Book Recommendations

Fiction

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American Heiress by Daisy Goodwin (2011)
Traveling abroad with her mother at the turn of the twentieth century to seek a titled husband, beautiful, vivacious Cora Cash, whose family home in Newport dwarfs the Vanderbilt mansion, suddenly finds herself Duchess of Wareham, married to Ivo, the most eligible bachelor in England. Nothing is quite as it seems, however; Ivo is withdrawn and secretive, and the English social scene is full of traps and betrayals. Money, Cora soon learns cannot buy everything, as she must decide what is truly worth the price in her life and her marriage.

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Nonfiction

The Murder of the Century: The Gilded Age Crime That Scandalized a City and Sparked the Tabloid Wars by Paul Collins (2011)
The grisly finds that began on the afternoon of June 26, 1897, plunged detectives headlong into the era’s most baffling murder mystery. Seized upon by battling media moguls Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst, the case became a publicity circus. Reenactments of the murder were staged in Times Square, armed reporters lurked in the streets of Hell’s Kitchen in pursuit of suspects, and an unlikely trio—a hard-luck cop, a cub reporter, and an eccentric professor—all raced to solve the crime.

Freeport Author

Freeport Author, Virginia Terris

Dr. Virginia R. Terris passed away on January 12, 2012. Dr. Terris was a professor of English at Adelphi University and an accomplished poet. Her poetry appeared in many journals including the New Yorker, Paris Review, Nation, American Poetry Review, and Greenfield Review. Between 1983 to 1987, Dr. Terris served as the Long Island director of the Poetry Society of America.
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THE CANAL IN WINTER

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In the canal the ice thickens
whichever way the wind comes from.
At first a fragile skin at morning
the ice ripples in the light wind.

The wind blows over it. The ice deepens.
Snow drifts across it blows away.
Tides seep over its edges. Freeze.
It grows too large for itself.

Heavy against itself it groans
The ocean under it restless.
Will not stay beneath it.
Will not be still
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Crushing against itself
its crevasses open. I listen
to its snapping through the night.
I turn to the windows
to watch ice tearing itself apart.
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This poem is from Canal: Poems by Virginia R. Terris (1981)

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Read All About It!

Freeport's Historical Newspapers

The Freeport Leader is now online and fully searchable from 1941 to 1990 (except 1945) and from 2001 to 2003. The years 2004 to 2010 should be available shortly.

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Since 2005, the Freeport Memorial Library has been digitizing its collection of local newspapers and adding them to the Long Island Memories Digitization Project.

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In addition to the Leader, you can also search:

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Daily Review of Nassau County – March 1921 to June 1921
Freeport News- February 1921 to November 1921
Nassau County Review- January 1899 to March 1921
Nassau Post- January 1914 to July 1918
Queens County Review- November 1895 to December 1898
South Side Messenger- January 1916 to December 1918

Book Recommendations

Fiction

Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness (2011)
Discovering a magical manuscript in Oxford's library, scholar Diana Bishop, a descendant of witches who has rejected her heritage, inadvertently unleashes a fantastical underworld of daemons, witches and vampires whose activities center around an enchanted treasure. Think Harry Potter for adults.

Nonfiction

The President and the Assassin: McKinley, Terror, and Empire at the Dawn of the American Century by Scott Miller (2011)
In 1901, as America tallied its gains from a period of unprecedented imperial expansion, an assassin’s bullet shattered the nation’s confidence. The shocking murder of President William McKinley threw into stark relief the emerging new world order of what would come to be known as the American Century. The President and the Assassin is the story of the momentous years leading up to that event, and of the very different paths that brought together two of the most compelling figures of the era: President William McKinley and Leon Czolgosz, the anarchist who murdered him.

FML Receives a Grant!

The Library was awarded a $1000 grant by the State Education Department. This Local Government Records Management Improvement Fund grant will be used to digitize over 55 years of the Village of Freeport newsletters.

Freeport began producing an informative newsletter in the early 1950s. The first issue was published in May 1952 and was delivered to residents as part of the electric bill. This practice continued until the 1990s when the newsletter was sent as a separate mailing. In a time before the internet, the newsletter served as a way to communicate directly with the community. Early newsletters include some biographies of Village employees and historical reminiscences of long-time residents. Later editions cover such diverse topics as census data, the Village's anti-blockbusting campaign, urban renewal, and memorials to Freeport's 9-11 victims.

Once digitized, these newsletters will be fully searchable and will be available to everyone on the Long Island Memories digital site (www.longislandmemories.org).

Freeport Author

Freeport Author: Erik Larson

Erik Larson’s new book In the Garden of Beasts is a New York Times best seller. Larson grew up on North Grove Street and graduated Freeport High School in 1972. He earned his B.A. in Russian history and culture from the University of Pennsylvania in 1976. Two years later, Larson graduated from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in with an M.S. He has been a feature writer for The Wall Street Journal and Time magazine. He also has written articles for Harper’s, The Atlantic Monthly, and The New Yorker. He taught nonfiction writing at San Francisco State, Johns Hopkins, and the University of Oregon. He currently lives with his family in Seattle. Larson’s latest nonfiction book, In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin, tells the story of William E. Dodd who became U.S. ambassador to Germany in 1933.

Larson’s previous books include: The Naked Consumer: How Our Private Lives Become Public Commodities, 1992; Lethal Passage: How the Travels of a Single Handgun Expose the Roots of America's Gun Crisis, 1994; Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History, 1999; The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and the Madness at the Fair that Changed America, Crown , 2003; and Thunderstruck, 2006.

Technology Help @ FML

If you own an e-book reader, tablet computer, or other electronic gadget and are not sure how to use it, you can make an appointment for quick technical help. This service will include how to download free e-books from the Nassau Digital Doorway. Please sign up at the Reference Desk, call (516-379-3274), email frreference@freeportlibrary.info, or text us at 66746 (start your question with ASKFML) to make an appointment.

eBooks

Free eBooks @ FML with a Kindle

The Freeport Memorial Library is excited to announce that the Nassau Digital Doorway (Overdrive) ebook collection is now compatible with the Kindle ebook reader. Patrons can now download popular and classic ebooks to a Kindle device or any mobile device running the free Kindle app, such as the iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Android, and more.To get started, visit the Nassau Digital Doorway. Kindle users can browse the collection from a PC or Mac computer, check out titles using a valid library card, and select "Get for Kindle" to deliver the ebook to the Kindle device, or Kindle app. If a title for which you are looking is already checked out, you can reserve it and we will let you know when it is available.

Freeport Author

Freeport Author/Musician: Reverend Tina Baker

Reverend Tina Baker donated a copy of her new CD A Powerful Worship Experience and DVD This Is It both featuring the Refuge Temple Choir. Reverend Baker graduated from the Refugee Bible Instituteand was ordained in 2002. She is theMinister of Music at Refuge Apostolic Church of Christ in Freeport. Additionally, she is a preacher, teacher, author and songwriter.


Cynthia Krieg, Librarian; Ken Bellafiore, Library Director; Reverend Tina Baker; and Robert Sizemore, Library Staff Member and choir member of Refuge Apostolic Church of Christ.

Bus Trip

Philadelphia Flower Show
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7, COST: $65 per person
Bus departs the Freeport Recreation Center at 8 a.m.

and returns approx. 7 p.m.
America’s first flower show held in Philadelphia, in 1829 has grown to be the largest in the world. Located in the state-of-the-art Phildelphia Convention Center, the show features lectures and
demonstrations, culinary presentations, and 140 marketplace vendors. There are numerous places where you can enjoy lunch while still remaining at the center. The cost includes admission to the flower show and deluxe motor coach transportation. Registration begins at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, January 3, in the lobby for Freeport residents and at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, January 10, for nonresidents. Payment is by check or money order only, payable to the Freeport Memorial Library. No Cash Please!

Freeport Memorial Library Blood Drive

presented by the
Long Island Blood Services
FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 1:15 to 7:15 p.m.
This blood drive is in honor of Martin Luther King’s birthday and his dedication to serving and helping others. We as a community can follow in that tradition of reaching out to our neighbors by donating blood and saving lives. Donors must be between the ages of 17 and 75 and weigh at least 110 pounds. Bring valid ID and your Social Security number. Please schedule an appointment at the Reference Desk. 516-379-3274