In the News

Even today books are banned by certain institutions or in other venues for political, religious, sexual or social reasons. Beginning in 1982, the American Library Association (ALA) has celebrated Banned Book Week annually during the last week of September. The goal of this weeklong event is to keep the concept of literary freedom in the forefront of Americans' minds. Look for our display of books that have been banned throughout the ages, and select your own banned book to read!

Here are just a few of them...

Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence was inspired by the long-standing affair between Lawrence's German wife and an Italian peasant who eventually became her third husband. This fictionalized account is the story of Constance Chatterley, who, while trapped in an unhappy marriage to an aristocratic mine owner whose war wounds have left him paralyzed and impotent becomes involved with a gamekeeper. Many critics consider it Lawrence's best novel.

Candide by Voltaire tells the story of a naive youth who is conscripted, shipwrecked, and tortured by the Inquisition without losing his will to live. Voltaire is a brilliant satirist and one of the most influential figures of the eighteenth century Enlightenment. Highly readable, this is a book you will long remember.

Famed and recently deceased author John Updike was a prolific novelist, poet, and short story writer, and winner of the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction. Rabbit, Run, his second novel, is about a high-school basketball star who on an impulse, at the age of twenty six, deserts his wife. Set in a small urban area of southeastern Pennsylvania in 1959, the story portrays the potentially tragic clash between religion and morality.

Where the Fur Flies

"My horses not only taught me riding but they also made me understand many a wisdom of life besides." Words of Alois Podhajsky of the Spanish Riding School of Vienna, Austria. "The world's past has been born [sic] on his back. We are his heirs; he is our inheritance." From: "Ode to the Horse" How true this is if you love horses. Horses have played an important role in the history of the world.

Enjoy the many different books and media we have to offer. Here are a few of my favorites.

Hollywood Hoofbeats: Trails Blazed Across The Silver Screen by Petrine Day Mitchum.
You will have fun identifying horses from your favorite TV shows and silver screen movies. Tricks of the trade are also discussed such as the proper way to teach a horse to fall on cue. These behind-the-scenes portraits of the horses, their trainers, owners, and co-stars will bring you to a 'galloping good read.'

Mary White. Mary White lived from 1904-1920. She was the daughter of William Allen White, a well known Kansas state journalist. This film is based on the story that he wrote as a tribute to his daughter, an equestrian, whose outlook on life is was refreshing. You don't even need to be a horse lover to enjoy this.

Horseplay: A Novel by Judy Reene Singer. Judy Van Brunt catches her husband in another relationship. She decides she has had enough. She quits her job and heads south to work on a horse farm. There, she shares an apartment with three other women and a teenager. Working with horses and her friends outweights any problems. Those who love horses will enjoy this light, funny story.

My Horses, My Teachers by Alois Podhajsky. This story is a literary monument to Podhajsky's equine teachers and companions of a lifetime. It is full of love, humor, sadness and devotion to his four-legged friends. Not only did the Lippizaners fulfill his life, but the thoroughbreds helped him to win a bronze medal in the 1936 Olympics.

Full Cry by Rita Mae Brown. This is the third novel in the foxhunting series with Jane Arnold, master of the foxhounds. She leads us into another intricate, witty, who-done-it murder with the Jefferson Hunt Club members.

Book Discussion - A Fine Balance

A Fine Balance : a novel
by Rohinton Mistry

Wednesday, September 23, 2009
7 - 8 PM
Riverhead Free Library Open Room

Life in an unnamed Indian city couldn't be worse when four people join forces in order to survive. Dina, a seamstress who is losing her sight, two tailors and Maneck, a student, share a cramped apartment and learn that compassion and cooperation make it possible to create a bond, shaping their dire circumstances into something bearable and dramatically changing themselves for the better.

Listen Up!

This summer marks the 40th anniversary of the Woodstock Festival. Originally
the concert was designed as a profit-making venture to be held at Mills Industrial Park in upstate New York. As it became clear that hundreds of thousands of people would attend, it turned into a "free concert" held at Max Yasgur's 600 acre dairy farm in the rural town of Bethel, NY. The first stars to sign up to perform at the event were Creedence Clearwater Revival. Many popular bands of the era declined to perform because there was little indication of the importance the event would eventually assume. The festival was filmed and made into a documentary that won an Academy Award in 1970. Every decade, there have been peaceful namesake events. However, the festival in 1999 was highly commercialized and ended badly with a fire.

Check out our CDs for several of the performers at Woodstock Festival 1969:

Ultimate Santana is a compilation album that features ths smash hits -- "Smooth," "Maria Maria'" "Black Magic Woman," and "Oye Como Va."

The Very Best of Grateful Dead is a 17 track disc collection offering a very good overview of the Dead's greatest hits including "Truckin'" and "Touch of Grey."

Bayou Country Creedence Clearwater Revival - Fantasy Records has taken a selection of CCR's albums and reissued them in a digitally remasterd format with rare and previously unreleased bonus material supplementing each release.

The Essential Janis Joplin - This two disc album includes many live recordings of Joplin's performances. There are songs from her previous albums that have been remastered to sound flawless. This includes the hits that you would expect like "Summertime," "Kozmic Blues," and "Mercedes Benz."

The Who scored 16 Top 40 hits in the U.S. between 1967 and 1982. This greatest hits disc includes "I Can See For Miles, " "Won't Get Fooled Again," and the ultimate punk anthem "My Generation."

The Essential Jefferson Airplane - This 32 track compilation covers the band's seven albums and two live offerings. This is a well chosen selection with first rate liner notes that highlight the Airplane's diverse influences as it echoed and exemplified the turbulent end of the '60s and the beginning of the '70s.

What Goes Up!: The Best of Blood, Sweat and Tears - This 2-disc compilation contains 32 of Blood Sweat and Tears' greatest hits. Their 1969 self-titled album won Album of The Year at the Grammy Awards, beating The Beatles' Abbey Road. The commercial and critical acclaim enjoyed by the band in 1969 culminated in an appearance at the Woodstock Festival, in which it enjoyed headliner status.

Jimi Hendrix Live at Woodstock is a 2-disc collection of highlights from Hendrix's legendary closing set at Woodstock. With classics -- "Message To Love," "Foxey Lady," and "Purple Haze."

Hits /Joni Mitchell Athough she did not appear at the Woodstock Festival, she did write the classic tune "Woodstock," which appears on this greatest hits CD along with "River," and "Big Yellow Taxi."

Mr. Hollywood Speaks

Mr. Hollywood is back and in this edition we feature films from the late great John Hughes. Hughes passed away on August 6th, so let’s celebrate his life by checking out some of the great films that he has written and produced.

The Breakfast Club is a story of five high school students--a rebel, an athlete, a Brain, a brincess and a basketcase--who find themselves thrown together serving a Saturday morning detention. They do not have much in common, except giving up their day, sitting in the school library, and writing an essay for the principal. Then they start to pour their hearts out to each other. They talk about their fears, secrets, deepest emotions, and problems.

In Pretty in Pink , Molly Ringwald plays a poor girl who falls in love with a rich guy and must find a way to deal with her family and friends who are unhappy about it.

Bueller !!!!!!!!!! We all remember it being yelled. Ferris Bueller's Day Off chronicles the

events in the day of a rather magical 17-year-old who, one spring day towards the end of his senior year, gives into an overwhelming urge to cut school and head for downtown Chicago. This was the film that launched Matthew Broderick's career and showcased Jennifer Grey as well.

Where the Fur Flies

In the News

Woodstock is over, but there's still time to celebrate the '60s this August. Visit our book and CD display nearest the circulation desk and pick out your favorite '60s icon or read about rockets and remember the war in Vietnam. There's something for everyone. Here's a sample.

1969 by Rob Kirkpatrick chronicles American music, news, politics, art, publishing, and sports during 1969 from Woodstock to the Manson family to Richard Nixon's presidency to the gay rights movement.

Aquarius Revisited: Seven Who Created the Sixties Counterculture That Changed America by Peter O. Whitmer with Bruce VanWyngarden is a joyful and intriguing romp through this controversial era with a focus on the ideas and writings of seven key figures that define the decade, including William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, and Norman Mailer.

Rocket Men: The Epic Story of the First Men on the Moon by Craig Nelson recreates the story of the Apollo II moon mission as well as providing the history of rocketry, human space flight, and the space race.

Keep Your Head Down: Vietnam, the Sixties, and a Journey of Self-Discovery by Doug Anderson offers an evocative depiction of the author's service in Vietnam and its effects when he returns to America. In a life-changing trip back to Vietnam in 2000, he meets with former enemies who are now, like him, writers and poets.