciting Feats of Strength (which is exactly what it sounds like). Since that episode aired, Festivus has become an actual holiday celebrated by many, and I'm not sure if it's a nod to the popularity of Seinfeld or to the fact…

Keep Your NaNoWriMo Momentum Going

We’re coming down the stretch of National Novel Writing Month, best known as NaNoWriMo, in which experienced and first-time writers alike come together with the goal of converting as many ideas as possible from thought to paper before November ends. Whether you managed to get down 400 words or 40,000, congratulations!   With Thanksgiving coming near, you might have a mostly-finished story on your hands, or if you’ve been unproductive like me (thank you, writer’s block), maybe a…

In Celebration of Native American/Indigenous Heritage Month

Native American and Alaska Native Heritage Month started out as a week-long celebration as of 1986, during former President Reagan's administration. Since 1995, November has been designated as the month to celebrate and honor the cultures, achievements and contributions of Native Americans and Alaska Natives. Below are ten books of varying genres you can read to finish out this month, and all year round. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer: "An inspired weaving of indigenous knowledge, plant science,…

2021 Transgender Day of Remembrance

"Transgender Day of Remembrance seeks to highlight the losses we face due to anti-transgender bigotry and violence… With so many seeking to erase transgender people—sometimes in the most brutal ways possible—it is vitally important that those we lose are remembered, and that we continue to fight for justice." –TDoR founder Gwendolyn Ann Smith “November 20 marks Trans Day of Remembrance, an annual memorial for our murdered kin. The day gives us space to grieve the siblings—overwhelmingly Black trans women and femmes—who were pushed out of this world too soon. Our rebellious mourning recommits…

Writing Marathon: Craft Books to Inspire You This NaNoWriMo

Jennifer

We’re halfway through my second favorite time of year: I’m not talking about preparing for Thanksgiving or Christmas or even No-Shave November. I’m talking about National Novel Writing Month, or as it is affectionately abbreviated to, NaNoWriMo. Every year, amateur and professional writers alike start November with one goal in mind: write 50,000 in one month. Where does this magic number come from? It is largely accepted that 50,000 words is the minimum required length for most adult novels. To give you a sense of context, here are a few novels that are around the 50,000 word mark: The…

Game On! It's International Games Week at Your Library

Every year the American Library Association Games & Gaming Round Table runs International Games Week, an opportunity to celebrate gaming in libraries. Taking place this year from November 7th-13th, libraries can register gaming events they hold during the week to highlight just how much fun and educational gaming takes place inside our spaces. And we do a lot of gaming: from traditional games like chess and bingo to the latest video games, not a week goes by in which BPL staff are not running a gaming session of some sort. Next week we are running more than 20…

A Halloween Tribute to Lois Duncan

Raquel Penzo

Curious about what it was like to grow up a little girl in Brooklyn with an affinity for the macabre, a non-censoring mother and carte blanche use of her library card? Well, let me tell you: her to-be-read pile was filled with copies of Clive Barker’s Books of Blood, volumes of Truly Tasteless Jokes, Judy Blume’s Wifey  and countless YA thrillers and horrors. And in the 80s, the YA horror masters were Joan Lowery Nixon, Christopher Pike (Fall into Darkness), Richard Peck (Are You in the House Alone?), and the QUEEN—Lois Duncan (1934 – 2016). Why is Duncan the uncontested…

Plot-Driven Audiobook Thrillers for Long Autumn Road Trips

By Sally Z., a BPL Librarians of Tomorrow (Lot) Intern Stories of true crime have always interested me. Whether it be a part of the daily news sequence or front page on the newspaper, the capitating thrill sequence of mystery and murder seem to capture a variety of audience. When looking at a “BREAKING NEWS” headline, emotions are being rushed in: concern, anger, fear, interest, etc. The unwelcoming setting of a crime scene with black and yellow barricade tape labeled in all bold and capitalized letters “CAUTION”. And endless searches for crucial evidence and conversations with first…

Remembering Charlie Watts: a Stones Primer

Words & Riddims: A Book (and Play) List to Survive Another Canceled Carnival

Raquel Penzo

Add to the list of things the pandemic has taken from us: the joys of playing mas on the Parkway on Labor Day.

How We Got Here: Readings on New York Politics

As we wallow in the dog days of summer, the city's political high season is around the corner. This fall, voters will elect a new Mayor and choose almost all of the City Council, as well as other state and local offices. Given the propensity of politicians to promise and boast and cajole us to win our vote, New Yorkers are understandably eager to see beyond the hype. Taking a step back from the specifics of campaigns and candidates, the books below all aim to give a glimpse into how New York City politics really works.  The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York, by Robert…

Books to Bring on a Picnic

The first time I created a list of Picnic Reads, sharing a blanket with friends and family for a day of eating, drinking, fun and frivolity wasn’t that popular.  However, things have changed, and if you're going to hang out with your loved ones, an open space outdoors makes the best sense. I compiled the first list with books centered around food, summer and vacations in mind. Some of those books, alas, are no longer in our collection—something I consider a tragedy! Five years ago, I could not have conceived of a world in which future generations of library users would be deprived…

Catch the Small Press Flea This Saturday!

This Saturday, August 14th Brooklyn Public Library presents SPF21: Small Press Flea, in collaboration with BOMB Magazine. More than 20 different publishers will join us this year!  Small presses are publishers who release a limited number of new titles per year. They often focus on niche subjects and bring local voices to a larger audience. While small presses represent only 20% of the publishing market, they potentially outpace their larger counterparts in creative and thought-provoking content. Ted Dodson, Director of Circulation at BOMB, thinks of small press publishing in…

Celebrate Christmas in Summer!

Jennifer

The east coast is experiencing its last blast of heat this month before slipping into the cooler climate of the fall. For many people, post-Independence Day begins the countdown to Halloween while many others skip straight to Christmas. If you're looking forward to pine trees and twinkling lights decorating your home once again, then take some time to read a few of the Christmas books on this list that will appeal to any reader—from sweet romances and classic stories to fantastical twists on holiday favorites.  Many people believe that Christmas did not exist in the way we…

Read My Lipstick

The time has come to paint that pout again. Secretly glowing in gloss beneath a mask, my ruby rouged lips—a guilty pleasure for the last few months—have been waiting for the moment when I can proudly parade this pucker once more. Primping was out of place for a while, while we collectively embraced a pandemic makeunder, but when what we thought was a day in our pajamas here, no shower there, and a few weeks of turning off the camera on this thing called Zoom turned into sixteen months, undone became the consensus. But now that we’re scaling back the austerity of survival mode…

Essential Cookbooks by Black Chefs and Authors

Soul food has become one of most prevalent and popular cuisines in the United States. As with Soul music, when a sensory experience feels so familiar, or so American it seems to have soul, we're really talking about its roots in the African diaspora. In the African American community, the art of cooking arises from a longing to feed others, gather family and friends, and keep traditions alive. Food is not solely a way of showing love, but it's also a means to pass traditions down from one family to another and an experience that transcends geographic or cultural boundaries, so I pulled…

Cool Off With These Hot Reads

It’s official: the dog days of summer are here. Now’s the time to grab a beach blanket, find a shady tree, sit in front of a fan...you get the idea. Wherever you end up, be sure to chill out with a good book—and don’t forget the sunscreen! Something New Under the Sun by Alexandra Kleeman  Set in Hollywood in the not-too-distant future, Kleeman’s dystopian thriller features movie stars, wildfires, and privatized, synthetic water. Out in August, this book is already getting serious buzz.  Appleseed by Matt Bell  Packing your bags for a long summer vacation? At nearly 500 pages…

Author Tahmima Anam on The Startup Wife and Her Creative Influences

The Startup Wife, by acclaimed author Tahmima Anam, is a fresh and bold examination of society’s obsession with social media and glorification of its creators. At once wickedly clever, hilarious, romantic and shocking, Anam's latest is a genuine literary gem that I could not put down, and has already received starred reviews and praise from the likes of Publishers Weekly, Kirkus and author Rumaan Alam ahead  of its July 13 release. The story follows tech genius Asha Ray as she introduces a new program that replicates her husband’s ability to create profound sacred-…

Books to Inspire a Revolution (Kinda): A Mini List

Raquel Penzo

The Fourth of July is just a couple of days away—did you buy enough burgers for the grill? Fireworks to drive the neighbors crazy? Blueberries, in order to make that red, white and blue fruity cake Americans love so much? Awesome! You're well on your way to a great Independence Day. All you're missing now is a good book for when you've grown tired of the hoopla and want to escape, but you've already watched Hamilton a trillion times and could maybe use a break. Here are some books set against uprisings around the world that will satisfy your fighting spirit: Animal Farm by George…

Celebrating Queer Joy During Pride

Brooklyn by Bike: Staff Reflections on National Bicycle Month

There's a learning and comfort curve to cycling in this city that every cyclist understands. There are laws to learn, upfront costs and scary, aggressive drivers. And for those used to traveling by train, there's a whole system of bicycle-friendly routes to learn in order to get started. But despite all of this, there is a magnificent joy that comes from biking around this town. We would not do it, after all, if it weren't for the joy. And there is perhaps no easier time of year to experience this joy than in the month of May when most of the weather conditions that might dampen the…

Need to Ease Back Into Reading? We Got You!

The last book I read in full was Let Me Hear a Rhyme by Tiffany D. Jackson, back in June of 2019. You read that correctly: June of 2019. After that, I just dabbled with a few novels or cookbooks, skimmed Lamar Odom's memoir, Darkness to Light, for Kardashian gossip, and paged through a couple of books about late Patriots' tight end Aaron Hernandez after watching a scathing documentary about his crimes. Then the holidays occupied my time. Then COVID-19 locked us down and my brain could no longer focus. As the world begins to reopen, and more and more of us get fully vaccinated, I'm…

Reading Rut Remedies

If you’re on this blog, then I think you're well aware that reading is the best (nothing better!). But just like cooking, exercise or any hobby you practice regularly, sometimes the routine gets boring and you fall into a rut (nothing worse!).  Oatmeal with blueberries, again? Jogging the Prospect Park loop, again?? Contemporary fiction about a sad lady looking for love in the big city, again?! Don’t despair, friends—the Library is here for you. Whether you’re currently stuck in a reading rut or you simply want to be prepared, here are five BPL resources that will rekindle your love…

Get Into This AAPI Heritage Month Booklist!

Since 1992, we celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month in May to acknowledge the accomplishments and contributions of the AAPI communities to the United States. With the unacceptable rise in anti-Asian violence both here and abroad, it is especially vital for us to bring well-deserved attention to these amazing books written by AAPI writers of the past and present. Crying in H Mart: A Memoir by Michelle Zauner: Zauner, a biracial Korean American musician otherwise known as Japanese Breakfast, shares her moving and witty story of growing up Asian in Eugene, OR…

Avoid the Allure of Easy Money, It's Financial Literacy Month!

Branch Spotlight: Greenpoint Library and Environmental Education Center

Your Library, Your Planet Each year we take a moment to celebrate our environment on Earth Day. Our little ones come home from school with plants and ideas for recycling and we think about how our behaviors impact our planet. But now, Brooklyn Public Library has a new branch where every day is Earth Day: The Greenpoint Library and Environmental Education Center (GEEC).  But why is this new branch in Greenpoint? Greenpoint sits at the confluence of the East River and the Newtown Creek, at the Northwest edge of Brooklyn. In the nineteenth century, Greenpoint became the…

Spring Cleaning? Dust Yourself Off While You're At It!

Peeking into the Writing Life of Author Deesha Philyaw

I’m someone who wants to be emotionally invested in the well-being of fictional characters. I enjoy worrying about them when I’m not reading and pining for them when the book has ended. And usually, I avoid short stories because I struggle to connect with the characters in so few pages. However Deesha Philyaw and her debut short story collection, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, changed my opinion entirely. Deesha's book contains nine short stories about black women, their sex lives and their varied relationships with the church, examining her tenderly-wrought characters at their most…

An Interview With Cover Designer Olivia McGiff

When people ask who my all-time favorite writer is, I never hesitate. "It’s Laurie Colwin, absolutely," I say. More often than not I’m met with a blank stare: Colwin died tragically young and her final books were published posthumously in 1993. For years, it’s been up to Colwin’s passionate fanbase to introduce new readers to the food and fiction writer’s books. But lo! This spring, the publishers Harper Perennial and Vintage Contemporaries are reissuing Laurie Colwin’s five novels, three story collections and two cooking memoirs with fresh, beautiful covers designed and illustrated by…

The Oy of Cooking

Passover with the CookMobile BKLYN CookMobile is a cooking program for teens and other beginners. We cook our way through Brooklyn’s diverse cultural heritages, with an eye to scientific inquiry and food justice. Naturally, we relish holiday ceremony and celebration! Here’s what we recommend for Passover: Leave Me Alone with the Recipes: The Life, Art, and Cookbook of Cipe Pineles by Cipe Pineles Peneles was the first female art director at Condé Nast. If her style looks familiar, it’s because food illustrators are influenced by her work to this day, often without knowing it. This is…

Three Memoirs & Biographies to Read for Women's History Month

March is a very special month, especially for me. We celebrate International Women’s Day on the 8th, and Women’s History Month for all thirty-one days. Additionally, my kind and loving mother was born in March. As a staunch queer and intersectional feminist librarian, and former women and gender studies major in college, I am forever passionate about centering ALL women’s stories and experiences. If you, too, are itching to read about the fascinating lives of three incredible women of…

Podcasts Are the Perfect Spring-Cleaning Soundtrack

Somehow, March 20—the first day of spring—has crept up on us. This means that “spring cleaning” is in full effect. To be honest, since the increase of remote work, it feels like 2020’s spring cleaning never really ended. It’s a bit cliche but having a clean and clear space has made it easier to concentrate on work during this extended work/life mashup. However, this isn’t going to be a post on tips and tricks to keep your bookshelves dust free. I’m going to be writing about podcasts! A bit random, but bear with me, I'll tie it all together soon. Outside of picking up a few bad habits (I’m…

Soda Bread & Shamrocks: A St. Patrick’s Day Booklist

We can’t give you a parade or a pub crawl, but we can offer you a celebratory booklist! Butter your soda bread, drown the shamrock and discover the history and traditions of St. Patrick’s Day with the BPL catalog.  Holiday history lessons Celebrating 250 years of the NYC St. Patrick’s Day Parade by John T. Ridge  NYC’s annual parade started in 1762!  The Wearing of the Green by Mike Cronin & Daryl Adair A thoroughly researched history of March 17.   Dagger John by John Loughery The story of Archbishop John Hughes, builder of St. Patrick’s Cathedral and founder of…

A Quick Chat with Brooklyn's Own Tiffany D. Jackson

Raquel Penzo

If you were to scour the twitter account of best-selling YA author Tiffany D. Jackson (Grown), you’d surely come across a few readers who adamantly cuss her out for ripping through their emotions with her characters and plot twists (see: Allegedly and Monday’s Not Coming, especially). You’d also notice that she revels in the reactions. But more than that, you’d notice that, since her first novel debuted (and even before), Jackson has been a champion, advocate, and vocal supporter of Black stories and their right to be heard. I met her about a decade ago in a writing workshop she was running…

Department Spotlight: Info Commons

Do you miss having access to amazing software resources here at the library? We’ve got you covered! Prior to the pandemic, software at BPL branches helped Brooklynites be productive and supported their creativity. At the Central Library’s Info Commons, additional software was available, including Adobe Creative Cloud design applications, as well as other audio and video production software–not to mention a recording studio. Since the start of the pandemic, how the Info Commons provides service has been altered dramatically. Reference services and programs have moved entirely online. These…

Interview with Author Silvia Moreno-Garcia

I think most people imagine a writer’s trajectory is a straight line but I’ve gone up and down...writing is a game of endurance. Like many of you this past summer, I read Mexican Gothic by the award-winning Silvia Moreno-Garcia and absolutely loved it. You clearly agree. At the time of this interview, 929 Brooklynites await their turn to read Mexican Gothic. It has all the bells and whistles of a classic gothic thriller: a once-grand estate, a misty cemetery, ghostly occurrences, a wealthy and peculiar family (complete with eligible bachelors), a beautiful young woman in…

Cold Enough For Ya? Reads from the Frozen Continent

When a healthy winter snowfall blankets our city with its chill, some of us long for warmer landscapes: sunny beaches, tropical islands. Some of us, however, loop on another of Granny's knitted mufflers and say to winter: Bring it on! This post is for those readers who still love to tromp around in snowdrifts (at least for an hour or two) and who can't help but think: what if it were really cold? Antarctica, aka The Frozen Continent, where temperatures this time of year average 36 below, is a fine setting for books meant to inspire a pleasant chill in your bones. So if your vision of a…

You, Too, Can Be a Revolutionary: A Black Panther Party Booklist

We’re coming up on the end of Black History Month, and this is usually the time when all the performative allyship starts to wane: people post one last Martin Luther King, Jr. quote or recycle a few facts about Harriet Tubman or Frederick Douglas. It’s the perfect time to remind our audience that Black history is American History, and as such, something that should be studied/brought up/shared throughout the year, not just in the shortest month. So, as we tiptoe into March, let’s keep our momentum going and read up on a prominent revolutionary organization (and one of its more known leaders…

Romance Novels to Read If You Love Bridgerton

Jennifer

While February is the month of love, it was the love we were feeling in December that was keeping us warm when we watched Netflix’s wildly popular, Bridgerton. The TV show is based on Julia Quinn’s series of the same name and while it was published 20 years ago, it’s getting some new love with the popularity of the show. If you’re looking to continue the fun you’ll find something to love on this list if you loved Bridgerton.  Plus, the warm fuzzy feelings you get from reading a romance novel are just the thing to get you through the rest of winter.  The Duke Who Didn’t by Courtney…

That Guy Was President? Five Books on Forgotten Commanders-in-Chief

There are some presidents that—for better or worse—dominate the headlines decades after they’ve been in office, and others that fall into obscurity with every generation that passes. And it’s hard to pinpoint who our descendants will choose to still talk about (although I have a pretty good idea on a couple). But whatever the outcome, it’s good to know that for every random, “oh yeah, that guy was a president,” we encounter, there’s a historian willing to write about him. Here are five books about the men history likes to forget. Happy President’s Day! The Forgotten Presidents: Their Untold…

Cozy Up with These Wintry Tales

It's early February and we finally got hit with our first snowstorm. It's the perfect time to wrap yourself up in a cozy blanket, sip a hot drink and crack open a book that will transport you to magical land, or scenic wintry destinations. Here are five picks to get you started! Beartown: A Novel by Fredrik Backman A tiny community nestled deep in the forest, the junior ice hockey team of Beartown is about to compete in the national semi-finals, and they actually have a shot at winning. All the hopes and dreams of this place now rest on the shoulders of a handful of teenage boys, and…

Interview with Author Micah Nemerever

When I was a lonely teenager the local library was a sanctuary for me—there was one librarian in particular who linked me with public creative writing programs and offered to read stories I’d written...now that I’ve worked in libraries and know how busy librarians are, I’m especially grateful that she took the time to read my writing—it was above and beyond. I was thrilled by Micah Nemerever’s debut novel These Violent Delights and am so pleased to introduce him to Off the Shelf readers! This fresh thriller is hailed as The Secret History (Donna Tartt) meets Call Me by Your Name (Andre…

What You Read in 2020

This tumultuous start to 2021 notwithstanding, we can all agree that 2020 was a year unlike any other. Brooklynites masked up and quarantined for months on end; we showed our support for frontline workers at 7pm; we took to the streets in support of Black Lives Matter; we voted in a controversial presidential election. We also read—even when the libraries and bookstores were closed. With our doors mostly shut, it’s no surprise you started checking out eBooks and eAudiobooks more than ever before—forty-nine percent up from 2019 and still climbing! But to what books does the County of Kings…

5 Winter Holiday Books to Cozy Up with this Season

Romance, Cookbooks, and More! December is chock full of holidays like Hanukkah, Christmas, Solstice, and Kwanzaa. Although 2020 has been A LOT and the holidays are looking a lot different than we’re used to, these cozy romances and fun nonfiction titles are ideal for making you smile as you sip a nice nog or chocolatey cocoa. Dolly Dingle, Lesbian Landlady by Monica Nolan is a light and saucy homage to classic mid-century pulp novels. Dorian (aka Dolly) lives at the Magdalena Arms, a building full of swell Sapphic gals of all ages. When her landlady’s hip hits the floor with a bang, it…

Understanding Our Divided American House

To many, the patchwork of red and blue states building up on the electoral map in early November—and especially the televised rancor that followed, revealed afresh the badly frayed state of our politics and led to worry what it might spell for our country. With each party facing existential choices over what they will stand for going forward, the mixed election results have prompted soul-searching among Republicans and Democrats alike. Yet, according to a slate of recently published books, our political divisions are deep and have been widening for some time. And while it'…

Interview with Farzana Doctor

Growing up, my favourite places were my town’s public library and my school libraries. I still love these spaces for the sense of possibility they offer.... Brooklyn Public Library is delighted to welcome award-winning author Farzana Doctor to Off the Shelf as our latest guest. A true Candian triple threat, she’s a psychotherapist and activist as well as the author of a new book Seven hailed by Ms. Magazine as “fully feminist and ambitiously bold.” I couldn’t agree more. Seven follows Sharifa, a middle-aged wife and mother, on her trip to India where she begins an ancestral research…

#TDOR: Transgender Day of Remembrance & Why Trans Lives Matter

Transgender Day of Remembrance was set aside to memorialize those who were killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. The event is held in November to honor Rita Hester, whose murder in 1998 kicked off the “Remembering Our Dead” web project and a candlelight vigil in 1999. Rita Hester’s murder—like most anti-transgender murder cases—has yet to be solved. (TDOR.info) These deaths are the ones that have been reported and recorded. Due to data not being systematically collected in most countries, added to the constant misgendering by families, authorities and media, it is not…

Overheard: Deliberations of the 2020 BPL Literary Prize Committee

Each fall, the Brooklyn Public Library Literary Prize recognizes an outstanding work of both nonfiction and fiction with an award and a $5,000 prize. The 2020 awardees will finally be announced on Friday, November 20th at the Brooklyn Classic–the signature fundraising event of the Brooklyn Eagles. To pick the winners, a volunteer team of two dozen librarians spend the better part of a year evaluating titles submitted by staff from across the borough. The committee looks for books published after June 1, 2019 that push boundaries, bring light to unheralded stories, or give voice to…

Celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day

By Leah Golubchick, Hasina Islam, and Elizabeth Willse Indigenous Peoples Day is a celebration of the original inhabitants of America, and of New York. It is a day to acknowledge their history, to celebrate their customs and contributions to culture. And it is a day to learn more about indigenous people, and to carry that process of learning forward into a more ongoing project of discovering and honoring their contributions.  Indigenous People in New York The original inhabitants of New York and its surrounding areas were the Lenape. Lenape territory extended from what is now…

You've Been Accepted: Queer and Trans-Inclusive Magic Schools

I have a complicated relationship with Harry Potter. I read the first three books back-to-back-to-back at the very beginning of the Harry Potter craze, then proceeded to fall in love with Harry, Hermione, and Ron over the next decade. As I was about to enter my senior year of high school, Harry was battling Voldemort for the last time. I quite literally grew up with Harry. Harry Potter taught me that girls could be smart and capable (even more so than the boys), that friendship and love and determination can defeat evil, and that evil isn’t always obvious (remember Dolores Umbridge?) and to…

Women’s Equality, Today

Women’s Equality Day deserves your attention, especially now. In the midst of a major social awakening in America, it’s become clear that so much more can be done in our nation’s fight for true equality.  The Women’s Suffrage Movement began in the 1800s, as women organized and rallied for civil rights. In the face of well-financed political opposition, women began to push back, state by state, for what they deserved. In August of 1920, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was signed, 42 years after it was introduced to Congress, granting American women the right to vote and hold…

When Did You Fall in Love with Reading?

A little birdie told us that, when our collective quarantine happened, many avid readers just couldn't focus on books anymore. We're sure it's quite scary to suddenly find the thing that felt like home, now feels as if it's 'too much'. If this sounds like you, fear no more! In an effort to help you jumpstart a new love affair with the written word, Off the Shelf editors asked our book-obsessed colleagues: What books made you fall in love with reading? Below are some selections for anyone looking to revisit some childhood classics, or if you're in need, possible inspiration. Happy…

We Are Not OK: Mental Health Resources for BIPOC Communities

Raquel Penzo

Among the myriad of issues and system breakdowns exposed by our national COVID-19 problem, the mental health of our citizens hovers near the top of the list. Add in the current social and political unrest and a daily struggle with generational trauma, and you’ll uncover that our Black, Indigenous, and PoC communities have had an extra helping of stress and strife on their collective plates. Before the pandemic, I often struggled with leaving the house. Now? Fuggedabouit. I have to literally only have crumbs and memories in the fridge before I step out to buy groceries, and I know I'm not…

A Mood Ring for Beach Reads

For book lovers in search of a silver lining, here’s one: even in these unprecedented times, it’s still safe to read on the beach! Find your outdoor oasis, practice social distancing and take a dip into these recently published books. The offerings below, handpicked to provide a much-needed escape, range from steamy rom-coms and domestic dramas to literary thrillers and personal histories. And always remember: if it's a book and you’re reading it on a beach, it’s a beach read.  And they lived happily ever after… Beach Read written by Emily Henry The title says it all,…

Climate Wednesdays Are Back!

We are pleased to announcethe return of Climate Wednesdays at Brooklyn Public Library! This series, presented by 350 Brooklyn, examines how Brooklynites can face the climate crisis and features experts and activists sharing their ideas and practical solutions to combat climate change. Launched in the fall of 2019, past events have explored how energy use, parenting, food, and our health are impacted by rising temperatures, pollution and natural disasters.  The next event on fossil fuel-free transportation (Wednesday, July 22, 7 pm) looks at sustainable transportation…

Department Spotlight: Justice Initiatives

Quarantine with the DeKalb Library Staff

These past few months have been very strange, indeed, as we’ve adapted to staying apart but working together on library projects virtually. One of the ways the staff of DeKalb Library has been able to feel connected is through having virtual meetings with our colleagues on Zoom and nurturing the friendships that are very strong in the branch. In between talking about important library matters, we’ve found ways to talk about what we’re reading, watching and listening to, and the other ways we’ve been trying to take care of ourselves and feel "normal". Some of us find that we’re reading…

Author Spotlight: June Jordan, Poet of the People

Will Black Lives Matter on the Fourth of July? (The COVID-19 Remix)

Independence Day is approaching quickly in the US on Saturday, and it will be an interesting one in the Age of Donald Trump, COVID-19, Social Distancing, Asian American discrimination and harassment and a resurgence of protests demanding that Black Lives Matter. But many of us don’t think about the Fourth of July’s legacy and how freedom did not come to everyone in 1776, the repercussions of which are still being felt today. My vision for 2020 was to have it be the year of my holistic healing, until the pandemic interrupted me. And then the social and racial unrests began. The police…

Don't Stop Celebrating Black Music Month

The history of Black music in America is essentially the history of American music. From blues, ragtime and gospel, through jazz, soul, rock and roll, funk and reggae, to hip hop, house, techno—not to mention the significant contributions of African-Americans to traditional genres such as musical theater, opera, classical symphony, and choral music—the African diaspora originated and shaped the development of all of the wonderful and diverse music enjoyed here and across the world today. This incredible heritage developed, moreover, despite facing legal and societal injustice and a scandalous…

Must Reads on the Black Experience: A Juneteenth Booklist

Raquel Penzo

From General Order Number 3: "The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired laborer." And thus Juneteenth was born (in 1865) when Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, arrived in Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved Africans were now free. Yes,…

Celebrate Pride with These Poetry Collections!

Here is a brief list of books from the last year-ish that transcend Pride Month, and presents a more nuanced, representative and resonant experience of queerness than what is often front and center this time of year. Homie by Danez Smith (Graywolf) These are poems for and about queer black community, friendship, and queer black poet elders. Crossfire: A Litany for Survival by Staceyann Chin (Haymarket) The first full-length collection of Chin’s poems spanning 21 years of work, with a subtitle that references Audre Lorde. NDN Coping Mechanisms: Notes From the Field by Billy-Ray…

A Quick World Goth Day Tutorial

I discovered goth music about the same time I discovered Anne Rice. I was in the sixth grade and spent much of my time listening to Siouxsie & the Banshees on my portable record player and summoning ghosts with my Ouija board, then I found the paperback of Interview with the Vampire on my parents bookshelf and never gave it back. I still have it. I still have the Ouija board too but now it’s mostly for decorative purposes. Mostly.  That’s the interesting thing about goth. For a music-based subculture it has a remarkable longevity that spans generations from Elder Goths to Baby Bats…

Enemies-to-Lovers: Swoon Over these Romance Novels

Reading romance novels has helped bring me joy during this pandemic. I especially seek out those that fall under the popular trope, enemies-to-lovers. The six titles listed below are witty, fun, and sexy—and will hopefully give you a good laugh, too! Enjoy and stay safe! The Right Swipe: A Novel by Alisha Rai Rhiannon Hunter was ghosted by Samson Lima after letting herself fall for his charms after one amazing date. When he resurfaces, aligned with her biggest business rival and asking for a secomd chance, Rhiannon has to decide if her walls stay up, or if she should risk merging hearts!…

What We're Reading: BPL Staff Edition

As librarians, we’re used to turning to books for comfort and escape. One of the topics of discussion that has come up for us has been how our reading habits have changed as our world has changed. Many of us are turning to new genres (hello fantasy and romance!). Some of us are finding that it’s harder to focus and we’re reading less, while some of us are finding that we’re reading a lot more as we just want a way to escape 2020. Either way, here’s a roundup of some of the books that BPL librarians and staff have been reading recently. Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky The story got a…

Websites to Lose Yourself In

Everyone who uses the Internet knows that one of its perils is the website that can suck you in for hours, or even days at a time. In normal times, such sites can often be a problem. Now, though, with everyone sheltering in place in their homes, these sorts of websites may in fact be the ideal distraction. Presented here are some excellent websites to get lost in, along with a book pairing to complement the sites. TV Tropes This “all devouring pop-culture wiki” is a compendium of “tropes [storytelling device or convention] used to tell stories.” This is like calling the…

How to Grow Lemons at Home

This post is part of our Inclusive Gardening series.  Spring is here! But we all need to stay inside. I miss being outside this time of year and seeing things grow. So, to cheer myself up, I decided to grow some things in my kitchen. I remembered that early spring is a good time to get seeds ready to plant. I had some lemon seeds left over when I after I made lemonade. I saved them so I could grow a lemon tree.   Harvesting Lemon Seeds  You will need:  Lemon, medium sized  Knife  Cutting board  Juice strainer  Spoon or lemon…

Interview with Author Bonnie Tsui

"Water is the great equalizer—no matter your age or size or color or physical ability, it buoys us all. Libraries are the same. They are portals to magical worlds beyond the ones we currently inhabit. And we all could use that right about now." For an unexpectedly rewarding thought experiment, ask yourself: why do we swim? If a flood of fond memories of water and sun return for you, it probably makes little sense at first to ask why we, humans, swim, but as author Bonnie Tsui reminds us, primates are among the only mammals not innately possessed of swimming instincts. “Elephants, dogs,…

More Poems for the Quarantined Soul

Raquel Penzo

In NYC, we’re going on two months of social distancing, quarantining, and existing on the fumes of what our hometown used to be. During this time, cultural organizations like BPL (and others) across the world have provided digital content to keep some semblance of normalcy in our lives: classes, readings, performances—heck, even Saturday Night Live is cobbling together fresh episodes ‘from home.' But sometimes, it can help to lean in and embrace the deeper, harsher, raw emotions bubbling up with each day we remain at home. To close out National Poetry month, here are a handful of poetry…

Earth Day Poetry Recommendations from a Former Hater

Lauren

My reading appetite is insatiable, an annual sixty-course feast of literary fiction, mysteries and romantic comedies, the occasional nonfiction book tacked on like the green juice you choke down after a gluttonous vacation. I am willing to read anything, but until two years ago, I would have described myself as poetry averse. Why look to corny, rhyming couplets for the meaning of life when I could instead reflect on the emo lyrics of my teen angst? But then something happened: I got hooked on a weekly column about poetry and lipstick and caregiving written by a British cookbook author named…

Celebrate Immigrant Heritage Week!

In partnership with the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, Brooklyn Public Library is celebrating Immigrant Heritage Week from April 13 to 19. The week pays homage to the legacy of April 17, 1907, the day in New York City history the largest number of immigrants (11,000!) entered the U.S. through Ellis Island. To celebrate, we’ve gathered a list of e-books centered around the immigrant experience in New York, with a special focus on Brooklyn. Panic in a Suitcase by Yelena Akhtiorskaya  A dazzling novel about a Russian immigrant family living in the Brighton Beach neighborhood…

So, We're All Bakers Now...

Raquel Penzo

...and professional chefs, organizers, carpenters, make-up artists and even teachers. If you go by what the empty supermarket shelves or curated Instagram posts are telling us, our collective #QuarantineLife has turned us into Ma & Pa Ingalls, doing things for ourselves that many of us have been outsourcing for years. But if you’re struggling a little bit with getting your skills up, we’ve got a (digital) book for that! B A K I N G Happiness Is Baking by Maida Heatter We could all use some cheering up, and some folks believe that baking can (and probably eating all the products of…

Leafing Through History: Another Booklist About Tasty Teas

Earlier this year, I shared a booklist focused on tea and sympathies in the world of cozy tea shops and murder most foul. But if your interests in the steaming brews have a historical bent, or you're curious about tea and the makings of a good cuppa, try this blend of tantalizing tea titles: Infused: Adventures in Tea by Henrietta Lovell Lovell, an evangelist for and an owner of an artisanal loose tea shop, leads readers on a journey across the globe searching for the world’s best and most extraordinary teas. Traveling to such places as Sri Lanka, Scotland, Norway, Italy, Mexico and…

[Virtual] Opening Day

Trudging through the chilly breeze and long, dark evenings of winter, we looked forward to spring: budding of new leaves, sunnier days, and those two magic words: Play Ball! Spring training would have been the first sign of hope for warmer days, evenings spent watching a favorite team on TV, or listening on the radio. Whether you’re a die-hard baseball fan who grew up loving a favorite team, or a more recent fan, it’s clear that this season isn’t going to be what you remembered, and may not be what you hoped to find. Brooklyn has its own deep roots and history with baseball, from the…

Feel-Good Nonfiction, Anyone?

Everyone has their own taste in books, and for me it's often nonfiction. In uncertain moments, it can be soothing to escape into a world of verifiable facts. My all-time favorite reads are in the motley genres of literary journalism and narrative nonfiction. I like real-life stories with a subtle tension to keep me reading, while still offering passages of quiet reflection. Such works pair well with a related genre, a book of essays. These days I'm especially seeking essayists that promise irreverence and honesty, maybe even a rueful chuckle as I read. The list below highlights authors who'…

Need a Break from Working at Home?

You’ve got the hang of working from home: you’re connected, your desk setup is pretty sweet and your projects are chugging along. You’re remembering to eat regularly, stay hydrated and maybe even change out of your pajamas occasionally. You got this. It’s day-number-who-knows-what of working remotely...and you’re starting to really need a break from your own company. Here are some ways to stay connected with friends and family from far away, or get a welcome distraction. Explore some of Brooklyn Public Library’s archives and databases Visit the Digital Collection of…

Celebrating the Irish-American Experience

The literary canon does not want for Irish and Irish-American authors—James Joyce, William Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Flannery O’Connor, Mary McCarthy, Thomas Flanagan, Brooklyn’s own Frank McCourt, Pete Hamill, and so many more! Considering we must celebrate this St. Patrick’s Day without the rowdy crowds or green beer, there’s never been a better time to check out one of these fabulous titles about the Irish-American experience. This list includes new releases from award-winning authors as well as titles from young writers who may not yet be household names. My Father Left Me Ireland…

Going Viral with Epidemiologists

When a new and alarming disease spreads rapidly through a population, who do you call? Epidemiologists! Joined by their colleagues in virology and immunology, epidemiologists plan ahead to respond to epidemics. They attempt to forecast the growth and spread of infectious disease, study outbreaks as they happen, and work alongside local and national governments to craft solutions.  With the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak dominating the news, it may be helpful to be reminded of the successes of epidemiologists during prior crises. Epidemiologists are among the heroes of medical science,…

Stressed? We Swear These Books Will Help!

Ever feel like you just want to say fork it all, flip a table, and walk into the sea? Yeah, me either, but in case you have a “friend” who feels that way, here are some books to help them cope with all the bullshirt life has to offer. On Bullsh*t is the quintessential philosophy texts that proves itself by writing bullshirt about bullshirt. It’s fast, fun, and firmly tongue-in-cheek, using the precepts of philosophical discourse to live up to its title.  In The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life, Mark Mason gives a fork you to blind…

More Billions, No Problems?

Billionaires are always in the news. Whether they are launching spacecraft or running for president, they draw our attention and curiosity. They also prompt questions: Who are these billionaires anyway? How did they accumulate their beaucoup bucks? What could a person possibly do with all that wealth? Who's a billionaire? Forbes Magazine follows the ins and outs of the billionaire's club, and publishes an update each spring. As of March 2019, there were over 2,000 billionaires worldwide. Over 600 were in the United States, 244 were women, and just 13 were black. How much is a billion? Just…

Meet Pluto and Our Other (Celestial) Neighbors

Let's all raise a glass to celebrate a milestone in our relations with Pluto, our cosmic neighbor. Ninety years ago this month, on February 18, 1930, an aspiring astronomer named Clyde Tombaugh examined a pair of night sky photographs taken weeks earlier and noticed a faint light had changed position. For us, it was Pluto's welcoming wave. Located in the vast Kuiper Belt far beyond Neptune, and traveling in an off-kilter, ellipse-shaped orbit that sends it up to 4.5 billion miles from the sun, it's fair to say Pluto and Earth have never been particularly close. Many still feel we committed a…

What the Heart Wants: Valentine's Day from Two Perspectives

Jennifer; Robert

Much of the beginning of February is the leadup to Valentine's Day—if you don't have your plans ironed out much further in advance. For many the holiday is a divisive one. Today, we're joined on the blog by two Brooklyn Public Library staff members who will be making their case for and against the day—supported, of course, by some exemplary examples in literature. Please note: Spoilers may be ahead for anyone who hasn't read some of the books mentioned. I was recently reading Fleabag: The Scriptures when I came across a gem of a speech given by a character named Priest. (or, as he's become…

Graphic Novels to Read During Black History Month

As you all know, February is Black History Month. Black History Month was proposed by Black professors and the Black United Students group at Kent State University in 1969, and was first celebrated a year later from January 2nd to February 28th. Not until 1976, was it finally celebrated nationwide.  One way to celebrate and honor Black history is by reading graphic novels. As many of us librarians and library workers know, graphic novels are becoming increasingly popular. Graphic novels can also be a helpful tool for struggling readers of all ages, and can improve one’s visual literacy…

For Mystery Lovers (and More): Honoring Mary Higgins Clark

Food for Thought: 5 Cookbooks to Make You Reconsider Oatmeal

As winter wraps its icy fingers around New York in earnest, chilly smoothies and açai bowls are a thing of the past, and it’s time to whip out grandma’s recipe for oatmeal. While oatmeal gets a bad rap, these cookbooks will have you reconsidering the breakfast staple.  Bubby's Brunch Cookbook: Recipes and Menus from New York's Favorite Comfort Food Restaurant written by Ron Silver One of my favorite cookbooks with delicious recipes for every breakfast staple you could imagine—and if you try a few of the more decadent breakfast options in addition to the oatmeal, I won’t tell! Check…

Être Vivant: A Night of Philosophy and Ideas 2020 Reading List

AN ALL-NIGHT MARATHON of philosophical debate, performances, screenings, readings, and music. For the fourth year in a row, Brooklyn Public Library, in partnership with the Cultural Services of French Embassy, hosted A Night of Philosophy and Ideas. Thousands of New Yorkers gathered in our walls from 7p.m. on February 1, 2020 until 7a.m. on Feburary 2, 2020. Some of the most innovative and provocative thinkers of our time led lectures on topics from How to Come Up with Your Own Philosophical Questions to When a Robot Decides When You Live or Die.  At the start of the…

My Super Bowl History: 30 Years of 49ers

I was nine when I first understood how important winning a Super Bowl could be to a city. Growing up in Northern California, you couldn’t miss flags flying in front of houses, neighbors wearing hats and shirts, celebrating the 49ers winning Super Bowl 24. Fast forward to Super Bowl 54: I’m a bit older...and there have been some rough seasons for the Niners—alternating quarterbacks and coaches, even stadiums (and all that relocation drama). But for now, all of the talk is for the Red and Gold to win title number six! The team has had other successful runs in recent…

Library Selection Team Recommends 3 Books You'll Love This Feburary

What books are you looking forward to this winter?  Note from the Off the Shelf Blog Editors: This list of books has been curated by the BookOps book selection team. BookOps carries the responsibility of meeting the library collection management and distribution both New York Public Library and Brooklyn Public Library. If you're looking for reading inspiration this winter, then look no further than these upcoming releases. They've been hand-picked by the team that selects all the books you've loved at Brooklyn Public Library and New York Public Library.  Shuggie Bain: A Novel…

Books for National Tea Month: A Heady Brew of Tea & Murder Most Gentle

January is National Hot Tea Month and nestled amongst a month of heady aromas, rich flavors, hints of milk and sugar (or not), lurks National Hot Tea day January 12. There is also National Tea day (UK) on April 20 and International Tea day on December 15. With such a multitude of days commemorating it, it should come as no surprise that Tea is the 2nd most consumed beverage on earth after water.  Further the United States is the third largest importer of tea trailing only Russia and Pakistan. Whether you enjoy your tea as black or green, pu’er, white, oolong, herbal infused,…

Lose Time with Doctor Who & These Related Book Series

If time traveling and galaxy exploration are on your list of reasonably attainable resolutions this year, then you might (should!) be a fan of Doctor Who. In a thousand words or less, I’m going to entice you into the fandom with a bit of a Season 11 (2018, which debuted Jodie Whittaker as the 13th Doctor) wrap-up, a case for why you should (still) be watching Season 12, and also a peek into the lingo of a Doctor Who fan. And you will not need to a language decoder (think Elvish, Klingon or even Dothraki), but if you really want something to read, I’ll list books you might like to pair with…

Understanding Impeachment

Raquel Penzo

The latest news in America’s political rollercoaster ride is the (maybe?) impeachment of the current president, Donald Trump. But what does that even mean? Those of us who remember Bill Clinton’s impeachment hearings maybe recall it as just being a bunch of inquiries into his extramarital dalliances, and then a big nothing; he was still president afterward. So could this be more of the same? What exactly is the President being accused of (abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, by the way), and how is Congress attempting to call him on it? And, the most important question of all, what…

"Anger is Not a Bad Energy": In Conversation with Olga Tokarczuk

Editor's Note: This interview took place in the fall of 2010 when Olga Tokarczuk was in the US on a book tour for Primeval and Other Times. Olga Tokarczuk was a guest of the Brooklyn Public Library in 2018,  and was lauded this past December with the Nobel Prize in Literature. However before she came to Brooklyn Public Library, I had the chance to interview her in the autumn 2010, when Olga Tokarczuk's book Primeval and Other Times was translated into English by Antonia Lloyd Jones. Tokarczuk was then invited by the New Literature from Europe Festival and took a short…

Library Staff Reveal Their Reading Goals for 2020

End the Decade Appreciating Your Already Good Self

Perhaps it’s the never ending stream of end-of-decade, best-of and worst-of lists of TV shows, movies, plays, books, albums, memes, restaurants, etc.? Or, it could be the deluge of contantly streamable media is giving us all Lack-of-Season-al Affective Disorder (LSAD)? Or maybe it’s because we are entering an election year while still in the middle of year forever of a hostile and contentious political climate? Whatever the reason, who could blame you for feeling end-of-the-decade dread. We at Off the Shelf would like to ease that dread by offering resources and materials for a more…

Modern Little Women: An Interview with Virginia Kantra

Lauren

Have you seen Little Women yet?! It's been the first question out of every book lover's mouth since Christmas Day, when Greta Gerwig's highly anticipated adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's novel finally hit theaters. BPL's bloggers are happy to report the movie is wonderful, it is everything, stop whatever you're doing and go see it. Even more good news: this interview with Virginia Kantra, author of Meg & Jo, the first installment of a two-book, contemporary retelling of Little Women. Whether you're a longtime Alcott reader or are brand new to March Sister fandom, you will love Kantra's…

What to Read Based on Your Favorite Holiday Movie

Jennifer

During the holiday season, I always ration my holiday movie-watching until the week before Christmas because I know I'll spend a large chunk of my time with my family watching all our favorites. Whether that's newer favorites like Home Alone and Polar Express to classics like It's a Wonderful Life and A Christmas Carol, we watch them all! Below I've gathered a few books I know are beloved during the season and paired them with a novel that may fit your mood, if you too, want to make those holiday movie feelings linger past the two hours it takes to watch them.  It's a Wonderful Life…

5 Literary Trends of the 2010s

As a group that never shies away from a good pun, I thought I’d lean into librarianship for this post on trends of the last decade. And to keep it even more on topic, I’ve doubled down with a term that lost  relevance amongst Millennials and Gen Z years ago. Here goes... Hands down, the number one trend of the decade could be summed up as the following: If it was Lit(erary), it was On Trend Who says libraries and books are losing relevance? This last decade saw libraries and the publishing industry as veritable Hollywood incubators. The bread and butter of modern librarianship—books (…

Wintry Fiction Has the Cold in Common

Louisa Lebwohl

As a children’s librarian, I spend a fair amount of time talking about seasons: What’s your favorite season? —Summer! I like summer too. What do you like about summer? Is it cold in the summer? —No, silly! The summer is hot. The winter is cold. My favorite season is fall, but with fall come and gone for the year, we may as well welcome winter. And besides, there’s also a lot to love about our new weather: it gets cold, sure, but it can also be cozy; the snow can be inconvenient, but also very pretty. Perhaps it is precisely that contrast between severity and comfort that…

The Shared Spirit of Storytelling

My reading life follows mysterious weather patterns that are difficult to predict and lack design or internal consistency. Sometimes I want a collection of stories that I can read bit by bit; sometimes I want a short novel I can read through in hardly more than a sitting; usually, I need to have at least one collection of poetry at hand; always, I have fairytales. Still, a theme emerged while compiling this list of recent favorites that I am excited to share: these books are themselves about the act of sharing stories. So, amidst the mysterious weather patterns…

Getting the jump on New Year's resolutions

It is the time of the year when many of us are preparing for New Year’s resolutions. When many of us are deciding what to resolve, we think about adopting whatever fad diets are out there, buying and renewing gym memberships, purchasing workout gear, and convincing ourselves this will be the year we will finally lose weight once and for all. I grew up watching the “New Year, New You” week-long segments on Good Morning America during the 1990s. I am one of the many people with New Year’s resolutions. Weight loss transformation is top on my resolutions for 2020. I am currently getting a head…

Must Reads of 2019 from our BookMatchers

A 15-year train wreck. Gorgeous and evocative. Magisterial work.  Just a few descriptions our very own BookMatch Librarians have used for some of their favorite books of 2019. Take a look at these recommendations to figure out your end of decade reads or a head start to your 2020 reading goals! Please check back often as we will add more titles to this list.  Fiction The Archive of Alternate Endings -- Lindsey Drager This is a slim, gut punch of a novel. Told in interlocking vignettes that follow the 75-year path of Haley's comet from 1378 to 2365, it reimagines the…

Alternatives to Black Friday

The holiday season commences earlier and earlier each year. Forget eclipsing the Thanksgiving holidays, Hallmark began showing Christmas movies before even the Halloween decorations were removed this year. If you turn on your TV, you will notice holiday classics like A Christmas Story and Home Alone have already begun to appear amidst your regularly scheduled programming. Yet such incursions notwithstanding, the holiday season does not officially begin until the day after Thanksgiving—a date now behind us, known as Black Friday. Black Friday, lately accompanied by its…

#OwnVoices Tell Our Story

Peaceful Pilgrims escape the evils of England; neighborly ‘natives’ share their bounty with the new immigrants: a beautiful beginning to an even more beautiful country.... We are made familiar with such Thanksgiving mythology at an early age; hopefully we grow as familiar with the uncensored version by adulthood? Perhaps at some point, possibly on a college campus, we learn about the pox blankets, raping and pillaging, broken treaties and the disregard for sacred lands that amalgamate our complex history? And perhaps you've noticed, potentially in overdue acknowledgement…

Cooking for Crowds: Books to Cook This Season

It’s the time of year to dust off the roasting pans, serving platters, tofurky basters, pie plates, and anything else you might require to cook up a special meal to share with friends and family. Since moving to Brooklyn, I have become especially fond of holiday celebrations with friends and colleagues, as they tend to provide the most colorful array of foods and culinary experiences. I have enjoyed everything from rice and beans to sauerkraut to vegan cornbread during these spreads. It is to be acknowledged that what is considered a celebration or holiday food is largely subjective, and…

Dark Reads for Winter's Darkest Nights

I’ve always been drawn to weird, dark stories that push me to think critically and speculatively about the idealized versions of life and self we’re all so often presented with. A good story, be it literary fiction, horror, sci-fi, fantasy, or whatever else is universal. It will offer the reader hope and a safe way to engage with consciousness and the ephemeral nature of reality. Here are five examples of great writing that is at once literary and genre, weird and dark. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did. Shirley Jackson: Novels and stories by Shirley Jackson, Edited by Joyce Carol…

1619 Project: The Power of Naming

I wanted names. I wanted people whose narratives I could hold on to. But what struck me most while reading the essays in “The 1619 Project” were the monikers used to galvanize readers. I recognized some names as Black History Month regulars, and started to write down the ones I didn’t recognize. As I started aggregating individual names against titles and identity groupings, I realized the historical records of enslaved Africans in the British colonies consistently leaves so much unanswered. As purveyors of records, we are tasked with putting history together than can get lost to time. But…

Pens to Paper and Fingers to Keys: It’s Time for NaNoWriMo 2019!

National Novel Writing Month—abbreviated NaNoWriMo—starts today! For those of you who don’t know, NaNoWriMo is an annual internet-based writing challenge that takes place every November. The challenge? Write a 50,000 word first draft of a book…in 30 days. Don’t worry, it only sounds impossible. NaNoWriMo is a time for writers to throw aside doubt, fear, and possibly a bit of sleep to write 1,667 words (or more!) a day. It can be stressful and hectic, but is also deeply rewarding when you look back at what you’ve accomplished. I’ve taken part in (and successfully “won”) NaNoWriMo for the…

Beyond Stone Walls & Disco Balls: LGBTQ+ History Month

"All of us who are openly gay are living and writing the history of our movement"  - U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (WI) June 2019 saw us celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising, a week in the summer of 1969 when queer folks fought back against anti-gay police brutality. Stonewall sparked the modern movement for LGBTQ+rights and has inspired annual marches and parades. Pride Month every June is a rainbow explosion of celebration and commemoration, but LGBTQ+History Month in October is a great time to learn more about the history that came before and after Stonewall.…

Quiz: Which Literary Character Should You Be For Halloween?

Are you more of a Nancy Drew or a Pennywise? You won't find anyone who loves Halloween more than the people who work at a library. You'll forget every stereotype you had about what a librarian looks like when you see them decked out as their favorite character or spooky alter ego. Book lovers have a deep catalog of inspiration to mine every year when it comes time to think of a costume. If you are searching for a last-minute Halloween costume for yourself, take our quiz to discover the literary character you should impersonate this season! (function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.…

Was the Book Better?: Horror Edition

Comparing 10 of Stephen King’s Scariest Tales Happy (almost) Halloween, the time of year I like to remind folks of my absolute obsession with the literary classics by horror aficionado, Stephen King. From as early as the third grade—thanks to loose library regulations and a beautiful un-censoring mother—I’ve devoured King’s tales of the supernatural, macabre, and things that go bump at all hours of the day. Imagine my blissful joy when I began to notice that his books had been turned into films! Dee Wallace and her magical crying gave Donna her power in Cujo. Miko Hughes made me never want…

Ghosts in the Attic: Horror and Dark Fantasy by Authors of Color

Ah, October. The spookiest month. A time when the veil is thin and leaves are crunchy. If you’re a horror enthusiast, you know that this month is your month. If you’re looking for a break from Stephen King and Shirley Jackson, or want to explore the magnificent voices of people of color in the horror and dark fantasy genres, we’ve got the list for you. Beloved, Toni Morrison: A gothic horror staple, Morrison excavates the relationship between memory, terror, and the legacy of slavery in the United States. This Pulitzer Prize winning novel follows the family of Sethe after their escape from…

Ecohorror: Where Landscape and Anxiety Devours

Among literary genres, horror retains a unique capacity for social critique. It is unsurprising then that a subgenre depicting the growing tension between humans and the environment has arisen out of horror: ecohorror. The consequences of industry and capitalism—in particular on vulnerable or marginalized populations, grow increasingly apparent in the world around us. And as such, the true villains of ecohorror are neither the carnivorous hippos nor the trees that come to life and snatch you into the dark, but rather the extractive systems that have led to total environmental revolt. Yet not…

¿Got Libros? A Hispanic Heritage Month Primer

Sometimes it takes special monthly observations to highlight what other cultures are doing. Having been educated in the US my whole academic life means 90% of my classes were America-centric and it wasn’t until college that I was introduced to literature from other nations (besides the UK). This is why National Hispanic Heritage Month—celebrated in the US from September 15 to October 15, is so special. Hispanic Heritage Month is a time to highlight the rich and varied history of Latinx people as well as their contributions to American culture (and let's be honest: the world—though…

Behind the Scenes with the BPL Literary Prize Committee

The 2019 Literary Prize Shortlist Announcement: an Opportunity to Check-In with the Committee On Tuesday, September 24, Brooklyn Public Library announced its shortlist for the 2019 Brooklyn Public Library Literary Prize for fiction/poetry and nonfiction. The eight selections—including two books of poetry, a short story collection, a novel and four works of nonfiction—were selected by a team of librarians. The shortlist constitutes the final stage in a rigorous, year-round process for determining the winners of the annual Prize. Last year, Jeanne Theoharis was…

Books Not Bombs, Bridges Not Walls

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution grants rights to freedom of speech, and is one of the greatest contributions that the United States’ Constitution can make to book lovers everywhere. Banned authors all over the world have looked at American ideals of freedom with awe and respect as they struggle for their rights to express their own thoughts even at the risk of their lives. Hence, American libraries and other progressive organizations have a great tradition of fighting censorship and book banning whenever it arises. Organizations such as American Library Association (ALA…

A Guide to the 2019 Brooklyn Book Festival

A Short, Sweet List of Good Short Story Anthologies

Short stories are pretty terrific. If you’re short on sustained reading time and focus due to a hectic week, or promising yourself just a few pages before you turn out the lights, a short story can be just right. Short stories can be a great way to discover new authors. Nearly all the authors whose work is collected in these anthologies have full-length novels in our collection. Sampling a story or two is a great way to reset your reading after reading a really big novel or nonfiction tome. Short stories are an excellent way to pull yourself out of a reading slump, where you can’t focus on…

Reads for Emmys Fans

The 2019 Emmy Awards will take over television on Sunday, September 22nd. Because loving TV doesn’t mean you can’t love books too, below are a few literary recommendations for fans of this season’s most popular series & TV movies. Check out a title while you’re waiting for Hollywood to churn out a new season of your favorite show!   For fans of… POSE (nominee, Outstanding Drama Series & Lead Actor) Check out:  The House of Impossible Beauties by Joseph Cassara  POSE, starring the fabulous Billy Porter, revolves around NYC’s underground house and ballroom…

5 Books You've Been Longing to Have Time For

Does your apartment seem strangely quiet? Has the pitter-patter of little feet raced away down the rapidly cooling sidewalk? These are the telltale signs that your children have finally gone back to school. So the question is: what are you going to do with all your spare time? Read a very long, complicated book, of course! Here are BPL’s selections for books to read when you’ve really got the time: Outlander (850 pages) by Diana Gabaldon: In 1945, Claire, a former combat nurse, is reunited with her husband for a second honeymoon in the Scottish Highlands. When she walks through a…

A Love Letter (Booklist) to the Caribbean

Literary Destinations: Reading Rhode Island

If there’s a New York state of mind—a Brooklyn state of mind—surely there’s an Ocean State of mind: a way of being that is quirky, independent, salty and unique to Rhode Island. Like a good book, it’s a small space with a big perspective. I spent some of my youth in Rhode Island and it’s a solace that whenever I crave a stuffed quahog or Del’s frozen lemonade or a dive off of a rocky precipice into cool, blue water, there are books out there that capture some of the state’s atmosphere and spirit. There are times in my life when I’ll sigh and say to myself, I’d rather be in Rhode Island, and…

Arctic Circle Dreaming on Such a Summer's Day

Crime Fiction Recommendations? We’re on the case!

*Cue haunting podcast intro* Brian Griffin was the strictest, most demanding teacher at Del Norte High School in Albuquerque, New Mexico. His students knew he tolerated nothing the best from them, never accepting late work. And plagiarizing would yield the biggest penalties his classes could imagine: repeating the course the following year. In the late spring in 1987, Mr. Griffin bestowed this punishment to a small group of students, as he did every June. Except that, at the end of this school year, Mr. Griffin never made it home. And that summer, he was found buried in the mountains. What…

Out of this World Science Fiction Reads

Neverending Summer: Literary Descriptions of Summer

Here in Brooklyn we’re not quite ready to say goodbye to summer yet. However, with school just around the corner, we might have to admit that autumn (and winter) are closer than we’d like. To try to keep the summer vibes going, we asked the Brooklyn Public Library staff to submit their favorite descriptions of summer from literature. Have a few favorites of your own? Let us know in the comments!

A Library Mourns Toni Morrison

Interview with Author Beth Macy

On Tuesday, August 6th, 2019, journalist and best-selling author Beth Macy visited the Leonard Library to launch the paperback edition of Dopesick--a heartbreaking, essential read that takes the reader into the epicenter of America’s twenty-plus year struggle with opioid addiction. From the publisher: Macy sets out to answer a grieving mother’s question-why her only son died-and comes away with a gripping, unputdownable story of greed and need. She investigates the powerful forces that led America’s doctors and patients to embrace a medical culture where…

Sound Strategies for Summer Reading

Erik Bobilin

Booklists for recommended summer reading often use images of paperback spines stretched across colorful beach towels or exciting covers tucked into a carry-on bag en route to some far off destination to conjure the feeling of getting away. Yet rarely do such lists acknowledge the damage that waterlogged pages and books left behind in rental cars and Airbnbs can do your library card fines balance! We at Off the Shelf are realists and see it as our duty to remind you that e-audiobooks, which take up no luggage space nor become homes to stowaway beach sand, are perfect for passing the hours on…

Sister Sister

I love talking to the women in my life--truly a collection of the smartest and coolest people in the world--about everything, really, but a favorite topic is what unique qualities the bonds between women possess, and how much of it is forged in the fires of a patriarchal society. Relationships between women are complex, crucial, formative things. They leave indelible impressions, make us who we are, inform how we see ourselves, how we understand the world, and who we are in it. Though I hardly need a special occasion to marvel over how amazing women are, August 4th nonetheless delivers unto…

5 Books to Read on Harry Potter's Birthday

Jennifer

Every year, Harry Potter fans around the world mark their calendar for July 31 so they can celebrate Harry Potter’s Birthday. For some that means binge-watching the movies and for others they’ll be revisiting the books. Many readers were introduced to a love of reading because of J.K. Rowlings’ series. If the Harry Potter series is the last set of books you read and loved, or you’re simply looking for a little bit of magic to be introduced to your bookshelf, check out the series on this list! Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo If you’d like to see what Ocean’s Eleven would be like if it were…

Three Beach Reads to Remind You Winter Is Bad!

Lauren

Well folks, we survived the Great Heatwave of 2019, yet New Yorkers are still complaining about the heat. Oh, is it hot outside? Newsflash: it’s July! It’s basically August! In this blogger’s opinion, summer is the best time to be a book lover—there are official (and not-so-official) Summer Fridays; everyone is either on vacation, about to go on vacation or just got back from vacation (in other words, no one cares about work); and warm weather means you can read on a beach, in a park or in the pleasantly climate controlled establishment of your choice (we're here to push books,…

US Open 2019: An Unauthorized Review

Cameron

There’s no better way to celebrate the end of summer more than watching world class athletes whack green fuzzy balls back-and-forth on a cauldron-like afternoon in Flushing Meadows park while sipping a cold beverage--quick shout out here to the US Open signature drink the Honey Deuce.  If you’re not already a fan of US Open tennis, you are decidedly missing out… the pageantry and country club pretension of professional tennis mixed with well-lubricated New York sports fans, soap opera antics, rising stars beating the odds, and titans of the sport refusing to retire make the Flushing…

Take Time to Make Time: Pop Science in a Hurry

As the World Churns: Ice Cream Heaven at Home

July is a month of unbearable stickiness. The stifling heat and humidity brings one inescapable form, but there is also another with more delicious character resulting from July also being National Ice Cream Month. Like most people, I prefer the stickiness that comes at the end of a delicious cup or cone. Though I am sadly lactose intolerant, it does not stop me from stealing a spoonful from my friends every now and again. Brooklyn has many excellent options for a heat-beating scoop and Brooklyn Public Library has even more options for escaping the heat…

Books to Read After Your Stranger Things Binge

You watched all of Stranger Things in one day and now you’re just going back and watching all your favorite scenes again while secretly wishing you’d exercised slightly more self-control. But it’s too late for that so it’s time to go to Option B: this list.  Welcome! We’re so happy you decided to come to us on your quest to find something to satisfy the part of your mind that craves three things and three things only: 1) Gripping narratives 2) A healthy dose of darkness 3) Relationships that show you that maybe the real stranger things were the friends we made along the way. We’re here…

Not All People Were Created Equal on July 4, 1776

July 4th came and went quickly. Some of us celebrated it as a day off from work. Some of us had to work for half-or-full-days and hoped to get some of the cookout leftovers after our shifts. Some of us were invited to parties and spent quality or people-pleasing/keeping the peace time with family and friends. Some of us went to shopping malls and outlets to take advantage of the Fourth of July sales. Some of us went to Coney Island to root for the contestants in the annual Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest. Some of us enjoyed the festive fireworks, beaches or even went to the movies. …

High SPF Reads for Your Summer Getaway

I love the beach. I love it when it’s full-on sunny or even partly cloudy; I have been known to visit a shore or two even in fall weather, just because...I live for that salty, sea air! Hot sand doesn’t bother me at all and no matter the season, the people-watching can’t be beat. So just imagine my joy at discovering a way to marry my love for the shore with my love for exploring new worlds between the covers of a good book. Part of the attraction of picking up any new read is the very real possibility of being transported to another place, time or dimension. Though I’ve never been to…

Hot Grill: Summer in the City

A hot dog or burger cooked in a frying pan during winter simply cannot compete with one grilled outdoors in the heat of the summer; they are almost different foods! And consequently, one of the most popular summer activities for many Brooklynites is cooking outdoors. Brooklynites will go to extravagant lengths to get grilled things into their lives, from traveling great distances with wagons loaded with grill gear to fitting humorously tiny grills or hibachis on the smallest of balconies (and sometimes fire escapes). Those fortunate enough to have backyards or patios are known to devote…

Say Nothing and Writing About the Troubles

Literary Destinations That are Just a Short Drive Away!

Quick Reads for Pride

Magic, Mermaids, and Coney Island

As summer solstice draws near, the annual Coney Island Mermaid Parade is upon us. In celebration of ancient mythology, artistic self-expression, and revelry in the culture of the seaside, marchers dress in glittering, whimsical, and wild costumes and are led by King Neptune and Queen Mermaid down Surf Avenue, while thousands of onlookers soak in the pageantry. Whether you plan to partake in the Mermaid Parade, these books will immerse you in that fantastical marine spirit. The Pisces by Melissa Broder -- Lucy has been writing her dissertation on Sappho for nine years when she and her…

Celebrate Father's Day with These Famous Dads

Memoirs to Read During Pride Month (And All Year Round!)!

Pride Month is here and there is much to celebrate and honor—LGBTQIA+history, politics, theater and film, culture, music, art, and especially literature. This blog post highlights four  recently published memoirs by LGBTQIA+writers. Take the time to read their beautiful and inspiring stories. Amateur: A True Story about What Makes a Man by Thomas Page McBee: McBee’s beautifully written and deeply personal memoir captures his experiences training to fight a charity boxing match at Madison Square Garden, all while struggling to define what it means to be a man both in and outside the…

When Broadway Goes Dark, Use a Booklight

This Sunday Broadway will go dark in celebration of the 73rd Annual Tony Awards.  While I am no expert on live theater, I know one thing for sure: only the experience of being transported into another world for two hours by professional performers wearing beautiful costumes can make a walk through Times Square on a Saturday night worth the hassle! As we are obliged to take a break from Broadway this weekend, why not use the intermission to look at some of the books upon which the nominations are based and enhance our Broadway savvy with a few deeper dives into its rich history…

Whitman's Spirit in the Gig Economy

Erik Bobilin

Graphic Novels With a Personal Touch

Graphic novels aren't just containers for superhero sagas; plenty of cartoonists have used their talent with words and pictures to chronicle more personal stories about their everyday lives or the lives of others. This kind of cartooning always feels more intimate to me, as if I'm looking over the artist's shoulder as they doodle scenes into their diaries. Here are eight examples of creators whose stories remain true to life. Lena Finkle's Magic Barrel by Anya Ulinich -- A lightly fictionalized and unflinchingly honest tale of a Russian-born artist and single mother searching for true love…

Book Club Spotlight: Sheepshead Bay

Off The Shelf highlights book discussion groups happening at our libraries across Brooklyn. All of our book discussion groups are free and everyone is welcome to participate. Sheepshead Bay Book Club has been in existence for over 20 years.  Silvia Glasser, a retired librarian at Brooklyn Public Library, started the book discussion club at Sheepshead Bay Library in 1998, and continued until the end of 2012. In 2016, as the adult services librarian at Sheepshead Bay, I was tasked with resurrecting this wonderful book club. I started with an old attendance list compiled by Mrs. Glasser.…

Short Reads for a Long Weekend

Maybe you have an hour or two to spare over the weekend and want to complete a book instead of reading a chapter.  Maybe you want to read on the beach but don’t want to spend too much time in the sun. Or maybe your partner has taken the kids for a couple of hours and finding two articles in the stack of unread New Yorkers is too much trouble. Whatever the case, we’ve got you covered. Below are a list of Quick Reads to enjoy over the holiday weekend. Each is under 100 pages and offer a variety of topics for a variety of tastes. For the La Manch-an In You Mona Lisa by Alexander Lernet-…

4 Books to Read Now that Game of Thrones is Over

No matter what you think of how things ended on Game of Thrones, you're going to need some new tales of adventure to sweep you away now that the series is over. Even if you haven't been following the twists and turns of events in Westeros, these stories will draw you into rich fantasy worlds, full of drama, intrigue and magic. There are even dragons! The Dragon Round by Stephen S. Power The Dragon Round is a swashbuckling adventure with a dark side. When a ship captain is stranded on a deserted island by his mutinous crew, he finds a baby dragon that just might be the key to his…

Walt Whitman: His Presence in America & Its Ongoing Presents

Living for the moment is living for history when whatever tales are told become the stuff of legacy. Walt Whitman was a flaneur, a lover of walking. By his own admission he was a loafer. Throughout his transitory state he continued to hold onto what was dear to him. In time it became dear to others, affecting them and influencing forever what is considered the best of American culture. Such was the power of his poetry, fleeting thoughts that became a tangible reality. Today all of that and more is Whitman’s continuing gift. Brooklyn Public Library has in its collection works that consider the…

Queer Poets & the Whitman Tradition

Bad Moms and the Hero's Journey

With even the most cursory overview of the literary canon, it is clear that a curious preponderance of protagonists seem to have survived some pretty bad parenting. It occurs to me that while this condition may be great for their narrative arc it probably makes celebrating Mother’s Day a little uncomfortable. So in honor of these hapless heroes and heroines of some of my favorite works of literature, I submit this list of not-so-great, fictional mothers who are bound to offer some timely perspective to the not-so-fictional, great mother in your own life. Enjoy! Mrs.…

Reading for the Technoskeptic

We who work at the library spend a lot of time thinking about technology – not just because we have public computers and thereby get a lot of questions about navigating them, but also since we watch the everyday life of library users as well as our own become transformed by digital environments. Big data? Online surveillance? Platform monopolies? Predictive policing? Algorithmic bias? Attention hacking? Just reading the headlines of the day makes it clear how society is grappling with how policy, law, and social norms are keeping up with (or not) the digital tools that we’ve become so…

Four Books to Transport You to a Galaxy Far, Far Away

May the Fourth Be with You...  While the anniversary of the release of the original Star Wars movie is May 25th and all subsequent Star Wars movies released by George Lucas have been around Memorial Day weekend (to coincide with Lucas’ birthday on May 14th), “Star Wars Day” is celebrated by fans on May 4th because of a pun: May the Fourth (May the Force) Be with You. You get it. So let me be the first to say, May the Fourth Be with You this Star Wars Day as you travel to a galaxy far, far away by checking out one of these great books: One of my favorite Star Wars novels is from the…

Quiz: Can You Spot the Real Walt Whitman Quote?

Jennifer

The Continuing Relevance of Arthur Rimbaud

Four Books to Cure Kitchen Gadget Shyness

The holidays were four months ago and your Instant Pot/air fryer/slow cooker are still in the box. You’ve tried “winging it” with recipes, but your creations are not what you might call "appetizing". And online recipes are useful, but doing battle with popup ads and sticky hands? That sounds like a recipe for a sticky phone! And you are stuck in this predicament, because before the internet, no technology existed for sharing information about food…. Wait! The Library has literally thousands of excellent books to help with both your gadget struggles and your recipe fails. With pictures to…

Earth Day: Protect Our Species

Have you taken a hike recently only to wonder where all the wildlife is, remembering nature walks from your youth that were teeming with animal activity? Is there a certain bird or flower from your childhood that you don’t see anymore, or maybe a tasty variety of vegetable or fruit that is nowhere to be found? According to the Earth Day Network, our planet is now facing an unprecedented extinction of plant and animal species that is directly linked to human activity, from climate change, deforestation, habitat loss, trafficking and poaching, unsustainable agriculture, pollution, and pesticide…

How to Be a Poet

Many years ago, in the distant 70s of the last century, an outstanding Polish poet of the postwar generation, practically unknown to the American reader, Edward Stachura, wrote, Everything is poetry, everyone is a poet. To form this truth I was slowly led by what I had seen, heard, recognized, noticed, or sensed, what was cursed and blessed, and what I read here and there. Everything is poetry; everyone is a poet. As a young girl, I strongly believed in this statement, which is why I started to write poems. These poems remain unpublished and perhaps that is for the best.  I wrote…

Julia Alvarez’s Book Birthday: A Celebration of #OwnVoices

On November 25, 1960, three of four Mirabal sisters—Patria Mercedes, María Argentina Minerva, and Antonia María Teresa—were assassinated on orders from the long-standing Dominican dictator, Rafael Leonida Trujillo, because of their involvement in underground activities that sought to unseat him. Known as Las Mariposas, their deaths (the anniversary of which is now known as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women) set into motion a surge in opposition that led, finally, to the assassination of Trujillo. The lives of Las Mariposas is the basis for the novel by Julia…

New York Picks One Book to Rule Them All

  Finalists Announced for One Book, One New York 2019   Voting is now open for the program that gets everyone to read the same book at the same time: One Book, One New York. You’ve got one month to choose your favorite among the list of this year’s finalists for the citywide book club; the winning book is announced on May 3rd. In consideration of the difficult choice ahead, BKLYN Library staff renounce their customary hushed tones below and declare which of the nominated books should be chosen:   Just Kids by Patti Smith - “…

Six Books Heralding the Boys Of Summer

Spring is here (according to the calendar, if not always the thermometer) and with it also the return of baseball season. Of all the major professional sports, baseball probably has the greatest sense of history surrounding it, going all the way back to the 19th-century when the game was played with what now seem like absurdly small gloves and catchers didn’t even wear masks. Through the years the game has changed in many ways and there can seem to be a world of difference between the days of Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth and Jackie Robinson and the highly analytical game of today. But…

What to Read (And Listen To) to Celebrate 2019's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductees

The Soundtracks of Our Lives Do you remember where you were when you first heard Stevie Nicks taking her love and taking it down? Or when you realized that the littlest Jackson was all grown up and in Control of her own career? Or when Bill Murray sang “More Than This” in Lost in Translation and you knew you’d heard the song before but couldn’t remember where? If so, then this year’s batch of inductees in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame will definitely spark joy. On Friday, March 29, Stevie Nicks, Janet Jackson, Roxy Music, Def Leppard, The Cure, Radiohead and The Zombies will recognized as…

Spring's here! Get growing!

As the days get longer and the crocuses and daffodils emerge from their slumber signaling the decline of winter, a realization takes hold: it's time to plan your garden!   It's spring time and while we city dwellers may not have oodles of space for growing, plants still play an important role in softening the harshness of our concrete jungle and connecting us to the natural world. Here are a few titles to help inspire your dream windowsill/patio/backyard/rooftop garden.   And once inspiration takes hold, stop by Brooklyn Public Library's new Seed Library, located in the…

Reading for March: Women in the World Claiming Power

Throughout history women have found ways to achieve power even when that power was not granted directly, often finding notoriety, fame, or historic precedence by navigating and negotiating from the limited options available. Women also claimed power through individual resistance, thereby redefining power in roles traditionally and narrowly viewed as the collective actions of men. Including the voices and perspectives of women writers has unquestionably expanded definition of power and Brooklyn Public Library has a wealth of books which explore the dynamics of this experience among women.…

Meet "For Brooklyn"

We are thrilled to share Brooklyn Public Library’s new campaign “For Brooklyn” with you. We just launched the campaign in March, with lots more planned to celebrate and support the library. The “For Brooklyn” campaign seeks to reintroduce the Library to all of Brooklyn’s 2.6 million residents. Brooklyn Public Library’s branches can morph and change in magical ways, depending on the people who visit. There are millions of books and eBooks, and free wifi and computer access in all 59 branches. The Library has offered storytime for over a hundred years, and now has storytime in nine…

Don't Sleep on These Perfect Books for World Sleep Day

As someone concerned about his fraught relationship with sleep, I know a considerable bit about the optimal conditions it seems to require--considerably more it seems than I am able to actually implement. In practice I favor a ‘whatever it takes’ approach in which 30 Rock has autoplayed me to sleep more times than I care to count, more effectively than the sheep I care not to count and in full knowledge that it is precisely that type of bad sleep hygiene that Arianna Huffington, et al suggest is keeping me from a sustainably healthy relationship with sleep. No blue light--create for yourself…

Why Adults Should Read YA and Where to Start

Jane Ekhtman

Cool People x Interesting Work: How the Library and Comics Work Together

February 23 kicked off a new event series at Central Library, Cool Work x Interesting People (CWxIP). Co-curated by award-winning cartoonist and head publisher at Diskette Press, Carta Monir, and myself, CWxIP features six indie cartoonists leading unique monthly workshops, culminating on June 15, 2019. The series title derives from the Carta-helmed podcast, We Should Be Friends, self-described as a “podcast about cool work by interesting people.” It is in the same spirit that Carta and I organized a lineup of creators who are actively critiquing their own community, as well as forming…

Super Short, Never Sweet

Lauren

As a library worker, I can't think of a better way to celebrate Women's History Month than checking out books written by and about women. One month is of course not long enough to cover an entire history, and you might think it's not long enough to read entire novels, but that's where you're wrong—each of these six books is super short (under 200 pages!) and deliciously unputdownable.  Margaret the First by Danielle Dutton The insanely interesting story of one of the first published women writers, a duchess named Margaret Cavendish. Dutton’s writing is lovely—the food…

Truth over fiction: Oscar picks for Best Documentary

Angie Miraflor

Okay, I admit, I’m a total documentary nerd. But I have great reason to be one. What is more interesting than real life? Real people facing challenges, forming relationships, defying death, and sharing stories that don’t need magic, fiction, or fantasy. In the spirit of this Sunday’s Oscar Awards, here are some of the nominees for long and short form documentaries I found compelling. Imagine climbing a 3000 foot solid granite wall without any ropes? This is exactly what Alex Honnold did in 2017, being the first person to free solo climb El Capitan. And he did it in less than 4 hours.…

First Draft: A Podcast About Storytellers

Lauren

How do today's authors come up with their book ideas? How did they become authors to begin with? In 2014, writer Sarah Enni set out to answer these questions and more on her podcast, First Draft. Her weekly show is a deep-dive into storytellers' careers and childhoods, their major influences and their future projects. Now in its fifth year, First Draft has featured more than 170 interviews, including ones with New York Times best-selling writers and winners of the National Book Award for Young People's Literature, the Caldecott Award and the Michael L. Printz Award. Read on to learn all…

Celebrate Presidents' Day with Biographies of Overlooked Presidents

Washington.  Lincoln. Jefferson.  Both Roosevelts. Nixon.  Reagan. Clinton. Obama. These presidents loom large in our imaginations: easily identifiable figures whose influence defines the Presidency and the evolution of our country. The library stacks are filled with biographies that investigate the deeds and personalities of these men, but what about the other presidents? Those not easily identified whose places in history are often overlooked? For Presidents' Day, we highlight those commanders-in-chief who may have fallen under your radar. An Honest President : The…

Epic Friendships of Literature

February is a fine month for romantics, but who needs a valentine when you've got great friends? Try one of the following epic tales for a reminder that BFFs are always worth celebrating. Valentines for Galentines The Color Purple by Alice Walker because friendship is unstoppable. As Walker shows us in this searing novel, when the downtrodden Celie transcends the brutality of her married life by seeking a loving bond with the itinerant singer Shug Avery. My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante because female friendship can have a lifelong power, as it does in this multi-book saga of Elena…

10 Romance Novels You’ll Want to Read this Valentine’s Day

Jennifer

With Valentine’s Day just a few days away, love is in the air for many readers—and romance can be in your to-be-read pile too! As a lifelong reader, I’ve fallen head over heels for many literary couples and below you’ll find a few of my favorites—some old and new—for whatever mood you’re in! Just don’t blame me when you ditch your Valentine’s Day plans in favor of reading! Historical An Extraordinary Union by Alyssa Cole The American Civil War is maybe not the sexiest backdrop people can think of for a romance novel, but Cole gives us hope in some of our country's darkest times with this…

Night of Philosophy: Brooklynites Pull an All-Nighter at Central Library

What Books Influenced Exit West Author, Mohsin Hamid

Mohsin Hamid, author of several novels including, Moth Smoke,  How to get filthy rich in rising Asia, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, and Exit West, a 2017 BPL Literary Prize nominee, reflected on books that layed a major role in his own writing.  No Longer at Ease by Chinua Achebe -- This classic novel is the story of an idealistic young Nigerian man who goes to the West to study and then returns to Nigera to work. I read it in high school in Pakistan, after years of living in California, and it spoke to me powerfully.  Beloved by Toni Morrison -- I had the good…

Book Club Spotlight: Red Hook Library