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Space Opera: Or, It's Not Over 'Til the Fat Venusian Sings

Astounding Science Fiction, May 1947Okay, so I'm kidding about the Venusian-- the term "space opera" doesn't actually have anything to do with singing (though it could).  It's a subgenre of science fiction that originally gained its name from a similarity to the melodrama of soap operas and "horse operas" (westerns). 

The phrase has had something of a mixed history.   Space opera as we define it today was once the meat and drink of the science fiction pulps-- magazines such as Planet Stories, Weird Tales, and Astounding Science Fiction.  In the late 1920s and early 1930s, they began publishing exciting tales of space-going derring-do like E. E. "Doc" Smith's Skylark of Space, Edmond Hamilton's The Star Stealers, and Jack Williamson's Legion series that were an immediate hit with the public.

What's Cooking?: A Birthday Tradition



New City Takes First Place


In a tense competition, New City Library took first place in the Ramapo Catskill Library System's Battle of the Books.  With over 100 spectators cheering on their teams at the Haverstraw Library, our teens won by an 8-7 victory over Livingston Manor.  The very last question clinched the championship.  Members of our Book Battle group include from left to right: Susan Zollinger, Alex Borovoy, Shawna McKivergan, Chanda Bhandal, Rathna Ramanathan, Rachel Borovaya, Marie Yatsky, and in front Nicholas Procino and Ben Eisenberg.  Our team displayed their extensive knowledge of the eight titles selected this year. 

Keeping It under Our Caps: Bonnet Fiction

I was very tempted to do an entry on "tempest-tossed romance" today, but I suspect you'll be getting enough of that on your own this weekend.  Instead, I thought I'd offer something more in the way of a comfort read.  There's a category of romance that's been steadily growing in popularity as our own lives have gotten more stressful and technologically complex: "bonnet" fiction.

"Bonnet fiction" refers to romances set in Amish or Mennonite communities; the term comes from the depiction of characters in their ever-present "kapps" on the front cover.  (If you don't see a bonnet, the character is probably an "English," or outsider).  Sometimes, you'll see the term expanded to include pioneer and prairie romances also, or other "simple living" groups like the Shakers.  Beverly Lewis, herself the granddaughter of an "Old Order" Mennonite woman, is often credited with founding the genre with the first of her Heritage of Lancaster County series, The Shunning, based loosely on her grandmother's life.

All Aboard! Storytime - at the Congers Train Station

No registration necessary -- just come on down for this new event on whichever dates work for you!



Planned dates for this program are

    Tuesdays - September 20 & 27

                     October 4, 11, 18, 25

Upstairs, Downstairs


Beyond Books

I have been working at this library for many, many years (too many to actually give you a number!).  It always amazes me however, when I tell people who I meet in the community, about the wealth of materials available to them in their own library's Audiovisual Department and they have no idea that we are even here, tucked away on the lower level.

We not only have current movies, we get these movies on their "streetdate".  In other words, as soon as Netflix or Blockbuster has them, so does the New City Library.  I buy multiple copies of the most popular titles to keep the wait time short. The same holds true for our children's current movies.  We receive our copies on their streetdate so that the children in our community will get to see their favorite screen characters.

We also have thousands of music CDs covering all different genres.  Classical, pop/rock, R&B. gospel, world music, jazz - the library has it all.  We also have a large selection of children's music including the popular Kidz Bop series.

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Fabled Cities




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