May 4th at 7:30 p.m - Meet the Author - Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly

Join us on May 4 at 7:30 p.m. as we discuss this New York Times bestseller inspired by the life of a real World War II heroine. This remarkable debut novel reveals the power of unsung women to change history in their quest for love, freedom, and second chances. Martha Hall Kelly will be signing copies of her book which will be for sale after the program.

April 21st at 1:00 p.m. - Lunch 'N Books: Dead Wake by Erik Larson

Join us on April 21 at 1:00 p.m. as we discuss Dead Wake by Erik Larson. On May 1, 1915, with World War I entering its tenth month, a luxury ocean liner as richly appointed as an English country house sailed out of New York, bound for Liverpool, carrying a record number of children and infants. This is the true story of the submarine attack on the Lusitania, the lives and deaths of some of its passengers, and the sinking of the largest and fastest ocean liner of its time.

Discussion Guide for Dead Wake

For more information, please call the Reader Services Department at 516-794-2570 ext. 236

Starting April 1st - Online Book Club – Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly

We are thrilled to announce we will be beginning our first online Book club with Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly starting April 1st. We are also very excited that the author will be joining us on Thursday, May 4th at 7:30 p.m. to talk about her book!

To join our online book group, please follow these simple steps:

1. If you are not a member of Goodreads you must create an account at goodreads.com

(After joining you will receive an e-mail asking you to verify your e-mail address – please do so in order to participate in the discussion by clicking the link provided.)

2. Log into Goodreads and click on Community on top and Choose Groups.

3. In the search box type: EMPL Online Book Discussion.

4. Click Join and type in your library barcode when requested. Once we approve your membership please read the rules of the group.

5. Starting April 1st questions will be posted to promote discussion. At least two questions will be posted a week until the author visit.

Copies of the book are available at the Reference Desk. Please read the book and join us.

If you have any questions, please contact Janine Walsh at jwalsh@eastmeadow.info or at 794-2570 ext 262.

March 30th at 12:30 p.m. - Lunch 'N Books: 1984 by George Orwell

Join us on March 30 at 12:30 p.m. as we discuss 1984 by George Orwell. The year 1984 has come and gone, but George Orwell’s prophetic, nightmarish vision, written in 1948, of the world we were becoming, is more timely than ever. 1984 is still the great modern classic of “negative utopia”- a startlingly original and haunting novel that creates an imaginary world that is completely convincing, from the first sentence to the last four words.

For more information, please call the Reader Services Department at 516-794-2570 ext. 236

March 21st at 7:30 p.m. – Evening Book Discussion: Ice Twins by S.K. Tremayne

Join us on March 21 at 7:30 p.m. as we discuss Ice Twins by S.K. Tremayne, a terrifying psychological thriller with a twisting plot. Moving to a tiny Scottish island a year after one of their identical twin daughters, Lydia, dies in an accident, Angus and Sarah are shattered when their surviving daughter claims they have mistaken her identity and that she is actually the twin they believed dead.

For more information, please call the Reader Services Department at 516-794-2570 ext. 236.

February 15th at 7:30 p.m. – Evening Book Discussion/Author Visit: Forgiving Maximo Rothman by A.J. Sidransky

Join us on February 15 at 7:30 p.m. as author A.J. Sidransky discusses his powerful work, Forgiving Maximo Rothman. Sidransky gives us a captivating story, transporting us from a seemingly straightforward murder in present-day Washington Heights, to the plight of World War II Jewish refugees in the Dominican Republic and life in the Soviet Union. The story effortlessly entwines these different periods and places.

Reserve your copy today!

For more information, please call the Reader Services Department at 516-794-2570 ext. 236.

Forgiving Maximo Rothman Discussion Questions

January 17th at 7:30 p.m. – Evening Book Discussion: The Good House by Ann Leary

Join us on January 17 at 7:30 p.m. as we discuss The Good House by Ann Leary. Hildy Good lives on the rocky coast of Boston. Her nights have become lonely ever since her daughters, convinced their mother was drinking too much, sent her off to rehab. Now she's in recovery more or less. Hildy finds a friend in Rebecca McAllister. but ends up trying to protect her friend from a potential scandal. Soon, Hildy is forced to protect her own reputation as well.

For more information, please call the Reader Services Department at 516-794-2570 ext. 236.

The Good House Discussion Questions

New Book Club in a Bag - The Rent Collector by Camron Wright

Our newest Book Club in a Bag is The Rent Collector by Camron Wright. The book, based on actual accounts, follows a Cambodian family as they struggle to lead a meaningful life. It is a wonderfully complex book which has many themes to discuss. Please call Janine Walsh at 794-2570 x262 to reserve a six week slot for your book group. The bag comes complete with 10 copies of the book, historical context, questions, author biography and a DVD of the documentary the book is based on, River of Victory. With all this, your book discussion is sure to be a success!

November 15th at 7:30 p.m. – Evening Book Discussion: The Silent Sister by Diane Chamberlain

Join us on November 15 at 7:30 p.m. as we discuss The Silent Sister by Diane Chamberlain. In The Silent Sister, Riley MacPherson has spent her entire life believing that her older sister Lisa committed suicide as a teenager. Now, over twenty years later, her father has passed away and while she is cleaning out his house, she finds evidence to the contrary. Lisa is alive . . . alive and living under a new identity. But why exactly was she on the run all those years ago, and what secrets are being kept now? As Riley works to uncover the truth, her discoveries will put into question everything she thought she knew about her family.

For more information, please call the Reader Services Department at 516-794-2570 ext. 236.

Silent Sister Discussion Questions

November 14th at 1:00 p.m. - Lunch 'N Books: The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George

Join us on November 14 at 1:00 p.m. as we discuss The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George. Monsieur Perdu calls himself a literary apothecary. From his floating bookstore in a barge on the Seine, he prescribes novels for the hardships of life. Using his intuitive feel for the exact book a reader needs, Perdu mends broken hearts and souls. The only person he can’t seem to heal through literature is himself; he’s still haunted by heartbreak after his great love disappeared. She left him with only a letter, which he has never opened. Twenty one years later he reads the letter. What follows is simultaneously heartbreaking and heartwarming. Nina George’s impressionistic prose takes the reader on a journey not just through the glories of France and the wonders of books, but through the whole range of human emotions.

For more information, please call the Reader Services Department at 516-794-2570 ext. 236

October 26th at 12:30 p.m. - Lunch 'N Books: The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

Join us on October 26 at 12:30 p.m. as we discuss The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah.  Bestselling author Kristin Hannah captures the epic panorama of WWII and illuminates an intimate part of history seldom seen: the women’s war. The Nightingale tells the stories of two sisters, separated by years and experience, by ideals, passion and circumstance, each embarking on her own dangerous path toward survival, love, and freedom in German-occupied, war-torn France. This is a bestselling, heartbreakingly beautiful novel that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit. 

For more information, please call the Reader Services Department at 516-794-2570 ext. 236

October 6th at 7:30 p.m. – Evening Book Discussion: What She Left Behind by Ellen Marie Wiseman

Join us on October 6 at 7:30 p.m. as we discuss What She Left Behind by Ellen Marie Wiseman. In this stunning novel, the acclaimed author of The Plum Tree merges the past and present into a haunting story about the nature of love and loyalty--and the lengths we will go to protect those who need us most.

Ten years ago, Izzy Stone’s mother fatally shot her father while he slept. Devastated by her mother’s apparent insanity, Izzy, now seventeen, refuses to visit her in prison. But her new foster parents, employees at the local museum, have enlisted Izzy’s help in cataloging items at a long-shuttered state asylum. There, amid piles of abandoned belongings, Izzy discovers a stack of unopened letters, a decades-old journal, and a window into her own past.

For more information, please call the Reader Services Department at 516-794-2570 ext. 236.

September 13th at 7:30 p.m. – Evening Book Discussion: The Sisters Weiss by Naomi Ragen

Join us on September 13 at 7:30 p.m. as we discuss The Sisters Weiss by Naomi Ragen. When she discovers the truth about her Aunt Rose, who, in the 1950s, committed an unforgivable act, Rivka, growing up in a strict ultra-Orthodox family, sets off on a dangerous adventure to find her, which sets in motion a chain of events that stirs up the ghosts of the past and alters the future. Powerful, page-turning and deeply moving, this novel is an unforgettable examination of loyalty and betrayal; the differences that can tear a family apart and the invisible bonds that tie them together. For more information, please call the Reader Services Department at 516-794-2570 ext. 236.

August 2nd at 7:30 p.m. – Evening Book Discussion: The Garden of Letters by Alyson Richman

Join us on August 2 at 7:30 p.m. as we discuss Alyson Richman’s (author of The Lost Wife) The Garden of Letters. Loss and hope pervade this graceful narrative, which is set in Italy during WWII. In 1942, when music prodigy and Resistance member Elodie flees to Portofino, she is taken in by a doctor with a tragic past. Together they come to terms with loss and the terrible cost of war. For more information, please call the Reader Services Department at 516-794-2570 ext. 236.

July 22nd from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. – Passport Van

The Town of Hempstead Passport Van will be at the Library for your convenience. You can apply for a passport or renew one in one visit. The Van has the equipment to take your picture. Please bring checks for payments. For further information on obtaining your passport, call the Hempstead Town Clerk’s Passport Office at 516-812-3100.

July 13th at 6:00 p.m. - The Rent Collector by Camron Wright - Film, Book Discussion, and Skype

Join us as we screen the documentary (which inspired the novel The Rent Collector) at 6:00 p.m., to be followed by the book discussion at 7:15 p.m. At 8:30 p.m., there will be a skype with filmmaker Trevor Wright and author Camron Wright.

The documentary, River of Victory, is an unsettling account of the harsh life of a Cambodian family as they struggle with financial woes and often disturbing medical treatments for their child.  This glimpse into their lives was captured when three young filmmakers, including Trevor Wright, struck up a conversation with a young mother, Sang Li, who lived at the dump.  The filmmakers discovered a story of resilience and strength too compelling to ignore.

After watching footage of his son's documentary, River of Victory, novelist Camron Wright decided to write a fiction book (The Rent Collector) based on Sang Li and her family.

For more information, please call the Reader Services Department at 516-794-2570 ext. 236.

July 12th at 7:30 p.m. - Travel Trivia Night

Test your knowledge of travel and travel literature at our library quiz on July 12 at 7:30 p.m.  Bring your friends, bring your teammates (up to 4), or just bring yourself. Sign up at the Reference Desk or online at http://tinyurl.com/jk698m9. Registration is limited.

June 21 at 7:30 p.m. - Evening Book Discussion: At the Water’s Edge by Sara Gruen - Skype with Author!

Join us on June 21st at 7:30 p.m. as we skype with Sara Gruen, author of At the Water's Edge, a gripping and poignant love story about a privileged young woman's awakening as she experiences the devastation of World War II in a tiny village in the Scottish Highlands.

June 6th at 11:00 a.m. - 8:45 p.m. - Adult Summer Reading Club "Novel Destinations" Kickoff With Featured Author Camille Perri

Join us for the kickoff of our 5th annual Adult Summer Reading Club as we host author Camille Perri's Long Island book launch of her lauded debut novel, The Assistants.  The book talk and signing will start at 7:30 P.M.  Sign up for the club in the lobby.  Can't make it?  Sign up online at http://tinyurl.com/jk698m9 or at the Reference Desk starting June 6th.

May 25th at 7:30 p.m. – Evening Book Discussion: Orphan #8 by Kim van Alkemade

Join us on May 25 at 7:30 p.m. as we discuss Orphan #8 by Kim van Alkemade.  In this stunning new historical novel inspired by true events, the author tells the fascinating story of a woman who must choose between revenge and mercy when she encounters the doctor who subjected her to dangerous medical experiments in a New York City Jewish orphanage years before.  For more information, please call the Reader Services Department at 516-794-2570 ext. 236.