Posts by Lois Moore

November Reader's Den: The Keeper of Lost Causes, Part 2

Adler-Olsen admits in an interview that growing up in the mental hospitals in Denmark where his father worked had a big influence on his writing and his life.

November Reader's Den: The Keeper of Lost Causes, Part 1

The plot revolves around an attractive, popular Member of the Danish Parliament, Merete Lynggaard, who disappeared from a ferry in 2002 while on a holiday trip to Germany with her brother Uffe.

Little Orphant Annie by James Whitcomb Riley

Hoosier poet James Whitcomb Riley reminds all of us children to beware of goblins.

Story Time for Grown-Ups: "The Lady or the Tiger?" by Frank R. Stockton

Listen to librarian Lois Moore read the short story aloud.

Story Time for Grown-Ups: "The Story of An Hour" by Kate Chopin

Listen to librarian Lois Moore read the short story aloud.

To Brie or Not to Brie... What's the Question?

Recently I had occasion to spend a lot of time in the Mystery section on the second floor at the Mid-Manhattan Library. After looking at many, many titles there, I noticed a plethora of puns.

Reader's Den in November: The Gods of Gotham by Lyndsay Faye, Part 2

I hope you are enjoying the Reader's Den selection for November, The Gods of Gotham by Lyndsay Faye. The year is 1845 and the story revolves around the establishment of the first official New York City Police Department. I just finished re-reading it and found it retained its interest and 

Reader's Den in November: The Gods of Gotham by Lyndsay Faye, Part 1

This month in the Reader's Den we are reading a mystery set in New York City, The Gods of Gotham by Lyndsay Faye. The year is 1845 and the story revolves around the establishment of the first official New York City Police Department, what was happening then to initiate its existence, and who 

Ambrose Bierce: Civil War Stories

The April 2013 theme for Mixed Bag: Story Time for Grown-Ups is 'Ambrose Bierce: Civil War Stories.' One hundred fifty years ago the American Civil War (1861-1865) was in mid-course, and April was a significant month in its history. The Battle of Shiloh was fought on April 6-7, 1862 in southwestern Tennessee. The Surrender at 

Julia Child: Her Magnificent Obsession

Is NYPL obsessed with food? Maybe, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The popular Lunch Hour NYC exhibition at the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building opened June 2012 and runs through February 17. It celebrates over a century of New York lunches. Don't miss the online exhibit and the menu collection. In conjunction with the exhibit, NYPL has hosted multiple

Reader’s Den: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer, Week 4

This is the last week of our book discussion of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer. In my first post, I mentioned that it is a post-9/11 novel, published in 2005, but during the past month of discussion, I haven't focused on that aspect of the work. The book talks about Oskar's reaction to the 9/11 tragedy and his 

Reader’s Den: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer, Week 3

Now that you have read more of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (if not all of it), you may have noticed some of its quirky phrases (such as “heavy boots” and “feeling like a hundred dollars”). Part of my interest in reading new (for me) authors is noticing how they use language: what kind of sentence structure — long or short, simple or complex; what kind of words — familiar or out of the ordinary or a combination; lots of descriptive language or spare simplicity; how the 

Reader’s Den: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer, Week 2

Now that you have had a chance to meet Oskar, what do you think of him? Many readers have compared him to Holden Caulfield in Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger. Others think he’s far too precocious for a nine-year-old and have suggested the author used his own inner child as the 

Mixed Bag: Story Time for Grown-Ups Featuring Charles Dickens

Mixed Bag: Story Time for Grown-Ups is a short story read-aloud program that meets every two weeks on Wednesday at lunch time (1:00 p.m). Mixed Bag PM meets at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday every two weeks. In December we are reading Holiday Classics, including an excerpt from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens and

Reader’s Den: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer, Week 1

Oskar Schell, a precocious nine-year-old who lives in New York City, is the protagonist In Jonathan Safran Foer’s popular post-9/11 novel, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Oskar's active mind keeps endlessly creating new inventions, most of them somehow related to saving lives and making connections with other people. In other words, he's trying to find a 

Mixed Bag: Story Time for Grown-Ups Featuring Roald Dahl

Roald Dahl (1916–1990) was a British novelist, short story writer, poet, and screenwriter. He served in the British Royal Air Force during WWII as fighter pilot and intelligence officer. His parents were Norwegian, but he was born in Wales and educated primarily in England. He began writing in the 1940’s for both children and adults. He was particularly known for his children’s stories, such as Charlie and the Chocolate 

Mixed Bag: Story Time for Grown-Ups, Featuring Alice Munro

Mixed Bag: Story Time for Grown-Ups is a short story read-aloud program that meets every two weeks at lunch time (1:00 p.m.) Mixed Bag PM meets at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesdays every two weeks. This story is a Mixed Bag reading for September and October.

In her short story "Walker Brothers Cowboy,"

Celebrating Women's History Month (Pt. 2) - Top 10 Women Authors of My Misspent Literary Youth

March Story Time for Grown-Ups featured stories by Dorothy Parker to celebrate Women's History Month, as discussed in my previous blog post. During March, a lot of women's history-related lists were posted on the web:

Celebrating Women's History Month (Part 1) — Dorothy Parker: New York Writer, New York Woman

In honor of Women's History Month, the theme for the March schedule of Mixed Bag: Story Time for Grown-Ups is "Dorothy Parker: New York Writer, New York Woman." Dorothy Parker, nee Rothschild, (1893-1967) was an American poet, short story writer, critic, and a native New Yorker. She is best remembered for her 

Goin' to the Dogs Part 2: A List of Stories About Man's Best Friend

Dog stories was the January theme for Mixed Bag: Story Time for Grown-Ups, the read-aloud program I do on Wednesdays at lunch-time every other week. (I promised to read cat stories later this year in rebuttal.) Most of the stories I chose to read in January were selected from the book The Best Dog Stories. Since I included a list of 25