Off the Shelf is your destination for all things BOOKS. If you’re interested in reading recommendations, author interviews or the literary world's secrets, Brooklyn Public Library's bibliophile staff is at your service.
Books to Read After Your Stranger Things Binge
Moira PeckhamYou watched all of Stranger Things in one day and now you’re just going back and watching all your favorite scenes again while secretly wishing you’d exercised slightly more self-control. But it’s too late for that so it’s time to go to Option B: this list. Welcome! We’re so happy you decided to come to us on your quest to find something to satisfy the part of your mind that craves three things and three things only: 1) Gripping narratives 2) A healthy dose of darkness 3) Relationships that show you that maybe the real stranger things were the friends we made along the way. We’re here…
Not All People Were Created Equal on July 4, 1776
DonaldJuly 4th came and went quickly. Some of us celebrated it as a day off from work. Some of us had to work for half-or-full-days and hoped to get some of the cookout leftovers after our shifts. Some of us were invited to parties and spent quality or people-pleasing/keeping the peace time with family and friends. Some of us went to shopping malls and outlets to take advantage of the Fourth of July sales. Some of us went to Coney Island to root for the contestants in the annual Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest. Some of us enjoyed the festive fireworks, beaches or even went to the movies. …
High SPF Reads for Your Summer Getaway
Raquel PenzoI love the beach. I love it when it’s full-on sunny or even partly cloudy; I have been known to visit a shore or two even in fall weather, just because...I live for that salty, sea air! Hot sand doesn’t bother me at all and no matter the season, the people-watching can’t be beat. So just imagine my joy at discovering a way to marry my love for the shore with my love for exploring new worlds between the covers of a good book. Part of the attraction of picking up any new read is the very real possibility of being transported to another place, time or dimension. Though I’ve never been to…
Hot Grill: Summer in the City
Debbie PecoraA hot dog or burger cooked in a frying pan during winter simply cannot compete with one grilled outdoors in the heat of the summer; they are almost different foods! And consequently, one of the most popular summer activities for many Brooklynites is cooking outdoors. Brooklynites will go to extravagant lengths to get grilled things into their lives, from traveling great distances with wagons loaded with grill gear to fitting humorously tiny grills or hibachis on the smallest of balconies (and sometimes fire escapes). Those fortunate enough to have backyards or patios are known to devote…
Say Nothing and Writing About the Troubles
MarkLiterary Destinations That are Just a Short Drive Away!
Lisa Borten
Quick Reads for Pride
JessiMagic, Mermaids, and Coney Island
Megan SmeadAs summer solstice draws near, the annual Coney Island Mermaid Parade is upon us. In celebration of ancient mythology, artistic self-expression, and revelry in the culture of the seaside, marchers dress in glittering, whimsical, and wild costumes and are led by King Neptune and Queen Mermaid down Surf Avenue, while thousands of onlookers soak in the pageantry. Whether you plan to partake in the Mermaid Parade, these books will immerse you in that fantastical marine spirit. The Pisces by Melissa Broder -- Lucy has been writing her dissertation on Sappho for nine years when she and her…
Celebrate Father's Day with These Famous Dads
RobertMemoirs to Read During Pride Month (And All Year Round!)!
JessiPride Month is here and there is much to celebrate and honor—LGBTQIA+history, politics, theater and film, culture, music, art, and especially literature. This blog post highlights four recently published memoirs by LGBTQIA+writers. Take the time to read their beautiful and inspiring stories. Amateur: A True Story about What Makes a Man by Thomas Page McBee: McBee’s beautifully written and deeply personal memoir captures his experiences training to fight a charity boxing match at Madison Square Garden, all while struggling to define what it means to be a man both in and outside the…
When Broadway Goes Dark, Use a Booklight
Angie MiraflorThis Sunday Broadway will go dark in celebration of the 73rd Annual Tony Awards. While I am no expert on live theater, I know one thing for sure: only the experience of being transported into another world for two hours by professional performers wearing beautiful costumes can make a walk through Times Square on a Saturday night worth the hassle! As we are obliged to take a break from Broadway this weekend, why not use the intermission to look at some of the books upon which the nominations are based and enhance our Broadway savvy with a few deeper dives into its rich history…
Whitman's Spirit in the Gig Economy
Graphic Novels With a Personal Touch
MarkGraphic novels aren't just containers for superhero sagas; plenty of cartoonists have used their talent with words and pictures to chronicle more personal stories about their everyday lives or the lives of others. This kind of cartooning always feels more intimate to me, as if I'm looking over the artist's shoulder as they doodle scenes into their diaries. Here are eight examples of creators whose stories remain true to life. Lena Finkle's Magic Barrel by Anya Ulinich -- A lightly fictionalized and unflinchingly honest tale of a Russian-born artist and single mother searching for true love…
Book Club Spotlight: Sheepshead Bay
LauraOff The Shelf highlights book discussion groups happening at our libraries across Brooklyn. All of our book discussion groups are free and everyone is welcome to participate. Sheepshead Bay Book Club has been in existence for over 20 years. Silvia Glasser, a retired librarian at Brooklyn Public Library, started the book discussion club at Sheepshead Bay Library in 1998, and continued until the end of 2012. In 2016, as the adult services librarian at Sheepshead Bay, I was tasked with resurrecting this wonderful book club. I started with an old attendance list compiled by Mrs. Glasser.…
Short Reads for a Long Weekend
RobertMaybe you have an hour or two to spare over the weekend and want to complete a book instead of reading a chapter. Maybe you want to read on the beach but don’t want to spend too much time in the sun. Or maybe your partner has taken the kids for a couple of hours and finding two articles in the stack of unread New Yorkers is too much trouble. Whatever the case, we’ve got you covered. Below are a list of Quick Reads to enjoy over the holiday weekend. Each is under 100 pages and offer a variety of topics for a variety of tastes. For the La Manch-an In You Mona Lisa by Alexander Lernet-…
4 Books to Read Now that Game of Thrones is Over
ElizabethNo matter what you think of how things ended on Game of Thrones, you're going to need some new tales of adventure to sweep you away now that the series is over. Even if you haven't been following the twists and turns of events in Westeros, these stories will draw you into rich fantasy worlds, full of drama, intrigue and magic. There are even dragons! The Dragon Round by Stephen S. Power The Dragon Round is a swashbuckling adventure with a dark side. When a ship captain is stranded on a deserted island by his mutinous crew, he finds a baby dragon that just might be the key to his…
Walt Whitman: His Presence in America & Its Ongoing Presents
Jane PalmerLiving for the moment is living for history when whatever tales are told become the stuff of legacy. Walt Whitman was a flaneur, a lover of walking. By his own admission he was a loafer. Throughout his transitory state he continued to hold onto what was dear to him. In time it became dear to others, affecting them and influencing forever what is considered the best of American culture. Such was the power of his poetry, fleeting thoughts that became a tangible reality. Today all of that and more is Whitman’s continuing gift. Brooklyn Public Library has in its collection works that consider the…
Queer Poets & the Whitman Tradition
AlexandraBad Moms and the Hero's Journey
JenniferWith even the most cursory overview of the literary canon, it is clear that a curious preponderance of protagonists seem to have survived some pretty bad parenting. It occurs to me that while this condition may be great for their narrative arc it probably makes celebrating Mother’s Day a little uncomfortable. So in honor of these hapless heroes and heroines of some of my favorite works of literature, I submit this list of not-so-great, fictional mothers who are bound to offer some timely perspective to the not-so-fictional, great mother in your own life. Enjoy! Mrs.…
Reading for the Technoskeptic
MelissaWe who work at the library spend a lot of time thinking about technology – not just because we have public computers and thereby get a lot of questions about navigating them, but also since we watch the everyday life of library users as well as our own become transformed by digital environments. Big data? Online surveillance? Platform monopolies? Predictive policing? Algorithmic bias? Attention hacking? Just reading the headlines of the day makes it clear how society is grappling with how policy, law, and social norms are keeping up with (or not) the digital tools that we’ve become so…
Four Books to Transport You to a Galaxy Far, Far Away
Jason WoodlandMay the Fourth Be with You... While the anniversary of the release of the original Star Wars movie is May 25th and all subsequent Star Wars movies released by George Lucas have been around Memorial Day weekend (to coincide with Lucas’ birthday on May 14th), “Star Wars Day” is celebrated by fans on May 4th because of a pun: May the Fourth (May the Force) Be with You. You get it. So let me be the first to say, May the Fourth Be with You this Star Wars Day as you travel to a galaxy far, far away by checking out one of these great books: One of my favorite Star Wars novels is from the…
Quiz: Can You Spot the Real Walt Whitman Quote?
The Continuing Relevance of Arthur Rimbaud
Jane PalmerFour Books to Cure Kitchen Gadget Shyness
Angie MiraflorThe holidays were four months ago and your Instant Pot/air fryer/slow cooker are still in the box. You’ve tried “winging it” with recipes, but your creations are not what you might call "appetizing". And online recipes are useful, but doing battle with popup ads and sticky hands? That sounds like a recipe for a sticky phone! And you are stuck in this predicament, because before the internet, no technology existed for sharing information about food…. Wait! The Library has literally thousands of excellent books to help with both your gadget struggles and your recipe fails. With pictures to…
Earth Day: Protect Our Species
MargaretHave you taken a hike recently only to wonder where all the wildlife is, remembering nature walks from your youth that were teeming with animal activity? Is there a certain bird or flower from your childhood that you don’t see anymore, or maybe a tasty variety of vegetable or fruit that is nowhere to be found? According to the Earth Day Network, our planet is now facing an unprecedented extinction of plant and animal species that is directly linked to human activity, from climate change, deforestation, habitat loss, trafficking and poaching, unsustainable agriculture, pollution, and pesticide…
How to Be a Poet
Izabela Barry, Senior Librarian IA / CentralMany years ago, in the distant 70s of the last century, an outstanding Polish poet of the postwar generation, practically unknown to the American reader, Edward Stachura, wrote, Everything is poetry, everyone is a poet. To form this truth I was slowly led by what I had seen, heard, recognized, noticed, or sensed, what was cursed and blessed, and what I read here and there. Everything is poetry; everyone is a poet. As a young girl, I strongly believed in this statement, which is why I started to write poems. These poems remain unpublished and perhaps that is for the best. I wrote…
Julia Alvarez’s Book Birthday: A Celebration of #OwnVoices
Raquel PenzoOn November 25, 1960, three of four Mirabal sisters—Patria Mercedes, María Argentina Minerva, and Antonia María Teresa—were assassinated on orders from the long-standing Dominican dictator, Rafael Leonida Trujillo, because of their involvement in underground activities that sought to unseat him. Known as Las Mariposas, their deaths (the anniversary of which is now known as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women) set into motion a surge in opposition that led, finally, to the assassination of Trujillo. The lives of Las Mariposas is the basis for the novel by Julia…
New York Picks One Book to Rule Them All
Off the Shelf Editorial StaffFinalists Announced for One Book, One New York 2019 Voting is now open for the program that gets everyone to read the same book at the same time: One Book, One New York. You’ve got one month to choose your favorite among the list of this year’s finalists for the citywide book club; the winning book is announced on May 3rd. In consideration of the difficult choice ahead, BKLYN Library staff renounce their customary hushed tones below and declare which of the nominated books should be chosen: Just Kids by Patti Smith - “…
Six Books Heralding the Boys Of Summer
DavidSpring is here (according to the calendar, if not always the thermometer) and with it also the return of baseball season. Of all the major professional sports, baseball probably has the greatest sense of history surrounding it, going all the way back to the 19th-century when the game was played with what now seem like absurdly small gloves and catchers didn’t even wear masks. Through the years the game has changed in many ways and there can seem to be a world of difference between the days of Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth and Jackie Robinson and the highly analytical game of today. But…
What to Read (And Listen To) to Celebrate 2019's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductees
Raquel PenzoThe Soundtracks of Our Lives Do you remember where you were when you first heard Stevie Nicks taking her love and taking it down? Or when you realized that the littlest Jackson was all grown up and in Control of her own career? Or when Bill Murray sang “More Than This” in Lost in Translation and you knew you’d heard the song before but couldn’t remember where? If so, then this year’s batch of inductees in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame will definitely spark joy. On Friday, March 29, Stevie Nicks, Janet Jackson, Roxy Music, Def Leppard, The Cure, Radiohead and The Zombies will recognized as…
Spring's here! Get growing!
MargaretAs the days get longer and the crocuses and daffodils emerge from their slumber signaling the decline of winter, a realization takes hold: it's time to plan your garden! It's spring time and while we city dwellers may not have oodles of space for growing, plants still play an important role in softening the harshness of our concrete jungle and connecting us to the natural world. Here are a few titles to help inspire your dream windowsill/patio/backyard/rooftop garden. And once inspiration takes hold, stop by Brooklyn Public Library's new Seed Library, located in the…
Reading for March: Women in the World Claiming Power
Jane PalmerThroughout history women have found ways to achieve power even when that power was not granted directly, often finding notoriety, fame, or historic precedence by navigating and negotiating from the limited options available. Women also claimed power through individual resistance, thereby redefining power in roles traditionally and narrowly viewed as the collective actions of men. Including the voices and perspectives of women writers has unquestionably expanded definition of power and Brooklyn Public Library has a wealth of books which explore the dynamics of this experience among women.…
Meet "For Brooklyn"
Off the Shelf Editorial StaffWe are thrilled to share Brooklyn Public Library’s new campaign “For Brooklyn” with you. We just launched the campaign in March, with lots more planned to celebrate and support the library. The “For Brooklyn” campaign seeks to reintroduce the Library to all of Brooklyn’s 2.6 million residents. Brooklyn Public Library’s branches can morph and change in magical ways, depending on the people who visit. There are millions of books and eBooks, and free wifi and computer access in all 59 branches. The Library has offered storytime for over a hundred years, and now has storytime in nine…
Don't Sleep on These Perfect Books for World Sleep Day
Erik BobilinAs someone concerned about his fraught relationship with sleep, I know a considerable bit about the optimal conditions it seems to require--considerably more it seems than I am able to actually implement. In practice I favor a ‘whatever it takes’ approach in which 30 Rock has autoplayed me to sleep more times than I care to count, more effectively than the sheep I care not to count and in full knowledge that it is precisely that type of bad sleep hygiene that Arianna Huffington, et al suggest is keeping me from a sustainably healthy relationship with sleep. No blue light--create for yourself…
Why Adults Should Read YA and Where to Start
Cool People x Interesting Work: How the Library and Comics Work Together
Leigh, Collections ManagerFebruary 23 kicked off a new event series at Central Library, Cool Work x Interesting People (CWxIP). Co-curated by award-winning cartoonist and head publisher at Diskette Press, Carta Monir, and myself, CWxIP features six indie cartoonists leading unique monthly workshops, culminating on June 15, 2019. The series title derives from the Carta-helmed podcast, We Should Be Friends, self-described as a “podcast about cool work by interesting people.” It is in the same spirit that Carta and I organized a lineup of creators who are actively critiquing their own community, as well as forming…
Super Short, Never Sweet
As a library worker, I can't think of a better way to celebrate Women's History Month than checking out books written by and about women. One month is of course not long enough to cover an entire history, and you might think it's not long enough to read entire novels, but that's where you're wrong—each of these six books is super short (under 200 pages!) and deliciously unputdownable. Margaret the First by Danielle Dutton The insanely interesting story of one of the first published women writers, a duchess named Margaret Cavendish. Dutton’s writing is lovely—the food…
Truth over fiction: Oscar picks for Best Documentary
Okay, I admit, I’m a total documentary nerd. But I have great reason to be one. What is more interesting than real life? Real people facing challenges, forming relationships, defying death, and sharing stories that don’t need magic, fiction, or fantasy. In the spirit of this Sunday’s Oscar Awards, here are some of the nominees for long and short form documentaries I found compelling. Imagine climbing a 3000 foot solid granite wall without any ropes? This is exactly what Alex Honnold did in 2017, being the first person to free solo climb El Capitan. And he did it in less than 4 hours.…
First Draft: A Podcast About Storytellers
How do today's authors come up with their book ideas? How did they become authors to begin with? In 2014, writer Sarah Enni set out to answer these questions and more on her podcast, First Draft. Her weekly show is a deep-dive into storytellers' careers and childhoods, their major influences and their future projects. Now in its fifth year, First Draft has featured more than 170 interviews, including ones with New York Times best-selling writers and winners of the National Book Award for Young People's Literature, the Caldecott Award and the Michael L. Printz Award. Read on to learn all…
Celebrate Presidents' Day with Biographies of Overlooked Presidents
RobertWashington. Lincoln. Jefferson. Both Roosevelts. Nixon. Reagan. Clinton. Obama. These presidents loom large in our imaginations: easily identifiable figures whose influence defines the Presidency and the evolution of our country. The library stacks are filled with biographies that investigate the deeds and personalities of these men, but what about the other presidents? Those not easily identified whose places in history are often overlooked? For Presidents' Day, we highlight those commanders-in-chief who may have fallen under your radar. An Honest President : The…
Epic Friendships of Literature
MarkFebruary is a fine month for romantics, but who needs a valentine when you've got great friends? Try one of the following epic tales for a reminder that BFFs are always worth celebrating. Valentines for Galentines The Color Purple by Alice Walker because friendship is unstoppable. As Walker shows us in this searing novel, when the downtrodden Celie transcends the brutality of her married life by seeking a loving bond with the itinerant singer Shug Avery. My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante because female friendship can have a lifelong power, as it does in this multi-book saga of Elena…
10 Romance Novels You’ll Want to Read this Valentine’s Day
With Valentine’s Day just a few days away, love is in the air for many readers—and romance can be in your to-be-read pile too! As a lifelong reader, I’ve fallen head over heels for many literary couples and below you’ll find a few of my favorites—some old and new—for whatever mood you’re in! Just don’t blame me when you ditch your Valentine’s Day plans in favor of reading! Historical An Extraordinary Union by Alyssa Cole The American Civil War is maybe not the sexiest backdrop people can think of for a romance novel, but Cole gives us hope in some of our country's darkest times with this…
Night of Philosophy: Brooklynites Pull an All-Nighter at Central Library
Muhammad, Senior Librarian, Languages and LiteratureWhat Books Influenced Exit West Author, Mohsin Hamid
PeterMohsin Hamid, author of several novels including, Moth Smoke, How to get filthy rich in rising Asia, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, and Exit West, a 2017 BPL Literary Prize nominee, reflected on books that layed a major role in his own writing. No Longer at Ease by Chinua Achebe -- This classic novel is the story of an idealistic young Nigerian man who goes to the West to study and then returns to Nigera to work. I read it in high school in Pakistan, after years of living in California, and it spoke to me powerfully. Beloved by Toni Morrison -- I had the good…