Tag Archives: New York

Arts & Humanities, Books & Reading, Current Affairs, Libraries, Politics

Salman Rushdie says ‘attack on books’ in Florida ‘has never been more dangerous’

By Melissa Alonso and Jackson Grigsby, CNN, Published 3:51 AM EDT, Fri May 19, 2023

Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for PEN America
Honoree Salman Rushdie speaks on stage at the 2023 PEN America Literary Gala at American Museum of Natural History on May 18, 2023 in New York City.

Less than a year after an attempt on his life, author Salman Rushdie made a rare public appearance at an awards ceremony Thursday to warn of the dangers of banning books and of related movements in the US to roll back freedoms of expression.

“The attack on books, the attack on teaching, the attack on libraries, in – how can I put this – Florida, has never been more dangerous, never been more important to fight,” he said.

Rushdie spoke at the PEN America Gala in New York City, praising the literary and free speech advocacy group for its latest efforts to block politicians and local officials seeking to ban literature concerning race and gender identity.

PEN America, along with book publisher Penguin Random House and several parents and authors, filed a lawsuit on Wednesday challenging Florida’s Escambia County school district’s removal of certain books on race and LGBTQ issues from school libraries.

Source: Salman Rushdie says ‘attack on books’ in Florida ‘has never been more dangerous’ | CNN

Arts & Humanities, Books & Reading, Current Affairs, Libraries, Pleasures

Exclusive: The Brooklyn Public Library is announcing its most borrowed books of all time – Gothamist

By Kerry Shaw. Published Nov 14, 2022, Modified Nov 14, 2022

screenshot from article…

We’ve got the list. You might not expect to find “Candide” and “Captain Underpants” on the same lineup, but here we are.

Since late October, the Brooklyn Public Library has been releasing information about the most popular books in its 125-year history. The “drops” have been happening online, every weekday, ten titles at a time, as part of its “Top 125 Most Borrowed Books” countdown. As of this writing, the library has revealed all but their top five most popular titles.

Today, the wait is over, and Gothamist has an exclusive look at the all-time top five.

Top 5 Most Borrowed Books of All Time at the Brooklyn Public Library

  1. “Where the Wild Things Are,” Maurice Sendak
  2. “The Snowy Day,” Ezra Jack Keats
  3. “The Cat in the Hat,” Dr. Seuss
  4. “A Christmas Carol,” Charles Dickens
  5. “Are You My Mother?” PD Eastman

Source: Exclusive: The Brooklyn Public Library is announcing its most borrowed books of all time – Gothamist

Love & Relationships, Pleasures, Science & Health, Travel

New York’s Farm Sanctuary Is Magical And You Should Visit | Only in Your State

By Christy Articola, June 15, 2022

Jesika Keener/Google Local

Farm Sanctuary is an incredible place!

If you love animals, then you’re going to absolutely adore everything about it. This Watkins Glen animal sanctuary is home to more than 800 rescued farm animals on nearly 300 acres.

Each and every one of them will live on this property happily ever after, with no fear of further mistreatment nor of ever being eaten.

The people who work and volunteer here care for each animal as an individual and these happy critters are treated like kings and queens. You can take an hour-long, guided tour of the property at several different times of day most days of the week, and you should. You’ll be amazed by the good work happening here. Read on to learn more.

Editor’s Note: Read more, see link below for original item…

Source: New York’s Farm Sanctuary Is Magical And You Should Visit

Food & Drink, Memories & History, Pleasures, Times They Are A-Changing, Travel

America’s last Howard Johnson’s restaurant has closed – CNN

By Jordan Valinsky, CNN Business, Updated 1:51 PM ET, Wed June 1, 2022

Howard Johnson’s Restaurant in Lake George, New York in a 2015 photo.

New York (CNN Business)

The last surviving Howard Johnson’s restaurant has closed.

Open for most of the past 70 years, the restaurant was located in Lake George, New York, a popular summer vacation spot near the Adirondack Mountains.

\The restaurant closed its doors in recent weeks and the property is up for lease, according to a local affiliate.”Lake George is officially dead,” a Howard Johnson’s fan wrote on Facebook, adding several pictures of the abandoned restaurant.

“Cobwebs on the door. Right before Memorial Day rush up here.”

The longtime roadside staple had about 1,000 restaurants in the 1960s and 1970s, and it was once America’s largest restaurant chain. Instantly recognizable for its orange roofs, the diners served 28 types of ice cream and became a part of American culture. “Mad Men” recreated the restaurant to film a scene.

But Howard Johnson quickly found itself in the shadow of McDonald’s(MCD) and other fast-food chains that maximized efficiency and better managed supply chains. Marriott(MAR) bought a crippled Howard Johnson in 1985, selling hundreds of the brand’s hotels and about 200 restaurants to Prime Motor Inn. That company sold the restaurants to other chains, and they lost the “HoJo” name.

By last decade just a handful of Howard Johnson restaurants were still operating: the Lake George location, along with one in Lake Placid, New York, and another in Bangor, Maine. The Lake Placid restaurant closed in 2015, and the Bangor location shut its doors in 2016.

Source: America’s last Howard Johnson’s restaurant has closed – CNN

Arts & Humanities, Books & Reading, Current Affairs, Libraries, Memories & History

American Business History in “The Gilded Age” | Inside Adams: Science, Technology & Business | Library of Congress

February 24, 2022 by Ellen Terrell

Given its underlying business themes, The Gilded Age, which premiered on HBO in January 2022, quickly caught my attention.

The show’s first season, which is set in 1882 in the rapidly changing New York City landscape, revolves around the clash between the mores of old New York society and the emerging world of newly rich industrialists and financiers.

The Central Bank, 1910. Frank A. Nankivell, artist.

The show’s title, Gilded Age, references the period in American history from approximately 1870-1900, but where did the phrase itself come from, and what is so special about this time in American history?

Editor’s Note: Read more, see link below for original item…

Source: American Business History in “The Gilded Age” | Inside Adams: Science, Technology & Business

Arts & Humanities, Books & Reading, Film & Movies, Food & Drink, Games, Libraries, Memories & History, Pleasures

Sherlock Holmes, Scientific Detective | The New Yorker

Arthur Conan Doyle’s creation was born into an age of stunning change. How did Holmes react to his era?

By Rivka Galchen, January 31, 2022

The exhibit “Sherlock Holmes in 221 Objects” devotes special attention to Conan Doyle’s “A Study in Scarlet” and “The Hound of the Baskervilles”—which feature notably different Holmeses.Photograph by Charlie Rubin / Courtesy The Grolier Club

The Grolier Club, a private society for bibliophiles on the Upper East Side, with its marble foyer and dark wood-panelled gallery, would be a fine stage for a nineteenth-century fictional murder, perhaps done in the library with a candlestick, most certainly involving a will.

On January 12th, an exhibit called “Sherlock Holmes in 221 Objects” opened there. It features a proper Baker Street-number of items from the collection of Glen S. Miranker, a former executive at Apple, who has been buying all manner of things Holmesian since 1977.

There are a number of Arthur Conan Doyle’s letters; an “idea book” in which he jotted notes for possible future stories; and a never-before-displayed speech, written by hand, in which Conan Doyle talks about why he killed off Holmes. There are also handwritten manuscript pages and a pirated copy of “The Sign of the Four,” which Conan Doyle apparently signed, despite loathing the pirating practice.

Source: Sherlock Holmes, Scientific Detective | The New Yorker