Posts by Lauren Lampasone

In Europe on 5 Wrong Turns a Day, Doug Mack takes a decades old travel guide and puts it to the modern-day test. Arthur Frommer's 1963 edition of Europe on 5 Dollars a Day (we still have several of these in our collections available for your perusal) was the book that got regular Americans, including Mack's mother, excited about crossing the Atlantic for the first time. Mack decides to use it without consulting 

Need a recommendation? Ask us! Librarians across the country have voted on their most-anticipated books coming out in the month of September. They are:

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell How the Light Gets In: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel by Louise Penny

It's time to CELEBRATE!

The GED® test is changing on January 1, 2014.

After January 1, scores from previous tests will be invalid and cannot be combined with any new test scores.

If you have taken the test since January 1, 2002 and want your scores to count, you must complete the series and pass the test before 2014.

If you're a New York City resident between 17-24 years old who has previously taken the GED® test and would like free assistance to complete in 2013:

Visit GEDCompass.org Call 718-557-2525 Text GED 

If you had to say, who is the person most responsible for instilling your love of reading? Was it your local librarian? Was it your mom?

There are lots of reasons to want to recreate favorite restaurant recipes at home. A happy memory of a meal, maybe at a place that no longer exists; the pure challenge of replicating that mystery sauce or seasoning; the desire to be thrifty, cooking in more and eating out less; improving cooking skills through imitation... having already had a taste of perfection. Some restaurant meals are just inspirational to the home cook.

Pinterest,

Visit NYPL's BiblioCommons for these lists and many more. See below for some interesting staff picks from the past couple months, on topics both timely and timeless:

Love Game of Thrones? Recommended Reading from George R. R. Martin - Recommended fantasy and historical fiction reading from Game of Thrones author George R. R. Martin. Martin offered these recommendations on his  

E. coli in spinach. Salmonella in peanut butter. Pink slime. Horse meat! It seems like every year there is a new food safety scandal, and efforts made to reform the enormous industry that delivers calories (

Happy New Year's Eve! This year remember that the New York Public Library can help you in achieving any of your self-improvement or lifelong learning goals.

One of my favorite things about being a library user is that I don't have to go bankrupt with my info obsession. I can simply borrow anything that interests me, even a little bit! If it turns out to be a reference book or a

I like to cook, but I am not much of a baker. There is one yearly exception... the transition to autumn and then the holiday season usually puts me in a baking mood. For the past few Christmases I've made biscotti — Italian cookies flavored with nuts, spices, or dried fruits. They are something of a tradition in my family. This year when I got out my mixing bowl I grabbed a dry measure for the flour and sugar, but then I put it away. I decided not to use it.

Now, I know baking is all about scientific precision! 

Visit NYPL's BiblioCommons for these lists and many more. See below for some interesting staff picks from the past couple months, on topics both timely and timeless:

Mid-Manhattan Library celebrated Martin Scorsese's 70th birthday by putting together lists of his films and his survey of postwar Italian 

New Yorkers experienced two major life events in the past few weeks: a superstorm and a hotly contested presidential election. Those two events have more in common than you might think. They both stressed us out. They both left us blurry with some of the details... what happened and what didn't, what was said and what was only hearsay. What was underreported and what was blown way out of proportion.

With social media 

This post had a temporary home while nypl.org was offline during the storm. Many on the East Coast are still without power or in the process of cleaning up their homes; some public services and transit routes are still affected. There are also still opportunities to volunteer and to help those in need. We'll try to keep this page updated to reflect the latest information.

Information | Assistance | Volunteer |  

Browsing the Digital Gallery today, I came across this interesting set of cigarette cards. And since I don't think there is anyone who doesn't love space, science, retrofuturism, invisibility and dogs, I thought I'd share a 

Great news for Nook tablet owners and readers looking for more new titles in ebook format.

OverDrive Media Console is now available for

NOOK HD NOOK HD+ NOOK Tablet™ NOOK Color™

You can get it right from the Barnes & Noble NOOK Apps storefront on your device.

This means you no longer have to "side-load" ebooks using your computer. You can download library ebooks direct from our catalog 

September was back to school month. (And back to homeschooling month too.) In that spirit, here is a short quiz.

Cheating is ok.

Which of the following were commemorated this month?

a) World Alzheimer's Month b)

Visit NYPL's BiblioCommons for these lists and many more. You can also create your own and share them with us in the comments! See below for some interesting staff picks from the past month, on topics both timely and timeless:

Contemporary African Writing

The Republican and Democratic National Conventions are over, and the presidential nominations from the two major U.S. political parties are official: incumbent President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. With the general election less than two months away, here are resources to help you get ready to vote.

November 6, 2012 General Election Deadlines

It's the end of August, which means soon we'll be trading in our fluffy beach reads for heartier winter tomes. NYPL librarians have plenty of suggestions for you.

Back to School! Back to School Books for Kids Favorites for Third Graders Lindsy's Top Ten Favorite Back to School Books for Young