Hello. Hello. Welcome to the librarian is in the New York Public Library's podcast about books, culture, and what to read next. I'm Gwen. I'm Frank. And today, Frank, I wanted to surprise you with something.

Really?

I wanted to start off with a little surprise.

Because I knew that last week you were very disappointed in the selection that I chose for the guessing game.

And so I wanted to give you a better guessing game.

Are you serious?

I'm serious.

Oh, you.

Oh, and I just called you the most awful words before we went on and now I'm like you were giving me a present. I know. See,

you should think about that next time you want to call somebody names. Yeah, you're like my mother.

You should think about that. You did a guessing. I did. That is very thoughtful. And it's even on my phone so you don't have to close your eyes.

Oh, like you were forcing me to.

Exactly.

All right.

What a precious gift I'm getting.

Okay, I'm ready.

Okay, here we go.

I was really surprised when I came home from camp and found out our New York apartment had been rented to another family and that we owned a house in Farbrook, New Jersey.

First of all, I never even heard of Farbrook.

And second of all, I'm not usually left out of important family decisions.

But when I groaned, why New Jersey?

I was told Long Island is too social, Westchester is too expensive, and Connecticut is too inconvenient. So Farbrook, New Jersey, it was, where my father could commute to his job in Manhattan, where I could go to public school, and where my mother could have all the grass, trees, and flowers she ever wanted. Except I never knew she wanted that stuff in the first place. Hmm. Do you want a little more? Sure.

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