New York Times Bestsellers: May 19, 2024

Hi everyone, here is the list of New York Times Bestsellers for this week. All titles can be requested/checked out through the library. If you’d like to go the traditional route to request a title on this list and drop by, or call, the library – please do!

Our telephone number is: 607-936-3713

If you’d like to checkout and/or request New York Times Bestsellers online, you can do that too!

There are currently three catalogs available to Southeast Steuben County Library patrons online, that you can access to search for and request New York Times Bestsellers, and other popular books and materials.

All you need is a library card to get started!

First, the list of bestsellers for this week, and after that, more information on the three catalogs!

THE BESTSELLERS

FICTION

1. KING OF SLOTH by Ana Huang: The fourth book in the Kings of Sin series. A tragedy forces a billionaire heir and his publicist to confront their feelings for each other.

2. FUNNY STORY by Emily Henry: After their exes run off together, Daphne and Miles form a friendship and concoct a plan involving misleading photos.

3. THE WOMEN by Kristin Hannah: In 1965, a nursing student follows her brother to serve during the Vietnam War and returns to a divided America.

4. A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES by Sarah J. Maas: After killing a wolf in the woods, Feyre is taken from her home and placed inside the world of the Fae.

5. ONLY THE BRAVE by Danielle Steel: In World War II Germany, Sophia Alexander joins the resistance and faces several kinds of loss of family members.

5. HOME IS WHERE THE BODIES ARE by Jeneva Rose: Three estranged siblings find evidence of a dark secret involving their absent father and recently deceased mother.

6. A CALAMITY OF SOULS by David Baldacci: Lawyers from different backgrounds represent a Black man charged with killing a wealthy white couple in Virginia in 1968.

7. A COURT OF MIST AND FURY by Sarah J. Maas: The second book in the Court of Thorns and Roses series. Feyre gains the powers of the High Fae and a greater evil emerges.

8. FOURTH WING by Rebecca Yarros: Violet Sorrengail is urged by the commanding general, who also is her mother, to become a candidate for the elite dragon riders.

9. JUST FOR THE SUMMER by Abby Jimenez: Justin and Emma, whose exes find soulmates after breaking up with them, have a fling on a private island on Lake Minnetonka.

10. IRON FLAME by Rebecca Yarros: The second book in the Empyrean series. Violet Sorrengail’s next round of training might require her to betray the man she loves.

11. A COURT OF WINGS AND RUIN by Sarah J. Maas: The third book in the Court of Thorns and Roses series. As war approaches, Feyre endeavors to take charge of her magical and political powers.

12. MURDER YOUR EMPLOYER by Rupert Holmes: At the McMasters Conservatory for the Applied Arts, students learn how to “delete” someone.

13. HAPPY PLACE by Emily Henry: A former couple pretend to be together for the sake of their friends during their annual getaway in Maine.

14. A COURT OF FROST AND STARLIGHT by Sarah J. Maas: The fourth book in the Court of Thorns and Roses series. After alterations incurred by war, Winter Solstice approaches.

NON-FICTION

1. THE DEMON OF UNREST by Erik Larson: The author of “The Splendid and the Vile” portrays the months between the election of Abraham Lincoln and the beginning of the Civil War.

2. THE ANXIOUS GENERATION by Jonathan Haidt: A co-author of “The Coddling of the American Mind” looks at the mental health impacts that a phone-based life has on children.

3. UNCOMFORTABLE CONVERSATIONS WITH A JEW by Emmanuel Acho and Noa Tishby: A wide-ranging examination of Judaism and antisemitism in America today.

4. AN UNFINISHED LOVE STORY by Doris Kearns Goodwin: A trove of items collected by the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian’s late husband inspired an appraisal of central figures and pivotal moments of the 1960s.

5. FOR LOVE OF COUNTRY by Tulsi Gabbard: The Army Reserve officer, former member of Congress and 2020 presidential candidate explains why she left the Democratic Party.

6. THE AGE OF GRIEVANCE by Frank Bruni: The New York Times contributing Opinion writer evaluates the tone of our current culture and politics, which interweaves larger wrongs and smaller slights.

7. THE BODY KEEPS THE SCORE by Bessel van der Kolk: How trauma affects the body and mind, and innovative treatments for recovery.

8. BRAIDING SWEETGRASS by Robin Wall Kimmerer: A botanist and member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation espouses having an understanding and appreciation of plants and animals.

9. LOVE, MOM by Nicole Saphier: Fox News anchors and personalities contribute to a collection of reflections on motherhood.

10. THE WAGER by David Grann: The survivors of a shipwrecked British vessel on a secret mission during an imperial war with Spain have different accounts of events.

11. THE WIDE WIDE SEA by Hampton Sides: The author of “On Desperate Ground” depicts Captain James Cook’s final voyage and the controversies surrounding its legacy.

12. NUCLEAR WAR by Annie Jacobsen: The author of “Operation Paperclip” portrays possible outcomes in the minutes following a nuclear missile launch.

13. OUTLIVE by Peter Attia with Bill Gifford: A look at recent scientific research on aging and longevity.

14. THE LIGHT WE CARRY by Michelle Obama: The former first lady shares personal stories and the tools she uses to deal with difficult situations.

15. KNIFE by Salman Rushdie: The Booker Prize-winning author details the attack on him at the Chautauqua Institution in 2022 and the steps he took to heal from it.

THE CATALOGS:

Catalog 1: StarCat

StarCat is the catalog of physical materials including print books, DVDs, audiobooks on CD etc. StarCat is available to all patrons of all public libraries in the Southern Tier Library System*

Starcat can be found online at: https://starcat.stls.org/

Catalog 2: The Digital Catalog

The Digital Catalog (and its companion app Libby) offers all Southern Tier Library System member library patrons access to eBooks, eAudiobooks & eMagazines via a lending model known in Library-ese as “one copy/one user;” that library speak means that eBooks & eAudiobooks found in The Digital Catalog/Libby are like print books found on library shelves, only one patron can check out a copy of a title at a time.

Exception: Magazines found in the digital catalog are available via a different lending model known as simultaneous access. And that fancy library speak means that magazines are available for all patrons to check out at the same time, i.e. if you and all your family and friends wish to read the latest digital edition of Newsweek, all of you can check out the e version of the magazine and read it at the same time.

The Digital Catalog/Libby checkout limit is 5 titles a time.

The Digital Catalog is found online at: https://stls.overdrive.com/

Catalog 3: Hoopla

The Hoopla Digital Catalog (and its companion app, also called Hoopla) offers Southeast Steuben County Library patrons access to a second digital catalog with an on-demand lending model. In library speak, this lending model, like The Digital Catalog/Libby’s magazine lending model, is known as “simultaneous access.” The difference is, the Hoopla catalog offers access to more formats: eBooks, eAudiobooks, eComics, digital albums, TV shows & movies – and all items, in all those formats, are available  for patrons to checkout immediately. The Hoopla check out limit is ten titles per month.

Hoopla Formats: All Hoopla content can be accessed on a computer or mobile device, and TV shows and movies can be accessed on computers, mobile devices, smart TVs and media streaming players, i.e. Roku or  Apple TV.

The Hoopla Catalog is found online at: https://www.hoopladigital.com/

*The Southern Tier Library System includes the public libraries in Steuben, Chemung, Yates, Schuyler & Allegheny counties.

Suggested Listening: May 10, 2024

Hi everyone, welcome to our Suggested Listening posting for this week!

Suggested Listening postings are published on Fridays; and our next Suggested Listening posting will be out on Friday, May 17, 2024.

And here are the 10 recommended songs of the week!

Boogie Woogie Woman by B. B. King

 

 From The Album: The Blues (1960)

Cry No More by Danielle Nicol

 

From The Album: Cry No More (2018)

I Believe In You (You Believe In Me) by Johnny Taylor

From The Album: Stax Number Ones (2010) by Various Artists

I Got Everything I Need by Eddie Floyd 

From The Album: Written In Their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos (2023)

Let Him Fly by Patty Griffith

From The Album: Living With Ghosts (1996)

Never Dreamed You’d Leave In Summer by Stevie Wonder 

From The Album: Where I’m Coming From (1971)

Si Tu Dois Partir (If You’ve Got To Go, Go Now) by Fairport Convention

 

From The Album: Unhalfbricking (1969)

Love Sneakin’ Up On You (Live) by Bonnie Raitt

From The Album: Longing In Their Hearts (1994)

There But For Fortune by Joan Baez

From The Album: Joan Baez 5 (1964)

The Traveling Kind (2015) by Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell

From The Album: The Traveling Kind by Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell

Hoopla Recommend Album of the Week

St. Louis Blues (1929 – 1935) The Depression (1991) by Various Artists (Yazoo Records)

St Louis Blues

And from the album the song:

Sleepless Night Blues by Peetie Wheatstraw

 

Have a great weekend,

Linda Reimer, SSCL

Online Catalog Links:

StarCat

The catalog of physical materials, i.e. print books, DVDs, audiobooks on CD, etc.

The Digital Catalog, web version of Libby

The catalog of e-books, downloadable audiobooks and a handful of streaming videos.

The Libby App

Libby

Libby is the companion app to the Digital Catalog and may be found in the Apple & Google app.

Hoopla

A catalog of instant check out items, including eBooks, downloadable audiobooks, comic books, TV shows and movies for patrons of the Southeast Steuben County Library.

Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.

Suggested Reading Five: May 8, 2024

Hi everyone, here are our five suggested reads of the week!

Weekly Suggested Reading Five postings are published on Wednesdays.

And the next Suggested Reading posting will be published on Wednesday, may 15, 2024.

American Flygirl by Susan Tate Ankeny

One of WWII’s most uniquely hidden figures, Hazel Ying Lee was the first Asian American woman to earn a pilot’s license, join the WASPs, and fly for the United States military amid widespread anti-Asian sentiment and policies.

Her singular story of patriotism, barrier breaking, and fearless sacrifice is told for the first time in full for readers of The Women with Silver Wings by Katherine Sharp Landdeck, A Woman of No Importance by Sonia Purnell, The Last Boat Out of Shanghai by Helen Zia, Facing the Mountain by Daniel James Brown and all Asian American, women’s and WWII history books.

In 1931, Hazel Ying Lee, a nineteen-year-old American daughter of Chinese immigrants, sat in on a friend’s flight lesson. It changed her life. In less than a year, a girl with a wicked sense of humor, a newfound love of flying, and a tough can-do attitude earned her pilot’s license and headed for China to help against invading Japanese forces. In time, Hazel would become the first Asian American to fly with the Women Airforce Service Pilots. As thrilling as it may have been, it wasn’t easy.

In America, Hazel felt the oppression and discrimination of the Chinese Exclusion Act. In China’s field of male-dominated aviation she was dismissed for being a woman, and for being an American. But in service to her country, Hazel refused to be limited by gender, race, and impossible dreams. Frustrated but undeterred she forged ahead, married Clifford Louie, a devoted and unconventional husband who cheered his wife on, and gave her all for the cause achieving more in her short remarkable life than even she imagined possible.

American Flygirl is the untold account of a spirited fighter and an indomitable hidden figure in American history. She broke every common belief about women. She challenged every social restriction to endure and to succeed. And against seemingly insurmountable obstacles, Hazel Ying Lee reached for the skies and made her mark as a universal and unsung hero whose time has come.

One Of Us Knows: A Thriller by Alyssa Cole

Cole’s long-awaited second thriller, following When No One Is Watching (2020), starts with a dramatis personae of all of the headmates who inhabit Kenetria “”Ken”” Nash, who has dissociative identity disorder. There’s kind-hearted Solomon, organized caretaker Della, fan-fiction-obsessed Empress, four-year-old Keke, and more. Ken had a breakdown and Della was in charge for a while as COVID-19 raged, but now Ken is back and Della is missing, though she apparently signed Ken up for a job caretaking a castle in the middle of the Hudson River. As a storm approaches, Ken arrives, greeted by surly, sexy groundskeeper Celeste. The castle, which is supposedly haunted by the ghost of the wife of the industrialist who built it, looks exactly like the castle that all of Ken’s identities share inside her mind. And there’s a new, unnamed presence as well. As the secrets of the castle are revealed, involving a tradition of misogynistic privilege, so is the connection to Ken. Cole presents a master class in characterization and narrative structure as Ken’s headmates “”front”” in response to the world outside while fighting an internal battle. The mystery of Della’s disappearance coincides with the mystery of the castle in surprising ways that will keep readers on their toes in this brilliant, adroit novel. – Booklist Review

Sesame, Soy, Spice: 90 Asian-ish Vegan and Gluten-free Recipes to Reconnect, Root, and Restore by Remy Morimoto Park 

Social media influencer and blogger Park debuts with a cookbook focused on healthy, vegan-based snacks, heavily influenced by her love of Taiwanese, Korean, and other Asian cuisines. While the recipes and vibrant photography are the centerpiece, Park intersperses her thoughts about the creation of the dishes and her own at times difficult relationship with food. Recipes range from simple culinary components, such as salad dressings, condiments, and vegan chips and snacks, to more complicated side and main dishes. Several dishes require readers to first follow a separate recipe to create the specified ingredients. Some staples are presented in several cuisine-specific ways, such as Taiwanese, Korean, and Japanese takes on cucumber salad and two versions of porridge. The beverage section includes teas, smoothies, and mocktails made with fresh fruits, spices, and specialty ingredients, which are discussed in the front matter. Dishes encompass everything one might eat in a day: breakfast, snacks, lunch, dinner, and dessert, as well as drinks, all made with vegan ingredients.  

VERDICT This is a wide-ranging and clearly written foray into the world of Asian-influenced vegan cuisine. An excellent addition for readers interested in plant-based meals. – Starred Library Journal Review 

The Swans of Harlem: Five Black Ballerinas, Fifty Years of Sisterhood, and Their Reclamation of a Groundbreaking History by Karen Valby

Vanity Fair contributor Valby (Welcome to Utopia) paints a vibrant portrait of the “first permanent Black professional ballet company” in the U.S and the five trailblazing dancers who put it on the map. Originated in 1968 by George Balanchine protégé Arthur Mitchell, the Dance Theatre of Harlem featured “founding” ballerinas Lydia Abarca, Mitchell’s “prized” dancer who later landed on the covers of Essence and Dance magazines; Sheila Rohan, who performed while running a household and raising three children; Juillard-trained Gayle McKinney-Grffith, who served as the company’s “ballet mistress” and later taught choreography for the 1978 film The Wiz; Marcia Sells, who joined the company at just 16; and Karlya Shelton, who stepped in with little notice to star in the 1978 production of Serenade. The company shattered artistic boundaries even as it strained under financial pressures, the whims of the brilliant yet tyrannical Mitchell, and an old guard media that favored more renowned—and more white—troupes. Valby meticulously untangles the prejudices woven into the dance world and analyzes the politics of establishing a Black ballet company amid a period of backlash to the civil rights movement (“Let the gorgeous lines of his dancers’ bodies serve as fists in the air,” she writes of Mitchell’s mission). In the process, Valby successfully counters the perception that Misty Copeland was the “first” Black American ballerina. The result is a captivating corrective to an often-whitewashed history. – Starred Publishers Weekly Review

The Sweet Blue Distance by Sara Donati

Carrie Ballantyne, granddaughter of Elizabeth Middleton, who was introduced in Into the Wilderness, which launched Donati’s best-selling Wilderness series, is a dedicated nurse and midwife in a New York charity hospital when the director receives a request from a friend in Santa Fe. Dr. Sam Markham urgently needs an assistant as his wife is experiencing a fragile pregnancy. The assistant must be resourceful and able to ride a horse and learn Spanish, and Carrie fits the bill. She sets out in May 1857, journeying by rail, riverboat, stagecoach, and horse. The perils and pains of mid-nineteenth-century travel as well as struggles with gender restrictions form an epic undertaking. Eli Ibarra, a Basque Pueblo surveyor who is well-established in Santa Fe, accompanies Carrie during the frantic last stage of her journey. Santa Fe is totally different in every way from the world Carrie has known, and she finds herself working with a mix of cultures and races and dealing with clashing mores and social stratification. In a stunning tour de force, Donati portrays compelling characters and illuminates a key aspect of American history surrounding the acquisition of half of Mexico in the Mexican American War and the growing discord between slave and free states. – Booklist Review

Happy reading!

Linda Reimer, SSCL

Note: Book summaries are from the respective publishers unless otherwise specified.

Information on the three library catalogs

The Digital Catalog: https://stls.overdrive.com/

The Digital Catalog, is an online catalog containing eBooks, eAudiobooks, and digital magazines. You can use your library card and checkout content on a PC; you can also use the companion app, Libby, to access titles on your mobile devices; so you can enjoy eBooks and eAudiobooks on the go!

All card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries can check out items from the Digital Catalog.

Hoopla Catalog: https://www.hoopladigital.com/

The Hoopla Catalog features on demand checkouts of eBooks, eAudiobooks, comic books, albums, movies and TV shows. Patron check out limit is 10 items per month.

Hoopla is a Southeast Steuben County Library service available to all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders.

The Hoopla companion app, also called Hoopla is available for mobile devices, smart TVs & media streaming players.

StarCat: The catalog of physical/traditional library materials: https://starcat.stls.org

Card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries can access StarCat to search for and request materials available at libraries through out the Southern Tier Library System.

Have questions about how to access Internet based content (i.e. eBooks, eAudios)? Feel free to drop by the Reference Desk or call the library and we will assist you! The library’s telephone number is: 607-936-3713.

Tech & Book Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.

Suggested Viewing: May 2024

Hi everyone, here are our ten streaming recommendations for May, a few days late – sorry about that! It has been a busy May-so-far in Library Land!

The next Suggested Viewing post will be out the first Saturday in June.

Available Now:  

Brigsby Bear (2017) (Prime Video) 

 

– 

Everybody Wants Some!! (2016) (Prime Video) 

– 

The Idea Of You (2024) (Prime Video) 

 

– 

A Man In Full (2024) (Netflix) 

 

– 

Unfrosted (2024) (Netflix)  

 

– 

May 8 

Dark Matter (2024) (Apple TV+) 

 

– 

Let It Be (1970) (Disney+) 

 

– 

May 9, 2024 

Mother Of The Bride (2024) (Netflix) 

 

– 

May 14 

American Fiction (2023) (Prime Video) 

 

– 

Madame Web (2024) (Netflix) 

 

– 

May 17 

The Big Cigar (2024) (Apple TV+) 

 

– 

May 28 

The Boys In the Boat (2023) (Prime Video) 

 

– 

And as a bonus, three classic Hitchcock films full of suspense: Psycho, Rear Window & Vertigo! All available through Prime Video. 

Psycho (1960) 

 

– 

Rear Window (1954) 

 

– 

Vertigo (1958) 

 

Hoopla Recommended Stream Of The Month

Pinball (2023)

Pinball (2023) Trailer

You can stream TV shows & movies from Hoopla online, or via the Hoopla app for free – all you need is a library card to get started!

New York Times Bestsellers: May 12, 2024

Hi everyone, here is the list of New York Times Bestsellers for this week. All titles can be requested/checked out through the library. If you’d like to go the traditional route to request a title on this list and drop by, or call, the library – please do!

Our telephone number is: 607-936-3713

If you’d like to checkout and/or request New York Times Bestsellers online, you can do that too!

There are currently three catalogs available to Southeast Steuben County Library patrons online, that you can access to search for and request New York Times Bestsellers, and other popular books and materials.

All you need is a library card to get started!

First, the list of bestsellers for this week, and after more information on the three catalogs!

THE BESTSELLERS

FICTION

1. FUNNY STORY by Emily Henry: After their exes run off together, Daphne and Miles form a friendship and concoct a plan involving misleading photos.


2. THE WOMEN by Kristin Hannah: In 1965, a nursing student follows her brother to serve during the Vietnam War and returns to a divided America.


3. A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES by Sarah J. Maas: After killing a wolf in the woods, Feyre is taken from her home and placed inside the world of the Fae.


4. A CALAMITY OF SOULS by David Baldacci: Lawyers from different backgrounds represent a Black man charged with killing a wealthy white couple in Virginia in 1968.


5. THE COVENANT OF WATER by Abraham Verghese: Three generations of a family living on South India’s Malabar Coast suffer the loss of a family member by drowning.


6. EXTINCTION by Douglas Preston: A Colorado Bureau of Investigation agent and a county sheriff look into misdeeds involving kidnapping, murder and genetic manipulation.


7. A COURT OF MIST AND FURY by Sarah J. Maas: The second book in the Court of Thorns and Roses series. Feyre gains the powers of the High Fae and a greater evil emerges.


8. FOURTH WING by Rebecca Yarros: Violet Sorrengail is urged by the commanding general, who also is her mother, to become a candidate for the elite dragon riders.


9. JUST FOR THE SUMMER by Abby Jimenez: Justin and Emma, whose exes find soulmates after breaking up with them, have a fling on a private island on Lake Minnetonka.


10. IRON FLAME by Rebecca Yarros: The second book in the Empyrean series. Violet Sorrengail’s next round of training might require her to betray the man she loves.


11. LOST BIRDS by Anne Hillerman: The ninth book in the Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito series. The detectives investigate cases that involve the adoption of Indigenous children by non-Native parents and the killing of prize-winning sheep.


12. A COURT OF WINGS AND RUIN by Sarah J. Maas: The third book in the Court of Thorns and Roses series. As war approaches, Feyre endeavors to take charge of her magical and political powers.


13. TABLE FOR TWO by Amor Towles: A collection of six short stories based in New York City around the year 2000 and a novella set during the Golden Age of Hollywood.


14. ARCHANGEL’S LINEAGE by Nalini Singh: The 16th book in the Guild Hunter series.


15. THE HOUSEMAID by Freida McFadden: Troubles surface when a woman looking to make a fresh start takes a job in the home of the Winchesters.


NON-FICTION


1. THE ANXIOUS GENERATION by Jonathan Haidt: A co-author of “The Coddling of the American Mind” looks at the mental health impacts that a phone-based life has on children.


2. AN UNFINISHED LOVE STORY by Doris Kearns Goodwin: A trove of items collected by the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian’s late husband inspired an appraisal of central figures and pivotal moments of the 1960s.


3. THE BACKYARD BIRD CHRONICLES by Amy Tan: Essays and drawings by the author of “The Joy Luck Club” and “The Bonesetter’s Daughter,” which depict a search for peace through birding.


4. KNIFE by Salman Rushdie: The Booker Prize-winning author details the attack on him at the Chautauqua Institution in 2022 and the steps he took to heal from it.


5. THE BODY KEEPS THE SCORE by Bessel van der Kolk: How trauma affects the body and mind, and innovative treatments for recovery.


6. THE WIDE WIDE SEA by Hampton Sides: The author of “On Desperate Ground” depicts Captain James Cook’s final voyage and the controversies surrounding its legacy.


7. SHAKESPEARE: THE MAN WHO PAYS THE RENT by Judi Dench with Brendan O’Hea: Through a series of conversations, the award-winning actress describes her work on Shakespearean roles over her long career.


8. THE WAGER by David Grann: The survivors of a shipwrecked British vessel on a secret mission during an imperial war with Spain have different accounts of events.


9. AGE OF REVOLUTIONS by Fareed Zakaria: The CNN host draws out lessons for the present polarized era from the 17th-century Netherlands, the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution.


10. OUTLIVE by Peter Attia with Bill Gifford: A look at recent scientific research on aging and longevity.


11. NUCLEAR WAR by Annie Jacobsen: The author of “Operation Paperclip” portrays possible outcomes in the minutes following a nuclear missile launch.


12. LOVE, MOM by Nicole Saphier: Fox News anchors and personalities contribute to a collection of reflections on motherhood.


13. SOMEHOW by Anne Lamott: Meditations and stories about the transformational power of love by the author of “Dusk, Night, Dawn” and “Bird by Bird.”


14. BY THE TIME YOU READ THIS by Cheslie Kryst and April Simpkins: The mother of the former Miss USA picks up her narrative after she died by suicide.


15. I’M GLAD MY MOM DIED by Jennette McCurdy: The actress and filmmaker describes her eating disorders and difficult relationship with her mother.


THE CATALOGS:

Catalog 1: StarCat

StarCat is the catalog of physical materials including print books, DVDs, audiobooks on CD etc. StarCat is available to all patrons of all public libraries in the Southern Tier Library System*

Starcat can be found online at: https://starcat.stls.org/

Catalog 2: The Digital Catalog

The Digital Catalog (and its companion app Libby) offers all Southern Tier Library System member library patrons access to eBooks, eAudiobooks & eMagazines via a lending model known in Library-ese as “one copy/one user;” that library speak means that eBooks & eAudiobooks found in The Digital Catalog/Libby are like print books found on library shelves, only one patron can check out a copy of a title at a time.

Exception: Magazines found in the digital catalog are available via a different lending model known as simultaneous access. And that fancy library speak means that magazines are available for all patrons to check out at the same time, i.e. if you and all your family and friends wish to read the latest digital edition of Newsweek, all of you can check out the e version of the magazine and read it at the same time.

The Digital Catalog/Libby checkout limit is 5 titles a time.

The Digital Catalog is found online at: https://stls.overdrive.com/

Catalog 3: Hoopla

The Hoopla Digital Catalog (and its companion app, also called Hoopla) offers Southeast Steuben County Library patrons access to a second digital catalog with an on-demand lending model. In library speak, this lending model, like The Digital Catalog/Libby’s magazine lending model, is known as “simultaneous access.” The difference is, the Hoopla catalog offers access to more formats: eBooks, eAudiobooks, eComics, digital albums, TV shows & movies – and all items, in all those formats, are available  for patrons to checkout immediately. The Hoopla check out limit is ten titles per month.

Hoopla Formats: All Hoopla content can be accessed on a computer or mobile device, and TV shows and movies can be accessed on computers, mobile devices, smart TVs and media streaming players, i.e. Roku or  Apple TV.

The Hoopla Catalog is found online at: https://www.hoopladigital.com/

*The Southern Tier Library System includes the public libraries in Steuben, Chemung, Yates, Schuyler & Allegheny counties.

New Books Coming Your Way: May 2024

This blog post includes all the new titles that have been ordered by the library in May 2024.

Some of these titles have arrived and can be requested through StarCat; other titles are not yet published and/or are not yet ready to circulate (and thus are not yet found in StarCat). 

So, if you see a book you’d love to read, but don’t find it listed in StarCat, send me an email and let me know which title you’d like to read; and I will place it on hold for you, when it is ready to circulate. 

My email address is: reimerl@stls.org 

And here is the list the list of New Books Coming Your Way for this month! 

– 

New Books is a monthly post, usually published the first weekday of each month; and occasionally published a few days later if it has been a super busy, as is the case this week! 

The next New Books Coming Your Was post will be out on June 1, 2024.

Suggested Listening: May 3, 2024

Hi everyone, welcome to our Suggested Listening posting for this week!

Suggested Listening postings are published on Fridays; and our next Suggested Listening posting will be out on Friday, May 10, 2024.

First off, on a sad note, last week we celebrated Corning native and Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame member Duane Eddy, whose 86th birthday was last Friday, April 26. And as you may have heard, he died on Tuesday.

Here is link to his Leader obituary:

https://www.the-leader.com/story/news/local/2024/05/02/duane-eddy-dead-at-86-rock-icon-born-in-corning-ny/73544438007/

Thank you Duane for the great music!

And now, onto the ten recommended songs of the week:

A Dream Is All I Know by Lemon Twigs

From The Album: A Dream Is All I Know (2024)

Get Goin’ Gone by Katie Henry 

From The Album: Get Going (2024)

Love, Reign O’er Me by The Who

From The Album: Quadrophenia (1973)

 –

Midnight Rider by Bob Seger

From The Album: Back In ‘72 (1973)

Party Right Here by Albert Cummings

From The Album: Feels So Good (2006)

Riders On The Storm by The Doors

From The Album: L.A. Woman (1971)

Rainy Night In Georgia by Brooks Benton

From The Album:  Brook Benton Today (1970)

Spirit In The Night by Bruce Springsteen

From The Albums: Greetings Asbury Park (1973) & Best of Bruce Springsteen (2024)

Step In by Cedric Burnside

From The Album: I Be Trying (2021)

Supernatural Thing (Parts 1 & 2) by Ben E. King

From The Album: Supernatural Thing (1975)

Hoopla Recommend Album of the Week

 Currently the online Hoopla Catalog is down; although you can access the service through the app  – the Hoopla support team is aware of the issue and are working to fix it.

So this week, we’ll skip our Hoopla recommendation and instead, offer one more recommendation – a final rain related song, in keeping with our expected weather this weekend; here are:

The Beatles with Rain

From The Album: Revolver (1966)

 

Have a great weekend,

Linda Reimer, SSCL

Online Catalog Links:

StarCat

The catalog of physical materials, i.e. print books, DVDs, audiobooks on CD, etc.

The Digital Catalog, web version of Libby

The catalog of e-books, downloadable audiobooks and a handful of streaming videos.

The Libby App

Libby

Libby is the companion app to the Digital Catalog and may be found in the Apple & Google app.

Hoopla

A catalog of instant check out items, including eBooks, downloadable audiobooks, comic books, TV shows and movies for patrons of the Southeast Steuben County Library.

Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.

Suggested Reading Five: May 1, 2024

Hi everyone, here are our five suggested reads of the week!

Weekly Suggested Reading Five postings are published on Wednesdays.

And the next Suggested Reading posting will be published on Wednesday,May 8, 2024.

A Calamity Of Souls by David Baldacci

It’s easy to forget that best-selling Baldacci was a practicing attorney before he turned to writing fiction. His experience as a trial lawyer comes in handy here; his presentation of the wrangling between lawyers and judges feels entirely realistic. So does the setting, Virginia in the late 1960s, a time and place the author knows intimately, having grown up in Richmond then, witnessing the racism that permeates the novel. This is a gripping story about a Black man accused of murdering two white people, whose attorney, a white man, teams up with a Black lawyer to fight for his client’s life. Readers will care about some characters and despise others. The language, attitudes, and beliefs may offend some readers, but Baldacci is striving for historical accuracy, and he certainly seems to have achieved it. Yes, there’s a message here, but it’s nothing so simple as “racism is bad.” Instead, this is a nuanced portrait of a time and place, brought to vivid life by a writer at the top of his game.

HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Ever-popular Baldacci at his best will have his legions of readers flocking. – Booklist Review

A History of the World in Twelve Shipwrecks by David Gibbins

Best-selling novelist Gibbins (Inquisition, 2018) returns to his passion for archeology in this examination of 12 sunken vessels ranging from a Bronze Age wreck off England’s Dover coast to a WWII merchant ship sunk off the coast of Ireland. Each of these dozen shipwrecks in some way reflects the state of the world at the time the ships went down. The Bronze Age wreck’s cargo shows that international trade flourished even in prehistoric times; copper cargo from the Uluburun shipwreck found off Turkey’s shore gives similar evidence of thriving commerce in the eastern Mediterranean. A sunken vessel from the sixth century CE held marble columns clearly intended for a Byzantine church. The remains of Henry VIII’s renowned flagship, Mary Rose, tells much about Tudor seamanship and England’s nascent ability to colonize so much of the world. As Gibbins notes, none of this history would be available today save for the invention of scuba technology, allowing underwater archeology to flourish. Gibbins’ remarkable research will grant both maritime and general historians a deeper perspective on how our world developed. -Booklist Review

Real Americans: A Novel by Rachel Khong

In 1999, New York City college student Lily is scraping by with an unpaid internship when she meets the impossibly handsome, unfathomably wealthy Matthew. She abruptly cuts off their romance when their class differences overwhelm her, but fate intervenes. They marry and have a son, who appears to have none of Lily’s Chinese American heritage, looking like blond-haired, blue-eyed Matthew. Narrating the novel’s second part, teenage Nick doesn’t know his father’s identity or why he isn’t in their lives, and, pushed by his best friend, endeavors to find out. The book’s final and most staggering third is voiced by May, the scientist mother Lily has been estranged from since a shocking revelation following Nick’s birth. And so readers learn what Lily may never: the story of May’s life, beginning in a rural Chinese rice farm, surviving famine and worse, and achieving her goal of attending university in Beijing until Mao’s Cultural Revolution forced her to make an impossible choice. While in many ways a far cry from Khong’s wonderfully spare debut, Goodbye Vitamin (2017), this plot-rich, spiraling, multigenerational epic possesses the same heartrending humanity and deceptively subtle portrayal of characters’ unseen depths–so impossible to relate, so essential to everything. As in life, the love is in the details. – Starred Booklist Review

The Summer We Started Over by Nancy Thayer

Eddie Grant leads a fabulous life in New York City as assistant to best-selling romance writer Dinah Lavender. But her sister Barrett calls her home to Nantucket to help take care of their father, who has buried himself in writing a book about romantic poets ever since their brother Stearns died, and their mother deserted them. Their rambling farmhouse, complete with an ornery horse, is bursting with books, so the sisters decide to open a used book store in the barn for the summer, while Barrett opens her posh boutique in town. They contract Jeff, Eddie’s ex, to build the bookshelves, and he brings salt-of-the-earth carpenter Paul along. Barrett is instantly smitten, but she’s also contending with the attentions of a summer person, Drew. Then Dinah shows up, fleeing a stalker in the city, and a woman from Stearns’ past arrives with a secret. Thayer’s latest Nantucket confection, after All the Days of Summer (2023), is breezy, awash in details about books, stocking a small boutique, cooking a family meal, and the simple pleasures of the island. – Booklist Review

Wait for Signs by Craig Johnson, audiobook narrated by George Guidall

Twelve short stories featuring Sheriff Walt Longmire and the regular Absaroka County cast previously released separately have now been gathered together on audio–along with one new story–fittingly delivered by George Guidall, who narrates the Longmire novels. Guidall’s stellar insight into the characters and their motivations continues to grow with each new production. Every time he seems perfect he tops himself as he keys into the delicate balance of spiritual concerns, compassion, humor, and social commentary. These elements come through in each story, but especially so in “Ministerial Aid.” Guidall embodies Walt’s concern for his citizens, his amusement at a character’s belief that he’s Jesus, and his shock at the fury rained on an abusive husband. Every story is an aural treat delectable enough to revisit. J.F. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award – AudioFile Review

Listener’s Note: The audiobook version of this title is available on CD Audiobook and as an eAudiobook from The Digital Catalog online, the Libby app and via the Hoopla app.

Reader’s Note: Wait For Signs is also available as a print book & is book 10.5 in The Longmire Mystery Series. If you’d like to start reading The Longmire series from the beginning check out book one: The Cold Dish.

Happy reading!

Linda Reimer, SSCL

Note: Book summaries are from the respective publishers unless otherwise specified.

Information on the three library catalogs

The Digital Catalog: https://stls.overdrive.com/

The Digital Catalog, is an online catalog containing eBooks, eAudiobooks, and digital magazines. You can use your library card and checkout content on a PC; you can also use the companion app, Libby, to access titles on your mobile devices; so you can enjoy eBooks and eAudiobooks on the go!

All card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries can check out items from the Digital Catalog.

Hoopla Catalog: https://www.hoopladigital.com/

The Hoopla Catalog features on demand checkouts of eBooks, eAudiobooks, comic books, albums, movies and TV shows. Patron check out limit is 10 items per month.

Hoopla is a Southeast Steuben County Library service available to all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders.

The Hoopla companion app, also called Hoopla is available for mobile devices, smart TVs & media streaming players.

StarCat: The catalog of physical/traditional library materials: https://starcat.stls.org

Card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries can access StarCat to search for and request materials available at libraries through out the Southern Tier Library System.

Have questions about how to access Internet based content (i.e. eBooks, eAudios)? Feel free to drop by the Reference Desk or call the library and we will assist you! The library’s telephone number is: 607-936-3713.

Tech & Book Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.

New York Times Bestsellers: May 5, 2024

Hi everyone, here is the list of New York Times Bestsellers for this week.

All titles can be requested/checked out through the library. If you’d like to go the traditional route to request a title on this list and drop by, or call, the library – please do!

Our telephone number is: 607-936-3713

If you’d like to checkout and/or request New York Times Bestsellers online, you can do that too!

There are currently three catalogs available to Southeast Steuben County Library patrons online, that you can access to search for and request New York Times Bestsellers, and other popular books and materials.

All you need is a library card to get started!

First, the list of bestsellers for this week, and then more information on the three catalogs!

THE BESTSELLERS

FICTION

1. A CALAMITY OF SOULS by David Baldacci: Lawyers from different backgrounds represent a Black man charged with killing a wealthy white couple in Virginia in 1968.

2. THE WOMEN by Kristin Hannah: In 1965, a nursing student follows her brother to serve during the Vietnam War and returns to a divided America.

3. A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES by Sarah J. Maas: After killing a wolf in the woods, Feyre is taken from her home and placed inside the world of the Fae.

4. THE MURDER INN by James Patterson and Candice Fox: A crime boss moves into the town where a former cop runs an inn.

5. A COURT OF MIST AND FURY by Sarah J. Maas: The second book in the Court of Thorns and Roses series. Feyre gains the powers of the High Fae and a greater evil emerges.

6. JUST FOR THE SUMMER by Abby Jimenez: Justin and Emma, whose exes find soulmates after breaking up with them, have a fling on a private island on Lake Minnetonka.

7. FOURTH WING by Rebecca Yarros: Violet Sorrengail is urged by the commanding general, who also is her mother, to become a candidate for the elite dragon riders.

8. IRON FLAME by Rebecca Yarros: The second book in the Empyrean series. Violet Sorrengail’s next round of training might require her to betray the man she loves.

9. A COURT OF WINGS AND RUIN by Sarah J. Maas: The third book in the Court of Thorns and Roses series. As war approaches, Feyre endeavors to take charge of her magical and political powers.

10. TABLE FOR TWO by Amor Towles: A collection of six short stories based in New York City around the year 2000 and a novella set during the Golden Age of Hollywood.

11. THE FAMILIAR by Leigh Bardugo: Luzia Cotado encounters dangers when her magic draws the attention of the disgraced secretary to Spain’s king.

12. THE HOUSEMAID by Freida McFadden: Troubles surface when a woman looking to make a fresh start takes a job in the home of the Winchesters.

13. TOXIC PREY by John Sandford: The 34th book in the Prey series. Letty and Lucas must find an expert on tropical and infectious diseases before a virus becomes weaponized.

14. A COURT OF SILVER FLAMES by Sarah J. Maas: The fifth book in the Court of Thorns and Roses series. Nesta Archeron is forced into close quarters with a warrior named Cassian.

15. A COURT OF FROST AND STARLIGHT by Sarah J. Maas: The fourth book in the Court of Thorns and Roses series. After alterations incurred by war, Winter Solstice approaches.

NON-FICTION

1. AN UNFINISHED LOVE STORY by Doris Kearns Goodwin: A trove of items collected by the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian’s late husband inspired an appraisal of central figures and pivotal moments of the 1960s.

2. THE ANXIOUS GENERATION by Jonathan Haidt: A co-author of “The Coddling of the American Mind” looks at the mental health impacts that a phone-based life has on children.

3. LOVE, MOM by Nicole Saphier: Fox News anchors and personalities contribute to a collection of reflections on motherhood.

4. KNIFE by Salman Rushdie: The Booker Prize-winning author details the attack on him at the Chautauqua Institution in 2022 and the steps he took to heal from it.

5. THE WIDE WIDE SEA by Hampton Sides: The author of “On Desperate Ground” depicts Captain James Cook’s final voyage and the controversies surrounding its legacy.

6. SOMEHOW by Anne Lamott: Meditations and stories about the transformational power of love by the author of “Dusk, Night, Dawn” and “Bird by Bird.”

7. THE BODY KEEPS THE SCORE by Bessel van der Kolk: How trauma affects the body and mind, and innovative treatments for recovery.

8. BRIEFLY PERFECTLY HUMAN by Alua Arthur: A death doula portrays some moments experienced by herself and some of her clients as they faced the end of their lives.

9. MY BELOVED MONSTER by Caleb Carr: Carr describes the 17-year relationship he had with a Siberian Forest cat named Masha.

10. I’M GLAD MY MOM DIED by Jennette McCurdy: The actress and filmmaker describes her eating disorders and difficult relationship with her mother.

11. AGE OF REVOLUTIONS by Fareed Zakaria: The CNN host draws out lessons for the present polarized era from the 17th-century Netherlands, the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution.

12. THE WAGER by David Grann: The survivors of a shipwrecked British vessel on a secret mission during an imperial war with Spain have different accounts of events.

13. OUTLIVE by Peter Attia with Bill Gifford: A look at recent scientific research on aging and longevity.

14. KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON by David Grann: The story of a murder spree in 1920s Oklahoma that targeted Osage Indians, whose lands contained oil.

15. NUCLEAR WAR by Annie Jacobsen: The author of “Operation Paperclip” portrays possible outcomes in the minutes following a nuclear missile launch.

THE CATALOGS:

Catalog 1: StarCat

StarCat is the catalog of physical materials including print books, DVDs, audiobooks on CD etc. StarCat is available to all patrons of all public libraries in the Southern Tier Library System*

Starcat can be found online at: https://starcat.stls.org/

Catalog 2: The Digital Catalog

The Digital Catalog (and its companion app Libby) offers all Southern Tier Library System member library patrons access to eBooks, eAudiobooks & eMagazines via a lending model known in Library-ese as “one copy/one user;” that library speak means that eBooks & eAudiobooks found in The Digital Catalog/Libby are like print books found on library shelves, only one patron can check out a copy of a title at a time.

Exception: Magazines found in the digital catalog are available via a different lending model known as simultaneous access. And that fancy library speak means that magazines are available for all patrons to check out at the same time, i.e. if you and all your family and friends wish to read the latest digital edition of Newsweek, all of you can check out the e version of the magazine and read it at the same time.

The Digital Catalog/Libby checkout limit is 5 titles a time.

The Digital Catalog is found online at: https://stls.overdrive.com/

Catalog 3: Hoopla

The Hoopla Digital Catalog (and its companion app, also called Hoopla) offers Southeast Steuben County Library patrons access to a second digital catalog with an on-demand lending model. In library speak, this lending model, like The Digital Catalog/Libby’s magazine lending model, is known as “simultaneous access.” The difference is, the Hoopla catalog offers access to more formats: eBooks, eAudiobooks, eComics, digital albums, TV shows & movies – and all items, in all those formats, are available  for patrons to checkout immediately. The Hoopla check out limit is ten titles per month.

Hoopla Formats: All Hoopla content can be accessed on a computer or mobile device, and TV shows and movies can be accessed on computers, mobile devices, smart TVs and media streaming players, i.e. Roku or  Apple TV.

The Hoopla Catalog is found online at: https://www.hoopladigital.com/

*The Southern Tier Library System includes the public libraries in Steuben, Chemung, Yates, Schuyler & Allegheny counties.

Suggested Listening: April 26, 2024

Hi everyone, welcome to our Suggested Listening posting for this week!

Suggested Listening postings are published on Fridays; and our next Suggested Listening posting will be out on Friday, May 3, 2024

And here are the 10 recommended songs of the week!

A big Happy Birthday goes out today to the great guitarist & Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame member Duane Eddy!

He was born in the old Corning Hospital on April 26, 1938, and turns 86-years young today!

In celebration of his birthday, our Suggested Listening post for this weekend features a baker’s ten of his songs!

Rebel Rouser

From The Album: Have “Twangy” Guitar, Will Travel (1958)

Ramrod

From The Album: Have “Twangy” Guitar, Will Travel (1958)

Forty Miles Of Bad Road

From The Album: $1,000,000 Worth Of Twang (1960)

Peter Gunn

From The Album: Especially For You (1959)

Because They’re Young

From The Album: Especially For You (1959)

Shazam!

From The Album: $1,000,000 Worth Of Twang (1960)

Wildwood Flowers

From The Album: Twang A Country Song (1963)

Summer Kiss

From The Album: Lonely Guitar (1964)

Three-30 Blues

From The Album: Have “Twangy” Guitar, Will Travel (1958)

Dance With The Guitar Man

From The Album: Dance With The Guitar Man (1962)

Last Date

From The Album: Twangin’ The Golden Hits (1962)

Hoopla Recommend Album of the Week

 The Roaring Twangies (1967) by Duane Eddy

The Roaring Twangies

And from the album the song:

Bye Bye Blues

Have a great weekend,

Linda Reimer, SSCL

Online Catalog Links:

StarCat

The catalog of physical materials, i.e. print books, DVDs, audiobooks on CD, etc.

The Digital Catalog, web version of Libby

The catalog of e-books, downloadable audiobooks and a handful of streaming videos.

The Libby App

Libby

Libby is the companion app to the Digital Catalog and may be found in the Apple & Google app.

Hoopla

A catalog of instant check out items, including eBooks, downloadable audiobooks, comic books, TV shows and movies for patrons of the Southeast Steuben County Library.

Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.