Book Signing @ Book Revue

The Art of Flirting with FRAN GREENE

Thursday, February 10th, 7pm @ Book Revue. Join us when relationship expert FRAN GREENE leads this fun, informative workshop on the art of flirting. After the workshop, Fran will sign copies of her new book, The Flirting Bible.

Do you often wish that you had the courage to approach a stranger, talk to anyone, anytime, anyplace? Do you experience shyness when meeting new people, going on a blind date, interviewing for a job, going somewhere alone, or attending a seminar? You are not alone!! Learn the secrets of successful flirting with Fran Greene, the Flirting Coach. Don’t miss this fun, informative and confidence building workshop.

Fran Greene, A.C.S.W., is a nationally renowned communication and relationship expert who specializes as a singles and relationship therapist and personal ad consultant. She is well-known for her unique and innovative expertise as a "Flirting and Dating Coach". She has taught at Cornell University, Adelphi University and Suffolk Community College. Ms. Greene is a consultant with recognized expertise on such topics as Social Relationship Skills, Assertiveness, Communication Skills and Dating. She is also well-known as highly respected for her creative approach in teaching flirting, dating and relationship skills for people recovering from disabilities.

New Non-Fiction Audiobook Arrivals!

Gary Taubes explores American obesity in an attempt to discover the underlying causes. Here, he argues that certain types of carbohydrates, rather than fats, are to blame for the country's epidemic and reveals how Americans are trapped in a deadly cycle of obesity because of bad nutritional science and poor lifestyles.





The Kardashian sisters, Kim, Kourtney, and Khloe, offer up their first authorized family biography. Starring in two reality television shows and adorning several magazine covers, the Kardashians are larger than ever. From the wisdom they learned from their father to the street smarts they picked up from their mother, here the Kardashians chronicle their upbringing and subsequent rise to success.



Bestselling author and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School Dr. Sanjiv Chopra teams up with cardiologist Dr. Alan Lotvin to reveal the latest technology in the medical industry. In addition, the duo also dispels the common myths and misconceptions that the media unfortunately relays to an unsuspecting audience.



Considered to be one of America's all-time brightest authors, Mark Twain has left his mark on the literary world. Authoring such gems as "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," Twain's insight on the ever-evolving and expanding America gave the world a better understanding on the social issues that plagued the country. Here in his own words, Twain chronicles his life and career, offering some perspectives on how his books were created.

Book Signing...

WHITNEY PORT
Thursday, February 3rd, 7pm @ Book Revie
MTV celebrity and budding fashion designer WHITNEY PORT will sign her new book, True Whit: Designing a Life of Style, Beauty and Fun.

Fashion trendsetter, MTV reality star, and clothing designer Whitney Port learned to navigate her new independent life in New York with grace, style, and a sense of humor. From backstabbing coworkers and bitchy bosses to long-distance boyfriends and a daring new career in fashion, Whitney managed to handle it all. Intimate and honest, Whitney opens up about everything from fashion and beauty to romance and careers. She dishes on: her experiences working at Teen Vogue, People's Revolution, and Diane von Furstenberg; finding love and trying to make it work; and life in front of the cameras.

With hundreds of photos and chock-full of must-have lists and style favorites, this colorful scrapbook features pics from Whitney's personal photo albums and from major moments in her life, including on the runway, at her private birthday bash, and out on the town with friends. And for the first time, Whitney shares the true reality of an emerging fashion designer, highlighting her creative process, sketches, and fabrics.

More Merrick Golden Globe Goodies!

On January 16 the 68th annual Golden Globe Awards were held in Los Angeles and broadcast over NBC. The following movies in Merrick's DVD collection were bestowed with honors by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association:

The Social Network: Best Motion Picture - Drama
Best Director: David Fincher
Best Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin
Best Original Score: Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross

The Kids Are All Right: Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
Best Actress - Musical or Comedy: Annette Benning

Toy Story 3: Best Animated Feature Film

You Don't Know Jack: Best Actor in a Mini-Series or TV Film: Al Pacino

Temple Grandin: Best Actress in a Mini-Series or TV Film: Claire Danes

In addition, the Fox TV hit "Glee" won three Golden Globes: Best Series, Musicial or Comedy; Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Mini-Series or TV Film (Chris Colfer); and Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Mini-Series or TV Film (Jane Lynch). Merrick Library has the following CDs in its Soundtracks/Musicals collection:

Glee, Volume 1: The Music
Glee, The Music: Volume 2
Glee, The Music, Volume 3: Showstoppers
Glee, Volume 4: The Music
Glee, The Music: Journey to Regionals
Glee, The Music: The Rocky Horror Glee Show
Glee, The Music: The Power of Madonna

Robert De Niro

Robert De Niro received the 2011 Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement in motion pictures at the Golden Globe Award ceremony on January 16 in Los Angeles.
The 67 year old actor, producer and director received the award from fellow thespian Matt Damon, whom De Niro directed in "The Good Shepherd." De Niro predicted that one day Damon would be given the DeMille award and planned to be around for the occasion. Past DeMille recipients present that evening included Martin Scorcese, Steven Spielberg, Warren Beatty, Al Pacino and Michael Douglas.

Merrick Library has the following movies on DVD which feature the talents of Robert De Niro:

About A Boy (producer)
Analyze That
Analyze This
Brazil
Everybody' Fine
Flawless
The Godfather, Part Two
Godsend
The Good Shepherd (director and actor)
Hide and Seek
Meet The Fockers
Meet The Parents
Righteous Kill
Stage Beauty (producer)
What Just Happened (producer)

New York Times Literary Treat of the Week....

Mazzeo, Tilar J. The Secret of Chanel No. 5: The Intimate History of the World’s Most Famous Perfume. Harper/HarperCollins.

Some cannot remember a time when its artful television commercials did not invite its viewers to “share the fantasy.” Chanel No. 5 came about in the right era to benefit from American advertising’s world impact. Coco Chanel did her own test marketing at a 1921 dinner in Cannes by spraying the fifth sample provided by the perfumer Beaux around her table and pretending not to notice it. Chanel wanted a scent that combined the cleanliness of the orphanage where she spent her childhood with the lush and sensual atmosphere of her dancer days at the Moulin Rouge in Paris. Mazzeo chronicles how rocky dealings with No. 5’s distributors plus a world war resulted at one point in two versions of the product said to contain the “scent of a woman.”

For more about Coco Chanel, Merrick Library has the following book in its collection:

Chanel / edited by Harold Koda, Andrew Bolton and Olivier Saillard. Yale University Press, 2005.

And these movies:

Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky- starring Anna Mouglalis and Mads Mikkelsen.
Coco Before Chanel- starring Audrey Tautou.

Reviewed by Librarian, Bob.

Book Signing

ALICE HOFFMAN
Friday, January 28th, 7pm @ Book Revue
Bestselling author ALICE HOFFMAN will speak about and sign her new novel, The Red Garden.

The Red Garden presents us with the luminous and haunting world of Blackwell, Massachusetts as it captures the unexpected turns in history and in our own lives.

Beautifully crafted, shimmering with magic, The Red Garden is a transforming glimpse into small town America, presenting us with 300 years of passion, dark secrets, loyalty and redemption in a web oftales where characters lives are intertwined by fate and by their own actions.

From the time the town is founded by a brave, young woman from England who has no fear of blizzards or of bears, to the young man who runs away to New York City with only his dog for company, the characters in The Red Garden are extraordinary and vivid: a young wounded civil war solider who is saved by a passionate neighbor, a woman who meets a historical character who is fiercely human, a poet who falls in love with a blind man, a mysterious traveler who comes to town in the year when summer never arrives.

At the center of everyone’s life is an extraordinary garden where only red plants can grow, and where the truth can be found by those who dare to look.

Hoffman once again enchants us as lives are linked, changed, and redeemed. Delightful and compelling, The Red Garden is as unforgettable as it is moving.

New York Times Literary Treat of the Week....

Roslund, Anders and Hellstrom, Borge. Three Seconds. Translated by Kari Erickson. Silver Oak.

"The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry." This American version of a famous line by Scottish poet Robert Burns best describes the situation of Piet Hoffman. Over a nine year period this ex-con turned police informant has infiltrated the Polish-led mafia controlling the drug trade in Stockholm. Hoffman contrives to get arrested and sent to Aspssas, a maximum security prison that is the source of illegal amphetamines peddled in the great Swedish city. Yet pressure is put on Sweden's Ministry of Justice by former Soviet security agents allied with the Polish drug lords to not back any covert operations. Couple that with an ongoing police investigation of murder stemming from an amphetamine sale gone bad and Hoffman's cover and life might violently end. It is a web that Roslund and Hellstrom, former criminal and journalist respectively, weave with a learned anticipation of what might "go awry."

Reviewed by Librarian Bob.

New Historical Fiction

The Death Instinct by Jed Rubenfeld
Blending fact and fiction in a brilliantly convincing narrative, Jed Rubenfeld has forged a gripping historical unsolved mystery about terror, war, greed, and the darkest secrets of the human soul, framed by the bomb that devastated Wall Street in 1920.

The Paris Wife
by Paula McLain

Hadley Hemingway, Ernest Hemingway's first wife, brings to life the Paris of the Lost Generation, populated by fascinating characters including Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, and Gerald and Sara Murphy.

Mr. Chartwell
by Rebecca Hunt

Charismatic and dangerously seductive, the spirit of Mr. Chartwell unites the eminent statesman Winston Churchill with vulnerable Esther Hammerhans, a librarian at the House of Commons. Can they withstand Mr. Chartwell’s strange, powerful charms and his stranglehold on their lives?

Book Signing

ALANNA LEA WIEST
Thursday, January 20th, 7pm @ Book Revue
Northport author ALANNA LEA WIEST will speak about and sign her new
collection of poetry, The Other Side of the Mirror.

The Other Side of The Mirror is a collection of more than 100 poems born out of Alanna Wiest's 19-year-long struggle with schizoaffective disorder, which combines schizophrenia and mood disorder. The poems offer a stark look at her formidable battle with fears, anxiety, anger, frustrations, delusions, and the pain of depression and mania. They also offer glimpses of hope, life, beauty and survival.

Check out our People's Choice Awards Collection!

On January 5 the 37th People's Choice Awards were aired live from Los Angeles on CBS. The following movies in Merrick Library's DVD collection were honored at the ceremony:

"Iron Man 2" - Favorite Action Movie
"Grown Ups" - Favorite Comedy Movie, Favorite Comedic Star (Adam Sandler)
"Toy Story 3" - Favorite Family Movie
"Alice in Wonderland" - Favorite Movie Actor (Johnny Depp)
"The Karate Kid" and "The Spy Next Door" - Favorite Action Star (Jackie Chan)

The following recording artists were also honored at the People' Choice Awards. Also listed are their current albums among the music CDs at Merrick Library

Eminem - Favorite Male Artist and Hip-Hop Artist; Favorite Song and Music Video ("Love The Way You Lie")
Current Album: "Recovery"
Katy Perry - Favorite Female Artist
Current Album: "Teenage Dream"
Paramore - Favorite Rock Band
Current Album: "Brand New Eyes"
Selena Gomez and the Scene - Favorite Breakout Artist
Current Album: "A Year Without Rain"
Rihanna - Favorite Pop Artist
Current Album: "Loud"
Taylor Swift - Favorite Country Artist
Current Album: "Speak Now"
Usher - Favorite R&B Artist
Current Albums: "RvR," "Versus"

New York Times Literary Treat of the Week...

Brown, Mike. How I Killed Pluto, And Why It Had It Coming.

A recent episode of the hit CBS comedy "The Big Bang Theory" included an appearance by astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson who put up with claims of "deplanetizing" Pluto. Although the International Astronomical Union (IAU) voted in August 2006 for demoting Pluto to "dwarf" status the act has become a topic of much recent debate. A two million member Facebook group has protested the ruling. The controversy started when astronomer Brown in seeking bodies beyond Pluto found an orbiting mass 27 times the size of that previous planet. Yet the IAU considered the newly found "Eris" to be too small and also designated it a "dwarf." Of all the fallout from this scientific skirmish the most positive was that Brown, whose father worked on the Apollo space program, solidified his position in the California Institute of Technology and started a family. Being a husband/father in the astronomical world provides a balance in this memoir regarding how the fervor over Pluto has affected many traditional views about the universe.

Author Signing.

JOHNNY WEIR

Wednesday, January 12th, 7pm @ Book Revue
Three-time US champion, two-time Olympian, and World medalist, JOHNNY WEIR, will sign his new book Welcome to My World.

A collection of wildly entertaining anecdotes and essays about everything from pop culture to skating to fashion to Johnny himself. Finally, fans have the opportunity to get to know who Johnny Weir really is, inside and out.

At the age of 26, Johnny Weir—a three-time US champion, two-time Olympian, and World medalist—is one of the superstars of figure skating and an emerging pop-culture icon. At his very first Olympic Games in Torino, Italy, Johnny placed second in the short program, and finished fifth overall. Johnny went on to win the bronze medal at the 2008 World Championships. In 2010, Johnny made the US Olympic team for the second time and represented his country in the Olympic Games in Vancouver.

Top Ten Craft & Gardening Books according to Booklist

1. Crochet in Color: Techniques and Designs for Playing with Color, by Kathy Merrick. Designer Merrick has created a book that veteran and novice stitchers will keep at their immediate beck and call.

2. The Feisty Stitcher: Sewing Projects with Attitude, by Susan Wasinger.
Wasinger’s latest volume is a panoply of good-looking, well designed, and ecologically sound items for homes and shelves.

3. Growing a City Garden, by Jeremy N. Smith.
Bright, vibrant, and buoyantly accessible, this effervescent celebration of the local food movement thrums with regional, national, and international implications.

4. Growing Tasty Tropical Plants in Any Home, Anywhere, by Laurelynn Martin.
Fun facts, handy tips, and eye popping color illustrations and photographs round out a comprehensive yet accessible guide that will fascinate and inspire both beginning and established gardeners.

5. Luxe Knits: The Accessories; Couture Adornments to Knit and Crochet, by Laura Zukaite. It’s hard to resist the seductiveness of the four collections presented here, with thanks to top model photography and airy illustrations.

6. Of Gardens: Selected Essays, by Paula Deitz.
Deitz masterfully celebrates the myriad attractions of gardens great and small, public and private, and their ability to enrich, ennoble, and entertain.

7. The Quilters Album of Patchwork Patterns, by Jinny Beyer.
An amazing amount of meticulous research elevates this compendium from a ho-hum aggregate to one that inspires and engages.

8. Real Life Journals: Designing and Using Handmade Books, by Gwen Diehn.
This is a lovely, helpful volume that will inspire and attract journalers and scrap-bookers alike.

9. Thoughtful Gardening, by Robin Lane Fox.
This immense wealth of practical information and insight supports the maxim that sometimes devoted gardeners love reading about gardening almost more than the actual act itself.

10. Understanding Garden Design: The Complete Handbook for Aspiring Designers, by Vanessa Gardner Nagel. In this thorough and thoroughly accessible book, Nagel’s seasoned yet personable approach to an often intimidating subject will benefit both home owners and design professionals.

New Performance DVD

"The Frank Sinatra Concert Collection" - fourteen hours on seven DVDs made up of television specials, international events and scenes from Sinatra's 1957 ABC-TV series - the "Chairman of the Board" at his musical best!

Book Discussion Suggestion.

"Bloodroot"
by Amy Greene


In a dark and riveting story of the legacies--of magic and madness, faith and secrets, passion and loss--Myra Lamb is a wild girl with mysterious, haint blue eyes who grows up on remote Bloodroot Mountain. Her grandmother, Byrdie, protects her fiercely and passes down “the touch” that bewitches people and animals alike. But when John Odom tries to tame Myra, it sparks a shocking disaster that rips lives apart.