Month: April 2025

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, May 7, 2025.

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Eleven Percent by Maren Uthaug

From powerful priestesses to witchy convents, Eleven Percent vividly portrays a women-dominated world that is unrecognizable but also uncannily familiar in its depiction of gendered disenfranchisement. Danish author Uthaug’s first novel to be translated into English follows four characters working to fulfil their roles in this rigid, defensive, but also mystical society–one that protects women from the dangers of testosterone by only keeping 11 percent of males alive for reproductive purposes. With innovative world building, such as rooting Christianity to a matriarchal faith, and provocative discussions about women’s sexual pleasure, Uthaug’s narrative skillfully balances religious, philosophical, realist, and scientific tones–not only bringing this shocking world alive but also the complex emotions of its inhabitants. A refreshing highlight of Eleven Percent is indeed its open treatment of sexual organs and processes, including menstruation and masturbation, to reclaim women’s sexuality. Emotionally enthralling and intellectually stimulating, Eleven Percent unpacks the connection between power and fear, exploring how gendered othering creates an insatiable curiosity about those who are othered as well as about one’s own nature. – Booklist Review

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The Road to Wisdom On Truth, Science, Faith, and Trust by Francis S. Collins

Former National Institute of Health director Collins (The Language of Life) interweaves sociopolitical commentary, popular science, and theology in this smart study. Citing how distrust of Covid vaccines cost an estimated 230,000 American lives even as the scientific community celebrated “one of the greatest medical achievements in human history,” Collins describes an America so deeply fractured by hyperpartisan politics that it can be repaired only by returning to the “solid ground” of truth, science, faith, and trust. Unpacking each value, he writes that faith is vital to bridging “division and animosity” and offers truths beyond science’s reach, while the scientific community must learn from its stumbles in communicating with the public during the pandemic to address such pressing social issues as climate change. Suggestions include repairing seemingly “irreconcilable” differences through a focus on shared values—family, freedom, love—rather than statistics. Despite some wearying truisms (people should respect each other, because there is “nothing more un-American than hating fellow Americans”), the author’s expertise and lucid writing impress. This has plenty to offer. – Publishers Weekly Review

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Stag Dance: A Novel And Stories by Torrey Peters

Award-winning Peters’s latest book is a daring collection of four short pieces that resist easy categorization. The opening story, “Infect Your Friends and Loved Ones,” is a dystopian fantasy in which a vengeful trans woman has brought on a gender apocalypse through a hormonal pandemic, while the last tale, “The Masker,” is an erotic horror set in Las Vegas. In “The Chaser,” the book’s most affecting piece, an illicit affair between roommates at a Quaker boarding school leads to brutal consequences. Finally, the title piece, the longest and most esoteric of the collection, is a gloriously demented fable starring bandit lumberjacks who are invited to attend a dance as women, hoping to be courted by their fellow loggers. The implications are more challenging to unpack in this work than in Peters’s previous novel, Detransition, Baby, but this collection hums with the same level of blazing insight and proves that she is an author of ferocious talent and range.

VERDICT A provocative and recommended addition to collections. – Library Journal Review

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Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect by Will Guidara

In his first solo book, Guidara (Eleven Madison Park: The Cookbook) focuses on the evolution of his fine dining hospitality philosophy. It starts with lessons he learned as a student at Cornell and moves through his career as general manager of Eleven Madison Park, voted World’s Best Restaurant in 2017. This is a fast-paced, memoir/managerial treatise, with chapters headed by pithy phrases encapsulating nuggets of managerial wisdom. At the heart is the idea of unreasonable hospitality, an over-the-top customer service solution to the problem of how to become the best, most memorable restaurant. This involves providing personalized experiences, while ensuring that employees are well cared for and empowered. Guidara focuses on dining room dynamics, building a team capable of innovation and excellence, and directing resources. Given broader discussions about harassment and toxic climates often found in the restaurant industry, it is somewhat surprising to see these issues only hinted at in a few brisk anecdotes. The author stays firmly in the realm of the positive, even when describing the various setbacks and personnel issues that arose as he and his restaurant made their way to the top.

VERDICT Recommended for those interested in managerial success, the restaurant industry, or inspirational memoirs. – Library Journal Review

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When the Going Was Good: An Editor’s Adventures During the Last Golden Age of Magazines by Graydon Carter

Carter, longtime editor of Vanity Fair, has written a chronicle of his life in publishing that is a microcosm of the last 50 years of upscale American magazines. Opening with an excellent chapter on working for the Canadian railway as a teenager, the book details how he left college and started The Canadian Review in 1973. He wrote for Time and Life before cocreating the satirical and biting Spy in the 1980s, eventually becoming the very successful editor of Vanity Fair for 25 years. He chronicles the industry and its people with deep love and affection, and it’s a story of discovering one’s passion, persistence, and undeniably being in the right place at the right time. A book about magazines and publishing requires a healthy amount of name-dropping, and Carter does not disappoint. As one would expect, his writing is engaging and entertaining, yet while there is absolutely nothing wrong with being successful or excelling in one’s field, the book often feels like it was written for his wealthy friends. One feels a certain type of assumed privilege has always surrounded him.

VERDICT An engaging book for lovers of glossy magazines and the people who make them. – 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 four library catalogs

The Digital Catalog aka Libby: 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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Kanopy Catalog: https://www.kanopy.com/en

The Kanopy Catalog features thousands of streaming videos available on demand.

The Kanopy Catalog is available for all Southern Tier Library System member library card holders, including all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders!

You can access the Kanopy Catalog through a web browser, or download the app to your phone, tablet or media streaming player (i.e. Roku, Google or Fire TV).

–

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.

–

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,

THE BESTSELLERS

FICTION

1. THE PERFECT DIVORCE by Jeneva Rose: Around the time of the disappearance of a woman who had a one-night stand with the attorney Sarah Morgan’s new husband, police reopen the investigation into the murder of her first husband’s mistress.

2. STRANGERS IN TIME by David Baldacci: In London in 1944, two teenagers dealing with the dangers of World War II form an alliance with a bookshop owner.

3. WILD AND WRANGLED by Lyla Sage: The fourth book in the Rebel Blue Ranch series. Almost 10 years after they first met, Cam and Dusty wind up in close proximity to each other.

4. ONYX STORM by Rebecca Yarros: The third book in the Empyrean series. As enemies gain traction, Violet Sorrengail goes beyond the Aretian wards in search of allies.

5. SAY YOU’LL REMEMBER ME by Abby Jimenez: Despite having a great date, Samantha asks a veterinarian to forget about her because her family is in crisis.

6. 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.

7. BROKEN COUNTRY by Clare Leslie Hall: Beth must confront her past when the man she once loved as a teenager returns to the village with his son.

8. 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.

9. THE NIGHTINGALE by Kristin Hannah: Two sisters are separated in World War II France: one in the countryside, the other in Paris.

10. 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.

11. THE PERFECT MARRIAGE by Jeneva Rose: A criminal defense attorney vows to defend her husband after he is accused of murdering his mistress.

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. THE CRASH by Freida McFadden: A pregnant woman, who suffers an injury during a blizzard, is taken in by a couple who might put her life in further jeopardy.

14. 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.

15. LIGHTS OUT by Navessa Allen: As Aly and Josh live out their dark fantasies, someone with sinister intentions impinges on them.

NON-FICTION

1. ABUNDANCE by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson: A New York Times opinion columnist and a staff writer at The Atlantic evaluate obstacles to American progress.

2. EVERYTHING IS TUBERCULOSIS by John Green: The author of “The Anthropocene Reviewed” chronicles the fight against the deadly infectious disease tuberculosis.

3. 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.

4. ON TYRANNY by Timothy Snyder: Twenty lessons from the 20th century about the course of tyranny.

5. FIGHT by Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes: The authors of “Shattered” give an account of the 2024 presidential campaigns.

6. FAHRENHEIT-182 by Mark Hoppus with Dan Ozzi: The singer and bassist for the pop-punk band Blink-182 looks back at moments from his life and career.

7. THE BODY KEEPS THE SCORE by Bessel van der Kolk: How trauma affects the body and mind, and innovative treatments for recovery.

8. ON DEMOCRACIES AND DEATH CULTS by Douglas Murray: The author of “The War on the West” gives his perspective on the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

9. CARELESS PEOPLE by Sarah Wynn-Williams: A former Facebook executive gives an account of policies and leadership at the social media platform.

10. JOHN & PAUL by Ian Leslie: The 23-year relationship between John Lennon and Paul McCartney is viewed through the lens of the songs they wrote together.

11. THE WAGER by David Grann: The survivors of a shipwrecked British vessel on a secret mission during an imperial war with Spain have different accounts of events.

12. WHO IS GOVERNMENT? edited by Michael Lewis: Essays by Casey Cep, Dave Eggers, John Lanchester, Geraldine Brooks, Sarah Vowell, W. Kamau Bell and Michael Lewis illuminate the work of federal employees and the business of government.

13. UNCHARTED by Chris Whipple: The author of “The Gatekeepers” shares anecdotes and insights from the 2024 presidential election.

14. OUTLIVE by Peter Attia with Bill Gifford: A look at recent scientific research on aging and longevity.

15. THE TELL by Amy Griffin: The founder of the investment firm G9 Ventures recounts her efforts to recover from trauma she experienced during childhood.

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Have a great Sunday!

Linda

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THE CATALOGS:

(Information on the four library catalogs)

The Digital Catalog aka Libby: 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.

–

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.

–

Kanopy Catalog: https://www.kanopy.com/en

The Kanopy Catalog features thousands of streaming videos available on demand.

The Kanopy Catalog is available for all Southern Tier Library System member library card holders, including all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders!

You can access the Kanopy Catalog through a web browser, or download the app to your phone, tablet or media streaming player (i.e. Roku, Google or Fire TV).

–

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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For more information on library materials and services, including how to get a library card call the library at 607-936-3713.

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*The Southern Tier Library System includes the public libraries in Steuben, Chemung, Yates, Schuyler & Allegheny counties.

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, May 2, 2025.

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This week, in celebration of the 87^th anniversary of the birth of Duane Eddy; who who was born in the old Corning  Hospital on April 26, 1938.

Here is a collection of classic songs from the late & great pioneering guitarist and Rock Hall of member.

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Rebel Rouser

Found On The Album: Have Twangy Guitar WiIl Travel (1958)

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Moovin’ ‘N” Groovin’

Found On The Album: Have Twangy Guitar WiIl Travel (1958)

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Ramrod

Found On The Album: Have Twangy Guitar WiIl Travel (1958)

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Theme from Peter Gunn

Found On The Album: Especially For You (1959)

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Because They’re Young

Found On The Album: $1,000,000 Worth of Twang (1960)

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Forty Miles of Bad Road

Found On The Album: $1,000,000 Worth of Twang (1960)

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Cannon Ball

Found On The Album: $1,000,000 Worth of Twang (1960)

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Unchained Melody

Found On The Album: Twangy Guitar, Silky Strings (1962)

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Your Baby’s Gone Surfin’

Found On The Album: The Best of Duane Eddy (1965)

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The Ballad of Paladin

Found On The Album: The Best of Duane Eddy (1965)

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The Trembler

Found On The Album: Duane Eddy (1987)

 

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Have a great weekend,

Linda Reimer, SSCL

–

Information on the four library catalogs

The Digital Catalog aka Libby: 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.

–

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.

–

Kanopy Catalog: https://www.kanopy.com/en

The Kanopy Catalog features thousands of streaming videos available on demand.

The Kanopy Catalog is available for all Southern Tier Library System member library card holders, including all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders!

You can access the Kanopy Catalog through a web browser, or download the app to your phone, tablet or media streaming player (i.e. Roku, Google or Fire TV).

–

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.

–

Have questions about how to access Internet based content (i.e. eBooks, eAudios or streaming videos)? 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.

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, April 30, 2025.

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America, América A New History of the New World by Greg Grandin by Greg Grandin 

The story of how the United States’ identity was formed is almost invariably told by looking east to Europe. But as Greg Grandin vividly demonstrates, the nation’s unique sense of itself was in fact forged facing south toward Latin America. In turn, Latin America developed its own identity in struggle with the looming colossus to the north. In this stunningly original reinterpretation of the New World, Grandin reveals how North and South emerged from a constant, turbulent engagement with each other. 

America, América traverses half a millennium, from the Spanish Conquest—the greatest mortality event in human history—through the eighteenth-century wars for independence, the Monroe Doctrine, the coups and revolutions of the twentieth century, and beyond. Grandin shows, among other things, how in response to U.S. interventions, Latin Americans remade the rules, leading directly to the founding of the United Nations; and how the Good Neighbor Policy allowed FDR to assume the moral authority to lead the fight against world fascism. 

Grandin’s book sheds new light on well-known historical figures like Bartolomé de las Casas, Simón Bolívar, and Woodrow Wilson, as well as lesser-known actors such as the Venezuelan Francisco de Miranda, who almost lost his head in the French Revolution and conspired with Alexander Hamilton to free America from Spain; the Colombian Jorge Gaitán, whose unsolved murder inaugurated the rise of Cold War political terror, death squads, and disappearances; and the radical journalist Ernest Gruening, who, in championing non-interventionism in Latin America, helped broker the most spectacularly successful policy reversal in United States history. This is a monumental work of scholarship that will fundamentally change the way we think of Spanish and English colonialism, slavery and racism, and the rise of universal humanism. At once comprehensive and accessible, America, América shows that centuries of bloodshed and diplomacy not only helped shape the political identities of the United States and Latin America but also the laws, institutions, and ideals that govern the modern world. In so doing, Grandin argues that Latin America’s deeply held culture of social democracy can be an effective counterweight to today’s spreading rightwing authoritarianism. 

A culmination of a decades-long engagement with hemispheric history, drawing on a vast array of sources, and told with authority and flair, this is a genuinely new history of the New World. 

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Dream State: A Novel by Eric Puchner 

Puchner’s (Last Day on Earth, 2017) riveting second novel follows a trio of characters and the decades-long ripple effects of their choices on those closest to them. It’s 2004, and Cece is engaged to her medical school sweetheart Charlie, their wedding to be held at Charlie’s idyllic family home in Montana. Charlie enlists his best friend from college, Garrett, to check on Cece before the big day. Initially wary of one another, an adrift Garrett finds himself drawn to Cece, and soon thereafter Cece leaves Charlie. Years later, the three reconnect, and as time unfolds, their complicated friendship and affections shift alongside the ache of the unspoken. Charlie struggles with a string of failed marriages and a strained relationship with his son. Cece, a bookstore owner, finds herself questioning what she may have given up. Garrett, still wrestling with his own regrets, obsessively dives into his job tracking wolverines in a race against their extinction. The ghosts of the past equally haunt their respective children’s formative years, spent vacationing together at the same Montana home, the dwelling and changing rural landscape a touchpoint throughout the novel. With interwoven perspectives, Puchner’s layered saga is a deeply felt exploration of relationships and self-identity, and the imperfections hidden by the heart’s pull. 

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OverKill by J.A. Jance 

From J.A. Jance, a writer whose thrillers are “hot and getting hotter” (Booklist), the latest in her New York Times bestselling and heart-pounding Ali Reynolds series. 

Chuck Brewster, the former business partner of Ali Reynolds’s husband B. Simpson, once carried on an affair with Clarice, B.’s first wife. So when he’s found murdered with Clarice standing nearby covered in blood, it seems an open and shut case. 

 But Clarice swears she’s innocent and begs for Ali’s help. At the same time, someone is targeting Camille Lee while she’s on the road for High Noon. Ali is swiftly running out of time to find the real killer and keep her employee safe in this high-octane thrill ride. 

Reader’s Note: Overkill is the eighteenth book in the Ali Reynolds series, if you’d like to binge read from the beginning, check out book one Edge of Evil.  

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Sirens: A Novel by Emilia Hart 

Ireland, 1800. Sisters Mary and Eliza move far from the seaside after their mother disappears in the waves. Yet they are drawn to water, and when a violent encounter at a brook leads to deportation, they find themselves in horrendous conditions on a ship bound for Australia. In Australia in 2019, Lucy flees university after attacking her lover, who posted a nude photo of her online. Seeking refuge with her older sister, Jess, at Cliff House, Lucy arrives to find Jess has disappeared. All four women, across time, share a violent skin allergy to water, and as Lucy explores Jess’ history, the town, and the men who vanished from it, dark secrets emerge. Hart focuses on female bonds and the “unfairness” of the feminine condition, characters noting the “injustice” of being born women. Atmosphere is effectively evoked, Cliff House blooming with mold and near reclamation by the ocean. All melds through the supernatural premise of the Irish merrow (mermaid), which Hart combines with the sirens of Greek mythology, ensuring appeal for those who like their folklore Gothic in flavor and seasoned with feminism. – Booklist Review 

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Summer Light on Nantucket by Nancy Thayer 

A touching novel about parenthood, first love, family bonds, and rekindled relationships from the New York Times bestselling author and beloved Nantucket storyteller Nancy Thayer. 

Blythe Benedict is content. Her life didn’t end when her marriage did. In fact, she’s more than happy living in her comfortable house in Boston, working as a middle school teacher, and raising four wonderful children. With three of her kids in the throes of teenagerhood and one not too far behind them, Blythe has plenty of drama to keep her busy every single day. 

But no amount of that drama could change the family’s beloved annual summer trip to Nantucket. Blythe has always treasured the months spent at her island home-away-from-home, and has fond memories of her children growing up there. But this summer’s getaway proves to be much more than she bargained for. 

Yes, there are sunny days enjoyed at the beach. But Blythe must contend with teenage angst, her ex-mother-in-law’s declining health, and a troubling secret involving her ex-husband. Meanwhile, Blythe reconnects with her first love, her former high school sweetheart Aaden. But their second-time-around romance becomes complicated when another intriguing man enters the picture. 

It’s all a bit out of Blythe’s comfort zone. This particular island summer may not be as relaxing as Blythe had hoped, but she’s never felt that life has given her more than she can handle—especially when she has the love and support of her family around her. 

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Happy reading!

Linda Reimer, SSCL

–

Note: Book summaries are from the respective publishers unless otherwise specified.

–

Information on the four library catalogs

The Digital Catalog aka Libby: 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.

–

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.

–

Kanopy Catalog: https://www.kanopy.com/en

The Kanopy Catalog features thousands of streaming videos available on demand.

The Kanopy Catalog is available for all Southern Tier Library System member library card holders, including all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders!

You can access the Kanopy Catalog through a web browser, or download the app to your phone, tablet or media streaming player (i.e. Roku, Google or Fire TV).

–

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.

–

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, April 27, 2025.

THE BESTSELLERS

FICTION

1. ENCHANTRA by Kaylie Smith: The second book in the Wicked Games series. Genevieve Grimm goes to a cursed palace and gets caught up in a deadly game.

2. SAY YOU’LL REMEMBER ME by Abby Jimenez: Despite having a great date, Samantha asks a veterinarian to forget about her because her family is in crisis.

3. ONYX STORM by Rebecca Yarros: The third book in the Empyrean series. As enemies gain traction, Violet Sorrengail goes beyond the Aretian wards in search of allies.

4. BLOOD OF HERCULES by Jasmine Mas: A reimagining of the story of Hercules in which the protagonist is forced to attend the Spartan War Academy.

5. FIREBIRD by Juliette Cross: A Roman general who can transform into a dragon and a Dacian dancer discover that their love may bring about pain.

6. BROKEN COUNTRY by Clare Leslie Hall: Beth must confront her past when the man she once loved as a teenager returns to the village with his son.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. THE GRIFFIN SISTERS’ GREATEST HITS by Jennifer Weiner: Two decades after a pop duo broke up, facets of their familial and working relationships are seen in a different light.

10. THE NIGHTINGALE by Kristin Hannah: Two sisters are separated in World War II France: one in the countryside, the other in Paris.

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. VERITY by Colleen Hoover: Lowen Ashleigh is hired by the husband of an injured writer to complete her popular series and uncovers a horrifying truth.

14. LETHAL PREY by John Sandford: The 35th book in the Prey series. True-crime bloggers complicate Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers’s search for a killer.

15. THE CRASH by Freida McFadden: A pregnant woman, who suffers an injury during a blizzard, is taken in by a couple who might put her life in further jeopardy.

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NON-FICTON

1. FAHRENHEIT-182 by Mark Hoppus with Dan Ozzi: The singer and bassist for the pop-punk band Blink-182 looks back at moments from his life and career.

2. FIGHT by Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes: The authors of “Shattered” give an account of the 2024 presidential campaigns.

3. ON DEMOCRACIES AND DEATH CULTS by Douglas Murray: The author of “The War on the West” gives his perspective on the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

4. WHO IS GOVERNMENT? edited by Michael Lewis: Essays by Casey Cep, Dave Eggers, John Lanchester, Geraldine Brooks, Sarah Vowell, W. Kamau Bell and Michael Lewis illuminate the work of federal employees and the business of government.

5. ABUNDANCE by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson: A New York Times opinion columnist and a staff writer at The Atlantic evaluate obstacles to American progress.

6. UNCHARTED by Chris Whipple: The author of “The Gatekeepers” shares anecdotes and insights from the 2024 presidential election.

7. 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.

8. JOHN & PAUL by Ian Leslie: The 23-year relationship between John Lennon and Paul McCartney is viewed through the lens of the songs they wrote together.

9. ON TYRANNY by Timothy Snyder: Twenty lessons from the 20th century about the course of tyranny.

10. THE BODY KEEPS THE SCORE by Bessel van der Kolk: How trauma affects the body and mind, and innovative treatments for recovery.

11. EVERYTHING IS TUBERCULOSIS by John Green: The author of “The Anthropocene Reviewed” chronicles the fight against the deadly infectious disease tuberculosis.

12. CARELESS PEOPLE by Sarah Wynn-Williams: A former Facebook executive gives an account of policies and leadership at the social media platform.

13. THE TELL by Amy Griffin: The founder of the investment firm G9 Ventures recounts her efforts to recover from trauma she experienced during childhood.

14. NO MORE TEARS by Gardiner Harris: The investigative journalist brings to light the corporate practices of the pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson.

15. THE ECHO MACHINE by David Pakman: The podcast host assesses a cycle of reactionary political ideology in an era of polarization.

–

Have a great Sunday!

Linda

–

THE CATALOGS:

(Information on the four library catalogs)

The Digital Catalog aka Libby: 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.

–

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.

–

Kanopy Catalog: https://www.kanopy.com/en

The Kanopy Catalog features thousands of streaming videos available on demand.

The Kanopy Catalog is available for all Southern Tier Library System member library card holders, including all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders!

You can access the Kanopy Catalog through a web browser, or download the app to your phone, tablet or media streaming player (i.e. Roku, Google or Fire TV).

–

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.

–

For more information on library materials and services, including how to get a library card call the library at 607-936-3713.

–

*The Southern Tier Library System includes the public libraries in Steuben, Chemung, Yates, Schuyler & Allegheny counties.

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, April 25, 2025.

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And here are the 10 recommended songs of the week!

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All Of Her Answers Were No by Peggy Seager 

 

Found On The Album: Songs of Courting And Complaint (1955)

  

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Any Woman Blues by Ida Cox  

 

Found On The Album: Ida Cox Vol. 1 1923 (2005) 

 

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Black Snake Blues by Victoria Spivey 

 

Found On The  Album: Songs We Taught Your Mother (1992) A collection featuring songs by Alberta Hunter, Lucille Hegamin & Victoria Spivey

 

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Cowboy Waltz by Bess Lomax Hawes (mandolin), Pete Seeger & Woody Guthrie  

 

Found On The Album: N/A 

  

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Hook And Line by Rhiannon Giddens & Justin Robinson   

  

Found On The Album: What Did The Blackbird Say To The Crow (2025)  

  

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Muleskinner  Blues by Odetta  

 

 

Found On The Album: Sings Ballads And Blues (1956)  

  

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Nobody Knows You When You’re Down And Out by Alberta Hunter 

 

Found On The Album: Amtrack Blues (1980) 

 

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Queen Eleanor’s Confession by Cynthia Gooding  

 

Found On The Album: Queen of Hearts: Early English Folk Songs (1953) (Not currently in print) 

 

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Shady Grove by Jean Ritchie  

  

Found On The Album: Marching Across The Green Grass and Other American Children’s Game Songs (1968)  

  

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Wilson Rag by Elizabeth Cotten   

  

Found On The Album: When I’m Gone (1979)  

 

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Hoopla Album of the Week 

What The Blackbird Said To The Crow (2025) by Rhiannon Giddens & Justin Robinson  

And from the album the song 

Rain Crow 

 

 

 

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Have a great weekend,

Linda Reimer, SSCL

–

Information on the four library catalogs

The Digital Catalog aka Libby: 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.

–

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.

–

Kanopy Catalog: https://www.kanopy.com/en

The Kanopy Catalog features thousands of streaming videos available on demand.

The Kanopy Catalog is available for all Southern Tier Library System member library card holders, including all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders!

You can access the Kanopy Catalog through a web browser, or download the app to your phone, tablet or media streaming player (i.e. Roku, Google or Fire TV).

–

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.

–

Have questions about how to access Internet based content (i.e. eBooks, eAudios or streaming videos)? 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.

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, April 23, 2025.

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I See You’ve Called in Dead: A Novel by John Kenney 

Bud Stanley is an obituary writer who is afraid to live. Yes, his wife recently left him for a “far more interesting” man. Yes, he goes on a particularly awful blind date with a woman who brings her ex. And yes, he has too many glasses of Scotch one night and proceeds to pen and publish his own obituary. The newspaper wants to fire him. But now the company’s system has him listed as dead. And the company can’t fire a dead person. The ensuing fallout forces him to realize that life may be actually worth living. 

As Bud awaits his fate at work, his life hangs in the balance. Given another shot by his boss and encouraged by his best friend, Tim, a worldly and wise former art dealer, Bud starts to attend the wakes and funerals of strangers to learn how to live. 

Thurber Prize-winner and New York Times bestselling author John Kenney tells a funny, touching story about life and death, about the search for meaning, about finding and never letting go of the preciousness of life. 

– 

The Museum Detective by Maha Khan Phillips 

In a remote cave in western Pakistan, the carnage from a raid on a drug baron reveals a gold-plated mummy whose cuneiform-embellished sarcophagus bears tales of untold riches. For archaeologist Dr. Gul Delani, the opportunity to examine the rare find of a mummy prepared in the Egyptian manner should be a career-defining achievement. Instead, she becomes the drug lord’s target. As her inspection progresses, Delani’s mind stays dually focused on the three-year-long, unfruitful investigation into the disappearance of her beloved teenage niece, Mahnaz, who is approximately the same age as the young woman preserved before her. The tale of the lost princess, the alleged daughter of King Xerxes, fascinated Mahnaz, but could it also have caused her death? Delani’s quest for justice for both young women takes her from Pakistan’s desert caves to its sinister street world to its fetid underground sewers. Inspired by an actual antiquities scandal, Phillips introduces a sleuthing archaeologist in a debut thriller and series starter that efficiently combines the historian’s thirst for research with a criminologist’s pursuit of retribution. – Booklist Review 

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Next Day: Transitions, Change, and Moving Forward by Melinda French Gates 

In a rare window into some of her life’s pivotal moments, Melinda French Gates draws from previously untold stories to offer a new perspective on encountering transitions. 

“You don’t get to be my age without navigating all kinds of transitions. Some you embraced and some you never expected. Some you hoped for and some you fought as hard as you could.” – Melinda French Gates 

Transitions are moments in which we step out of our familiar surroundings and into a new landscape—a space that, for many people, is shadowed by confusion, fear, and indecision. The Next Day accompanies readers as they cross that space, offering guidance on how to make the most of the time between an ending and a new beginning and how to move forward into the next day when the ground beneath you is shifting. 

In this book, Melinda will reflect, for the first time in print, on some of the most significant transitions in her own life, including becoming a parent, the death of a dear friend, and her departure from the Gates Foundation. The stories she tells illuminate universal lessons about loosening the bonds of perfectionism, helping friends navigate times of crisis, embracing uncertainty, and more. 

Each one of us, no matter who we are or where we are in life, is headed toward transitions of our own. With her signature warmth and grace, Melinda candidly shares stories of times when she was in need of wisdom and shines a path through the open space stretching out before us all. 

– 

Rabbit Moon: A Novel by Jennifer Haigh 

It is early Sunday morning in Shanghai’s deserted financial district when a car careens around the corner and strikes Lindsey Litvak. The hit-and-run leaves the 22-year-old in a coma and her family searching for answers. Why was she living hundreds of miles from Beijing, where she told them she was teaching English? Why is the closet in her sparse apartment filled with designer dresses and high heels? As Lindsey’s divorced parents seek information and her 11-year-old sister, away at summer camp, awaits word from the hospital, layers of family history are revealed in this engrossing novel. Before Lindsey dropped out of college and moved to China, where the Litvaks had gone to adopt her sister years earlier, she had a teenage affair with a married man. That relationship and its sudden end are at the core of the secrets threatening to tear this family apart. Capturing both the possibilities of reinvention and the scars carried from a traumatic past, Haigh’s (Mercy Street, 2022) searing novel examines the interplay between choice and chance. – Booklist Review  

– 

The Railway Conspiracy by SJ Rozan & John Shen Yen Nee 

The theft of a dragon-taming mace leads Judge Dee Ren Jie and his colorful sidekicks to a multinational conspiracy rooted in 1924 London. Disguising himself as the fantasy villain Springheel Jack, Dee finds recovering the mace from Count Vladimir Voronoff and his Japanese conspirator, Isaki, child’s play, even as his capers bewilder his friends and helpers: Professor Lao She, pickpocket Jimmy Fingers, and Sgt. Hoong. But returning the mace to the merchant Wu Ze Tian only complicates the problems Dee had hoped to resolve. Voronoff insists from his prison cell that Madam Wu had given him the mace he’s accused of stealing. Although Madam Wu throws an elaborate party to thank Dee, one of her distinguished guests, leading banker A.G. Stephen, is poisoned shortly afterward; a Communist Party rally Lao attends leads to another murder; and a bombing during the Autumn Moon Festival claims six more lives. Slowly but surely, Dee perceives the outlines of a monstrous plot to overturn the Russian revolution and reinstall the czar, shore up the power of the Japanese emperor, and, most concerning for Dee, anoint the treacherous military Commander Zhang Zuo Lin, emperor of China. In a new world order in which Dee and his comrades can trust neither rabid Communists nor the equally blinkered nationalists arrayed against them, they must depend on Dee’s storied mental acuity–and their own impressive talents for martial arts combat. Though readers will know how this history turns out, it’s fascinating to watch the conflict of ritual and revolution. – Kirkus Review 

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Happy reading!

Linda Reimer, SSCL

–

Note: Book summaries are from the respective publishers unless otherwise specified.

–

Information on the four library catalogs

The Digital Catalog aka Libby: 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.

–

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.

–

Kanopy Catalog: https://www.kanopy.com/en

The Kanopy Catalog features thousands of streaming videos available on demand.

The Kanopy Catalog is available for all Southern Tier Library System member library card holders, including all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders!

You can access the Kanopy Catalog through a web browser, or download the app to your phone, tablet or media streaming player (i.e. Roku, Google or Fire TV).

–

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.

–

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, April 20, 2025.

–

THE BESTSELLERS

FICTION 

1. SAY YOU’LL REMEMBER ME by Abby Jimenez: Despite having a great date, Samantha asks a veterinarian to forget about her because her family is in crisis. 

2. ONYX STORM by Rebecca Yarros: The third book in the Empyrean series. As enemies gain traction, Violet Sorrengail goes beyond the Aretian wards in search of allies. 

3. BROKEN COUNTRY by Clare Leslie Hall: Beth must confront her past when the man she once loved as a teenager returns to the village with his son. 

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. 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. 

6. THE NIGHTINGALE by Kristin Hannah: Two sisters are separated in World War II France: one in the countryside, the other in Paris. 

7. LETHAL PREY by John Sandford: The 35th book in the Prey series. True-crime bloggers complicate Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers’s search for a killer. 

8. 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. 

9. NOBODY’S FOOL by Harlan Coben: The private investigator Sami Kierce tracks down clues to solve a mystery from his past. 

10. SUMMER IN THE CITY by Alex Aster: A screenwriter seeking inspiration coincidentally moves next door to the billionaire with whom she hooked up a couple years ago. 

11. THE CRASH by Freida McFadden: A pregnant woman, who suffers an injury during a blizzard, is taken in by a couple who might put her life in further jeopardy. 

12. 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. 

13. LIGHTS OUT by Navessa Allen: As Aly and Josh live out their dark fantasies, someone with sinister intentions impinges on them. 

14. 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. 

15. THE SIRENS by Emilia Hart: In 1800, two sisters head to Australia on a convict ship and notice changes in their bodies. In 2019, stories of men missing at sea and other odd occurrences emerge. 

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NON-FICTION 

1. FIGHT by Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes: The authors of “Shattered” give an account of the 2024 presidential campaigns. 

2. I AM MARIA by Maria Shriver: The Peabody and Emmy Award-winning journalist and producer weaves together life reflections with poems. 

3. ABUNDANCE by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson: A New York Times opinion columnist and a staff writer at The Atlantic evaluate obstacles to American progress. 

4. 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. 

5. EVERYTHING IS TUBERCULOSIS by John Green: The author of “The Anthropocene Reviewed” chronicles the fight against the deadly infectious disease tuberculosis. 

6. ON TYRANNY by Timothy Snyder: Twenty lessons from the 20th century about the course of tyranny. 

7. CARELESS PEOPLE by Sarah Wynn-Williams: A former Facebook executive gives an account of policies and leadership at the social media platform. 

8. THE BODY KEEPS THE SCORE by Bessel van der Kolk: How trauma affects the body and mind, and innovative treatments for recovery.  

9. THE TELL by Amy Griffin: The founder of the investment firm G9 Ventures recounts her efforts to recover from trauma she experienced during childhood. 

10. AUTISM OUT LOUD by Kate Swenson, Carrie Cariello and Adrian Wood: Three women from different backgrounds share their stories of raising a child with autism. 

11. DISSOLVING ILLUSIONS by Suzanne Humphries and Roman Bystrianyk: Humphries and Bystrianyk argue that medical interventions might not increase lifespans or prevent premature deaths. 

12. BOAT BABY by Vicky Nguyen: The NBC News anchor and correspondent describes cultural gaps her family encountered after they fled Vietnam. 

13. MIRACLES AND WONDER by Elaine Pagels: The author of “The Gnostic Gospels” delves into explanations of aspects of the life of Jesus made by his disciples. 

14. GOVERNMENT GANGSTERS by Kash Pramod Patel: In a book written before he became the director of the F.B.I., Patel prescribes ways to diminish those he considers anti-democratic. 

15. WHO IS GOVERNMENT? edited by Michael Lewis: Essays by Casey Cep, Dave Eggers, John Lanchester, Geraldine Brooks, Sarah Vowell, W. Kamau Bell and Michael Lewis illuminate the work of federal employees and the business of government. 

–

Have a great week!

Linda

–

THE CATALOGS:

(Information on the four library catalogs)

The Digital Catalog aka Libby: 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.

–

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.

–

Kanopy Catalog: https://www.kanopy.com/en

The Kanopy Catalog features thousands of streaming videos available on demand.

The Kanopy Catalog is available for all Southern Tier Library System member library card holders, including all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders!

You can access the Kanopy Catalog through a web browser, or download the app to your phone, tablet or media streaming player (i.e. Roku, Google or Fire TV).

–

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.

–

For more information on library materials and services, including how to get a library card call the library at 607-936-3713.

–

*The Southern Tier Library System includes the public libraries in Steuben, Chemung, Yates, Schuyler & Allegheny counties.