Suggested Reading Five: July 1, 2026

Linda Reimer

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

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Nine Lives by Catherine Steadman 

Reeling from a very recent divorce, Frankie has moved into a glamorous London neighborhood. This is a new chapter in her life. She’s decided to put down roots with Blue, the beautiful Persian cat she left her marriage with. 

But little doubts about her perfect new life start to grow, and when Blue returns one night from slipping into places he shouldn’t, Frankie’s concerns solidify. Two words are roughly scratched into his collar: help me. Unsettled and unwilling to ignore the incident, Frankie roots out an old unused “cat cam” collar. What slowly begins as a voyeuristic fascination with her neighbors and the secrets they’re hiding soon turns into a perilous quest for the truth that threatens to bring untold terrors to her doorstep. 

A riveting thriller about the terrible secrets hidden behind the pastel-colored façade of one of London’s most upscale enclaves, Nine Lives is catnip for suspense readers everywhere and perfect for fans of modern classics like The Girl on the Train and The Woman in the Window. 

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Scandal of the Summer by Alexandra Vasti 

In Vasti’s new Regency adventure, following Ladies in Hating (2025), Ruby and her two best friends are tired of being high society outcasts for being different or having family issues. Ruby is too scientific and outspoken for the ton’s liking. She hatches a plan with her friends to pretend to be ladies-in-waiting at a princess’ empty estate. When they arrive, they find handsome Malcolm Archer and his crew running the mansion. The crew tries to make things unpleasant for the young women in hilarious ways, attempting to get them to leave. Archer is using his role at the royal home to disguise his smuggling business and doesn’t need nosy misses about, even if Ruby captures his attention and even as the women clean and fix up the house. Ruby is fascinated with Archer and tries to discover his secrets and what he and his crew are up to. Then the imperiled princess arrives, and they are all thrown into a plot to save her. Vasti’s wonderfully entertaining caper is full of heroism and romance. –Booklist Review  

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The Someday Garden by Ashley Poston  

In an attempt to grapple with her grief after the death of her best friend Harriet, horticulturist Sophie Drear takes on the head gardener position at her and Harriet’s favorite place, Lilymoor House in coastal Maine. The house and its vast, hedge-mazed gardens are challenging and gorgeous, as is the disgruntled and handsome man Sophie discovers behind a secret blue door. Cyrus Beck, grandchild of Lilymoor House’s owners, is trapped inside, and Sophie cannot seem to find a way to free him. As Sophie attempts to unlock the secrets tangled in the lush foliage and the people of Lilymoor House, she also finds herself falling in love with both the place and with Cyrus. Questions abound in this paranormal romance. Will Sophie be able to solve Lilymoor House’s mysteries without losing track of herself or her grief? What if the man she has fallen in love with is not the man who she’ll eventually meet in real life, outside of the hedge maze?  

VERDICT Poston (Sounds Like Love) continues her trend of lightly magical stories, perfect for readers seeking the magic of Sarah Addison Allen blended with the humor and romance tropes of Emily Henry.—Library Journal Review 

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Sweet Spot by Kemper Donovan  

Ghostwriters, just like ghosts, shouldn’t exist. Knowing that the latest juicy memoir was penned by a stranger for a paycheck tends to ruin the illusion of intimacy. But not every ghostwriter is in it for the money alone. 

For Belle Currer—as the ghostwriter extraordinaire prefers to be known—Genevieve Caraway’s memoir is an irresistible project, a tale of tragedy overcome. At 14, Genevieve was abducted from her bedroom by a couple and held hostage for three months. She’s now a happily married mother with a flourishing career, a poster child for thriving after trauma. Still, the scars haven’t entirely faded. 

Genevieve’s lavish Utah home, “Sweet Spot,” is a guarded compound impregnable to outsiders—theoretically, at least. But Belle’s arrival coincides with the parole of Deirdre Gregory, one of Genevieve’s kidnappers. When Deirdre shows up at Sweet Spot begging to see Genevieve, she is refused. The next day, Deirdre’s dead body is found on the grounds. 

How did Deirdre get in? More importantly, who killed her? Belle soon joins Detective Kay Adams, the pregnant Mormon detective assigned to the case, in sifting through the suspects. The compound is filled with family and friends—and also with secrets, including one the ghostwriter has been carrying for far too long. She knows how guilt, remorse, and love can drive people to do unthinkable things. And that no matter how much you try to keep the world at bay, the best and worst of it may find a way to get in . . .

 

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The Top of the World by Ethan Joella  

A teenager with leukemia spends one eye-opening summer working at a Poconos honeymoon resort, trying to find new experiences before he dies. It’s the mid-1970s, and Maggie Bishop’s older brother, Chip, has been diagnosed with cancer. Rather than subject himself to the treatments his doctors recommend, he leaves town after finishing high school without telling anyone where he’s going. He only returns home once he’s certain his death is imminent. He wants to spend his last days with his family, but he never tells them where he’d been all that time. After he dies, Maggie finds herself stuck on the question of where her brother spent his last summer and why. She snoops through his things for months until she finally discovers a nametag indicating Chip had been employed by the Red Maple, a Poconos resort. As soon as she finishes her own senior year, Maggie, like her brother before her, takes off without explaining to her parents where she’s going. She manages to get herself employed at the Red Maple, as well, and she spends her summer there trying to get to know the people who knew Chip in the hope of better understanding his final choices.

Told in alternating chapters that follow Chip through the summer of 1974 and Maggie through the summer of 1975, the book depicts a touchingly close relationship between the siblings, which is, paradoxically, most evocative in the moments when they are apart. Joella also manages to portray the devastation of a teenager’s certain death with grace and insight. While Chip seems to have a much richer internal life than his sister, both characters are exceedingly likable and devoted to each other, which makes their separation all the more heartrending. A particular strength of the novel is the Red Maple setting, where the author manages to capture the magic of the summer resorts where both visitors and staff have transformative experiences. While some readers may find a few too many coincidences or some predictable turns of plot, the preponderance of touching moments while Chip accepts the unfairness of his fate allow the story to soar nonetheless. A captivating and tragic tale about living to the fullest before a young life is extinguished. – Starred Kirkus Review  

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Happy reading!

Linda Reimer, SSCL

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Weekly Suggested Reading Five postings are usually published on Wednesdays, unless Monday is a holiday and then they are published later in the week.

–

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

–

Information on the four library catalogs

The Digital Catalog aka Libby: 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.

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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.

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Kanopy Catalog: https://www.kanopy.com/en

The Kanopy Catalog features thousands of streaming videos available on demand.

The Kanopy Catalog is available for all Southern Tier Library System member library card holders, including all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders!

You can access the Kanopy Catalog through a web browser, or download the app to your phone, tablet or media streaming player (i.e. Roku, Google or Fire TV).

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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.

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

New Books Coming Your Way: July 2026

Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, here is a list of all the new books, physical media items, eAudios & eBooks coming to the Southeast Steuben County Library this month!

New Books Coming Your Way: July 2026

New Books Coming Your Way July 2026Download

Happy reading!

Linda Reimer, SSCL

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P.S. Some of the print books & physical media items, which will be published in the month ahead of us, may not yet appear in StarCat. So, if you see a title you’d like to check out, but it isn’t yet in StarCat, send me an email or give me a call and I’ll put your name on the list for it, as soon as it has arrived.

Linda Reimer, Acquisitions Librarian

Southeast Steuben County Library

Tel: 607-936-3713 x2412

Email: reimerl@stls.org

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P.S.S. The three digital catalogs are:

The Digital Catalog found online at https://stls.overdrive.com/ and its companion app Libby found in mobile app stores.

The Hoopla Catalog found online at: https://www.hoopladigital.com/ and its companion app, also called Hoopla and found in mobile app stores.

Kanopy: The streaming video catalog found online at https://www.kanopy.com/ and its companion app, also called Kanopy, found in mobile app stores.

New York Times Bestsellers: July 5, 2026

Linda Reimer

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 the library, or give us a call – please do!

Our telephone number is: 607-936-3713

You can also request titles through StarCat found at https://starcat.stls.org

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THE BESTSELLERS

Fiction

1. THEO OF GOLDEN by Allen Levi: A man travels to a small Southern town, where he purchases pencil drawings of local residents and exchanges them for stories.

2. YESTERYEAR by Caro Claire Burke: Natalie Heller Mills, a privileged tradwife social media influencer, wakes up to find she is living in the comparatively difficult reality of 1855.

3. WHISTLER by Ann Patchett: Decades after their time together, a woman reconnects with her stepfather and they look back at the directions their lives have taken.

4. PROJECT HAIL MARY by Andy Weir: Ryland Grace awakes from a long sleep alone and far from home, and the fate of humanity rests on his shoulders; the basis of the movie.

5. CHOKE POINT by Brad Thor: The 25th book in the Scot Harvath series. America’s top spy investigates bombings that may portend a shake up in the geopolitical balance.

6. THE DEAL by Elle Kennedy: Hannah Wells makes a deal with the captain of the college hockey team in exchange for tutoring him that may complicate their relationship.

7. THE CALAMITY CLUB by Kathryn Stockett: As things get tougher during the Depression, several women look for ways to improve their circumstances.

8. DUNGEON CRAWLER CARL by Matt Dinniman:A Coast Guard vet named Carl and his ex-girlfriend’s cat, Princess Donut, are trapped in a fantasy dungeon.

9. THE DIVORCE by Freida McFadden: After her husband ends their marriage and she turns her attention to his new girlfriend, Naomi suspects she might be in danger.

10. THE MISTAKE by Elle Kennedy: The second book in the Off-Campus series. A college hockey player attempts to redeem himself to a rising sophomore.

11. THE SCORE by Elle Kennedy: The third book in the Off-Campus series. A brokenhearted senior resists the charms of a hockey star.

12. THE CORRESPONDENT by Virginia Evans: Letters from someone she used to know push Sybil Van Antwerp toward revisiting her past and finding a way to forgive.

13. REMARKABLY BRIGHT CREATURES by Shelby Van Pelt: A widow working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium is aided in solving a mystery by a giant Pacific octopus living there; the basis of the movie.

14. THE SOMEDAY GARDEN by Ashley Poston: Sophie Drear is hired to revitalize a manor in coastal Maine and discovers a secret garden where a mysterious figure dwells.

15. OUR PERFECT STORM by Carley Fortune: After her fiancé leaves her, Frankie goes on her planned honeymoon trip with her best friend from childhood, George.

Non-Fiction

1. COMMUNION by JD Vance: The vice president and author of “Hillbilly Elegy” describes how he perceives his faith played a part in his work in public life.

2. THE LAND AND ITS PEOPLE by David Sedaris: Essays on the passage of time, complicated relationships and some unexpected delights life has to offer.

3. STRANGERS by Belle Burden: Burden retraces her marriage of 20 years in search of clues to help shape her understanding about its demise and to find a way forward.

4. STRIPPED DOWN by Bunnie Xo: The host of the “Dumb Blonde Podcast” shares how redemption was an important part of her journey toward reaching her goals.

 5. LONDON FALLING by Patrick Radden Keefe: The author of “Say Nothing” details the efforts by the parents of a 19-year-old Londoner to uncover the truth about his mysterious death and secret life.

6. THE CROOKED PLACES MADE STRAIGHT by Raphael G. Warnock: The senior pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church of Atlanta, who also serves as a Democratic senator from Georgia, shares his perspectives on moral and political issues.

7. COURAGE CAN SAVE US by Rye Barcott: Profiles of Democratic and Republican politicians who previously served in the military or the F.B.I.

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

9. REVOLUTION by Eric Metaxas: The author of “Martin Luther” and “Bonhoeffer” gives an account of the foundation of the United States of America.

10. THE MAILMAN by Stephen Starring Grant: After losing his corporate job and being diagnosed with cancer, Grant becomes a mailman in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.

11. AMERICA, U.S.A. by Eddie S. Glaude Jr.: The author of “Begin Again” delves into elements of America’s difficult and complicated past, and what they portend for our future.

12. THE CASE FOR AMERICA by Bret Baier: The chief political anchor for Fox News shares his perspectives on our national character during divisive times.

13. TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER by Neil deGrasse Tyson: The astrophysicist depicts what potential encounters with aliens from outer space might be like.

14. 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.

15. ALL WE SAY by Ben Rhodes: The former speechwriter for President Obama explicates what it means to be American through this collection of 15 speeches.

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Have a great Sunday!

Linda

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New York Times Bestseller lists are shared via blog post on Sundays.

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THE CATALOGS:

(Information on the four library catalogs)

The Digital Catalog aka Libby: 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.

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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.

–

Kanopy Catalog: https://www.kanopy.com/en

The Kanopy Catalog features thousands of streaming videos available on demand.

The Kanopy Catalog is available for all Southern Tier Library System member library card holders, including all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders!

You can access the Kanopy Catalog through a web browser, or download the app to your phone, tablet or media streaming player (i.e. Roku, Google or Fire TV).

–

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.

–

For more information on library materials and services, including how to get a library card call the library at 607-936-3713.

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

Suggested Listening & Viewing: June 26, 2026

Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, here is our weekly Suggested Listening and Viewing post; featuring a collection of songs within a genre or theme; and two streaming video recommendations, one from a mainstream service and the other from Kanopy, the library’s free to access streaming service (all you need is a library card!).

First off the music & this week we’re turning our listening spotlight on folk music.

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I Can’t Help But Wonder Where I’m Bound by Tom Paxton 

 

Found on the Album: The Best of Tom Paxton: I Can’t Help But Wonder Where I’m Bound The Elektra Years (1991) 

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Been In The Storm by Bernice Johnson Reagon 

 

Found on the Album: Folk Songs: The South (1965) 

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Across The Great Divide by Kate Wolf 

 

Found on the Album: Close To You (1981) 

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Thirsty Boots by Eric Andersen  

 

Found on the Album: The Essential Eric Andersen (2018) 

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First Day of Spring by Guy Davis 

 

 

Found on the Album: Dreams About Life (1978) 

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Follow That Road by Anne Hills 

 

 

Found on the Album: Angles of the Light (2008) 

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One Dollar Bill by Don Flemons 

 

Found on the Album: Black Cowboys (2018) 

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No Regrets by Tom Rush 

 

 

Found on the Album: The Very Best of Tom Rush: No Regrets 1962-1999 (2011) 

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Special Rider Blues by Corey Harris 

 

 

Found on the Album: The Insurrection Blues (2021) 

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Turkey in the Straw by Michael Cooney 

 

 

Found on the Album: The Cheese Stands Alone (1968) 

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Julie by Rhiannon Giddens 

 

 

Found on the Album: Freedom Highway (2017) 

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Backroads and Driveways by Crys Matthews 

 

 

Found on the Album: Backroads and Driveways (2011) 

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Streaming  Suggestions of the Week

Mainstream Stream 

In The Hand of Dante (2026) (Netflix)

 

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Kanopy Stream of the Week

Norman’s Rare Guitars (2024) 

Trailer

 

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Have a great weekend!

Linda Reimer, SSCL

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Information on the four library catalogs 

The Digital Catalog aka Libby: 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. 

And The Digital Catalog/Libby features titles that may be checked out via the one-copy-one-user lending model, just like print books.  

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

The Hoopla Catalog features on demand checkouts of eBooks, eAudiobooks, comic books, albums, movies and TV shows. Patron checkout 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. 

Titles in the Hoopla Catalog are available to be checked out on-demand by all library card holders, with the caveat of being able to check out a maximum of ten titles per month, per card.  

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Kanopy Catalog: https://www.kanopy.com/en 

The Kanopy Catalog features thousands of streaming videos available on demand.  

The Kanopy Catalog is available for all Southern Tier Library System member library card holders, including all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders! 

You can access the Kanopy Catalog through a web browser, or download the app to your phone, tablet or media streaming player (i.e. Roku, Google or Fire TV). 

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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. 

Suggested Reading Five: June 24, 2026

Linda Reimer

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

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1873: The Rothschilds, the First Great Depression, and the Making of the Modern World by Liaquat Ahamed 

The global economy collapsed in 1873 amid a cascading chain of shocks. Pulitzer Prize-winning economist Ahamed (Lords of Finance) explains in riveting detail how events in Europe, the U.S., and developing countries successively fueled fear, stock-market turmoil, and financial chaos. He highlights the major economic powers’ blundering, self-inflicted wounds that choked global liquidity. The abrupt demonetization of silver, a shift from bimetallism, unnecessarily reordered the global currency system and triggered a massive deflation that reverberated into the mid-1890s. A mounting scarcity of international gold reserves and over-leveraged banks saddled with bad loans and bad bonds accelerated the disarray. Adding to this was the mistake of raising tariffs, which killed free trade as tariff spikes triggered retaliatory trade wars. More than economic pain resulted. Pervasive pessimism bred a rising sense of resentment and political instability. So many elements carry a familiar ring today, Ahamed warns, pointing to real estate bubbles, stock market mania, careless lending, cascading defaults, financial disruptions, drastic austerity programs, and social unrest.  

VERDICT This supremely useful historical analysis not only explains past events but also, with its unsettling parallels to current economic woes, offers readers and policymakers clear directions for present and future paths to avoid. – Starred Library Journal Review  

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Green City Wars by Adrian Tchaikovsky 

If Rocket from Guardians of the Galaxy toned his language down and opened a private investigator’s office like Philip Marlowe, he’d be Tchaikovsky’s (Shroud) Skotch. The raccoon private eye is every noir detective who ever walked the mean streets, with friends in low places and a bandit’s black mask across his muzzle. His world is mostly grim, his morals are often conflicted, and he’s always broke and often broken. But he always has a scheme and he always finds the answers–even when no one wants him to. He’s taken a case to find one enhanced mouse among all the strains of enhanced animals that live and work under the new green city. He knows the job is too good to be true, but he’s compelled to take it, even if it gets him and his friends killed. This postapocalyptic world of green cities, along with gene-splicing that made animals into supposedly perfect workers, is fascinating, as is Skotch’s journey, while the resolution is a shock. VERDICT Readers searching for an adult Redwall, the animals-as-humans concept of Juneau Black’s Shady Hollow, or the upside-down criminal enterprise of John Scalzi’s Starter Villain will be thrilled to meet Skotch. – Starred Library Journal Review 

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Muneca by Cynthia Gomez 

DEBUT A queer, Latine witch finds her powers, and her heart, tested in this dramatic and entrancing gothic. Natalia “Nati” Fuentes is working as a bank teller in Oakland, CA, in 1968, when at a party she overhears the tragic tale of a young heiress stricken with a mysterious illness that has left her unable to move or speak. Nati realizes she knows this woman, Violeta Miramontes, and her family, as Nati’s late mother was employed as their housekeeper for a time. Convinced the heiress is under a spell and drawing on the training provided by her grandmother when she was a child, Nati formulates a plan: become Violeta’s caretaker, free her from the spell, and collect a hefty reward. While Nati is able to secure a position with ease, she quickly learns that the forces keeping Violeta trapped will not easily be vanquished. As she spends more time caring for Violeta, Nati discovers an entirely new reason to want to free her. VERDICT Easily paced and richly layered, G mez’s (The Nightmare Box) formidable novel debut will delight fans of Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Mayra by Nicky Gonzalez, and Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield.–Booklist Review  

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The Shampoo Effect by Jenny Jackson 

When Caroline Lash arrives in Greenhead, Massachusetts, she falls head-over-heels for Van Whittaker, a fleece-wearing, litter-collecting, kayak enthusiast with long, floppy hair and the personality of a Border collie. Born and raised in this picturesque coastal village, Van runs with the same crowd he did as a kid: His ex-girlfriend, Bailey, a beautiful girl who attracts men like moths to a flame; Augusta, old money, horsey, and snobbish; and Fran, surrounded by brothers and sons, too fed up with boys to ever consider marrying one. 

Together, the group runs wild through the marshes, beaches, and bars of Greenhead, drinking on houseboats, spending long afternoons sunbathing with their children, and playing games the way they always have. But when Bailey discovers that she is pregnant with Van’s baby, the delicate balance of the group’s friendship is thrown off. Soon Caroline is cast out of the circle and what she does next—in a potent mix of fury and heartbreak—exposes long-held secrets and works the entire town of Greenhead into a lather. Dazzlingly funny, sexy, and as juicy as it is astute, The Shampoo Effect is a story of late-night parties, early mornings with small children, the dawn of midlife, and a group of old friends finally growing up despite all their best efforts to the contrary. 

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When You Loved Me: A Novel by Beatriz Williams 

Local history insists that a legendary pirate buried his treasure somewhere beneath Windward, the decayed Cooper estate on Winthrop Island, but Lucy Cooper never trusted the fable that broke her family apart. When a widowed Lucy returns with her young daughter to grieve her estranged father, she discovers catastrophe: The property is mired in debt she canʼt repay, and Ben Ressler has unexpectedly turned up on her doorstep. 

Thirteen summers ago, the teenaged Lucy never meant to fall in love with Ben, a Dartmouth football star vacationing nearby at the Peabody estate and the object of an all-consuming crush by Laura Peabody, Lucy’s best friend. Those few weeks were the best and worst of Lucy’s life, dooming her friendship with Laura. Now, after a fatal accident ended his dazzling NFL career, Ben has returned to live quietly in the Peabodys’ caretaker lodge. He’s also the last person who saw Lucy’s father alive. 

As Lucy reconstructs her father’s troubling final days, she uncovers his research on the frozen winter of 1717, when a desperately wounded pirate sought refuge on Winthrop Island with an enigmatic healer. To Lucy, this history points the way to a different kind of treasure: how to heal from the fractures of the past and earn a second chance at love. But just as Lucy’s long-buried emotions sear to the surface, a shocking turn of events reveals that someone else on the island will do whatever it takes to claim the fabled plunder. 

A timeless story of love and atonement, When You Loved Me maps both a centuries-old treasure hunt and the intimate territory of the human heart, weaving together past and present as only Beatriz Williams can. 

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Happy reading!

Linda Reimer, SSCL

–

Weekly Suggested Reading Five postings are usually published on Wednesdays, unless Monday is a holiday and then they are published later in the week.

–

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

–

Information on the four library catalogs

The Digital Catalog aka Libby: 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.

–

Kanopy Catalog: https://www.kanopy.com/en

The Kanopy Catalog features thousands of streaming videos available on demand.

The Kanopy Catalog is available for all Southern Tier Library System member library card holders, including all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders!

You can access the Kanopy Catalog through a web browser, or download the app to your phone, tablet or media streaming player (i.e. Roku, Google or Fire TV).

–

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 Listening & Viewing: June 19, 2026

Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, here is our weekly Suggested Listening and Viewing post of the week, featuring music and videos for your weekend listening/watching pleasure.

Also of note, the library is closed today, Friday, June 19, in observance of the Juneteenth holiday. We we be open our usual hours on Saturday from 9:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. and you can access eBooks, eAudios, streaming videos and more through the library’s apps: Libby, Kanopy & Hoopla.

And in celebration of Juneteenth, our suggested listening & viewing titles this week were curated with the history of Juneteenth holiday in mind – enjoy!

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A Change Is Gonna Come by Sam Cooke

Found on the Album: A Change Is Gonna Come (1964)

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People Get Ready by The Impressions

Found on the Album: People Get Ready: The Best Of Curtis Mayfield’s Impressions (2013)

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Trouble In Mind by Big Bill Broonzy

Found on the Album: Trouble in Mind (2000)

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Rain Crow by Rhiannon Giddens & Justin Robinson

Found on the Album: What Did The Blackbird Say To The Crow (2025) by Rhiannon Giddens & Justin Robinson

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Freedom Highway by The Staple Singers

Found on the Album: Freedom Highway (1991)

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I Can’t Help Myself by The Four Tops

Found on the Album: The Definitive Collection (2008)

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Shake Rattle & Roll by Big Joe Turner

Found on the Album: Greatest Hits (1989)

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Good Rockin’ Tonight by Roy E. Brown

Found on the Album: Good Rockin’ Tonight & All His Greatest Hits + Selected Singles As & Bs 1947-1958 (2018) (CD only, no MP3)

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It Don’t Mean A Thing, If It Ain’t Got That Swing by Louis Armstrong & His Orchestra featuring Ivy Anderson on vocals (1932)

Found on the Album: The Essential Duke Ellington (2007)

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A Good Rockin’ Way (To Mess Around & Fall In Love) by Dinah Washington & Brooks Benton

Found on the Album: 20th Century Masters: The Best Of Dinah Washington – The Millennium Collection (2002)

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Can I Get A Witness by Marvin Gaye

Found on the Album: Favorites (2008)

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Saturday Night Fish Fry by Louis Jordan

Found on the Album: The Best of Louis Jordan (1975)

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What A Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong

Found on the Album: All Time Greatest Hits (1994)

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Feeling Good by Nina Simone

Found on the Album: I Put A Spell On You (1965)

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Stand By Me by Ben E. King

Found on the Album: The Very Best of Ben E. King (1998)

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Suggested Viewing

Juneteenth Faith & Freedom (2023)

Synopsis: A black man is troubled by the legacy of American slavery and the misuse of Christianity to justify it. He travels throughout Texas and discovers how the Juneteenth holiday reveals a resilient hope that empowered the formerly enslaved and their descendants to fight for freedom in an often unjust society.

Click the link to access the video:

https://www.pbs.org/video/juneteenth-faith-freedom-ap4dcr

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Juneteenth Jamboree (2022)

Synopsis: Harrison Eppright hosts a virtual discussion about Juneteenth, the newest federal holiday. Galveston County historian Sam Collins III reveals historical notes about the original event as well as ongoing and current celebration efforts. Dr. Sabrina Robins explains how a former sundown town in Northeast Wisconsin has created their Juneteenth celebration as a platform to develop community.

Click the link to access the video:

https://www.pbs.org/video/juneteenth-jamboree-how-were-celebrating-now-egblfd

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Reading by the Fire: Spring Ambience with Fireplace Sounds

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Have a great weekend!

Linda Reimer, SSCL

–

Information on the four library catalogs 

The Digital Catalog aka Libby: 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. 

And The Digital Catalog/Libby features titles that may be checked out via the one-copy-one-user lending model, just like print books.  

– 

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

The Hoopla Catalog features on demand checkouts of eBooks, eAudiobooks, comic books, albums, movies and TV shows. Patron checkout 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. 

Titles in the Hoopla Catalog are available to be checked out on-demand by all library card holders, with the caveat of being able to check out a maximum of ten titles per month, per card.  

– 

Kanopy Catalog: https://www.kanopy.com/en 

The Kanopy Catalog features thousands of streaming videos available on demand.  

The Kanopy Catalog is available for all Southern Tier Library System member library card holders, including all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders! 

You can access the Kanopy Catalog through a web browser, or download the app to your phone, tablet or media streaming player (i.e. Roku, Google or Fire TV). 

– 

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. 

Suggested Reading Five: June 17, 2026

Linda Reimer

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

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Ash Dark as Night by Gary Phillips 

The times, they are a-changing in Phillips’s outstanding sequel to One-Shot Harry (2022). It’s August 1965: Vietnam is heating up; the civil rights movement is marching forward. Escalating tensions between the police and Black Americans have boiled over most recently in the Watts Riots. Black photographer Harry Ingram is in Los Angeles to document the unrest and winds up capturing the police shooting of unarmed activist Faraday Zinum. The widely reproduced photo brings Harry newfound fame, as well as the unwelcome attention of LAPD chief William Parker and his intelligence division. Meanwhile, an acquaintance hires Harry to look into the disappearance of her business associate Moses Tolbert, who ran a building company in the Watts neighborhood and vanished during the riots. As Harry investigates, stumbling into citywide conspiracies along the way, he finds that he has a natural aptitude for the work, and ponders the possibility of becoming a private detective full-time. Phillips folds real historical figures, including TV journalist Louis Lomax, and events into a complex narrative of shifting alliances that captures the urgency and volatility of the mid-’60s. The results rank with the best of Walter Mosley in the canon of Los Angeles noir. Agent: David Hale Smith, InkWell Management. – Starred Publishers Weekly Review  

– 

Inner City Blues by Paula L. Woods 

The award-winning first book in the series featuring black LAPD homicide detective Charlotte Justice. 

Meet Detective Charlotte Justice, a black woman in the very white, very male, and sometimes very racist Los Angeles Police Department. The time is 48 hours into the epochal L.A. riots and she and her fellow officers are exhausted. She saves the curfew-breaking black doctor Lance Mitchell from a potentially lethal beating from some white officers—only to discover nearby the body of one-time radical Cinque Lewis, a thug who years before had murdered her husband and young daughter. Was it a random shooting or was Mitchell responsible? And what had brought Lewis back to a city he’d long since fled? 

Charlotte’s quest for the truth behind Cinque’s death will set her at odds with the LAPD hierarchy, plunge her into the intricacies of everything from L.A.’s gang-banging politics to its black blue-bloods, and lead her into deep emotional waters with Mitchell’s partner (and her old flame), Dr. Aubrey Scott. 

In Charlotte Justice, Paula L. Woods has created a tough, tart, but also vulnerable heroine sure to draw comparisons to such classic figures as Easy Rawlins and Kinsey Milhone, but a true original as well. 

Winner of the Macavity Award for Best First Mystery Novel from Mystery Readers International.  

– 

The Island Club by Nicola Harris  

On California’s Balboa Island in the 1950s, three different women strive to make the best of their strenuous situations. Milly moved to the island in hopes that she would have more quality time with her husband, who works in the movie business in L.A. Despite her plans for family dinners and beach trips, she is alone most of the time as he barely comes home from work. Sylvia, a pillar in the social community, has started a tennis club with her husband, hoping to boost membership and boost their already fulfilling income. Sylvia’s husband has a habit of playing poker, and with a shattering loss, he puts the family in danger and the club at risk of closure. Adele, once a famous tennis pro who left the profession due to a scandal that ruined her career, slowly begins to coach women at the tennis club but keeps her identity a secret. Harrison (Hotel Laguna, 2023) excels at creating compelling characters. These women struggle with loneliness and sexism, but Harrison focuses on their resilience and strength and the powerful bonds of female friendship.- Booklist Review  

– 

Mr. Moonlight: Brian Epstein and the Making of the Beatles by Philip Norman 

There will never be another pop manager like Brian Epstein, the young record retailer from Liverpool behind the 20th century’s greatest romance. Having achieved his much-derided aim of making the Beatles “bigger than Elvis,” Brian went on to make them bigger than any earthly instrument could measure. Only a handful of years older, he nonetheless referred them as “The Boys,” protecting and pampering them like the children he could never hope to have. 

Brian’s achievement in a profession in which he had no experience, and for which nor rulebook existed, remains jaw-dropping. A devout classical music fan, he was nonetheless solely responsible for a new genre of pop that was to change its course, and Britain’s international image, forever—yet, disgracefully, earn him no public honor nor even thanks. 

Mr. Moonlight draws on a cache of exclusive interviews with those closest to Brain, including his mother, Queenie, and brother, Clive, to tell the story of this hugely complex, self-contradictory, and ultimately tragic character. This revelatory narrative explores the unplumbed depths of Brian’s many trials and tribulations—how he almost lost the Beatles to organized crime, the antisemitism and homophobia he had to face even at the height of his success, his complex relationship with John Lennon that led to their reckless “Spanish Honeymoon”—and sheds new light on Brian’s mysterious, lonely death in the throes of the so-called Summer of Love. 

– 

A Year of Marvelous Ways by Sarah Winman 

In this latest from Winman (Still Life), a war-weary young man and a sage older woman come together in a journey of recovery. Francis Drake (not the explorer), a lucky survivor of World War II, finally arrives back in England with a letter entrusted to him by a dying soldier with a plea to deliver it to his father in Cornwall. Making his way there, Drake is sidetracked after catching sight of Missy Hall, his childhood companion and the love of his life. She invites him up to her room, where they spend the night together. But by the next day, she has disappeared again. Now bereft, drunk, and much the worse for wear, Drake washes up on the shores of St. Ophere, a tiny Cornish hamlet where an 89-year-old woman named Marvelous Ways seems to have been waiting for him. With hearty soups and herbal remedies, she nurses him back to health while spinning out tales about her life and lost loves.  

VERDICT Once again, Winman delivers historical fiction that memorably evokes the sweetness and sorrow of times past.–Library Journal Review  

–

Happy reading!

Linda Reimer, SSCL

–

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

–

Information on the four library catalogs

The Digital Catalog aka Libby: 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.

–

Kanopy Catalog: https://www.kanopy.com/en

The Kanopy Catalog features thousands of streaming videos available on demand.

The Kanopy Catalog is available for all Southern Tier Library System member library card holders, including all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders!

You can access the Kanopy Catalog through a web browser, or download the app to your phone, tablet or media streaming player (i.e. Roku, Google or Fire TV).

–

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: June 21, 2026

Linda Reimer

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 the library, or give us a call – please do!

Our telephone number is: 607-936-3713

You can also request titles through StarCat found at https://starcat.stls.org

–

THE BESTSELLERS

FICTION

1. WHISTLER by Ann Patchett: Decades after their time together, a woman reconnects with her stepfather and they look back at the directions their lives have taken.

2. THEO OF GOLDEN by Allen Levi: A man travels to a small Southern town, where he purchases pencil drawings of local residents and exchanges them for stories.

3. THE DEAL by Elle Kennedy: Hannah Wells makes a deal with the captain of the college hockey team in exchange for tutoring him that may complicate their relationship.

4. YESTERYEAR by Caro Claire Burke: Natalie Heller Mills, a privileged tradwife social media influencer, wakes up to find she is living in the comparatively difficult reality of 1855.

5. THE DIVORCE by Freida McFadden: After her husband ends their marriage and she turns her attention to his new girlfriend, Naomi suspects she might be in danger.

6. PROJECT HAIL MARY by Andy Weir: Ryland Grace awakes from a long sleep alone and far from home, and the fate of humanity rests on his shoulders; the basis of the movie.

7. THE MISTAKE by Elle Kennedy: The second book in the Off-Campus series. A college hockey player attempts to redeem himself to a rising sophomore.

8. THE SCORE by Elle Kennedy: The third book in the Off-Campus series. A brokenhearted senior resists the charms of a hockey star.

9. LAND by Maggie O’Farrell: While assisting his father on a project to map all of Ireland in 1865, a boy must work around the ways a disturbing encounter affects his father.

10. DUNGEON CRAWLER CARL by Matt Dinniman: A Coast Guard vet named Carl and his ex-girlfriend’s cat, Princess Donut, are trapped in a fantasy dungeon.

11. REMARKABLY BRIGHT CREATURES by Shelby Van Pelt: A widow working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium is aided in solving a mystery by a giant Pacific octopus living there; the basis of the movie.

12. ROAD TRIP by Mary Kay Andrews: A pair of sisters travel to Ireland to find out the worth of a painting they inherited and gain new insights into their family.

13. THE CORRESPONDENT by Virginia Evans: Letters from someone she used to know push Sybil Van Antwerp toward revisiting her past and finding a way to forgive.

14. OUR PERFECT STORM by Carley Fortune: After her fiancé leaves her, Frankie goes on her planned honeymoon trip with her best friend from childhood, George.

15. THE CALAMITY CLUB by Kathryn Stockett: As things get tougher during the Depression, several women look for ways to improve their circumstances.

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NON-FICTION

1. VIEW FROM THE EAST WING by Jill Biden: The former first lady recounts her time in the White House, causes she championed and her simultaneous work as a community college professor.

2. REVOLUTION by Eric Metaxas: The author of “Martin Luther” and “Bonhoeffer” gives an account of the foundation of the United States of America.

3. STRANGERS by Belle Burden: Burden retraces her marriage of 20 years in search of clues to help shape her understanding about its demise and to find a way forward.

4. THE LAND AND ITS PEOPLE by David Sedaris: Essays on the passage of time, complicated relationships and some unexpected delights life has to offer.

5. THE FIX by Barbara McQuade: The former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan describes what she considers threats to American democracy and national security.

6. TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER by Neil deGrasse Tyson: The astrophysicist depicts what potential encounters with aliens from outer space might be like.

7. A RESISTANCE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES by Tad Stoermer: Moments in American history that elucidate the tension between resistance and power.

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

9. LONDON FALLING by Patrick Radden Keefe: The author of “Say Nothing” details the efforts by the parents of a 19-year-old Londoner to uncover the truth about his mysterious death and secret life.

10. THE HERO NEXT DOOR by Martha Raddatz: The Emmy Award–winning ABC News anchor profiles members of our military who served in the wake of 9/11.

11. ALL WE SAY by Ben Rhodes: The former speechwriter for President Obama explicates what it means to be American through this collection of 15 speeches.   

12. THE WRECK OF THE MENTOR by Eric Jay Dolin: The story of 11 crewmen who survived the shipwreck of a whaleship in 1832 and encountered the Indigenous people of Palau.

13. FAMESICK by Lena Dunham: The author of “Not That Kind of Girl” evaluates the effects that pursuing her creative endeavors had on her.

14. LIAR’S KINGDOM by Andrew Weissmann: The author of “Where Law Ends” argues that a flaw in America’s legal system allows for deceit in our politics.

15. 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.

–

Have a great Sunday!

Linda

–

New York Times Bestseller lists are shared via blog post on Sundays.

–

LIBRARY CATALOGS:

The Digital Catalog aka Libby: 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.

–

Kanopy Catalog: https://www.kanopy.com/en

The Kanopy Catalog features thousands of streaming videos available on demand.

The Kanopy Catalog is available for all Southern Tier Library System member library card holders, including all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders!

You can access the Kanopy Catalog through a web browser, or download the app to your phone, tablet or media streaming player (i.e. Roku, Google or Fire TV).

–

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.

–

For more information on library materials and services, including how to get a library card call the library at 607-936-3713.

–

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

Suggested Listening & Viewing: June 12, 2026

Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, here is our weekly Suggested Listening and Viewing post; featuring ten songs and two streaming video recommendations, one from a mainstream service and the other from Kanopy, the library’s free to access streaming service (all you need is a library card!).

First off the music – with a collection of mellow vocals and cheerful big bands.

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Begin The Beguine by Artie Shaw & his Orchestra

Found on the Album: The Essential Artie Shaw (2005)

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Sing Sing Sing by Benny Goodman & his Orchestra

 

Found on the Album: The Essential Benny Goodman (2007)

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When Irish Eyes Are Smiling by Bing Crosby

 

Found on the Album: Top O’ The Morning / His Irish Collection (1996)

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Oh, Lady, Be Good! by Count Basie

 

Found on the Album: The Essential Count Basie (2014)

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Take The “A” Train by Duke Ellington

Found on the Album: The Essential Duke Ellington (2007)

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Bewitched, Bothered, And Bewildered by Ella Fitzgerald

 

Found on the Album: The Best Of The Song Books (1993)

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Blue Skies by Frank Sinatra

 

Found on the Album: The Essential Frank Sinatra (2010)

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In The Mood by Glenn Miller

 

Found on the Album: The Essential Glenn Miller (2005)

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At The Swing Cat’s Ball by Louis Jordan

Found on the Album: Let The Good Times Roll: The Anthology 1938 – 1953 (1999)

–

I’ve Got The World On A String by Nat King Cole Trio

Found on the Album: The Nat King Cole Trio – The Complete Capitol Transcription Sessions(2005)

–

Suggested Viewing

This week I’m going to suggest something different! Instead of a usual movie , TV show or documentary you can stream, here is a long (11+ hours) video titles “Reading by the Fire in Summer” – the perfect background for reading and relaxing!

Reading by the Fire in Summer

– 

Have a great weekend!

Linda Reimer, SSCL

–

Information on the four library catalogs 

The Digital Catalog aka Libby: 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. 

And The Digital Catalog/Libby features titles that may be checked out via the one-copy-one-user lending model, just like print books.  

– 

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

The Hoopla Catalog features on demand checkouts of eBooks, eAudiobooks, comic books, albums, movies and TV shows. Patron checkout 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. 

Titles in the Hoopla Catalog are available to be checked out on-demand by all library card holders, with the caveat of being able to check out a maximum of ten titles per month, per card.  

– 

Kanopy Catalog: https://www.kanopy.com/en 

The Kanopy Catalog features thousands of streaming videos available on demand.  

The Kanopy Catalog is available for all Southern Tier Library System member library card holders, including all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders! 

You can access the Kanopy Catalog through a web browser, or download the app to your phone, tablet or media streaming player (i.e. Roku, Google or Fire TV). 

– 

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. 

Suggested Reading Five: June 10, 2026

Linda Reimer

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

–

Daughters of the Sun and Moon by Lisa See 

See (Lucy Tan’s Circle of Women) tells the intertwining story of three women in 1870s California during a turbulent time for Chinese immigrants. Dove, whose had her feet bound and is the daughter of an imperial scholar, desires to love and be loved as she travels to be the second wife of an older businessman. Petal, the large-footed daughter of a farmer, is unknowingly sold and forced into sex work to feed her starving family. Her desire for freedom fuels her every breath. Moon, the wife of a respected doctor, is intelligent and beautiful, but her limp, the result of a botched foot-binding, diminishes her value in society’s eyes. Her desire for justice guides the latter half of the narrative, following the devastating events of October 24, 1871, when simmering anti-Chinese sentiment in the United States finally erupts into a violent massacre, resulting in the mass murder and lynching of Chinese immigrants. The events of that night bring Dove, Petal, and Moon even closer; together, they find their voices by demonstrating bravery and fortitude in an environment where women have few rights. VERDICT See offers a stunning piece of historical fiction based in truth. It will touch readers with the characters’ resilience, heroism, and devoted friendship. — Starred Library Journal Review  

– 

The Queen’s Coronation: A Novel by Jennifer Ryan 

A master of uplifting historical fiction, Ryan (The Underground Library, 2024) presents her first post-WWII novel. Centered on three very different women working at Buckingham Palace during the lead-up to Queen Elizabeth’s coronation in 1953, it offers a glimpse into what it was like to work in the young queen’s orbit. Assistant dresser Caroline finds strength in the queen’s presence. Trapped by both a husband who squanders her money and a secret from her past, Caroline works tirelessly but begins to lose hope. Lucy is a young and beautiful junior assistant who dreams of singing on the London stage, but her optimism is soon overshadowed by her naivety as she navigates London society. Miranda, an American journalist, is undercover, working in the palace to get the scoop on the coronation. Filled with unresolved trauma over losing her husband in the war, Miranda puts on a stony facade to get through each day. Though they couldn’t be more different, their stories intertwine and they lift each other up and find strength together. Fans of The Crown and Downton Abbey will enjoy the dynamics. –Booklist Review 

– 

The Secret War Against Hate: American Resistance to Antisemitism and White Supremacy by Steven J. Ross 

This well-researched and at times shocking volume relates the surprising number of pro-Nazi groups and figures who emerged during and after World War II in the United States gained followers and influence and made impacts in local and national politics for decades. Ross (history, Univ. of Southern California; Hitler in Los Angeles: How Jews Foiled Nazi Plots Against Hollywood and America) makes the case that the typical narrative of the United States after the war might not be as accurate as most people think. Ross weaves the timelines of these figures together in an easy-to-follow way, showing how they gained power but also highlighting the people and organizations who actively fought against them in public and in spy rings, who each had their own motivations for resisting fascism. Readers will get sucked into the story and want to know what happens next. There are plenty of footnotes for further reading, and the author makes clear how past actions led to today’s events. This is a good read-alike and companion to Rachel Maddow’s Prequel. VERDICT An excellent “hidden history” book that gives additional context to modern political movements. Recommended for all general collections. –Starred Booklist Review  

– 

Take Me With You: A Novel by Steve Rowley  

Jesse and Norman have been together for 30 years, and lately, the spark has gone out of their marriage. Their recent move to Joshua Tree (not so much a town as a “Census designated place,” as Jesse is fond of pointing out) in the California desert has only compounded the tension. But when Norman abruptly leaves the house in the middle of the night, Jesse doesn’t expect to find him ascending into the sky from their backyard in a beam of light. As an award-winning humor writer, Jesse can get by for a while telling his neighbor and his colleagues at the local community college that his husband was abducted by aliens. But as the days pass, it becomes more difficult to deflect, especially when Norman’s sister shows up on their doorstep with a very big request. And as Jesse goes from spiraling to settling into his new life, will there be room for Norman if he returns? Rowley (The Guncle Abroad, 2024), himself the recipient of a humor-writing prize, adeptly balances the absurdity of Jesse’s circumstances with the sensitive portrayal of a longtime couple at a crossroads. Recommend to readers of humorous but moving fiction, like that of Kevin Wilson (Run for the Hills, 2025) and Rufi Thorpe. – Starred Booklist Review  

– 

The Unicorn Hunters by Katherine Arden 

Medieval history and Celtic mythology merge in an enchanting tale. Arden, best known for her Winternight Trilogy, here turns from medieval Russia to Europe during the same period. Anne of Brittany–a real person–is 19 when the novel begins in the late 15th century, a sovereign duchess whose father, the duke, has been dead since she was a child. Described as “small and glossy as a cat in a dairy,” she’s desperately trying to avoid marrying Charles VIII, the king of France, which would mean the dissolution of her country. She conceives a plan to conduct a unicorn hunt in the ancient, haunted forest of Broceliande, thinking she will be able to secretly arrange a proxy wedding to Maximilien of Austria, heir to the Holy Roman Empire. While there, she encounters not only an actual unicorn but an evil enchanter who has designs on her kingdom. With the unlikely aid of the chivalrous (and undeniably attractive) Louis of Orleans, who has been sent by Charles’ sister Marguerite to betray Anne, as well as Anne’s spunky younger sister, Isabeau; a clever peasant girl, Elesbed; and a cat named Butter, Anne works feverishly to protect her people from sinister forces both political and supernatural. Arden takes her time immersing the reader in this thoroughly and intricately imagined world, where historical figures bump up against an enigmatic korriganed queen, at least one monstrous sea-dragon, a herd of undead “anaon,” and a whole Breton city that has been trapped in time. This is an alternate history in which the admirable Anne, freed from the confines of textbooks, gets to ask the question, “Shall we not write our own story?” Here, love and duty reach an understanding, and courtly romance makes friends with a steamier variety of physical contact. Fans of jousts, spells, dark magic, and brave women will find plenty of each here. A clever and inspiring reimagining of a little-remembered time and place. – Starred Kirkus Review  

–

Happy reading!

Linda Reimer, SSCL

–

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

–

Information on the four library catalogs

The Digital Catalog aka Libby: 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.

–

Kanopy Catalog: https://www.kanopy.com/en

The Kanopy Catalog features thousands of streaming videos available on demand.

The Kanopy Catalog is available for all Southern Tier Library System member library card holders, including all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders!

You can access the Kanopy Catalog through a web browser, or download the app to your phone, tablet or media streaming player (i.e. Roku, Google or Fire TV).

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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.

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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.

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