Thanksgiving Book Sale: Save big and help the library!

The annual Thanksgiving book sale is a great Shelter Island library tradition. It’s the best place imaginable to stock up on wonderful reading at unbeatable prices for these dark, ever-shortening days. And this special sale also features a wonderful array of giftable items for children and adults. The extraordinary book sale volunteers carefully select new and “looks like new” books of all genres and array them in the library’s community room for easy shopping. While it’s impossible to predict just what you’ll find, past year’s sales have yielded wonderful picture and story books as well as the latest best sellers and holiday-themed books, all of which sell for a fraction of retail. The added benefit, of course, is that all sales benefit the library. So stop by on Saturday, November 28 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and get a jump on your holiday shopping and winter reading.


There are plenty of other activities scheduled for children and families at the library around the holidays that will entertain, inform and give everyone time for holiday preparations. At noon on Saturday, December 5, the library will be collaborating with the Shelter Island Fire Department to run an important program, “Fire Safety: Holiday Hazards.” Fire safety expert Clint Corbett, a longtime member of the New York City Fire Department and a Shelter Island volunteer fireman, as well, will be discussing the things that you need to do to keep your home and family safe this winter. Following that presentation at 1:30 p.m., there will be a family movie matinée featuring the highly acclaimed animated film, “Up.” The winter schedule is chock-a-block with other activities that range from the regularly scheduled (including Lego Club and Lego Club Jr.) to special events like our holiday extravaganza, “Miracle on 34th Street,” on December 19. So check out the library’s website at readshelterisland.org or stop by the library for a full schedule.


See you at the library!


New fiction


“The Lost Symbol,” Dan Brown*


“13 1/2,” Nevada Barr


“Bad Things Happen,” Harry Dolan


“Blame,” Michelle Huneven


“Breaking the Rules,” Barbara Taylor Bradford


“Brodeck: A Novel,” Philippe Claudel


“Capitol Offense,” William Bernhardt


“The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein: A Novel,” Peter Ackroyd


“The Christmas List,” Richard Paul Evans


“Chronic City,” Jonathan Lethem


“Dexter by Design,” Jeff Lindsay


“Evidence,” Jonathan Kellerman


“Ground Zero,” F. Paul Wilson


“Half Broke Horses,” Jeannette Walls*


“Her Fearful Symmetry,” Audrey Niffenegger


“House of Reckoning,” John Saul


“The Humbling,” Philip Roth


“Love and Summer,” William Trevor


“The Ninth Daughter,” Barbara Hamilton


“The Professional,” Robert B. Parker


“Summer of Two Wishes,” Julia London


New biography/non-fiction


“My Journey with Farrah,” Alana Stewart


“Rashi: A Portrait,” Elie Wiesel


“Stitches: A Memoir,” David Small


“Strength in What Remains,” Tracy Kidder


“True Compass: A Memoir,” Edward M. Kennedy*


“Callas Kissed Me…Lenny Too! A Critic’s Memoir,” John Gruen


“Lies My Mother Never Told Me: A Memoir,” Kaylie Jones


“American On Purpose: Improbable Adventures of an Unlikely Patriot,” Craig Ferguson


“Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman,” Jon Krakauer


“The American Civil War,” John Keegan


“The Book of William: How Shakespeare’s First Folio Conquered the World,” Paul Collins


“The Cake Mix Doctor Returns!” Anne Byrn


“The Case for God,” Karen Armstrong


“A Fiery Peace in a Cold War,” Neil Sheehan


“The Haunting of America,” William J. Birnes


“Lidia Cooks from the Heart of Italy,” Lidia Bastianich


“Caring for Your Baby and Young Child,” Bantam Books


“Knockout: Interviews with Doctors Who are Curing Cancer,” Suzanne Somers


*New York Times best seller