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Friday, June 29, 2012

The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) Action

Adventure Fantasy July 3, 2012

2012 (USA) Based on The Amazing Spider-Man by Stan Lee, and Steve Ditko

Peter Parker finds a clue that might help him understand why his parents disappeared when he was young. His path puts him on a collision course with Dr. Curt Connors, his father's former partner.

Director: Marc Webb
Writers: James Vanderbilt (screenplay), Alvin Sargent (screenplay), and 4 more credits »
Stars:Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone and Rhys Ifans

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Summer reads on the Today Show


Beach reading:
Wicked Autumn
Lets Pretend this Never Happened by Lawson
The after wife by Levanger

Rainy Day:
The Rook by o'Malley
Defending Jacob
Medium raw by Bourdain

Lady Almina


Guilty Pleasure:
Once Burned by Frost
Those across the River
Heat Rises by Castle
Rafa

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

New DVDs

Out June 26:

"The Artist" - the movie of the year is here! - winner of Academy and Golden Globe Awards for Best Picture, Best Actor (Jean Dujardin) and Best Original Score (Ludovic Bource) - also starring Berenice Bejo, John Goodman, James Cromwell and Penelope Ann Miller


"21 Jump Street" - the most unlikely of police officers pose as teens to uncover a drug ring - based on the hit 1980s TV series - stars Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

More New Audiobooks...

Age of Miracles, by Karen Thompson Walker
On a seemingly ordinary Saturday in a California suburb, Julia and her family awake to discover, along with the rest of the world, that the rotation of the earth has suddenly begun to slow. The days and nights grow longer and longer, gravity is affected, the environment is thrown into disarray. Yet as she struggles to navigate an ever-shifting landscape, Julia is also coping with the normal disasters of everyday life—the fissures in her parents' marriage, the loss of old friends, the hopeful anguish of first love, the bizarre behavior of her grandfather who, convinced of a government conspiracy, spends his days obsessively cataloging his possessions. As Julia adjusts to the new normal, the slowing inexorably continues.


Heartbroken, by Lisa Unger
Heartbroken is a tense, mesmerizing novel about the limits of dysfunctional families, of an island haunted by dark memories and restless ghosts, and of the all-too-real demons we must battle. Wonderfully suspenseful, exquisitely crafted, and written with raw, emotional power, this is Lisa Unger at her very best.


Yes, Chef: A Memoir, by Marcus Samuelsson
It begins with a simple ritual: Every Saturday afternoon, a boy who loves to cook walks to his grandmother's house and helps her prepare a roast chicken for dinner. The grandmother is Swedish, a retired domestic. The boy is Ethiopian and adopted, and he will grow up to become the world-renowned chef Marcus Samuelsson. This book is his love letter to food and family in all its manifestations.

Friday, June 22, 2012

New Audiobooks!

Wicked Business, by Janet Evanovich
Dazzling her patrons with scrumptious cupcakes at her Salem, Massachusetts bakery, Elizabeth Tucker continues to fall for the irresistible Diesel, who protects her from a villain who is seeking mystical stones tied to the seven deadly sins.




By Blood, by Ellen Ullman
In this dark and brilliant novel, a professor takes an office downtown, the walls are thin and he's distracted by voices from next door — his neighbor is a psychologist. He begins to hear about the patient's troubles. The professor is not just absorbed but enraptured. And the further he is pulled into the patient's recounting of her dramas, the more he needs the story to move forward. Armed with the few details he's gleaned, the professor takes up the quest and quickly finds the patient's mother in records from a German displaced-persons camp.Through the wall, he hears how his dear patient is energized by the news and so is he. He unearths more clues and invests more and more in this secret. His research leads them deep into the history of displaced-persons camps, of postwar Zionism, and—most troubling of all—of the Nazi Lebensborn program.
The Witness, by Nora Roberts
Having had a traumatic experience twelve years prior, Abigail Lowery lives in a remote area in a house with high-tech security measures, but this only serves to further intrigue police chief Brooks Gleason, who aims to protect Abigail.

The Storm, by Clive Cussler
In the middle of the Indian Ocean, a NUMA research vessel is taking water samples at sunset, when a crew member spots a sheen of black oil ahead of them. But it is not oil. Like a horde of army ants, a swarm of black particles suddenly attacks the ship, killing everyone aboard, while the ship itself goes up in flames.A few hours later, Kurt Austin and Joe Zavala are on their way to the Indian Ocean. What they will find there on the smoldering hulk of the ship will eventually lead them to the discovery of the most audacious scheme they have ever known: a plan to permanently alter the weather on a global scale. It will kill millions . . . and it has already begun.
The Risk Agent, by Ridley PearsonA Chinese National working for an American-owned construction company is grabbed off the streets of Shanghai in broad daylight. The security company recruits two unique outsiders to do their bidding. Grace Chu is a forensic accountant hired to follow the money; John Knox is a civilian with unparalleled training in both combat and culture. Grace's top-notch American education and Chinese military service make her an unassuming, but effective, operative, while Knox's take-no-prisoners attitude brings them perilously close to harm. Following the money leads to more complex – and dangerous – consequences than either anticipated. Who is actually behind the kidnapping? And more important, can Knox and Grace locate the two hostages ahead of the deadline? Rich with the atmosphere of Shanghai and crackling with tension-filled suspense, Pearson's latest introduces two compelling new characters—and heralds in the start of a brilliant new series.







Thursday, June 21, 2012

Book Signing

Lawrence Kelter

Wednesday, June 27th, 2012, 7pm @ Book Revue in Huntington, LI.
Author Lawrence Kelter will be here speaking about and signing his new book, Palindrome.

Palindrome Trilogy: Book I

It’s a hot summer night on Long Island. The Suds Shack is packed—lots of kids partying at a bar. Among the crowd is a girl, who is different from anyone else. A guy on the prowl—plop goes the pill into her drink. Her world spins out of control. He thought he had her, now he’s dead, and she’s coming for his accomplice. The poor sap picked the wrong girl to mess with. She can look like you or me, or anyone else she choses to become. Lexa and her brother, Ax are siblings with that little something extra, an extraordinary gift. In Book One they find themselves entangled in a web of murder, drugs, and manipulation.



Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Books To Movies!

To Rome with Love June 22 2012 (limited) based on the book To Rome with Love (Seven Sisters) by Debra White Smith

A story about a number of people in Italy, some American, some Italian, some residents, some visitors, and the romances and adventures and predicaments they get into.

Director: Woody Allen
Writer: Woody Allen
Stars:Woody Allen, Penélope Cruz and Jesse Eisenberg

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Book on the Big Screen

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter June 22, 2012 (USA)
Based onAbraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith


Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, discovers vampires are planning to take over the United States. He makes it his mission to eliminate them.

Director: Timur Bekmambetov
Writers: Seth Grahame-Smith, Simon Kinberg
Stars:Benjamin Walker, Rufus Sewell and Dominic Cooper

Friday, June 15, 2012

DVD Arrivals

Out June 19:


"Big Miracle" - based on the true story of an international effort to save gray whales trapped in the Arctic Circle ice - stars Drew Barrymore, John Krasinski and Kristen Bell

"Keyhole" - from Canada - imagine Homer's Odyssey as a gangster movie! - stars Jason Patric and Isabella Rossellini

"Seeking Justice" - what price will a family man pay for having a stranger avenge his brutalized wife? - stars Nicolas Cage, Guy Pearce and January Jones

"Wanderlust" - George and Linda leave high stress New York for freewheeling Elysium and its cast of characters - stars Jennifer Aniston, Paul Rudd, Malin Ackerman and Alan Alda

Jessica Massa
Friday, June 15th 2012 @ The Huntington Book Revue
Author Jessica Massa will sign her new book, The Gaggle: How the Guys You Know Will Help You Find the Love You Want.


The Gaggle captures the zeitgeist of today's “post-dating” world, where the rules for sex, dating, and relationships have completely changed.  Instead of dating, women collect a "gaggle" of men who orbit around them, occupy both romantic and platonic roles, but ultimately revealing who and what they want.
It’s easy to feel like your love life is nonexistent these days. You know you’re great, so why haven’t you been on a classic dinner and a movie date since...well, forever?  Because, as it turns out, you are now living in a post-dating world, where the old rules for sex and relationships no longer apply.  Suddenly, everything and nothing is a date.  But this means that you actually have much more going on in your love life than you realize. 
Think about all the ambiguous interactions you have with guys: from a brainstorming session with a coworker, to a drink with an old friend, to a late-night Skype session with an ex who's still in your life.  Once you open your eyes, you'll see that you're already exploring all sorts of connections with the men in your life via these "non-dates."  And who are all these guys you're non-dating?
Say hello to your gaggle.
The Gaggle is a group of guys in your life who play different roles, fulfill different needs, and help you figure out who you are, what you want, and what kind of relationship you ultimately desire.  In this clever and groundbreaking debut, based on interviews with women and men across the country, Jessica Massa reveals the ways in which the potential for love is all around you.  The Gaggle is the ultimate guide to figuring out what you want - and finding your match - in a world that has left traditional dating behind.



Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Author Signing

Adam Carolla

Wednesday, June 13th, 2012, 7 pm @ Book Revue, Huntington, LI
Radio and T.V host and Author Adam Carolla will sign his new book,
Not Taco Bell Material.

In his second book, Adam Carolla—author of New York Times bestseller
In Fifty Years We'll All Be Chicks and chart-topping podcaster—reveals
all the stories behind how he came to be the angry middle-aged man he
is today.
Funnyman Adam Carolla is known for two things: hilarious rants about
things that drive him crazy and personal stories about everything from
his hardscrabble childhood to his slacker friends to the hypocrisy of
Hollywood. He tackled rants in his first book, and now he tells his
best stories and debuts some never-before-heard tales as well.
Organized by the myriad "dumps" Carolla called home—through the
flophouse apartments he rented in his twenties, up to the homes he
personally renovated after achieving success in Hollywood—the
anecdotes here follow Adam's journey and the hilarious pitfalls along
the way.



New Audiobooks!



Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, by Cheryl Strayed

A powerful, blazingly honest, inspiring memoir: the story of a 1,100 mile solo hike that broke down a young woman reeling from catastrophe--and built her back up again. Oprah's new Book Club pick!



Last Kind Words, by Tom Piccirilli

Resolving to pursue an honest life after his brother goes on a murderous rampage and is sentenced to execution, Terrier Rand learns that his brother did not commit one of the killings for which he was sentenced and resolves to learn what really happened that day.

The Third Gate, by Lincoln Child

Believing he has discovered the burial chamber of a near-mythical Egyptian pharaoh and a mystical double crown, famed archaeologist Porter Stone and his team suffer bizarre accidents that Professor Jeremy Logan is brought in to investigate.



The Red House, by Mark Haddon

Because of Haddon's extraordinary narrative technique, the stories of these eight people are anything but simple. Told through the alternating viewpoints of each character, The Red House becomes a symphony of long-held grudges, fading dreams and rising hopes, tightly-guarded secrets and illicit desires, all adding up to a portrait of contemporary family life that is bittersweet, comic, and deeply felt. As we come to know each character they become profoundly real to us. We understand them, even as we come to realize they will never fully understand each other, which is the tragicomedy of every family. 

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Borrow a B&N Nook from the Library!


Attention Merrick patrons!
Borrow a BN Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight eReader from the Library!

We are circulating 5 of these eReaders to Merrick patrons. Each comes pre-loaded with a variety of titles to choose from to read.  The loan period is 14-days, no renewals.  The list of titles available are:

The Innocent by David Baldacci

Once We Were Brothers by Ronald Balson

Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian (Available July 17)

Gold by Chris Cleave (Available July 3)

The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins

Unorthodox by Deborah Feldman

Heading Out to Wonderful by Robert Goolrick

Calico Joe by John Grisham

Summerland by Elin Hilderbrand (Available June 26) 

Fifty Shades Trilogy by E. L James

Defending Jacob by William Landay

11th Hour by James Patterson

Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake by Ann Quindlen

The Shoemaker’s Wife by Adriana Trigiani

Unnatural Acts by Stuart Woods



Monday, June 11, 2012

Shelfari

Shelfari!



Shelfari is a community-powered encyclopedia for book lovers.


Create a virtual bookshelf, discover new books, connect with friends and learn more about your favorite books – all for free.



New DVDs

                                                Out June 12:




"Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance" - what can get Johnny Blaze out of being the Devil's bounty hunter involves saving a youngster from Hades - stars Nicolas Cage, Cieran Hinds and Idris Elba


"A Little Bit of Heaven" - what can open the door to true love? How about a visit to the doctor! - stars Kate Hudson, Whoopi Goldberg and Kathy Bates

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Books on the Big Screen!

The Woman in the Fifth June 15, 2012 (USA) based on the book The

Woman in the Fifth: A Novel by Douglas Kennedy
La femme du Vème (original title)

A college lecturer flees to Paris after a scandal costs him his job. In the City of Lights, he meets a widow who might be involved in a series of murders.

Ray Bradbury dies at the age of 91.

Ray Douglas Bradbury, one of the most dominant figures in American literature during the last seven decades, died June 5 in California at the age of 91. A child of the Depression era, Bradbury's "universities" were the public libraries in his hometown of Waukegan, Illinois and those in the Los Angeles area to which the family moved during Ray's teenage years.


Although largely associated with science fiction, Ray Bradbury once informed a 1976 radio interviewer that he had only written one work of "pure" sci-fi. That was his now classic 1953 novel "Fahrenheit 451" in which Bradbury's vision of a world overrun by censorship coincided with then current scientific fact including the temperature at which paper burns. Bradbury's work in short story, novella and novel form spanned the realms of fantasy, horror, mystery and areas to which critics have yet to attach a genre label.

Francois Truffaut's 1966 film treatment of "Fahrenheit 451" starring Julie Christie is available in Merrick Library's DVD collection. So is the 1956 movie version of Herman Melville's "Moby Dick" to which Ray Bradbury wrote the screnplay. Directed by John Huston, "Moby Dick" stars Gregory Peck as Captain Ahab.

In addition to "Fahrenheit 451," Merrick Library also has the following written works of Ray Bradbury:

The Cat's Pajamas (short stories)
Driving Blind
Farewell Summer
From the Dust Returned: A Family Remembrance
Let's All Kill Constance
The Martian Chronicles (in Young Adult collection)
Now and Forever: Somewhere A Band is Playing and Leviathan 99 (novellas)
One More For the Road: A New Short Story Collection
Quicker Than the Eye
Summer Morning, Summer Night
We'll Always Have Paris (short stories)
Zen and the Art of Writing (non-fiction)

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Nextreads

Are you looking for the next great book to read or ideas for your book club? Sign up for NextReads!

You can choose which electronic newsletters you want delivered to your email inbox by genre - choose as many or as few as you are interested in and submit!

Monday, June 4, 2012

Book Club In A Bag!

Calling all book groups or anyone interested in starting their own book discussion groups.  The Merrick Library offers an easy way to run a book discussion.  Each bag contains 10 copies of a title, discussion information, discussion leader tips, and a book sign up sheet to help the leader keep track of the books.  The Reference Department has been very busy gathering multiple copies of several titles for your discussion groups. You will be able to check them out as one complete kit. Also included will be everything you need to lead your group; author biographies, discussion questions, critical material and more! All of the work has already been done for you. All you need are some interested readers, some snacks, great conversation, and you are good to go! Please call the Reference Desk for more information. (516) 377-6112 x112 or x113

New Audio Book

Fifty Shades Freed, by E. L. James-  (The Sequel to Fifty Shades of Grey)


Even though Christian and Anastasia are now a proper couple, they still have many obstacles to overcome, including Christian's past coming back to haunt Anastasia.

Author Signing

Frank Catalanotto

Tuesday, June 12th, 2012, 7pm @ Book Revue Huntington LI

Former Professional Baseball Player and Author Frank Catalanotto will be here speaking about and signing his memoir, Heart & Hustle.

Join Frank Catalanotto on his unlikely journey from Little Leaguer to Big Leaguer. Heart & Hustle is a combination memoir and instruction guide for every player in any sport who has felt the sting of being overlooked or told they weren't good enough. It's a guide for players of all ages with stories of how Frank's perseverance, drive and
desire--his heart and hustle--led him to a fourteen-year career in the big leagues. With a foreword by MLB All-Star Michael Young and back cover blurbs by Bob Costas, Tom Verducci and Carlos Delgado, Heart & Hustle also contains 16 pages of full color photos tracing Frank's journey to the big leagues. Heart & Hustle is also an instruction guide for parents of young athletes with tips on how to be supportive and encouraging, just as Frank's parents, Frank and Sharon were. The strong support of his parents, brother and sister and later his wife and daughters, played a huge role in Frank's success.

Sunday, June 3, 2012

New DVD Arrivals!

Out June 5:


"Act of Valor" - a crack team of U.S. SEALS race the clock and circle the world to stop terrorists - stars Roselyn Sanchez and Nestor Serrano

"Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Complete Eighth Season" - from HBO - Larry David returns as America's favorite social assassin, finally divorced and loose in the Big Apple!

"John Carter" - from Disney - War on earth got you down? Try it on Mars! - based on the classic books by Edgar Rice Burroughs and starring Taylor Kitsch, Samantha Morton and Willem Dafoe

"Safe House" - Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds star as the most unlikely pair of spies ever to team up in order to escape mercenary killers

"Tomboy" - from France - a ten-year old girl pretends to be a boy so as to fit into her new neighborhood. But did she count on love? - award winner at film festivals in Berlin, San Fransisco and Philadelphia

Saturday, June 2, 2012

New Audiobooks!


Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots, by Deborah Feldman
It's hard to imagine life in any strict religious community, and the Satmar Hasidim seem particularly remote from the experiences of many Americans. Raised in a Satmar Hasidim community in Brooklyn, Feldman gives us special insight into a closed and repressive world. Abandoned by her mother and married off at 17 to a man she had known for less than an hour, Feldman started taking classes at Sarah Lawrence College and soon determined that she had to leave the community, together with her young son. At first glance, her memoir is fresh and tart and quite absorbing.

In One Person, by John Irving
Much of Irving's thirteenth novel is piquantly charming, crisply funny, and let-your-guard-down madcap in the classic mode of a Frank Capra or Billy Wilder film. In One Person is an attempt to capture the harrowing personal journey of a single man as he finds his own sexual, emotional and even literary identity—and to capture it in a way that matters to every single person who picks up the novel. In that way, In One Person had to become a book not just about a single human being, but about every human being. That’s not an easy thing to accomplish, but as this novel unfolds with all the grace and power we’ve come to expect from John Irving, it’s clear that he’s done it.

Wife 22, by Melanie Gideon
Chick-lit fans over the age of 30 will want to rush home from work, kick off their shoes, mix themselves tart cocktails, and settle down to read this wry debut novel by the best-selling author of The Slippery Year: A Meditation on Happily Ever After. Alice Buckle, a 44-year-old from Massachusetts, has been living in the San Francisco Bay Area for years when she realizes she and her husband have drifted apart while advancing their careers (mostly him) and raising their children (mostly her). Dissatisfied, Alice agrees to participate in a marriage study and, as "Wife 22," is paired with "Researcher 101." After weeks of anonymously sharing increasingly intimate details about her marriage, Alice begins to feel that Researcher 101 understands her better than her own husband does. VERDICT Peppered with Facebook updates, email messages, and chat logs, this book is a skillful blend of pop-culture references, acidic humor, and emotional moments.

Fifty Shades Freed, by E. L. James
Even though Christian and Anastasia are now a proper couple, they still have many obstacles to overcome, including Christian's past coming back to haunt Anastasia.

Friday, June 1, 2012

Book Signing!

Sarvenaz Tash


Sunday, June 3rd, 2012, 4pm At Book Revue in Huntington, LI.

Author Sarvenaz Tash will sign her new young adult novel, The Mapmaker and the Ghost.

Goldenrod Moram loves nothing better than a good quest. Intrepid, curious, and full of a well-honed sense of adventure, she decides to start her own exploring team fashioned after her idols, the explorers Lewis and Clark, and to map the forest right behind her home. This task is complicated, however, by a series of unique events—a chance encounter with a mysterious old lady has her searching for a legendary blue rose. Another encounter lands her in the middle of a ragtag gang of brilliant troublemakers. And when she stumbles upon none other than the ghost of Meriwether Lewis himself, Goldenrod knows this will be anything but an ordinary summer . . . or an ordinary quest. Debut author Sarvenaz Tash combines an edge-of-your-seat adventure, a uniquely clever voice, and an unforgettable cast of characters to prove that sometimes the best adventures of all are waiting right in your own backyard.

Books on the Big Screen!

Snow White and the Huntsman
June 1 2012 (USA)


In a twist to the fairy tale, the Huntsman ordered to take Snow White into the woods to be killed winds up becoming her protector and mentor in a quest to vanquish the Evil Queen.

Director: Rupert Sanders
Writers: Evan Daugherty (screenplay), John Lee Hancock (screenplay)
Stars:Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth and Charlize Theron