Month: August 2021

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

Suggested Listening postings are published on Fridays; and our next Suggested Listening posting will be out on Friday, August 20, 2021.

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And here are the 10 recommended songs of the week!

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Back In Baby’s Arms by Allen Toussaint (Genre: R&B, Pop-Rock)

Back In Baby’s Arms is one of the ten great songs on Toussaint’s classic album Southern Nights.

From The Album: Southern Nights (1975)

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Because They’re Young by Duane Eddy (Genre: Instrumental, Rock)

A classic song from the Corning-born guitarist Duane Eddy – a hit in 1960.

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

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Lost And Lookin’ by Sam Cooke (Genre: Vocal, R&B)

A terrific song and album by the great soul singer Sam Cooke!

From The Album: Night Beat (1963)

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Love Shack by the B-52s (Genre: Pop-Rock, Dance, New Wave)

The B 52’s formed in 1976, the original line-up consisting of Fred Schneider on vocals and percussion, Ricky Wilson on guitar, multi-instrumentalist Kate Pierson on vocals,  multi-instrumentalist  Cindy Wilson on vocals and Keith Strickland on drums, guitar and keyboards. Ricky Wilson died in 1985 and the band, from then on a quartet, continues to perform and record. Love Shack was a big hit for the quartet in 1989.

From The Album: Cosmic Thing (1989)

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Maybe Baby by Buddy Holly & The Crickets (Genre: Rock, Classic Rock)

One of the best rock songs of all time, recorded by the great singer and guitarist Buddy Holly!

From The Album: Chirping Crickets (1957)

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Party Time by The Heptones (Genre: Reggae, Party Music, Dance)

A mellow party song from the Jamaican based Heptones, led by vocalist and bassist Leroy Sibbles

From The Album: On Top (1970)

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Party Time by Marcia Ball (Genre: Blues)

Pianist and singer Marcia Ball is a gem of a blues musician, who isn’t nearly as well known as she should be! She launched a recording career in the seventies, has released a number of albums for Rounder Records and Alligator Records over the years and played many concerts. The song Party Time has just been reissued on the celebratory collection “Alligator Records 50 Years Of Genuine Houserockin’ Music.”

From the Albums: Alligator Records 50 Years Of Genuine Houserockin’ Music (2021) by various artists and Peace, Love & BBQ (2008) by Marcia Ball.

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Some Ancient Misty Morning by Jackie Leven (Genre: Singer-Songwriter, Folk)

Jackie Leven was a talented singer-songwriter and musician who played music in a variety of styles including folk, blues and punk. He was a founding member and lead singer of the punk group Doll by Doll in the seventies and eighties. Leven took a long break from recording from the early eighties to the mid-nineties and then launched a solo recording career recording 20 albums under his own name from 1995 to 2008, and several other albums under the name Sir Vincent Lone. His solo work tends to be grounded in folk music and this year – his first ever greatest hits collection has been released – Straight Outtta Caledonia (2021).

From The Album: Straight Outta Caledonia: The Songs of Jackie Leven (2021)

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To Sir, With Love by Lulu (Genre: Pop, Vocal)

From The Album(s): Originally from the soundtrack to the film To Sir, From Love (1967); now available on the album: Greatest Hits (1976) by Lulu.

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Your Mind Is On Vacation by Mose Allison (Genre: Jazz, Piano)

A humorous song that features a singer contemplating the joys of silence – ironically, while offering listeners great piano playing.

From The Album: Complete Atlantic/Electra Albums 1962-1983 (2021) (Genre: Jazz)

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Hoopla Recommend Album of the Week

Back To The Crossroads: The Roots of Robert Johnson (2004) by Various Artists

A collection of classic acoustic blues songs, recorded in the early twentieth century, by artists who influenced the monumental blues guitarist and singer – Robert Johnson.

And from the album, the song:

Life Saver Blues (1927) by Lonnie Johnson

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Have a great weekend,

Linda Reimer, SSCL

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REFERENCES:

Print References

The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits by Joel Whitburn

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Online Catalog Links:

StarCat

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

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The Digital Catalog (OverDrive & Libby Apps)

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

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Hoopla

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

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Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.

Hi everyone, here are our recommended reads for the week.

Format Note: Under each book title you’ll find a list of all the different formats that specific title is available in; including: Print Books, Large Print Books, CD Audiobooks, eBooks & Downloadable Audiobooks from the Digital Catalog (OverDrive & Libby apps) and Hoopla eBooks & Hoopla Downloadable Audiobooks (Hoopla App).

*More information on the three catalogs is found at the end of the list of recommended reads*

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Weekly Suggested Reading postings are published on Tuesdays.

The next Suggested Reading posting will be published on Tuesday, August 17, 2021.

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Americanon: An Unexpected U.S. History in Thirteen Bestselling Books by Jess McHugh

(Available Formats: Print Book)

In a work spanning literary criticism and history, journalist McHugh explores a series of popular nonfiction books that fostered stereotypical American values, such as entrepreneurship, individualism, or fealty to family and community, and also conveyed practical knowledge. She investigates primarily works written by Christian white men’s works whose books were used to encourage assimilation in people who were perceived as “other.”

Her analysis includes works such as The Old Farmer’s Almanac, Webster’s spellers and dictionaries, the fictional Betty Crocker’s cookbooks, McGuffey Readers, and Catharine Beecher’s A Treatise on Domestic Economy. Notably, she also examines Emily Post’s Etiquette, Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People, David Reuben’s Everything You Always Wanted To Know about Sex (But Were Afraid To Ask), and the rise of self-help books during the 1980s. McHugh used distribution data to select the 13 prescriptive books of the title, volumes that became part of the national conversation, illuminating social and cultural concerns and pointing to characteristics that came to be associated with American national identity. General readers and history devotees might enjoy this compilation and its use of corporate archival and secondary sources; they might also have additions to suggest.

VERDICT McHugh’s work is distinctive and engaging as it describes American social history through the lens of mainstream nonfiction advice books, and explores how they define or redefine us.– Library Journal Review

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Damnation Spring by Ash Davidson

(Available Format: Print)

The giant redwood was named the 24-7 about 100 years ago, when it was 24 feet, 7 inches wide. By 1977, it was more than 30 feet wide. For Rich Gundersen, the 24-7 and the ridge of unfelled forest it inhabits represent generations of dreams, and when he gets the chance to buy it, he takes it. He doesn’t immediately tell his wife, Colleen, younger by 19 years and suffering after the latest in a series of miscarriages. But mysterious skulls, illnesses, mudslides, and threats soon endanger his plans. The couple and their one child, a five-year-old boy, are surrounded by a close-knit timber community, including Colleen’s sister and her brood of six kids, an old friend who leaves his property with a drive-through redwood tree about once a decade but still knows all the goings-on about town, and Daniel, Colleen’s Yurok ex-boyfriend, who comes back into the picture. Their struggles and heartbreaks play out on the richly rendered backdrop of a community on the brink of major change.

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Don’t Let It Get You Down by Savala Nolan

(Available Formats: Print Book)

In her book of vulnerable yet voluble personal essays on weight and multiracial identity, Nolan (executive director, Thelton E. Henderson Center for Social Justice, Univ. of California Berkeley Sch. of Law) shares her experiences of feeling “like a spy,” an outsider in the relationships she formed with people whose privilege invests them with “layers of meaning even they didn’t understand because fish never fully understand the water.” She describes her writing as a new cartography–a body mapping of sorts, through which she takes the relentless dislocations that created her identity and transforms them into her own narratives. She writes with humor and power about seeking approval from white men because of their aura of authority, and she telescopes out of specific experiences to explore how we uncomfortably navigate society to carve out our own valuable space within a social hierarchy. Nolan writes that her self-loathing led to a series of destructive romantic and platonic relationships. She’s notably honest about navigating various contradictions in her life and demonstrates how the insistence on “either/or” rigidity limits relationships, both between and within individuals. VERDICT Nolan’s writing on identity and self-worth is captivating from start to finish; her words will resonate long after the last page.- Starred Library Journal Review

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Intimacies by Katie Kitamura

(Available Formats: Print Book & eBook)

New to The Hague, an unnamed interpreter works in the International Court, her job “to ensure that there would be no escape route between languages.” Describing herself as “guarded,” she has one close friend and dates Adriaan, who’s in a protracted separation from his wife and children. The day before his departure, Adriaan informs the interpreter that he must visit his family in Lisbon and will be gone for a week, maybe more. As a week becomes a month and his communication with her wanes, she’s assigned the high-profile case of a former president accused of election tampering and ethnic cleansing. The defense team for the accused, inured by now to descriptions of his crimes, in addition to requiring her interpretation skills, exploits her emotions as a barometer for the court’s reaction to them. Like her protagonist, Kitamura (A Separation, 2017) is a master of precisely evocative language. In her work and in her isolation, the interpreter recognizes how familiarity can obscure intimacy, while its lack can yet lead to discomfiting proximity. The novel takes place so deeply within her that it’s truly personlike, at once forthright and mysterious, a piercing and propulsive meditation on closeness of many sorts.

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Lighthouse Island: A Novel by Paulette Jiles

(Available Formats: Print Book & Hoopla Instant checkout eBook)

Paulette Jiles, the bestselling author of the highly praised novels The Color of Lightning, Stormy Weather, News of the World, and Enemy Women, pushes into new territory with Lighthouse Island-a captivating and atmospheric story set in the far future-a literary dystopian tale resonant with love and hope. In the coming centuries the world’s population has exploded. The earth is crowded with cities, animals are nearly all extinct, and drought is so widespread that water is rationed. There are no maps, no borders, no numbered years, and no freedom, except for an elite few. It is a harsh world for an orphan like Nadia Stepan. Growing up, she dreams of a green vacation spot called Lighthouse Island, in a place called the Pacific Northwest. When an opportunity for escape arises, Nadia embarks on a dangerous and sometimes comic adventure. Along the way she meets a man who changes the course of her life: James Orotov, a mapmaker and demolition expert. Together, they evade arrest and head north toward a place of wild beauty that lies beyond the megapolis-Lighthouse Island.

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Sea Wolf by Anna Burke

(Available Formats: Hoopla instant checkout eBook)

In the year 2514, the only thing more dangerous than the seas is those who sail them.

Life aboard the mercenary ship Man o’ War is rarely dull as hurricanes, swarms of jellyfish, and man-eating squid pose daily doses of danger. As intrigue and subterfuge from enemies old and new begin to surround its captain, the infamous Miranda Stillwater, even an uncanny sense of direction won’t be enough to help Compass Rose navigate these dangerous straits. As dark secrets bubble to the surface and everything she’s fought so hard for begins to crumble, Rose learns the hard way that she’ll have to rely on the only person who can save her from certain disaster. Unfortunately, that person is Compass Rose herself.

This swashbuckling 26th-century high-seas adventure novel is fast-paced, whip-smart, and quirky, yet it manages to deliver a healthy dose of heart, humor, and humility on every single page.
Readers’ Note: This is the second book in the Rose Compass series; the first book titled simply Compass Rose, is available for instant checkout through Hoopla.

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The Stranger Behind You: A Novel by Carol Goodman

(Available Formats: Print Book & eBook)

The same night that magazine journalist Joan Lurie, the narrator of this superior thriller from Mary Higgins Clark Award winner Goodman (The Sea of Lost Girls), celebrates the publication of her article exposing newspaper tycoon Caspar Osgood as a sexual predator, she’s attacked outside her Manhattan apartment. With a hefty advance for a book based on her story, Joan moves for her safety into the Refuge, an imposing, high-security building uptown, which once housed unwed mothers who were treated as near prisoners by the resident nuns. Osgood commits suicide in the wake of the exposé, leaving his wife, Melissa, in disgrace with insurmountable debt. Looking for revenge, Melissa moves into the Refuge, planning to discredit Joan’s story. Meanwhile, Joan befriends elderly Lillian Day, a longtime Refuge resident, whose tales of her youth resonate with Joan. Joan’s discovery of a link between her book and Lillian raises the stakes. The plot takes many terrifying twists and turns en route to the surprising climax. Those with a taste for the gothic will be richly rewarded. Starred Publishers Weekly Review

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The Stranger in the Mirror by Liv Constantine

(Available Formats: Print Book & eBook)

Another twisty and unsettling domestic psychological thriller (following The Wife Stalker, 2020) from established book-club favorite Liv Constantine, the pen name of sisters Lynne and Valerie Constantine. Their previous titles are in development for both TV and film. So who is Addison Hope? She doesn’t even know. Two years ago, she was rescued by a kind driver who found her injured on the side of the road. She does not remember anything that happened before that, but is tortured by intermittent violent images from what she assumes is her earlier life. Addie has made a new life for herself in Philadelphia and is engaged to be married. Her wealthy prospective mother-in-law hires a private investigator to investigate what she fears is feigned amnesia. Meanwhile, a man in Boston wonders what happened to his wife, who disappeared without a trace, leaving him and their seven-year-old daughter behind. At the intersection of their lives there is a shattering truth that unfolds in a toney drama, certain to appeal to fans of the genre. Booklist Review

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Strangers On A Train by Patricia Highsmith

(Available Formats: Print Book & Hoopla instant checkout audiobook)

In Patricia Highsmith’s debut novel, we encounter Guy Haines and Charles Anthony Bruno, passengers on the same train. But while Guy is a successful architect in the midst of a divorce, Bruno turns out to be a sadistic psychopath who manipulates Guy into swapping murders with him. As Bruno carries out his twisted plan, Guy is trapped in Highsmith’s perilous world-where, under the right circumstances, anybody is capable of murder. The inspiration for Alfred Hitchcock’s classic 1951 film, Strangers on a Train launched Highsmith on a prolific career of noir fiction, and proved her mastery of depicting the unsettling forces that tremble beneath the surface of everyday contemporary life.

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The View Was Exhausting by Mikaella Clements & Onjuli Datta

(Available Formats: eBook)

Married couple Clements and Datta use a playful trope to confront weighty issues in their excellent debut, a romance that’s as timely as it is heartfelt. British Indian actor Whitman “Win” Tagore is an A-lister who’s used to keeping tight control of her public image—and lately, she’s been working double time. When her ex-boyfriend has a public meltdown and Win is caught in the fray, it’s Leo Milanowski, her longtime friend and frequent faux beau, who comes to her rescue. For seven years, the white, wealthy playboy has played Win’s on-again, off-again lover for the tabloids, so Win’s publicist arranges for the pair to be spotted having a summer fling on the French Riviera to steal the attention away from Win’s breakup. Leo and Win easily fall back into their established patterns, but just when the line between reality and pretend starts to blur, a secret from Leo’s past surfaces and the validity of their relationship—both personally and professionally—is called to question. The authors’ slow-burning approach to Leo and Win’s relationship and fearless tackling of racism breathes new life into a favorite trope. The characters leap off the page, and their dialogue, whether flirting or fighting, is always believable. Readers will come for the swoon-worthy romance and stay for the beautiful prose. Starred Publishers Weekly Review

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Have a great week!

Linda Reimer

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*Information on the Three Catalogs*

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

The Digital Catalog, a catalog containing eBooks, downloadable audiobooks, Digital Magazines and a handful of streaming videos, has two companion apps, Libby & OverDrive. Libby is the app for newer devices and the OverDrive app should be used for older devices and Amazon tablets.

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

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

The Hoopla Catalog features instant checkouts of eBooks, downloadable audiobooks, comic books, albums, movies and TV series. Patron check out limit is 6 items per month.

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

The Hoopla App is available for Android or Apple devices and most smart TVs & media streaming players.

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

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

The StarCat app is called Bookmyne and is available for Apple and Android devices.

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

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Have questions or want to request a book?

Feel free to call the library! Our telephone number is 607-936-3713.

Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.

Hi everyone, here is the latest edition of Library Connections, our weekly readers, viewers and listeners advisory videocast.

The next Library Connections video will be posted on Tuesday, August 17, 2021.

Have a great day,
Linda Reimer, SSCL

Hi everyone, here is the weekly list of New York Times Bestsellers.

Each title is followed by a listing of which formats it is available in for check out within the three catalogs: StarCat (Print, Large Print & CD Audiobooks), The Digital Catalog (eBook & Downloadable Audiobook) and the Hoopla Catalog (Hoopla instant checkout eBook & Hoopla Audiobook).

For more information on the three catalogs skip to the section below the bestselling titles*

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New York Times Bestseller blog postings are published on Sundays; and the next New York Times Bestselling blog posting will be published on Sunday, August 15, 2021.

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FICTION

BLACK ICE by Brad Thor

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print & CD Audiobook)

The 20th book in the Scot Harvath series. The American spy faces dangers in the Arctic Circle.

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THE CELLIST by Daniel Silva

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print & CD Audiobook)

The 21st book in the Gabriel Allon series. A private intelligence service plans an act of violence that will aid Russia and divide America.

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DEVIL IN DISGUISE by Lisa Kleypas

(Available Formats: Print Book & eBook)

The seventh book in the Ravenels series. Lady Merritt Sterling falls for a Scottish whisky distiller who is in danger.

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THE FOUR WINDS by Kristin Hannah

(Available Formats: Print Book, CD Audiobook, eBook & Downloadable Audiobook)

As dust storms roll during the Great Depression, Elsa must choose between saving the family and farm or heading West.

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GOLDEN GIRL by Elin Hilderbrand

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print, eBook & Downloadable Audiobook)

A Nantucket novelist gets one final summer to watch what happens from the great beyond

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THE INVISIBLE LIFE OF ADDIE LARUE by V.E. Schwab

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print, eBook & Downloadable Audiobook)

A Faustian bargain comes with a curse that affects the adventure Addie LaRue has across centuries.

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IT ENDS WITH US by Colleen Hoover

(Available Formats: Print Book & Downloadable Audiobook)

A battered wife raised in a violent home attempts to halt the cycle of abuse.

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THE LAST THING HE TOLD ME by Laura Dave

(Available Formats: Print Book & eBook)

Hannah Hall discovers truths about her missing husband and bonds with his daughter from a previous relationship.

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THE MAIDENS by Alex Michaelides

(Available Formats: Print Book, CD Audiobook, eBook & Downloadable Audiobook)

A therapist suspects a Greek tragedy professor at Cambridge University of committing murder.

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MALIBU RISING by Taylor Jenkins Reid

(Available Formats: Print Book & Downloadable Audiobook)

Four famous siblings throw an epic party to celebrate the end of summer. But over the course of 24 hours, their lives will change forever.

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THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY by Matt Haig

(Available Formats: Print Book, eBook & Downloadable Audiobooks)

Nora Seed finds a library beyond the edge of the universe that contains books with multiple possibilities of the lives one could have lived.

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NOT A HAPPY FAMILY by Shari Lapena

(Available Formats: Print Book & CD Audiobook)

Questions arise when a rich couple are murdered after an Easter dinner with their three adult children.

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THE PAPER PALACE by Miranda Cowley Heller

(Available Formats: Print Book)

After an extramarital dalliance, Elle must choose between her husband and her childhood love.

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PEOPLE WE MEET ON VACATION by Emily Henry

(Available Formats: Print Book & eBook)

Opposites Poppy and Alex meet to vacation together one more time in hopes of saving their relationship.

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PERSONAL LIBRARIAN by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print, CD Audiobook, eBook & Downloadable Audiobook)

A Black woman who becomes one of the most powerful people in the art and book world is forced to hide her true identity.

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PRESIDENT’S DAUGHTER by Bill Clinton and James Patterson

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print, CD Audiobook, eBook & Downloadable Audiobook)

Matthew Keating, a past president and former Navy SEAL, goes on his own to find his abducted teenage daughter.

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PROJECT HAIL MARY by Andy Weir

(Available Formats: Print Book & eBook)

Ryland Grace awakes from a long sleep alone and far from home, and the fate of humanity rests on his shoulders.

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THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO by Taylor Jenkins Reid

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print & Downloadable Audiobook)

A movie icon recounts stories of her loves and career to a struggling magazine writer.

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THE SONG OF ACHILLES by Madeline Miller

(Available Formats: Print Book, eBook & Downloadable Audiobook; Hoopla instant checkout eBook & Audiobook)

A reimagining of Homer’s “Iliad” that is narrated by Achilles’ companion Patroclus.

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SOOLEY by John Grisham

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print, CD Audiobook, eBook & Downloadable Audiobook)

Samuel Sooleymon receives a basketball scholarship to North Carolina Central and determines to bring his family over from a civil war-ravaged South Sudan.

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A TIME FOR MERCY by John Grisham

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print, CD Audiobook, eBook & Downloadable Audiobook)

The third book in the Jake Brigance series. A 16-year-old is accused of killing a deputy in Clanton, Miss., in 1990.

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WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING by Delia Owens

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print, CD Audiobook, eBook & Downloadable Audiobook)

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

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NON-FICTION:

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AMERICAN MARXISM by Mark R. Levin

(Available Formats: Print Book)

The Fox News host gives his take on the Green New Deal, critical race theory and social activism.

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THE BODY KEEPS THE SCORE by Bessel van der Kolk

(Available Formats: Print Book, eBook, Downloadable Audiobook & Hoopla Audiobook)

How trauma affects the body and mind, and innovative treatments for recovery.

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BOMBER MAFIA by Malcolm Gladwell

(Available Formats: Print Book, eBook & Hoopla instant checkout audiobook)

A look at the key players and outcomes of precision bombing during World War II.

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BRAIDING SWEETGRASS by Robin Wall Kimmerer

A botanist and member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation espouses having an understanding and appreciation of plants and animals.

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CASTE by Isabel Wilkerson

(Available Formats: Print Book, Audiobook on CD, eBook & Downloadable Audiobook)

The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist examines aspects of caste systems across civilizations and reveals a rigid hierarchy in America today.

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CRYING IN H MART by Michelle Zauner

(Available Formats: Print Book & eBook)

The daughter of a Korean mother and Jewish-American father, and leader of the indie rock project Japanese Breakfast, describes creating her own identity after losing her mother to cancer.

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GREENLIGHTS by Matthew McConaughey

(Available Formats: Print Book, Audiobook on CD & Downloadable Audiobook)

The Academy Award-winning actor shares snippets from the diaries he kept over the last 35 years.

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I ALONE CAN FIX IT by Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker

The Pulitzer Prize-winning reporters examine Trump’s final year in office, with a focus on the key players around him.

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KILLING THE MOB by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard

(Available Formats: Print Book)

The 10th book in the conservative commentator’s Killing series looks at organized crime in the United States during the 20th century.

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THINK AGAIN by Adam Grant

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print, eBook & Downloadable Audiobook)

An examination of the cognitive skills of rethinking and unlearning that could be used to adapt to a rapidly changing world.

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THIS IS YOUR MIND ON PLANTS by Michael Pollan

(Available Formats: Print Book)

A look at arbitrary beliefs surrounding opium, caffeine and mescaline, which are derived from plants.

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UNTAMED by Glennon Doyle

(Available Formats: Print Book, Audiobook on CD, eBook & Downloadable Audiobook)

The activist and public speaker describes her journey of listening to her inner voice.

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THE WARMTH OF OTHER SUNS by Isabel Wilkerson

(Available Formats: Print Book, CD Audiobook & eBook)

An account of the Great Migration of 1915-70, in which nearly six million African-Americans abandoned the South.

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WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU? by Bruce D. Perry and Oprah Winfrey

(Available Formats: Print Book, CD Audiobook & Downloadable Audiobook)

An approach to dealing with trauma that shifts an essential question used to investigate it.

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Happy reading!

Linda Reimer, SSL

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*Information on the Three Catalogs*

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

The Digital Catalog has two companion apps, Libby & OverDrive. Libby is the app for newer devices and the OverDrive app should be used for older devices and Amazon tablets.

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

–

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

The Hoopla Catalog features instant check outs of eBooks, downloadable audiobook, comic books, albums and streaming videos. Patron check out limit is 4 items per month.

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

The Hoopla App is available for Android or Apple devices and most smart TVs & media streaming players.

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

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

The StarCat app is called Bookmyne and is available for Apple and Android devices.

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Also of Note: If a New York Times Bestseller isn’t yet available in any of the three catalogs; you can contact the library and request to be notified when it becomes available.

Southeast Steuben County Library Tel: 607-936-3713

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Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.

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

Suggested Listening postings are published on Fridays; and our next Suggested Listening posting will be out on Friday, August 13, 2021.

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And here are the 10 recommended songs of the week!

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It Had To Be You by Ray Charles (Genre: Vocal, R&B)

From The Album: The Genius of Ray Charles (1959)

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Love Special Delivery by Los Lobos (Genre: Americana, Pop-Rock, Folk, Country)

From The Album: Native Sons (2021)

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Moondance by Van Morrison (Genre: Singer-Songwriter, Pop-Rock, Vocal, Folk)

From The Album: Moondance (1970)

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Moonlight Serenade by Glenn Miller & His Orchestra (Genre: Big Band, Swing)

From The Album: The Essential Glenn Miller (2005)

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One For My Baby, And One More For The Road by Frank Sinatra (Genre: Vocal, Pop)

From The Album: The Ultimate Sinatra (2015)

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Summer Breeze by Seals & Croft (Genre: Pop, Rock)

From The Album: Summer Breeze (1972)

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Today by Jefferson Airplane (Genre: Rock, Classic Rock)

From The Album: Surrealistic Pillow (1967)

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What’s The Matter Now by James McMurtry (Genre: Singer-Songwriter, Folk, Country, Americana)

Genre: The Horses and the Hounds (2021).

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Wild Is The Wind by Ledisi (Genre: Vocal, Jazz, R&B)

From The Album: Ledisi Sings Nina (2021)

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You’ve Got What It Takes by Dinah Washington & Brooks Benton (Genre: Vocal, R&B, Jazz)

From The Album: The Two Of Us (1960)

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Hoopla Recommend Album of the Week

The Complete Studio Albums by The Doors (Genre: Rock)

All the studio albums of the great rock band!

And from the collection, the song:

Riders On The Storm

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And as a Doors related bons – here is a great version of the same song, Riders On The Storm by George Winston

From The George Winston Album: Night Divides The Day: The Music of the Doors (2002).

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Have a great weekend,

Linda Reimer, SSCL

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REFERENCES:

Print References

The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits by Joel Whitburn

–

Online Catalog Links:

StarCat

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

–

The Digital Catalog (OverDrive & Libby Apps)

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

–

Hoopla

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

–

Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.

Hi everyone, here are our recommended reads for the week.

Format Note: Under each book title you’ll find a list of all the different formats that specific title is available in; including: Print Books, Large Print Books, CD Audiobooks, eBooks & Downloadable Audiobooks from the Digital Catalog (OverDrive & Libby apps) and Hoopla eBooks & Hoopla Downloadable Audiobooks (Hoopla App).

*More information on the three catalogs is found at the end of the list of recommended reads*

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Weekly Suggested Reading postings are published on Tuesdays.

The next Suggested Reading posting will be published on Tuesday, August 10, 2021.

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All Our Shimmering Skies: A Novel by Trent Dalton

(Available Formats: Print Book & eBook)

Dalton (Boy Swallows Universe) delivers a spellbinding saga of survival and transformation in WWII Australia. Before seven-year-old Molly Hook’s mother dies, she makes Molly promise to make her heart as rock-hard as her surroundings—adding that Molly can always find her up in the sky, “where the best gifts come from.” In the first of many fabulist moments, Molly’s grandfather Tom Berry’s gold-prospecting pan appears as if fallen from the clouds; it’s inscribed with riddles that will guide her to an Aboriginal elder, Longcoat Bob, who the family believed had cursed them for Tom’s theft of gold from Bob’s ancestral lands. Molly excitedly takes it home, where her hard-drinking gold hunter turned gravedigger father, Horace, slugs her in the jaw and her uncle Aubrey throws away the pan, behavior Molly attributes to the curse. Five years after her mother’s death, a Japanese bombing raid kills Horace and destroys their house, and Molly flees with Aubrey’s girlfriend in search of Longcoat Bob. Along the way, a stranded Japanese fighter pilot becomes their protector, and the three continue on a quest marked by trials and wonders while being pursued by Aubrey. Dalton provides exquisite descriptions of deserts, waterfalls, mazes of stone monoliths, and Aboriginal cave paintings, and creates a courageous, unsentimental heroine in Molly. This is a wonder. Starred Publishers Weekly Review

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Appleseed: A Novel by Matt Bell

(Available Formats: Print Book & eBook)

Chapman, a faun, and his human brother, Nathaniel, plant apple trees across eighteenth-century Ohio. Nathaniel dreams of progress and development while Chapman sows each seed hoping for the Tree of Forgetting, whose fruit will turn him into a man. In the near future, the habitable half of the United States is owned by tech company Earthtrust, which claims a commitment to preservation and reversing climate change. In the abandoned West, John meets up with fellow rewilders and plots the takedown of the corporation he helped found. Hundreds of years in the future, a being searches for organic matter under the ice that covers the Earth. The three story lines alternate as Bell (A Tree or a Person or a Wall, 2016) slowly unveils the particulars of each world and their surprising connections. Appleseed is a work of cli-fi that explores myth and technology and asks what progress is good for humanity. Fans of Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven (2014) or David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas (2012) will enjoy this, as will admirers of such speculative environmental fiction as Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam trilogy.

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Count The Ways: A Novel by Joyce Maynard

(Available Formats: Print, Large Print & eBook)

What Eleanor, orphaned at 15, wants most are a home and family. In 1973, only 20 and already the author and illustrator of a popular children’s book series, Eleanor buys a used Toyota and hits the road. In rural New Hampshire, she buys a long-abandoned farmhouse shaded by a mighty ash with a bubbling brook and waterfall nearby. A few years later, she has a husband, craftsman Cam, and three children. Eleanor builds a bucolic life that includes an annual spring ritual of making cork people and setting them in paper boats afloat on the fast-flowing stream. The family races along the banks, watching the progress of their creations. Some cork people make it through a dark culvert, and others don’t, a poignant embodiment of Eleanor’s biggest fear, that she might lose one of her children. Maynard (Under the Influence, 2016) portrays Eleanor, her family, and their precious home through three tumultuous American decades, setting their story amidst seminal events and to a soundtrack featuring the music of each era. Sensitively plumbing the complexity of human emotions, of love and forgiveness, she draws readers into a deep, aching attachment to her characters, creating an ultimately hopeful tale just right for this moment. Booklist Review

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Fresh Water For Flowers by Valérie Perrin

(Available Formats: Print Book & Hoopla instant checkout eBook & downloadable audiobook)

Violette Toussaint is the caretaker of a cemetery in a small French village. At middle-age, she lives comfortably in solitude, as her philandering husband Philippe left years ago. Her contentment is disrupted when detective Julien Seul turns up with an unusual request to inter his mother’s ashes on the grave of her longtime lover, as well as an unexpected revelation; he knows where Philippe has been living. Eager to get a divorce, Violette contacts him, stirring up reminders of their troubled and tragic past. Perrin reveals Violette’s personal history in alternating chapters, showing the reader the path that led her to her solitary and contemplative life, as well as the reasons why Philippe left. Serle’s translation is fluid and rich in detail, capturing Violette’s unique perspective and her vivid inner life. The story is full of unexpected turns and painful revelations, but there are joyful moments interspersed throughout as well. There’s no pat, happy ending here, but a finale full of contentment and hope that fits with the tone of the story. Fans of Elizabeth Berg will enjoy this thoughtful take on the inner life of an unforgettable woman. Booklist Review

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Half Sick of Shadows by Laura Sebastian

(Available Formats: Print Book & eBook)

DEBUT The story of King Arthur is well-known, but now a character approaches with a new point of view: the Lady of Shalott. Elaine of Shalott is cursed to see the future, like the women in her family before her. She escapes the tower where she had been imprisoned, and she grows up in Avalon, along with her friends Arthur, Guinevere, Morgana, and Lancelot. Each has their own destiny, which Elaine has divined from her dreams and her weaving loom. When Arthur is called back to Camelot, Elaine and the others goes with him for support; for Elaine, it’s also an attempt to subvert some of her own visions. Yet as fate pulls them ever closer to tragedy, Elaine knows that she might have no choice but to follow the path laid out for them–or she can sacrifice to change things for the greater good. Arthur and Lancelot are prominent here, but it is the powerful women–Elaine, Guinevere, and Morgana–who are central to this timeline-skipping story. VERDICT Sebastian’s adult debut is filled with historical leanings with a feminist twist. Themes of friendship, fate, and morally gray decisions made for greater good are at the forefront of this Arthurian retelling.–Kristi Chadwick, Massachusetts Lib. Syst., Northampton – Starred Library Journal Review

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The Girl In His Shadow by Audrey Blake

(Available Formats: Hoopla instant checkout eBook)

The girl of the title is Nora Beady, ward of Dr. Horace Croft, a brilliant and eccentric London surgeon. Nora is intelligent, independent, and possessed of a natural talent for medicine and medical illustration. Dr. Croft has trained her to work as his assistant, but her role must be kept secret; although the book’s setting, the mid-19th-century medical field, is in the process of evolving, it still has no role for women, except as nurses. If word were to get out about exactly what Nora did in his private clinic, Dr. Croft could face criminal charges and lose his medical credentials. When surgical resident Daniel Gibson arrives, Nora’s role in Dr. Croft’s practice is threatened, and she is forced to decide whether to stay in the background or claim her rightful place. Jaima Fixson and Regina Sirois, writing under the name “Audrey Blake,” have created a compelling story, set in a gritty, sometimes brutal 1840s London that is mostly white. Drawing on deep research, their description of medical practices and procedures is harrowing. VERDICT With its strong woman protagonist and authentic period detail, this is the best kind of historical fiction, transporting readers to a place and time peopled with memorable characters. Readers who enjoy medical drama will gravitate to this book.–Carolyn M. Mulac, Chicago – Library Journal Review

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Machine by Elizabeth Bear

(Available Formats: Print Book & eBook)

Hugo Award winner Bear’s spectacularly smart space opera, set in the same universe as 2018’s Ancestral Night, begins with the dispatch of an ambulance ship from the immense medical habitat Core General to respond to a distress signal. The signal originates from a vessel docked aboard a lost generation ship that was launched from Earth centuries earlier, before humans overcame their self-destructive impulses and joined a multi-race, interstellar civilization called the Synarche. When rescue specialist Dr. Brookllyn Jens arrives on the scene, she finds the crew of the generation ship sealed in cryogenic containers, with only Helen, an anxious and rather threatening android, conscious. Meanwhile, the crew of the docked ship that sent out the distress signal in the first place are all comatose and the huge machine they have on board looks suspiciously like a combat walker. In addition to untangling the history of these ships, Jens is deputized to investigate increasingly destructive incidents of sabotage at Core General, leading her to question her faith in the hospital’s ideals. Bear’s vivid tale, narrated by the wry, almost painfully self-aware Jens, bristles with inventive science and riveting action scenes. With this outstanding work, Bear proves her mastery of the space opera genre yet again. Starred Library Journal Review

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Morningside Heights: A Novel by Joshua Henkin

(Available Formats: Print Book, eBook & Downloadable Audiobook)

Henkin (The World Without You) brilliantly conveys the complexities of a New York City family in this humane, compulsively readable tale. In 2006, Shakespeare scholar Spence Robin, 57, is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s, and his wife, Pru Steiner, is forced to return his book advance. Their daughter, Sarah, a med student, arrives from Los Angeles on a delayed flight, and Pru wryly reassures Sarah not to worry (“It’ll be good practice for when you’re a doctor. You’ll be keeping people waiting for the rest of your life”). The focus then turns to Arlo Zackheim, Spence’s son from his first marriage, whose vagabond, self-centered mother left him with an emptiness he finds hard to fill. At 15, Arlo came to live with Spence for two years, and the marked contrast between his past and living with an erudite, structured father; a kind stepmother; and a bright younger sister is drawn with humor and insight. Henkin reaches further back to describe how Pru escaped her Orthodox Jewish family in Ohio and landed in grad school at Columbia University in 1976, and shows how Spence was a wunderkind in Columbia’s English department, making the tragedy of his illness particularly poignant. Equally well handled is Pru’s transformation from wife and lover to caretaker—wrenching changes that Henkin conveys without dissolving into sentimentality or cliché, but rather leaving readers with a kernel of hope. This is a stunning achievement. Starred Publishers Weekly Review

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Shadows In Summerland by Adrian Van Young

(Available Formats: Hoopla instant checkout eBook)

In an America on the cusp of Civil War, Boston’s bereaved are easy marks for con artist mediums. Photographer William Mumler stumbles upon an ideal partner in gulling his marks: Hannah, who appears to have a genuine gift for making the dead appear in photographs. Marriage to Hannah and financial success soon follow. But Hannah comes with troublesome baggage in the form of her stern mother, and success brings with it the ambitious and the greedy, all determined to have a share of William and Hannah’s wealth for their ownâor to destroy them. Van Young’s debut novel recalls an era no less gullible than the present one. Drawing on the lives of the historical Mr. and Mrs. Mumler, Van Young paints a picture of the possibilities of faith for those ambitious and amoral enough to exploit other people’s pain, people who will not allow a moment of genuine mystery to distract them from the main chance. Van Young’s prose skillfully illuminates his gothic tale of greed, obsession, and murder. Fans of his short fiction will be pleased.

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The Shadowy Horses by Susanna Kearsley

(Available Formats: Print Book, eBook & Hoopla instant checkout eBook)

Why is the ghost of a 2nd-century Roman sentinel guarding an archaeological site? And why is he following Verity Grey? First published in 1997, Kearsley’s book still pleases with its deft blending of romance and the Gothic. Archaeologist Verity Grey has made her professional mark and even landed a secure position at the British Museum. But when her charming ex-boyfriend Adrian calls, Verity is easily lured to Scotland with promises of archaeological adventure. From the moment she boards the train, Verity’s world becomes mysteriously ominous. The Gothic atmosphere begins to swirl with the moors, a dark house lit by a single candle, and shadowy horses thundering through the night, wakening our heroine. Once Verily arrives at Peter Quinnell’s home, she meets the rest of the crew. In his 70s, Quinnell is still handsome and brilliant yet discredited by his fellow archaeologists, who lament his mad search for the 2nd-century marching camp known as Legio IX Hispana. Charismatic as ever, Adrian has his eye on every pretty woman, including Peter’s granddaughter Fabia, the photographer who seems to know very little about archaeology. Verity’s own eye is drawn to the darkly handsome, mysterious David Fortune, an archaeologist from the local university. As the team hunts for the remains of the Roman camp, however, someone seems to be intent upon sabotaging the hunt. Indeed, the dig itself seems haunted by a Roman sentinel who speaks only to a young, possibly psychic boy named Robbie. The tension mounts as Verity and David’s romance intensifies and the sentinel demands more from Robbie, warning against dangers and urging caution. But what is the source of the danger? Despite a rather abrupt resolution to the central mystery, Kearsley’s tale is lush with romantic and ghostly threads. Kirkus Review

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Have a great week!

Linda Reimer

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*Information on the Three Catalogs*

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

The Digital Catalog, a catalog containing eBooks, downloadable audiobooks, Digital Magazines and a handful of streaming videos, has two companion apps, Libby & OverDrive. Libby is the app for newer devices and the OverDrive app should be used for older devices and Amazon tablets.

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

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

The Hoopla Catalog features instant checkouts of eBooks, downloadable audiobooks, comic books, albums, movies and TV series. Patron check out limit is 6 items per month.

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

The Hoopla App is available for Android or Apple devices and most smart TVs & media streaming players.

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

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

The StarCat app is called Bookmyne and is available for Apple and Android devices.

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

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Have questions or want to request a book?

Feel free to call the library! Our telephone number is 607-936-3713.

Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.

Hi everyone, here is the latest edition of Library Connections, our weekly readers, viewers and listeners advisory videocast.

The next Library Connections video will be posted on Tuesday, August 10, 2021.

Have a great day,
Linda Reimer, SSCL