This and That : Non-Fiction Summer Reads

New and Different

Here's a quick list of summer reading suggestions for non-fiction readers.  The list includes memoirs, true crime and history flavored titles, a few of which relate to topics recently discussed "in the news".

Connecticut author Jeff Benedict (Without Reservation, Little Pink House) writes about 1993's E. Coli outbreak in the U.S. in his latest title, Poisoned.  A topical food safety read given the recent E. Coli outbreak in Europe.

In The Statues That Walked, two anthropologists explore the history of gigantic statues located on a remote island in the Pacific, discovered in 1722 and later described in Captain Cook's journals.  Pair this read with a travel video and  Aku-Aku, a classic book by Thor Heyerdahl of Kon-Tiki expedition fame.

"Try to imagine Thoreau married, with a job, three kids, and a minivan" and with high-tech gadgets.  If you can imagine this, try Tom Montgomery Fate's Cabin Fever : A Suburban Father's Search for the Wild. This one might also provide a perfect reason to read (or re-read) Walden. 

True-crime fans looking for backstory on Kill the Irishman, a June DVD release about 1970's Cleveland racketeer Danny Greene, might also try the book by Rick Porrello.  Brings to mind the recently captured Whitey Bulger and The Departed...   

In Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys Over Girls and the Consequences of a World Full of  Men, Beijing-based Science correspondent Mara Hvistendahl explores the growing gap in the ratio between boys and girls and its consequences.  Read a review published in Bloomberg or listen to an author interview courtesy of NPR.

Sarah Sentilles, raised Catholic and later, a former candidate for the Episcopalian priesthood, offers her spiritual memoir, Breaking Up With God : A Love Story.  Pair this one with Dating Jesus by Hartford Courant columnist Susan Campbell.

U.S. Marine and Iraq veteran, Jess Goodell, recounts her tour as member of Mortuary Attachment platoon in Shade It Black : Death and After in Iraq.

The Murder of the Century : The Gilded Age Crime That Scandalized a City and Sparked the Tabloid Wars by Paul Collins takes place in the late 1800's but offers an all too familiar account of our taste for sensational headlines, the more lurid the better.

Summer Travel

Family Travel
If you are looking to get away this summer but not travel too far from home, check out the library's travel book collection.  We've recently added up-to-date titles about New England, Mid-Atlantic, and South Atlantic states.

Click here for a quick list of titles slated to arrive this week. 

The Library's Museum Pass Program

Save Some Cash This Summer
Use our museum pass program this summer to visit premiere attractions that are less than a ga$ tank away.  Each pass offers discounted or in some cases free admission to great places including art museums, aquariums, state parks, children's venues and more.  Pass conditions vary; click here for a list of current pass offerings.

How to Reserve a Pass
Passes may be reserved up to 24 hours in advance of the day you plan to use or checkout the pass.  Passes circulate for 2 days and may not be renewed.  One pass at a time per family.

Thank the Friends of the Library
For more than a decade, our museum pass program has been funded by the Friends of the East Hampton Library.

If you would like to help support the pass program, join the Friends.  Membership costs as little as $5 or less than what you save when you use a pass!

The "Eyes" Have It

My Cooking Class
If cookbook recipes sometimes seem vague or not as instructive as you'd like them to be, you might try any in the My Cooking Class series.  Each book in the series lays out recipes visually, with color photographs of both the ingredients and the techniques you need to assemble and prepare a particular dish.

Books in the series include Pasta Basics, Steaming Basics, Vegetable Basics, Chocolate Basics, and Sauce Basics.  The books will be fun for cooks who enjoy visual, how-to support and may be particularly useful to beginner cooks or those who prefer uncomplicated recipes that still pack a punch.

Summer Reading 2011 : Hey Kids, Read What You Like!

Making a List : More Summer Reading Choices

Are you looking for great suggestions for vacation reading or books to bring to (or check out at) camp? Here's a few lists that are ideal for the season.  The books included on each list also tie nicely to our summer reading program theme, One World, Many Stories!

Clickable Lists
Click on the grade grouping to retrieve a list of suggested titles.  Titles within each grouping accommodate many different reading interests, levels, and skills.

Grades K-2  -- Grades 3 & 4 -- Grades 5 & 6 -- Grades 7 & 8 -- Grades 9-12

Click on any title in any list and read a summary of the book, book reviews, author profiles, and more.

About the Lists
The lists were compiled by Linda Williams, Connecticut State Library, for the Connecticut State Department of Education. Each title listed was selected, between 2001 and 2011, as an exemplary book by the American Library Association (ALA) and at least one professional education association. Education associations include: the International Reading Association (IRA), the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), and the National Science Teachers Assocation (NSTA).

Summer Reading Central

Summer Reading List Titles Ready to Go...
Though summer reading season @ your library officially begins on Saturday, June 18, you might like to plan ahead and checkout any of the "must read one" titles featured on East Hampton High School's official summer reading list.

For grades 9-10 titles, click here.  For grade 11-12 titles, click here.

After "must read one", keep an eye out for many other recommended summer reading title lists as we count down to June 18. Tick-tock... 

Current Affairs

Bestsellers and Then Some...

Here's a few among the latest crop of books offering analysis and review of American and international affairs : financial, political, and in between.  Pick and choose.

TV pundit and Newsweek editor, Fareed Zakaria, updates his 2008 international bestseller with a '2.0' edition, released last week.

High on national and local reading lists is Wizard of Lies : Bernie Madoff and the Death of Trust by Diana B. Henriques.  The author tells the 'inside' story of Madoff's $65 billion Ponzi scheme.

Jonathan Kay's Among the Truthers takes a look at conspiracy theories, from both the left and right perspective.  The author profiles 'ten brands of modern conspiracists' and their impact on public discourse.

In Reckless Endangerment, Pulitzer Prize-winning NYT business journalist Gretchen Morgenson and Joshua Rosner, a financial and policy analyst, trace the origins and dissect the aftermath of the 2008-2009 financial crisis.  Whodunit?

Former Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, offers On China, an analysis of the country's place on the international stage from the Korean War to the present.  Heavy stuff but touted as essential reading for anyone interested in international relations.

Money and Power by William D. Cohan (House of Cards) adds to the list of recent books about a dominant and controversial investment bank, Goldman Sachs.

Summer Reading... and Your Child's Future

The Connecticut Higher Education Trust* , Connecticut State Treasurer’s Office, TIAA-CREF Tuition Financing, Inc., and the Connecticut State Library sponsor the “Destination College Savings” Promotion.

Check Out CHET!*
When to enroll your child in the library's summer reading program (begins June 18) you can also enter a drawing with chance to win one of four $1,000 direct sold 529 accounts.  Pick up a informational flyer with postage-paid entry form at library; entries must be postmarked by August 19, 2011.

Surf's Up
Connecticut Higher Education Trust (CHET) 529 College Savings Program
Official Rules for the Promotion

Summer Reading Program Begins June 18

 Color Your World

One World, Many Stories

The EHPL's 2011 summer reading program begins in a few short weeks.  The overall theme of our program is One World, Many Stories.  Why participate?  Yes, there will be small incentive prizes awarded throughout the 8-week program.

However, the bigger picture shows us all that summer reading is a great way to help preschoolers learn early literacy skills, school age children and teens avoid the "summer slide" and for adults to model the joy of reading to their children.  Age-appropriate programs include:

For Our Littlest People (Pre-school through Kindergarten in Fall 2011)

If you don't know how to read (yet) that's okay because you can be read to either by a parent/caregiver or turn the pages of your favorite book while listening to the book's companion audiobook.  Have some fun with stickers and at regular story hours, too!

Board Games and Independent Reading for Grade School Kids

For Kids in Grades 1 or 2 (Fall 2011)

Read independently and/or learn about the USA by navigating a map of our country.  Find books about places and using cool kid-friendly web sites or online databases. 

For Kids in Grades 3-5 (Fall 2011)

Read independently and/or choose a travel itinerary then set off on a world travel adventure using a world map and tons of fun fact finding expeditions!

For Middle Grade Readers (Grades 6-8 in Fall 2011)

Sign up for You Are Here, and read what you like.  We've got some great recommended reading titles to choose from; browse the lists that we'll make available at the library and online.

For Teens (Area High Schools)

We'll again be making it easy for you to find and borrow You Are Here books showcased on required and recommended reading lists, as well as those you might like to read on your own.

For Adults

Join us for Novel Destinations, our summer book discussion series and/or read to enter a drawing for any of three family oriented prizes set for award in August.

More to come about the program but please do

Join the Fun This Summer @ your library

Learning a Second Language

En Su Biblioteca
The library holds a variety of tools useful to people looking to learn a second language; reinforce their skills in a second language, or as a heritage project, learn and share a second language with the younger people in their extended family.

New on the Shelf
If you prefer the CD format (great for commuter learning) try any of eight titles from the GoPimsleur series.  Each title features eight 30-minute lessons on four audio CDs, a Reading Book with more than 50 reading lessons, and an MP3 CD.  Shorter CD language courses are also available.

Learn Online
The library also offers free access to Byki Online which includes more than the language learning opportunities shown above.  Look for the New User? click and use your East Hampton Public Library card barcode number to set up a free account. Bonne chance!

Making a List

Turning the Pages 

Here's a quick list of new books, both fiction and non-fiction, that you might like to add to your reading list.  Expect more than a few of these titles to rise to bestseller or recommended status, if they haven't already.

The Sublime Engine : A Biography of the Human Heart by novelist Stephen Amidon (Human Capital, 2005) and his cardiologist brother, Thomas Amidon, offers a stunning tribute to the heart in art, literature, science, and popular culture.

Fans of crime and suspense fiction (sprinkled with humor, of course) may enjoy Something for Nothing, a debut fiction title by David Anthony.

Dreams of Joy is Lisa See's follow up to Shanghai Girls (2009).

National Book Award finalist Francine Prose's (Blue Angel, 2000) latest is My New American Life, an immigrant tale set in post 9/11 New York.

Newspaper guy Pete Hamill brings us Tabloid City.  Plot = "When a wealthy socialite and her secretary are found murdered in a stately West Village townhouse, a flurry of seemingly unrelated people spring into action." (Publisher description)

The Snowman by Jo Nesbo is a hot pick by many looking for more, more, more in the way of fiction from Nordic lands; e.g. Steig Larsson's Girl With.. titles.

Will Allison's The Long Drive Home tells the story of a reckless driving accident and its anguishing, for all, aftermath.

True crime fans will no doubt appreciate The Man in the Rockefeller Suit : The Astonishing Rise and Spectacular Fall of a Serial Impostor by Mark Seal.

Perspective Is Everything

Reading the Robisons

If you read Augusten Burrough's bestselling memoir, Running with the Scissors (2002), you will remember his older brother John Elder Robison.  Robison authored Look Me In the Eye : My Life With Aspergers, (2007) which also achieved bestseller status.  Robison's latest release is Adventures of a Free-Range Aspergian with Practical Advice for Aspergians, Misfits, Families and Teachers.

Also weighing in is Margaret Robison, Augusten and John's mother, with her memoir The Long Journey Home, which was released last week.

Listen to a podcast about the three authors and their books, courtesy of NPR's Morning Edition.

Memorial Day Reads

Leading Up to Memorial Day 2011

When making plans to attend Memorial Day observances and family gatherings, you might like to add one or more of the following books to your weekend agenda.  WWII titles are featured since veterans of this war are well into their 80s and 90s.

If you read the The Greatest Generation series by Tom Brokaw, you will no doubt appreciate The Last Good War : The Faces and Voices of World War II.

Lost in Shangri-La by Mitchell Zuckoff "unleashes the exhilarating, untold story of an extraordinary World War II rescue mission, where a plane crash in the South Pacific plunged a trio of U.S. military personnel into the jungle-clad land of New Guinea."  Listen to an author interview courtesy of NPR.

Before Julia Child became a chef, she served in the OSS along with her husband, Paul, and Jane Foster, who turned out to be a Soviet spy.  Pair A Covert Affair with Julia's memoir, My Life in France. Author Jennet Conant's earlier book, The Irregulars : Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington, also reads like a thriller with plenty of who's who appeal.

The Long Road Home : The Aftermath of the Second World War by Ben Shephard explores the post-war refrugee crisis and what happened to the millions of people displaced by the war in Europe.

Alex Kershaw's The Envoy tells the "epic and heroic story of how Raoul Wallenberg out-dueled Adolph Eichmann and saved more than 100,000 Jews in Budapest from the Nazi death camps."  Pair this title with Schindler's List or the The Bielski Brothers. 

Surf's Up
Also consider visiting the Veterans History Project website, a project of the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress. The project "preserves, and makes accessible the personal accounts of American war veterans so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand the realities of war."

Forever Young

Longevity and You
Here's a few additions to the growing canon of consumer health and popular science titles about how to achieve good health and a longer life.

Oprah guru Bob Greene's latest, 20 Years Younger, offers plenty of sage advice on how to look better, feel better, and age gracefully.

Also try The Longevity Project : Surprising Discoveries for Health and Long Life from the Landmark Eight-Decade Study by Howard S. Friedman and Leslie R. Martin. The authors examine an eight-decade-long study of 1,500 people; surprising conclusions abound.

Fans of scientific adventures will enjoy Long for This World : The Strange Science of Immortality by Pulitzer winner Jonathan Weiner.  Learn about cutting-edge research and explore the questions "Could we live forever? And if we could--would we want to?"

Related Reading
Forever Young by Nicholas Perricone
YOU: Staying Young by Mehmet Oz
Treat Me, Not my Age by Mark Lachs
The Water Secret by Howard Murad
The China Study by T. Colin Campbell; Thomas M. Campbell II
Healthy Aging by Andrew Weil

Timing Is Everything

Navy Seals
Though scheduled for publication long ago, The Heart and the Fist : the Education of a Humanitarian, the Making of a Navy Seal was published on April 11 and  Seal Team Six : Memoirs of an Elite Navy Seal Sniper was published on May 10.  The former book is now riding high on several national best seller lists.

Further Reading and Viewing
Lone Survivor : the Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10 by Marcus Luttrell with Patrick Robinson

Seals : The US Navy's Elite Fighting Force by Mir Bahmanyar and Christopher Osman

Walking Point : The Experiences of a Founding Member of the Elite-Navy Seals by Chief James Watson

The Teams : an Oral History of the U.S. Navy Seals edited by Kevin Dockery and Bill Fawcett

History of the Navy (3-disc documentary with historical footage)

Dylan Turns 70

Happy Birthday
Bob Dylan celebrates his 70th birthday next Tuesday, May 24.

For more info about one of the most influential singer/songwriters of the second half of 20th century history -- and who's probably supplied at least one song to the soundtrack of your life -- find books and music @ your library.

Books for Adults and Teens
Chronicles: Volume One by Bob Dylan
Positively 4th Street by David Hajdu
Bob Dylan in America by Sean Wilentz
No Direction Home : The Life and Music of Bob Dylan by Robert Shelton

For Kids
Man Gave Names to All the Animals by Bob Dylan; Jim Arnosky (Illustrator)
When Bob [Dylan] Met Woody [Guthrie] : The Story of the Young Bob Dylan by Gary Golio; Marc Burckhardt (Illustrator)

Music
For a quick list of Dylan CDs available for checkout, including great covers by others, click here.

Magazines
There's all Dylan all the time at Rolling Stone online now and the print issue is up and coming.  Library subscribes.  Be there.

Surf's Up
Also visit the Rock Hall and Roll of Fame.

Photo Above
Dylan, Bob. Photograph. Encyclopedia Britannica Online Library Edition Web. 17 May 2011. Click here and use your EHPL library card to login.

Counting Down to Father's Day

Books for Guys

We certainly don't want to stereotype anyone's reading choices and yet a few of the following books have a decidedly "guy" feel.  We'll leave the rest up to you...

If you've seen Guys and Dolls, you may enjoy reading about the real life man who inspired the Sky Masterson character who, as you know, gambled on everything.  Try Titanic Thompson : the Man Who Bet On Everything by Kevin Cook.

The Man Cave Book by Michael H. Yost and Jeff Wilser is a sometimes hilarious though unintentional take on a Billy Joel song line : "Yes, we all need a room of our own."

Ken Denmead writes the blog Geek Dad : Raising Geek Generation 2.0 for Wired Magazine.  His latest title is The Geek Dad's Guide to Weekend Fun : Cool Hacks, Cutting-edge Games, and More Awesome Projects for the Whole Family.

How to Be a Man : a Guide to Style and Behavior for the Modern Gentleman is authored by Glenn O'Brien.  O'Brien writes The Style Guy column for GQ magazine.

He flew through the air with the greatest of ease... on a motorcycle.  Enjoy Leigh Montville's Evel : the High-flying Life of Evel Knievel : American Showman, Daredevil, and Legend.

If you're a baseball fan family, try Baseball in the Garden of Eden : the Secret History of the Early Game by noted baseball historian John Thorn.

Ben Thompson's two Bada** titles are available; the latest title includes more than a few bada** women, too.

Thanks to Library Journal's BookSmack! and Books for Dudes

For Parents

MCSAAC and the East Hampton LPC
On the alphabet soup front, MCSAAC stands for Middlesex County Substance Abuse Action Council, a prevention organization that works to reduce substance abuse in Middlesex County.  The East Hampton LPC (Local Prevention Council) is an offshoot of MCSAAC; the LPC is made up of volunteers and sponsors prevention programs in our community.

Upcoming LPC Program: Bath Salt Drug Trend
On Monday, May 16, the LPC will sponsor an informational forum about bath salts, one of the emerging drugs of choice among young people.  The program begins at 7:30 p.m. at the Goff House and is open to the public.  Featured speakers include:

Betsey Chadwick, Director, MCSAAC, will present on a comprehensive drug survey taken in East Hampton.

Robert Powers, Ph.D, Director of our state's Controlled Substances/Toxicology Laboratory, will discuss the latest drug trends and what they can do to the body.

Erica Zup, Marriage & Family Therapist, will be on hand to answer questions regarding how to open family discussions about drug use.

Surf's Up
National Institute on Drug Abuse
The Huffington Post (same content on Fox News)
WebMD

Keep Your Wallets Light and Your Light Bulbs Bright!

Neighbor to Neighbor Energy Challenge
Did you know that by switching from incandescent to compact florescent bulbs (CFLs), you generate far less pollution and save valuable household dollars over the lifetime of the bulb?

One easy way to ditch those energy inefficient bulbs and put money back into your wallet is to join the Neighbor to Neighbor Lighting Program.  Sign up and trained Clean Energy Corps team members will replace select incandescent bulbs with CFLs (insert drum roll) for free!  Click here to join the lighting challenge and for detailed information about the replacement program.

Upcoming Events
If you would like to learn more about the lighting program initiative, join us at the library on Saturday, June 11 for a free workshop.  Bring your questions about lighting and other sponsored energy savings plans that may work for you.

About Neighbor to Neighbor
The Town of East Hampton is one of 14 communities in the state that has been selected to participate in the Neighbor to Neighbor Energy Challenge.  This challenge is funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.  The goal is to help reduce conventional energy usage by promoting energy efficiency measures and encouraging the use of clean energy options on a local level.

For each energy saving step we take as residents of East Hampton, our Town and participating community groups earn reward points that may be applied to clean energy related products and services to benefit our community as a whole. When you participate, everyone wins!

Adventures and Adventurers

To Boldly Go...

Books about explorers and adventurers are certainly about discoveries but most include sub-plots featuring intrigue, lessons on leadership, or unimaginable hardship.  Here's a few recommended reads for history and travel enthusiasts.

Fatal Journey : the Final Expedition of Henry Hudson by Peter C. Mancall

Henry Hudson's final expedition in the winter of 1610 ended with mutiny, resulting in Hudson, his son, and other crew members being forced off the boat and set adrift in the frigid Hudson Bay.

Sea of Dangers : Captain Cook and His Rivals in the South Pacific by Geoffrey Blainey

You have no doubt heard of the British Captain Cook; perhaps not the French Captain, Jean de Surville.  In 1769, both captains set out in search of a missing continent.  Pair this one with Joan Druett's book about Cook's Polynesian navigator, Tupaia.

The Man Who Ate His Boots by Anthony Brandt

Recounts the 19th century British Navy's many futile attempts to find the fabled Northwest Passage.

Irresistible North : From Venice to Greenland on the Trail of the Zen Brothers by Andrea Di Robilant

The Zen brothers explored parts of the New World a century before Columbus and centuries later, ended up at the center of a fraud controversy. The book is due for release in May.

The Lost City of Z : a Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann

A major bestseller in 2010, Grann's book takes on the story of what happened to British explorer Percy Fawcett in his 1925 quest to find an ancient civilization known as El Dorado.  Reads like a thriller.

Champlain's Dream by David Hackett Fischer

If you have vacationed along the lake in Vermont, New York, or Quebec, you know his name.  But who, exactly, was Champlain?  A soldier, spy, master mariner, explorer, cartographer, artist and all around influential man...

Race to the End : Amundsen, Scott, and the Attainment of the South Pole by Ross D.E. MacPhee

Norway's Roald Amundsen and England's Robert Scott made simultaneous attempts to be the first to reach the South Pole between 1910 and 1912.  You may know their stories but MacPhee's book, complete with diary reproductions and a wealth of photographic detail, adds dimension to their place in history.