Local History Book Stop

Whether you've joined the Adult Summer Reading Club with its local history theme, or just a want to learn more about the Island, here are a few choices from our suggested local history reading list.

TR's Summer White House - Oyster Bay by Sherwin Gluck reveals the intriguing story of the first peacetime relocation of the Executive Branch of the United States Government to Long Island. Throughly researched, this book recreates the summers of 1902 through 1908 when President Theodore Roosevelt and his staff governed the United States from Oyster Bay.

Up-Lot Reveries: An Oral History of the North Fork by Maria Parson is a patron favorite. It captures the flavor of the area and brings together eyewitness accounts of everyday life in bygone days as well as some of the more dramatic events that occurred. Conversations with long-time residents make the history of the North Fork come to life.

Visit the Reference Desk to get an updated list of local history books for suggested reading and see our local history display.

Born to Be Wild

Summer's here and the fun has begun!

For those of you still in search of action and adventure, try a few of these day-cation remedies for the dog days of summer.

Take a Hike: New York City: Hikes Within Two Hours of Manhattan by Skip Card is a great day-cation guide for Long Islanders looking for day hikes in the New York, New Jersey and Long Island areas.



Short Bike Rides: Long Island by Phil Angelillo offers 41 bicycle excursions on Long Island. The bicycle rides range in length from 8 to 30 miles and span Great Neck to Montauk. They highlight both historic and scenic locations and vistas.

Sight-Fishing for Stiped Bass: Fly-Fishing Straegies for Inshore, Offshore and the Surf by Alan Caolo is for all you fly-fishing and surfcaster enthusiasts who enjoy day fishing for the line-sides. Included in this work are spotting techniques as well as baits and fly patterns for catching stripers.


The Complete Practical Guide to Camping Hiking & Wilderness Skills by Peter G. Drake will let you experience the great outdoors in comfort and safety. From planning a trip to map-reading and setting up camp.


Visit our day-cation display, beginning the last week in July, at the library for more ideas on short trips close to home.

Listen Up!

We have just gotten some great new compact discs for our library. No matter what your musical taste there is something for everyone. Give a listen.

Coldplay's Viva La Vida is the most frequently downloaded album to date. The band teamed up with legendary producer Brian Eno for one of 2008s most anticpated releases. Two singles from the album--"Violet Hill" and the title track--have already made waves on the music charts.

British duo The Ting Tings bring their U.K. chart-topping debut to America. Their compact disc We Started Nothing has some great songs, including "Great DJ." According to BillBoard magazine it is, "... retro, slinky grooves...plenty of fun to be had here."

Radiohead stands as one of the most innovative and groundbreaking bands in alternative rock. Now, for the first time, the band's biggest hits are assembled on the compact disc The Best of Radiohead.

Journey produced some of the most timely classics of the 1980s. Greatest Hits Journey gives you the best of the band on one compact disc. It features the hit songs "Don't Stop Believin', " "Faithfully," and "Open Arms." Rolling Stone magazine rates it " **** out of five."

The Eagles present their first studio effort in 28 years. The Long Road Out of Eden is a two disc set featuring the chart-topping single "How Long." Country Weekly states, "There's something comforting about the discovery that the Eagles still sound like the Eagles after such a long break."

Not only does Jewel have a new record label but a new genre as well. The singer/songwriter will pursue her success on the country charts with the first single "Stronger Woman" from her new compact disc Perfectly Clear. Billboard magazine states, "...not only persuasive, but down-home, old-school country."

Look for these and more new music CDs on the display by the Circulation Desk beginning Monday, July 21, 2008.

Mr. Hollywood Speaks

It's time once again for a trip to Hollywoodland, where we're going to take a literary twist on our recommendations: Pulitzer Prize winning adaptations! We have several Pulitzer winning books and a play that made the leap to the big screen that we think you'll really enjoy.

First on our list is The Shipping News, starring Kevin Spacey. The book, by E. Annie Proulx, won the fiction category in 1994 and was released as a motion picture in 2002. Also worth looking at is The Hours, adapted in 2003 from the book by Michael Cunningham, winner for fiction in 1999. It stars Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, and Nicole Kidman.

Playwright David Auburn won the Pulitzer for his drama Proof in 2001. Gwyneth Paltrow and Anthony Hopkins starred in the 2005 movie adaptation of Proof about a grieving daughter and her late mathmatical genius father.

Lastly we have John Adams, just released this year on DVD. The widely acclaimed book, by David McCullough, published in 2001, won the Pulitzer for Biographies. For this seven-part mini-series, HBO enlisted Paul Giamatti to play the founding father. Remember, all of the original books recommended here can be found on our shelves!

Blue Ribbon Book Stop

Come on in and take a look at our new July displays! The middle display (by the large print books) features lots of blue ribbon books, recommended by librarians.

For those who enjoy exotic reads, take a look at Caravans by James Michener. Published in 1963, this is a fictionalized account of a missing American woman and a young member of the staff of the American Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, whose job is to find her.

There are many other great stories set in Afghanistan. If you enjoyed The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, you may want to check out his latest A Thousand Splendid Suns. This newer book plays out against the volatile events of the country's last thirty years--from the Soviet invasion to the reign of the Taliban to post-Taliban rebuilding. It is a tale of two generations brought jarringly together by the tragic sweep of war.

The Storyteller's Daughter by Saira Shah is real-life memoir . Risking her life to film Beneath the Veil--her acclaimed record of the devastation of women's lives by the Taliban--the English-born Shah discovers her extended Afghan family and her extraordinary heritage.

For more riveting Afghani fiction and non-fiction recommendations, reply to our blog or check at the reference desk.