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 19, 2025.
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The Ghosts of Rome by Joseph O’Connor
O’Connor’s second book in his Rome Escape Line Trilogy (after My Father’s House, 2023) is set in 1944, when WWII is at its height in the Nazi-occupied Eternal City. It’s a mesmerising, tragic, horrifying, utterly unputdownable story of the small, motley, incredibly brave band of eight people who call themselves the Choir. Their mission? To save Allied soldiers, Jews, and others persecuted by the Nazis and spirit them into the “neutral” Vatican City to keep them hidden. Risking their lives every day, living in derelict attics and damp cellars with little food and water, and being keenly aware of near-constant air raids and the ever-present danger from brutal Gestapo Obersturmbannführer Paul Hauptmann, the group keeps their “books” (as they dub those they help) in the “shelves” (hiding places), aided by a fragile network of anti-Nazi sympathizers. One book in particular requires an even more extraordinary level of bravery and cunning from the Choir. Horrifically wounded Polish soldier Bruno Wiśniewski needs urgent surgery, and the Choir members must use all their ingenuity, connections, and creativity to make that happen. A deeply affecting read with an ending that’s sad yet life affirming, this is an outstanding choice for fans of WWII fiction and of writers like Anthony Doerr. – Booklist Review
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Harlem Rhapsody by Victoria Christopher Murray
Murray’s first solo biographical novel following her popular collaborations with Marie Benedict (most recently, The First Ladies, 2023) focuses on the so-called “”midwife of the Harlem Renaissance,”” Jessie Redmon Fauset. Set during her years in New York as the literary editor of the NAACP’s influential magazine, The Crisis, founded by W. E. B. DuBois, the novel explores Jessie’s relationship with DuBois, who is her mentor, colleague, and, some say, lover. Murray uses the historical record as a springboard to imagine the complicated dynamic between Jessie; Will (as she calls him in private); Will’s wife, Nina; and the other women with whom he was romantically involved. Murray also tells of how Jessie publishes rising Black writers, including Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Jean Toomer, and Nella Larsen; spearheads the launch of a publication for children, The Brownies Book; and is a prolific writer herself. Jessie’s ambition and conflicting ideas about the role of art (DuBois believed that art was only useful as a form of propaganda) eventually lead her to leave the magazine, and DuBois, for good. Murray’s meticulous research brings this exciting period in American literary and artistic history into the spotlight and sheds a welcome light on an important and intriguing figure whose influence often goes unmentioned. – Starred Booklist Review
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Last Twilight in Paris by Pam Jenoff
Jenoff (Code Name Sapphire) delivers an artful parallel narrative of an Englishwoman’s investigation into her friend’s death during WWII, when they both volunteered for the Red Cross in Germany, and a Jewish woman interned in Paris by the Nazis. In 1953, Louise Burns finds a necklace with a heart pendant in a secondhand shop in Henley-on-Thames, and recognizes it as the one acquired by her friend Franny in Germany shortly before she was fatally struck by a car. Louise has always suspected Franny’s death was somehow related to the necklace, and after tracing it back to Lévitan, a Paris department store, she travels to France, hoping to track down the necklace’s most recent owner. Jenoff alternates Louise’s sleuthing with the story of Helaine Weil, a young Jewish woman who defies her parents to marry a musician and winds up imprisoned at Lévitan after the Nazis convert the store to a work camp. As Louise learns of Lévitan’s dark history, she uncovers shocking details about the necklace and about Helaine, who gave Franny the necklace before being taken prisoner. Jenoff offers a piercing depiction of Jewish life in Paris under German occupation, and keeps the pages turning with an intriguing mystery. Fans of WWII fiction will be riveted. – Publishers Weekly Review
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Sleep Drink Breathe: Simple Daily Habits for Profound Long-Term Health by Michael Breus, PhD
Good health doesn’t have to be complicated. Sleeping, hydrating, and breathing are fundamental to life, and making simple adjustments to the way we perform these basic functions can have an extraordinary impact on our health and wellbeing.
In Sleep Drink Breathe, bestselling author Dr. Michael Breus shares the most recent science on these biobehaviors and inspiring patient stories that are the basis for his innovative strategy for optimizing your sleep, hydration, and breathing habits.
Dr. Breus’s revolutionary three-week Sleep-Drink-Breathe regimen is so straightforward, you won’t be intimidated by it and you will stick with it. After just a few days, you’ll feel better physically, mentally, and emotionally, and will be on the road to whole body balance that lasts. – Publisher Description
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Waiting for the Long Night Moon: Stories by Amanda Peters
Peters shares in her acknowledgments to this short-story collection that she wrote it before her Andrew Carnegie Medal-winning debut novel, The Berry Pickers (2023). She includes a content warning near the start of this book, noting that many of its stories address painful topics. Readers who engage will be well rewarded with a meaningful collection centering Indigenous people. Written in a woven style, integrating past and present, the stories often end at deft, surprising, and important moments. In the first, a woman whose baby died joins a group of water protectors to help make the world better for when the baby returns. In another, a young boy who was left at a religious school with his sister by a mother who loved but couldn’t feed them is locked in a cupboard for asking a question. Another story introduces a woman wanting to get off drugs and return to her mother, who made her walk in the forest to always remember city isn’t home, but a violent man wants her to stay. Braided through the longer pieces, like the sweetgrass featured in one, are shorter works focusing on an image, element of culture, or moment. Joy too is sliced throughout Peters’ stunning stories.
HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Peters’ award-winning debut created an audience ready for anything she writes, and they won’t be disappointed by her memorable stories. – 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.
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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 