Reading keeps us connected. Join us for a neighborhood book club at the Fort Washington Branch!
The New York Public Library and WNYC—two indispensable New York institutions—are partnering to host a book club that brings New Yorkers together and fosters community. This book club will take place IN PERSON at the Fort Washington Branch.
The April title is Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney’s Lake Effect – a wry and tender portrait of two families forever changed by one lovestruck decision that will reverberate for decades.
It’s 1977 and an air of restlessness has settled on the residents of Cambridge Road in Rochester, New York, a place long fueled by the booming fortunes of Kodak and Xerox and, for some, the mores of the Catholic church. When Nina Larkin is given a copy of The Joy of Sex by her newly divorced friend, she can no longer dismiss the nearly nonexistent intimacy of her marriage. Just as her oldest child, Clara, is falling in love for the first time, Nina finds herself longing for the forbidden: a midlife awakening. An intoxicating fling with a prominent neighbor brings Nina a freedom she never thought possible—but also risks the reputations of both families and unravels Clara’s world, just as she stands on the threshold of adulthood.
Years later, Clara, now a successful food stylist in New York City, has never been able to move past the long-ago scandal. Drawn back home by the pull of a family wedding and wrestling with her own demons, she makes a pivotal decision that turns her life upside down. Written with Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney’s signature humor and insight, Lake Effect is a wise and probing look at love and desire, mothers and daughters, loss and grief, and what we owe the people we love most.
Get LIT! Teacher Appreciation Cardmaking
It’s Teacher Appreciation Week ! Show some teacher love by creating a card. Use quotes and images inspired by your favorite books. Do it by hand or on a computer and let us print it out for you.
Audience: Teens/Young Adults (13-18 years)
Come join us to watch a movie and eat pizza! Other snacks and drinks provided as well.
After the Bergens invade Troll Village, Poppy (Anna Kendrick), the happiest Troll ever born, and the overly-cautious, curmudgeonly Branch (Justin Timberlake) set off on a journey to rescue her friends. Their mission is full of adventure and mishaps, as this mismatched duo try to tolerate each other long enough to get the job done.
Come join us at Fort Washington Library for magic and comedy with Silly Billy.
Silly Billy will perform a very funny magic show for children of all ages. Highly interactive magic show performed by the winner of several awards in magic and author of two best selling books on the subject. As seen at the White House, Lincoln Center, and TV.
For children, infants to age 18 months, ages 18 to 36 months, ages 3 to 5 years, ages 5 to 12 years
The New York Public Library continues partnering with WNYC to present a book club experience! Each month, we will read a new title leading up to a live conversation, in-person or online, with the author and All of It host Alison Stewart.
This book club will take place IN PERSON at the Fort Washington Library.
The March title is Megha Majumdar’s A Guardian and a Thief – an electrifying new novel in which two families seeking to protect their children must battle each other in a city ravaged by climate change and food scarcity.
In a near-future Kolkata beset by flooding and famine, Ma, her two-year-old daughter, and her elderly father are just days from leaving the collapsing city behind to join Ma’s husband in Ann Arbor, Michigan. After procuring long-awaited visas from the consulate, they pack their bags for the flight to America. But in the morning they awaken to discover that Ma’s purse, containing their treasured immigration documents, has been stolen.
Set over the course of one week, A Guardian and a Thief tells two stories: the story of Ma’s frantic search for the thief while keeping hunger at bay during a worsening food shortage; and the story of Boomba, the thief, whose desperation to care for his family drives him to commit a series of escalating crimes whose consequences he cannot fathom. With stunning control and command, Megha Majumdar paints a kaleidoscopic portrait of two families, each operating from a place of ferocious love and undefeated hope, each discovering how far they will go to secure their children’s future as they stave off encroaching catastrophe.
A masterful new work from one of the most exciting voices of her generation.
