Start the New Year off right with the library

The boxes and wrappings will have been taken to the RecyclingCenter. The leftovers are soon gone and the decorations soon putaway for another year. The long, dark days of winter loom ahead.It’s time to make – or make good on – those New Year’s resolutions.Besides the perennial “lose those 10 pounds and “put together abudget (which will be covered in a later column), think about thisnew year in a different way with a little help from the library.Here are a few suggestions:

Learn a new language with one of the easy and fun programs withMango! Over 20 languages are available through the free onlineservice that is accessed through the library’s website. Choose fromthe obvious (Spanish, Italian, German, Brazilian) to the not-so:Mandarin, Greek, Arabic, Farsi, Pahto, Urdu, Turkish, Hindi,Tagalog and more. In addition, 13 languages are also available asnew English as a Second Language (ESL) programs. Go to thelibrary’s website (readshelterisland.org) to get startedor ask a library staff member to assist you.

Download an audio book from Suffolk Wave (also accessed via thelibrary’s website) to your MP3 player or a CD and make the time onthe treadmill or exercise bike fly by.

Mingle with your fellow Islanders at a library program. Stop bythe library for a list of the latest events or check out theschedule on the website.

Prepare a new recipe from one of the latest cookbooks thatyou’ve borrowed from the library (the shelves are brimming overwith great titles!) or print some from one of the many websitesthat you can access with the library’s high-speed computers.

Join the book club. It meets the third Thursday of the month at7 p.m. For a list of the book selections for the next six months,call Laura Dickerson at the library

Read aloud to a child. Children’s Librarian Jennifer Blume wouldbe happy to make recommendations.

Bring your Scrabble board to the library on Thursdayafternoons.

Brush up on your computer skills with free one-on-one tutoringor a monthly Windows class.

Explore some new music. Check out the library’s collection ofCDs from all genres. It’s cheaper than iTunes.

See a great film, known or unknown, at the twice-monthly Moviesat the Library series on alternate Tuesdays at 7 p.m, thedownstairs room is converted into a surround-sound theater,complete with free popcorn and bottled water and a commentary onthe film by a member of the library’s Movie Committee. It’s thebest entertainment value in town!

This is just a sampling of the many services and programs thatcan make your new year a little brighter, a little smarter and alot more fun. Here’s to a wonderful 2010 and we’ll see you at thelibrary!

NEW FICTION

“American Salvage, Bonnie Jo Campbell

“U is for Undertow, Sue Grafton*

“Pirate Latitudes, Michael Crichton*

“The Lacuna, Barbara Kingsolver*

“Pursuit of Honor, Vince Glynn*

“Too Much Happiness, Alice Munro

“Wishin’ and Hopin’, Wally Lamb

“The Children’s Book, A.S. Byatt

“Ravens, George Dawes Green

“Under This Unbroken Sky, Shandi Mitchell

“War Dances, Sherman Alexie

“The Wrecker, Clive Cussler (also in large print)*

“Rainwater, Sandra Brown

“The Atlantis Code, Charles Brokaw

“Broken Jewel, David L. Robbins

“Bryant & May on the Loose, Christopher Fowler

“Codex Alera: Book Six, Jim Butcher

“Crossers, Philip Caputo

“Dream House, Valerie Laken

“Family Album, Penelope Lively

“Ford County, John Grisham*

“The Gates, John Connolly

“Generosity, Richard Powers

“The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis, Lydia Davis

NEW NON-FICTION

“Mennonite in a Little Black Dress, Rhoda Janzen

“Paul McCartney, Peer Ames Carlin

“The Time of My Life, Patrick Swayze

“Open, Andre Agassi*

“My Life Outside the Ring, Hulk Hogan

“Too Big to Fail, Andrew Ross Sorkin

“Miss O’Dell: My Hard Days and Long Nights with the Beatles, theStones, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton and the Women They Loved, ChrisO’Dell

“Appetite City: A Culinary History of New York, WilliamGrimes

“B. Smith Cooks Southern Style, Barbara Smith

“The Biology of Belief, Bruce H. Lipton

“Boulevard of Dreams, Constance Rosenblum

“The Madoff Chronicles, Brian Ross

“Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong, Terry Teachout

“How to Raise the Perfect Dog, Cesar Millan

“Fordlandia, Greg Grandlin

“Eating Animals, Jonathan Safran Foer

“Dying to Please: Anorexia, Treatment and Recovery, Sharon TylerHerbst

“Literary Hoaxes, Melissa Katsoulis

“Living Life as a Thank You, Nina Lesowitz

“The Murder of King Tut, James Patterson

“On Thin Ice: The Changing World of the Polar Bear, RichardEllis

“Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis, Albert Gore

*New York Times bestseller