Hi everyone, here are our five suggested reads of the week!
Weekly Suggested Reading Five postings are usually published on Wednesdays, unless Monday is a holiday and then they are published later in the week.
And the next Suggested Reading posting will be published on Wednesday, October 2, 2024.
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Counting Miracles: A Novel by Nicholas Sparks
Tanner Hughes is a retired military officer traveling across the country to visit the families of individuals who have died during or after their service. His mother died in childbirth, and Tanner didn’t know his father’s identity until his grandmother, on her death bed, gave him a name, Dave Johnson, and a place, Asheboro, North Carolina. Once there, Tanner, like Lee Child’s Jack Reacher, comes to the rescue of a teenage girl who is getting bullied at a restaurant and, predictably, meets her divorced mother, Kaitlyn, the local doctor. The attraction is immediate, but Tanner plans to leave for Africa in a few weeks, still needs to find his father, and isn’t looking for a permanent relationship. But could his father be one of Kaitlyn’s patients, Jasper, a mysteriously burned man who lives in a remote cabin and carves animals out of wood? No one reads Sparks for his plot twists, and this tale is pretty straightforward. But the romance between Tanner and the doctor sizzles, and Sparks is a master at creating fully developed, sympathetic characters with complete and compelling backstories. Readers will be drawn into this touching story of hope, faith, and love, and Sparks’ many fans will find just what they’re looking for. – Starred Booklist Review
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The Night We Lost Him: A Novel by Laura Dave
Dave follows up her blockbuster, The Last Thing He Told Me (2021), with another compelling, family-driven mystery. Nora is still grieving the sudden death of her mother when the hotel-magnate father she’s kept at arm’s length falls to his death from the cliffs by his California cottage. The last thing Nora expects is for her younger half-brother Sam to come to her with his belief that their father’s death wasn’t accidental. Nora is skeptical, but she agrees to travel with Sam from New York to California to investigate, in part to put some space between her and the fiancé she is desperately afraid of losing.
Nora and Sam have never been close, thanks to their father’s compartmentalization of each of the families his three marriages brought him, but as they look into the circumstances surrounding his death and uncover the truth about the great love of his life, Nora comes to realize she and Sam have much more in common with each other and with their father. Dave should have another hit on her hands with this involving tale.
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On The Hunt by Iris Johansen
The prolific Johansen’s stock-in-trade throughout multiple action-thriller series has been the introduction of strong-willed, uniquely talented female protagonists who bristle with courage and conviction but are also vulnerable to romantic entanglements, often at the least opportune moments. Kira Drake is no exception to this rule. A forensics tracker sought after by international search-and-rescue agencies, Drake’s distinctive talents lie in a veterinary practice in which exceptional animal longevity and unconventional interspecies communications collide. Accompanied by her canine partner Mack to the site of a devastating bombing in Paris, Drake finds herself drawn into the lengthy and deadly feud between Nobel Prize-winning scientist-entrepreneur Jack Harlan and Joseph Taylor, the man who murdered his brother and who is the mastermind behind the Paris attack. As is often the case with Johansen’s heroines, Drake prefers to use her skills to pursue Taylor on her own but reluctantly accepts assistance and attention from Harlan. In seeking both revenge and justice, Drake, Harlan, and Taylor become embroiled in a high-stakes battle of wits and words. – Booklist Review
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Something Lost, Something Gained: Reflections on Life, Love, and Liberty by Hillary Rodham Clinton
What would it be like to sit down for an impassioned, entertaining conversation with Hillary Clinton? In Something Lost, Something Gained, Hillary offers her candid views on life and love, politics, liberty, democracy, the threats we face, and the future within our reach.
She describes the strength she draws from her deepest friendships, her Methodist faith, and the nearly fifty years she’s been married to President Bill Clinton—all with the wisdom that comes from looking back on a full life with fresh eyes. She takes us along as she returns to the classroom as a college professor, enjoys the bonds inside the exclusive club of former First Ladies, moves past her dream of being president, and dives into new activism for women and democracy.
From canoeing with an ex-Nazi trying to deprogram white supremacists to sweltering with salt farmers in the desert trying to adapt to the climate crisis in India, Hillary brings us to the front lines of our biggest challenges. For the first time, Hillary shares the story of her operation to evacuate Afghan women to safety in the harrowing final days of America’s longest war. But we also meet the brave women dissidents defying dictators around the world, gain new personal insights about her old adversary Vladimir Putin, and learn the best ways that worried parents can protect kids from toxic technology. We also hear her fervent and persuasive warning to all American voters. In the end, Something Lost, Something Gained is a testament to the idea that the personal is political, and the political is personal, providing a blueprint for what each of us can do to make our lives better.
Hillary has “looked at life from both sides now.” In these pages, she shares the latest chapter of her inspiring life and shows us how to age with grace and keep moving forward, with grit, joy, purpose, and a sense of humor.
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Syndicate by Felix Francis
Life isn’t safe even for a syndicate manager in the upper echelon of British horse racing. Chester Newton is worried how Potassium, the current star of his syndicate, Victrix Racing, will run in the Epsom Derby. When Potassium wins by a nose, Chester breathes a sigh of relief and turns to the party planned for the 25th anniversary of his wedding to Georgina; the 21st birthday of their son, James; and the 19th birthday of their daughter, Amanda. That’s where signs of trouble pop up. Darren Williamson, the undesirable older boyfriend Amanda’s brought to the party, reports that she’s gone missing after a row, and DS Christine Royle, of the Thames Valley Police, doesn’t share Chester’s anxiety about her return. Royle turns out to be right, sort of, since Amanda is shortly found doped with ketamine, unable to remember anything about how she disappeared. The punchline–a phone call from an anonymous person with a squeaky voice who points out how easy it would be to snatch Amanda again–sets the plot in motion, as Squeaky Voice repeatedly calls Chester to demand that several of Victrix’s favorites, including Potassium, lose their races. Chester can’t figure out what the motive for these calls is, who’s behind them, whether he should do their bidding, or how he can fix the races if he decides to give in. His nondecision to play it by ear, taking each threat as it comes, and his seduction by younger American Toni Beckett make each step in the story less predictable, and the customary insider details about the racing scene set up the denouement with commendable precision. Perhaps the strongest installment of this venerable franchise since Francis took the reins from his jockey father. – Starred Kirkus Review
Reader’s Note: Syndicate is the thirteenth book in the Dick Francis Novels series by Felix Francis. If you’d like to start reading the series from the beginning, check out book one Gamble.
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Happy reading!
Linda Reimer, SSCL
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Note: Book summaries are from the respective publishers unless otherwise specified.
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Information on the three library catalogs
The Digital Catalog: https://stls.overdrive.com/
The Digital Catalog, is an online catalog containing eBooks, eAudiobooks, and digital magazines. You can use your library card and checkout content on a PC; you can also use the companion app, Libby, to access titles on your mobile devices; so you can enjoy eBooks and eAudiobooks 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 on demand checkouts of eBooks, eAudiobooks, comic books, albums, movies and TV shows. Patron check out limit is 10 items per month.
Hoopla is a Southeast Steuben County Library service available to all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders.
The Hoopla companion app, also called Hoopla is available for mobile 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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Have questions about how to access Internet based content (i.e. eBooks, eAudios)? Feel free to drop by the Reference Desk or call the library and we will assist you! The library’s telephone number is: 607-936-3713.
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Tech & Book Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.
Tech & Book Talk at SSCL 