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 Wednesdays.
And the next Suggested Reading posting will be published on Wednesday, September 20, 2023.
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Assistant To The Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer
(Available Formats: Hoopla Instant Checkout Audiobook)
A delightfully weird mash-up of office comedy, fractured fairytale, and unrequited love story, TikToker Maehrer’s debut will captivate readers from line one thanks to her quirky sense of humor and incredible writing chops. The novel overflows with fast-paced action and adventure, lighthearted banter, and romantic yearning. Ever optimistic, Evie Sage is a local villager whose luck finally runs out after an accidental meeting with the kingdom’s most infamous antagonist, a powerful magician simply known as The Villain. She expects to be killed on the spot but instead walks away unscathed, with a job as his assistant and the expectation that she will join him at his estate the very next day. The Villain’s manor may be filled with tortured screams, gruesome scenes, and the occasional venom-breathing creature, but over time, within its walls, Evie finds camaraderie in a cast of hilarious and fully formed secondary characters, respect from a dastardly yet secretly soft marshmallow of a boss, and a very real chance at finding her one true love. This story is exceptionally charming and joyful from beginning to end, and readers will likely find themselves all smiles despite the nail-biting cliff-hanger that the book ends on. A must-read. – Booklist Review
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The Blue Zones Secrets For Living Longer by Dan Buettner
(Available Formats: Hoopla Instant Checkout eBook)
National Geographic Explorer and best-selling author Dan Buettner has traveled the globe to uncover the best strategies for longevity, which he found in the Blue Zones: places around the world where higher percentages of people enjoy remarkably long, full lives. In The Complete Blue Zones, Buettner returns to Sardinia, Italy; Ikaria, Greece; Okinawa, Japan; Costa Rica’s Nicoya Peninsula; and Loma Linda, California to check in on the super-agers living in the blue zones and interprets the not-so-secret sauce of purpose, faith, community, down-time, natural movement, and plant-based eating that has powered as many as10 additional years of healthy living in these regions. And Buettner reveals an all-new Blue Zone-Singapore-where pro-health government policies have increased longevity (and reduced healthcare costs), making it the first man-made Blue Zone yet explored. Throughout his two decades of research, Buettner has worked with some of National Geographic’s top photographers-including David McLain and Gianluca Cola-to document the healthy habits of the world’s longest living communities. In this informative collection, their work punctuates Buettner’s lively text, offering a beautiful introduction to the Blue Zones and a companion to fans of the Blue Zones Netflix series.
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Chenneville by Paulette Jiles
(Available Formats: Print Book)
When John Chenneville awakes in a military field hospital, pounds thinner and with no memory of his name or history, he has a long road to recovery ahead. The hospital staff make it clear that he must continue resting and recuperating, with no extreme emotions or upsetting news to further damage his fragile condition. By now, the Civil War has caused plenty of “”shell shock,”” after all. Pledging to keep himself on an even keel, John journeys west to St. Louis to seek news of his family. But the longtime caretaker of the Chenneville estate has been keeping deeply distressing knowledge that, once revealed, causes John to abandon plans of peaceful recovery and begin a quest for vengeance instead. In her richly lyrical prose, acclaimed author Jiles (Simon the Fiddler, 2020) turns to the waning weeks and months of the Civil War, a period when the scales of justice felt heavily tipped toward the war’s administrators and beneficiaries. Jiles uses John’s lawless quest to interrogate the inequalities in the justice system–inequalities that still echo loudly today. Themes of reinvention, accountability, and the power of all-consuming, single-minded focus will spark interest in fans of Geraldine Brooks, Karen Harper, and Jiles’ previous work. – Starred Booklist Review
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The Devil You Know by P. J. Tracy
(Available Formats: Print Book, CD Audiobook & Hoopla Instant Checkout Audiobook)
Darkness is nothing new to LAPD Detective Margaret Nolan, but in P.J. Tracy’s The Devil You Know, even she isn’t prepared for the scandalous deception of deadly proportions that shakes the very foundation of Hollywood and its untouchables…and leaves her entangled in its rotten core.
Los Angeles has many faces: the real LA where regular people live and work, the degenerate underbelly of any big city, and the rarefied world of wealth, power, and celebrity. LAPD Detective Margaret Nolan’s latest case plunges her into this insular realm of privilege, and gives her a glimpse of the decay behind the glitter.
Beloved actor Evan Hobbes is found in the rubble of a Malibu rockslide, a day after a fake video ruins his career. It’s not clear to Nolan if it’s an accident, a suicide, or a murder, and things get murkier as the investigation expands to his luminary friends and colleagues. Meanwhile, Hobbes’s agent is dealing with damage control, his psychotic boss, and a woman he’s scorned.
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The Half Moon: A Novel by Mary Beth Keane
(Available Formats: Print Book & eBook)
Malcolm Gephardt is a charming guy and the consummate bar owner. But charm can’t fix a slow Saturday night, pay the liquor distributors, or convince his wife, Jess, that their family of two is enough. The Half Moon, the platonic ideal of a small town bar, still has big bills to pay. Charm has gotten Malcolm out of more than a few sticky spots, but, lately, everything is different. With a blizzard on the way, the bar falling further in the red, and Jess refusing to talk, Malcolm can tell something’s about to snap. And snap it does, though not in a way he could have ever predicted. Keane (Ask Again, Yes, 2019) explores the sacrifices of a marriage, setting Malcolm’s impulsive deal to buy the bar he loved against Jess’s consuming dream of parenthood. Keane is sympathetic to her subjects, letting Malcolm and Jess air their thoughts in alternating chapters; the tension is undeniable and deeply compelling. Mixing two parts Matthew Norman, one part Greg Olear, topped with J. R. Moehringer’s The Tender Bar and served with an unexpected twist, Keane’s charming, tautly-paced, and introspective novel will delight fans of Jennifer Close’s Marrying the Ketchups. – Publishers Weekly Review
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The Hidden History of Code-Breaking: The Secret World of Cyphers, Uncrackable Codes, and Elusive Encryptions by Sinclair McKay
(Available Formats: Print Book)
A fascinating exploration of the uncrackable codes and secret cyphers that helped win wars, spark revolutions and change the faces of nations.
There have been secret codes since before the Old Testament, and there were secret codes in the Old Testament, too. Almost as soon as writing was invented, so too were the devious means to hide messages and keep them under the wraps of secrecy.
In The Hidden History of Code Breaking, Sinclair McKay explores these uncrackable codes, secret ciphers, and hidden messages from across time to tell a new history of a secret world. From the temples of Ancient Greece to the court of Elizabeth I; from antique manuscripts whose codes might hold prophecies of doom to the modern realm of quantum mechanics, we will see how a few concealed words could help to win wars, spark revolutions and even change the faces of great nations.
Here is the complete guide to the hidden world of codebreaking, with opportunities for you to see if you could have cracked some of the trickiest puzzles and lip-chewing codes ever created.
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How to Survive History: How to Outrun a Tyrannosaurus, Escape Pompeii, Get Off the Titanic, and Survive the Rest of History’s Deadliest Catastrophes by Cody Cassidy
(Available Formats: Print Book)
A detailed guide to surviving history’s most challenging threats, from outrunning dinosaurs to making it off the Titanic alive
History is the most dangerous place on earth. From dinosaurs the size of locomotives to meteors big enough to sterilize the planet, from famines to pandemics, from tornadoes to the Chicxulub asteroid, the odds of human survival are slim but not zero—at least, not if you know where to go and what to do.
In each chapter of How to Survive History, Cody Cassidy explores how to survive one of history’s greatest threats: getting eaten by dinosaurs, being destroyed by the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs, succumbing to the lava flows of Pompeii, being devoured by the Donner Party, drowning during the sinking of the Titanic, falling prey to the Black Death, and more. Using hindsight and modern science to estimate everything from how fast you’d need to run to outpace a T. rex to the advantages of different body types in surviving the Donner Party tragedy, Cassidy gives you a detailed battle plan for survival, helping you learn about the era at the same time.
History may be the most dangerous place on earth, but that doesn’t mean you can’t visit. You can, and you should. And with a copy of How to Survive History in your back pocket, you just might make it out alive.
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Interstellar: The Search for Extraterrestrial Life and Our Future in the Stars by Avi Loeb
(Available Formats: Print Book)
From acclaimed Harvard astrophysicist and bestselling author of Extraterrestrial comes a mind-expanding new book explaining why becoming an interstellar species is imperative for humanity’s survival and detailing a game plan for how we can settle among the stars.
In the New York Times bestseller Extraterrestrial, Avi Loeb, the longest serving Chair of Harvard’s Astronomy Department, presented a theory that shook the scientific community: our solar system, Loeb claimed, had likely been visited by a piece of advanced alien technology from a distant star. This provocative and persuasive argument opened millions of minds internationally to the vast possibilities of our universe and the existence of intelligent life beyond Earth. But a crucial question remained: now that we are aware of the existence of extraterrestrial life, what do we do next? How do we prepare ourselves for interaction with interstellar extraterrestrial civilization? How can our species become interstellar?
Now Loeb tackles these questions in a revelatory, powerful call to arms that reimagines the idea of contact with extraterrestrial civilizations. Dismantling our science-fiction fueled visions of a human and alien life encounter, Interstellar provides a realistic and practical blueprint for how such an interaction might actually occur, resetting our cultural understanding and expectation of what it means to identify an extraterrestrial object. From awe-inspiring searches for extraterrestrial technology, to the heated debate of the existence of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, Loeb provides a thrilling, front-row view of the monumental progress in science and technology currently preparing us for contact. He also lays out the profound implications of becoming—or not becoming—interstellar; in an urgent, eloquent appeal for more proactive engagement with the world beyond ours, he powerfully contends why we must seek out other life forms, and in the process, choose who and what we are within the universe.
Combining cutting edge science, physics, and philosophy, Interstellar revolutionizes the approach to our search for extraterrestrial life and our preparation for its discovery. In this eye-opening, necessary look at our future, Avi Loeb artfully and expertly raises some of the most important questions facing us as humans, and proves, once again, that scientific curiosity is the key to our survival.
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Kick Out the Jams: Jibes, Barbs, Tributes, and Rallying Cries from 35 Years of Music Writing by Dave Marsh & Dennis Boutsikaris
(Available Formats: Downloadable Audiobook)
Selected writings on three decades of popular music from one of the most influential critics of his generation.
Spanning three decades worth of astute, acerbic, and overall astounding music writing, Kick Out the Jams is the first large-scale anthology of the work of renowned critic Dave Marsh. Ranging from Elvis Presley to Kurt Cobain, from Nina Simone to Ani DiFranco, from the Beatles to Green Day, the book gives an opinionated, eye-opening overview of 20th century popular music—offering a portrait not just of an era but of a writer wrestling with the American empire.
Every essay bears the distinct Dave Marsh attitude and voice. That passion is evident in a heart-wrenching piece on Cobain’s suicide and legacy; a humorous attack on “Bono’s bullshit;” an indignant look at James Brown and the FBI; deep, revelatory probes into the work of underappreciated artists like Patty Griffin and Alejandro Escovedo; and inspiring insight into what drives Marsh as a writer, namely “a raging passion to explain things in the hope that others would not be trapped and to keep the way clear so that others from the trashy outskirts of barbarous America still had a place to stand—if not in the culture at large, at least in rock and roll.”
If you want to explore the recent history of pop music—its politics as well as its performers—Kick Out the Jams is the perfect guidebook.
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Runaway Girl by Tessa Bailey
(Available Formats: eBook & Hoopla Instant Checkout eBook)
The second in a sexy, fun wedding-themed rom-com duology from Tessa Bailey, #1 New York Times bestselling author of It Happened One Summer-now with a beautiful new package!
It’s Naomi Clemons’s big day. Her dream wedding. And she’s outta here. A chance meeting of gazes through the church window pane-a single moment shared with someone familiar who radiates intrigue-is the final push Naomi needs to realize… she’s boring. A blonde, cookie cutter, well-mannered trophy wife-to-be. How can she expect to lead a fulfilling married life when she’s never lived?
Special Forces diver Jason Bristow needs a beauty pageant coach. Not for himself-although the tattooed bruiser could definitely use some charm-but for his little sister who he has returned to St. Augustine, Florida to raise. When a beautiful southern debutante lands on his doorstep, she awakens a hunger that won’t be ignored. If only she wasn’t planning on winning back the ex-fiancé she left at the altar…
Despite the potential for ruin, heat continues to build between Naomi and Jason beneath the sultry Florida sunshine, consuming them both. But they’re on borrowed time… and it’s about to run out.
The Girl Series
1. Getaway Girl (2018)
2. Runaway Girl (2018)
3. Renaissance Man (2019)
4. Halfway Girl (2019)
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Have a great day!
Linda Reimer, SSCL
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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.
Information on the three library 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, 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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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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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.
Tech & Book Talk at SSCL 