Bushwick #29, 7/18/07

First off, I want to say this'll be my last post for a little while. I don't know how long, but it's just that my days won't be as free to read and go to libraries anymore: I got a job. I know, unthinkable, but somehow or other, it happened. It's at a rare bookshop of all places, and it's actually more of a paid internship than a job, but either way. On to the library type stuff!

Haircut and other Stories was excellent; so good in fact that I bought You Know Me Al, also by Ring Lardner, at a used bookstore in Chicago. While there, I also noticed another book I'd been meaning to check out, and soon after getting back to this fine city I headed over to the Bushwick Branch to pick it up.

Branch: Bushwick
Location: 340 Bushwick Ave. at Seigel St.
Transport: bicycle
Book: Let Us Now Praise Famous Men by James Agee
Date: Wednesday, July 18, 2007

This was a nice bike ride up towards that whole Williamsburg area, though due to an error reading google maps and a reluctance to change course I went the wrong way on a one way street longer than I maybe should have. There was plenty of room though...anyway what's done is done. The library was very nice, not in the best neighborhood I've seen but definitely not a bad one. It was a Carnegie branch, with the little balcony area over the main floor, though (like in many of these branches) the mezzanine was not open to patrons. It's one of the oldest branches, originally opening in a church basement in 1903 before moving to the current spot in 1908.

Since there were torrential rains Wednesday morning that I actually had to bike through, my sneakers were still wet at this point, which meant my dry socks also got wet. When I got to the library, after I dodged the angry kids on the steps (one on crutches) that the cop who was yelling at them seemed to have thrown out of the library, I sat down to hang out and read for a bit and took my wet shoes off. This flew for a while, half hour or so, when the same cop came up and told me I had to wear shoes. Why am I telling you all this story? I DON'T KNOW. But my shoes were pretty dry by that point, and then got totally re-soaked on the ride home when a truck forced me to ride through a giant puddle. Woo!

The library was nice though, lotsa kids hanging out, a couple playing chess, good time had by all. Now for a few pictures.



Long view, with the tower behind it.



Just the building.



Detail!

Don't get all sad everyone. I have a lot of books to read and soon little time to do it, and even less time to go to libraries, but I promise I'll be back before too long. Who knows, maybe having a job will mean I learn to...*shudder*...budget my time better. But, if for some reason it's way longer than I think it'll be, enjoy the rest of your summer! By reading!!!!

Kings Bay #44, 7/11/07

Apparently yesterday (7/11) was free slurpee day at...7-11. Well, I missed it. But I did do something cool - I visited a library! Yeah, that's right! Basically, Liz (my girlfriend, if you were curious) is doing a sweet top-secret project involving the believed-extinct thylacine or Tasmanian tiger, and there was a book on said animal that seemed highly informative. But, as usual, I'm getting ahead of myself.

The Face of Battle was excellent, it took me a little while to read, but it was well worth it. While I thought it would be a little more about the experience of the individual in battle, it turned out to be more of a detailed breakdown of what battle was really like for various groups; i.e., archers v. cavalry at Agincourt, or infantry v. machine gunners at the Somme. Keegan discusses three battles in detail (Agincourt, Waterloo, and the Somme) and his findings are fascinating. He also discusses the future of battle a bit, and since the book came out before Vietnam was even over, his predictions are a bit outdated. He seems to believe that battle will, someday soon, make itself obsolete - while this might be true to an extent, we now have wars that are fought from bomb to bomb rather than battle to battle. But oh well.

So as I said, there was this useful looking thylacine book that I thought I'd pick up, and other than the Central Branch, only one had it: the Kings Bay Branch.

Branch: Kings Bay
Location: 3650 Nostrand Ave. (near Ave. W)
Transport: bicycle
Books: Tasmanian Tiger: The Tragic Tale of How the World Lost Its Most Mysterious Predator by David Owen; Haircut and Other Stories by Ring Lardner
Date: Wednesday, July 11, 2007

The bike ride there was really nice. Kings Bay is out in the southeast corner of Brooklyn, by the water, so I rode down Ocean Parkway almost all the way to Coney Island and then took Avenue W over to Nostrand. Avenue W had a bunch of those really nice row houses that make me think of the beach (and that many of the neighborhoods near beaches in Brooklyn are made up of.) It was really humid yesterday, but not unbearably hot, and by the time I got to the library, I could smell the salt in the air.

The branch itself was wonderful. It has a setup like I'd never seen; a split level, where the fiction, new books, large print, foreign language books, CDs and DVDs are on the main level, and then to the right one can either go up, to the children's department (where a sign declared that no teens 13 or older were allowed), or down, to the where the young adult and non-fiction books are kept (and here a sign proclaimed that there is to be no PSP use on the premises. No word on the Nintendo DS). It was packed with people and had a really nice feel to it. I found the thylacine book in no time, but then there was a problem; what to get for myself? After a long search, I noticed a short story book by Ring Lardner, an author who I was familiar with only through the comic strip adaptation of his famous work, You Know Me Al (which my father showed me years and years ago), about a naive baseball player in the early 20th century who gets picked up by the big leagues. In fact, I had no idea until yesterday that it was ever anything other than a comic strip, but there apparently a new edition of it came out recently.

Anyway, I picked up Haircut, saw the enthusiastic H.L. Mencken quote on the front, read the first few sentences, loved it, and grabbed it. After recently reading the entire Smithsonian Collection of Newspaper Comics, most of which is taken from early 20th century comics, and then being completely fascinated by Keegan's depiction of the Somme in The Face of Battle (Americans are always so eager to talk about World War II that we forget about World War I entirely), I think it's safe to say I am officially fascinated with the early half of the 20th century. Just so you all know.

Pics:



Panoramania



Yep...there it is...right in there.



I don't remember it being so red...I must have been half-dead from dehydration.



Projects across the street.

That's all for now, going to Chicago tomorrow for that pitchfork thing, but my current book is pretty short so I should be back early next week. Have a good weekend everyone! Don't burn alive!

Cortelyou #87, 6/29/07

Well, this is quite a momentous post. There are 60 branch libraries in the Brooklyn Public Library system, and this is my 30th! Halfway done...at this rate I'll visited all the libraries early in 2008. But probably not because two are closed for renovations. Not really sure how long that'll be for, but I can only imagine it would be hard to find out, given my past experiences with asking for information from them.

Anyway, Tigana. A great book, if anyone is looking for a fantasy story that's one novel instead of a trilogy or a dozen book cycle or some such thing, I'd recommend checking it out. Kay (the author) definitely takes himself a little too seriously, but I think in this particular genre that's necessary. (Tolkien springs to mind.) The characters are much more fleshed out than in the typical fantasy novel, which keeps the story that much more engrossing, and the idea behind it (a land conquered by sorcerers to the point where no one who isn't from there can remember or even hear its name when it is spoken) is excellent, though maybe not as fleshed out as it could be. Bottom line, the book was long but while reading the last hundred pages I couldn't have stopped if I wanted to.

I was looking for more stuff to read and I came across a book about what it's actually like to experience battle, why some people behave "heroically" and others "cowardly." It seems interesting, although in the first few pages the author admits that he's never been anywhere near a battle. Still, I'm sure there'll be some interesting insights. But just as importantly, the book was only in two branches...Central, and the Cortelyou Branch.

Branch: Cortelyou
Location: 1305 Cortelyou Rd. at Argyle Rd.
Transport: bicycle
Book: The Face of Battle by John Keegan
Date: Friday, June 29, 2007

This library is in the Flatbush neighborhood, a bit southeast of Prospect Park, and it is apparently the last built branch in the Brooklyn system (completed in 1983, but the cornerstone says 1982.) It's nice, spacious, but it does have a bit of the '80s building soullessness (from the outside anyway.) The inside mostly actually reminded me of the Bay Ridge Branch (I know, hard to remember now.)

I had an interesting experience there: using the internet in a Brooklyn library for the first time. In some you have to write your name down on a waiting list (which I object to on confidentiality grounds), but here, probably since I arrived just after opening, I was able to use a computer. The woman next to me needed help using her portable USB drive, which I gave her, but she wanted to run .exe files from the drive and the computer wouldn't let her. She wasn't a native English speaker, so I wasn't able to explain to her that public computers rarely let people run programs. Oh well.

Anything else cool happen? Let's see...oh, I got my bike fixed up on the way home. Thanks, Coney Island Avenue. Pics!



frontal area



This is the back, there was a school (in the background) and for some reason the top of the library is lined with barbed wire.



entrance



This structure was just to the left of the entrance, I'm not really sure what it designates or who made it but, well, there it is.

See you all soon, though maybe not next week - I'm going to upstate NY for a few days, and there's Independence Day, and the Twins are in town, and who knows what else. Have a good weekend.

Williamsburgh #60, 6/19/07

I just finished my last assignment for my first library school course! Woohoo! Congrats, me. But in a time long before, when I hadn't finished yet, a day as far back as yesterday...

Oh right, well I finished the fairy tale comic, it was really good but incomplete. The second volume is coming out in serial form right now, but I'll probably wait for the next collection. The feminist leanings did get more pronounced as the story went on, but they didn't get in the way of the excellent story (or art).

So I knew I needed a book for my two-day jaunt to Minnesota, but I picked one I bought a month or two ago: the already excellent The Architecture of the Arkansas Ozarks by Donald Harington. It's so great, in fact, that I decided to hit the amazon lists for books like it. Finding little, I turned to another author I enjoyed a great deal recently, Lucius Shepard. He led me to the sci fi/fantasy realm, so I figured why not, it's been a while. And I found a book that was only at one library, and that was the Williamsburgh Branch.

Branch: Williamsburgh
Location: 240 Division Ave. at Marcy Ave.
Transport: bicycle
Book: Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay
Date: Tuesday, June 19, 2007

This branch was the first Carnegie branch, so I figured it would be exactly like all the others (Park Slope, Carroll Gardens, etc.) I was totally wrong. The design is similar, but it's so much bigger! The wings in particular extend out further than in the others that I've been to. It really is a beautiful branch with an excellent selection. I recommend it highly!

When I first got there it was a bit before 1 (the opening time) and there were people waiting. And then more came. And more. By the time it opened (5 minutes late by my watch) there were at least 20 people waiting. By the time I got inside, there wasn't a single free computer. Luckily, I was there for a book. The patrons were a mix of kids, older people, and women with strollers.

I don't really have much more to say so I'll let the pictures say the rest. If you live around here and like awesome comics (who doesn't!), you should go to the MOCCA festival this weekend. Fun actually guaranteed. I'll be there on Sunday, but it's both days. Of the weekend. It's Saturday and Sunday. Both days.



left side



right side.



The ever popular angled shot.



Awe inspiring, no?



Here's all the people, anxiously awaiting their books and internet.



The library is actually built right over the highway (though I'd imagine the library was there first.)



It isn't in the hipster part of Williamsburg, but right near the Williamsburg Bridge, and the JMZ train lines.



Cop hassling some guy.

And that's all. I'll be away for a couple days, so I wont be back till next week. But I'm totally back to a regular schedule now! See! Keep reading please!

McKinley Park #67, 6/15/07

Well, Dave's away this weekend so I'm all alone...I guess I'll just putter around and await the inevitable - wait, what was I talking about? Libraries? All right, I guess so...I went to another one today, that's the scoop. Yeah that's the hot ticket. The snazz. The big one. Ok.

So, I've been into comics lately, like way into them, more than usual. I got this sweet Jack Kirby Omnibus and I've been looking for books on the history of comics, as well as anything good I might not have heard from. I've even resorted to amazon lists, one of which turned up this trip's selection. In a surprising twist of events, nearly every library had a copy, so I found one that was a decent bike trip, but not too much of one, and came up with the McKinley Park Branch.

Branch: McKinley Park
Location: 6802 Fort Hamilton Pkwy. (at 68th St.)
Transport: bicycle
Book: Castle Waiting by Linda Medley
Date: Friday, June 15, 2007

Now this book is basically a different take on some classic fairy tales, or at least that's how it starts, but then it branches off on a story all its own. A lot of reviews for it discuss its feminist perspective, and it is noticeable, but the story is so well-written and enjoyable that it ends up feeling more like Bone (albeit much shorter) than anything else. Of course I've only read the first third so far but...it's definitely very good.

The library itself, I can honestly say (write) is one of the best branches I've been to. The neighborhood is sorta near Sunset Park, Bay Ridge, and Dyker Heights, but I guess it's technically part of Borough Park. Anyway, though I didn't go to the titular park, the library was nice enough on its own. It was renovated in the 90s, and is apparently one of the bigger branches in the system. Obviously those circulation numbers gave it more funding, because it is very well stocked, and the staff was extremely polite and helpful (guy found my book, I didn't even ask him to.)

The area - what I saw of it anyway - was very nice too. I came through Brooklyn's Chinatown to get to the library, there was a nice little strip of a park a block away from it (Leif Ericson Park and Square), and best of all a 24-hour stone diner to eat breakfast and read at. Fear not, loyal readers! The diner is in the pictures below.



Braving the street crossing



I don't know, the corner I guess?



I couldn't take a picture straight on today...



The excellent diner (at 65th St. and 7th Ave. by the way)



I love signs where there's two parts rotating at different speeds.

That's it, come back next week.

Windsor Terrace #77, 6/7/07

Ok, it's been a month. Geez. Sorry about that. I can't imagine that anyone still checks this, but what the hey. No need for long explanations, suffice it to say I've started my first course at library school and it's a lotta work. But enough about me. I returned the other books some time ago; you may not remember what they were, I hardly do, but I will say that Alias the Cat may be my favorite of all of Kim Deitch's books that I've read. It's certainly the best at blurring fantasy (living demon cartoon cat) and reality (Deitch is a main character, has a nervous breakdown, ok I guess this stuff didn't actually happen, but it was cool.)

Last Thursday I was supposed to be doing work for my class, but I felt a strange emptiness inside. Whether it was just too nice out to be doing work, or it had just been far too long since I'd been to a new library, I decided it was the time. Instead of my usual ways, I didn't look up any books, I just hopped on my bike and headed to the closest branch I hadn't been to: the Windsor Terrace Branch.

Branch: Windsor Terrace
Location: 160 E. 5th St. at Ft. Hamilton Pkwy.
Transport: bicycle
Book: Adverbs by Daniel Handler
Date: Thursday, June 7, 2007

It really was a gorgeous day, temperatures right around 70, but there was one black mark on the whole experience: my bike chain was so rusted that I could barely pedal the stupid thing. Not to worry, everyone, I have since used plenty of WD-40 on it (which I am informed will dry out, and that I need bike grease. What I really need is a new bike.)

Moving on, I almost got another Maakies book out, along with some other book that I have since forgotten, but ended up going for Adverbs. The cover says it's a novel, but it's really a series of overlapping stories with recurring characters. Some of it is in San Francisco, some in New York, some in Washington state. The author, Daniel Hnadler, is also Lemony Snicket who wrote the Series of Unfortunate Events series. I haven't read those, but I've heard great things, and I may actually have to try them now after reading this book. Sad, funny, packed with action, sex, and alcohol, but basically just a very well written book about how great and depressing love is, with some very interesting and believable characters who are all basically crazy. Worth reading for sure.

I got to the library at about 10:30 am, and the vast majority of people there were mothers or nannies with their bestrollered children. I don't want to say it was annoying, but I didn't spend any extra time there. The library was very spacious and well laid out, and the outside light lit the place nicely. The selection of books was excellent, and...I'm sorry, I can't remember anything else, the screaming babies drove it all out. Maybe go in the afternoon or something. Oh yeah, nice trees all around too. Windsor Terrace is a really beautiful neighborhood. Which I will now show you!



panoramic...



angleriffic...



closeropic...



and, a nice sentiment at the school across the street.

So I'm back, really, I'm gonna do this often again. So if you haven't given up yet, now is not the time to not start stopping reading this site. Seeya soon.

Greenpoint #41, 5/10/07

Ok, moving on. I haven't made much of a dent in those Uncle Remus stories yet, primarily because the book I took out contains the complete stories, and is about 800 pages long, which is fairly daunting. What I have read so far is very good, but I doubt I'll make it through the whole book. In any case, I decided to take a break and...read some comics. My favorite freeform radio blog WFMU's Beware of the Blog, reminded me that Kim Deitch (also wrote Shadowland and The Boulevard of Broken Dreams))has a new book out, and the Greenpoint Branch had it. Even though yesterday was probably the most humid day we've had all year, I decided biking 13 miles (round trip...ok, yeah, its not that much) was a good idea. Well it was! Despite having a shirt so sweat-soaked that it didn't dry for hours, it was a day of firsts: first ladybug I've seen this year (flew into my face...luckily I was motionless at the time), first time I got splashed by water and was glad, because it cooled me down, even the first time I drank water from the sink in a library bathroom because there was no other water to be had and I perspired so much that I needed it to live. Onward!

Branch: Greenpoint
Location: 107 Norman Ave. at Leonard St.
Transport: bicycle
Book: Alias the Cat by Kim Deitch; The Grave Robber's Daughter by Richard Sala
Date: Thursday, May 10, 2007

So, I got to the library, and not only was there an awesome group of little kids holding the door for me with (I assume) their grandfather, who had such a sweet long beard that he looked like a wizard, but there was this other creepy looking comic that I kinda wanted to read but wasn't sure enough about to buy. That, of course, was after I got inside. Wait, let me start over.

The Grave Robber's Daughter is really cool. I read it already, and it wasn't at all what I expected; way creepier, but also way funnier. I recommend it. As for Alias the Cat, we'll see if it lives up to/surpasses Deitch's other work. I'm not too worried about it.

I didn't spend much time in the library, because I was hallucinating from lack of water and the walls were all bendy. No, that's not really true. Well, the first part is. It seemed nice enough...it took me forever to find the new books but I'm fairly sure that was my own fault. It was pretty dark in there, that's what really sticks out, but that could also have been my imminent unconsciousness/death. Ok, not really, I was fine. I don't know why I keep playing up the dehydration thing, it wasn't really all that bad. But seriously, what's with the consistent lack of water fountains? I guess I just feel like the people are...entitled to them. (Wink.)

I guess that's all I got. Oh wait, one last thing. If anyone is looking to improve his or her hitting, I noticed a book that should be most helpful: Don Mattingly's Hitting Is Simple, on bookshelves now. Perhaps on your bookshelf? Perhaps. Pictures...



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