The catalog of e-books, downloadable audiobooks and a handful of streaming videos.
–
The Libby App
Libby is the companion app to the Digital Catalog and may be found in the Apple & Google app.
–
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.
–
Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.
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, February 5, 2024.
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Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People by Imani Perry
National Book Award-winner Perry (South to America, 2022) offers an impressionistic cultural history of the African diaspora through its connections to the color blue, from the Congo to Haiti, Jamaica, and the American South, in music, dance, folklore, art, and literature. As enslaved Black people in the U.S. fought to affirm their humanity, the color blue was key: “Blue porches, planted blue flowers, written blue scriptures, blue attire, trees festooned with blue bottles: these became the cultivated habits and rituals of people denied civil society and legal recognition.” In Black bodies, blue evoked “two distinct forms of power,” for “the least degraded among Black people were the ones who had the bluest veins beneath the palest skin,” while a “blue-gummed woman . . . held the power of conjure and deep ways of knowing.” Enslaved Blacks were freed by the Union “boys in blue,” yet those uniforms would morph into the blue of “‘Blue Lives Matter,” the police clapback to “Black Lives Matter.” Perry suggests an implied choice “between Black life and police survival . . . And that is a blues song indeed.” Packed with cultural references to Nina Simone, Zora Neale Hurston, Miles Davis, and Picasso’s African-inspired Blue Period, this is a fascinating and creative work of popular anthropology. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: With each trailblazing book, Perry extends her readership, and this original and affecting improvisation has tremendous appeal. – Starred Booklist Review
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Good Dirt: A Novel by Charmaine Wilkerson
The daughter of an affluent Black family pieces together the connection between a childhood tragedy and a beloved heirloom in this moving novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Black Cake, a Read with Jenna Book Club Pick
When ten-year-old Ebby Freeman heard the gunshot, time stopped. And when she saw her brother, Baz, lying on the floor surrounded by the shattered pieces of a centuries-old jar, life as Ebby knew it shattered as well. The crime was never solved—and because the Freemans were one of the only Black families in a particularly well-to-do enclave of New England—the case has had an enduring, voyeuristic pull for the public. The last thing the Freemans want is another media frenzy splashing their family across the papers, but when Ebby’s high profile romance falls apart without any explanation, that’s exactly what they get.
So Ebby flees to France, only for her past to follow her there. And as she tries to process what’s happened, she begins to think about the other loss her family suffered on that day eighteen years ago—the stoneware jar that had been in their family for generations, brought North by an enslaved ancestor. But little does she know that the handcrafted piece of pottery held more than just her family’s history—it might also hold the key to unlocking her own future. In this sweeping, evocative novel, Charmaine Wilkerson brings to life a multi-generational epic that examines how the past informs our present.
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The Oligarch’s Daughter by Joseph Finder
Nobody does man-on-the-run, excruciatingly suspenseful thrillers better than Joseph Finder, author of many stand-alone thrillers and the Boston private eye Nick Heller series. Finder’s latest is a combination spy story, financial mystery, and survival-evasion tale, with the propulsive plot set in motion by one man’s costly mistake. The narrative shuttles between the present, with small-town boat builder Grant Anderson hiding for his life in the New Hampshire woods as Russian agents and the FBI try to track him down, and the past, when Anderson, then an on-the-rise New York financial analyst, got himself into a world of trouble falling in love with a Russian oligarch’s daughter. Finder’s granular details about what it takes for the hunted Anderson to survive and evade his pursuers (using the dimly remembered precepts of his survivalist father), along with the added complications of hunger, thirst, and injury, are fascinating, as are the details from his earlier life in cutthroat finance. Finder adds another layer of suspense with Anderson’s false identity, reminiscent of Cary Grant’s imperiled character in North by Northwest. Deep characterization, cliffhanger suspense, and a wealth of information ranging from Russian spies to survival in the woods and in public spaces make this one of Finder’s best. – Booklist
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Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros
After nearly eighteen months at Basgiath War College, Violet Sorrengail knows there’s no more time for lessons. No more time for uncertainty. Because the battle has truly begun, and with enemies closing in from outside their walls and within their ranks, it’s impossible to know who to trust.
Now Violet must journey beyond the failing Aretian wards to seek allies from unfamiliar lands to stand with Navarre. The trip will test every bit of her wit, luck, and strength, but she will do anything to save what she loves—her dragons, her family, her home, and him.
Even if it means keeping a secret so big, it could destroy everything. They need an army. They need power. They need magic. And they need the one thing only Violet can find—the truth. But a storm is coming…and not everyone can survive its wrath.
The Empyrean series is best enjoyed in order. Reading Order: Book #1 Fourth Wing Book #2 Iron Flame Book #3 Onyx Storm
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We Do Not Part by Han Kang
Nobel laureate Kang’s latest protagonist–also an author, perhaps Kang’s stand-in–recalls her 2014 title “about the massacre in G–,” which is exactly when Kang’s Human Acts, about the 1980s Gwangju Uprising, debuted in Korea. Plagued now by nightmares, Kyungha, as her name is revealed, berates herself. “Having decided to write about mass killings and torture, how could I have so naively–brazenly–hoped to soon shirk off the agony of it?” The nightmares’ intensifying vividity inspires her to contact a close friend, photographer and documentary filmmaker Inseon, about the possibility of the two women collaborating on a film adaptation of these indelible images. Four years pass, until Inseon summons her to a Seoul hospital after a horrific accident, imploring Kyungha to go to Jeju Island to care for her precious budgie. Despite severely dangerous winter conditions, Kyungha finally arrives. Then what seems impossible happens. Inseon’s spirit joins Kyungha to reveal horrific historical truths about the Jeju Massacre (1948-49), which Inseon’s mother miraculously survived while “upward of thirty thousand civilians were slaughtered” by the U.S.-backed Korean military. Once more, Kang brilliantly examines the breadth of human relationships–from unconditional mother-child bonds to timeless friendship to heinous inhumanity. e.yaewon, who cotranslated Kang’s Greek Lessons (2023) as Emily Yae Won, returns here with Morris to gift English-reading audiences with tragic terror, luminous insight, and ethereal glimmers of hope.
HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: With Kang receiving the Nobel Prize for Literature this fall, interest in her work will skyrocket, with special interest in this forthcoming novel. – Starred Booklist Review
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Happy reading!
Linda Reimer, SSCL
–
Note: Book summaries are from the respective publishers unless otherwise specified.
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.
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.
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.
–
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.
–
Tech & Book Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.
All titles can be requested/checked out through the library.
If you’d like to go the traditional route to request a title on this list and drop by the library, or give us a call – please do!
Our telephone number is: 607-936-3713
–
New York Times Bestseller lists are shared via blog post on Sundays. And the next NYT blog post will be posted on Sunday, February 2, 2025.
–
THE BESTSELLERS
FICTION
1. FOURTH WING by Rebecca Yarros: Violet Sorrengail is urged by the commanding general, who also is her mother, to become a candidate for the elite dragon riders.
2. THE BIG EMPTY by Robert Crais: The 20th book in the Elvis Cole and Joe Pike series. An influencer hires Cole to investigate the disappearance of her father 10 years ago.
3. IRON FLAME by Rebecca Yarros: The second book in the Empyrean series. Violet Sorrengail’s next round of training under the new vice commandant might require her to betray the man she loves.
4. THE HOUSEMAID by Freida McFadden: Troubles surface when a woman looking to make a fresh start takes a job in the home of the Winchesters.
5. JAMES by Percival Everett: A reimagining of “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” shines a different light on Mark Twain’s classic, revealing new facets of the character of Jim.
6. THE WOMEN by Kristin Hannah: In 1965, a nursing student follows her brother to serve during the Vietnam War and returns to a divided America.
7. WITCHCRAFT FOR WAYWARD GIRLS by Grady Hendrix: In 1970, a pregnant teenager, who is placed under watchful eyes at a home in Florida, comes across an occult book.
8. THE FROZEN RIVER by Ariel Lawhon: In Maine, 1789, a midwife seeks to uncover the true cause of the death of a man discovered entombed in the Kennebec River.
9. BEAUTIFUL UGLY by Alice Feeney: An author travels to a Scottish island, where he sees a woman who bears an uncanny resemblance to his missing wife.
10. THE GOD OF THE WOODS by Liz Moore: When a 13-year-old girl disappears from an Adirondack summer camp in 1975, secrets kept by the Van Laar family emerge.
11. A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES by Sarah J. Maas: After killing a wolf in the woods, Feyre is taken from her home and placed inside the world of the Fae.
12. THE WEDDING PEOPLE by Alison Espach: A woman who is down on her luck forms an unexpected bond with the bride at a wedding in Rhode Island.
13. PRESUMED GUILTY by Scott Turow: The third book in the Presumed Innocent series. A retired judge is asked to come to the defense of his fiancée’s son, who is accused of first-degree murder.
14. THE TEXAS MURDERS by James Patterson and Andrew Bourelle: The third book in the Texas Ranger thriller series. A quick-draw champion partners with an expert archer to look for a missing Native woman.
15. THE NIGHTINGALE by Kristin Hannah: Two sisters are separated in World War II France: one in the countryside, the other in Paris.
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NON-FICTION
1. THE HOUSE OF MY MOTHER by Shari Franke: Franke gives an account of abuse within her family, who gained a following with their YouTube channel “8 Passengers.”
2. THE ANXIOUS GENERATION by Jonathan Haidt: A co-author of “The Coddling of the American Mind” looks at the mental health impacts that a phone-based life has on children.
3. THE JFK CONSPIRACY by Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch: The authors of “The Nazi Conspiracy” and “The Lincoln Conspiracy” tell the story of a retired postal worker who might have changed the course of history.
4. THE BODY KEEPS THE SCORE by Bessel van der Kolk: How trauma affects the body and mind, and innovative treatments for recovery.
5. BROOKE SHIELDS IS NOT ALLOWED TO GET OLD by Brooke Shields with Rachel Bertsche: The actress shares moments from her life and looks at myths regarding aging.
6. ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MONEY by James Comer: The Republican congressman from Kentucky gives his analysis of the Biden family’s finances.
7. HOPE by Pope Francis with Carlo Musso: Pope Francis recounts details of his life from his childhood through to key moments of his papacy; translated by Richard Dixon.
8. MELANIA by Melania Trump: The first lady describes her work as a fashion model, marriage to Donald Trump and time in the White House.
9. THE SERVICEBERRY by Robin Wall Kimmerer: The author of “Braiding Sweetgrass” illuminates how the gift economy in the natural world works and draws lessons for our economy; with illustrations by John Burgoyne.
10. BE READY WHEN THE LUCK HAPPENS by Ina Garten: A memoir by the cookbook author and Food Network host known as the Barefoot Contessa.
11. CHER: THE MEMOIR, PART ONE by Cher: In the first part of her memoir, the multiple award-winning pop culture icon traces her childhood and forays into the world of entertainment.
12. FRAMED by John Grisham and Jim McCloskey: Our criminal justice system viewed through the struggles of 10 wrongfully convicted people to achieve exoneration.
13. OUTLIVE by Peter Attia with Bill Gifford: A look at recent scientific research on aging and longevity.
14. ON TYRANNY by Timothy Snyder: Twenty lessons from the 20th century about the course of tyranny.
15. GREENLIGHTS by Matthew McConaughey: The Academy Award-winning actor shares snippets from the diaries he kept over the last 35 years.
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Have a great Sunday!
Linda
–
THE CATALOGS:
Catalog 1: StarCat
StarCat is the catalog of physical materials including print books, DVDs, audiobooks on CD etc. StarCat is available to all patrons of all public libraries in the Southern Tier Library System*
The Digital Catalog (and its companion app Libby) offers all Southern Tier Library System member library patrons access to eBooks, eAudiobooks & eMagazines via a lending model known in Library-ese as “one copy/one user;” that library speak means that eBooks & eAudiobooks found in The Digital Catalog/Libby are like print books found on library shelves, only one patron can check out a copy of a title at a time.
Exception: Magazines found in the digital catalog are available via a different lending model known as simultaneous access. And that fancy library speak means that magazines are available for all patrons to check out at the same time, i.e. if you and all your family and friends wish to read the latest digital edition of Newsweek, all of you can check out the e version of the magazine and read it at the same time.
The Digital Catalog/Libby checkout limit is 5 titles a time.
The Hoopla Digital Catalog (and its companion app, also called Hoopla) offers Southeast Steuben County Library patrons access to a second digital catalog with an on-demand lending model. In library speak, this lending model, like The Digital Catalog/Libby’s magazine lending model, is known as “simultaneous access.” The difference is, the Hoopla catalog offers access to more formats: eBooks, eAudiobooks, eComics, digital albums, TV shows & movies – and all items, in all those formats, are available for patrons to checkout immediately. The Hoopla check out limit is ten titles per month.
Hoopla Formats: All Hoopla content can be accessed on a computer or mobile device, and TV shows and movies can be accessed on computers, mobile devices, smart TVs and media streaming players, i.e. Roku or Apple TV.
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, January 31, 2025.
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And here are the 10 recommended songs of the week!
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With the popularity of the Oscar nominated film A Complete Uknown; which tells the story of young Robert Zimmerman as he transitioned into iconic Bob Dylan; now seems a great time to offer a collection of Bob Dylan songs for your listening pleasure.
And here is a collection of some of Dylan’s great vintage songs – enjoy!
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Blowin’ in the Wind
From The Album: The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (1962)
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The Times They Are A-Changin’
From The Album: The Times They Are A-Changin’ (1964)
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The Ballad of Hollis Brown
From The Album: The Times They Are A-Changin’ (1964)
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All I Really Want To Do
From The Album: Another Side of Bob Dylan (1964)
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Maggie’s Farm
From The Album: Bringing It All Back Home (1965)
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Like A Rolling Stone
From The Album: Highway 61 Revisited (1965)
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It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Take A Train To Cry
From The Album: Highway 61 Revisited (1965)
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Highway 61 Revisited
From The Album: Highway 61 Revisited (1965)
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Rainy Day Women #12 & 35
From The Album: Blonde On Blonde (1966)
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Leopard Skin Pill-Box Hat
From The Album: Blonde On Blonde (1966)
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All Along The Watchtower
From The Album: John Wesley Harding (1967)
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Tangled Up In Blue
From The Album: Blood On The Tracks (1975)
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Hoopla Album of the Week
The Traveling Wilbury’s Collection (2016) by The Traveling Wilburys (George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison & Jeff Lynne)
And from the collection, with Bob Dylan on vocals:
Tweeter And The Monekyman
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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.
The catalog of e-books, downloadable audiobooks and a handful of streaming videos.
–
The Libby App
Libby is the companion app to the Digital Catalog and may be found in the Apple & Google app.
–
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.
–
Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.
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, January 29, 2025.
–
Boudicca by P. C. Cast
After the death of her husband, Boudicca is crowned queen of the Iceni tribe. In Roman-occupied Britannia, the idea of a woman ruler is one of weakness, and the Roman tax collector Catus Decianus leads an attack on the tribe’s stronghold, to deadly and personally damaging results. However, instead of folding, Boudicca calls a war council, determined to strike back at the Romans. With the help of childhood friend and Druid seer Rhan and horse master Maldwyn, Boudicca finds strength, her goddess’s support, and love. With success in brutal attacks against wealthy Roman-held cities, the Iceni prepare to wait out the icy winter and plan their final attacks. When traitors emerge and destiny is bleak, Boudicca must place her faith in the powers beyond to ensure the survival of her people.
VERDICT The real history of the red-haired warrior queen is given new life in Cast’s (Out of the Dawn) well-told reimagining and worldbuilding, with prose that allows readers to see both a battle-hardened leader and a mother fighting for those she loves. – Library Journal Review
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The Business Trip by Jessie Garcia
“A stunning and accomplished debut, with hugely relatable characters and an addictive storyline that kept me turning the pages well into the night. Bravo!” —BA Paris, New York Times bestselling author
“Wow, The Business Trip was nonstop twists and turns. I loved the unusual way that the story was told, and I kept reading all day long because I couldn’t wait to see how it ended!” — Freida McFadden, New York Times bestselling author
THE BUSINESS TRIP is the gripping, page-turning debut from author Jessie Garcia.
Stephanie and Jasmine have nothing and everything in common. The two women don’t know each other but are on the same plane. Stephanie is on a business trip and Jasmine is fleeing an abusive relationship. After a few days, they text their friends the same exact messages about the same man—the messages becoming stranger and more erratic.
And then the two women vanish. The texts go silent, the red flags go up, and the panic sets in. When Stephanie and Jasmine are each declared missing and in danger, it begs the questions: Who is Trent McCarthy? What did he do to these women— or what did they do to him?
Twist upon twist, layer upon layer, where nothing is as it seems, The Business Trip takes you on a descent into the depths of a mastermind manipulator. But who is playing who?
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Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor
Disabled, disinclined to marry, and more interested in writing than a lucrative career in medicine or law, Zelu has always felt like the outcast of her large Nigerian family. Then her life is upended when, in the middle of her sister’s lavish Caribbean wedding, she’s unceremoniously fired from her university job and, to add insult to injury, her novel is rejected by yet another publisher. With her career and dreams crushed in one fell swoop, she decides to write something just for herself. What comes out is nothing like the quiet, literary novels that have so far peppered her unremarkable career. It’s a far-future epic where androids and AI wage war in the grown-over ruins of human civilization. She calls it Rusted Robots.
When Zelu finds the courage to share her strange novel, she does not realize she is about to embark on a life-altering journey—one that will catapult her into literary stardom, but also perhaps obliterate everything her book was meant to be. From Chicago to Lagos to the far reaches of space, Zelu’s novel will change the future not only for humanity, but for the robots who come next.
A book-within-a-book that blends the line between writing and being written, Death of the Author is a masterpiece of metafiction that manages to combine the razor-sharp commentary of Yellowface with the heartfelt humanity of Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. Surprisingly funny, deeply poignant, and endlessly discussable, this is at once the tale of a woman on the margins risking everything to be heard and a testament to the power of storytelling to shape the world as we know it.
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The Last Room on the Left by Leah Konen
The latest from the author of Keep Your Friends Close (2024) is set at a remote motel that Kerry, a struggling author, has agreed to look after while she attempts to make progress on her latest novel. Kerry is also hiding from the break-up of her marriage to Frank; her split with her best friend, Siobhan; and the cause of both of those ruptures, her struggle with alcoholism. Kerry arrives at the Twilite Motel at the beginning of February and finds much more than she bargained for when she sees the hand of a dead woman sticking out of the snow. With no cell service, Kerry seeks the help of the two closest neighbors, only to learn they’re both in a land dispute with the motel’s owner. Once Kerry returns to the motel, she discovers not only that the body has been moved, but that, to her horror, the dead woman is someone she knows. Though Kerry’s reliability, particularly concerning the victim’s identity, stretches credulity at times, this is a fast-paced and engrossing read. – Booklist Review
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Three Wild Dogs (and the Truth): A Memoir by Markus Zusak
In this poignant, funny, and disarmingly honest memoir, one of the world’s most beloved storytellers, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Book Thief, tells of his family’s adoption of three troublesome rescue dogs—a charming and courageous love story about making even the most incorrigible of animals family.
There’s a madman dog beside me, and the hounds of memory ahead of us . . . It’s love and beasts and wild mistakes, and regret, but never to change things.
What happens when the Zusak family opens their home to three big, wild, street-hardened dogs—Reuben, more wolf than hound; Archer, blond, beautiful, destructive; and the rancorously smiling Frosty, who walks like a rolling thunderstorm?
The answer can only be chaos: There are street fights, park fights, public shamings, property damages, injuries, hospital visits, wellness checks, pure comedy, shocking tragedy, and carnage that must be read to be believed.
There is a reckoning of shortcomings and failure, a strengthening of will, but most important of all, an explosion of love—and the joy and recognition of family.
Three Wild Dogs (and the Truth) is a tender, motley, and exquisitely written memoir about the human need for both connection and disorder, a love letter to the animals who bring hilarity and beauty—but also the visceral truth of the natural world—straight to our doors and into our lives and change us forever.
–
Happy reading!
Linda Reimer, SSCL
–
Note: Book summaries are from the respective publishers unless otherwise specified.
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.
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.
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.
–
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.
–
Tech & Book Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.
All titles can be requested/checked out through the library.
If you’d like to go the traditional route to request a title on this list and drop by the library, or give us a call – please do!
Our telephone number is: 607-936-3713
–
New York Times Bestseller lists are shared via blog post on Sundays. And the next NYT blog post will be posted on Sunday, January 26, 2025.
THE BESTSELLERS
FICTION
1. FOURTH WING by Rebecca Yarros: Violet Sorrengail is urged by the commanding general, who also is her mother, to become a candidate for the elite dragon riders.
2. IRON FLAME by Rebecca Yarros: The second book in the Empyrean series. Violet Sorrengail’s next round of training under the new vice commandant might require her to betray the man she loves.
3. THE HOUSEMAID by Freida McFadden: Troubles surface when a woman looking to make a fresh start takes a job in the home of the Winchesters.
4. HOLMES IS MISSING by James Patterson and Brian Sitts: The second book in the Holmes, Margaret & Poe series. A series of child abductions perplexes the private investigators.
5. JAMES by Percival Everett: A reimagining of “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” shines a different light on Mark Twain’s classic, revealing new facets of the character of Jim.
6. THE WOMEN by Kristin Hannah: In 1965, a nursing student follows her brother to serve during the Vietnam War and returns to a divided America.
7. NEVER SAY NEVER by Danielle Steel: A woman reeling from her husband’s infidelity and the loss of her job meets a well-known actor in the French countryside.
8. THE FROZEN RIVER by Ariel Lawhon: In Maine, 1789, a midwife seeks to uncover the true cause of the death of a man discovered entombed in the Kennebec River.
9. THE GOD OF THE WOODS by Liz Moore: When a 13-year-old girl disappears from an Adirondack summer camp in 1975, secrets kept by the Van Laar family emerge.
10. BEG, BORROW, OR STEAL by Sarah Adams: The third book in the When in Rome series. Two feuding second-grade teachers form an alliance that may lead to more.
11. THE NIGHTINGALE by Kristin Hannah: Two sisters are separated in World War II France: one in the countryside, the other in Paris.
12. DARK HOPE by Christine Feehan: The 38th book in the Carpathian series. Will Benedek and Silke defeat an adversary bent on destruction?
13. A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES by Sarah J. Maas: After killing a wolf in the woods, Feyre is taken from her home and placed inside the world of the Fae.
14. FOUR RUINED REALMS by Mai Corland: The second book in the Broken Blades series. Trust is tested in the pursuit of the Golden Ring of the Dragon Lord.
15. THE WEDDING PEOPLE by Alison Espach: A woman who is down on her luck forms an unexpected bond with the bride at a wedding in Rhode Island.
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NON-FICTION
1. THE HOUSE OF MY MOTHER by Shari Franke: Franke gives an account of abuse within her family who gained a following with their YouTube channel “8 Passengers.”
2. THE ANXIOUS GENERATION by Jonathan Haidt: A co-author of “The Coddling of the American Mind” looks at the mental health impacts that a phone-based life has on children.
3. THE BODY KEEPS THE SCORE by Bessel van der Kolk: How trauma affects the body and mind, and innovative treatments for recovery.
4. BE READY WHEN THE LUCK HAPPENS by Ina Garten: A memoir by the cookbook author and Food Network host known as the Barefoot Contessa.
5. CHER: THE MEMOIR, PART ONE by Cher: In the first part of her memoir, the multiple award-winning pop culture icon traces her childhood and forays into the world of entertainment.
6. THE SERVICEBERRY by Robin Wall Kimmerer: The author of “Braiding Sweetgrass” illuminates how the gift economy in the natural world works and draws lessons for our economy; with illustrations by John Burgoyne.
7. FRAMED by John Grisham and Jim McCloskey: Our criminal justice system viewed through the struggles of 10 wrongfully convicted people to achieve exoneration.
8. GREENLIGHTS by Matthew McConaughey: The Academy Award-winning actor shares snippets from the diaries he kept over the last 35 years.
9. THE DEMON OF UNREST by Erik Larson: The author of “The Splendid and the Vile” portrays the months between the election of Abraham Lincoln and the beginning of the Civil War.
10. MELANIA by Melania Trump: The former and future first lady describes her work as a fashion model, marriage to Donald Trump and time in the White House.
11. THE BACKYARD BIRD CHRONICLES by Amy Tan: Essays and drawings by the author of “The Joy Luck Club” and “The Bonesetter’s Daughter,” which depict a search for peace through birding.
12. OUTLIVE by Peter Attia with Bill Gifford: A look at recent scientific research on aging and longevity.
13. REVENGE OF THE TIPPING POINT by Malcolm Gladwell: Through a series of stories, Gladwell explicates the causes of various kinds of epidemics.
14. CONFRONTING THE PRESIDENTS by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard: The conservative commentator evaluates the legacies of American presidents.
15. ON TYRANNY by Timothy Snyder: Twenty lessons from the 20th century about the course of tyranny.
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Have a great Sunday!
Linda
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THE CATALOGS:
Catalog 1: StarCat
StarCat is the catalog of physical materials including print books, DVDs, audiobooks on CD etc. StarCat is available to all patrons of all public libraries in the Southern Tier Library System*
The Digital Catalog (and its companion app Libby) offers all Southern Tier Library System member library patrons access to eBooks, eAudiobooks & eMagazines via a lending model known in Library-ese as “one copy/one user;” that library speak means that eBooks & eAudiobooks found in The Digital Catalog/Libby are like print books found on library shelves, only one patron can check out a copy of a title at a time.
Exception: Magazines found in the digital catalog are available via a different lending model known as simultaneous access. And that fancy library speak means that magazines are available for all patrons to check out at the same time, i.e. if you and all your family and friends wish to read the latest digital edition of Newsweek, all of you can check out the e version of the magazine and read it at the same time.
The Digital Catalog/Libby checkout limit is 5 titles a time.
The Hoopla Digital Catalog (and its companion app, also called Hoopla) offers Southeast Steuben County Library patrons access to a second digital catalog with an on-demand lending model. In library speak, this lending model, like The Digital Catalog/Libby’s magazine lending model, is known as “simultaneous access.” The difference is, the Hoopla catalog offers access to more formats: eBooks, eAudiobooks, eComics, digital albums, TV shows & movies – and all items, in all those formats, are available for patrons to checkout immediately. The Hoopla check out limit is ten titles per month.
Hoopla Formats: All Hoopla content can be accessed on a computer or mobile device, and TV shows and movies can be accessed on computers, mobile devices, smart TVs and media streaming players, i.e. Roku or Apple TV.
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, January 24, 2025.
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This week, in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968), whose birthday we celebrate with a national holiday on Monday, we offer a civil rights playlist – enjoy!
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Blowin’ In The Wind by Bob Dylan
From The Album: The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (1962)
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A Change Is Gonna Come by Sam Cooke
From The Album: A Change Is Gonna Come (1964)
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Eyes On The Prize by Sweet Honey and the Rock
From The Album: Freedom Song Soundtrack (2000)
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Freedom Highway by The Staple Singers
From The Album: Freedom Highway (1965)
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If I Had A Hammer by Pete Seeger
From The Album: If I Had a Hammer: Songs of Hope and Struggle (1998)
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Little Boxes by Malvina Reynolds
From The Album: Ear To The Ground (2000)
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Pastures of Plenty by Woody Guthrie
From The Album: The Complete Asch Recordings (1997)
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This Land Is Your Land by Peter Paul & Mary
From The Album: The Very Best of Peter, Paul & Mary (2004)
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We Are Americans Too by Nat King Cole
From The Album: From The Capitol Vaults (Vol. 4) (2023)
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We Shall Overcome by The Freedom Singers
From The Album: The Social Power of Music (2019) by Various Artists
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What’s Going On by Marvin Gaye
From The Album: What’s Going On (1971)
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Hoopla Album of the Week
Library of Congress Recordings (2015) by Woody Guthrie
And from the album the song:
Talking Dust Bowl Blues
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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.
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 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, January 22, 2025.
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Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear by Seanan McGuire
Giant turtles, impossible ships, and tidal rivers ridden by a Drowned girl in search of a family in the latest in the bestselling Hugo and Nebula Award-Winning Wayward Children series from Seanan McGuire.
Nadya had three mothers: the one who bore her, the country that poisoned her, and the one who adopted her.
Nadya never considered herself less than whole, not until her adoptive parents fitted her with a prosthetic arm against her will, seeking to replace the one she’d been missing from birth.
It was cumbersome; it was uncomfortable; it was wrong.
It wasn’t her.
Frustrated and unable to express why, Nadya began to wander, until the day she fell through a door into Belyrreka, the Land Beneath the Lake—and found herself in a world of water, filled with child-eating amphibians, majestic giant turtles, and impossible ships that sailed as happily beneath the surface as on top. In Belyyreka, she found herself understood for who she was: a Drowned Girl, who had made her way to her real home, accepted by the river and its people.
But even in Belyyreka, there are dangers, and trials, and Nadya would soon find herself fighting to keep hold of everything she had come to treasure.
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Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old: Thoughts on Aging as a Woman by Brooke Shields
From generational icon Brooke Shields comes an intimate and empowering exploration of aging that flips the script on the idea of what it means for a woman to grow older
Brooke Shields has spent a lifetime in the public eye. Growing up as a child actor and model, her every feature was scrutinized, her every decision judged. Today Brooke faces a different kind of scrutiny: that of being a “woman of a certain age.”
And yet, for Brooke, the passage of time has brought freedom. At fifty-nine, she feels more comfortable in her skin, more empowered and confident than she did decades ago in those famous Calvin Kleins. Now, in Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old, she’s changing the narrative about women and aging.
This is an era, insists Brooke, when women are reclaiming agency and power, not receding into the shadows. These are the years when we get to decide how we want to live—when we get to write our own stories.
With remarkable candor, Brooke bares all, painting a vibrant and optimistic picture of being a woman in the prime of her life, while dismantling the myths that have, for too long, dimmed that perception. Sharing her own life experiences with humor and humility, and weaving together research and reporting, Brooke takes aim at the systemic factors that contribute to age-related bias.
By turns inspiring, moving, and galvanizing, Brooke’s honesty and vulnerability will resonate with women everywhere, and spark a new conversation about the power and promise of midlife.
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Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney
Following the mysterious disappearance of his wife, a struggling London novelist journeys to a remote Scottish island to try to get his mojo back–but all, of course, is not what it seems. Grady Green hits the pinnacle of his publishing career on the same night that his life goes off the rails–first his book lands on the New York Times bestseller list, and then his wife, Abby, goes missing on her way home. A year later, Grady is a mere shadow of his former self: out of money and out of ideas. So, when his agent, Abby’s godmother, suggests that he spend some time on the Isle of Amberly, in a log cabin left to her by one of her writers, it seems as good a plan as any. With free housing for himself and his dog and a beautiful, distraction-free environment, maybe he can finally complete the next novel. But from the very beginning, Grady’s experiences with Amberly seem weird, if not downright ominous: As a visitor, he’s not allowed to bring his car onto the island; the local businesses are only open for a few hours at a time; and there are no birds. At all. Not to mention the skeletal hand he finds buried under the floorboards of the cabin, the creepy harmonica music in the woods, and the occasional sighting of a woman in a red coat who’s a dead ringer for Abby. As Grady falls deeper and deeper into insomnia and alcoholism, he begins to realize his being on the island is no accident–and that should make him very afraid. Through occasional chapters from before Abby’s disappearance, told from her point of view, we learn that Grady is not necessarily a reliable narrator, and the book’s slow unfolding of dread, mystery, and then truth is both creative and well-paced. Every chapter heading is an oxymoron, like the title, reminding us of the contradictions at the heart of every story. “Nasty little fellows…always get their comeuppance,” a movie character once said. Deeply satisfying. – Kirkus Review
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The Big Empty by Robert Crais
Elvis Cole and his enigmatic partner, Joe Pike, race to find a terrifying, unidentified killer in this twisting, unpredictable thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Robert Crais.
Traci Beller was thirteen when her father disappeared in the sleepy town of Rancha, not far from Los Angeles. The evidence says Tommy Beller abandoned his family, but Traci never believed it. Now, ten years later, Traci is a high-profile influencer with millions of followers and the money to hire the best detective she can find: Elvis Cole.
Elvis heads to Rancha where an ex-con named Sadie Givens and her daughter, Anya, might have a line on the missing man. But when Elvis finds himself shadowed by a gang of vicious criminals, the missing persons cold case becomes far more sinister.
Elvis calls his ex-Marine friend, Joe Pike, for help, and they follow Tommy Beller’s trail into the depths of a monstrous, hidden evil. The case flips on its head, victims become predators, predators become prey, and the question becomes: Can Elvis Cole save them all from this nightmare?
Reader’s Note: The Big Empty is the twentieth book in the Elvis Cole & Joe Pike series. If you’d like to start reading from the beginning, check out book one: The Monkey’s Raincoat.
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Presumed Guilty by Scott Turow
Turow’s latest wraps up the story of Rusty Sabich, Sandy Stern’s unjustly accused client in Presumed Guilty, Turow’s first novel, published in 1987, and in Innocent (2010). Here he transports readers to retired judge Rusty’s quiet life in Mirror Lake with his fiancée, Bea. Rusty and Bea have agreed to supervise her adopted son Aaron’s probation and are proud that he’s maturing into a responsible young man. Unfortunately, Aaron can’t kick his volatile relationship with Mae Potter, the magnetic but self-destructive daughter of a prominent local family. Both families are alarmed when Aaron and Mae drop off the radar; then Aaron finally returns alone. He claims they had a fight while camping and that he hitchhiked home and doesn’t know where Mae is. Mae’s body is soon found, and her autopsy reveals that she was strangled. When Aaron is arrested, Rusty agrees to defend him even though it places his future with Bea on the line. He’ll be fighting uphill. Aaron is Black, has a record, and the population in that section of the state is overwhelmingly white. The trial that follows is a master class in legal suspense as Turow weaves together the devastation of Aaron and Mae’s families, simmering racial prejudice, and the impact of small-town politics within a framework of deliciously tense courtroom dynamics. This is manna for legal-thriller fans.
HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Given the hit Apple TV+ adaptation of Presumed Innocent, readers will be avid for this conclusion to the trilogy. – Starred Booklist 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Video recordings of each weekly book talk will be available on the library’s YouTube page shortly after the Wednesday afternoon programs, and I will also share the links each week via blog post.
Tech & Book Talk at SSCL 