Ambassador of Books ~ Book Club Madam ~ Blogger Gal

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Exciting News!

My cousin* published a book! Yep, that's right. And it looks fascinating too.


Then & Now: Gravesend, Brooklyn, by Joseph Ditta

Permanently settled in 1645, the farming town of Gravesend, Long Island, was annexed to the city (now borough) of Brooklyn, New York, in 1894. Few reminders from Gravesend’s rural days survive around the urban landscape it has become. Even its more recent past is quickly disappearing. In Gravesend, Brooklyn lifelong resident Joseph Ditta, reference librarian at the New-York Historical Society, traces the evolution of this historic neighborhood through a fascinating selection of rare and never-before-published views.


You can get a taste of the book in this guest blog post Joseph did at the Brooklyn Historical Society's Blog. Please do check it out - I found it fascinating, and it has pictures. :)

Congratulations to Joseph! I can't wait to get my hands on his book and I wish him all possible success with it.

You can buy his book through these links to the publisher's website, Amazon, or Barnes and Noble. You can also become a fan on Facebook - just search "Gravesend" and the page will come up.


* In Italian families we refer to all relatives as cousins - it makes things much simpler. But here's how I'm actually related to Joseph: His grandmother was my grandfather's sister. Our moms are cousins, and actually have the same name. I really haven't had much contact with Joseph or the rest of our New York-based family in many years, but I have fond memories of visits with him (and everyone else) as a child. I'm thrilled about this new book and wish Joseph all the success in the world.

13 comments:

ANovelMenagerie said...

So... being Italian... are you an awesome cook?

Literary Feline said...

Congratulations to your cousin, Heather! How exciting for him. The book looks great.

Dreamybee said...

That's awesome! I hope he does well with the book.

Is this the same Gravesend that's mentioned in A Prayer for Owen Meany? I only thought of that because I saw a discussion the other day amongst people reading the book about whether it's pronounced Grave-send or Graves-end.

Heather J. @ TLC Book Tours said...

ANovelMenagerie - Um ... no? But my Gram trained my husband for me! (I CAN make a few things really well though, and eggplant parmesan is my favorite!)

Literary Feline - Thanks!

Dreamybee - Not having read Owen Meany I can't say, but I'd guess yes. And I always thought it was pronounced Graves-end ... must at Joseph to be sure.

Anna said...

Congrats to Joseph. That is awesome news!

--Anna
Diary of an Eccentric

Heather J. @ TLC Book Tours said...

Thanks Anna!

Dawn - She is Too Fond of Books said...

congrats to Joseph, and lucky him that you're able to share the news with us.

I find local history fascinating, especially when a book has those "now and then" photos in it.

Heather J. @ TLC Book Tours said...

Dawn - I'm really looking forward to checking out those photos myself.

Becca said...

I love that you are Italian! I love all things Italian. Congrats to Joseph! (I think he is your second cousin maybe is how it works?) I wish him the very best of luck with the book. It sounds so interesting! I hope you do a review here.

Heather J. @ TLC Book Tours said...

Rebecca - You might be right... I can never figure out the whole cousin thing. :)

Anonymous said...

Congratulations to your cousin...how exciting!

And it's a different Gravesend than the one in Owen Meany...they were in Vermont. Or was it New Hampshire? How soon I forget these things.

Heather J. @ TLC Book Tours said...

softdrink - thanks for clearing that up ... somewhat. :)

Serena said...

congrats to your cousin. sounds like a good book.

Blog Widget by LinkWithin