Research Tip of the Day  

By Natalia Sucre, Instruction & Digital Services Librarian 

The library’s own Tina Callender has some excellent leisure reading suggestions below to help you take a break from the hard work of finishing the semester during this global pause.  

But some of you may be struggling with another kind of reading right now—that literature review. For a little help on that, see the library’s Literature Review research guide here. And to get hands-on help, just write to library@mcny.edu to schedule a research tutoring session. 

Also, immeasurably valuable at this time: You can now get a NYPL library online and get access not only to all the ebooks you like, but also to many research databases. 

Reading during the Time of COVID–19  

By Tina Callender, Evening Reference Librarian

During this season of uncertainty and stress we could all use an escape.  How about a good book that can help us travel to another place and time? Let’s consider the genre of noir. What is noir, you ask, and how do I even pronounce it? Find out here. 

Akashic Books, located in Brooklyn, whose motto is ”Reverse-gentrification of the Literary World,”  publishes a series of noir books specific to various cities and countries throughout the world.  With each title you are immersed in short stories written by renown writers of that particular city or country. So, you are reading a short mystery that is also telling a history of that area, you learn about a place— things you may not have known before.  A special treat is if you are actually from that particular place you are able to identify with the language, the slang terms in a way that feels like you have returned home.  Why not give noir a try and, for a period of time, remove yourself from this season of disease, and heal. Since traveling is not an option for the near future, this is a great way to go anywhere in the world. Grab your library card, find a comfortable chair, and travel through noir. 

Sharing Recommendations 

Below are some books from the noir series you may particularly enjoy. Have reading recommendations of your own for these times? Share them with the MCNY community here.