9 Answers2025-08-01
I live in Brooklyn and love donating books to local spots. One of my favorite places is the Brooklyn Public Library—they accept donations at most branches, especially the Central Library on Grand Army Plaza. Another great option is 'Housing Works Bookstore Cafe' in DUMBO; they resell donated books to support HIV/AIDS initiatives. For kids' books, 'Brooklyn Book Bodega' is perfect—they distribute books to families for free.
If you prefer community sharing, check out Little Free Libraries scattered around neighborhoods like Park Slope or Williamsburg. Some thrift stores like 'Goodwill' or 'Salvation Army' also take book donations, but call ahead to confirm. Donating books here feels rewarding because they directly benefit locals.
12 Answers2025-10-24
Watch out for very new bestsellers with holds. Because our system considers Express titles with a 7 day loan to be held at the branch where they were picked up, returning them to a different branch will eat up the transit time to return them. I recently learned this the hard way when a librarian scolded me for returning an Express title. For regular loans, take them wherever you want, but for Express, Lucky Day, or Hot Pick titles, try to return them to the original branch where they were picked up in order to get them back on the shelf as quickly as possible for others who are waiting.
13 Answers2025-10-27
Methinks the origin of Room 23 is a red herring, a diversion from the true horror at hand. The true power of horror is in the execution, and that dripping faucet sound eventually syncs up with your heartbeats in short order. Oh, and slowly reading through scattered documents changes up the details of the room on second pass. That's power, that's skill. The spark that set it all off – a photo of a real hotel, a bad dream – is of no consequence whatsoever. The true horror is the horror that it does to you, and Room 23 scores high on that count. I shy away from rooms numbered 23 in hotels to this day. The designers deserve it, regardless of their genesis.
10 Answers2025-07-04
Could a public-private partnership make sense for a late-night cafe inside a library? Fund the extra hours of opening by having the cafe operate in the library, after hours. You get the library as a venue, comfy chairs and a range of books (not too many, but some) to read, plus a good cup of coffee and cake. (Meanwhile, the main part of the library is closed for security reasons, but the building is open to the public for the cafe). I have seen this approach implemented in a few cities in Europe. Perhaps one of the forward-thinking London boroughs will implement this at some point.
10 Answers2025-05-12
It’s wonderful that these occasions of freely accessible culture occur in a city that can nickel and dime you to death on an everyday basis. It makes culture feel vital and integral to daily life, in contrast to something that you have to pay to access. My friends and I even created the occasion of ‘Morgan Friday’ for ourselves a couple of times a year.
After work on the first Friday of every month, I meet up with my friends to wait in line for Morgan Freight’s Free Admission Night to the Morgan Library & Museum. We then wander aimlessly through the exhibitions and end up the night getting a cheap slice of pizza somewhere. These kinds of programs make for a very New York night out and are just one of the many ways that a program like this can make a city truly livable. These types of programs can generate so much community goodwill and lead to life-long fans of a museum or gallery who can eventually become donors.
12 Answers2025-10-22
This novel is very interesting. It has been tried to be made into a film on several occasions but none have managed to get it right. The main problem is that the novel is very uncompromising in its portrayal of internalized homophobia and ends on a very tragic note. These are not elements that most producers want to include in a queer novel as they do not fit with the standard of a ‘positive’ queer narrative. David is not a hero, he is in fact a coward who destroys every person around him and in the end himself. He is not an easy character to base a marketable film around even today. The BBC managed to make a successful radio adaptation of the novel as they are not a commercial organization in the same way. A film would have to ‘dumb down’ David in some way or market it as a brutal character study, a very niche and art-house genre that doesn’t have a very large audience. As it stands, the novel remains largely un-adapted, a testament to its uncomfortable truth.
3 Answers2025-08-17
I’ve always been an audiobook fan, so I looked into the largest US libraries to see what sort of audiobooks they offer. It turns out that audiobooks are everywhere and there’s a huge selection. The Houston Public Library and the Philadelphia Free Library are two of the largest libraries in the US and they have partnered with Axis 360 to offer their patrons access to hundreds of thousands of audiobooks, including new YA releases like The Hate U Give and memoirs like Born a Crime.
In addition to having an immense library of titles, many libraries also host virtual author events and discuss the behind-the-scenes of certain books. Also, note that many popular series (e.g. Harry Potter and The Hunger Games) are available in full on audiobook for binge listening purposes. Download the app, login with your library card and start listening to your favorite books while multitasking.
8 Answers2025-08-20
A really unique reading spot would be a botanical garden or arboretum. Many of these have quiet gazebos or secluded benches with a view of a koi pond. The most important thing though is that most of these types of places are hushed so you will find people reading in peaceful silence. These types of locations have been shown to decrease stress and increase concentration and that’s even before you go into the greenhouses which are delightful in the winter months. It may cost a bit for a membership but if you go frequently it’s worth it for the tranquility and beautiful setting alone. It’s ideal for a fantasy or historical fiction book as it will transport you to another world before you even open the cover.
1 Answers2026-04-26
Giovanni’s Room is a very powerful novel, it’s a punch in the gut and it’s very why it’s a classic of American literature. It’s not a novel about love, or identity. It’s a novel about the mess of human emotion and experience. The way Baldwin depicts David’s struggle to come to terms with his own homosexuality in 1950s Paris is so immediate and tense that it’s almost swoon-inducing. And the prose? Liquid fire. Every sentence is weighted and beautiful, and in reading them I felt the full extent of David’s shame and desire for the other man.
Baldwin did avoid settling all issues with his protagonist, and, most importantly, he avoided settling them with a neat and convenient solution for David. The ending of Giovanni’s Room is much more honest, and, I would say, much more human than that. We are left in that stifling room with Giovanni’s absence, and with all the things David failed to say or do. And that is so very hard to do, to be so honest about human failure to live up to our potential, and especially about our betrayal of ourselves. And I must say that even weeks after finishing the book I can recall the scene where David is describing Giovanni’s hands to someone. That is the mark of great literature — it haunts you long after you’ve closed the book.
3 Answers2025-10-10
One of the simplest things to do in the NYPL app is to track your library materials. I can easily re-new a book, see when materials are due to return, and place holds on new releases. It’s so easy to manage your library in the app as opposed to having to physically go to a library. The app dashboard displays all of your activity in an easy-to-read format.