Sales at bookstores jumped 7 percent in September 2009 over the same period last year, according to the American Booksellers Association. The Tarrytown-based trade group reviewed the recent Census Bureau statistics to report this finding.

“September 2009 bookstore sales are estimated at $1,580 million, compared to sales of $1,476 million for the same period last year,” [...]

Reading to dogs is a perfect way to encourage youngsters to read more and gain confidence in their skills, say librarians. To this end the Somers Library invites a dog and special trainer to come to the children’s room each week and spend some quality reading time with a child one-on-one.

Shown in the photo to [...]

How much do you love your library? With Gov. Patterson proposing second  cut  to library  aid that will affect every community, cutting Now’s the time to show just how much with challenges from our region’s library systems.

The Mid-Hudson Library System, which covers Putnam and four other northern counties, is promoting a “2009 Thanksgiving Challenge!” They [...]

Yonkers native James Gavin, center, the author of three books including his latest, “Stormy Weather: The Life of Lena Horne”, stands with his former second grade teacher Sister. Theresa Luciano, and Msgr. Hugh Corrigan, before speaking to a group of students at his alma mater, St. Mary’s School in Yonkers, this past Thursday, reports photographer [...]

White Plains writer Lynne Lehrman Weiner knew Sigmund Freud as a child. In fact, she says that at 2 years old she recalls sitting on his lap, not sprawling on his couch. That was in 1928 when she and her family were living in Vienna. Her father,  Dr. Philip R. Lehrman, was a psychoanalyst and [...]

That’s the Top Ten from Publishers Weekly magazine, the definitive chronicler of the publishing industry.

This week, the magazine came out with its PW Top 10 for 2009 and first on the pile for nonfiction is  Blake Bailey’s biography of John Cheever: “Cheever: a Life” (Knopf).

Cheever, a Pulitzer prize-winning short story writer and novelist, lived in [...]

Three libraries in our region got what they asked for. Voters in Patterson, Stony Point and Peekskill approved budget requests from their public library on Tuesday. Here are the final tallies:

Putnam: In Patterson, voters agreed to increase the annual contribution from the town to the Patterson Library by $80,293 to $514,293 annually. The vote was [...]

Authors and activists zero in selections for Veteran’s Day at a reading next Friday.  “Poets and Writers on War and Peace,” features selections by award-winning poet and human rights activist D. Nurkse and poet Frances Richey.

The Slapering Hol Press Second Friday Café Reading Series at the Hudson Valley Writers’ Center will present this fourth annual [...]

A United States Air Force Band performs this weekend at the Mahopac Public Library. Appearing will be the New England Winds quintet with  popular, Broadway, patriotic, jazz and folk music, as well as a traditional quintet repertoire.

It’s billed as a free family event; registration is requested. Program is at 2 p.m, this Saturday. Mahopac library [...]

How much access should be allowed to what other people read, see and look at while in a public library? This is clearly not an easy question to answer even though it sounds simple.

If you think it is clear issue, just read the story and comments in today’s story about the Hendrick Hudson Free Library [...]