Coney Island #32, 10/9/07

Wow, I went to this library on Tuesday, that's like six days ago. So I guess I figured it was probably time to post about it. In the meantime, the weather's gotten nice and cool, I rode 30 miles to cure MS (but you can still donate, I know you wanna), and it was the 50th anniversary of Sputnik being launched! Wait, that happened on October 4. Either way. I decided to go to the Coney Island Branch because, well, it had some books that I wanted, and a friend of mine agreed to go, and Coney Island is sweet. Oh, and I wanted Nathan's. Those fries are delicious.

Branch: Coney Island
Location: 1901 Mermaid Ave. (Near W. 19th St.)
Transport: F train
Books: Laika by Nick Abadzis; Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson
Date: Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Coney Island is great in the off season. Empty...cold and windy...gray...salty smelling...I love it. The library was ok, not too big but a very helpful librarian. In fact, one of the books I wanted was in the back room and he want and got it for me. Now that's service. I was totally ready to give up but Jenny (my fellow library student who came with) told me the guy was good. Like REALLY god. And he was. The library also had a very pleasant atmosphere to sit and read or relax in. It seemed to have a group of regulars who were happy to be there and contributed to the nice environment. Nothing really wacky happened though. Ah well.

Laika is a comic about the Russian dog that got shot up into space. It's partly fiction, but it was heavily researched and for the most part seems to be historically accurate. It's really well written and illustrated, and really makes you feel for the animals that get sacrificed, whether it be for science, or politics, or sometimes just publicity.

Winesburg, Ohio is a book of inter-related short stories from the early 20th century about life in a small town. I found out about it while flipping through the beginning of the new O. Henry prizewinner short stories collection. The few I've read so far are excellent. I'll report more later. Pics:



From the other side of the intersection.



One street closer.



Right in there. There's Jenny! On the left! Can you see her?



Here's Keyspan Park where the Brooklyn Cyclones play. And that parachute thing or whatever you call it. Be back soon.