Month: February 2019

Hi everyone, here are our recommended titles for the week, five digital titles available through OverDrive and five print titles available through StarCat.

DIGITAL SUGGESTIONS OF THE WEEK:

Four Dead Queens by Astrid Scholte (Format: eBook):

Seventeen-year-old Keralie Corrington may seem harmless, but she’s, in fact, one of Quadara’s most skilled thieves and a liar. Varin, on the other hand, is an honest, upstanding citizen of Quadara’s most enlightened region, Eonia. He runs afoul of Keralie when she steals a package from him, putting his life in danger. When Varin attempts to retrieve the package, he and Keralie both find themselves entangled in a conspiracy that leaves all four of Quadara’s queens dead.

With no other choices and on the run from Keralie’s former employer, the two decide to join forces, endeavoring to discover who has killed the queens and save their own lives in the process. When their reluctant partnership blooms into a tenuous romance, they must overcome their own dark secrets in hopes of a future together that seemed impossible just days before. But first they have to stay alive and untangle the secrets behind the nation’s four dead queens.

An enthralling fast-paced murder mystery where competing agendas collide with deadly consequences, Four Dead Queens heralds the arrival of an exciting new YA talent.

 

Grace: A Novel written by Natashia Deon & read by Lisa Renee Pitts (Format: Downloadable Audiobook):

For a runaway slave in the 1840s South, life on the run can be just as dangerous as life under a sadistic master. That’s what fifteen-year-old Naomi learns after she escapes the brutal confines of life on an Alabama plantation. Striking out on her own, she leaves behind her beloved Momma and sister Hazel and takes refuge in a Georgia brothel run by a freewheeling, gun-toting Jewish madam named Cynthia. There, amid a revolving door of gamblers, prostitutes, and drunks, Naomi falls into a star-crossed love affair with a smooth-talking white man named Jeremy who frequents the brothel’s dice tables all too often.

The product of Naomi and Jeremy’s union is Josey, whose white skin and blonde hair mark her as different from the other slave children on the plantation. Having been taken in as an infant by a free slave named Charles, Josey has never known her mother, who was murdered at her birth. Josey soon becomes caught in the tide of history when news of the Emancipation Proclamation reaches the declining estate and a day of supposed freedom quickly turns into a day of unfathomable violence that will define Josey—and her lost mother—for years to come.

Deftly weaving together the stories of Josey and Naomi—who narrates the entire novel, unable to leave her daughter alone in the land of the living—Grace is a sweeping, intergenerational saga featuring a group of outcast women during one of the most compelling eras in American history. It is a universal story of freedom, love, and motherhood, told in a dazzling and original voice and set against a rich and transporting historical backdrop.

 

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet: A Novel written by Jamie Ford & read by Feodor Chin (Format: Downloadable Audiobook):

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “An impressive, bitter, and sweet debut that explores the age-old conflicts between father and son, the beauty and sadness of what happened to Japanese Americans in the Seattle era during World War II, and the depths and longing of deep-heart love.”—Lisa See

In 1986, Henry Lee joins a crowd outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle’s Japantown. It has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has discovered the belongings of Japanese families who were sent to internment camps during World War II. As the owner displays and unfurls a Japanese parasol, Henry, a Chinese American, remembers a young Japanese American girl from his childhood in the 1940s—Keiko Okabe, with whom he forged a bond of friendship and innocent love that transcended the prejudices of their Old World ancestors. After Keiko and her family were evacuated to the internment camps, she and Henry could only hope that their promise to each other would be kept. Now, forty years later, Henry explores the hotel’s basement for the Okabe family’s belongings and for a long-lost object whose value he cannot even begin to measure. His search will take him on a journey to revisit the sacrifices he has made for family, for love, for country.

 

Into the Wilderness, Wilderness Series, Book 1 written by Sara Donati & read by Kate Reading (Format: Downloadable Audiobook):

Weaving a vibrant tapestry of fact and fiction, Into the Wilderness sweeps us into another time and place…and into the heart of a forbidden, incandescent affair between a spinster Englishwoman and an American frontiersman. Here is an epic of romance and history that will captivate readers from the very first page.

When Elizabeth Middleton, twenty-nine years old and unmarried, leaves her Aunt Merriweather’s comfortable English estate to join her father and brother in the remote mountain village of Paradise on the edge of the New York wilderness, she does so with a strong will and an unwavering purpose: to teach school.

It is December of 1792 when she arrives in a cold climate unlike any she has ever experienced. And she meets a man different from any she has ever encountered–a white man dressed like a Native American, tall and lean and unsettling in his blunt honesty. He is Nathaniel Bonner, also known to the Mohawk people as Between-Two-Lives.

Determined to provide schooling for all the children of the village–white, black, and Native American–Elizabeth soon finds herself at odds with local slave owners. Much to her surprise, she clashes with her own father as well. Financially strapped, Judge Middleton has plans for his daughter–betrothal to local doctor Richard Todd. An alliance with Todd could extract her father from ruin but would call into question the ownership of Hidden Wolf, the mountain where Nathaniel, his father, and a small group of Native Americans live and hunt.

As Judge Middleton brings pressure to bear against his daughter, she is faced with a choice between compliance and deception, a flight into the forest, and a desire that will bend her hard will to compromise and transformation. Elizabeth’s ultimate destiny, here in the heart of the wilderness, lies in the odyssey to come: trials of faith and flesh, and passion born amid Nathaniel’s own secrets and divided soul.

Interweaving the fate of the remnants of the Mohawk Nation with the destiny of two lovers, Sara Donati’s compelling novel creates a complex, profound, passionate portrait of an emerging America.

 

Lady Smoke, Ash Princess by Laura Sebastian (Format: eBook):

The sequel to the instant New York Times bestseller that was “made for fans of Victoria Aveyard and Sabaa Tahir” (Bustle), Lady Smoke is an epic new fantasy about a throne cruelly stolen and a girl who must fight to take it back for her people.

The Kaiser murdered Theodosia’s mother, the Fire Queen, when Theo was only six. He took Theo’s country and kept her prisoner, crowning her Ash Princess—a pet to toy with and humiliate for ten long years. That era has ended. The Kaiser thought his prisoner weak and defenseless. He didn’t realize that a sharp mind is the deadliest weapon.

Theo no longer wears a crown of ashes. She has taken back her rightful title, and a hostage—Prinz Soren. But her people remain enslaved under the Kaiser’s rule, and now she is thousands of miles away from them and her throne.

To get them back, she will need an army. Only, securing an army means she must trust her aunt, the dreaded pirate Dragonsbane. And according to Dragonsbane, an army can only be produced if Theo takes a husband. Something an Astrean Queen has never done.
Theo knows that freedom comes at a price, but she is determined to find a way to save her country without losing herself.

Praise for the Ash Princess Series:

“A darkly enchanting page-turner you won’t be able to put down.”—Bustle

“A dark and spellbinding epic.” —Sara Holland, New York Times bestselling author of Everless

“A rebel queen fans the sparks of revolution…[and] Theo’s first-person narration remains enthralling with emotional immediacy…[while] packed to the brim with intrigue and the promise.”-Kirkus Reviews

 

PRINT BOOK SUGGESTIONS OF THE WEEK:

American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson:

It’s 1986, the heart of the Cold War, and Marie Mitchell is an intelligence officer with the FBI. She’s brilliant, but she’s also a young black woman working in an old boys? club. Her career has stalled out, she’s overlooked for every high-profile squad, and her days are filled with monotonous paperwork. So when she’s given the opportunity to join a shadowy task force aimed at undermining Thomas Sankara, the charismatic revolutionary president of Burkina Faso whose Communist ideology has made him a target for American intervention, she says yes. Yes, even though she secretly admires the work Sankara is doing for his country. Yes, even though she is still grieving the mysterious death of her sister, whose example led Marie to this career path in the first place. Yes, even though a furious part of her suspects she’s being offered the job because of her appearance and not her talent. In the year that follows, Marie will observe Sankara, seduce him, and ultimately have a hand in the coup that will bring him down. But doing so will change everything she believes about what it means to be a spy, a lover, a sister, and a good American. –Indiebound Review

 

Bangkok Wakes To Rain by Pitchaya Sudbanthad:

A house in the center of Bangkok becomes the point of confluence where lives are shaped by upheaval, memory, and the lure of home. Witness to two centuries’ flux in one of the world’s most restless cities, a house plays host to longings and losses past, present, and future.

A nineteenth-century missionary doctor pines for the comforts of New England even as he finds the vibrant foreign chaos of Siam increasingly difficult to resist. A post-war society woman marries, mothers, and holds court, little suspecting the course of her future. A jazz pianist is summoned in the 1970s to conjure music that will pacify resident spirits, even as he’s haunted by ghosts of his former life. Not long after, a young woman gives swimming lessons in the luxury condos that have eclipsed the old house, trying to outpace the long shadow of her political past. And in the post-submergence Bangkok of the future, a band of savvy teenagers guides tourists and former residents past waterlogged, ruined landmarks, selling them tissues to wipe their tears for places they themselves do not remember. Time collapses as these stories collide and converge, linked by blood, memory, yearning, chance, and the forces voraciously making and remaking the amphibian, ever-morphing city itself.

 

The Cassandra: A Novel by Sharma Shields:

The Cassandra follows a woman who goes to work in a top secret research facility during WWII, only to be tormented by visions of what the mission will mean for humankind.

Mildred Groves is an unusual young woman. Gifted and cursed with the ability to see the future, Mildred runs away from home to take a secretary position at the Hanford Research Center in the early 1940s. Hanford, a massive construction camp on the banks of the Columbia River in remote South Central Washington, exists to test and manufacture a mysterious product that will aid the war effort. Only the top generals and scientists know that this product is processed plutonium, for use in the first atomic bombs.

Mildred is delighted, at first, to be part of something larger than herself after a lifetime spent as an outsider. But her new life takes a dark turn when she starts to have prophetic dreams about what will become of humankind if the project is successful. As the men she works for come closer to achieving their goals, her visions intensify to a nightmarish pitch, and she eventually risks everything to question those in power, putting her own physical and mental health in jeopardy. Inspired by the classic Greek myth, this 20th century reimagining of Cassandra’s story is based on a real WWII compound that the author researched meticulously. A timely novel about patriarchy and militancy, The Cassandra uses both legend and history to look deep into man’s capacity for destruction, and the resolve and compassion it takes to challenge the powerful.

 

Dark Sky Rising: Reconstruction and the Dawn of Jim Crow by Henry Louis Gates Jr.:

This is a story about America during and after Reconstruction, one of history’s most pivotal and misunderstood chapters. In a stirring account of emancipation, the struggle for citizenship and national reunion, and the advent of racial segregation, the renowned Harvard scholar delivers a book that is illuminating and timely. Real-life accounts drive the narrative, spanning the half century between the Civil War and Birth of a Nation. Here, you will come face-to-face with the people and events of Reconstruction’s noble democratic experiment, its tragic undermining, and the drawing of a new “color line” in the long Jim Crow era that followed. In introducing young readers to them, and to the resiliency of the African American people at times of progress and betrayal, Professor Gates shares a history that remains vitally relevant today.

 

The Unlounging: From A Belly Full Of Beer And A Craw Full Of Time by Selraybob:

Mid-twenties and already beaten down and hopeless, Selraybob spends his days on his worn out lounger, drinking quarts of Busch and talking to his buddy Herm on the phone. Productivity is a forgotten dream. Until, right in the middle of his wife’s long-overdue goodbye speech, Selraybob has an epiphany. It’s about Time. Time, he determines, is a count. It’s only a count. Einstein was wrong. And life on the lounger will never be the same.

“A piquant and fun romp that recounts the misadventures of a beer drinker who proves to be as insightful as he is amusing….Written in a distinctive, plain style that calls to mind Mark Twain, this book should touch and entertain readers with its self-deprecating humor and deep perceptions that penetrate to the root of the Midwest American male character.” — Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)

Have a great week!

Linda, SSCL

Online Catalog Links:

StarCat

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

The Digital Catalog (OverDrive)

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

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:

RBDigital

*Magazines are available for free and on demand! You can check out magazines and read them on your computer or download the RBDigital app from your app store and read them on your mobile devices.

About Library 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.

Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.

Hi everyone, here are our lucky seven musical streaming* suggestions for the week.

(Click on the photos of the albums you’d like to hear to stream them!)

Tennessee Alabama Fireworks (2018) by Boo Ray (Genre: Country, Alt Country)

Originally from Georgia, singer-songwriter and guitarist Boo Ray is a self-described “southern troubadour” who moved to Los Angeles in 2006 to begin a recording career; Tennessee Alabama Fireworks is his latest LP and features great modern rocking country music!

Songs on the LP include: A Tune You Can Whistle, Gone Back Down to Georgia, Honky Tonk Dream, She Wrote the Song and Dee Elle.

 

Souled by José Feliciano (Genre: Guitar, Latin, Pop, Flamenco):

A classic sixties LP by the great flamenco guitarist and singer José Feliciano.

Feliciano has a gift for blending his terrific flamenco guitar playing with popular songs to create fun, uplifting music.

Songs in the set include: Younger Generation, I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight, And The Sun Will Shine, Hey! Baby and Hitchock Railway

 

Ceilings and Floors (2019) by Lisa Frangeur (Genre: Jazz, Easy Listening):

Ceilings and Floors is the brand new album by Swedish jazz singer Lisa Frangeur. I’ll admit I had never heard of Lisa Frangeur before I did the research for this posting. However, she has a great voice and this is a lovely, easy listening collection of songs – perfect for a relaxing weekend at home.

Songs on the LP include: Wouldn’t it Be Nice, Ceilings And Floors, Waltz About Falling, Peace of Mind and There Must Be Love.

 

Mio caro Händel by Simone Kermes (Genre: Classical):

Simone Kermes is a coloratura soprano who is known for her outstanding singing of Baroque and early operatic pieces.

According to Google the title of her new album, Mio caro Händel, translates into English as “My Dear Handel”, and as you might expect the album features works by the great 18th Century composer George Frideric Handel including Rinaldo: Furie Terribili! Armida (Act I, Scene 5), Amadigi Di Gaula: Ah, Spietato Melissa (Act I, Scene 4), Athalia: My Vengeance Awakes Me Athalia (Part II, Scene 2) and The Triumph of Time and Truth: Guardian Angels Beauty (Part III).

 

The Best of The ’68 Comeback Special (2019) by Elvis Presley (Genre: Rock, Traditional Rock):

This album was just released on February 15 to mark the 50th anniversary of Elvis’s renowned TV special –  The NBC “68 Comback Special.”

If you’re not a huge Elvis fan and you wonder why Elvis is known as a pillar of rock n’ roll because you’ve mostly heard his ballads on the radio then this album, and the video of the ’68 Comeback Special, will give you a clue!

And if you are an Elvis fan – enjoy!

 

Radio Hits of the Seventies by Various Artists (Genre: Pop, Rock):

I’m showing my vintage but I couldn’t resist including this neat collection of seventies pop songs!

Song in this various artists collection include: Please Come To Boston by Dave Loggins, Life Is A Rock by Reunion, STIR IT UP by Johnny Nash, My Maria by B. W. Stevenson, Seasons in the Sun by Terry Jacks, Amie by Pure Prairie League and Magnet and Steel by Walter Egan.

 

Are You Open? (2019) By Seth Walker (Genre: Blues, Pop, Rock):

Seth Walker is a blues guitarist from Austin, Texas known for his T-Bone Walker-ish style of guitar playing, and Are You Open? is his brand new album.

Songs on the LP include: Giving It All Away, All I Need to Know, Hard Road, No Bird and Are You Open?

 

Videos of the Week:

A Tune You Can Whistle by Boo Ray

I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight by Jose Feliciano

Hey! Baby by Jose Feliciano

Ceilings And Floors by Lisa Frangeur

Amadigi di Gaula, HWV 11, Act I, Scene 4: Ah, spietato by Simone Kermes

That’s Alright Mama by Elvis

Baby, What You Want Me To Do Jam from the video version of the 50th Anniversary of the ’68 Comeback Special

Life Is A Rock by Reunion

Please Come To Boston by David Loggins

Turn The Beat Around by Vickie Sue Robinson

Are You Open? By Seth Walker

Have a great weekend!

Linda, SSCL

REFERENCES:

AllMusic. https://www.allmusic.com/

The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits by Joel Witburn

Official Boo Ray Site, https://booraymusic.com/

About Freegal: 

Freegal is a free streaming music service available for free to library card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries. STLS member libraries include all the public libraries in Steuben, Chemung, Yates, Schuyler and Allegany counties — including our own Southeast Steuben County Library.

You can download the Freegal music app to your mobile device or access the desktop version of the site by clicking on the following link:

*The Freegal service offers library card holders the option to download, and keep, three free songs per week and to stream three hours of commercial free music each day.

Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.

Hi everyone, here are the top New York Times fiction and non-fiction bestsellers for this week.

(Click on the book covers to read a summary of each plot and to request the books of your choice.)

FICTION:

AN AMERICAN MARRIAGE by Tayari Jones:

A newlywed couple’s relationship is tested when the husband is sentenced to 12 years in prison.

 

AN ANONYMOUS GIRL by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen:

Jessica Farris’s life unravels when she signs up for Dr. Shields’s psychology study.

 

Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James:

A loner named Tracker teams up with a group of unusual characters in search of a mysterious boy.

 

CIRCE by Madeline Miller:

Zeus banishes Helios’ daughter to an island, where she must choose between living with gods or mortals.

 

CONNECTIONS IN DEATH by J. D. Robb:

Eve Dallas scours tattoo parlors and strip joints for clues to the cause of Lyle Pickering’s mysterious death.

 

DEVOTIONS by Mary Oliver:

A collection of more than 200 poems spanning 50 years of the author’s career.

 

EARLY RISER BY Jasper Fforde:

Charlie Worthing investigates an outbreak of viral dreams killing a hibernating human population.

 

ELEANOR OLIPHANT IS COMPLETELY FINE by Gail Honeyman:

A young woman’s well-ordered life is disrupted by the I.T. guy from her office.

 

FIFTY FIFTY by James Patterson:

Detective Harriet Blue tries to clear her brother’s name and save a small Australian town from being massacred.

 

FIRE AND BLOOD by George R.R. Martin:

Set 300 years before the events of “A Game of Thrones,” this is the first volume of the two-part history of the Targaryens in Westeros.

 

THE LAST ROMANTICS by Tara Conklin:

A family crisis tests the bonds and ideals of a renowned poet and her siblings.

 

LIAR LIAR by James Patterson and Candice Fox:

Detective Harriet Blue has become a dangerous fugitive from the law as she pursues the murderer Regan Banks.

 

LILAC GIRLS by Martha Hall Kelly:

A story of three women’s lives during and after World War II.

 

THE LOST GIRLS OF PARIS by Pam Jenoff:

Grace Healey investigates the fates of 12 women who were sent to occupied Europe to help the resistance during World War II.

 

THE NIGHT TIGER by Yangsze Choo:

In 1930s colonial Malaysia, dangers encroach upon a dressmaker’s apprentice and a houseboy as they seek to help others close to them.

 

THE RECKONING by John Grisham:

A decorated World War II veteran shoots and kills a pastor inside a Mississippi church.

 

THE SILENT PATIENT by Alex Michaelides:

Theo Faber looks into the mystery of a famous painter who stops speaking after shooting her husband.

 

TATTOOIST OF AUSCHWITZ by Heather Morris:

A concentration camp detainee tasked with permanently marking fellow prisoners falls in love with one of them.

 

VENGEANCE ROAD by Christine Feehan:

The second book in the Torpedo Ink series. Complications rev up between Breezy and Steele.

 

THE WEDDING GUEST by Jonathan Kellerman:

Milo Sturgis and Alex Delaware investigate the death of a stranger at a wedding reception.

 

WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING by Delia Owens:

In a quiet town on the North Carolina coast in 1969, a young woman who survived alone in the marsh becomes a murder suspect.

 

NON-FICTION:

ASTROPHYSICS FOR PEOPLE IN A HURRY by Neil deGrasse Tyson:

A straightforward, easy-to-understand introduction to the universe.

 

BAD BLOOD by John Carreyrou:

The rise and fall of Theranos, the biotech startup that failed to deliver on its promise to make blood testing more efficient.

 

BECOMING by Michelle Obama:

The former first lady describes her journey from the South Side of Chicago to the White House, and how she balanced work, family and her husband’s political ascent.

 

BORN A CRIME by Trevor Noah:

A memoir about growing up biracial in apartheid South Africa by the host of “The Daily Show.”

 

EDUCATED by Tara Westover:

The daughter of survivalists, who is kept out of school, educates herself enough to leave home for university.

 

THE FIRST CONSPIRACY by Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch Flatiron:

The story of a secret plot to kill George Washington in 1776.

 

KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON by David Grann:

The story of a murder spree in 1920s Oklahoma that targeted Osage Indians, whose lands contained oil.

 

LET ME FINISH by Chris Christie:

The former governor of New Jersey describes his relationship with President Trump and the tensions among others close to the president.

 

THE LIBRARY BOOK by Susan Orlean:

The story of the 1986 fire at the Los Angeles Public Library provides a backdrop to the evolution and purpose of libraries.

 

MAID by Stephanie Land:

An unexpected pregnancy forces the author to navigate challenges faced by the working poor.

 

MIDNIGHT IN CHERNOBYL by Adam Higginbotham:

An account of the 1986 disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, based on hundreds of hours of interviews.

PARKLAND by David Cullen:

Portraits of the teenage survivors of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School who created the #neveragain movement.

 

SAPIENS by Yuval Noah Harari:

How Homo sapiens became Earth’s dominant species.

 

TEAM OF VIPERS by Cliff Sims:

The former special assistant to President Trump recalls what he considers his successes and failures in the White House.

 

WOMEN ROWING NORTH by Mary Pipher:

Reflections on the ageism, misogyny and loss that women might encounter as they grow older.

Have a great day!

Linda, SSL

 

Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.

Hi everyone, here are our recommended titles for the week, five digital titles available through OverDrive and five print titles available through StarCat.

DIGITAL SUGGESTIONS OF THE WEEK:

The Great Trouble: A Mystery of London, the Blue Death, and a Boy Called Eel by Deborah Hopkinson (eBook):

“A delightful combination of race-against-the-clock medical mystery and outwit-the-bad-guys adventure.” –Publishers Weekly, Starred

Eel has troubles of his own: As an orphan and a “mudlark,” he spends his days in the filthy River Thames, searching for bits of things to sell. He’s being hunted by Fisheye Bill Tyler, and a nastier man never walked the streets of London. And he’s got a secret that costs him four precious shillings a week to keep safe. But even for Eel, things aren’t so bad until that fateful August day in 1854–the day the deadly cholera (“blue death”) comes to Broad Street.

Everyone believes that cholera is spread through poisonous air. But one man, Dr. John Snow, has a different theory. As the epidemic surges, it’s up to Eel and his best friend, Florrie, to gather evidence to prove Dr. Snow’s theory–before the entire neighborhood is wiped out.

 

Home Front by Kristin Hannah (Format: eBook):

In her bestselling novels Kristin Hannah has plumbed the depths of friendship, the loyalty of sisters, and the secrets mothers keep. Now, in her most emotionally powerful story yet, she explores the intimate landscape of a troubled marriage with this provocative and timely portrait of a husband and wife, in love and at war.

All marriages have a breaking point. All families have wounds. All wars have a cost. . . .

Like many couples, Michael and Jolene Zarkades have to face the pressures of everyday life—-children, careers, bills, chores—-even as their twelve-year marriage is falling apart. Then an unexpected deployment sends Jolene deep into harm’s way and leaves defense attorney Michael at home, unaccustomed to being a single parent to their two girls. As a mother, it agonizes Jolene to leave her family, but as a solider she has always understood the true meaning of duty. In her letters home, she paints a rose-colored version of her life on the front lines, shielding her family from the truth. But war will change Jolene in ways that none of them could have foreseen. When tragedy strikes, Michael must face his darkest fear and fight a battle of his own—-for everything that matters to his family.

At once a profoundly honest look at modern marriage and a dramatic exploration of the toll war takes on an ordinary American family, Home Front is a story of love, loss, heroism, honor, and ultimately, hope.

 

Love And Ruin by Paula McLain (Format: Downloadable Audiobook):

In 1937, twenty-eight-year-old Martha Gellhorn travels alone to Madrid to report on the atrocities of the Spanish Civil War and becomes drawn to the stories of ordinary people caught in the devastating conflict. It’s her chance to prove herself a worthy journalist in a field dominated by men. There she also finds herself unexpectedly—and unwillingly—falling in love with Ernest Hemingway, a man on his way to becoming a legend.

On the eve of World War II, and set against the turbulent backdrops of Madrid and Cuba, Martha and Ernest’s relationship and careers ignite. But when Ernest publishes the biggest literary success of his career, For Whom the Bell Tolls, they are no longer equals, and Martha must forge a path as her own woman and writer.

Heralded by Ann Patchett as “the new star of historical fiction,” Paula McLain brings Gellhorn’s story richly to life and captures her as a heroine for the ages: a woman who will risk absolutely everything to find her own voice.

 

Manhattan Noir edited by Lawrence Block (Format: eBook):

Brand-new stories by: Jeffery Deaver, Lawrence Block, Charles Ardai, Carol Lea Benjamin, Thomas H. Cook, Jim Fusilli, Robert Knightly, John Lutz, Liz Martínez, Maan Meyers, Martin Meyers, S.J. Rozan, Justin Scott, C.J. Sullivan, and Xu Xi.

Lawrence Block has won most of the major mystery awards, and has been called the quintessential New York writer, although he insists the city’s far too big to have a quintessential writer. His series characters—Matthew Scudder, Bernie Rhodenbarr, Evan Tanner, Chip Harrison, and Keller—all live in Manhattan; like their creator, they wouldn’t really be happy anywhere else.

 

Rod Serling’s Triple W: Witches, Warlocks and Werewolves by Rod Serling (Format:eBook):

Twelve horrifying tales for the demon in you collected by the man who wrote Stories from the Twilight Zone

ROD SERLING’S FAVORITE STORIES—

THE WITCH—there was the little girl who always wanted to be a witch. She tried everything she could think of but she never made it until she learned to hate everybody—including herself…

AND THE WARLOCK WHO WAITED AND WAITED
“It was a wonderful attack, Captain. Nothing human could have lived through it—nothing human did. We were deep underground where they buried us long ago—the stakes through our hearts. Your fire burned the stakes away—” The warlock waved a scaly hand at the waiting shadows. They came down relentlessly.

AND THE WEREWOLF
Early morning at the zoo, and the naked man behind the bars was sound asleep. Suddenly, his eyes flickered and his right hand smashed down at the flies that buzzed on the bone he’d been gnawing last night. The flies left, but the naked man stayed immobile, his eyes on his hand. Outside the cage a sign read,

LOBO,

TIMBER WOLF,

Canis occidentalis.

AND NINE MORE STORIES ABOUT WITCHES, WARLOCKS AND WEREWOLVES ALL HERE IN ROD SERLING’S TRIPLE W

 

PRINT BOOK SUGGESTIONS OF THE WEEK:

A Bright Future: How Some Countries Have Solved Climate Change And The Rest Can Follow by Joshua Goldstein:

A proven, fast, inexpensive, practical way to cut greenhouse gas emissions and prevent catastrophic climate change. As climate change nears potentially disastrous tipping points, a solution is hiding in plain sight. Several countries have successfully replaced fossil fuels with low-carbon energy sources by combining renewable energy with a quick buildout of nuclear power. By following their example, the world could dramatically cut fossil fuel use by midcentury, even as energy consumption continues to rise. Joshua Goldstein and Staffan Qvist explain how clean energy rapidly replaced fossil fuels in such places as Sweden, France, and Ontario, while enhancing both prosperity and the natural environment. Engagingly written, yet backed by deep research, this book will encourage a fresh look at the assumptions that have long shaped the climate change debate. The stakes are extraordinarily high and the deadline for action is near. This clear and compelling book could spark the transformation in energy policy that the world needs.

 

The Chef by James Patterson:

Accused of committing murder in the line of duty, detective Caleb Rooney of the New Orleans Police Department uses the contacts from his moonlighting job as a celebrity food-truck chef to counter a terrorist plot.

 

The Dreamers: A Novel by Karen Thompson Walker:

One night in an isolated college town in the hills of Southern California, a first-year student stumbles into her dorm room, falls asleep, and doesn’t wake up. She sleeps through the morning, into the evening. Her roommate, Mei, cannot rouse her. Neither can the paramedics, nor the perplexed doctors at the hospital. When a second girl falls asleep, and then a third, Mei finds herself thrust together with an eccentric classmate as panic takes hold of the college and spreads to the town. A young couple tries to protect their newborn baby as the once-quiet streets descend into chaos. Two sisters turn to each other for comfort as their survivalist father prepares for disaster. Those affected by the illness, doctors discover, are displaying unusual levels of brain activity, higher than has ever been recorded before. They are dreaming heightened dreams, but of what? Written in luminous prose, The Dreamers is a breathtaking and beautiful novel, startling and provocative, about the possibilities contained within a human life, if only we are awakened to them.

 

Never Tell by Lisa Gardner:

A man is dead, shot three times in his home office. But his computer has been shot twelve times, and when the cops arrive, his pregnant wife is holding the gun. D. D. Warren arrives on the scene and recognizes the woman–Evie Carter–from a case many years back. Evie’s father was killed in a shooting that was ruled an accident. But for D.D., two coincidental murders is too many. Flora Dane sees the murder of Conrad Carter on the TV news and immediately knows his face. She remembers a night when she was still a victim–a hostage–and her captor knew this man. Overcome with guilt that she never tracked him down, Flora is now determined to learn the truth of Conrad’s murder. But D.D. and Flora are about to discover that in this case the truth is a devilishly elusive thing. As layer by layer they peel away the half-truths and outright lies, they wonder: How many secrets can one family have?

 

The World According to Fannie Davis: My Mother’s Life in the Detroit Numbers by Bridgett M. Davis:

An homage to the author’s mother relates how she cleverly played Detroit’s illegal lottery in the 1970s to support the family while creating a loving, joyful home and mothering her children to the highest standards.

Have a great week!

Linda, SSCL

Online Catalog Links:

StarCat

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

The Digital Catalog (OverDrive)

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

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:

RBDigital

*Magazines are available for free and on demand! You can check out magazines and read them on your computer or download the RBDigital app from your app store and read them on your mobile devices.

About Library 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.

Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.

Hi everyone, here are our lucky seven musical streaming* suggestions for the week. This week we offer a mix of suggested playlists and albums.

(Click on the photos of the albums you’re interested in to stream them!)

American Love Song (2019) by Ryan Bingham (Genre: Country, Folk, Americana):

Ryan Bingham is a New Mexican singer-songwriter whose songs wander between the related genres of country, alternative country, folk and Americana.

American Love Song is his latest LP and features the songs: Jingle and Go, Nothin’ Holds Me Down, Beautiful and Kind, What Would I’ve Become and Blues Lady.

 

Awesome Rock Albums compiled by Mentor Library (Playlist, 281 songs, 20 hours and 43 minutes):

Albums in this colossal playlist include:  Black Star by David Bowie, Abraxas by Santana, Hesitation Marks by Nine Inch Nails, Greatest Hits by Journey, Taking The Long Way by Dixie Chicks, Toys In The Attic by Aerosmith, Pearl by Janis Joplin, Foo Fighters by Foo Fighters, British Steel by Judas Priest, Graceland by Paul Simon, Horses by Patti Smith, Three Days Gone by Three Days Gone, Little Queen by Heart, Ten by Pearl Jam, Born To Run by Bruce Springsteen, Heaven Tonight by Cheap Trick, The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd, Are You Experienced by The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Songs of Leonard Cohen by Leonard Cohen, Modest Mouse by The Moon & Antarctica, The Stranger by Billy Joel, Wovoka by Redbone, Greatest Hits So Far by Pink and An Evening with The Allman Brothers by The Allman Brothers Band.

 

East Side Story (2007) by Emily King (Genre: R&B, Pop):

East Side Story is the 2007, Grammy nominated, debut album by the singer-songwriter Emily King.

King has a great voice and her style can be described as a pop-rock with some songwriting folk overtones.

The music on this album is upbeat throughout even when the subjects veer into heaver subjects.

Songs on the LP include: Walk In My Shoes, Business Man, Colorblind, It Was You, You Can Get By and Ain’t No Sunshine.

 

Evensong (2008) by Voces8 (Genre: Classical, Vocal, Pop):

Voces8 is a British vocal octet known for their acapella singing style. They cover classical and jazz songs but popular songs predominate.

Songs on this 2008 release include: Me and My Shadow, Fever, Evensong, Straighten Up and Fly Right, Jailhouse Rock, Nunc Dimittis, Feeling Good & Hallelujah Chorus.

 

Jazz Favorites of 2018 (Playlist, 8 hours & 23 minutes):

This Jazz Favorites playlist is perfect for the weekened!

It features 78 songs including: So What (live) by Miles Davis & John Coltrane, The Ramble by Julian Lange, Alternative Facts by The Stanley Clarke Band, Off the Record by Mary Halvorson & Piano Music by Myra Melford

 

The Love Train (2019) by Meghan Trainor:

Love Train is the new LP by perky pop-singer songwriter Meghan Trainor. Is a short one, only six songs. However, they are six bouncy and bright pop songs perfect for Valentine’s Day Week! The songs are: All The Ways, Marry Me, I’m Down, After You, Foolish & Good Morning.

 

Swings Cole Porter (2004) by John Barrowman:

Musical theatre master John Barrowman offers a neat tribute to Cole Porter with this 2004 release.

Songs on the album include: Just One Of Those Things, Anything Goes, In The Still of the Night, Don’t Fence Me In and Easy To Love.

Videos of the Week:

What Would I’ve Become by Ryan Bingham

Oye Como Va by Santana

Satellite Nine by Inch Nails

The Long Way Around by Dixie Chicks

Half Moon by Janis Joplin

Walk in My Shoes by Emily King

Jailhouse Rock by Voces8

The Ramble by Julian Lange

Piano Music by Myra Melford

A Happy Thought by Kurt Elling

Foolish by Meghan Trainor

What is this Thing Called Love by John Barrowman

Have a great weekend!

Linda, SSCL

REFERENCES:

AllMusic. https://www.allmusic.com/

The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits by Joel Witburn

About Freegal: 

Freegal is a free streaming music service available for free to library card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries. STLS member libraries include all the public libraries in Steuben, Chemung, Yates, Schuyler and Allegany counties — including our own Southeast Steuben County Library.

You can download the Freegal music app to your mobile device or access the desktop version of the site by clicking on the following link:

*The Freegal service offers library card holders the option to download, and keep, three free songs per week and to stream three hours of commercial free music each day.

Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.

Hi everyone, here are the top New York Times fiction and non-fiction bestsellers for this week.

(Click on the book covers to read a summary of each plot and to request the books of your choice.)

FICTION:

AN AMERICAN MARRIAGE by Tayari Jones:

A newlywed couple’s relationship is tested when the husband is sentenced to 12 years in prison.

 

AN ANONYMOUS GIRL by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen:

Jessica Farris’s life unravels when she signs up for Dr. Shields’s psychology study.

 

Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James:

A loner named Tracker teams up with a group of unusual characters in search of a mysterious boy.

 

THE CAST by Danielle Steel:

A magazine columnist meets an array of Hollywood professionals when a producer turns a story about her grandmother into a TV series.

 

CIRCE by Madeline Miller:

Zeus banishes Helios’ daughter to an island, where she must choose between living with gods or mortals.

 

CONNECTIONS IN DEATH by J. D. Robb:

Eve Dallas scours tattoo parlors and strip joints for clues to the cause of Lyle Pickering’s mysterious death.

 

DEVOTIONS by Mary Oliver:

A collection of more than 200 poems spanning 50 years of the author’s career.

 

ELEANOR OLIPHANT IS COMPLETELY FINE by Gail Honeyman:

A young woman’s well-ordered life is disrupted by the I.T. guy from her office.

 

FIRE AND BLOOD by George R.R. Martin:

Set 300 years before the events of “A Game of Thrones,” this is the first volume of the two-part history of the Targaryens in Westeros.

 

I OWN YOU ONE by Sophie Kinsella:

A series of debts between Fixie Farr and a handsome stranger involves her childhood crush.

 

THE LAST ROMANTICS by Tara Conklin:

A family crisis tests the bonds and ideals of a renowned poet and her siblings.

 

LIAR LIAR by James Patterson and Candice Fox:

Detective Harriet Blue has become a dangerous fugitive from the law as she pursues the murderer Regan Banks.

 

THE LOST GIRLS OF PARIS by Pam Jenoff:

Grace Healey investigates the fates of 12 women who were sent to occupied Europe to help the resistance during World War II.

 

THE LOST MAN by Jane Harper: 

Nathan and Bub Bright find their other brother dead at the border of their cattle ranches in the Australian outback.

 

THE RECKONING by John Grisham:

A decorated World War II veteran shoots and kills a pastor inside a Mississippi church.

 

THE SILENT PATIENT by Alex Michaelides:

Theo Faber looks into the mystery of a famous painter who stops speaking after shooting her husband.

 

TATTOOIST OF AUSCHWITZ by Heather Morris:

A concentration camp detainee tasked with permanently marking fellow prisoners falls in love with one of them.

 

VENGEANCE ROAD by Christine Feehan

The second book in the Torpedo Ink series. Complications rev up between Breezy and Steele.

 

THE WEDDING GUEST by Jonathan Kellerman:

Milo Sturgis and Alex Delaware investigate the death of a stranger at a wedding reception.

 

WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING by Delia Owens:

In a quiet town on the North Carolina coast in 1969, a young woman who survived alone in the marsh becomes a murder suspect.

 

NON-FICTION:

BAD BLOOD by John Carreyrou:

The rise and fall of Theranos, the biotech startup that failed to deliver on its promise to make blood testing more efficient.

 

BECOMING by Michelle Obama:

The former first lady describes her journey from the South Side of Chicago to the White House, and how she balanced work, family and her husband’s political ascent.

 

EDUCATED by Tara Westover:

The daughter of survivalists, who is kept out of school, educates herself enough to leave home for university.

 

THE FIRST CONSPIRACY by Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch Flatiron:

The story of a secret plot to kill George Washington in 1776.

 

HEARTBEAT OF WOUNDED KNEE by David Treuer:

A kaleidoscopic portrait of Native American history from 1890 to the present.

 

INHERITANCE by Dani Shapiro:

Secrets and identity in a fast-paced age of science and technology are explored through the story of a woman who discovered her biological father.

 

LET ME FINISH by Chris Christie:

The former governor of New Jersey describes his relationship with President Trump and the tensions among others close to the president.

 

THE LIBRARY BOOK by Susan Orlean:

The story of the 1986 fire at the Los Angeles Public Library provides a backdrop to the evolution and purpose of libraries.

 

MAID by Stephanie Land:

An unexpected pregnancy forces the author to navigate challenges faced by the working poor.

 

THE POINT OF IT ALL by Charles Krauthammer, edited by Daniel Krauthammer:

A collection of essays, speeches and unpublished writings by the late conservative columnist.

 

TEAM OF VIPERS by Cliff Sims:

The former special assistant to President Trump recalls what he considers his successes and failures in the White House.

 

THE TRUTHS WE HOLD by Kamala Harris:

A memoir by a daughter of immigrants who was raised in Oakland, Calif., and became the second black woman ever elected to the United States Senate.

 

WOMEN ROWING NORTH by Mary Pipher:

Reflections on the ageism, misogyny and loss that women might encounter as they grow older.

 

ZUCKED by Roger McNamee:

A Silicon Valley investor and mentor to Mark Zuckerberg describes some of the negative effects of the attention economy on our democracy and the greater culture.

 

Have a great day!

Linda, SSL

 

Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.

Hi everyone, here are our recommended titles for the week, five digital titles available through OverDrive and five print titles available through StarCat.

DIGITAL SUGGESTIONS OF THE WEEK:

Early Riser: A Novel by Jasper Fforde:

The new standalone novel from bestselling author Jasper Fforde

Every Winter, the human population hibernates.

During those bitterly cold four months, the nation is a snow-draped landscape of desolate loneliness, devoid of human activity.

Well, not quite.

Your name is Charlie Worthing and it’s your first season with the Winter Consuls, the committed but mildly unhinged group of misfits who are responsible for ensuring the hibernatory safe passage of the sleeping masses.

You are investigating an outbreak of viral dreams which you dismiss as nonsense; nothing more than a quirky artefact borne of the sleeping mind.

When the dreams start to kill people, it’s unsettling.

When you get the dreams too, it’s weird.

When they start to come true, you begin to doubt your sanity.

But teasing truth from the Winter is never easy: You have to avoid the Villains and their penchant for murder, kidnapping, and stamp collecting, ensure you aren’t eaten by Nightwalkers, whose thirst for human flesh can only be satisfied by comfort food, and sidestep the increasingly less-than-mythical WinterVolk.

But so long as you remember to wrap up warmly, you’ll be fine.

 

House Broken by Sonja Yoerg:

In this compelling and poignant debut novel, a woman skilled at caring for animals must learn to mend the broken relationships in her family….

For veterinarian Geneva Novak, animals can be easier to understand than people. They’re also easier to forgive. But when her mother, Helen, is injured in a vodka-fueled accident, it’s up to Geneva to give her the care she needs.

Since her teens, Geneva has kept her self-destructive mother at arm’s length. Now, with two slippery teenagers of her own at home, the last thing she wants is to add Helen to the mix. But Geneva’s husband convinces her that letting Helen live with them could be her golden chance to repair their relationship.

Geneva isn’t expecting her mother to change anytime soon, but she may finally get answers to the questions she’s been asking for so long. As the truth about her family unfolds, however, Geneva may find secrets too painful to bear and too terrible to forgive.

 

The Night Tiger: A Novel by Yangsze Choo:

From New York Times bestselling author Yangsze Choo, an utterly transporting novel set in 1930s colonial Malaysia, perfect for fans of Isabel Allende and Min Jin Lee

Quick-witted, ambitious Ji Lin is stuck as an apprentice dressmaker, moonlighting as a dancehall girl to help pay off her mother’s Mahjong debts. But when one of her dance partners accidentally leaves behind a gruesome souvenir, Ji Lin may finally get the adventure she has been longing for.

Eleven-year-old houseboy Ren is also on a mission, racing to fulfill his former master’s dying wish: that Ren find the man’s finger, lost years ago in an accident, and bury it with his body. Ren has 49 days to do so, or his master’s soul will wander the earth forever.

As the days tick relentlessly by, a series of unexplained deaths racks the district, along with whispers of men who turn into tigers. Ji Lin and Ren’s increasingly dangerous paths crisscross through lush plantations, hospital storage rooms, and ghostly dreamscapes.

Yangsze Choo’s The Night Tiger pulls us into a world of servants and masters, age-old superstition and modern idealism, sibling rivalry and forbidden love. But anchoring this dazzling, propulsive novel is the intimate coming-of-age of a child and a young woman, each searching for their place in a society that would rather they stay invisible.

“A work of incredible beauty… Astoundingly captivating and striking… A transcendent story of courage and connection.” —Booklist (starred review)

 

Wicked Lies, Wicked Series, Book 2 by Lisa Jackson & Nancy Bush:

If At First You Don’t Succeed

For two years, Justice Turnbull has paced his room at Halo Valley Security Hospital, planning to escape. Justice has a mission-one that began with a vicious murder two decades ago. And there are so many others who must be sent back to the hell that spawned them. . .

Kill. . .

Laura Adderley didn’t plan to get pregnant by her soon-to-be ex-husband, though she’ll do anything to protect her baby. But now reporter Harrison Frost is asking questions about the mysterious group of women who live at Siren Song lodge. Harrison hasn’t figured out Laura’s connection to the story yet. But Justice knows. And he is coming. . .

Then Kill Again. . .

All her life, Laura has been able to sense approaching evil. But that won’t stop a psychopath bent on destroying her. Justice has been unleashed, and this time, there will be no place safe to hide. . .

Praise for Wicked Game

“Chilling. . . Swift pacing and an intriguing plot make this a first-rate supernatural thriller.” –Publishers Weekly (starred review)

 

Winter in Paradise, Paradise Series, Book 1 by Elin Hilderbrand:

A husband’s secret life, a wife’s new beginning: escape to the Caribbean with New York Times bestselling author Elin Hilderbrand.

Irene Steele shares her idyllic life in a beautiful Iowa City Victorian house with a husband who loves her to sky-writing, sentimental extremes. But as she rings in the new year one cold and snowy night, everything she thought she knew falls to pieces with a shocking phone call: her beloved husband, away on business, has been killed in a plane crash. Before Irene can even process the news, she must first confront the perplexing details of her husband’s death on the distant Caribbean island of St. John.

After Irene and her sons arrive at this faraway paradise, they make yet another shocking discovery: her husband had been living a secret life. As Irene untangles a web of intrigue and deceit, and as she and her sons find themselves drawn into the vibrant island culture, they have to face the truth about their family, and about their own futures.

Rich with the lush beauty of the tropics and the drama, romance, and intrigue only Elin Hilderbrand can deliver, Winter in Paradise is a truly transporting novel, and the exciting start to a new series.

 

PRINT BOOK SUGGESTIONS OF THE WEEK:

Careless Love by Peter Robinson:

Two suspicious deaths challenge DS Alan Banks and his crack investigative team. A young local student’s body is found in an abandoned car on a lonely country road. The death looks like suicide, but there are too many open questions for Banks and his team to rule out foul play … A man in his sixties is found dead in a gully up on the wild moorland. He is wearing an expensive suit and carrying no identification. Post mortem findings indicate that he died from injuries sustained during a fall. Was it an accident–did he slip and fall? Or was he pushed? Why was he up there? … As the inconsistencies multiply and the mysteries surrounding these two cases proliferate, a source close to Annie reveals a piece of information that shocks the team and impacts the investigations. An old enemy has returned in a new guise–a nefarious foe who will stop at nothing, not even murder, to get what he wants. With the stakes raised, the hunt is on. But will Banks be able to find the evidence to stop him in time?

 

An Orchestra of Minorities: A Novel by Chigozie Obioma:

A contemporary twist on the Odyssey, An Orchestra of Minorities is narrated by the chi, or spirit of a young poultry farmer named Chinonso. His life is set off course when he sees a woman who is about to jump off a bridge. Horrified by her recklessness, he hurls two of his prized chickens off the bridge. The woman, Ndali, is stopped in her tracks. Chinonso and Ndali fall in love, but she is from an educated and wealthy family. When her family objects to the union on the grounds that he is not her social equal, he sells most of his possessions to attend college in Cyprus. But when he arrives in Cyprus, he discovers that he has been utterly duped by the young Nigerian who has made the arrangements for him. Penniless, homeless, we watch as he gets further and further away from his dream and from home.

 

Tear It Down by Nicholas Petrie:

Peter Ash pursues one case–and stumbles into another–in the City of the Blues. Iraq war veteran Peter Ash is restless in the home he shares with June Cassidy in Washington State. June knows Peter needs to be on the move, so she sends him to Memphis to help her friend Wanda Wyatt, a photographer and war correspondent who’s been receiving peculiar threats. When Peter arrives in Memphis, however, he finds the situation has gone downhill fast–someone has just driven a dump truck into Wanda’s living room. But neither Wanda nor Peter can figure out why. At the same time, a young homeless street musician finds himself roped into a plan to rob a jewelry store. The heist doesn’t go as planned, and the young man finds himself holding a sack full of Rolexes and running for his life. When his getaway car breaks down, he steals a new one at gunpoint–Peter’s 1968 green Chevrolet pickup truck. Peter likes the skinny kid’s smarts and attitude, but he soon discovers that the desperate musician is in far worse trouble than he knows. And Wanda’s troubles are only beginning. Peter finds himself stuck between Memphis gangsters–looking for Rolexes and revenge–and a Mississippi ex-con and his hog-butcher brother looking for a valuable piece of family history that goes all the way back to the Civil War.

 

To Keep The Sun Alive: A Novel by Rabeah Ghaffari:

The year is 1979. The Iranian Revolution is just around the corner northeastern city of Naishapur, a retired judge and his wife, Bibi-Khanoom, continue to run their ancient family orchard, growing apples, plums, peaches, and sour cherries. The days here are marked by long, elaborate lunches on the terrace where the judge and his wife mediate disputes between aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephews that foreshadow the looming national crisis to come. Will the monarchy survive the revolutionary tide gathering across the country? Will the judge’s brother, a powerful cleric, take political control of the town or remain only a religious leader?

 

We Cast A Shadow: A Novel by Maurice Carlos Ruffin:

In a near-future Southern city, everyone is talking about a new experimental medical procedure that boasts unprecedented success rates. In a society plagued by racism, segregation, and private prisons, this operation saves lives with a controversial method–by turning people white. Like any father, our unnamed narrator just wants the best for his son Nigel, a biracial boy whose black birthmark is getting bigger by the day. But in order to afford Nigel’s whiteness operation, our narrator must make partner as one of the few black associates at his law firm, jumping through a series of increasingly absurd hoops–from diversity committees to plantation tours to equality activist groups–in a tragicomic quest to protect his son. This electrifying, suspenseful novel is, at once, a razor-sharp satire of surviving racism in America and a profoundly moving family story. In the tradition of Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, We Cast a Shadow fearlessly shines a light on the violence we inherit, and on the desperate things we do for the ones we love.

Have a great week!

Linda, SSCL

Online Catalog Links:

StarCat

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

The Digital Catalog (OverDrive)

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

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:

RBDigital

*Magazines are available for free and on demand! You can check out magazines and read them on your computer or download the RBDigital app from your app store and read them on your mobile devices.

About Library 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.

Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.

Hi everyone, here are our lucky seven musical streaming* suggestions for the week. This week we offer a mix of suggested playlists and albums.

(Click on the photos of the albums you’re interested in to stream them!)

Columbia Recordings from 1926 by Various Artists (Genre: Jazz, Swing):

 

The Day the Music Died: Remembering Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper (Genre: Classic Rock, Pop):
(56 Songs, 02 hr 06 min 37 sec)

 

The Essential Percy Faith (Genre: Pop, Easy Listening, Film): 

 

Stand! Songs of Freedom (Genre: Rock, Blues, R&B, Jazz):
(91 Songs, 06 hr 29 min 10 sec)

 

Three For The Road (2019) by John Mayall (Genre: Blues):

 

Valentine’s Day Playlist (Genre: Pop, R&B, Jazz, Rock):

Where I Come From (2019) by Patty Griffin (Genre: Folk):

Videos of the Week:

Alabama Stomp by Leo Reisman and His Orchestra

Peggy Sue by Buddy Holly

Chantilly Lace by The Big Bopper

Come On Let’s Go by Richie Valens

Jungle Fantasy by Percy Faith

Theme from a Summer Place by Percy Faith

Reaching for the Moon by The Radiolites

Inner City Blues by Gil Scott-Heron

Midnight Train To Georgia by Gladys Knight & The Pips

Lonely Feelings by John Mayall

A Kiss To Build A Dream On by Louis Armstrong

Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond

Where I Come From by Patty Griffin

Have a great weekend!

Linda, SSCL

REFERENCES:

AllMusic. https://www.allmusic.com/

The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits by Joel Witburn

About Freegal: 

Freegal is a free streaming music service available for free to library card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries. STLS member libraries include all the public libraries in Steuben, Chemung, Yates, Schuyler and Allegany counties — including our own Southeast Steuben County Library.

You can download the Freegal music app to your mobile device or access the desktop version of the site by clicking on the following link:

*The Freegal service offers library card holders the option to download, and keep, three free songs per week and to stream three hours of commercial free music each day.

Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.

Hi everyone, here are the top New York Times fiction and non-fiction bestsellers for this week.

(Click on the book covers to read a summary of each plot and to request the books of your choice.)

FICTION:

AN ANONYMOUS GIRL by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen:

Jessica Farris’s life unravels when she signs up for Dr. Shields’s psychology study.

 

CIRCE by Madeline Miller:

Zeus banishes Helios’ daughter to an island, where she must choose between living with gods or mortals.

 

CRUCIBLE by James Rollins:

Monk Kokkalis and Commander Gray Pierce use arcane clues in hopes of preventing a potential apocalypse.

 

DEVOTIONS by Mary Oliver:

A collection of more than 200 poems spanning 50 years of the author’s career.

 

ELEANOR OLIPHANT IS COMPLETELY FINE by Gail Honeyman:

A young woman’s well-ordered life is disrupted by the I.T. guy from her office.

 

EVERY BREATH by Nicholas Sparks:

Difficult choices surface when Hope Anderson and Tru Walls meet in a North Carolina seaside town.

 

FIRE AND BLOOD by George R.R. Martin:

Set 300 years before the events of “A Game of Thrones,” this is the first volume of the two-part history of the Targaryens in Westeros.

 

JUDGMENT by Joseph Finder:

Juliana Brody, a judge in the Superior Court of Massachusetts, has a one-night stand that might be her undoing.

 

LIAR LIAR by James Patterson and Candice Fox:

Detective Harriet Blue has become a dangerous fugitive from the law as she pursues the murderer Regan Banks.

 

THE LOST GIRLS OF PARIS by Pam Jenoff:

Grace Healey investigates the fates of 12 women who were sent to occupied Europe to help the resistance during World War II.

 

MAGIC HOUR by Kristin Hannah:

A child psychiatrist helps a 6-year-old girl found in the Olympic National Forest.

 

NEW IBERIA BLUES by James Lee Burke

Detective Dave Robicheaux and his new partner Bailey Ribbons investigate the death of a young woman by crucifixion.

 

NINE PERFECT STRANGERS by Liane Moriarty:

A romance writer becomes fascinated by the owner and director of a health resort.

 

THE ONLY WOMAN IN THE ROOM by Marie Benedict:

Hedy Lamarr flees to Hollywood where she becomes a screen star and develops technology that might combat the Nazis.

 

OUT OF THE DARK by Gregg Hurwit

The fourth book in the Orphan X series.

 

THE RECKONING by John Grisham:

A decorated World War II veteran shoots and kills a pastor inside a Mississippi church.

 

TATTOOIST OF AUSCHWITZ by Heather Morris:

A concentration camp detainee tasked with permanently marking fellow prisoners falls in love with one of them.

 

TURNING POINT by Danielle Steel:

Four American trauma doctors face difficult choices when they join a mass-casualty training program in Paris.

 

VENGEANCE ROAD by Christine Feehan

The second book in the Torpedo Ink series. Complications rev up between Breezy and Steele.

 

WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING by Delia Owens:

In a quiet town on the North Carolina coast in 1969, a young woman who survived alone in the marsh becomes a murder suspect.

 

NON-FICTION:

BAD BLOOD by John Carreyrou:

The rise and fall of Theranos, the biotech startup that failed to deliver on its promise to make blood testing more efficient.

 

BECOMING by Michelle Obama:

The former first lady describes her journey from the South Side of Chicago to the White House, and how she balanced work, family and her husband’s political ascent.

 

EDUCATED by Tara Westover:

The daughter of survivalists, who is kept out of school, educates herself enough to leave home for university.

 

FASCISM: A Warning by Madeleine Albright with Bill Woodward

The former secretary of state examines the legacy of fascism in the 20th century and its potential revival.

 

THE FIRST CONSPIRACY by Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch Flatiron:

The story of a secret plot to kill George Washington in 1776.

 

HEARTBEAT OF WOUNDED KNEE by David Treuer:

A kaleidoscopic portrait of Native American history from 1890 to the present.

 

INHERITANCE by Dani Shapiro:

Secrets and identity in a fast-paced age of science and technology are explored through the story of a woman who discovered her biological father.

 

LET ME FINISH by Chris Christie:

The former governor of New Jersey describes his relationship with President Trump and the tensions among others close to the president.

 

THE LIBRARY BOOK by Susan Orlean:

The story of the 1986 fire at the Los Angeles Public Library provides a backdrop to the evolution and purpose of libraries.

 

MAID by Stephanie Land:

An unexpected pregnancy forces the author to navigate challenges faced by the working poor.

 

THE POINT OF IT ALL by Charles Krauthammer, edited by Daniel Krauthammer:

A collection of essays, speeches and unpublished writings by the late conservative columnist.

 

TEAM OF VIPERS by Cliff Sims:

The former special assistant to President Trump recalls what he considers his successes and failures in the White House.

 

THE TRUTHS WE HOLD by Kamala Harris:

A memoir by a daughter of immigrants who was raised in Oakland, Calif., and became the second black woman ever elected to the United States Senate.

 

WOMEN ROWING NORTH by Mary Pipher:

Reflections on the ageism, misogyny and loss that women might encounter as they grow older.

Have a great day!

Linda, SSL

 

Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.

Hi everyone, here are our recommended titles for the week, five digital titles available through OverDrive and five print titles available through StarCat.

DIGITAL SUGGESTIONS OF THE WEEK:

Bitter Orange by Claire Fuller:

An NPR Best Book of the Year

A Most Anticipated Book at Time Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, Vulture, Elle, BUST, HuffPost, NYLON, Southern Living, Parade, and more

From the author of Our Endless Numbered Days and Swimming Lessons, Bitter Orange is a seductive psychological portrait, a keyhole into the dangers of longing and how far a woman might go to escape her past.

From the attic of Lyntons, a dilapidated English country mansion, Frances Jellico sees them—Cara first: dark and beautiful, then Peter: striking and serious. The couple is spending the summer of 1969 in the rooms below hers while Frances is researching the architecture in the surrounding gardens. But she’s distracted. Beneath a floorboard in her bathroom, she finds a peephole that gives her access to her neighbors’ private lives.

To Frances’ surprise, Cara and Peter are keen to get to know her. It is the first occasion she has had anybody to call a friend, and before long they are spending every day together: eating lavish dinners, drinking bottle after bottle of wine, and smoking cigarettes until the ash piles up on the crumbling furniture. Frances is dazzled.

But as the hot summer rolls lazily on, it becomes clear that not everything is right between Cara and Peter. The stories that Cara tells don’t quite add up, and as Frances becomes increasingly entangled in the lives of the glamorous, hedonistic couple, the boundaries between truth and lies, right and wrong, begin to blur. Amid the decadence, a small crime brings on a bigger one: a crime so terrible that it will brand their lives forever.

 

The Graveyard Apartment: A Novel by Mariko Koike:

One of the most popular writers working in Japan today, Mariko Koike is a recognized master of detective fiction and horror writing. Known in particular for her hybrid works that blend these styles with elements of romance, The Graveyard Apartment is arguably Koike’s masterpiece. Originally published in Japan in 1986, Koike’s novel is the suspenseful tale of a young family that believes it has found the perfect home to grow into, only to realize that the apartment’s idyllic setting harbors the specter of evil and that longer they stay, the more trapped they become.

This tale of a young married couple who harbor a dark secret is packed with dread and terror, as they and their daughter move into a brand new apartment building built next to a graveyard. As strange and terrifying occurrences begin to pile up, people in the building start to move out one by one, until the young family is left alone with someone… or something… lurking in the basement. The psychological horror builds moment after moment, scene after scene, culminating with a conclusion that will make you think twice before ever going into a basement again.

 

The Hazards of Time Travel by Joyce Carol Oates:

An ingenious, dystopian novel of one young woman’s resistance against the constraints of an oppressive society, from the inventive imagination of Joyce Carol Oates

“Time travel” — and its hazards—are made literal in this astonishing new novel in which a recklessly idealistic girl dares to test the perimeters of her tightly controlled (future) world and is punished by being sent back in time to a region of North America — “Wainscotia, Wisconsin”—that existed eighty years before. Cast adrift in time in this idyllic Midwestern town she is set upon a course of “rehabilitation”—but cannot resist falling in love with a fellow exile and questioning the constrains of the Wainscotia world with results that are both devastating and liberating.

Arresting and visionary, Hazards of Time Travel is both a novel of harrowing discovery and an exquisitely wrought love story that may be Joyce Carol Oates’s most unexpected novel so far.

 

The Lions of Lucerne, Scot Harvath Series, Book 1 by Brad Thor:

In his daring and chilling first novel, #1 New York Times bestselling author Brad Thor draws us into a sinister labyrinth of political intrigue and international terrorism, serving up an explosive cocktail of unrelenting action as one man is pushed to the edge.

On the snow-covered slopes of Utah, the President of the United States has been kidnapped and his Secret Service detail massacred. Only one agent has survived—ex-Navy SEAL Scot Harvath. He doesn’t buy the official line that Middle Eastern terrorists are behind the attack and begins his own campaign to find the truth and exact revenge. But now, framed for murder by a sinister cabal, Harvath takes his fight to the towering mountains of Switzerland—and joins forces with beautiful Claudia Mueller of the Swiss Federal Attorney’s Office. Together they must brave the subzero temperatures and sheer heights of treacherous Mount Pilatus—where their only chance for survival lies inside the den of the most lethal team of professional killers the world has ever known…

 

November Road: A Novel by Lou Berney:

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF 2018 BY Entertainment Weekly • Washington Post • AARP • Newsweek • Dallas Morning News • South Florida Sun-Sentinel • Chicago Public Library • Real Book Spy • CrimeReads • Litreactor • Library Journal • LitHub • Booklist

An Amazon Editor’s Pick of the Month • An Apple Best of the Month • An Indie Next Pick • An Okra Pick by SIBA Booksellers • A Book of the Month Pick

Set against the assassination of JFK, a poignant and evocative crime novel that centers on a desperate cat-and-mouse chase across 1960s America—a story of unexpected connections, daring possibilities, and the hope of second chances from the Edgar Award-winning author of The Long and Faraway Gone.

Frank Guidry’s luck has finally run out.

A loyal street lieutenant to New Orleans’ mob boss Carlos Marcello, Guidry has learned that everybody is expendable. But now it’s his turn—he knows too much about the crime of the century: the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Within hours of JFK’s murder, everyone with ties to Marcello is turning up dead, and Guidry suspects he’s next: he was in Dallas on an errand for the boss less than two weeks before the president was shot. With few good options, Guidry hits the road to Las Vegas, to see an old associate—a dangerous man who hates Marcello enough to help Guidry vanish.

Guidry knows that the first rule of running is “don’t stop,” but when he sees a beautiful housewife on the side of the road with a broken-down car, two little daughters and a dog in the back seat, he sees the perfect disguise to cover his tracks from the hit men on his tail. Posing as an insurance man, Guidry offers to help Charlotte reach her destination, California. If she accompanies him to Vegas, he can help her get a new car.

For her, it’s more than a car— it’s an escape. She’s on the run too, from a stifling existence in small-town Oklahoma and a kindly husband who’s a hopeless drunk.

It’s an American story: two strangers meet to share the open road west, a dream, a hope—and find each other on the way.

Charlotte sees that he’s strong and kind; Guidry discovers that she’s smart and funny. He learns that’s she determined to give herself and her kids a new life; she can’t know that he’s desperate to leave his old one behind.

Another rule—fugitives shouldn’t fall in love, especially with each other. A road isn’t just a road, it’s a trail, and Guidry’s ruthless and relentless hunters are closing in on him. But now Guidry doesn’t want to just survive, he wants to really live, maybe for the first time.

Everyone’s expendable, or they should be, but now Guidry just can’t throw away the woman he’s come to love.

And it might get them both killed.

 

PRINT BOOK SUGGESTIONS OF THE WEEK:

The Black Ascot by Charles Todd:

A tip from an ex-convict seems implausible–but Inspector Ian Rutledge is intrigued and brings it to his superior at Scotland Yard. Alan Barrington, who has evaded capture for ten years, is the suspect in an appalling murder during Black Ascot, the famous 1910 royal horserace honoring the late King Edward VII. His disappearance began a manhunt that consumed Britain for a decade. Now it appears that Barrington has turned to England, giving Scotland Yard a last chance to retrieve its reputation and see justice done.

 

Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James:

A fantasy world as well-realized as anything Tolkien made.” –Neil Gaiman

“Gripping, action-packed….The literary equivalent of a Marvel Comics universe.” –Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

The epic novel, an African Game of Thrones, from the Man Booker Prize-winning author of A Brief History of Seven Killings

In the stunning first novel in Marlon James’s Dark Star trilogy, myth, fantasy, and history come together to explore what happens when a mercenary is hired to find a missing child.

Tracker is known far and wide for his skills as a hunter: “He has a nose,” people say. Engaged to track down a mysterious boy who disappeared three years earlier, Tracker breaks his own rule of always working alone when he finds himself part of a group that comes together to search for the boy. The band is a hodgepodge, full of unusual characters with secrets of their own, including a shape-shifting man-animal known as Leopard.

As Tracker follows the boy’s scent–from one ancient city to another; into dense forests and across deep rivers–he and the band are set upon by creatures intent on destroying them. As he struggles to survive, Tracker starts to wonder: Who, really, is this boy? Why has he been missing for so long? Why do so many people want to keep Tracker from finding him? And perhaps the most important questions of all: Who is telling the truth, and who is lying?

Drawing from African history and mythology and his own rich imagination, Marlon James has written a novel unlike anything that’s come before it: a saga of breathtaking adventure that’s also an ambitious, involving read. Defying categorization and full of unforgettable characters, Black Leopard, Red Wolf is both surprising and profound as it explores the fundamentals of truth, the limits of power, and our need to understand them both.

 

The Far Field by Madhuri Vijay:

“The Far Field is remarkable, a novel at once politically timely and morally timeless. Madhuri Vijay traces the fault lines of history, love, and obligation running through a fractured family and country. Few novels generate enough power to transform their characters, fewer still their readers. The Far Field does both.”―Anthony Marra, author of The Tzar of Love and Techno

Gorgeously tactile and sweeping in historical and socio-political scope, Pushcart Prize-winner Madhuri Vijay’s The Far Field follows a complicated flaneuse across the Indian subcontinent as she reckons with her past, her desires, and the tumultuous present.

In the wake of her mother’s death, Shalini, a privileged and restless young woman from Bangalore, sets out for a remote Himalayan village in the troubled northern region of Kashmir. Certain that the loss of her mother is somehow connected to the decade-old disappearance of Bashir Ahmed, a charming Kashmiri salesman who frequented her childhood home, she is determined to confront him. But upon her arrival, Shalini is brought face to face with Kashmir’s politics, as well as the tangled history of the local family that takes her in. And when life in the village turns volatile and old hatreds threaten to erupt into violence, Shalini finds herself forced to make a series of choices that could hold dangerous repercussions for the very people she has come to love.

With rare acumen and evocative prose, in The Far Field Madhuri Vijay masterfully examines Indian politics, class prejudice, and sexuality through the lens of an outsider, offering a profound meditation on grief, guilt, and the limits of compassion.

 

To Keep The Sun Alive by Rabeah Ghaffari:

The year is 1979. The Iranian Revolution is just around the corner. In the northeastern city of Naishapur, a retired judge and his wife, Bibi-Khanoom, continue to run their ancient family orchard, growing apples, plums, peaches, and sour cherries. The days here are marked by long, elaborate lunches on the terrace where the judge and his wife mediate disputes between aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephews that foreshadow the looming national crisis to come. Will the monarchy survive the revolutionary tide gathering across the country? Will the judge’s brother, a powerful cleric, take political control of the town or remain only a religious leader?

And yet, life goes on. Bibi-Khanoom’s grandniece secretly falls in love with the judge’s grandnephew and dreams of a career on the stage. His other grandnephew withers away on opium dreams. A widowed father longs for a life in Europe. A strained marriage slowly unravels. The orchard trees bloom and fruit as the streets in the capital grow violent. And a once-in-a-lifetime solar eclipse, set to occur on one of the holiest days of year, finally causes the family―and the country―to break.

Told through a host of unforgettable characters, ranging from servants and young children to intimate friends, To Keep the Sun Alive reveals the personal behind the political, reminding us of the human lives that animate historical events.

 

The Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff:

1946, Manhattan: One morning while passing through Grand Central Terminal on her way to work, Grace Healey finds an abandoned suitcase tucked beneath a bench. Unable to resist her own curiosity, Grace opens the suitcase, where she discovers a dozen photographs — each of a different woman. In a moment of impulse, Grace takes the photographs and quickly leaves the station. Grace soon learns that the suitcase belonged to a woman named Eleanor Trigg, leader of a network of female secret agents who were deployed out of London during the war. Twelve of these women were sent to Occupied Europe as couriers and radio operators to aid the resistance, but they never returned home, their fates a mystery. Setting out to learn the truth behind the women in the photographs, Grace finds herself drawn to a young mother turned agent named Marie, whose daring mission overseas reveals a remarkable story of friendship, valor and betrayal. Vividly rendered and inspired by true events, New York Times bestselling author Pam Jenoff shines a light on the incredible heroics of the brave women of the war and weaves a mesmerizing tale of courage, sisterhood and the great strength of women to survive in the hardest of circumstances.

Have a great week!

Linda, SSCL

Online Catalog Links:

StarCat

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

The Digital Catalog (OverDrive)

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

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:

RBDigital

*Magazines are available for free and on demand! You can check out magazines and read them on your computer or download the RBDigital app from your app store and read them on your mobile devices.

About Library 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.

Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.