Page 4 - Books & People, Fall 2017
P. 4

What Stacks Up



        Our short-term exhibition What Stacks Up:

        Favorite Books was on display in the Peluso Family

        Exhibition Gallery September 6-October 7.







        In our society of dedicated readers, one question eternally   to Lucky Jim to Singing Family of the Cumberlands. Here are
        recurs: if you had to pick one favorite book, which one   a few of the recommendations and their beautiful covers; you
        would you take off the shelf for the umpteenth time? When   can view them all at cityreaders.nysoclib.org/Gallery/84. You
        we asked members and staff, their answers were delightful,   may be surprised, enchanted, or inspired by the titles we hold
        quirky, and often unpredictable, ranging from War and Peace   dear to our hearts.



























        Don Marquis                                             Susan Hill                                                       Richard Adams                                           With a Manhattan-dwelling                              Photo by Harriet Shapiro
        The Lives and Times of Archy & Mehitabel                Howard’s End is On the Landing: A Year of Reading from Home      Watership Down                                          school-age daughter of my
        Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Doran & Co. Inc., 1933  London: Profile Books, 2009                                    New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2012        own, I also connect with it on
        My father introduced me to this book many years ago—the   I enjoyed this as much for the content, as for the fact that it   I have loved Watership Down since middle school. It was   new levels now—for example, the scene when Harriet says
        concept of a book written in free verse on a typewriter by a   inspired me to begin reading all the books I’ve had on my   enormously popular when it first came out, but to me it    goodbye to Ole Golly, her beloved nanny, is all the more
        literary male cockroach about himself and his friend, a savvy   bookshelves for years (decades!) and have been “intending”   is still a classic. Although I’m not usually one to enjoy    heartbreaking having seen firsthand the bond between
        female alley cat, was too good to resist. And I return to the   to get to…                                               anthropomorphizing animals, this book touched me to     my city child and her first caregiver. The book was quietly
        book again and again for humor and wisdom, as well as some   MADELEINE SHAPIRO (member)                                  the core, and still does.                               revolutionary in its time and is relevant and meaningful still.
        history of the early 20th century and the challenge of reading                                                           LINDA OGDEN-WOLGEMUTH (member)                          I can’t wait to share it with my daughter.
        Archy’s free verse!                                     Lauren Belfer                                                                                                            MEREDITH L. STRAUSS (member)
        ELIZABETH DOBELL (member)                               And After the Fire                                               Louise Fitzhugh
                                                                New York: HarperCollins Publisher, 2016                          Harriet the Spy                                         Betty MacDonald
        Andrea Wulf                                             This book bridges the gap between cultures from Nazi             New York: Delacorte Press, 2000                         Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle’s Farm
        The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt’s New World  Germany to present-day New York City. It demonstrates       I grew up in a small Southern town, so when I was a child   Pictures by Maurice Sendak
        New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2015                         how meaningful relationships in the past, music, and             Harriet’s life in the big city was as fascinating and foreign to   New York: HarperCollins Publishers: 1982
        Truly a beautiful book about a giant of the 19th century.    promises kept can make lives whole and meaningful again.    me as that of Pippi Longstocking or Laura Ingalls Wilder. As   It’s a really good book. I like it because a lot of things
        I swam in the Humboldt Current and marveled at this genius   MERCEDES A. YOUMAN (member)                                 an adult, I have come to appreciate the depth and nuance of   happen that can’t happen in real life. Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle
        who saw all things connected, even me and the ocean.                                                                     this coming-of-age novel. It resonates with me still and it is    cures children of bad habits. The book makes me feel happy.
                                                                                                                                                                                         She’s magical. I love her.
        DIANE FULLER (member)                                                                                                    a book I go back to when I need the comfort of an old friend.
                                                                                                                                                                                         FELICITY STRAUSS, age 7 (member)



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