Manhasset residents should mark their calendars for Monday, Jan. 10, when registration begins for Broadway's hottest new ticket...Dirty Rotten Scoundrels starring John Lithgow. Your library has tickets for the matinee performance, Wednesday, March 9. Based on the popular 1988 film, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels centers on two con men living on the French Riviera. The first is a suave and sophisticated con artist who makes his lavish living by talking rich ladies out of their money. The other is a small-time crook who more humbly swindles women by waking their compassion with fabricated stories about his grandmother's failing health. This is a hilarious battle of cons, bringing out the best and worst in each man, along with a fun, unexpected twist that will keep audiences laughing, humming and guessing to the end! The fee of $98 per person includes orchestra seat, bus and gratuities. The bus departs Christopher Morley Park at 10:30 am, leaving ample time for lunch on your own before the 2 p.m. curtain at the Imperial Theatre. Non-residents may register beginning Jan. 17.

Your library will close on Friday, Dec. 30, at 3 p.m. and will reopen at 9 a.m. Monday, January 3, 2005, in celebration of the New Year. The library board, director and staff wish the Manhasset community a safe and happy holiday weekend.

On Monday, Jan. 3, at 7:30 p.m., please join your host John Bosco as he continues his popular film series right in your own backyard...at the Manhasset Library. This month's selection is the critically acclaimed Maria Full of Grace (Argentina, 2004). A young Colombian girl accepts a risky offer to become a drug mule in order to escape her country for the United States. Coffee will be served.

Enjoy coffee and conversation on Thursday, Jan. 6, at 1 p.m., as Madelyn Edelson reviews Eudora Welty's bestseller The Optimist's Daughter. The great Southern writer Eudora Welty realized that human relationships are the underpinnings of society and that the way we deal with those relationships determines either our well-being or our downfall. In The Optimist's Daughter, Eudora Welty investigates relationships between husband and wife, mother, father and child, and emerges with startling revelations about how we view each other and how others view us. The author's conclusions are sometimes brutal, but ultimately life-affirming. Coffee and cookies will be served courtesy of The Friends of the Manhasset Public Library.

Give your computer a fresh start in 2005...Join Cecelia Hearn of Sharper Training Solutions at your library on Thursday evening, Jan. 6, at 7 p.m. In this lecture and demonstration class you will learn how to protect your computer from viruses and spyware, minimize junk e-mail and stop annoying Internet pop-up windows. Also covered will be deleting files, e-mails, cookies, programs and more, and maintaining the general health of your computer. For intermediate and advanced users. Need to register or get additional information? Call the Reference Desk at 627-2300.

1. Night Fall by Nelson DeMille

2. Skeleton Man by Tony Hillerman

3. Black Wind by Clive Cussler and Dirk Cussler

4. London Bridges: A Novel by James Patterson

5. The Plot Against America by Philip Roth

1. Family First: Your Step-by-Step Plan for Creating a Phenomenal Family by Dr. Phil McGraw

2. Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential by Joel Osteen

3. His Excellency: George Washington by Joseph J. Ellis