MASSENA — If you have old videotapes or pictures of your family and you’re worried about losing those precious memories, the Massena Public Library can help preserve them. Read More ⇒
WATERTOWN — If his visits to the offices of the Watertown Daily Times is any indication, James C. Harberson III appears to be a mild-mannered, soft-spoken gentleman. Read More ⇒
WATERTOWN — The past decade has seen a boom in the popularity of graphic novels. Read More ⇒
MASSENA — Massena Town Council members hope to have a better understanding in February of the potential impact if the Massena Public Library was no longer owned by the town, but became a public school district library. Read More ⇒
“Roaring Reptiles, Bountiful Citrus, and Neon Pies: An Unofficial Guide To Florida’s Official Symbols” by Mark Lane; University Press of Florida (133 pages, $19.95) Read More ⇒
“SAM: One Robot, a Dozen Engineers, and the Race to Revolutionize the Way We Build” by Jonathan Waldman; Avid Reader (288 pages, $28) Read More ⇒
After more than 20 years in the public eye, Jessica Simpson is shedding light on some of the darker sides of her private life. Read More ⇒
LOUISVILLE — Massena Public Library Director Elaine Dunne made her case to Louisville residents Wednesday night about the need to transition from a municipal public library to a school district public library, a move that would spread the cost of operation from just town of Massena taxpayers… Read More ⇒
How Madrid native David G. Rupert went from a debt-ridden businessman to an undercover agent in order to infiltrate an Irish terrorist group boils down to a simple recipe. Read More ⇒
While growing up in Champlain, Clinton County, Lawrence P. Gooley was given some words of advice by his mother. Read More ⇒
BRASHER FALLS — If you can dream it, you can draw it. Read More ⇒
How do you single out five books, out of all the hundreds coming out in 2020, for special attention? With great trepidation! Here are five very different books, all highly anticipated, making their way to our shelves in the new year. Here’s hoping it’s full of good reading. Read More ⇒
MASSENA — Massena Public Library officials are expected to ask voters this year to approve a new way to fund the library, which they say would spread the cost more equitably among users. Read More ⇒
OSWEGO - A collaboration between SUNY Oswego faculty members resulted in “Lights! Camera! Execution!: Cinematic Portrayals of Capital Punishment.” Read More ⇒
PARISH - It’s been about a decade long journey for Altmar-Parish-Williamstown (APW) social studies teacher Derrick Smith to become a published author. Read More ⇒
By Zachary Leader. (Vintage, $22.) This second volume of Leader’s biography begins with Bellow’s ascent to best-sellerdom with “Herzog,” balancing discussions of the author’s work and personal life. In The New York Times Book Review, Mark Greif called it “brilliantly calibrated to explore Be… Read More ⇒
I Am C-3PO: The Inside Story Read More ⇒
The Season: A Social History of the Debutante Read More ⇒
WATERTOWN — Though still not as popular as print books, e-books, along with audiobooks and e-magazines, are rising in popularity across the country — and the north country is no exception. Read More ⇒
Books about mental illness often reflect on how reality is experienced. In addition to the standard questions — What do we know, and how do we know it? — is another layer of inquiry: What do we know about our own minds, and what if it isn’t true? Read More ⇒
“Blade Runner,” the movie based on Philip K. Dick’s 1968 novel “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?,” takes place in a futuristic November 2019. In reality, replicants and floating cars have failed to materialize. Compare that to Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” which, when it was p… Read More ⇒
Emily Dickinson, faced with a long Christmas list, famously scribbled “There is no present like a book.” OK, the word “frigate,” not “present,” is what you’ll find in modern collections of her poetry, but I’m sure she must have initially been thinking about holiday gifts. Even now, books are… Read More ⇒
Celebrity chef Bobby Flay believes his new cookbook, “Bobby at Home,” is his most important book to date. That’s because it’s a collection of his favorite recipes, the ones he is likely to serve family and friends when he’s at home. Read More ⇒
In a publishing year crowded with gear books (Instant Pot, Air Fryers, sous vide) and diet books (Keto, plant-based), it’s got to be hard for authors to stand out. As we searched through the hundreds of books that came in this year, these 11 did. From immigrant cooking to in-depth vegetable … Read More ⇒
NEWARK, N.J. — An office tower in this gritty Northeastern city seems an unlikely nerve center for theatrical inspiration. Yet here, in the sky-high studios of Audible, the audiobook and audio entertainment company, a new model for bringing drama to the people is taking shape. Read More ⇒
By Joanna Maclennan and Oliver Maclennan. (Thames & Hudson, 253 pages, $40.) Forget those manufactured “tiny houses.” Try living inside an overturned boat. Don’t shore up that collapsing wall with an expensive metal beam — use a shark’s bone. And while plaster is nice, walls built of whi… Read More ⇒
By Michael Beschloss. (B/D/W/Y, $20.) This sweeping look at presidents who led the United States through military conflict opens with a reluctant James Madison during the War of 1812 and closes with Lyndon Johnson facing defeat in Vietnam. Times reviewer Jay Winik called it “a superb and imp… Read More ⇒
Where the first lady, Melania Trump, is concerned, theories abound. Read More ⇒
On the slight possibility that you might have some reading time on Thanksgiving weekend (don’t forget to visit a local independent bookstore on Small Business Saturday!), here’s a half-dozen fresh paperbacks for your perusal. Read More ⇒
It’s tricky when it comes time to making Best of the Year lists. First, there are all the buzzy books to consider and the question of whether you’re going to end up writing the same list as everyone else. Then there’s the issue of variety — should it be five fantasy novels and five science f… Read More ⇒
Maurice Isserman is particularly known for his books on mountains and the people who climb them. So it was a natural step for the longtime history professor at Hamilton College in Clinton to eventually turn his attention to the 10th Mountain Division. Read More ⇒
Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge of Crosby, Maine is back, once again presiding over -though not always present in — 13 linked stories. Still bossy and blunt to the point of obnoxiousness, Olive has found the ideal narrator in Kimberly Farr, who captures her peremptory manner and brutal h… Read More ⇒
In 1830, when she was 14 years old, Charlotte Brontë created a series of six matchbox-size books known as The Young Men’s Magazine, complete with dramatic stories and tiny hand-lettered ads. Read More ⇒
By Andrew Delbanco. (Penguin, $18.) Delbanco, a professor at Columbia, argues that the persistent legal and moral questions posed by people who fled bondage made the Civil War inevitable. Times reviewer Sean Wilentz said this was “a valuable book, reflective as well as jarring.” Read More ⇒
MASSENA — Voters will be asked in May or June 2020 if the Massena Public Library should transition from a municipal public library to a school district public library. Read More ⇒
THREE MILE BAY — Renowned bluesman Tas Cru says he no longer has the luxury of owning a dog or two because of his constant travels around the country. But the musician has mixed his love of music and canines into the tale of “Bad Dog Bubba.” Read More ⇒
One of the many pleasures of my first trip to Flashback Brewing Co., 1309 State St., Watertown, a few weeks back is a 10-minute conversation about the merits (there are so many) of a runny egg. Read More ⇒
By Max Hastings. (Harper Perennial, $22.99.) Hastings, a British journalist and military historian who reported on the war, chronicles the conflict and its staggering destruction, excoriating both sides for corruption and inhumanity. The United States, he argues, failed most egregiously in n… Read More ⇒
Carrie Fisher: A Life on the Edge Read More ⇒
Betrayal in Berlin: The True Story of the Cold War’s Most Audacious Espionage Operation Read More ⇒
By David Treuer. (Riverhead, $17.) Treuer, an Ojibwe novelist and nonfiction author, brings a literary sensibility to this sweeping chronicle. It is, he notes, “adamantly, unashamedly, about Indian life rather than Indian death.” Times reviewer Ned Blackhawk called it “an informed, moving an… Read More ⇒
When Christine Druga was a little girl, she said, she would sometimes wake in the night to see a man with a wide-brimmed hat and red eyes staring through her bedroom window. Her parents didn’t believe her, so she hid under the covers whenever the man came. Once, she said, he left a handprint… Read More ⇒
MASSENA — The Massena Public Library director and Board of Trustees hope to convince the public to transition from a municipal public library to a school district public library to help secure the facility’s financial future. Read More ⇒
For most parents, asking a child to clean up is more likely to spark a tantrum than a yelp of joy. But, wouldn’t you know it, Marie Kondo, the Japanese organizing guru — and mother of two — who has sparked a worldwide clutter purge, thinks otherwise. Read More ⇒
FULTON - With an incredible story of childhood trauma and victory over life challenges, Leroy Collin’s story of faith and triumph will be featured in CNY Arts Center’s Author Spotlight from 3-5 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 10. Collins book titled “The Running Back: From the Wheelchair to the NFL” wi… Read More ⇒
AUBURN - The final entry in the fall 2019 edition of Cayuga Community College’s Cultural Speaker Series will remember a legendary Central New York woman who survived spousal abuse and a shipwreck to make a fortune in business — only to see it all stolen away. Read More ⇒
By Barbara Kingsolver. (Harper Perennial, $17.99.) Two narratives, one set in the 21st century and one in the 19th, entwine in this novel about two families that occupy the same house centuries apart. Each seeks elusive shelter as it reels from its own set of disruptions. Kingsolver “has giv… Read More ⇒
Cabinets of Curiosities Read More ⇒
The Blood of the Vampire By Florence Marryat Valancourt. 227 pp. Paperback, $16.99 Read More ⇒
WATERTOWN — The Jefferson Community College North Country Writers series will feature visiting author Ellen Marie Wiseman at 12:20 p.m. Wednesday in Room 6-002 of the Jules Center. Read More ⇒