Like twitter? You can now follow the Book by Book blog and its authors @bookbybook. For more LoHud twitter accounts, go to lohud.com/twitter.

I’m still sorting through the treasures I picked up over the weekend at the Pequot book sale, among which was a book I’d been searching for for probably a good decade. Ah, the sweet satisfaction of acquisition!

But the sale did spark a discussion with my oldest daughter about what she called the family tendency toward compulsion. Mentioned were my habit of going up and down each aisle in the supermarket, even if I’m only there for a single item … her own habit of placing the bills in her wallet facing the same direction … and the family habit of literature.

I seem to have passed on my habit of reading books in a series in order, and of collecting an entire series if it’s something I like. If I pick up a third book in a series at a tag sale, I won’t start the book until I’ve purchased the first two. If I find an author or series I like — most recently it was Dorothy Dale (1909 et al) — then I’ll search for the rest of the series wheresoever it lies hidden.

My oldest, who is creating her own library now that she’s living in her own apartment, was picking up classics: Dumas’ Count of Monte Cristo, Dante’s Divine Comedy, Dickens’ Christmas Carol, Alexander’s Black Cauldron and as many Xanth books as she could find. She said she debated picking up the fourth one as it was the sixth in the series and she had books 1-3, but decided to take the chance on spending 50 cents, since she’d have to pick it up anyway. But she actually debated buying it because it was out of sequence. Hence the discussion on compulsions.

So there I was in the Pequot, cruising through the “old and interesting” tables, and noticed an old Jackson Gregory western titled “I Must Ride Alone.”

“What if everything you knew turned out to be a lie?” asks author Sara Taney Humphreys in describing her  romance,  “The Amoveo Legacy” from  Devine Destinies Publishing.

Well the Bronxville-based writer got my attention — and I’ve never considered myself a fan of romance novels. But times change and so do tastes.

She is in the midst of a publicity tour for her new book which she says is about a seductive courtship, magical mystical worlds,  dream walking, and a secret that could destroy both main characters.

Humphreys says she has been a lover of both the paranormal and romance novels for years and that her  sci-fi/fantasy/romance obsession began years ago with the tv series Star Trek and “an enormous crush on Captain Kirk.”

Her sci-fi obsession soon evolved into the love of all types of fantasy/paranormal; vampires, ghosts, werewolves, and shape shifters. When I asked her if she was inspired by the classic vampire serial, Dark Shadows she said it is “one of the great paranormal romances.” Then I knew she was worth some real consideration, because I was fascinated with that show and it caused me to take another look at “the other side.”

She has written acted on  television programs including  “A&E Biography”, “Guiding Light”, “Another World”, “As the World Turns” and “Rescue Me”.   For the past several years, she has worked  with The College of Westchester as the Director of High School and Community Relations.

She lives in southern Westchester with her husband of 14 years, their 4 boys and  “2 dopey dogs and an extremely loud bird. Life is busy but never dull,” she adds.

This is her first book and she says it will be part of a series. I just missed mentioning a book signing in Bronxville earlier this month, but on Aug. 28 she will at Barnes & Noble in West Nyack (7 to 10 pm) in the Palisades Center Mall.

If you missed seeing Bill Evans,  senior meteorologist for WABC-TV Channel 7 and WPLJ 95.5 FM, when he came to Jefferson Valley mall this Saturday, you have another chance tomorrow.

He will be at The Westchester  at 3:00 p.m. in Center Court to sign copies of his new environmental thriller, “Frozen Fire.” He will also be there to meet shoppers and take photographs.  Copies of Evans’ new novel will be available for purchase.

“Frozen Fire” (Forge Books, 2009) is the second adventure tale Evans has written with  Marianna Jameson.  According to publicity material, , “Category 7,”  their first collaboration, depicts the horrific results of a powerful hurricane  New York City.   With “Frozen Fire” the authors focus on a  billionaire  who seeks to profit from a potentially lucrative  form of energy which is also a poinsonous gas and found at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. A scientific specialist  and the U.S. government must save the planet.

Here’s a press release from the New City Library about its redesigned Web site, scheduled for a roll-out on Aug. 1.

“The New City Library will introduce a newly designed web page. The address, www.newcitylibrary.org remains the same but the home page will have a completely different look.

It is clear and clean looking; easy to use; well organized with many links in file headings, and has all library information at your fingertips.

Now you can register for a card online or make a purchase request as a Clarkstown card holder or join an interest blog.

There is much more. Please take a look and at the bottom of the page under Comments and send us your responses. The New City Library staff remains committed to providing current technology with the latest information to its customers.

My favorite used book sale is this weekend, and I feel an adrenaline rush usually reserved for when you barely miss getting hit by another car at an intersection.

I learned a long time ago that driving to the Pequot Library to drift through what this year are 140,000 books makes my legs weak, my heart beat faster and my breath start to come quickly. It’s an odd reaction, but it’s there.

The Pequot Library at 720 Pequot Ave. in Southport, Conn., has been holding its giant book sale for nearly half a century. This year, the 49th annual, runs from July 24 through July 28. The library opens its concert/lecture hall and puts up a huge tent off the side of the building. After nearly 20 years attending them, I know just where to go to find what I like.

The first day of the sale, everything is double price, Saturday and Sunday is regular price day (paperbacks about 50 cents, hardbacks about $1, depending), Monday is half price and Tuesday is $5 a bag. I remember when all the books left by Tuesday were free, but that changed a couple of years ago.

Last year, I picked up whole stacks of recorder consort music for a song, got a steal on a bunch of mysteries and got out-of-this-world deals on some old science fiction. Really.

Like most of the other people in the area, I’ve not only bought, I’ve contributed. The sale is filled with donated books, so each year there’s the chance something old and interesting will show up from somebody’s attic or from an estate sale. A couple of years ago, there was an entire 10-book seet of Arthur Ransome novels from the 1930s (I think); I’ve certainly purchased most of my Jeff Farnol novels during the sales, although they’re getting harder to find; and I’ve picked up better (and better illustrated) copies of old classics, including a lovely (although battered) 1925 illustrated copy of the Three Musketeers.

If anything really interesting shows up, I’ll post something about it. Bibliophiles who haven’t been to the Pequot sale, though, ought to drop by. It’s worth the trip.

There is no longer any excuse for not keeping up with Irish book news—authors, publishers and their stories.  Liam  Moroney, who has worked for three of Ireland’s leading publishing houses, has taken on the task of disseminating pertinent information with lots of steam. He has created an impressive Web site filled with lots of bits and interesting pieces.

“I started The Irish Book Review because, while there is a clear demand for high quality Irish books on true Irish interest topics, there is little awareness, and virtually no access to this information, and the US market deserves better than that,” he says in his “About Us” section of the site.

His pieces discuss “The Concise History of Modern Ireland,” Irish humors and popular sayings, and the upcoming book, “Granuaile: Ireland’s Pirate Queen,” which he describes as a book about a woman’s survival and search for fulfillment. But these are just a few examples.

Moroney was born in Ireland and moved to Yonkers in 2008 to work for  Irish publishers in America. He says there is a lot out there in Irish literature land, but  we are not hearing about it.

I realized what’s been bugging me about the Harry Potter movies and later books when I was picking up a decaf at Starbucks in Larchmont. At the counter, they were selling jelly beans with flavors like lemon and pomegranate, and I thought: Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans.

Not just the magical jelly beans, of course. It’s all that great, imaginative stuff that filled the first books in the series — the different wands and broomsticks that we, as readers, discovered along with Harry.

I also was not happy about the way Read more of this entry »

I picked up The Atlantic magazine’s 2009 fiction issue, with stories by the likes of Rick Bass and Paul Theroux and essays by Tim O’Brien, Alice Sebold, Margaret Atwood and others.

Not a bad showing. (If you haven’t read Tim O’Brien’s Read more of this entry »

With news reports saying writer Frank McCourt  is gravely ill, I began to recall his work and how generous he was with his time to readers in the Lohud region.

A Pulitizer Prize-winning author for “Angela’s Ashes,” he spoke often and candidly about writing and that speaking your own mind was the best way to write well.  He knew his craft as an English and creative writing teacher in New York City for three decades. In his bestselling book he shared his own story about his bleak upbringing in Ireland. While he told of dark times, we saw inspiration and the strength of survival.

As commencement speaker in 1999 at Manhattanville College, he was quoted in The Journal News as saying: ‘’ I learned for nearly 30 years in a classroom. I thought I was teaching. They thought I was teaching. I was learning. ‘’

He often visited Lohud region.

In 1997, my first year with this newspaper, he spoke at the Clear View School in Scarborough for a fundraiser with Rosie O’Donnell.  I remember it because I was charged with writing an advance story on the event.  His neice was a student there and he felt he wanted to help the school’s efforts.

Through the years he spoke at Westchester Community College’s literary forum, participated in St. Patrick’s Day events in Peekskill, and joined in forums at many libraries including those in Bronxville, Mt. Pleasant and Ossining.

(Photo of McCourt outside the Mt. Pleasant Public Library where he autographed his book Angela’s Ashes. Photo for The Journal News by Hai Do, 1999)