Month: August 2022

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

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

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Weekly Suggested Reading postings are published on Tuesdays.

And the next Suggested Reading posting will be published on Tuesday, September 6, 2022.

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Be The Serpent by Seanan McGuire

(Available Formats: Print Book & eBook)

At long last, Toby has actually managed to get married. True to form, what that means is that she’s well-rested for the chaos to come: and there is going to be so much chaos. McGuire packs a lot into this one, both story and history. As soon as the matter of Rayseline Torquill has been resolved, events start to spiral. Toby, sent to her childhood friend’s home by the court seers, isn’t quite fast enough to avert tragedy. She can ride the blood, though, and find out who is responsible. At least, that’s how it should work. From there, the horrible mess that Oberon made by abdicating after Maeve’s Ride was broken and Titania disappeared starts to unravel. McGuire’s ability to pack cascading disasters into a single book is showcased here, with a satisfying number of threads picked up from earlier in the series (most recently, When Sorrows Come, 2021) and woven into something both inevitable and surprising. Fortunately, McGuire has proven again and again that she can follow up a cliffhanger ending with spectacular payoffs, and fans will find the path to the cliff well worth the effort. – Booklist Review

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Diary of a Misfit: A Memoir and a Mystery by Casey Parks

(Available Formats: Print Book)

In this tantalizing blend of personal history and reportage, Washington Post reporter Parks seeks out the story of an enigmatic small-town country singer to reckon with her own fraught past. When, in 2002, Parks’s grandmother shared that she’d once been neighbors in the 1950s with “a woman who lived as a man” named Roy Hudgins, Parks pledged to find out what happened to him. As a college freshman in the South who’d recently faced rejection after coming out to her family—a confession met by a plea from her pastor for “God to kill me”—Parks writes, “I couldn’t believe there was a place where you could be different, and people would love and accept you.” Seven years later, she set off on a series of trips through rural Louisiana to interview people who had known Roy. As Parks uncovers the mystery surrounding Roy’s life and death, she attempts to reconcile her sexuality with the specters of the home she left behind, as well as her complicated relationship with her mother, an opioid addict who was “bright and joyous when she was off the nose spray, vacant and mean when she was on.” Out of this comes a brilliantly rendered and complex portrait of Southern life alongside a tender exploration of queer belonging. Parks’s writing is a marvel to witness. – Publishers Weekly Review

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Hell And Back by Craig Johnson

(Available Formats: Print Book & eBook coming soon)

Nightmare, out-of-body experience, time travel, and mental illness are all possibilities for a man who awakens knowing neither his name nor where he is. Sheriff Walt Longmire of Absaroka County, Wyoming, wakes up in a heavy snowstorm frozen to the street. At first his only reality is snow, the sound of bells, and two silver dollars in his lap. Then he sees a sign for the Fort Pratt Industrial Indian Boarding School. His period of hell on earth starts with a visit to a restaurant staffed by a stunning blond woman who looks familiar. She tells him his name, which is written in his hat’s sweatband, and identifies their locale as Fort Pratt, Montana. His next interaction is with an enormous man whom the waitress can’t see, a man dressed in the clothes of a Mountain Crow, who departs with an enigmatic comment. The two meet again while Walt, who’s looking for a policeman, discovers a woman in a movie theater who again seems familiar and a priest who claims to be researching a book on the Indian boarding school where 31 children reportedly perished in a fire. In the meantime, Walt’s best friend, Henry Standing Bear, and his deputy, Vic Moretti, come looking for him. Just like Walt, they keep running into the same people whose lives make no sense in a town where the time is always 8:17 p.m. After Walt manages to save the children from that fire, which took place many years before the time he seems to be living in, he gets locked in a desperate battle with a shape-shifting monster whose name just might be death. A mystical thriller that offers a wild ride through a thoroughly altered reality. Kirkus Review

On Readers’ Note: Hell And Back is the eighteenth book in the Walt Longmire Mystery Series. If you’d like to start reading from the beginning checkout book one, The Cold Dish.

On A Listeners’ Note: The audiobook versions of all eighteen books in the Longmire series to-date are outstanding – they are narrated by perfect narrator – George Guidall.

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The Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith

(Available Formats: Print Book & CD audiobook)

The latest installment in the highly acclaimed, internationally bestselling Strike series finds Cormoran and Robin ensnared in another winding, wicked case.

When frantic, disheveled Edie Ledwell appears in the office begging to speak to her, private detective Robin Ellacott doesn’t know quite what to make of the situation. The cocreator of a popular cartoon, The Ink Black Heart, Edie is being persecuted by a mysterious online figure who goes by the pseudonym of Anomie. Edie is desperate to uncover Anomie’s true identity.

Robin decides that the agency can’t help with this—and thinks nothing more of it until a few days later, when she reads the shocking news that Edie has been tasered and then murdered in Highgate Cemetery, the location of The Ink Black Heart.

Robin and her business partner, Cormoran Strike, become drawn into the quest to uncover Anomie’s true identity. But with a complex web of online aliases, business interests and family conflicts to navigate, Strike and Robin find themselves embroiled in a case that stretches their powers of deduction to the limits – and which threatens them in new and horrifying ways . . .

A gripping, fiendishly clever mystery, The Ink Black Heart is a true tour-de-force.

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The Rising Tide: A Vera Stanhope Novel by Ann Cleeves

(Available Formats: Print Book)

In bestseller Cleeves’s melancholy 10th Vera Stanhope novel (after 2020’s The Darkest Evening), sexagenarians Rick Kelsall, Annie Laidler, and two other old friends reunite at the tidal island convent-turned-guesthouse where they met as teens during a school retreat. When Annie finds Rick’s body hanging from a rafter, Det. Insp. Stanhope and her Northumbria Police colleagues cross the island’s causeway to investigate. Rick may have lost his BBC hosting gig over sexual misconduct allegations, but he recently signed a lucrative book deal and didn’t leave a suicide note. After an autopsy reveals someone smothered Rick before stringing him up, Vera and company uncover myriad viable suspects; not only was Rick’s BBC departure more contentious than reported, but he was writing a roman à clef in which he planned to expose his oldest pals’ darkest secrets. Cleeves crafts a clever central puzzle, then confers remarkable emotional complexity using her keenly drawn characters’ advancing age, wistful nostalgia, and thorny shared history. A pinwheeling third-person narrative drives the pace, while Vera’s candor tempers the plot’s darker elements. Fair-play mystery fans will delight. – Publishers Weekly Review

Readers’ Note: If you’d like to start reading the Vera series from the beginning, check out book one The Crow Trap.

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Scenes from My Life: A Memoir by Michael K. Williams

(Available Formats: Print Book)

The late Emmy-nominated actor recounts his endeavor to overcome poverty, abuse, and addiction in this immensely inspiring and candid debut. Born in Brooklyn in 1966, Williams endured a difficult childhood marked by an absentee father, a suffocating and abusive mother, bullying friends, and molestation, before turning to drugs as a way of “letting me disappear from myself.” Employing the arts as a “form of rebellion,” Williams became a backup dancer and began appearing in music videos, where he started to unlearn “macho code” of suppressing his feelings: “If you push something down, it’ll find its way out,” he writes in one of the book’s many raw and moving scenes. “Jay-Z says we can’t heal what we never reveal. And it’s true.” A couple years later, Tupac Shakur spotted Williams’s headshot and launched his acting career in the mid 1990s, leading Williams to land his breakout role nearly a decade later as Omar on The Wire. While the intensity of his performances often reawakened Williams’s addiction struggles, he recounts how he used his hardships as inspiration “to bring others up” via organizations—such as his own nonprofit, Making Kids Win—that were dedicated to ending cycles of violence and poverty in marginalized communities. This bittersweet and poignant work will leave readers in awe. Starred Publishers Weekly Review

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Small Town, Big Magic by Hazel Beck

(Available Formats: Print Book)

This spellbinding magic-infused rom-com from Nicole Helm (the North Star series) and Megan Crane (the Alaska Force series), writing as Beck, brings modern witchcraft away from the typical New England setting, with quirky protagonists, stoic love interests, and fanciful interpretations of history in tow. Emerson Wilde has backup plans for her backup plans, and she’s determined to see her beloved hometown of St. Cyprian, Mo., thrive. But there’s more to St. Cyprian than meets the eye—as Emerson learns when a vicious attack by magical beasts awakens her innate magical power and her best friends let her in on a secret: they’re all witches. A decade ago, Emerson’s magical memory was wiped after she failed to show enough potential during a magical aptitude test. Unused to being unprepared, Emerson struggles to make sense of this new world order, control her abilities, solve the mystery of her power’s resurgence—and reckon with the chemistry that’s reignited between her and Jacob, a member of her coven. Beck delivers a wonderfully realized heroine with a voice so clear readers will feel like one of her friends. This is sure to be a hit with any fan of paranormal romance. – Publishers Weekly Review

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A Song of Comfortable Chairs: No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith

(Available Formats: Print)

McCall Smith choreographs an ingenious “trickster tricked” plot here, centered on a swarm of cutthroat businesspeople and one surly teenager. Precious Ramotswe, founder of the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, Botswana’s only private-investigations business run by women, is on the case in this twenty-third adventure in the series. First on the agenda is a plot that might destroy the Double Comfort Furniture Store, the life’s work of Phuti, the husband of Precious’ friend and colleague, Grace Makutsi. A rival business, specializing in minimalist “Twenty-first Century Chairs,” is slashing prices and using the alluring, ever-scheming Violet Sephotho (sworn enemy of Grace Makutsi) in its advertising. Then there’s the surly teenager and his role in derailing the happiness of Grace’s childhood friend, a woman who was forced, as a teen herself, to bear a child after being raped. Precious and Grace join forces in an elaborate sting operation designed to expose these agents of mayhem. Their plot includes concocting an ad campaign of their own and hiring an actor to play a domestic scene. As they would sink into one of Phuti’s large, overstuffed, extremely comfortable armchairs, so will readers delightedly immerse themselves in descriptions of the Botswana landscape; in Precious and Grace’s conversations over mugs of red bush tea; and in the doings of the rest of the cast of comic characters. Another delight from the prolific McCall Smith. – Booklist Review

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Soul Taken by Patricia Briggs

(Available Formats: Print Book & eBook)

A new threat comes to Washington State’s Tri-Cities in Briggs’s solid 13th Mercy Thompson urban fantasy (after Smoke Bitten). Secrets come out and tensions rise among the Columbia Basin shape-shifter pack when it is implicated in the disappearance of Wulfe, the vampire who has been stalking shape-shifter mechanic Mercy. Marsilia, the mistress of the local vampire seethe, threatens to end the alliance between vampires and werewolves if the pack can’t prove its innocence by finding and returning Wulfe to her. Complication arises when a series of dead bodies turn up throughout the Tri-Cities in murders that mimic the killings featured in a new horror movie and appear to be magic in origin. With the pack in danger and Mercy herself targeted by the murderer, she and her allies race to uncover who—or what—is doing the killings. As they peel back the layers of the mystery, they find themselves enmeshed in a more complex and much older supernatural plot. Briggs does a good job integrating exposition into her story, offering fans a refresher course on the characters and their backstories and even allowing new readers to jump in fairly easily. This keeps the series going strong.

Readers’ Note: Soul Taken is the thirteen book in the Mercy Thompson series. If you’d like to start reading the series from the beginning, checkout book one Moon Called.

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The Very Secret Society Of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna

(Available Formats: Print Book)

DEBUT Mika Moon lives a very lonely life most of the time. Orphaned at a young age, Mika was raised by a series of nannies and tutors. Other than infrequent meetings with her fellow witches, Mika doesn’t get to share her love of magic with others, so she starts a YouTube channel where she plays a fake witch. She never expected anyone to realize she was a real witch, but to her surprise, she gets a message asking her to tutor three young witches. Mika knows she shouldn’t take this job, but the idea of sharing her passion for potions and spells with the young witches is hard to resist. Before long, she finds herself a welcome part of their little found family–by all except the cute, grumpy librarian named Jamie. Mika and her new family shine with a glow all their own. This book is like a warm welcome home and is sure to find itself being a comfort read for many. VERDICT Mandanna’s (Kiki Kallira Conquers a Curse) first adult novel is a positively adorable romantic fantasy and a must-buy for all public libraries. – Starred Library Journal 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, is an online catalog containing eBooks, downloadable audiobooks, digital magazines and a handful of streaming videos. The catalog, which allows one to download content to a PC, also has a companion app, Libby, which you can download to your mobile device; so you can enjoy eBooks and downloadable audiobooks on the go!

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

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

The Hoopla Catalog features 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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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 (Libby app) and Hoopla eBooks & Hoopla Downloadable Audiobooks (Hoopla app).

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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’ and listeners’ advisory videocast.

The next Library Connections video will be posted on Tuesday, September 6, 2022.

Library Connections videos may also be accessed via the Southeast Steuben County Library’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/SESTEUBENCOLIBRARY

Have a great week!
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 Audiobook), 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 posts are published on Sundays. The next New York Times Bestseller list will be published to this blog on Sunday, September 4, 2022.

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FICTION

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6:20 MAN by David Baldacci

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print, CD audibook, eBook & downloadable audiobook)

When his ex-girlfriend turns up dead in his office building, an entry-level investment analyst delves into the halls of economic power.

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ALL GOOD PEOPLE HERE by Ashley Flowers with Alex Kiester

(Available Formats: Print Book)

A journalist who returns to her hometown vows to find a missing girl and solve a 20-year-old cold case.

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ALL YOUR PERFECTS by Colleen Hoover

(Available Formats: Print Book & downloadable audiobook)

Quinn and Graham’s marriage depends on past promises.

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BOOK LOVERS by Emily Henry

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print & downloadable audiobook)

While on vacation in North Carolina, a literary agent keeps running into an editor.

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CHALLENGE by Danielle Steel

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

Parents of children who have gone missing on a dangerous peak in Montana form a search-and-rescue mission.

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CONFESS by Colleen Hoover

(Available Formats: Print Book & eBook)

A young woman finds herself attracted to an artist with a secret.

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HEAT 2 by Michael Mann and Meg Gardiner

(Available Formats: Print Book)

New adversaries confront returning characters in situations set before and after the events of the film “Heat.”

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HOTEL NANTUCKET by Elin Hilderbrand

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

The new general manager of a hotel far from its Gilded Age heyday deals with the complicated pasts of her guests and staff.

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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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IT GIRL by Ruth Ware

(Available Format: Print Book, CD audiobook, eBook & downloadable audiobook)

A decade after her first year at Oxford, an expectant mother looks into the mystery of her former best friend’s death.

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LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY by Bonnie Garmus

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print, eBook & downloadable audiobook)

A scientist and single mother living in California in the 1960s becomes a star on a TV cooking show.

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MAYBE SOMEDAY by Colleen Hoover

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

Sydney, a college student, is fascinated by her mysterious next-door neighbor, Ridge.

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THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY by Matt Haig

(Available Formats: Print Book, Libby eBook & audiobook)

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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NOVEMBER 9 by Colleen Hoover

(Available Formats: Print Book, eBook & downloadable audiobook)

Is Ben using his relationship with Fallon as fodder for his novel?

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OVERKILL by Sandra Brown

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

A former football star falls for a state prosecutor at the same time he must decide whether to kill his ex-wife, who is on life support, to ensnare her attacker.

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PEOPLE WE MEET ON VACATION by Emily Henry

(Available Formats: Print Book, eBook & downloadable audiobook)

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

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PORTRAIT OF AN UNKNOWN WOMAN by Daniel Silva

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

The 22nd book in the Gabriel Allon series. Allon becomes an art forger to uncover a multibillion-dollar fraud.

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THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO by Taylor Jenkins Reid

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print & Libby eBook & audiobook)

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

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SHATTERED by James Patterson and James O. Born

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

he 14th book in the Michael Bennett series. When an F.B.I. abduction specialist disappears, Bennett goes outside his jurisdiction.

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SPARRING PARTNERS by John Grisham 

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print, CD audiobook, eBook & downloadable audiobook)

Three novellas “Homecoming,” “Strawberry Moon” and “Sparring Partners.”

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STAR WARS: THE PRINCESS AND THE SCOUNDREL by Beth Revis

(Available Formats: Print Book)

Princess Leia and Han Solo get married and continue to fight what remains of the Imperial forces.

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TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW by Gabrielle Zevin

(Available Formats: Print Book)

Two friends find their partnership challenged in the world of video game design.

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UGLY LOVE by Colleen Hoover

(Available Formats: Print Book & eBook)

Tate Collins and Miles Archer, an airline pilot, think they can handle a no strings attached arrangement. But they can’t.

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VERITY by Colleen Hoover

(Available Formats: Print Book & eBook)

Lowen Ashleigh is hired by the husband of an injured writer to complete her popular series and uncovers a horrifying truth.

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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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WRONG PLACE WRONG TIME by Gillian McAllister

(Available Formats: Print Book)

A mother who witnesses her son murder a stranger finds her days are going in reverse and seeks to use that to alter events.

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NON-FICTION:

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AMERICA, A REDEMPTION STORY by Tim Scott with Joel N. Clark

(Available Formats: Not yet available in any catalog)

The Republican senator from South Carolina shares stories from his life and the lives of other Americans.

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BATTLE FOR THE AMERICAN MIND by Pete Hegseth with David Goodwin

(Available Formats: Not yet available in any catalog)

The “Fox & Friends Weekend” host makes his case for what he calls classical Christian education.

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THE BODY KEEPS THE SCORE by Bessel van der Kolk

(Available Formats: Print Book, eBook & downloadable audiobook)

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

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BORN A CRIME by Trevor Noah

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

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

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BRAIDING SWEETGRASS by Robin Wall Kimmerer

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

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

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CRYING IN H MART by Michelle Zauner

(Available Formats: Print Book, eBook & downloadable audiobook)

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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THE DESTRUCTIONISTS by Dana Milbank

(Available Formats: Not yet available in any catalog)

The Washington Post columnist describes Republican actions between the signing of the Contract With America and the Jan. 6 insurrection.

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DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY by Erik Larson

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print, CD audiobook, eBook & downloadable audiobook)

How an architect and a serial killer were linked by the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893.

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EDUCATED by Tara Westover

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print, CD audiobook, eBook & downloadable audiobook)

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

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EXISTENTIAL PHYSICS by Sabine Hossenfelder

(Available Formats: Not yet available in any catalog)

The physicist and creator of the YouTube series “Science Without the Gobbledygook” takes on some of the biggest questions in life and physics.

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FINDING ME by Viola Davis

(Available Formats: Print Book & downloadable audiobook)

The multiple award-winning actress describes the difficulties she encountered before claiming her sense of self and achieving professional success.

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GREENLIGHTS by Matthew McConaughey

(Available Formats: Print Book, CD audiobook, eBook & downloadable audiobook)

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

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HAPPY-GO-LUCKY by David Sedaris

(Available Formats: Print Book & CD audiobook)

The humorist portrays personal and public upheavals of his life in its seventh decade and the world in the time of a pandemic.

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I’M GLAD MY MOM DIED by Jennette McCurdy

(Available Formats: Print Book & downloadable audiobook)

The actress and filmmaker describes her eating disorders and difficult relationship with her mother.

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KILLING THE KILLERS by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard

(Available Formats: Print Book & CD audiobook)

The 11th book in the conservative commentator’s Killing series gives an account of the global war against terrorists.

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LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI by Rinker Buck

(Available Formats: Print Book)

The author of “The Oregon Trail” recounts his adventures on a wooden flatboat and challenges the myths of American expansion.

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PATH LIT BY LIGHTNING by David Maraniss

(Available Formats: Print Book)

The life story of the Olympic athlete, All-American football player and Major League Baseball player Jim Thorpe.

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SHY by Mary Rodgers and Jesse Green

(Available Formats: Not yet available; publication date 8/30)

The memoirs of the late composer, author and screenwriter, written with the chief theater critic at The New York Times.

 

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THINK AGAIN by Adam Grant

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print & 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, Large Print, CD audiobook & downloadable audiobook)

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

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

(Available Formats: Print Book, CD audiobook, eBook & downloadable audiobooks)

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.

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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.

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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, September 2, 2022.

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And here are the 10 recommended songs of the week!

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Autumn Serenade by John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman (Genre: Jazz)

From The Album: The Essential John Coltrane On Impulse! (2021)

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Black Velvet by Alannah Myles (Genre: Vocal, Pop-Rock)

From The Album: Alannah Myles (1998)

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The Lady of Shalott by Loreena McKennitt (Genre: Vocal, Pop, Ethereal)

Recorded live at the Juno Awards in 1992

Studio Version From The Album: The Visit (1991)

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No Expectations by The Cowboy Junkies (Genre: Vocal, Folk-Rock)

From The Album: Songs of Recollection (2022)

And as a bonus, here is the original version:

No Expectations by The Rolling Stones (Genre: Rock)

From The Album: Beggars Banquet (1968)

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Shake ‘Em Down by Mississippi Fred McDowell Annie Mae McDowell (Genre: Blues)

From The Album: Shake Em On Down / Alan Lomax Recordings (2019)

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Satisfaction by Justine Bateman & The Mystery (Genre: Soundtrack)

From The Album: Satisfaction Soundtrack (1990)

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Satisfied by Florence Stamp (Genre: Blues)

The Land Where The Blues Began – The Alan Lomax Collection by Various Artists (2002)

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Sunday Girl by Blondie (Genre: New Wave, Rock)

From The Collection: Parallel Lines (1978) & Best of Blondie (1981, Chrysalis)

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Thank You For… by Bridget St. John (Genre: Folk)

From The Album: A Pocketful of Starlight: The Best of Bridget St. John (2013)

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Thing Called Love by Bonnie Raitt (Genre: Blues-Rock)

From The Album: Luck of the Draw (1991)

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Hoopla Recommend Album of the Week

Even In The Quietest Moments (1977) by Supertramp

And from the album the song

Give A Little Bit by Supertramp (Genre: Pop-Rock)

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Have a great weekend,

Linda Reimer, SSCL

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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, web version of Libby

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

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The Libby App

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

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Hoopla

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

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Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.

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

The next Library Connections video will be posted on Tuesday, August 30, 2022.

Library Connections videos may also be accessed via the Southeast Steuben County Library’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/SESTEUBENCOLIBRARY

Have a great week!
Linda Reimer, SSCL

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

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

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Weekly Suggested Reading postings are published on Tuesdays.

And the next Suggested Reading posting will be published on Tuesday, August 30, 2022.

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Banned Books: The World’s Most Controversial Books, Past and Present by DK Books

(Available Formats: Print Book)

Immerse yourself in the stories behind the most shocking and infamous books ever published!

Censorship of one form or another has existed almost as long as the written word, while definitions of what is deemed “acceptable” in published works have shifted over the centuries, and from culture to culture.

Banned Books explores why some of the world’s most important literary classics and seminal non-fiction titles were once deemed too controversial for the public to read – whether for challenging racial or sexual norms, satirizing public figures, or simply being deemed unfit for young readers. From the banning of All Quiet on the Western Front and the repeated suppression of On the Origin of the Species, to 1984, Fahrenheit 45, Catcher in the Rye and Huckleberry Fin, this must-have volume examines the astonishing role that some banned books have played in changing history.

Packed with eye-opening insights into the history of the written word, and the political and social climate during the period of suppression or censorship, this is a must-read for anyone interested in literature, creative writing, politics, history, or the law.

Delve into this compelling collection of the world’s most controversial books to discover:

– Covers a broad range of genres and subject areas in fiction and non-fiction, ranging from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland to Spycatcher

– Offers informative insights into society, politics, law, and religious beliefs, in different countries around the world

– Features images of first editions and specially commissioned illustrations of the books’ authors

– Includes extracts from the banned books along with key quotations about them

– Completely global in scope

A must-have volume for avid readers and literary scholars alike, alongside those with an interest in the law, politics and censorship, Banned Books profiles a selection of the most infamous, intriguing and controversial books ever written, whilst offering a unique perspective on the history of the written word, with insights into the often surprising reasons books have been banned throughout history and across the world.

Whether as a gift or self-purchase, this brilliant book is a must-have addition to the library of curious thinkers, borrowers and lifelong learners. If you enjoy Banned Books, then why not try Great Loves – the first title in DK’s quirky new hardback series, full of insightful and intriguing topics.

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Dark Music by David Lagercrantz

(Available Formats: Print Book)

In Stockholm, soccer referee Jamal Kabir is murdered shortly after a confrontation with hot-headed soccer dad Giuseppe Costa. Officer Micaela Vargas, newly assigned to homicide, was raised in the same rough neighborhood as Costa, and new colleagues hope that this connection will draw out a confession. Instead, a consultation with renowned interrogation expert Hans Rekke lends support to Micaela’s growing conviction that Costa’s volatility doesn’t fit the scene’s evidence, which suggests a well-planned murder. Micaela manages to clear Costa but is booted from the case. Redemption comes later, when a chance meeting with Rekke grows into an off-the-books investigation of Kabir’s murder, which reaches back to the persecution of Soviet-trained musicians in Taliban-controlled Kabul and the Swedish government’s well-concealed role in CIA counter-terrorism operations.

Former journalist Lagercrantz, applauded by many for his novels continuing Stieg Larsson’s Millennium series, has created a complex, Holmes-and-Watson alliance here that’s enhanced by brooding Scandinavian atmosphere, nuanced internal conflicts, and sharp-edged cultural divides. A well-constructed series starter, offering more to come. In Stockholm, soccer referee Jamal Kabir is murdered shortly after a confrontation with hot-headed soccer dad Giuseppe Costa. Officer Micaela Vargas, newly assigned to homicide, was raised in the same rough neighborhood as Costa, and new colleagues hope that this connection will draw out a confession. Instead, a consultation with renowned interrogation expert Hans Rekke lends support to Micaela’s growing conviction that Costa’s volatility doesn’t fit the scene’s evidence, which suggests a well-planned murder. Micaela manages to clear Costa but is booted from the case. Redemption comes later, when a chance meeting with Rekke grows into an off-the-books investigation of Kabir’s murder, which reaches back to the persecution of Soviet-trained musicians in Taliban-controlled Kabul and the Swedish government’s well-concealed role in CIA counter-terrorism operations. Former journalist Lagercrantz, applauded by many for his novels continuing Stieg Larsson’s Millennium series, has created a complex, Holmes-and-Watson alliance here that’s enhanced by brooding Scandinavian atmosphere, nuanced internal conflicts, and sharp-edged cultural divides. A well-constructed series starter, offering more to come. Booklist Review

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Forest Walking: Discovering the Trees and Woodlands of North America by Peter Wohlleben

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

Forester Wohlleben and editor Billinghurst reconvene for this enlightening look at the power of forests (after The Hidden Life of Trees). Being in the woods can force one to slow down and offers an opportunity to hone senses, the authors write, and they offer a guide to navigating woodland areas. This includes tips for seasonal walks, wildlife spotting, foraging, and outdoor attire, and they suggest some activities for children, too, such as painting with mud on a tree trunk and learning to play the beech leaf, which makes a squeaking sound when blown. Along the way, Wohlleben and Billinghurst provide insight into how forests operate: “Thrifty red spruces,” for example, “engineer an ecosystem” in soil that lacks nutrients, and even dead trees serve as homes for wildlife and provide nutrients to the earth. Trees “shape the soil, the climate, the frequency of fire, and the path taken by water in the surrounding landscape.” The survey is poetic and full of marvels, and readers will be encouraged by the authors’ insistence that a simple walk is all one needs to find adventure. This beautifully written homage will have readers ready to get outside. – Starred Publishers Weekly Review
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Fox Creek by William Kent Krueger

(Available Formats: Print Book, eBook & downloadable audiobook)

In Edgar winner Krueger’s outstanding 19th mystery featuring PI Cork O’Connor of Minnesota’s Tamarack County (after 2021’s Lightning Strike), Cork is tending the grill at his burger joint when he’s approached by a stranger who introduces himself as Louis Morriseau. Louis wants the PI to find his wife, Dolores, who he believes is having an affair with Henry Meloux. Cork immediately knows something is wrong, because his friend Henry, an Ojibwe healer, is more than 100 years old. Henry is indeed with Dolores, who’s having a cleansing sweat under the guidance of Cork’s wife, Rainy, who’s also Henry’s great-niece. Dolores later confirms that the stranger is not her husband, Louis, who has been missing. Henry uses his highly developed sense of mysticism to lead Dolores and Rainy deep into the Boundary Waters wilderness to escape two killers pursuing the women. Meanwhile, Cork and Dolores’s brother-in-law, Anton, a tribal cop, follows the killers. Krueger skillfully blends an evocative look at nature’s beauty and peril with Native American lore. Not just regional mystery fans will be enthralled. – Starred Publishers Weekly Review
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The Lost Ticket by Freya Sampson

(Available Formats: Print Book)

Frank Weiss met a red-haired artist on the 88 bus in London in 1962, and promptly lost her number. Sixty years later and in the early stages of dementia, he rides the 88 route, hoping to run into her again. Red-haired Libby is fresh off a breakup with nothing to do but babysit her nephew. One day on the bus, she sketches a punk with a mohawk hairdo, who promptly turns around and yells at her. When Libby meets Frank, she feels compelled to find his lost (potential) love, and Frank insists she enlist the help of his carer–who turns out to be the punk. Dylan thinks Libby’s idea to plaster the route with missed-connection signs is a bad one, but he helps anyway. As they work, they meet people whose lives Frank has touched, while Frank faces the fact that he may not be able to live independently anymore. As she did in The Last Chance Library (2021), Sampson corrals a cast of misfits for a common cause, resulting in a funny, sweet, tearjerker of a tale. – Booklist Review

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Murder in Westminster by Vanessa Riley

(Available Formats: Print Book)

Multipublished, multigenre author Riley’s (A Duke, the Spy, an Artist, and a Lie; Sister Mother Warrior) new historical mystery series is set in Regency-era England and introduces Lady Abigail Worthing. Lady Worthing has an ongoing feud with her next-door neighbor, Stapleton Henderson, over boundary issues and disruptions. From her side, it’s her dog Teacup who causes problems, and from Henderson’s, his estranged wife Juliet. The battling neighbors are forced to become uneasy allies when Juliet is found murdered at the border between their properties and his alibi includes Abigail. Abigail fears suspicion could fall upon her because of her racial background, and Henderson likely worries that Juliet’s profligate behavior will make him a likely suspect. Each has reasons to maintain the fake alibi but conclude that the best way to make it all go away is to unmask the true murderer. VERDICT Riley’s introduction to Lady Worthing is a bit overstuffed with plot and subplots, but fans of Regency-era historical mysteries featuring intelligent heroines (such as Andrea Penrose’s Lady Arianna or Tasha Alexander’s Lady Emily) will find this series a welcome addition to the genre. – Library Journal Review

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One Person, One Vote: A Surprising History of Gerrymandering in America
by Nick Seabrook

(Available Formats: Print Book)

Seabrook, a professor of political science and public administration at the University of North Florida and an expert on election law, gives readers an illuminating look into the history of gerrymandering. Although the term has varying definitions, it is, broadly speaking, “a concerted effort to make the votes of certain groups of people matter more than the votes of others.” Beginning with examples of gerrymandering in the Middle Ages, Seabrook moves quickly to the American colonies, profiling George Burrington, governor of the province of North Carolina. His ostentatious personality and equally brash election meddling is an early example of disturbing practices that continue to this day. Originating from the actions of Massachusetts governor Elbridge Gerry, the word gerrymandering is now commonly used in conjunction with redistricting litigation, district line redrawing, and continual failures of the court systems to address brazen injustices, including voter disenfranchisement, that are baked into efforts to win at all costs. With elections on the horizon, One Person One Vote is a timely and trustworthy review of legislative manipulations that reinforce entrenched powers that be and further undermine disadvantaged constituencies. – Booklist Review
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Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen

(Available Formats: Print Book & eBook)

In Allen’s charming latest (after First Frost), a motley cast inhabit a condo building on a South Carolina island. Recent high school graduate Zoey Hennessey leaves behind her father and stepmother in Tulsa, Okla., to spend the summer in her deceased mother’s apartment in the Dellawisp, named after the birds who stalk the residents. There, Zoey is disappointed to find little in the way of clues about the life of her late Cuban immigrant mother, Paloma Fernandez Hennessey, but she does encounter a cast of intriguing and quirky neighbors, including Charlotte, a henna artist raised in a cult who is at first reluctant to become Zoey’s friend and hides a major secret. Lizbeth Lime, a hoarder killed by a falling bookshelf on Zoey’s first night at the condo, providing an impetus for the plot as Zoey is hired by the manager to clear out Lizbeth’s apartment, then gets help from Charlotte. Allen skillfully weaves the various threads, as vignettes narrated by ghosts of former building residents provide further context as the plot unfurls, shedding light on the mysterious birds and absent figures such as Lizbeth’s estranged son and her reclusive sister. This will move readers. – Publishers Weekly Review

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Peg and Rose Solve a Murder: A Charming and Humorous Cozy Mystery by Laurien Berenson

(Available Formats: Print Book)

Murder, She Wrote meets The Golden Girls in the award-winning author’s brand-new series! Two cantankerous septuagenarians, opposites in every way, put aside their differences to stop a killer… if they don’t throttle each other first!

Rose Donovan looks for the good in everyone. With her sister-in-law, Peg, that sometimes requires a lot of searching. Even a sixty-something former nun like Rose has her limits, and gruff Peg Turnbull sure knows how to push them. But after forty years of bickering, they’re attempting to start over, partnering up to join the local bridge club.

Peg and Rose barely have a chance to celebrate their first win before one of the club’s most accomplished players is killed in his home. As the newest members, the sisters-in-law come under scrutiny and decide to start some digging of their own. Bridge is typically seen as a wholesome pastime, yet this group of senior citizens harbors a wealth of vices, including gambling, cheating, and adultery . . .

By comparison, Peg and Rose’s fractious relationship is starting to feel almost functional. But as their suspect list narrows, they’re unaware that their logic has a dangerous flaw. And they’ll have to hope that their teamwork holds steady when they’re confronted by a killer who’s through with playing games . . .

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The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez

(Available Formats: Print Book)

Jimenez (The Vanished Birds) crafts an elusive, layered epic that thoroughly rewards its demands. In an outpost of an unnamed country ruled by a ruthless emperor and his three sons, the Terrors, commander Uhi Araya convinces Keema of the Daware Tribe, a one-armed mercenary, to swear an oath to deliver a spear to someone near the capital. Shortly thereafter, the outpost is sacked and Keema flees with Jun, an elite guard, and the goddess Jun has freed from her prison. Together with a disabled, telepathic tortoise and the dying deity, they crisscross the country with a plot to find allies among the increasingly discontented people and end the cruel reign of the Terrors. Jimenez interweaves this sprawling journey with flash-forwards following an unnamed character whose family possesses the spear generations later as they watch their grandmother’s stories of these heroes unfold via the dream-accessed Inverted Theater. The rapidly shifting perspectives and slippery plot make for a steep barrier to entry, but the beautiful prose and inventive worldbuilding pay dividends. Though this won’t be for everyone, committed readers who enjoy piecing together stories will be blown away. – 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, is an online catalog containing eBooks, downloadable audiobooks, digital magazines and a handful of streaming videos. The catalog, which allows one to download content to a PC, also has a companion app, Libby, which you can download to your mobile device; so you can enjoy eBooks and downloadable audiobooks on the go!

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

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

The Hoopla Catalog features 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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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 (Libby app) and Hoopla eBooks & Hoopla Downloadable Audiobooks (Hoopla app).

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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 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 Audiobook), 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 posts are published on Sundays. The next New York Times Bestseller list will be published to this blog on Sunday, August 28, 2022.

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FICTION

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6:20 MAN by David Baldacci

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print, CD audibook, eBook & downloadable audiobook)

When his ex-girlfriend turns up dead in his office building, an entry-level investment analyst delves into the halls of economic power.

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ALL YOUR PERFECTS by Colleen Hoover

(Available Formats: Print Book & downloadable audiobook)

Quinn and Graham’s marriage depends on past promises.

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BOOK LOVERS by Emily Henry

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print & downloadable audiobook)

While on vacation in North Carolina, a literary agent keeps running into an editor.

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EVERY SUMMER AFTER by Carley Fortune

(Available Formats: Print Book & eBook)

The love story of Percy and Sam is told over the course of six summers and one weekend.

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FAMILY REMAINS by Lisa Jewell

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

Mysteries involving a decades-old cold case, a murder in France and a woman’s return to London are connected.

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HEAT 2 by Michael Mann and Meg Gardiner

(Available Formats: Print Book)

New adversaries confront returning characters in situations set before and after the events of the film “Heat.”

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HORSE by Geraldine Brooks

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print, eBook & downloadable audiobook)

The story of a racehorse, an enslaved groom and an itinerant painter reverberates in three different eras.

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HOTEL NANTUCKET by Elin Hilderbrand

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

The new general manager of a hotel far from its Gilded Age heyday deals with the complicated pasts of her guests and staff.

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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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IT GIRL by Ruth Ware

(Available Format: Print Book, CD audiobook, eBook & downloadable audiobook)

A decade after her first year at Oxford, an expectant mother looks into the mystery of her former best friend’s death.

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LAST THING HE TOLD ME by Laura Dave

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print, CD audiobook, eBook & downloadable audiobook)

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

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LAST WHITE MAN by Mohsin Hamid

(Available Formats: Print Book & eBook)

Anders is one of many people who wake up with a different appearance and skin color.

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LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY by Bonnie Garmus

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print, eBook & downloadable audiobook)

A scientist and single mother living in California in the 1960s becomes a star on a TV cooking show.

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MAYBE SOMEDAY by Colleen Hoover

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

Sydney, a college student, is fascinated by her mysterious next-door neighbor, Ridge.

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THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY by Matt Haig

(Available Formats: Print Book, Libby eBook & audiobook)

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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NOVEMBER 9 by Colleen Hoover

(Available Formats: Print Book, eBook & downloadable audiobook)

Is Ben using his relationship with Fallon as fodder for his novel?

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PEOPLE WE MEET ON VACATION by Emily Henry

(Available Formats: Print Book, eBook & downloadable audiobook)

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

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PORTRAIT OF AN UNKNOWN WOMAN by Daniel Silva

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

The 22nd book in the Gabriel Allon series. Allon becomes an art forger to uncover a multibillion-dollar fraud.

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THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO by Taylor Jenkins Reid

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print & Libby eBook & audiobook)

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

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SHATTERED by James Patterson and James O. Born

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

he 14th book in the Michael Bennett series. When an F.B.I. abduction specialist disappears, Bennett goes outside his jurisdiction.

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SILENT PATIENT by Alex Michaelides

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print, CD audiobook, eBook & downloadable audiobook)

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

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SPARRING PARTNERS by John Grisham 

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print, CD audiobook, eBook & downloadable audiobook)

Three novellas “Homecoming,” “Strawberry Moon” and “Sparring Partners.”

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TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW by Gabrielle Zevin

(Available Formats: Print Book)

Two friends find their partnership challenged in the world of video game design.

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UGLY LOVE by Colleen Hoover

(Available Formats: Print Book & eBook)

Tate Collins and Miles Archer, an airline pilot, think they can handle a no strings attached arrangement. But they can’t.

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VERITY by Colleen Hoover

(Available Formats: Print Book & eBook)

Lowen Ashleigh is hired by the husband of an injured writer to complete her popular series and uncovers a horrifying truth.

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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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WRONG PLACE WRONG TIME by Gillian McAllister

(Available Formats: Print Book)

A mother who witnesses her son murder a stranger finds her days are going in reverse and seeks to use that to alter events.

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NON-FICTION:

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AMERICA, A REDEMPTION STORY by Tim Scott with Joel N. Clark

(Available Formats: Not yet available in any catalog)

The Republican senator from South Carolina shares stories from his life and the lives of other Americans.

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BATTLE FOR THE AMERICAN MIND by Pete Hegseth with David Goodwin

(Available Formats: Not yet available in any catalog)

The “Fox & Friends Weekend” host makes his case for what he calls classical Christian education.

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THE BODY KEEPS THE SCORE by Bessel van der Kolk

(Available Formats: Print Book, eBook & downloadable audiobook)

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

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BORN A CRIME by Trevor Noah

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

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

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BRAIDING SWEETGRASS by Robin Wall Kimmerer

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

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

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CRYING IN H MART by Michelle Zauner

(Available Formats: Print Book, eBook & downloadable audiobook)

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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THE DESTRUCTIONISTS by Dana Milbank

(Available Formats: Not yet available in any catalog)

 

The Washington Post columnist describes Republican actions between the signing of the Contract With America and the Jan. 6 insurrection.

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DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY by Erik Larson

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print, CD audiobook, eBook & downloadable audiobook)

How an architect and a serial killer were linked by the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893.

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EDUCATED by Tara Westover

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print, CD audiobook, eBook & downloadable audiobook)

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

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FINDING ME by Viola Davis

(Available Formats: Print Book & downloadable audiobook)

The multiple award-winning actress describes the difficulties she encountered before claiming her sense of self and achieving professional success.

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GREENLIGHTS by Matthew McConaughey

(Available Formats: Print Book, CD audiobook, eBook & downloadable audiobook)

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

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HAPPY-GO-LUCKY by David Sedaris

(Available Formats: Print Book & CD audiobook)

The humorist portrays personal and public upheavals of his life in its seventh decade and the world in the time of a pandemic.

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KILLING THE KILLERS by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard

(Available Formats: Print Book & CD audiobook)

The 11th book in the conservative commentator’s Killing series gives an account of the global war against terrorists.

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LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI by Rinker Buck

(Available Formats: Print Book)

The author of “The Oregon Trail” recounts his adventures on a wooden flatboat and challenges the myths of American expansion.

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PATH LIT BY LIGHTNING by David Maraniss

(Available Formats: Print Book)

The life story of the Olympic athlete, All-American football player and Major League Baseball player Jim Thorpe.

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SHY by Mary Rodgers and Jesse Green

(Available Formats: Not yet available; publication date 8/30)

The memoirs of the late composer, author and screenwriter, written with the chief theater critic at The New York Times.

 

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THINK AGAIN by Adam Grant

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print & 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, Large Print, CD audiobook & downloadable audiobook)

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

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

(Available Formats: Print Book, CD audiobook, eBook & downloadable audiobooks)

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.

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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.

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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,

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And here are the 10 recommended songs of the week!

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Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive by Johnny Mercer (Genre: Vocal, Jazz)

From The Album: Accentuate The Positive! (1957)

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After Hours by Erskine Hawkins & His Orchestra (Genre: Jazz, Swing)

From The Album: Presenting After Hours (1957)

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Baby, Please Don’t Go by Them (with Van Morrison on vocals) (Genre: Classic Rock)

From The Album: The Complete Them (1964-1967)

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Black Night by Charles Brown (Genre: Vocal, R&B)

From The Album: Blues Masters, Vol. 1: Urban Blues (1992; Rhino Records)

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Couldn’t Stand The Weather by Stevie Ray Vaughan (Genre: Guitar, Rock, Blues)

From The Album: Couldn’t Stand The Weather (1984)

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Fiona by Fantastic Cat (Genre: Folk, Singer-Songwriter)

From The Album: The Very Best of Fantastic Cat (2022)

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It’s Only A Paper Moon by James Taylor (Genre: Singer-Songwriter)

From The Album: American Standards (2020)

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Saturday Night Fish Fry by Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five (Genre: Vocal, Swing, Jazz, R&B)

The Best Of Louis Jordan (1975)

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Sweet Rhythm by Jimmie Lunceford and his Orchestra (Genre: Swing, Jazz)

From The Album: It’s The Way That You Swing It – The Hits Of Jimmie Lunceford (2007)

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Toot Toot Tootie Toot (Dance of the Reed-Pipes) by Duke Ellington (Genre: Jazz)

From The Album: Duke Ellington: Three Suites (1960)

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Hoopla Recommend Album of the Week

The First Day of Spring by Noah and the Whale

And from the album the song

Instrumental I

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Have a great weekend,

Linda Reimer, SSCL

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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, web version of Libby

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

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The Libby App

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

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Hoopla

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

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Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.

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

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

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Weekly Suggested Reading postings are published on Tuesdays, except on occasion when it is super busy in Library Land, and then they are published on Wednesdays, as is the case today!

And the next Suggested Reading posting will be published on Tuesday, August 23, 2022.

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The Accidental Pinup by Danielle Jackson

(Available Formats: Print Book & eBook)

Jackson’s debut drops readers into a loving found family on the verge of extraordinary success in the world of inclusive lingerie. Cassie Harris’s pinup photography business, Buxom Boudoir, is booming with the help of her best friend, Dana, a plus-size model and influencer. Now they’ve turned their combined passion for body inclusive fashion into a line with Luscious Lingerie. Art directing the line’s photography could catapult Cassie’s career, and both she and Dana are sure no one else can translate their vision. Enter Reid Montgomery, the man who consistently scoops Cassie’s dream gigs with similarly styled photography that always focuses on industry standard models—and who now steals the art director gig out from under Cassie. Then Dana’s pregnancy lands her on bed rest just before the launch, leaving the shoot short a model, and Cassie sees a chance to wrest back some creative control by filling in. Cassie and Reid’s ensuing enemies-to-lovers romance charms, but the heart of the story lies in Cassie’s determination to build a career in a world where fat women are often overlooked. A glamorous cast of bold, driven women—and the men who learn to love them—makes this romance a treat. – Publishers Weekly Review

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All This Could Be Different: A Novel by Sarah Thankam Mathews

(Available Formats: Print Book & eBook)

Sneha, narrator of Mathews’ polished debut, just graduated college and landed in Milwaukee, “”a rusted city where I had nobody, parents two oceans away.”” Between long days working her consulting job in change management (“”I should have majored in Microsoft Excel.””), Sneha amasses fine furniture for her paid-for apartment (negotiated into her contract), surfs the apps, and finds herself in a family of friends, who are a band of warm secondary characters, especially the inimitable Tig. As to her family of origin and the oceans now separating them, there was American-Dream success before there was a complete undoing, before Sneha’s parents did not refuse the money she wired home to India. The distance does nothing to diminish the pressure only-child Sneha feels to make something of herself, nor her constant low-grade fear that they would never accept that she’s queer–a fear she extinguishes with brutal force after her plan to sleep around fails and she falls for Marina. Recounting this heady time a decade or so later, Sneha is a magnetic teller of her tale of finding love, growing up, and summoning the power to change–and choose–her life. Kindred to Brandon Taylor’s stellar Real Life (2020), this novel burrows deep. – Starred Booklist Review

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Babysitter by Joyce Carol Oates

(Available Formats: Print Book)

In the late 1970s, in the suburbs of Detroit, someone was abducting and murdering young children. Although there were a few suspects at the time, the killer, who was sometimes called the Babysitter, has never been identified. It is against this backdrop of fear and uncertainty that Oates sets her latest novel, which is based on a short story she published in 2005. Hannah Jarrett, a married mother, is tormented by her decision to follow up on a flirtation with a man she barely knows (even his name is a mystery to her). As she becomes increasingly obsessed with the man, and as her family falls apart around her, Hannah wonders if it’s possible he could be the killer. The novel eludes easy classification. It most resembles a psychological thriller, but with dark, torturous, bloody undercurrents running through it. Oates risks losing squeamish readers here, but that’s hardly a surprise from an author who has long embraced edgy subject matter. Also unsurprising is the quality of the writing: carefully constructed sentences, pitch-perfect dialogue, and a central character who is simultaneously sympathetic and repellent. An outstanding novel from a true modern master who jumps across genres with unrivaled dexterity. – Booklist Review

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Breaking the Age Code: How Your Beliefs About Aging Determine How Long and Well You Live by Becca Levy, PhD

(Available Formats: Print Book)

Yale professor and leading expert on the psychology of successful aging, Dr. Becca Levy, draws on her ground-breaking research to show how age beliefs can be improved so they benefit all aspects of the aging process, including the way genes operate and the extension of life expectancy by 7.5 years.

The often-surprising results of Levy’s science offer stunning revelations about the mind-body connection. She demonstrates that many health problems formerly considered to be entirely due to the aging process, such as memory loss, hearing decline, and cardiovascular events, are instead influenced by the negative age beliefs that dominate in the US and other ageist countries. It’s time for all of us to rethink aging and Breaking the Age Code shows us how to do just that.

Based on her innovative research, stories that range from pop culture to the corporate boardroom, and her own life, Levy shows how age beliefs shape all aspects of our lives. She also presents a variety of fascinating people who have benefited from positive age beliefs as well as an entire town that has flourished with these beliefs.

Breaking the Age Code is a landmark work, presenting not only easy-to-follow techniques for improving age beliefs so they can contribute to successful aging, but also a blueprint to reduce structural ageism for lasting change and an age-just society.

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Fox Creek by William Kent Krueger

(Available Formats: Print Book, eBook & audiobook)

In Edgar winner Krueger’s outstanding 19th mystery featuring PI Cork O’Connor of Minnesota’s Tamarack County (after 2021’s Lightning Strike), Cork is tending the grill at his burger joint when he’s approached by a stranger who introduces himself as Louis Morriseau. Louis wants the PI to find his wife, Dolores, who he believes is having an affair with Henry Meloux. Cork immediately knows something is wrong, because his friend Henry, an Ojibwe healer, is more than 100 years old. Henry is indeed with Dolores, who’s having a cleansing sweat under the guidance of Cork’s wife, Rainy, who’s also Henry’s great-niece. Dolores later confirms that the stranger is not her husband, Louis, who has been missing. Henry uses his highly developed sense of mysticism to lead Dolores and Rainy deep into the Boundary Waters wilderness to escape two killers pursuing the women. Meanwhile, Cork and Dolores’s brother-in-law, Anton, a tribal cop, follows the killers. Krueger skillfully blends an evocative look at nature’s beauty and peril with Native American lore. Not just regional mystery fans will be enthralled. – Starred Publishers Weekly Review

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Girl, Forgotten by Karin Slaughter

(Available Formats: Print Book & CD audiobook)

In Slaughter’s latest thriller, Deputy U.S. Marshall Andrea (“Andy”) Oliver, a rookie on the force, takes an assignment in Baltimore to protect a judge who’s been receiving death threats. For Andy, the assignment has a personal element: the judge is the mother of Emily Vaughn, who was murdered decades earlier, and it is possible that Andy’s biological father, the incarcerated cult leader Nick Harp, was Emily’s killer. Slaughter’s Pieces of Her (2018) introduced Andy, but it focused on her mother, Laura; here the attention turns to Andy, who has grown into a strong woman (much like Laura) and is determined to dig deeper into her complex family history. But can she find her way through 40 years of cover-up and conspiracy to uncover the truth about Emily, who was killed just as she was about to graduate from high school? It’s a terrific premise, and Slaughter really goes to town with it. Layer upon layer of mystery, a great cast of characters, and some genuinely startling twists. This is Slaughter at her best. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Slaughter’s thrillers always draw a crowd, but this one will benefit from the popularity of the Netflix series based on Pieces of Her, which stars Bella Heathcoate as Andy. – Starred Booklist Review

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Haven by Emma Donoghue

(Available Formats: Print Book, CD audiobook, eBook & downloadable audiobook)

Skellig Michael, a steep, rocky island off the southwestern Irish coast, is the setting for this atmospheric work, an imagined story about its early human inhabitants. In the seventh century, Artt, a scholar-priest guided by a dream, asks two monks to join him on a pilgrimage to an empty isle “less tainted by the world’s breath.” Excited at achieving a greater life purpose, the elderly Cormac, a talented storyteller and mason, agrees to go, as does Trian, a lanky, adventurous younger man. From the days-long boat journey through their mission to establish an island settlement and worship God appropriately, their work is arduous. Donoghue’s (The Pull of the Stars, 2020) prose glimmers with images of the pristine natural world, including many varieties of sea birds, but as Artt’s sanctimonious piety increasingly challenges common sense, Cormac and Trian wonder if their vows of obedience will doom them. As always, Donoghue extracts realistic emotions from characters interacting within close quarters and delicately explores the demands of faith. This evocative historical novel also works as a cautionary tale about the dangers of religious control. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Donoghue’s readers and all lovers of thought-provoking literary fiction will be looking for this quietly dramatic tale. Booklist

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Heartbreaker: A Hell’s Belles Novel by Sarah MacLean

(Available Formats: Print Book & eBook)

A brilliant cutpurse and a crusading duke star in this Victorian-set romp. Adelaide Frampton is the daughter of London’s most dreaded criminal. No surprise then that she’s developed keen skills, a repertoire highly useful to those devoted to punishing the untouchable men of London’s elite. The Duke of Clayborn has been watching Addie in ballrooms for years, wondering why he seems to be only one to notice her quick fingers, among other attributes. When they cross paths far outside the social scene, Addie wonders why she has not paid more attention to the duke. Warriors both, they are pulled into the same case, crossing swords and England as they race to save the day. MacLean gathered accolades for the first in her “Hell’s Belles” series (LJ star-earner Bombshell), and this book continues on that high note with a great deal of wit, heart, and heat. Smart writing, deep characterizations, and a zippy pace will keep readers immersed while MacLean’s deft hand at a number of romance tropes simply delights. VERDICT An essential title from a key author, buy in droves and share with fans of Erica Ridley. Starred Library Journal Review

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The Housekeeper by Joy Fielding

(Available Formats: Print Book)

Fielding follows up the excellent Cul-de-Sac (2021) with this story of a woman who does the wrong thing for the right reasons. Jodi’s mother is in the advanced stages of Parkinson’s, and her father, while still fairly mobile, is in his late seventies. So Jodi convinces her parents to hire a housekeeper, a woman in her sixties who seems like she’ll be a perfect fit. Appearances can be deceiving. Distracted by a difficult home life–Jody and her novelist husband keep clashing, and he might be having an affair–Jodi misses the early signs of trouble. By the time she figures out that the housekeeper isn’t the person she appeared to be, it could be too late. This is exactly the sort of story Fielding tells superbly. It’s a character-driven thriller, and she excels at creating people who exude the breath of real life. It’s a subtle story, too, relying heavily on subtext and the reader’s ability to put the clues together–again, very much in the author’s wheelhouse. Fielding’s many followers will definitely want to add The Housekeeprer to their TBR lists, and any psychological-thriller readers who aren’t already familiar with Fielding’s work will start backtracking after reading this one. – Booklist Review

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Overkill by Sandra Brown

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

#1 New York Times bestselling author Sandra Brown delivers a riveting thriller in which a conflict of conscience for a former football star and an ambitious state prosecutor swiftly intensifies into a fight for their lives.
Former Super Bowl MVP quarterback Zach Bridger hasn’t seen his ex-wife, Rebecca Pratt, for some time—not since their volatile marriage imploded—so he’s shocked to receive a life-altering call about her. Rebecca has been placed on life support after a violent assault, and he—despite their divorce—has medical power-of-attorney. Zach is asked to make an impossible choice: keep her on life support or take her off of it. Buckling under the weight of the responsibility and the glare of public scrutiny, Zach ultimately walks away, letting Rebecca’s parents have the final say.

Four years later, Rebecca’s attacker, Eban—the scion of a wealthy family in Atlanta—gets an early release from prison. The ludicrous miscarriage of justice reeks of favoritism, and Kate Lennon, a brilliant state prosecutor, is determined to put him back behind bars. Rebecca’s parents have kept her alive all these years, but if her condition were to change—if she were to die—Eban could be retried on a new charge: murder.

It isn’t lost on Zach that in order for Eban to be charged with Rebecca’s murder, Zach must actually be the one to kill her. He rejects Kate’s legal standpoint but can’t resist their ill-timed attraction to each other. Eban, having realized the jeopardy he’s in, plots to make certain that neither Zach nor Kate lives to see the death of Rebecca—and the end of his freedom.

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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, is an online catalog containing eBooks, downloadable audiobooks, digital magazines and a handful of streaming videos. The catalog, which allows one to download content to a PC, also has a companion app, Libby, which you can download to your mobile device; so you can enjoy eBooks and downloadable audiobooks on the go!

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

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

The Hoopla Catalog features 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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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 (Libby app) and Hoopla eBooks & Hoopla Downloadable Audiobooks (Hoopla app).

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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’ and listeners’ advisory videocast.

The next Library Connections video will be posted on Tuesday, August 23, 2022.

Library Connections videos may also be accessed via the Southeast Steuben County Library’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/SESTEUBENCOLIBRARY

Have a great week!
Linda Reimer, SSCL