August 2016 – Tech & Book Talk at SSCL

Daily Print & Digital Suggested Reads: Wednesday, August 31, 2016

August 31, 2016 Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, here are our suggested daily recommended read in print and digital formats:

Our Digital Catalog suggested title for today is the following audiobook:

The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney:

A warm, funny and acutely perceptive debut novel about four adult siblings and the fate of the shared inheritance that has shaped their choices and their lives.

Every family has its problems. But even among the most troubled, the Plumb family stands out as spectacularly dysfunctional. Years of simmering tensions finally reach a breaking point on an unseasonably cold afternoon in New York City as Melody, Beatrice, and Jack Plumb gather to confront their charismatic and reckless older brother, Leo, freshly released from rehab. Months earlier, an inebriated Leo got behind the wheel of a car with a nineteen-year-old waitress as his passenger. The ensuing accident has endangered the Plumbs’ joint trust fund, “The Nest,” which they are months away from finally receiving. Meant by their deceased father to be a modest mid-life supplement, the Plumb siblings have watched The Nest’s value soar along with the stock market and have been counting on the money to solve a number of self-inflicted problems.

Melody, a wife and mother in an upscale suburb, has an unwieldy mortgage and looming college tuition for her twin teenage daughters. Jack, an antiques dealer, has secretly borrowed against the beach cottage he shares with his husband, Walker, to keep his store open. And Bea, a once-promising short-story writer, just can’t seem to finish her overdue novel. Can Leo rescue his siblings and, by extension, the people they love? Or will everyone need to reimagine the futures they’ve envisioned? Brought together as never before, Leo, Melody, Jack, and Beatrice must grapple with old resentments, present-day truths, and the significant emotional and financial toll of the accident, as well as finally acknowledge the choices they have made in their own lives.

This is a story about the power of family, the possibilities of friendship, the ways we depend upon one another and the ways we let one another down. In this tender, entertaining, and deftly written debut, Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney brings a remarkable cast of characters to life to illuminate what money does to relationships, what happens to our ambitions over the course of time, and the fraught yet unbreakable ties we share with those we love.

Here’s a link to the description page in the Digital Catalog:

https://stls.overdrive.com/media/2396804

And our Print Book Suggested Read for today is:

Ghost Talkers by Mary Robinette Kowal

Ghost Talkers: a new novel from beloved fantasy author Mary Robinette Kowal featuring the mysterious spirit corps and their heroic work in World War I.

Ginger Stuyvesant, an American heiress living in London during World War I, is engaged to Captain Benjamin Harford, an intelligence officer. Ginger is a medium for the Spirit Corps, a special Spiritualist force.

Each soldier heading for the front is conditioned to report to the mediums of the Spirit Corps when they die so the Corps can pass instant information about troop movements to military intelligence.

Ginger and her fellow mediums contribute a great deal to the war efforts, so long as they pass the information through appropriate channels. While Ben is away at the front, Ginger discovers the presence of a traitor. Without the presence of her fiance to validate her findings, the top brass thinks she’s just imagining things. Even worse, it is clear that the Spirit Corps is now being directly targeted by the German war effort. Left to her own devices, Ginger has to find out how the Germans are targeting the Spirit Corps and stop them. This is a difficult and dangerous task for a woman of that era, but this time both the spirit and the flesh are willing…

You can request the book by clicking on the following link to StarCat:

http://goo.gl/XBS2cO

Or by calling the library at: 607-936-3713 x 502.

Have a great day!
Linda, SSCL

Online Catalog Links:

StarCat: The catalog of physical materials, i.e. print books, DVDs, audiobooks on CD etc. http://starcat.stls.org/

The Digital Catalog: The catalog of e-books, downloadable audiobooks and a handful of streaming videos: https://stls.overdrive.com/

Freegal Music Service: This music service is free to library card holders and offers the option to download, and keep, three free songs per week and to stream three hours of commercial free music each day: http://stlsny.freegalmusic.com/

Zinio: Digital magazines on demand and for free! Back issues are available and you can even choose to be notified by email when the new issue of your favorite magazine is available: https://www.rbdigital.com/stlschemungcony

About Library Mobile Apps:

You can access digital library content on PCs, Macs and mobile devices. For mobile devices simply download the OverDrive, Freegal or Zinio app from your app store to get started. If you have questions call the library at: 607-936-3713 and one of our Digital Literacy Specialists will be happy to assist you.

Daily Print & Digital Suggested Reads: Tuesday, August 30, 2016

August 30, 2016 Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, here are our suggested daily recommended read in print

and digital formats:

Our Digital Catalog suggested title for today is the e-book:

Presto! How I Made Over 100 Pounds Disappear and Other Magical Tales

by Penn Jillette:

An unconventional weight loss tale from an unconventional personality—Penn Jillette tells how he lost 100 pounds with his trademark outrageous sense of humor and biting social commentary that makes this success story anything but ordinary.
Legendary magician Penn Jillette was approaching his sixtieth birthday. Topping 330 pounds and saddled with a systolic blood pressure reading over 200, he knew he was at a dangerous crossroads: if he wanted to see his small children grow up, he needed to change. And then came Crazy Ray. A former NASA scientist and an unconventional, passionate innovator, Ray Cronise saved Penn Jillette’s life with his wild “potato diet.”

In Presto, Jillette takes us along on his journey from skepticism to the inspiring, life-changing momentum that transformed the magician’s body and mind. He describes the process in hilarious detail, as he performs his Las Vegas show, takes meetings with Hollywood executives, hangs out with his celebrity friends and fellow eccentric performers, all while remaining a dedicated husband and father. Throughout, he weaves in his views on sex, religion, and pop culture, making his story a refreshing, genre-busting account. Outspoken, frank, and bitingly clever, Presto is an incisive, rollicking read.

Here’s a link to the description page in the Digital Catalog:

https://stls.overdrive.com/media/2607553

And our Print Book Suggested Read for today is:

Repo Madness: A Novel by W. Bruce Cameron:

Ruddy McCann is back in Repo Madness–the laugh-out-loud, thrilling adventure from bestselling author W. Bruce Cameron!

Ruddy McCann, former college football star, now Kalkaska, Michigan repo man, is finally getting his life back on track. He has a beautiful fiancé, Katie Lottner, a somewhat stable job stealing cars, and a lazy, lovable basset hound.

With his job suddenly in jeopardy, his fiancé wanting a break, and a new court-ordered psychiatrist insisting he take his medication or violate the terms of his probation, Ruddy finds himself missing the one thing he thought he would be happy to be rid of–the voice of Alan Lottner, dead realtor and Ruddy’s future father-in-law.

When a woman tells Ruddy that the tragedy that defines his life may, in fact, be a lie, Ruddy starts to investigate the disappearances of women in the area and soon discovers that his own redemption may be within reach. Alan’s voice returns, and Ruddy and Alan work together to bring down a corrupt banker, win back Katie’s love, and stop a serial killer before he can strike again

You can request the book by clicking on the following link to StarCat:

http://goo.gl/9463z3

Or by calling the library at: 607-936-3713 x 502.

Have a great day!
Linda, SSCL

Online Catalog Links:

StarCat: The catalog of physical materials, i.e. print books, DVDs, audiobooks on CD etc. http://starcat.stls.org/

The Digital Catalog: The catalog of e-books, downloadable audiobooks and a handful of streaming videos: https://stls.overdrive.com/

Zinio: Digital magazines on demand and for free! Back issues are available and you can even choose to be notified by email when the new issue of your favorite magazine is available: https://www.rbdigital.com/stlschemungcony

About Library Mobile Apps:

Daily Print & Digital Suggested Reads: Monday, August 29, 2016

August 29, 2016 Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, here are our suggested daily recommended read in print and digital formats.

Our Digital Catalog suggested title for today is the e-book:

Bright, Precious Days by Jay McInerney:

From the best-selling author of Bright Lights, Big City: a sexy, vibrant, cross-generational New York story—a literary and commercial triumph of the highest order.

Even decades after their arrival, Corrine and Russell Calloway still feel as if they’re living the dream that drew them to New York City in the first place: book parties or art openings one night and high-society events the next; jobs they care about (and in fact love); twin children whose birth was truly miraculous; a loft in TriBeCa and summers in the Hamptons. But all of this comes at a fiendish cost. Russell, an independent publisher, has superb cultural credentials yet minimal cash flow; as he navigates a business that requires, beyond astute literary judgment, constant financial improvisation, he encounters an audacious, potentially game-changing—or ruinous—opportunity. Meanwhile, instead of chasing personal gain in this incredibly wealthy city, Corrine devotes herself to helping feed its hungry poor, and she and her husband soon discover they’re being priced out of the newly fashionable neighborhood they’ve called home for most of their adult lives, with their son and daughter caught in the balance.

Then Corrine’s world is turned upside down when the man with whom she’d had an ill-fated affair in the wake of 9/11 suddenly reappears. As the novel unfolds across a period of stupendous change—including Obama’s historic election and the global economic collapse he inherited—the Calloways will find themselves and their marriage tested more severely than they ever could have imagined

Here’s a link to the description page in the Digital Catalog:

https://stls.overdrive.com/media/2574153

And our Print Book Suggested Read for today is:

Game of Their Own:

Voices of Contemporary Women in Baseball

by Jennifer Ring:

In 2010 twenty American women were selected to represent Team USA in the fourth Women’s Baseball World Cup in Caracas, Venezuela; most Americans, however, had no idea such a team even existed.

A Game of Their Own chronicles the largely invisible history of women in baseball and offers an account of the 2010 Women’s World Cup tournament. Jennifer Ring includes oral histories of eleven members of the U.S. Women’s National Team, from the moment each player picked up a bat and ball as a young girl to her selection for Team USA. Each story is unique, but they share common themes that will resonate with young female players and fans alike: facing skepticism and taunts from players and parents when taking the batter’s box or the pitcher’s mound, self-doubt, the unceasing pressure to switch to softball, and eventual acceptance by their baseball teammates as they prove themselves as ballplayers.

These racially, culturally, and economically diverse players from across the country have ignored the message that their love of the national pastime is “wrong.” Their stories come alive as they recount their battles and most memorable moments playing baseball—the joys of exceeding expectations and the pleasure of honing baseball skills and talent despite the lack of support.

With exclusive interviews with players, coaches, and administrators, A Game of Their Own celebrates the U.S. Women’s National Team and the excellence of its remarkable players. In response to the jeer “No girls allowed!” these are powerful stories of optimism, feistiness, and staying true to oneself.

You can request the book by clicking on the following link to StarCat:

http://goo.gl/ZrmTBO

Or by calling the library at: 607-936-3713 x 502.

Have a great day!
Linda, SSCL

Online Catalog Links:

StarCat: The catalog of physical materials, i.e. print books, DVDs, audiobooks on CD etc. http://starcat.stls.org/

The Digital Catalog: The catalog of e-books, downloadable audiobooks and a handful of streaming videos: https://stls.overdrive.com/

About Library Mobile Apps:

Help from Hannah Anew

August 28, 2016August 11, 2016 Linda Reimer

20160811_162523 If you visit the Southeast Steuben County Library (SSCL) often, then you would likely recognize me. I have filled various positions at the SSCL since 2006. For library users, I have organized materials, shelved materials, checked materials in and out of the building, provided reference services, provided children’s desk services, managed the meeting rooms for a while, and managed overdue and lost items for a couple of years.

Here I am growing into another position, as a digital literacy specialist…

Digital Literacy Defined What does that mean? You get to call upon me, or my fellow digital literacy–and much, much more–staff: Linda, to serve you in moments of exploration, challenge, and learning with regard to digital technology. For example, computers, software, tablets, mobile phones, and e-readers; online job searches, applications, interview preparation and updating your resume. We have all kinds of materials and equipment to explore and utilize at the public library, and I hope to see you here (or during one of our outreach events).

Southeast Steuben County Library
Digital Literacy Services
(607) 936-3713 Ext. 216 for me, Ext. 212 for Linda, Ext. 502 for the quick & brief.
Or diglit@stls.org

Daily Print & Digital Suggested Reads: Friday, August 26, 2016

August 26, 2016August 26, 2016 Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, here are our suggested daily recommended read in print and digital formats.

Our Digital Catalog suggested title for today is the e-book:

The Black Widow by Daniel Silva:

Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller

“Fascinating, suspenseful, and bated-breath exciting…. Silva proves once again that he can rework familiar genre material and bring it to new life.”
— Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Silva builds suspense like a symphony conductor…. A winner on all fronts.”
— Booklist, starred review

Bestselling author Daniel Silva delivers another spellbinding international thriller—one that finds the legendary Gabriel Allon grappling with an ISIS mastermind.

Gabriel Allon, the art restorer, spy, and assassin described as the most compelling fictional creation “since Ian Fleming put down his martini and invented James Bond” (Rocky Mountain News), is poised to become the chief of Israel’s secret intelligence service. But on the eve of his promotion, events conspire to lure him into the field for one final operation. ISIS has detonated a massive bomb in the Marais district of Paris, and a desperate French government wants Gabriel to eliminate the man responsible before he can strike again.

Acclaimed novelist Daniel Silva has thrilled, entertained and educated readers with eighteen thoughtful and gripping spy novels featuring a diverse cast of compelling characters and ingenious plots that have taken them around the globe and back—from the United States to Europe, Russia to the Middle East. From its shocking opening to its explosive denouement in Washington, D.C., The Black Widow reveals itself as Silva’s most timely and powerful novel yet. Following the success of his smash hit The English Spy, this electrifying thriller showcases Silva’s consummate skill and brilliant imagination, and is sure to be a must read for his multitude of current and future fans.

Here’s a link to the description page in the Digital Catalog:

https://stls.overdrive.com/media/2435304

And our Print Book Suggested Read for today is:

House at the Edge of Night: Catherine Banner:

A sweeping saga about four generations of a family who live and love on an enchanting island off the coast of Italy—combining the romance of Beautiful Ruins with the magical tapestry of works by Isabel Allende.

Castellamare is an island far enough away from the mainland to be forgotten, but not far enough to escape from the world’s troubles. At the center of the island’s life is a café draped with bougainvillea called the House at the Edge of Night, where the community gathers to gossip and talk. Amedeo Esposito, a foundling from Florence, finds his destiny on the island with his beautiful wife, Pina, whose fierce intelligence, grace, and unwavering love guide her every move. An indiscretion tests their marriage, and their children—three sons and an inquisitive daughter—grow up and struggle with both humanity’s cruelty and its capacity for love and mercy.

Spanning nearly a century, through secrets and mysteries, trials and sacrifice, this beautiful and haunting novel follows the lives of the Esposito family and the other islanders who live and love on Castellamare: a cruel count and his bewitching wife, a priest who loves scandal, a prisoner of war turned poet, an outcast girl who becomes a pillar of strength, a wounded English soldier who emerges from the sea. The people of Castellamare are transformed by two world wars and a great recession, by the threat of fascism and their deep bonds of passion and friendship, and by bitter rivalries and the power of forgiveness.

Catherine Banner has written an enthralling, character-rich novel, epic in scope but intimate in feeling. At times, the island itself seems alive, a mythical place where the earth heaves with stories—and this magical novel takes you there.”

You can request the book by clicking on the following link to StarCat:

http://goo.gl/fFYzmG

Or by calling the library at: 607-936-3713 x 502.

Have a great day!
Linda, SSCL

Online Catalog Links:

StarCat: The catalog of physical materials, i.e. print books, DVDs, audiobooks on CD etc. http://starcat.stls.org/

The Digital Catalog: The catalog of e-books, downloadable audiobooks and a handful of streaming videos: https://stls.overdrive.com/

About Library Mobile Apps:

Daily Print & Digital Suggested Reads: Thursday, August 25, 2016

August 25, 2016 Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, here are our suggested daily recommended read in print and digital formats.

Our Digital Catalog suggested title for today is the e-book:

Dragonmark by Sherrilyn Kenyon:

Centuries ago, Illarion was betrayed– a dragon made human against his will, then forced to serve humanity as a dragonmount in their army, and to fight for them in barbaric wars, even while he hated everything about them. Enslaved and separated from everyone he knew and from his own dragon brothers, he was forced into exile in a fey realm where he lost the only thing he ever really loved.

Now he has a chance to regain what’s been lost― to have the one thing he covets most. But only if he gives up his brothers and forsakes the oaths he holds most dear. Yet what terrifies him most isn’t the cost his happiness might incur, it’s the fact that there is just enough human in his dragon’s heart that he might actually be willing to pay it and betray everything and everyone– to see the entire world burn in Dragonmark, the next blockbuster Dark-Hunter novel by #1 New York Timesbestselling author Sherrilyn Kenyon.

Here’s a link to the description/request page in the Digital Catalog:

https://stls.overdrive.com/media/2420630

And here’s a listing of all the books in the series to-date – just in case anyone wants to jump in and start reading them from the beginning!

1. Fantasy lover
2. Night pleasures
3. Night embrace
4. Dance with the devil
5. Kiss of the night
6. Night play
7. Seize the night
8. Sins of the night
9. Unleash the night
10. Dark side of the moon
11. Devil may cry
12. Acheron
13. One silent night
14. Bad moon rising
15. No mercy
16. Retribution
17. Time untime
18. Styxx
19. Son of no one
20. Dragonbane
21. Dragonmark

The list is from the KDL What’s Next site – accesible via the following link:

http://ww2.kdl.org/libcat/whatsnext.asp

And our Print Book Suggested Read for today is:

Where It Hurts by Reed Farrel Coleman:

From the critically acclaimed and award-winning author comes a gritty, atmospheric new series about the other side of Long Island, far from the wealth of the Hamptons, where real people live—and die.

Gus Murphy thought he had the world all figured out. A retired Suffolk County cop, Gus had everything a man could want: a great marriage, two kids, a nice house, and the rest of his life ahead of him. But when tragedy strikes, his life is thrown into complete disarray. In the course of a single deadly moment, his family is blown apart and he is transformed from a man who believes he understands everything into a man who understands nothing.

Divorced and working as a courtesy van driver for the run-down hotel in which he has a room, Gus has settled into a mindless, soulless routine that barely keeps his grief at arm’s length. But Gus’s comfortable waking trance comes to an end when ex-con Tommy Delcamino asks him for help. Four months earlier, Tommy’s son T.J.’s battered body was discovered in a wooded lot, yet the Suffolk County PD doesn’t seem interested in pursuing the killers. In desperation, Tommy seeks out the only cop he ever trusted—Gus Murphy.

Gus reluctantly agrees to see what he can uncover. As he begins to sweep away the layers of dust that have collected over the case during the intervening months, Gus finds that Tommy was telling the truth. It seems that everyone involved with the late T.J Delcamino—from his best friend, to a gang enforcer, to a mafia capo, and even the police—has something to hide, and all are willing to go to extreme lengths to keep it hidden. It’s a dangerous favor Gus has taken on as he claws his way back to take a place among the living, while searching through the sewers for a killer.

You can request the book by clicking on the following link to StarCat:

http://goo.gl/H05QXa

Or by calling the library at: 607-936-3713 x 502.

Have a great day!
Linda, SSCL

P.S. If you like adult coloring books — check out Zinio where you can now download and print off pages from adult coloring books for free — including a cool on featuring cats!

Online Catalog Links:

StarCat: The catalog of physical materials, i.e. print books, DVDs, audiobooks on CD etc. http://starcat.stls.org/

The Digital Catalog: The catalog of e-books, downloadable audiobooks and a handful of streaming videos: https://stls.overdrive.com/

About Library Mobile Apps:

Daily Print & Digital Suggested Reads: Wednesday, August 24, 2016

August 24, 2016August 24, 2016 Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, here are our suggested daily recommended reads in print and digital formats- the digital “read” for today is an audiobook!

Our Digital Catalog suggested title for today – the audiobook:

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates:

In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American history and ideals to the most intimate concerns of a father for his son, Ta-Nehisi Coates offers a powerful new framework for understanding our nation’s history and current crisis. Americans have built an empire on the idea of “race,” a falsehood that damages us all but falls most heavily on the bodies of black women and men—bodies exploited through slavery and segregation, and, today, threatened, locked up, and murdered out of all proportion. What is it like to inhabit a black body and find a way to live within it? And how can we all honestly reckon with this fraught history and free ourselves from its burden?

Between the World and Me is Ta-Nehisi Coates’s attempt to answer these questions in a letter to his adolescent son. Coates shares with his son—and readers—the story of his awakening to the truth about his place in the world through a series of revelatory experiences, from Howard University to Civil War battlefields, from the South Side of Chicago to Paris, from his childhood home to the living rooms of mothers whose children’s lives were taken as American plunder. Beautifully woven from personal narrative, reimagined history, and fresh, emotionally charged reportage, Between the World and Me clearly illuminates the past, bracingly confronts our present, and offers a transcendent vision for a way forward.

Here’s a link to the description page in the Digital Catalog:

https://stls.overdrive.com/media/2160668

And our Print Book Suggested Read for today is:

Home Game: Big-League Stories from

My Life in Baseball’s First Family by Brent Boone:

From the first third-generation player in Major League history, a sometimes moving, always candid inside look at his family’s seventy years in baseball

A five-foot-ten fireball questioned by scouts because of his small stature, supposed lack of power, and cocky attitude, Bret Boone didn’t care about family legacy as he fought his way to the Major Leagues in 1992; he wanted to make his own way. He did just that, building a career that featured three All-Star appearances, four Gold Gloves, a bout with alcoholism, and the mixed blessing of being traded three times. But now that he’s coaching minor leaguers half his age—and his fifteen-year-old son has the potential to be the first fourth-generation Major Leaguer—Bret has a new perspective on his remarkable family, with its ten All-Star appearances, 634 home runs, 3,139 RBIs, and countless kitchen-table debates about the game’s greatest players. For the first time, he’s ready to share his adventures as part of the sport’s First Family.

Infused with Bret’s candor and deep love of the game, Home Game traces baseball’s evolution—on the field and behind the scenes—from his grandfather Ray’s era in the 1950s to his father Bob’s in the ’70s and ’80s to the one he shared with his brother Aaron in the ’90s and 2000s—sometimes called the PED era—when players made millions, dined on lobster in the clubhouse, and, in some cases, indulged in performance-enhancing drugs. Along the way, his book also touches on Boone family lore, from Ray playing with his hero Ted Williams and Bob winning a World Series with the 1980 Phillies to Bret’s flop in a nationally televised home-run derby and Aaron’s historic home run in the 2003 playoffs.

Blending nostalgia, close analysis of the game, insight into baseball’s unwritten codes, and controversial thoughts on its future as a sport and a business, Bret Boone offers a one-of-a-kind look at the national pastime—from the colorful, quotable scion of a family whose business is baseball.

You can request the book by clicking on the following link to StarCat:

http://goo.gl/UjsgXT

Or by calling the library at: 607-936-3713 x 502.

Have a great day!
Linda, SSCL

Online Catalog Links:

StarCat: The catalog of physical materials, i.e. print books, DVDs, audiobooks on CD etc. http://starcat.stls.org/

The Digital Catalog: The catalog of e-books, downloadable audiobooks and a handful of streaming videos: https://stls.overdrive.com/

About Library Mobile Apps:

Daily Print & Digital Suggested Reads: Tuesday, August 23, 2016

August 23, 2016 Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, here are our suggested daily recommended read in print and digital formats.

Our Digital Catalog suggested title for today is the e-book:

Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J. D. Vance:

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

“A riveting book.”—The Wall Street Journal

“Essential reading.”—David Brooks, New York Times

From a former marine and Yale Law School graduate, a powerful account of growing up in a poor Rust Belt town that offers a broader, probing look at the struggles of America’s white working class

Hillbilly Elegy is a passionate and personal analysis of a culture in crisis—that of white working-class Americans. The decline of this group, a demographic of our country that has been slowly disintegrating over forty years, has been reported on with growing frequency and alarm, but has never before been written about as searingly from the inside. J. D. Vance tells the true story of what a social, regional, and class decline feels like when you were born with it hung around your neck.

The Vance family story begins hopefully in postwar America. J. D.’s grandparents were “dirt poor and in love,” and moved north from Kentucky’s Appalachia region to Ohio in the hopes of escaping the dreadful poverty around them. They raised a middle-class family, and eventually their grandchild (the author) would graduate from Yale Law School, a conventional marker of their success in achieving generational upward mobility.

But as the family saga of Hillbilly Elegy plays out, we learn that this is only the short, superficial version. Vance’s grandparents, aunt, uncle, sister, and, most of all, his mother, struggled profoundly with the demands of their new middle-class life, and were never able to fully escape the legacy of abuse, alcoholism, poverty, and trauma so characteristic of their part of America. Vance piercingly shows how he himself still carries around the demons of their chaotic family history.

A deeply moving memoir with its share of humor and vividly colorful figures, Hillbilly Elegy is the story of how upward mobility really feels. And it is an urgent and troubling meditation on the loss of the American dream for a large segment of this country.

Here’s a link to the description page in the Digital Catalog:

https://stls.overdrive.com/media/2411542

And our Print Book Suggested Read for today is:

Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov:

A 50th-anniversary Deluxe Edition of the incomparable 20th-century masterpiece of satire and fantasy, in a newly revised version of the acclaimed Pevear and Volokhonsky translation

Nothing in the whole of literature compares with The Master and Margarita. One spring afternoon, the Devil, trailing fire and chaos in his wake, weaves himself out of the shadows and into Moscow. Mikhail Bulgakov’s fantastical, funny, and devastating satire of Soviet life combines two distinct yet interwoven parts, one set in contemporary Moscow, the other in ancient Jerusalem, each brimming with historical, imaginary, frightful, and wonderful characters. Written during the darkest days of Stalin’s reign, and finally published in 1966 and 1967, The Master and Margarita became a literary phenomenon, signaling artistic and spiritual freedom for Russians everywhere.

This newly revised translation, by the award-winning team of Pevear and Volokhonsky, is made from the complete and unabridged Russian text.

This book is a New York Times recommended read! Here’s a link to the New York Times article/book review of the title:

You can request the book by clicking on the following link to StarCat:

http://goo.gl/t26jvp

Or by calling the library at: 607-936-3713 x 502.

Have a great day!
Linda, SSCL

Online Catalog Links:

StarCat: The catalog of physical materials, i.e. print books, DVDs, audiobooks on CD etc. http://starcat.stls.org/

The Digital Catalog: The catalog of e-books, downloadable audiobooks and a handful of streaming videos: https://stls.overdrive.com/

About Library Mobile Apps:

Daily Print & Digital Suggested Reads: Monday, August 22, 2016

August 22, 2016August 22, 2016 Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, here are our suggested daily recommended read in print and digital formats.

Our Digital Catalog suggested title for today is the digital audiobook:

American Heiress: The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping, Crimes and Trial of Patty Hearst

by Jeffrey Toobin:

From New Yorker staff writer and bestselling author of The Nine and The Run of His Life: The People v. O. J. Simpson, the definitive account of the kidnapping and trial that defined an insane era in American history

On February 4, 1974, Patty Hearst, a sophomore in college and heiress to the Hearst family fortune, was kidnapped by a ragtag group of self-styled revolutionaries calling itself the Symbionese Liberation Army. The already sensational story took the first of many incredible twists on April 3, when the group released a tape of Patty saying she had joined the SLA and had adopted the nom de guerre “Tania.”

The weird turns of the tale are truly astonishing—the Hearst family trying to secure Patty’s release by feeding all the people of Oakland and San Francisco for free; the bank security cameras capturing “Tania” wielding a machine gun during a robbery; a cast of characters including everyone from Bill Walton to the Black Panthers to Ronald Reagan to F. Lee Bailey; the largest police shoot-out in American history; the first breaking news event to be broadcast live on television stations across the country; Patty’s year on the lam, running from authorities; and her circuslike trial, filled with theatrical courtroom confrontations and a dramatic last-minute reversal, after which the term “Stockholm syndrome” entered the lexicon.

The saga of Patty Hearst highlighted a decade in which America seemed to be suffering a collective nervous breakdown. Based on more than a hundred interviews and thousands of previously secret documents, American Heiress thrillingly recounts the craziness of the times (there were an average of 1,500 terrorist bombings a year in the early 1970s). Toobin portrays the lunacy of the half-baked radicals of the SLA and the toxic mix of sex, politics, and violence that swept up Patty Hearst and re-creates her melodramatic trial. American Heiress examines the life of a young woman who suffered an unimaginable trauma and then made the stunning decision to join her captors’ crusade.
Or did she?

Here’s a link to the description page in the Digital Catalog:

https://stls.overdrive.com/media/2506677

And our Print Book Suggested Read for today is:

I Will Send Rain by Rae Meadows:

A luminous, tenderly rendered novel of a woman fighting for her family’s survival in the early years of the Dust Bowl; from the acclaimed and award-winning Rae Meadows.

Annie Bell can’t escape the dust. It’s in her hair, covering the windowsills, coating the animals in the barn, in the corners of her children’s dry, cracked lips. It’s 1934 and the Bell farm in Mulehead, Oklahoma is struggling as the earliest storms of The Dust Bowl descend. All around them the wheat harvests are drying out and people are packing up their belongings as storms lay waste to the Great Plains. As the Bells wait for the rains to come, Annie and each member of her family are pulled in different directions. Annie’s fragile young son, Fred, suffers from dust pneumonia; her headstrong daughter, Birdie, flush with first love, is choosing a dangerous path out of Mulehead; and Samuel, her husband, is plagued by disturbing dreams of rain.

As Annie, desperate for an escape of her own, flirts with the affections of an unlikely admirer, she must choose who she is going to become. With her warm storytelling and beautiful prose, Rae Meadows brings to life an unforgettable family that faces hardship with rare grit and determination. Rich in detail and epic in scope, I Will Send Rain is a powerful novel of upheaval and resilience, filled with hope, morality, and love.

You can request the book by clicking on the following link to StarCat:

http://goo.gl/8qpQZW

Or by calling the library at: 607-936-3713 x 502.

Have a great day!
Linda, SSCL

Online Catalog Links:

StarCat: The catalog of physical materials, i.e. print books, DVDs, audiobooks on CD etc. http://starcat.stls.org/

The Digital Catalog: The catalog of e-books, downloadable audiobooks and a handful of streaming videos: https://stls.overdrive.com/

About Library Mobile Apps:

Daily Print & Digital Suggested Reads: Friday, August 19, 2016

August 19, 2016 Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, here are our suggested daily recommended read in print and digital formats.

Our Digital Catalog suggested title for today is a nice light romantic supernatural e-book – perfect for weekend reading! Here’s a description of the book:

Strange Neighbors Series by Ashlyn Chase:

He’s looking for peace, quiet, and a little romance…
There’s never a dull moment when hunky all-star pitcher and shapeshifter Jason Falco invests in an old Boston brownstone apartment building full of supernatural creatures. But when Merry MacKenzie moves into the ground floor apartment, the playboy pitcher decides he might just be done playing the field…

A girl just wants to have fun…
Sexy Jason seems like the perfect fling, but newly independent nurse Merry’s not sure she’s ready to trust him with her heart…especially when the tabloids start trumpeting his playboy lifestyle.

Then pandemonium breaks loose and Merry and Jason will never get it together without a little help from the vampire who lives in the basement and the werewolf from upstairs.

Strange Neighbors Series
Strange Neighbors (Book 1)
The Werewolf Upstairs (Book 2)
The Vampire Next Door (Book 3)

Praise for The Werewolf Upstairs:
“Witty and wonderful…the entertaining plot, humor, sizzling sensual scenes, and romance make this story unforgettable.”-Romance Junkies
“Original and full of laughs, steamy sex, and madcap mayhem.”-Night Owl Romance
“An entertaining, funny read.” -RT Book Reviews
“Delicious romance…The Werewolf Upstairs seduced me!”-Sparkling Reviews

Here’s a link to the description page in the Digital Catalog:

https://stls.overdrive.com/media/344278

And our suggested print read for today is:

All We Have Left by Wendy Mills:

Now:
Sixteen-year-old Jesse is used to living with the echoes of the past. Her older brother died in the September 11th attacks, and her dad since has filled their home with anger and grief. When Jesse gets caught up with the wrong crowd, one momentary hate-fueled decision turns her life upside down. The only way to make amends is to face the past, starting Jesse on a journey that will reveal the truth about how her brother died.

Then:
In 2001, sixteen-year-old Alia is proud to be Muslim . . . it’s being a teenager that she finds difficult. After being grounded for a stupid mistake, Alia decides to confront her father at his Manhattan office, putting her in danger she never could have imagined. When the planes collide into the Twin Towers, Alia is trapped inside one of the buildings. In the final hours, she meets a boy who will change everything for her as the flames rage around them . . .

Interweaving stories from past and present, All We Have Left brings one of the most important days in our recent history to life, showing that love and hope will always triumph.

You can request the book by clicking on the following link to StarCat:

http://goo.gl/gbGEPx

Or by calling the library at: 607-936-3713 x 502.

Have a great day!
Linda, SSCL

Online Catalog Links:

StarCat: The catalog of physical materials, i.e. print books, DVDs, audiobooks on CD etc. http://starcat.stls.org/

The Digital Catalog: The catalog of e-books, downloadable audiobooks and a handful of streaming videos: https://stls.overdrive.com/

About Library Mobile Apps:

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