The Casual Vacancy: Trailer (HBO)

HBO's three part mini-series, The Casual Vacancy, is set to premiere tonight (April 29th) at 8:00 PM. The mini-series is based on J.K. Rowling's best-selling book of the same name.

Click here to learn more about this new series and don't forget to view the trailer below!




Oh! You Pretty Things


Oh! You Pretty Things by Shanna Mahin
From a PEN Center USA Emerging Voices Fellow comes a charming and disarming tale of Los Angeles that navigates the fringe of celebrity excess from the other side of Sunset Boulevard.

Jess Dunne is third-generation Hollywood, but her star on the boulevard has yet to materialize. Sure, she’s got a Santa Monica address and a working actress roommate, but with her nowhere barista job in a town that acknowledges zeroes only as a dress size, she’s a dead girl walking.

Oh! You Pretty Things is a dizzying ride at the carnival of fame, a fast-paced and sharply funny work that dares to imagine what happens when we go over the top in a town of gilded excess. (Publisher Summary)

"Oh! You Pretty Things is not only an accurate portrayal of life in Hollywood but also an accurate portrayal of life’s ups and downs. Though the setting is familiar, the plot developments are unique and surprising. Don’t expect a perfect Hollywood ending. Mahin’s intelligent and approachable story will grip you from beginning to end." BookPage Reviews

The Little Paris Bookshop

The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George
“There are books that are suitable for a million people, others for only a hundred. There are even remedies—I mean books—that were written for one person only…A book is both medic and medicine at once. It makes a diagnosis as well as offering therapy. Putting the right novels to the appropriate ailments: that’s how I sell books.”

Monsieur Perdu calls himself a literary apothecary. From his floating bookstore in a barge on the Seine, he prescribes novels for the hardships of life. Using his intuitive feel for the exact book a reader needs, Perdu mends broken hearts and souls. The only person he can't seem to heal through literature is himself; he's still haunted by heartbreak after his great love disappeared. She left him with only a letter, which he has never opened. (Publisher Summary) 

Click here to place your hold on The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George

Debut Novel

Church of Marvels by Leslie Parry
A ravishing first novel, set in vibrant, tumultuous turn-of-the-century New York City, where the lives of four outsiders become entwined, bringing irrevocable change to them all.

New York, 1895. Sylvan Threadgill, a night soiler cleaning out the privies behind the tenement houses, finds an abandoned newborn baby in the muck. An orphan himself, Sylvan rescues the child, determined to find where she belongs. (Publisher Summary)

"Like the late-19th-century circus attraction of its title, Parry's impressive debut is startling, full of wonders, and built around the bizarre; furthermore, it has compassion for human difference at its heart." Publishers Weekly Reviews

Church of Marvels will be available at the Community Library soon, click here to place your hold today!

Regina Calcaterra to Speak at the Islip Public Library

Etched in Sand by Regina Calcaterra
New York Times bestselling author, Regina Calcaterra, author of Etched in Sand: a True Story of Five Siblings Who Survived an Unspeakable Childhood on Long Island will be speaking at the Islip Public Library on Tuesday, April 28th at 7:00PM!

In this real-life rags-to-riches story, a tenacious lawyer, state official and activist recounts her childhood in foster homes and on the streets with her four siblings, revealing a life of horrible abuse in the shadows between Manhattan and the Hamptons. -Publisher Summary 

"Calcaterra narrates her story in the present tense, which adds a painful immediacy and urgency to an already gut-wrenching account. Yet never once does she flinch from the terrible truths with which she has lived and so courageously reveals here. Riveting reading from start to finish." - Kirkus Reviews 

2015 Pulitzer Prize Winners Announced

The 2015 Pulitzer Prize Winners were announced on Monday, April 20, 2015 at Columbia University in NYC. The book winners in the fiction, history, biography and general nonfiction categories are listed below - congrats to all!
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Encounters at the Heart of the World by Elizabeth Fenn

The Pope and Mussolini by David Kertzer

The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert

Category: Fiction
Title/Author: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Summary: "This is a beautiful book. Two children, a book-loving blind girl from Paris and a gifted orphan boy from Germany, move in alternate chapters through the 1930s into World War II." - Voices of Youth Advocates Reviews

Category: History
Summary: "Anyone who has seen the sensitive portraits of Mandan chiefs painted in the 1830s by George Catlin and Karl Bodmer will be captivated by Fenn's exhaustively researched history of the tribe that once thrived on the upper Missouri River in present-day North Dakota—at one time the center of northern Plains commerce." - Booklist Reviews 

Category: Biography
Summary: "Two leaders came to power in 1922 in Rome, Achille Ratti was elevated to the papacy as Pius XI, and Benito Mussolini was appointed Italian prime minister. How relations between them developed until the pope's 1939 demise occupies this original history, which rests on Kertzer's thorough research of available Vatican archives and other sources." - Booklist Reviews

Category: General Nonfiction
Title/Author: The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert
Summary: "Few writers engage readers in thinking about the meaning of scientific discoveries as well as Elizabeth Kolbert, a staff writer at The New Yorker. Kolbert’s enviable talents, her wit and intelligence, the clarity of her prose, are on full display in The Sixth Extinction, a fascinating and alarming book that examines mass extinctions of life forms, past and present." - BookPage Reviews

Click here for more information on current and past Pulitzer Prize winners, as well as nominated finalists.

Today is Earth Day!

In honor of Earth Daycheck out the Community Library's selection of books on Environmental Responsibility and Sustainability - below is just a sample of the many books we have available. 
The Boom by Russell Gold

Gotham Unbound by Ted Steinberg

The Human Age by Diane Ackerman

The Hunt for the Golden Mole by Girling

The People's Republic of Chemicals by William Kelly

This Changes Everything by Naomi Klein

These books were listed on Booklist's Top 10 Books on Sustainability: 2015 by Donna Seaman. Click here to view the entire list.

New Jo Walton

The Just City by Jo Walton
"Here in the Just City you will become your best selves. You will learn and grow and strive to be excellent."

In The Just City, a planned community populated by more than 10,000 children and a few hundred adult teachers from all eras of history, its residents, consisting of gods and humans, discover that they must all learn from each other in order to survive this experiment and become their best selves. By the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author of Among Others.

The Just City received a starred review from Booklist: "the award-winning Walton has written a remarkable novel of ideas that demands—and repays—careful reading. It is itself an exercise in philosophy that often, courtesy of Socrates, critically examines Plato's ideas. If this sounds abstruse, it sometimes is, but the plot is always accessible and the world building and characterization are superb. In the end, the novel more than does justice to the idea of the Just City."

New Series Alert!

A Single Kiss by Grace Burrowes
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, Grace Burrowes, is writing a brand new romance series! The first book, A Single Kiss, has been released and is now available at the Community Library!

To support her daughter and pay off her law school loans, attorney Hannah Stark, who grew up in foster care, accepts a temp position in a small firm's family-law department where she just might get her own happy ending in the arms of her new boss, Trent Peckham. (Publisher Summary)

"A guarded heroine with a haunted past, a single dad savvy enough to win her trust, and a supporting cast you'll want to meet again come together in an insightful, delightful romance that is Burrowes's first novel-length foray into the contemporary arena and the beginning of a promising back-to-back trilogy." Library Journal Reviews

Thrilling New Fiction by Michael Kardos

Before He Finds Her by Michael Kardos
Everyone in the quiet Jersey Shore town of Silver Bay knows the story: on a Sunday evening in September 1991, Ramsey Miller threw a blowout block party, then murdered his beautiful wife and three-year-old daughter.

Fifteen years later, Melanie takes matters into her own hands by returning to Silver Bay in hopes of doing what the authorities have failed to do: find her father before he finds her. Weaving in Ramsey’s story in the three days leading up to the brutal crime, Before He Finds Her is a stirring novel about love and faith and fear—and how the most important things can become terribly distorted when we cling to them too fiercely. (Publisher Summary)

"First-class fiction about fear, love and lies. Highly recommended." - Kirkus Reviews

Library Reads announces the top books published in April...

that librarians across the country love! Check out these five books from the list that will be available at the Community Library soon - place your hold today!

The Royal We by Heather Cocks
The Royal We by Heather Cocks
American Rebecca Porter was never one for fairy tales. Her twin sister, Lacey, has always been the romantic who fantasized about glamour and royalty, fame and fortune. Yet it's Bex who seeks adventure at Oxford and finds herself living down the hall from Prince Nicholas, Great Britain's future king. And when Bex can't resist falling for Nick, the person behind the prince, it propels her into a world she did not expect to inhabit, under a spotlight she is not prepared to face. (Publisher Summary)

The Dream Lover by Elizabeth Berg
The Dream Lover by Elizabeth Berg
At the beginning of this powerful novel, we meet Aurore Dupin as she is leaving her estranged husband, a loveless marriage, and her family’s estate in the French countryside to start a new life in Paris. There, she gives herself a new name—George Sand—and pursues her dream of becoming a writer, embracing an unconventional and even scandalous lifestyle. (Publisher Summary)

Inside the O'Briens by Lisa Genova
When a beloved Irish-Catholic police officer is diagnosed with Huntington's Disease, his grown children witness their father's demise and consider whether they want to be tested to see if they have inherited the condition. By the best-selling author of Still Alice. (Publisher Summary)






House of Echoes by Brendan Duffy
House of Echoes by Brendan Duffy
Frustrating career setbacks and a heartbreaking diagnosis challenge the lives of Ben and Caroline, who after starting over in a nostalgic new hometown encounter disconcerting secrets that threaten their survival. A first novel. (Publisher Summary)







The Precious One by Marisa de los Santos
The Precious One by Marisa de los Santos
A tale told in alternating voices traces the collaborative efforts of an estranged millionaire father and the daughter he abandoned 17 years earlier to reconcile and write his memoir. By the New York Times best-selling author of Love Walked In, Belong to Me and Falling Together. (Publisher Summary)

Click here to view the complete list!

Celebrate Teen Literature Day!

Today is Celebrate Teen Literature Day!

As outlined on the American Library Association (ALA) website, Celebrate Teen Literature Day was first celebrated in 2007 by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA, a division of ALA) under its original name, Support Teen Literature Day. The day is intended to raise awareness about the "vibrant" and "growing" young adult genre; these books are enjoyed not only by teens, but by many adults too! 

Celebrate this special day by checking out a teen book from the Community Library today!

Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver

Infandous by Elana K. Arnold

When by Victoria Laurie

Alluring New Short Story Collection

The American Lover by Rose Tremain
An anthology by the Orange Prize-winning author of The Road Home features a Russian author whose life ends far from Moscow, a middle-aged woman who finds renewal during a Christmas storm and a modern-day Juliet who must choose between passion and wealth.

Rose Tremain awakens the senses in this magnificent and diverse collection of short stories. In her precise yet sensuous style, she lays bare the soul of her characters—the admirable, the embarrassing, the unfulfilled, the sexy, and the adorable—to uncover a dazzling range of human emotions and desires. (Publisher Summary)

The American Lover received a starred review from Booklist Reviews: "in this season of outstanding story collections this one occupies space in the top drawer."

New Titles on 'The New York Times' Best Sellers List

Here are the hardcover fiction titles that are new to The New York Times Best Sellers list. These titles will be listed in the April 19, 2015 issue of The New York Times Book Review.
The Shadows by J.R.Ward

The Patriot Threat by Steve Barry

At the Water's Edge by Sara Gruen

The Harder They Come by T.C.Boyle

The Skull Thone by T. Coraghessan Boyle

The Shadows by J.R. Ward
A latest entry in the best-selling series follows the exploits of two brothers bound by more than blood who discover a conspiracy that will change their destiny. By the #1 New York Times best-selling author of Lover Reborn. (Publisher Summary)

The Patriot Threat by Steve Berry
A tale inspired by debates surrounding 16th Amendment tax collection practices finds Cotton Malone pulled out of retirement to track a rogue North Korean who may have acquired top-secret Treasury Department files capable of decimating the U.S. economy. (Publisher Summary)

At the Water's Edge by Sara Gruen
While her brother, Ellis, and his friend try to find the Loch Ness monster in an attempt to get back into her father's good graces, Maddie is left on her own in World War II-era Scotland and experiences a social awakening. (Publisher Summary)

The Harder They Come by T. Coraghessan Boyle

A Vietnam veteran, his schizophrenic son and the son's older lover endure an anti-authoritarian confrontation marked by the son's violent breakdown and flight through California. By the best-selling author of Drop City. (Publisher Summary)

The Skull Throne by Peter V. Brett
When the Skull Throne of Krasia is left empty by the disappearance of Ahmann Jardir and Arlen Bales, the ensuing struggle for succession threatens to tear apart the Free Cities of Thesa, while the demon corelings grow stronger with no one to stop them. (Publisher Summary)

Click here to view the complete list.

New Cozy Mystery Series That Includes Recipes!

Murder with Fried Chicken and Waffles by A.L. Herbert
Welcome to Mahalia's Sweet Tea--the finest soul food restaurant in Prince George's County, Maryland. In between preparing her famous cornbread and mashed potatoes so creamy "they'll make you want to slap your Momma," owner Halia Watkins is about to dip her spoon into a grisly mystery. . .

"This first in a planned series, complete with recipes, is funny and refreshingly straightforward." Kirkus Reviews

"The authentic local history seamlessly woven into the story sets the book apart from most light mysteries." Publishers Weekly Reviews

Click here to place your hold on Murder with Fried Chicken and Waffles by A.L. Herbert today!

Long Live Rock 'n' Roll

Are you a fan of iconic musicians? Check out our display on the lower level of the library featuring biographies on some of the world's greatest musicians and bands, including:

Bruce Springsteen and the Promise of Rock 'n' Roll by Marc Dolan

It's Only Rock'n' Roll: The Ultimate Guide to the Rolling Stones by James Karnbach and Carol Bernson


New Series Alert!

Back to Before by Tracy Solheim
Second Chances Series by Tracy Solheim

When his father’s sudden death puts his family’s construction business in serious debt, architect Gavin McAlister is forced to put his dream career in New York on hold. Making matters worse, his fiancée calls it quits. Desperate to return to his big-city life, he discovers an opportunity to save his family, one that has him reluctantly starring in a home restoration TV show. (Publisher Summary)

"Solheim moves on from her debut Out of Bounds series, but not too far; this Second Chances series opener is set in the same town, Chances Inlet, N.C. Big enough to spawn several celebrities but small enough to be as catty as a high-school clique, it's the perfect setting for a stormy encounter between hunky native son Gavin McAlister, a wannabe TV star, and Ginger Walsh, a former ballerina struggling back to the dance world after a catastrophic injury." Publishers Weekly Reviews

2015 Hugo Award Nominees

The 2015 Hugo Award nominees have been announced! The Hugo Awards are awarded annually for the best in science fiction and fantasy. Check out the nominees available at the Community Library in the "best novel" category.

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie
Now in a single body and with only a ship and a troublesome crew, Breq is sent to Atheok Station to protect the sister of Lieutenant Awn. Sequel to Ancillary Justice. (Publisher Summary)



The Dark Between the Stars by Kevin J. Anderson
The Dark Between the Stars Kevin J. Anderson
A long-anticipated first installment in a trilogy set 20 years after The Saga of the Seven Suns finds the cosmos threatened by a new adversary that forces the human race to set aside internal conflicts and rebuild an alliance with the Ildiran Empire. (Publisher Summary)



The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison
Reluctantly elevated to the throne when his father and brothers are killed in a suspicious accident, an exiled half-goblin is rapidly overwhelmed by Ambitious sycophants, imperial burdens, and dangerous plots while searching for friendship and love. (Publisher Summary)



Skin Game: a Novel of the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher
Skin Game: a Novel of the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher 
Chicago wizard Harry Dresden must help a hated enemy, Nicodemus Archleone, break into a high security vault to steal something belonging to the Lord of the Underworld in the latest novel of the humorous fantasy series following Cold Days. (Publisher Summary)

Click here to view the complete list of nominees.

Join the Book Discussion

The Museum of Extraordinary Things by Alice Hoffman
The 2015 Long Island Reads book pick is The Museum of Extraordinary Things by Alice Hoffman

Join the Community Library's book club on April 22nd (between 2PM and 4PM) for a discussion of this wonderful novel. Registration is open, click here to reserve your seat today!

The daughter of a curiosities museum's front man pursues an impassioned love affair with a Russian immigrant photographer who after fleeing his Lower East Side Orthodox community has captured poignant images of the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. By the best-selling author of Here on Earth. (Publisher Summary)

Click here for more information on Long Island Reads and here for information about Alice Hoffman's upcoming book signing at the Plainview-Old Bethpage library on April 19th!

April is National Poetry Month

Edgar Allen Poe: The Fever Called Living by Paul Collins
In honor of National Poetry month, check out Paul Collins' new biography, Edgar Allen Poe: The Fever Called Living

Collin's book describes the personal and professional life of the master of the horror behind The Raven, The Tell-Tale Heart, and other classic works, including a discussion of his rocky relationship with his wealthy adoptive father and his time spent working as an editor and reviewer. (Publisher Summary)

"The author also praises Poe’s late works and spends some time on Poe’s reputation. Although Collins doesn’t provide much new information, the clean, crisp narrative presents the puzzling Poe as a deeply troubled and toweringly talented artist." Kirkus Reviews

Click here for more information on National Poetry Month.


If You Liked 'All the Light We Cannot See,' You May Also Like..

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
A National Book Award finalist, All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr is a stunningly ambitious and beautiful novel about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II. (Publisher Summary).

All the Light We Cannot See received a starred review from Booklist Reviews: "a novel to live in, learn from, and feel bereft over when the last page is turned, Doerr's magnificently drawn story seems at once spacious and tightly composed. It rests, historically, during the occupation of France during WWII, but brief chapters told in alternating voices give the overall—and long—­narrative a swift movement through time and events."

Already read the book and loved it? Check out these read-alikes suggested by NoveList!
Jacob's Oath by Martin Fletcher

Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi

In the Wolf's Mouth by Adam Foulds

Jacob's Oath by Martin Fletcher
As World War II comes to a close, Jacob, consumed with hatred, will not rest until he has killed his brother's murderer, a concentration camp guard called The Rat, which affects his newfound relationship with Sarah, another lonely Holocaust survivor. (Publisher Summary)

Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi
Follows Trudi Montag, a dwarf who serves as her town's librarian, unofficial historian, and recorder of the secret stories of her people, in a novel that charts the course of German history in the first half of the twentieth century. (Publisher Summary)

In the Wolf's Mouth by Adam Foulds
A tale set in North Africa and Sicily at the end of World War II traces the Allies' ill-fated liberation campaign against the Nazis from the viewpoints of an ambitious English field security officer and a wide-eyed Italian-American infantryman. By the award-winning British author of The Quickening Maze. (Publisher Summary)

Book Review: Whisper Hollow by Chris Cander

Whisper Hollow by Chris Cander
Set in a small coal-mining town, a novel full of secrets, love, betrayal, and suspicious accidents, where Catholicism casts a long shadow and two courageous women make choices that will challenge our own moral convictions.

Myrthen Bergmann, from a small hillside town in West Virginia, excludes herself from all forms of friendship and affection and begins a twisted, haunted life dedicated to God, after her twin sister is killed in an accident.

"Cander divinely delves into multiple points of view, crafting a collage of vibrant, layered characters while charting six decades of poignant, precise moments. A distinctive novel that sublimely measures the distressed though determined heartbeat of a small mountain community." - Kirkus Reviews

2015 Folio Prize Winner Announced

Family Life by Akhil Sharma
As outlined on the Folio Society's webpage, "the Folio Prize is the first major English language book prize open to writers from around the world. Its aim is simple: to celebrate the best fiction of our time, regardless of form or genre, and to bring it to the attention of as many readers as possible."

The winner of the 2015 Folio Prize is Family Life by Akhil Sharma!

Finally joining their father in America, Ajay and Birju enjoy their new, extraordinary life until tragedy strikes, leaving one brother incapacitated and the other practically orphaned in this strange land in the second novel from the author of An Obedient Father. (Publisher Summary)

Click here to read the article in its entirety.

Today is World Autism Awareness Day

Listed below are the newest books on autism that the Community Library has available. In addition to many books, a HealthWatch brochure is also on display that lists many useful autism websites, as well as the web address and telephone numbers to local autism organizations, support groups and hotlines.
The Autism Job Club by Michael Bernick and Richard Holden

Autism Spectrum Disorder by Lisa Joseph, Latha Soorya and Audrey Thurm

Helping Adults with Asperger's Syndrome Get & Stay Hired by Barbara Bissonnette

Overcoming Anxiety & Depression on the Autism Spectrum by Lee Wilkinson

The Autism Job Club by Michael Bernick and Richard Holden
This will be a vital resource for adults with autism, their families, and advocates who are committed to neuro-diverse employment, not unemployment. But it will also speak to a far broader audience interested in how to carve out a place for themselves or others in an increasingly competitive job world. (Publisher Summary)

Autism Spectrum Disorder by Lisa Joseph, Latha Soorya and Audrey Thurm
Joseph, Soorya, and Thurm give readers a straight-forward comprehensive guide to the effective diagnosis and treatment of autism spectrum disorder. The book describes ASD at length before going into sections on theories and models, the diagnosis and treatment indications, and treatments for core and associated symptoms of ASD. (Publisher Summary)

Written for professionals and parents, this book offers employment strategies to support individuals with Asperger's Syndrome (Autism Spectrum Disorder) into fulfilling and long-lasting careers. It provides a primer on how people with Asperger's Syndrome think and teaches coaching techniques to help with jobhunting and workplace challenges. (Publisher Summary)

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) has been shown to be effective for treating mental health problems such as anxiety and depression in individuals both with and without autism spectrum disorders. This book bridges the gap between research and practice and shows adults on the spectrum practical ways to manage their emotions. (Publisher Summary)