New DVDs!!

Just Out:

"Masterpiece Classic: Great Expectations" - as seen on PBS - celebrate the bicentennial of Charles Dickens with this new treatment of his classic tale of love and ambition starring Gillian Anderson, Ray Winstone and David Suchet

"Vera" (TV series) - two-time Oscar nominee Brenda Blethyn plays the unconventional Detective Inspector based on the writings of Ann Cleeves


Out May 1:


Haywire" - mixed martial arts champion Gina Carano stars as a double-crossed spy fighting to stay alive - all-star supporting cast including Ewan McGregor, Bill Paxton, Channing Tatum, Antonio Banderas and Michael Douglas

Author Signing!

Vinny Guadagnino from "Jersey Shore"


Friday, April 27th, 2012, 7pm @ Book Revue


Jersey Shore Cast Member and Author Vinny G will be here to sign his book, Control the Crazy: My Plan to Stop Stressing, Avoid Drama and Maintain Inner Cool.


We all have the power to make our lives better in an instant. You have absolute power to control your crazy. In his new book, Vinny from Jersey Shore shares the step-by-step program that has helped him get a handle on his anxious mind and filled him with a sense of personal power and control that has rocked every facet of his life.

New Dvds!!

"Birdsong" (Masterpiece Classic) - an English soldier in World War One finds himself fighting in the same French district where he once had an illicit affair - based on the acclaimed novel by Sebastian Faulks and starring Eddie Redmayne and Clemence Poesy (as seen on PBS)

"Contraband" - a former smuggler returns to his profession to settle a family debt - stars Mark Wahlberg, Kate Beckinsale and Giovanni Ribisi

"Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" - how a father who died in the Twin Towers on 9/11 left a legacy of discovery for his son - based on the best-selling novel by Jonathan Safran Foer and starring Sandra Bullock, Thomas Horn and Tom Hanks

"Let The Bullets Fly" - Yun-Fat Chow as a gangster in 1920s China posing as the new mayor of a town which is not what it seems

"Pariah" - Kim Wayans directs and Adepero Oduye stars in this engrosssing depiction of growing up and survival in Brooklyn's Fort Greene neighborhood

"Young Goethe in Love" - how a would-be lawyer became Germany's most renowned poet - stars Alexander Fehling and Miriam Stein

New Audiobooks!

 Come Home, by Lisa Scottoline

Rebalancing her life and career after a painful divorce, pediatrician Jill learns that her ex has died from an alleged overdose that her former stepdaughter believes was actually murder, a situation that forces Jill to choose between her duty to past circumstances and her future happiness.

Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake, by Anna Quindlen

The Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and best-selling author presents a candid and whimsical personal account that explores what matters to middle-aged women and how they regard life stages.

Unnatural Acts, by Stuart Woods

When a hedge fund billionaire hires Stone Barrington to talk some sense into his wayward son, it seems like an easy enough job; no one knows the hidden sins and temptations of the ultra-wealthy better than Stone. But as Stone and his erstwhile protégé, Herbie Fisher, probe deeper into the case—and an old one comes back to haunt him---he realizes that even he may have underestimated just how far some people will go to cover up their crimes…and plan new ones.

Prague Winter, by Madeleine Albright

The former Secretary of State paints a portrait of her early life from 1937 to 1948 during which she witnessed the Nazi invasion of her native Prague, the Holocaust, the defeat of fascism, the rise of communism, and the onset of the Cold War.

Books to Movies

The Lucky One By Nicholas Sparks.

A Marine travels to North Carolina after serving three tours in Iraq and searches for the unknown woman he believes was his good luck charm during the war.

Pulitzer Prize Winner

On April 16 the Pulitzer Prizes were announced saluting contributions to various fields of literature. The General Nonfiction Pulitzer was awarded this year to Stephen Greenblatt for his work "The Swerve: How The World Became Modern," published by W.W. Norton. Greenblatt, a humanities professor at Harvard University, had been a Pulitzer finalist in 2004 for "Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare" which did win the National Book Award for Nonfiction that year. Both "The Swerve" and "Will in the World" may be found in the Merrick Library collection.

"The Swerve" tells the story of the rediscovery during the Renaissance of "On The Nature of Things" by the ancient Roman poet Lucretius. This lengthy work of verse espoused the then-dangerous views that the universe was not controlled by gods, that religion can be a danger to people, that virtue and pleasure can be mixed together, and that matter is made up of ever-moving particles that either collide or go elsewhere at random. Professor Greenblatt chronicles how the distribution of "On The Nature of Things" influenced the makeup in future centuries of science, politics, philosophy and literature.

Author Signing

Ricki Lake

Tuesday, April 17th, 2012, 7:00pm @Book Revue

Talk Show Host, Actress, and Author, Ricki Lake, will be here to speak about and sign her memoir, Never Say Never: Finding a Life that Fits.

From the beloved teen star, talk-show host, and media personality, an uplifting and revelatory memoir about turning forty, losing weight, and reinventing oneself at any age. Readers first met Ricki Lake as Tracy Turnblad in the original Hairspray. They fell in love with her as the spunky, no-holds-barred host of The Ricki Lake Show. And they came to respect her as the
executive producer behind The Business of Being Born, a groundbreaking documentary on childbirth in the United States. Now, Ricki’s many fans will get to know her in a whole new way.

In this intimate, bold, and relatable memoir, Ricki takes readers into her childhood home in Westchester County, where her parents—once liberal Jews—became born-again Christians. She’ll reveal the sexual abuse she endured, and the subsequent food issues and weight problems spawned from that trauma. She’ll pull back the curtain on her life as
a celebrity, from Hairspray through her decade-long talk show to the reinvention of herself as an author and filmmaker on the subject of alternative childbirth. Along the way, Ricki has weathered near bankruptcy, a brutal divorce, and a string of broken romances, while
also giving birth to two sons and raising them as a single mother—circumstances that would knock some of the strongest off their feet. But not this fighter.

Timed to coincide with Ricki’s return to the television screen with a brand-new talk show in 2012, this inspiring memoir gives readers an empowering example of the way one woman learned to take responsibility for her emotions, trust her gut, and turn an unconventional life into an unparalleled triumph.

New DVD!

"Mission:Impossible-Ghost Protocol" - Ethan Hunt and his team are blamed for a terrorist bombing - can he clear his agency's name? - fourth movie in the series based on the classic TV spy show - stars Tom Cruise, Paula Patton and Simon Pegg

Book Signing!

Baseball great Bud Harrelson will be signing copies of his book "Turning Two: My Journey to the Top of the World and Back with the New York Mets" on Thursday evening, April 19 at 7 at the Barnes & Noble Bookstore in the Country Glen Center on Old Country Road in Carle Place.

Derek "Bud Harrelson" played all but three of his sixteen-year major league career with the Mets. He was the everyday shortstop on the 1969 World Championship team and the 1973 National League penant winning club. A clutch hitter in spite of a .236 lifetime batting average, Harrelson was superb at his position with a career .969 fielding percentage and a Gold Glove in 1971. After his retirement as a player in 1980, Bud Harrelson became a Mets coach in 1986 for a team that won 108 games and the World Series in memorable fashion. In 1990 and 91 Harrelson managed the club.

Presently this native Californian lives in Hauppauge and serves as both Senior Vice President of Baseball Operations and first base coach for the Long Island Ducks minor league club. Bud Harrelson wrote "Turning Two" in collaboration with longtime New York sportswriter Phil Pepe. The book includes a foreward by Daryl Strawberry, a standout player on the 1986 Mets team considered by many the greatest in National League history.

Let Us Pick Your Next Read!

Merrick Library's Reference Department would like to make choosing your next read easier. Fill out a short questionnaire and our staff will provide you with up to 5 titles according to your preferences. You will be notified when your selections are available at the Reference Desk.

Batter Up!

On March 27 PBS presented the National Geographic documentary "Inside Fenway Park: An Icon at 100." Narrated by actor and Massachusetts native Matt Damon, the production traced the history of America's oldest professional baseball stadium and the many Boston Red Sox stars that have and are playing there. Woven into the story is an insider's view of what is involved to make new and returning customers welcome at Fenway.
Among the documentary's onscreen commentators was Glenn Stout, a prolific sports writer who penned the 2011 book Fenway 1912: The Birth of a Ballpark, A Championship Season and Fenway's Remarkable First Year, to be found in Merrick Library's collection. In it Mr. Stout chronicles a year that ended with a memorable World Series versus the then-New York Giants and future Hall of Fame manager John J. McGraw.

Merrick Library also has these books written or edited by Glenn Stout:

Everything They Had: Sportswriting From David Halberstam (editor)
Yankees Century: 100 Years of New York Yankees Baseball

And other recent works about baseball's history:

Breslin, Jimmy. Branch Rickey.
Harrelson, Bud. Turning Two: My Journey to the Top of the World and Back with the New York Mets.
Kennedy, Kostya. 56: Joe DiMaggio and the Last Magic Number in Sports.
Vescey, George. Stan Musial: An American Life.

The Rise of E-Reading....

The Merrick Library has thousands of FREE Downloadable EBooks for your EReading Devices. Visit the link on our Website for Downloadable Audio and Ebooks and start reading!

21% of Americans have read an e-book. The increasing availability of e-content is prompting some to read more than in the past and to prefer buying books to borrowing them.

Follow this link for the full article....http://libraries.pewinternet.org/2012/04/04/the-rise-of-e-reading/

New DVD Arrivals!

"Happy Feet Two" - will Mumble the tap dancing penguin have a successor in his son? Adversity may tell the tale - features the voices of Elijah Wood, Brad Pitt, Sofila Vergara and Robin Williams

"The Iron Lady" - Meryl Streep as the history-making British prime minister Margaret Thatcher in a performance that won Best Actress honors at the Academy, Golden Globe and New York Film Critics Circle Awards

"King of Devil's Island - from Norway - a lone inmate leads an uprising against a corrupt school for delinquents who are used for cheap labor instead of getting an education - stars Stellan Skarsgard ("Girl With the Dragon Tattoo")

New Audiobooks!

Author Signing

Ridley Pearson

Monday, April 2nd, 2012, 7:00pm @ Book Revue

Author Ridley Pearson will be here to speak about and sign his newest book in the "Kingdom Keeper series, Kingdom Keepers V: Shell Game."

As the Disney Fantasy joins the cruise fleet, a special treat is in store for guests aboard its inaugural sail from Cape Canaveral to Los Angeles: the Disney Host Interactive teenage guides will be part of the Fantasy crew.

Finn, Maybeck, Charlene, Willa, and Philby are to attend the cruise as celebrity guests, and to perform a ribbon cutting for the DHI server to go live. The Fantasy is now the most advanced cruise ship in the world.

But all is not right belowdecks. Strange things are happening. Unexplained phenomena. Only the Kingdom Keepers know the truth behind their invitation: nearly every Disney villain is represented onboard the new ship: whether on its decks or in its theaters. It's believed the Overtakers have infiltrated the cast and are "stowaways." Worse: it is believed they have stolen an important journal that once belonged to Walt Disney himself--Finn has been having dreams about this--and that some kind of mission is planned.

The ship sets sail filled with enthusiastic guests and crew, and the battle is on in new and exotic arenas: the beaches of Castaway Cay, the caves of Aruba, the locks of the Panama Canal, Costa Rica's rain forest zip line . . . But the end game is far more complicated and intense than anything the Kingdom Keepers had planned on. If the Overtakers get their way, a power will be unleashed that no one will have the ability to vanquish: Chernabog, dormant for years, is about to have his full powers restored. . . .

New DVDs!

Out April 3:

"Adele: Live at the Royal Albert Hall" - after a Number One single and album in 2011 what more can she do than play London's top concert venue?

"Macbeth" - Giuseppe Verdi's operatic treatment of Shakespeare's tragic masterpiece with Gary Halvorson in the title role and James Levine conducting New York's Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus

"War Horse" - how an equine named Joey changed more than one life in time of conflict - American Film Institute Movie of the Year - directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Jeremy Irvine, Emily Watson and David Thewlis

"We Bought A Zoo" - to keep his family together a widower purchases a failing animal preserve - stars Matt Damon, Thomas Haden Church and Scarlett Johansson