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 30, 2024.
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In To Deep by Lee Child
The gripping new Jack Reacher thriller from the #1 New York Times bestselling authors Lee Child and Andrew Child
Reacher had no idea where he was. No idea how he had gotten there. But someone must have brought him. And shackled him. And whoever had done those things was going to rue the day. That was for damn sure.
Jack Reacher wakes up alone, in the dark, handcuffed to a makeshift bed. His right arm has suffered some major damage. His few possessions are gone. He has no memory of getting there.
The last thing Reacher can recall is the car he hitched a ride in getting run off the road. The driver was killed.
His captors assume Reacher was the driver’s accomplice and patch up his wounds as they plan to make him talk.
A plan that will backfire spectacularly . . .
Reader’s Note: In To Deep is the twenty-nineth book in the Jack Reacher series. If you’d like to binge read, from the beginning, check out book one: Killing Floor.
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The Last One at the Wedding by Jason Rekulak
Lavish lakeside nuptials threatened by deadly secrets and the unlikely attendance of the bride’s decidedly lower-class family feature in in Rekulak’s latest (after Hidden Pictures, 2022). Frank’s relief in reconnecting with his daughter is fleeting as he readies for her upcoming destination wedding to the son of a Boston tech scion. Tagging along are his sister and her awkwardly earnest foster kid (slathered in lice-controlling mayo), providing moments of levity in the suspense that haunts the enclave. The wedding features an uninterested groom, his mysteriously absent mother, an aged sugar daddy, random rich kids, and a friendly, strangely generous father-in-law. Frank quickly becomes involved in the hunt for a missing local girl, befriends another outsider (who winds up dead), and realizes that his family is now in the crosshairs. Noble UPS driver Frank is determined to do the right thing, crusading in a world where power runs amok. But Rekulak slyly reminds us that money isn’t the only thing that blinds us to bad behavior with a unique combination of class commentary and thrills. – Booklist Review
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Sonny Boy: A Memoir by Al Pacino
From one of the most iconic actors in the history of film, an astonishingly revelatory account of a creative life in full
To the wider world, Al Pacino exploded onto the scene like a supernova. He landed his first leading role, in The Panic in Needle Park, in 1971, and by 1975, he had starred in four movies—The Godfather and The Godfather Part II, Serpico, and Dog Day Afternoon—that were not just successes but landmarks in the history of film. Those performances became legendary and changed his life forever. Not since Marlon Brando and James Dean in the late 1950s had an actor landed in the culture with such force.
But Pacino was in his midthirties by then, and had already lived several lives. A fixture of avant-garde theater in New York, he had led a bohemian existence, working odd jobs to support his craft. He was raised by a fiercely loving but mentally unwell mother and her parents after his father left them when he was young, but in a real sense he was raised by the streets of the South Bronx, and by the troop of buccaneering young friends he ran with, whose spirits never left him. After a teacher recognized his acting promise and pushed him toward New York’s fabled High School of Performing Arts, the die was cast. In good times and bad, in poverty and in wealth and in poverty again, through pain and joy, acting was his lifeline, its community his tribe.
Sonny Boy is the memoir of a man who has nothing left to fear and nothing left to hide. All the great roles, the essential collaborations, and the important relationships are given their full due, as is the vexed marriage between creativity and commerce at the highest levels. The book’s golden thread, however, is the spirit of love and purpose. Love can fail you, and you can be defeated in your ambitions—the same lights that shine bright can also dim. But Al Pacino was lucky enough to fall deeply in love with a craft before he had the foggiest idea of any of its earthly rewards, and he never fell out of love. That has made all the difference.
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The Troubling Death of Maddy Benson by Terry Shames
The small-town Texas rumor mill is less help than usual in the death of a newly arrived woman. Jarrett Creek police chief Samuel Craddock gets a phone call from the sister of Maddy Benson, who might be in trouble. Maddy answered her sister’s call from a deserted spot far from her home and was vague about why she was there. When Craddock and his deputy, Maria Trevino, go to check on her, they find Maddy shot dead on a private road. Maddy was a widow who moved to town with her son and daughter-in-law, both of whom are authors. Josh Benson writes scholarly tomes, and his wife, Krista, bestselling romance novels. Krista’s affair has put their marriage on the rocks, but Maddy had hoped they would reconcile. Craddock has to dig deep into Maddy’s life to find a motive for her death. She was independent, and Josh and Krista don’t seem to know what she did with her time or why she had a go-bag. Although homicides in small towns are ordinarily the business of the Texas Department of Public Safety, the DPS seems willing to let Craddock investigate, and at length he turns up the information on Maddy that may have made her a target. The wife of the local Baptist preacher gives Craddock an earful about Maddy, who she claims was an abortionist who deserved to die. Maddy was working with a secretive group that helps women who need abortions get to out-of-state providers. Now Craddock has to figure out whether her murder was a result of her activism or a more personal motive. A hot take on the state of abortion access since the demise of Roe v. Wade. – Kirkus Review
Reader’s Note: Death of Maddy Benson is the eleventh book in the Samuel Craddock Mystery Series. If you’d like to start reading the series at the beginning, check out book one A Killing At Cotton Hill.
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The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clarke
Clarke, the Hugo Award-winning author of the beloved Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories, and Piranesi, which won the Women’s Prize for Fiction, returns with a short story set in the world of Jonathan Strange. It features Merowdis Scot, who finds herself at a crossroad between desire and magical possibility. The story is brief, but what Clarke does well–conjure mood through evocative language and story suggestion–is on rich display. Highly atmospheric, this winter tale is set in a wood and navigates the line between a Grimms’ fairy tale and a feminist manifesto. Talking animals as well as a sentient tree all play a role, as Merowdis decides what she wants and somehow makes it so. The story is illustrated with pen and ink drawings and specially designed text, giving the entire package the feeling of a manuscript found in a castle on the edge of some wild moor. Don’t miss Clarke’s note at the end. VERDICT Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell nods towards Jane Austen, but this short story leans towards the Brontës. Clarke’s many fans will not be disappointed, other than in the story’s brevity. – Library Journal Review
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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 