Add one 15 year old flapper, her opportunistic mother, a rabid tabloid press and an African Honking Gander. What does this get you?

Why you get Peaches and Daddy!

Last week I was stuck in the mother of all non-holiday traffic jams-- Tuesday night repaving on I-95 northbound. For better or for worse, I entertained myself for an hour and a half by listening to the second presidential debate. Not a bad way to pass the time, but not what I expected to do during a trip that usually takes about 11 minutes.

The cause of all this craziness? Merging down from three lanes to one. You’d think by now folks would know how to do that in an organized, timely manner, but no. To find out why normally thoughtful, rational people are incapable of this simple maneuver, check out the latest by Tom Vanderbilt-- Traffic: Why We Drive The Way We Do (And What It Says About Us). In a recent interview he summed it up quite nicely:

Merging is the most stressful single activity we face in everyday driving, according to a survey by the Texas Transportation Institute. People who have done studies at highway construction work zones have also told me of extraordinarily bad behavior, triggered by this simple act of trying to get two lanes of traffic into one. Sometimes, it’s simply the difficult mechanics of driving — trying to enter a stream of traffic flowing at a higher speed than you are, for example.

Drivers, to quote a physicist who was actually talking about grains, are objects ‘who do not easily interact.’ But I also think there’s something about the forward flow of traffic that makes us register progress only by our own unimpeded movement; as in life, we seem to register losses more powerfully than gains, and registering these losses boosts stress.

Wow. If his theory sounds familiar, check out the financial headlines from last week.

So what did I learn from all this? The next time I hit 95, I’m checking the Connecticut DOT website before I head out. You know all of those cameras along the roadway? They record what the highway action is like in real time. No waiting for traffic info on the 8’s or 10’s (and praying they will say something—anything!—about the Connecticut roads), just live pictures of headlights and tail-lights moving right along. 

Another option is to check out the Tom Tom One GPS system, a great resource for finding those less traveled alternate routes.  Either way, you can bet I won't be listening to tonight's debate from my car!

Did you grow up enjoying Little Women, Sarah, Plain and Tall, and Cheaper by the Dozen?  These classics are still popular family stories for kids!

Check out these modern read-alikes:

The Penderwicks series	by Jeanne Birdsall

The Elevator Family by Douglas Evans

Judy Blume family series such as...

---Pain and the Great One series

---Fudge series

 Saffy's Angel series by Hilary McKay

What are your favorite FAMILY STORIES for kids?  Tag them with "parent favorite" in the catalog!

Did you grow up enjoying Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, and the Hardy Boys?  These classics are still popular mysteries for kids. 

Check out these modern read-alikes:

Kiki Strike by Kirsten Miller

Millions by Frank Cottrell Boyce	The Enola Homes Mysteries by Nancy Springer	Gilda Joyce, Psychic Investigator by Jennifer Allison

Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett	Lulu Dark by Bennett Madison

The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd	The 39 Clues by Rick Riordan

  What are your favorite MYSTERY books for kids?  Tag them with "parent favorite" in the catalog!

For the past few weeks every newspaper, magazine, and scrolling ticker has been plastered with photos of anguished traders, scary graphs and complex analysis of financial instruments that seem more like magic than math. The current financial crisis seems unprecedented and unpredictable. Yesterday’s New York Times offered some perspective by examining the roles of two famous businessmen during hard times: Warren Buffett and J.P. Morgan.

The Times notes that “Comparing the two men and their moves in periods of market turmoil, just more than a century apart, reveals how much some things have changed over the years and how other things have not, according to business historians and finance experts.”

This got a few of us thinking about the history of the markets and the comforts of knowing that we’ve been in dire straits before and it doesn’t always end with apple carts and a generation growing up sharing a pair of shoes with their siblings. Several of you are ahead of us on this curve- when we started looking for books on the history of Wall Street, we found a number of them were already checked out. We’ve put what’s here on the front table for you to peruse.

For the historically-minded, there’s
Manias, Panics, And Crashes : A History Of Financial Crises
Bull! : A History Of The Boom, 1982-1999 : What Drove The Breakneck Market--and What Every Investor Needs To Know About Financial Cycles
What Goes Up : The Uncensored History Of Modern Wall Street As Told By The Bankers, Brokers, CEOs, And Scoundrels Who Made It Happen
House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty And The Rise Of Modern Finance

If you're looking for a modern take (and maybe a little schadenfreude) we have
America's Bubble Economy : Profit When It Pops
The World Is Curved : Hidden Dangers To The Global Economy
Chain Of Blame : How Wall Street Caused The Mortgage And Credit Crisis
The New Paradigm For Financial Markets : The Credit Crisis Of 2008 And What It Means
Crash Proof : How To Profit From The Coming Economic Collapse
Undue Influence : How The Wall Street Elite Put The Financial System At Risk

If you want a more explanatory approach, try:
Money, Greed, And Risk : Why Financial Crises And Crashes Happen
How the Stock Market Works

Or for biography fans, in addition to the new Warren Buffett bio, there’s:
The White Sharks Of Wall Street : Thomas Mellon Evans And The Original Corporate Raiders
Titan : The Life Of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.
The Dark Genius Of Wall Street : The Misunderstood Life Of Jay Gould, King Of The Robber Barons
Henry Clay Frick : An Intimate Portrait
 

Read and Reread all the Harry Potter books? Have no fear... Your Library is here...to recommend...

 Janet, Erica, and I had the happiest of experiences attending the National Book Festival in Washington D.C. on Saturday. The annual festival, now in its eighth year, is a day-long event and is a friendly and fun attraction for individuals and families. Despite the oppressive and threatening weather, thousands showed up on the Mall. We had a chance to talk with publishers, publicists, and authors. We chatted with Brad Meltzer (who'd been here to speak at the Library just a few days before), Pauline Frommer, and Philippa Gregory. We were also, as you can see, thisclose to Tiki Barber and Janet asked him a question during the press event.

It was a terrific event...unmarred...though may I say one more thing about the weather? See the photos below? I want to know how Philippa, Erica, and Brad appear untouched by the ravages of the awful, sticky day!

When New York Times reporter Lily Koppel came into possession of a crumbling 75 year old diary rescued from an Upper West Side dumpster, little did she know that it would change her life. The Red Leather Diary: Reclaiming a Life Through the Pages of a Lost Journal is a remarkable story in many ways and Lily will be here at the Library this Thursday, October 2nd at 7 p.m. to talk about it.

The diary is one that was kept by Florence Wolfson during the years 1929-34...5 years in the life of a privileged young woman (beginning at age 14). Through the pages of the diary, Lily became acquainted with a New York City of another time, and of even greater significance, she "met" Florence. The entries are filled with sophisticated musings, cultural observations, teenage crushes, love affairs...literary and emotional adventures and journeys.  It's candid and frank, as a diary should be and what would be the chances of locating the author of the diary??? Well, Lily hired a private detective, reunited diary and diarist, and she emerges with a beautiful and full story, and a friend. Through her intimate conversations with Florence, at age 90, the brief diary entries spring to life.

Personal photographs are included, and the young woman in the pictures is unmistakably the modern, adventurous girl from the diary.

Come and join us Thursday evening and meet Lily Koppel and learn more about The Red Leather Diary. A book signing will follow the presentation and books will be available for purchase.

Refreshments will be served.

Hope to see you there! In the meantime, to listen to a brief interview with the author, click here.

 Narnia Readalikes