Hi everyone, here is our weekly Suggested Listening and Viewing post; featuring ten songs and two streaming video recommendations, one from a mainstream service and the other from Kanopy, the library’s free to access streaming service (all you need is a library card!).
First the songs: And this week we have a mellow, long holiday weekend relaxation edition, which features a collection of relaxing lounge music – perfect background music for reading, eating, watching the game or just hanging out together. Wine is optional!
Light My Fire by Helmut Zacharias
Found on the Album: Rock ‘n’ Rolls On The Rocks, Part One
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Uptight (Everything’s Alright) by Henry Jerome
Found on the Album: Rock ‘n’ Rolls On The Rocks, Part One (2000)
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Evil Ways by Al De Lory
Found on the Album: Rock ‘n’ Rolls On The Rocks, Part One (2000)
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Sunshine Superman by Mel Torme
Found on the Album: Rock ‘n’ Rolls On The Rocks, Part One (2000)
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Thinking of Baby by Elmer Bernstein
Found on the Album: Ultra Louge 7: The Crime Scene (2006)
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From Russia With Love by Count Basie
Found on the Album: Ultra Louge 7: The Crime Scene (2006)
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Peter Gunn Suite by Ray Anthony
Found on the Album: Ultra Louge 7: The Crime Scene (2006)
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Music to be Murdered by, by Jeff Alexander with Alfred Hitchock
Found on the Album: Ultra Louge 7: The Crime Scene (2006)
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The Odd Couple by Billy May
Found on the Album: Ultra-Lounge Volume 13: TV (1997/2006)
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Rudolph The Red Noised Mambo by Billy May
Found on the Album: Ultra-Lounge: Christmas Cocktails (1996)
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Second The videos:
A new title available through one of the usual U.S. streaming services, followed by a Kanopy title that you can check out with your library card and stream on-demand.
–
Mainstream Stream
Stranger Things, Season 5, Part I (2025) (Netflix) (November 26)
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.
And The Digital Catalog/Libby features titles that may be checked out via the one-copy-one-user lending model, just like print books.
The Hoopla Catalog features on demand checkouts of eBooks, eAudiobooks, comic books, albums, movies and TV shows. Patron checkout 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.
Titles in the Hoopla Catalog are available to be checked out on-demand by all library card holders, with the caveat of being able to check out a maximum of ten titles per month, per card.
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).
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.
Hi everyone, here are our five suggested reads of the week!
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Death and Dinuguan by Mia P. Manansala
In Manansala’s series closer (following Guilt and Ginataan), Lila Macapagal is back to solve one last mystery in Shady Palms, IL. The Brew-ha Cafe she runs with her two best friends is thriving, but a recent spate of burglaries of women-owned local businesses has the whole town on edge. With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, Lila is excited to spend the day with her boyfriend, Jae, and to partner with the new chocolate shop run by Jae’s cousin Hana. But romance must wait when the chocolate shop is vandalized, Hana is severely injured in an attack, and her business partner and best friend Blake is murdered. Lila and her friends and family vow to investigate the crimes, bringing both Hana’s attacker and Blake’s killer to justice. Their inquiries lead them toward a jealous ex-husband, an acquaintance with boundary issues, and some security system inconsistencies. As always, Lila’s cleverness prevails.
VERDICT This final installment in Manansala’s cozy “Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mystery” series will leave readers satisfied with more delicious Filipino and Filipino fusion recipes, another mystery solved, and beloved characters who find fulfillment. – Library Journal Review
Reader’s Note: Death and Dinuguan is the sixth book in the Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mystery Series. If you’d like to binge read from the beginning, check out book one: Arsenic and Adobo.
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A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar
Desperation permeates Majumdar’s long-awaited second book, another exquisitely wrenching novel after her glorious debut, A Burning (2020). “These problems have been happening for a long time, but you people did not notice,” a worker remarks about a near-future Kolkata, besieged by worsening climate crises. The problems include food shortages and extensive flooding. “You people” are the privileged who somehow still have access to (meager) meals and (mostly) dry homes. Ma, widowed Dadu, and two-year-old Mishti are such people, anticipating the final week they will spend in their native city before they escape to Michigan to join Ma’s husband, who moved six months previously for a research position in Ann Arbor. They miraculously have legal passports and visas in hand, their flight’s scheduled to depart in seven days. Despite all the preparations and precautions, they couldn’t know that Boomba, so thin from deprivation, could fit through the kitchen window and steal Ma’s purse. The police won’t help, but those priceless documents must be recovered, at any cost. A neighbor’s camera, a stolen t-shirt, and word-of-mouth lead to a collision. Boomba knows too much; he wants even more. Ma is trapped, but she must get her family out. Majumdar brilliantly blurs right and wrong, ethics and legality. In such frenzied times, who is the guardian and who is the thief can never be clear. – Booklist
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Good Spirits: A Novel by B. K. Borison
Nolan Callahan’s been stuck since drowning off the coast of Ireland in 1902, forced to be the Ghost of Christmas Past who helps the living come to terms with their lives. Nolan diligently hunts his assignments and takes them to their pasts in the hopes they’ll be able to move on to their present and future; maybe, someday, so will he. When Nolan receives his latest assignment, he’s befuddled. Why would anyone think the gorgeous, whimsical Harriet York, purveyor of antiques, incapable of saying no or accepting a compliment, could be a bad person? Or stuck? As Nolan leads Harriet into her past, his magic starts to spin out of control, and he begins to both hope and fall in love for the first time in a century. Unsure what this means for himself or for Harriet, Nolan decides to risk forever remembering a woman he loves, even if he’ll someday lose her as she moves on with her life. VERDICT An emotional and lightly magical holiday romance from Borison (First-Time Caller) that’s perfect for readers who enjoyed Ashley Poston’s The Seven Year Slip or Laurie Gilmore’s The Christmas Tree Farm.-Library Journal Review
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The King’s Ransom by Janet Evanovitch
Gabriela Rose, recovery agent extraordinaire, can find just about anything. Too bad she can’t seem to lose her gorgeous-but-infuriating ex-husband Rafer Jones. And now he needs her help. His cousin, Harley, is in trouble…big trouble.
As the president of a too-big-to-fail bank, he invested an astronomical amount of money in insuring some of the world’s most priceless artifacts at the urging of his board. It seemed like a low-risk, high-reward business move, so he jumped in with both feet. But recently, these insured pieces started going missing and worse, there’s no paper trail of Harley being directed to make these risky investments. Unless the artwork can be recovered soon, it looks like Harley is going to be heading to jail as the fall guy for an ingenious crime.
Gabriela knows what she must do: travel around the world with Rafer to find the missing works of art, keep Harley out of jail, and save both his skin and his bank. Along the way, she’ll encounter corruption, threats, murder, mysterious dark forces behind a global conspiracy to destroy the world’s wealth, and a nefarious villain who will stop at nothing to bring the world to the brink of ruin.
Reader’s Note: The King’s Ransom is the second book in The Recovery Mystery Series. If you’d like to start reading at the beginning, check out book one: The Recovery Agent.
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The Marriage Method by Mimi Matthews
Matthews returns to the intrigue-filled Victorian England world of her “Crinoline Academy” series in this sequel to Rules for Ruin. Nell Trewlove has spent her life within the walls of the Benevolent Academy for the Betterment of Young Ladies, first as a student, and now as a teacher. After the events of Rules for Ruin, newspaperman Miles Quincy is showing too much interest in the school and its subversive student body, trained to use their skills to advance the causes of women. To protect the illusion that the school’s extraordinary students are merely orphans, Nell is forced to leave the familiarity of the school, where she is respected for her brilliance and not pitied for her limp, and travel to London to satisfy Miles’s curiosity. Unfortunately, the collision of her weak leg, her crinoline, and a jumpy cat send Nell and Miles straight into the appearance of impropriety–and then into a marriage of convenience. To save the school, as well as Miles’s newspaper, Nell and Miles must join forces to find a missing orphan and solve the murder of a gossip columnist, all the while navigating their new marriage. VERDICT A sequel that’s just as much adventurous, swoony fun as its predecessor. – 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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Weekly Suggested Reading Five postings are usually published on Wednesdays, unless Monday is a holiday and then they are published later in the week.
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.
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).
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.
1. EXIT STRATEGY by Lee Child and Andrew Child: The 30th book in the Jack Reacher series. Reacher’s interest is piqued when he finds a handwritten note in his pocket.
2. THE STRENGTH OF THE FEW by James Islington: The second book in the Hierarchy series. Vis Telimus must find out why he has been replicated across three separate worlds.
3. NASH FALLS by David Baldacci: A successful businessman’s life is turned upside down when he is recruited by the F.B.I. to stop a large money laundering scheme.
4. THE WIDOW by John Grisham: When Simon Latch, a lawyer in rural Virginia, is accused of murder, he goes in search of the real killer.
5. THE KING’S RANSOM by Janet Evanovich: The second book in the Recovery Agent series. Gabriela Rose must go around the world to find priceless artifacts that have gone missing.
6. BETWEEN TWO KINGS by Lindsay Straube: The second book in the Split or Swallow series. Tem finds herself in a love triangle with the Serpent King and the human king.
7. ALCHEMISED by SenLinYu: After the war, an imprisoned alchemist is sent to a necromancer to recover her lost memories.
8. THE SECRET OF SECRETS by Dan Brown: As he searches for the missing noetic scientist he has been seeing, Robert Langdon discovers something regarding a secret project.
9. THE CORRESPONDENT by Virginia Evans: Letters from someone she used to know push Sybil Van Antwerp toward revisiting her past and finding a way to forgive.
10. REMAIN by Nicholas Sparks with M. Night Shyamalan: A New York architect moves to Cape Cod, where he enters a relationship that brings up a lot of questions.
11. QUICKSILVER by Callie Hart: Saeris is transported to a dangerous land of ice and snow, where she must contend with a Fae warrior who has suspect agendas.
12. MURDER AT HOLLY HOUSE by Denzil Meyrick: When a dead stranger is found in a Yorkshire chimney around the holidays in 1952, Inspector Frank Grasby gets assigned the case.
13. GONE BEFORE GOODBYE by Reese Witherspoon and Harlan Coben: When a mysterious man disappears, the former combat surgeon giving him medical assistance goes on the lam.
14. 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.
15. THE PROVING GROUND by Michael Connelly: The eighth book in the Lincoln Lawyer series. Mickey Haller enlists a journalist to help his lawsuit against an A.I. company.
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NON-FICTION
1. NOBODY’S GIRL by Virginia Roberts Giuffre: The late activist and advocate for sex-trafficking survivors describes her time with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.
2. HOW TO TEST NEGATIVE FOR STUPID by John Kennedy: The Republican senator from Louisiana shares stories about politics in Washington, D.C., and in his home state.
3. THE LOOK by Michelle Obama with Meredith Koop: A celebration of the former first lady’s evolution in style, featuring more than 200 photographs.
4. 1929 by Andrew Ross Sorkin: The New York Times journalist and CNBC host looks at the fight between Washington and Wall Street that fueled a historic crash of the stock market.
5. THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION by Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns: A companion to the PBS series that delves into various facets of the war and the founding of a new form of government.
6. OUTLIVE by Peter Attia with Bill Gifford: A look at recent scientific research on aging and longevity.
7. THE GALES OF NOVEMBER by John U. Bacon: An account of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, an American Great Lakes freighter, 50 years ago.
8. THE BODY KEEPS THE SCORE by Bessel van der Kolk: How trauma affects the body and mind, and innovative treatments for recovery.
9. HEART LIFE MUSIC by Kenny Chesney with Holly Gleason: The country musician recounts events and encounters that shaped his life and career.
10. TO RESCUE THE AMERICAN SPIRIT by Bret Baier with Catherine Whitney: The Fox News Channel’s chief political anchor chronicles the life and times of Theodore Roosevelt.
11. STAR OF THE SHOW by Dolly Parton with Tom Roland: Stories and photographs documenting the country music icon’s career on stage.
12. 107 DAYS by Kamala Harris: The former vice president recounts her abbreviated campaign to become president in 2024.
13. BREAD OF ANGELS by Patti Smith: The National Book Award–winning author and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee shares the ebbs and flows of her life.
14. POEMS & PRAYERS by Matthew McConaughey: The actor and author of “Greenlights” explores elements of belief and reason that make up our lives.
15. THIS ANGRY PEN OF MINE by Layne Staley: A posthumously published collection of writings, artwork and photographs by the musician who was known for being the lead vocalist of Alice in Chains.
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Have a great Sunday!
Linda
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New York Times Bestseller lists are shared via blog post on Sundays.
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.
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).
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, here is our weekly Suggested Listening and Viewing post; featuring ten songs and two streaming video recommendations, one from a mainstream service and the other from Kanopy, the library’s free to access streaming service (all you need is a library card!).
First the songs, this week we’re focusing on songs that celebrate the autumn harvest, in keeping with it being the autumn season when the, hopefully bountiful, crops have been gathered in and stored.
Barley by Lizz Wright
Found on the Album: Grace (2017)
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Cornbread And Butterbeans by Caroline Chocolate Drops
Found on the Album: Genuine Negro Jig (2010)
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Crawfish Fiesta by Professor Longhair
Found on the Album: Crawfish Fiesta (1980)
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The Harvest Home (Traditional Irish) by 96 Production
Found on the EP: Harvest Home (2017)
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Hoe Emma Hoe by unknown singers
Found on the Album: N/A
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The Farmer Is The Man (Who Feeds Us All) by Pete Seeger
Found on the Album: American Industrial Ballads (1992)
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The Farmer’s Song by Murray Mclauchlan
Found on the Album: Songs of the Street (2007)
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The Field Behind The Plow by Stan Rogers
Found on the Album: The Very Best of Stan Rogers (2011)
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Beans and Cornbread by Louis Jordan
Found on the Album: The Best of Louis Jordan (1975)
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Hoe-Down by Aaron Copland
Found on the Album: 4 Dance Episodes from Rodeo: IV. Hoe-Down. Allegro (1970)
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Second The videos:
A new title available through one of the usual U.S. streaming services, followed by a Kanopy title that you can check out with your library card and stream on-demand.
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.
And The Digital Catalog/Libby features titles that may be checked out via the one-copy-one-user lending model, just like print books.
The Hoopla Catalog features on demand checkouts of eBooks, eAudiobooks, comic books, albums, movies and TV shows. Patron checkout 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.
Titles in the Hoopla Catalog are available to be checked out on-demand by all library card holders, with the caveat of being able to check out a maximum of ten titles per month, per card.
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).
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.
Hi everyone, here are our five suggested reads of the week!
–
Brimstone by Callie Hart
The #1 New York Times bestselling romantasy series continues with more drama, higher stakes, and deadly consequences.
Duty. Blood. Honor. Power.
Saeris Fane doesn’t want power. The very last thing she needs is her name whispered on an entire court’s lips, but now that she’s been crowned queen of the Blood Court, she’s discovering that a queen’s life is not her own. A heavy weight rests upon her shoulders. Her ward—and her brother—need her back in her homeland…but the changes that have strengthened Saeris have also made her weak. Born under blazing suns, Saeris will surely die if she makes her way home through the Quicksilver. Which means that, once again, she must send someone else in her stead…
“Keep your mouth shut. Stick to the shadows. And for the love of all seven Gods, do NOT crack any jokes.”
Kingfisher of the Ajun Gate has defeated armies and survived all manner of horrors, but traveling back to Zilvaren with Carrion Swift might just be the death of him. The male just will not shut up. Hidden dangers await them down the narrow alleyways of the Silver City. Unfolding secrets pose impossible threats. Fisher must wrangle the smuggler and accomplish his goals quickly if he wants to see his mate again.
A darkness falls across Yvelia. The realm and their friends are in danger. Together, Saeris and Fisher will pass through fire and brimstone to save them.
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Finding My Way: A Memoir by Malala Yousafzai
This is not the story you think you know. It’s the one I’ve been waiting to tell.
Thrust onto the public stage at fifteen years old after the Taliban’s brutal attack on her life, Malala Yousafzai quickly became an international icon known for bravery and resilience. But away from the cameras and crowds, she spent years struggling to find her place in an unfamiliar world. Now, for the first time ever, Malala takes us beyond the headlines in Finding My Way—a vulnerable, surprising memoir that buzzes with authenticity, sharp humor, and tenderness.
Finding My Way is a story of friendship and first love, of anxiety and self-discovery, of trying to stay true to yourself when everyone wants to tell you who you are. In it, Malala traces her path from high school loner to reckless college student to a young woman at peace with her past. Through candid, often messy moments like nearly failing exams, getting ghosted, and meeting the love of her life, Malala reminds us that real role models aren’t perfect—they’re human.
In this astonishing memoir, Malala reintroduces herself to the world, sharing how she navigated life as someone whose darkest moments threatened to define her narrative—while seeking the freedom to find out who she truly is. Finding My Way is an intimate look at the life of a young woman taking charge of her destiny—and a deeply personal testament to the strength it takes to be unapologetically yourself.
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Irish Goodbye by Heather Aimee O’Neill
O’Neill, a poet and writing coach, brings her skills to her compelling debut. Siblings Alice, Maggie, and Cait have been through their share of tragedy. Years ago, their brother, Topher, took responsibility for a teenager’s death on his boat. Not too long after, Topher took his own life. There is a hole in the family, and the three sisters have tried to fill it with very different lives. Alice is married with two sons and still lives in the town of Port Haven on Long Island, where the siblings grew up. Cait moved to England, had twins, and ended up in a messy divorce. Maggie is still trying to find herself after her mother’s disapproval of her queer relationships. As the family gathers for Thanksgiving, each sister must navigate her unique challenges. The central story question is whether or not the women will reconcile their differences and come to terms with their past trauma. This melancholy yet loving novel is perfect for fans of Jennifer E. Smith’s Fun for the Whole Family. – Booklist Review
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Nash Falls by David Baldacci
A business executive becomes an unjustly wanted man. Walter Nash attends his estranged father Tiberius’ funeral, where Ty’s Army buddy, Shock, rips into him for not being the kind of man the Vietnam vet Ty was. Instead, Nash is the successful head of acquisitions for Sybaritic Investments, where he earns a handsome paycheck that supports his wife, Judith, and his teenage daughter, Maggie. An FBI agent approaches Nash after the funeral and asks him to be a mole in his company, because the feds consider chief executive Rhett Temple “a criminal consorting with some very dangerous people.” It’s “a chance to be a hero,” the agent says, while admitting that Nash’s personal and financial risks are immense. Indeed, readers soon find Temple and a cohort standing over a fresh corpse and wondering what to do with it. Temple is not an especially talented executive, and he frets that his hated father, the chairman of the board, will eventually replace him with Nash. (Father-son relationships are not glorified in this tale.) Temple is cartoonishly rotten. He answers to a mysterious woman in Asia, whom he rightly fears. He kills. He beds various women including Judith, whom he tries to turn against Nash. The story’s dramatic turn follows Maggie’s kidnapping, where Nash is wrongly accused. Believing Nash’s innocence, Shock helps him change completely with intense exercise, bulking up and tattooing his body, and learning how to fight and kill. Eventually he looks nothing like the dweeb who’d once taken up tennis instead of football, much to Ty’s undying disgust. Finding the victim and the kidnappers becomes his sole mission. As a child watching his father hunt, Nash could never have killed a living thing. But with his old life over–now he will kill, and he will take any risks necessary. His transformation is implausible, though at least he’s not green like the Incredible Hulk. Loose ends abound by the end as he ignores a plea to “not get on that damn plane,” so a sequel is a necessity. Hokey plot, good fun. – Kirkus Review
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The Seven Rings by Nora Roberts
After inheriting Lost Bride Manor in Poole’s Bay from an uncle she never knew existed, Sonya MacTavish discovers the mansion is cursed. More than two centuries ago, jealous witch Hester Dobbs murdered Astrid Grandville Poole, the first of seven Poole brides she would eventually kill, in an attempt to make the mansion her own. Now, with the help of her true love, Trey Doyle; her best friend, Cleo Fabares; and a community of new friends, Sonya thinks that she has finally found the key to breaking Hester’s curse. Sonya must use the mansion’s special mirror to travel back in time and retrieve each of the seven brides’ wedding rings before Hester can lay claim to them. Making effective use of her engaging brand of immersive storytelling, Roberts brings her Lost Brides trilogy, which began with Inheritance (2023) and continued with The Mirror (2024), to a marvelously entertaining conclusion with a supernaturally infused, romance-imbued, gothic-tinged story that is guaranteed to send shivers of delight up and down readers’ spines. – Booklist Review
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Happy reading!
Linda Reimer, SSCL
–
Note: Book summaries are from the respective publishers unless otherwise specified.
–
Weekly Suggested Reading Five postings are usually published on Wednesdays, unless Monday is a holiday and then they are published later in the week.
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.
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).
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.
Hi everyone, here is our weekly Suggested Listening and Viewing post; featuring ten songs and two streaming video recommendations, one from a mainstream service and the other from Kanopy, the library’s free to access streaming service (all you need is a library card!).
First the songs & this week we’re taking a look at music from the 1930s:
Putin’ on the Ritz composed by Irving Berlin & performed by Harry Richman (1930)
Originally from the Soundtrack” Puttin’ On The Ritz (1930); currently unavailable on any album.
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When You’re Smiling by Louis Armstong (1930)
Found on the Album: The Definitive Collection (2006)
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All of Me by Billie Holiday (1931)
Found on the Album: The Essential Billie Holiday: The Columbia Years (2010)
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Someday I’ll Find You by Noel Coward (1931)
Originally from the Soundtrack to: Private Lives (1930).
Found on the Album: Noel and Cole (2019)
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Stormy Weather by Ethel Waters (1933)
Found on the Album: Stormy Weather (2017)
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You’re The Top by Ethel Waters (1934)
From the soundtrack to the original production of: Anything Goes (1934)
Currently Found on the Album: N/A
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Cheek to Cheek by Fred Astaire (1935)
Originally from the soundtrack to the film: Top Hat (1935)
Currently Found on the Album: N/A (although you can listen to the song if you watch the movie which is available on DVD & to stream.
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Lullaby of Broadway by Bob Crosby with the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra (1935)
Originally from the film: The Gold Diggers of 1935 (1935)
Can be downloaded as an MP3; not currently available on an album.
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Over The Rainbow by Judy Garland (1939)
Found on the Album & Originally from: The Wizard of Oz soundtrack (1939)
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Body & Soul by Coleman Hawkins (1939)
Found on the Album: Body & Soul (1939)
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Second The videos:
A new title available through one of the usual U.S. streaming services, followed by a Kanopy title that you can check out with your library card and stream on-demand.
–
Stream from a mainstream service:
Freakier Friday (2025) (Disney+)
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Kanopy Stream of the Week
(All you need is a library card to access the Kanopy catalog.)
Great Migrations (2025) with Henry Louis Gates Jr.
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.
And The Digital Catalog/Libby features titles that may be checked out via the one-copy-one-user lending model, just like print books.
The Hoopla Catalog features on demand checkouts of eBooks, eAudiobooks, comic books, albums, movies and TV shows. Patron checkout 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.
Titles in the Hoopla Catalog are available to be checked out on-demand by all library card holders, with the caveat of being able to check out a maximum of ten titles per month, per card.
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).
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.
Hi everyone, here are our five suggested reads of the week!
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All That We See or Seem by Ken Liu
Julia Z did not have a happy childhood. Then, as a teenager, she came across the hacking collective, Cartographers Obscura. She had always been good with computers, and with the group, she learned much more about coding and soldering. It was all the family she needed–until it fell apart. Years later, she is approached by a lawyer, Piers, whose wife, Elli, has disappeared. Elli was a famous oneirofex, a vivid dream performer who created shared dreams with large audiences. Like Julia, Elli was a virtuoso with technology and appears to have gotten into trouble with the Prince, a powerful international criminal. The Prince wants something back from her, and Piers inadvertently involves Julia in the case just by visiting her. Julia will have to use all her skills in cybersecurity to avoid the hired thugs following them. Worse, the Prince has it out for her, and she needs help from her former family to strike back at him. Best-selling author Liu (The Speaking Bones, 2022) begins a series reminiscent of Thomas Perry’s Jane Whitefield books, with superb characterizations and intense pacing. Readers will root for Julia as she is drawn into a dangerous game in this gripping sf thriller. – Starred Booklist Review
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Evensong: A Novel by Stewart O’Nan
An intimate, moving novel that follows the Humpty Dumpty Club, a group of women of a certain age who band together to help one another and their circle of friends in Pittsburgh as they face the challenges of their golden years.
The Humpty Dumpty Club is distraught when their powerhouse leader, Joan Hargrove, takes a bad fall down her stairs, knocking her out of commission. Now, as well as running errands and shepherding those less able to their doctors’ appointments, they have to pick up the slack.
Between navigating their own relationships and aging bodies and attending choir practice, these invisible yet indomitable women help where they can. They bake cookies, they care for pets, they pick up prescriptions, they sit vigil by the sick, and most of all, they show up for the people they’ve pledged to help. In the face of death, divorce, and the myriad directions our lives can take, the Humpty Dumpty Club represents the power of community and chosen family.
Weaving together the perspectives of the four cardinal members as they tend to those in need, Stewart O’Nan revisits beloved characters from his past work—most notably Emily Maxwell—to fashion a rich and moving novel that celebrates our capacity for patience and care. Vivid, warm, and often wryly funny, Evensong reminds us that life is made up of moments both climactic and quotidian, and we weather those moments with the people we choose to keep close.
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Exit Strategy by Lee Child & Andrew Child
Jack Reacher will make three stops today. Not all of them were planned for. The page-turning new Jack Reacher thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling authors Lee Child and Andrew Child.
Don’t miss the hit streaming series Reacher!
First—a Baltimore coffee shop. A seat in the corner, facing the door. Black coffee, two refills, no messing around. A minor interruption from two of the customers, but nothing he can’t deal with swiftly. As he leaves, a young guy brushes against him in the doorway. Instinctively Reacher checks the pocket holding his cash and passport. There’s no problem. Nothing is missing.
Second—a store to buy a coat. Nothing fancy. Something he can ditch when he heads to warmer climates. Large enough to fit a man the size of a bank vault. As he pulls out his cash, he finds something new in his pocket. A handwritten note. A desperate plea for help.
Third—wherever this bend in the road takes him. Impressed by the guy’s technique and intrigued by the message, Reacher makes it his mission to find out more.
Reader’s Note: Exit Strategy is the thirtieth book in the Jack Reacher Series. If you’d like to start reading from the beginning of the series, check out book one: Killing Floor.
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Shadow Ticket by Thomas Pynchon
Milwaukee 1932, the Great Depression going full blast, repeal of Prohibition just around the corner, Al Capone in the federal pen, the private investigation business shifting from labor-management relations to the more domestic kind. Hicks McTaggart, a onetime strikebreaker turned private eye, thinks he’s found job security until he gets sent out on what should be a routine case, locating and bringing back the heiress of a Wisconsin cheese fortune who’s taken a mind to go wandering. Before he knows it, he’s been shanghaied onto a transoceanic liner, ending up eventually in Hungary where there’s no shoreline, a language from some other planet, and enough pastry to see any cop well into retirement—and of course no sign of the runaway heiress he’s supposed to be chasing. By the time Hicks catches up with her he will find himself also entangled with Nazis, Soviet agents, British counterspies, swing musicians, practitioners of the paranormal, outlaw motorcyclists, and the troubles that come with each of them, none of which Hicks is qualified, forget about being paid, to deal with. Surrounded by history he has no grasp on and can’t see his way around in or out of, the only bright side for Hicks is it’s the dawn of the Big Band Era and as it happens he’s a pretty good dancer. Whether this will be enough to allow him somehow to Lindy-hop his way back again to Milwaukee and the normal world, which may no longer exist, is another question.
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The Wounded Generation: Coming Home After World War II by David Nasaw & Malcolm Hillgartner
Best-selling historian Nasaw (The Last Million, 2020) deepens the usual approach to WWII’s Greatest Generation by examining the real-world costs and sacrifices made by veterans, their families, and society at large. He focuses on the unseen wounds–neuropsychiatric symptoms previously understood as shell shock or battle fatigue and that are now known as post-traumatic stress disorder–and how their symptoms, including nightmares, headaches, irritability, and alcoholism, affected veterans and their loved ones. In parallel, Nasaw tracks the complicated processes of demobilization and reintegration of veterans through the many provisions and programs of the GI Bill of Rights of 1944, which, however imperfectly executed, was light-years ahead of the chaos surrounding the endings of previous wars. Nasaw covers the inequities of the transition from military to civilian life, the uneven distribution of benefits, and, despite myriad sham schools taking advantage of veterans’ educational programs, how the GI Bill produced a large middle class of educated and professional homeowners. Richly informative and compelling, The Wounded Generation is an important history of the tragedies of war and the triumphs of a democratic society that fully supports veterans’ well-being. – 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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Weekly Suggested Reading Five postings are usually published on Wednesdays, unless Monday is a holiday and then they are published later in the week.
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.
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).
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.
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Tech & Book Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.
1. THE BLACK WOLF by Louise Penny: The 20th book in the Chief Inspector Gamache series. After thwarting a terrorist attack, an injured Gamache leads a covert investigation.
2. THE WIDOW by John Grisham: When Simon Latch, a lawyer in rural Virginia, is accused of murder, he goes in search of the real killer.
3. BONDS OF HERCULES by Jasmine Mas: The second book in the Villains of Lore series. Seduction and danger put Hercules in a tough spot.
4. THE SECRET OF SECRETS by Dan Brown: As he searches for the missing noetic scientist he has been seeing, Robert Langdon discovers something regarding a secret project.
5. THE PROVING GROUND by Michael Connelly: The eighth book in the Lincoln Lawyer series. Mickey Haller enlists a journalist to help his lawsuit against an A.I. company.
6. THE DEFENDER by Ana Huang: The second book in the Gods of the Game series. A professional athlete and the coach’s daughter, who is a sports nutritionist, share a flat.
7. THE TIN MEN by Nelson DeMille and Alex DeMille: The third book in the Scott Brodie & Maggie Taylor series. An investigation into the death of a military scientist surfaces troubling technology.
8. GONE BEFORE GOODBYE by Reese Witherspoon and Harlan Coben: When a mysterious man disappears, the former combat surgeon giving him medical assistance goes on the lam.
9. ALCHEMISED by SenLinYu: After the war, an imprisoned alchemist is sent to a necromancer to recover her lost memories.
10. REMAIN by Nicholas Sparks with M. Night Shyamalan: A New York architect moves to Cape Cod, where he enters a relationship that brings up a lot of questions.
11. MATE by Ali Hazelwood: To help stave off her enemies, Serena Paris, a Human-Were hybrid, forms a partnership with Koen Alexander.
12. TWICE by Mitch Albom: Alfie Logan, who was gifted with the ability to live any moment a second time but must accept the outcomes, makes a risky love decision.
13. 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.
14. THE INTRUDER by Freida McFadden: During a rough storm, Casey puts herself in danger when she lets a girl, who is covered in blood, into her cabin.
15. WRECK by Catherine Newman: Shifts in circumstances affect Rocky and her family.
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NON-FICTION
1. NOBODY’S GIRL by Virginia Roberts Giuffre: The late activist and advocate for sex-trafficking survivors describes her time with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.
2. HOW TO TEST NEGATIVE FOR STUPID by John Kennedy: The Republican senator from Louisiana shares stories about politics in Washington, D.C., and in his home state.
3. 1929 by Andrew Ross Sorkin: The New York Times journalist and CNBC host looks at the fight between Washington and Wall Street that fueled a historic crash of the stock market.
4. OUTLIVE by Peter Attia with Bill Gifford: A look at recent scientific research on aging and longevity.
5. THE UNCOOL by Cameron Crowe: The journalist and Academy Award-winning filmmaker shares real-life events that inspired “Almost Famous.”
6. THAT’S A GREAT QUESTION, I’D LOVE TO TELL YOU by Elyse Myers: A collection of stories and illustrations by the comedian and content creator.
7. TO RESCUE THE AMERICAN SPIRIT by Bret Baier with Catherine Whitney: The Fox News Channel’s chief political anchor chronicles the life and times of Theodore Roosevelt.
8. RETRIBUTION by Jonathan Karl: The chief Washington correspondent for ABC News and author of “Tired of Winning” chronicles President Trump’s return to the White House.
9. 107 DAYS by Kamala Harris: The former vice president recounts her abbreviated campaign to become president in 2024.
10. UNDER SIEGE by Eric Trump: The executive vice president of the Trump Organization shares his belief that attacks on his family are attacks on America.
11. POEMS & PRAYERS by Matthew McConaughey: The actor and author of “Greenlights” explores elements of belief and reason that make up our lives.
12. RIGHT WING REVOLUTION by Charlie Kirk: The late founder of Turning Point USA prescribes ways to defeat woke ideology.
13. EXPENSIVE BASKETBALL by Shea Serrano: The author of “Hip-Hop (and Other Things)” celebrates moments in basketball that are hard to quantify; illustrated by Ian Klarer.
14. THE BODY KEEPS THE SCORE by Bessel van der Kolk: How trauma affects the body and mind, and innovative treatments for recovery.
15. CONFRONTING EVIL by Bill O’Reilly and Josh Hammer: O’Reilly and Hammer profile some of history’s nefarious characters.
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Have a great Sunday!
Linda
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New York Times Bestseller lists are shared via blog post on Sundays.
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.
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).
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, this new weekly post will combine and replace our Suggested Listening and Suggested Viewing posts, into one entertainment post, published on Fridays, just in time for the weekend. These posts will feature ten songs and two streaming video recommendations, one from a mainstream service and the other from Kanopy, the library’s free to access streaming service (all you need is a library card!).
First the songs, this week we’re focusing on the music of musicians who were born in November:
Women by Wise by Sippie Wallace (Born November 1, 1898)
Found on the Album: Women Be Wise (1994)
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Nobody Knows Me by Lyle Lovett (Born November 1, 1957)
Found on the Album: Greatest Hits (2017)
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Beat Girl by John Barry (Born November 3, 1933)
Found on the Album: Hits, Misses, Beat Girls & 007s (2019)
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Run To You by Bryan Adams (Born November 5, 1959)
Found on the Album: Reckless (1984)
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Urge for Going by Joni Mitchell (Born November 7, 1943)
Found on the Album: Hits (1996)
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Guilty by Bonnie Raitt (Born November 8, 1949)
Found on the Album: Takin’ My Time (1973)
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Aberdeen Mississippi Blues by Bukka White (Born November 12, 1906)
Found on the Album: Aberdeen Mississippi Blues (2021)
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Two Trains Running by John P. Hammond (Born November 13, 1942)
Found on the Album: John Hammond (1963/2006)
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Saint Louis Blues by W. C. Handy (Born November 16, 1873)
Found on the Album: N/A
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Sway by Diana Krall (Born November 16, 1964)
Found on the Album: Turn Up The Quiet (2017)
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Better Be Good To Me by Tina Turner (Born November 26, 1939)
Found on the Album: All The Best: The Hits (1989)
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Second The videos:
One from a Mainstream Service:
Death By Lightning (2025) (Netflix)
And one from Kanopy, the library’s streaming service:
The Holocaust, 80 Years On with Simon Schama (2025)
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.
And The Digital Catalog/Libby features titles that may be checked out via the one-copy-one-user lending model, just like print books.
The Hoopla Catalog features on demand checkouts of eBooks, eAudiobooks, comic books, albums, movies and TV shows. Patron checkout 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.
Titles in the Hoopla Catalog are available to be checked out on-demand by all library card holders, with the caveat of being able to check out a maximum of ten titles per month, per card.
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).
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.
Hi everyone, here are our five suggested reads of the week!
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The Black Swan Mystery by Tetsuya Ayukawa
THE JAPANESE CRIME FICTION CLASSIC: A prize-winning railway murder mystery set in 1960s Japan—for fans of Agatha Christie and Seicho Matsumoto!
Full of devious twists and turns, this brilliant puzzle mystery is considered to be one of the greatest alibi deconstruction mysteries ever written
Early one morning, the owner of a local mill is found lying next to the railway tracks just outside of Kuki Station. Suspicion initially falls on the workers’ union, with whom the man had been embroiled in a labour dispute, then on a new religious sect that has been gaining followers recently.
Chief Inspector Onitsura and his assistant Tanna are called in to investigate, and soon set off in a journey across Japan, from Tokyo to Kyoto and Osaka, and finally to the island of Kyūshu, in a hunt for the killer.
But as they investigate, the killer strikes again, and again. Will they be able to catch the murderer before even more people are slain?
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Cry Havoc by Jack Carr
1968. A time of division. A time of civil unrest. A time of war.
Just before the Tet Offensive, before President Johnson announces he will not run for reelection, before the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy, as riots and protests rage across the nation, a spy ship is captured by communist forces off the coast of North Korea.
The crew thought they had destroyed everything of intelligence value. They were wrong.
As a KGB “illegal” elicits information from a high-ranking NSA official, and teams of special operators infiltrating into Laos, Cambodia, and North Vietnam disappear without a trace, an ambitious Soviet advisor launches an ingenious plan that could forever alter the world balance of power.
Tom Reece, a SEAL operator attached to the highly classified and shadowy MACV-SOG is about to be thrust into a bloody battle to discover the truth.
From the Kremlin to the White House, from the streets of Saigon to the rugged A Shau Valley, along the paths of Ho Chi Minh Trail and into the secret war in Laos, Navy SEAL Tom Reece has an official mission assigned by Military Assistance Command, Vietnam-Studies and Observations Group, but it’s his unofficial mission that might get him killed.
From “master novelist” (Ballistic) Jack Carr comes a fast-paced and brutally realistic thriller, one that will make you question all you thought you knew about Vietnam, pressing “emotional buttons that other writers wouldn’t dare explore” (The Real Book Spy).
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Denied Access by Don Bentley
Don Bentley completes the trilogy begun with American Assassin by taking Mitch Rapp back to his fledgling assassin days, picking up where Kill Shot ended, on a mission to save the woman he loves amid a CIA showdown with the Russian intelligence services in a new thriller from the author of Vince Flynn’s #1 New York Times bestselling series.
The Central Intelligence Agency is in crisis.
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Congress is questioning the organization’s necessity. Interim CIA director Thomas Stansfield must fight for his agency’s survival while explaining why the previous candidate for his job was found murdered in a French hotel—surrounded by booze, cash, and dead men. Worst yet, a brilliantly run sting operation in Moscow has resulted in the arrest of America’s most prized Russian asset and the expulsion of his CIA handler.
With the CIA’s Moscow Station now paralyzed by the catastrophic intelligence failure, Stansfield seeks help from Mitch Rapp, a newly minted assassin in the secretive Orion program. But Rapp has problems of his own: when his Swiss girlfriend Greta’s grandfather receives a box containing the head of a former Cold War comrade along with a note promising that Greta’s head will be next, Rapp finds himself on the frontlines in a war between the American and Russian intelligence services. To protect the woman he loves and save the CIA from destruction, Rapp must be willing to risk everything.
Reader’s Note: Denied Access is the twenty-fourth novel in the Mitch Rapp series, initially written by Vince Flynn and taken over since his passing by Don Bentley. If you’d like to binge read from the beginning, check out book one: American Assassin by Vince Flynn.
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My Beloved by Jan Karon
Father Tim’s wife, Cynthia, wants just one thing for Christmas: a letter. So he pours his heart out through his pen, declaring his love and baring his soul, sticking the letter in a book of Billy Collins poems. Only, the book, and the letter, go missing. It ends up in the hands of nonogenarian former mayor Esther Cunningham, who is sure her husband didn’t write it and who sets it out with the recycling. Then, through acts of thrift and generosity, piano teacher (and spinster) Helene Pringle finds it, reads it, and has to take to her bed. Surely Harley Welch, a simple mountain man if there ever was one, didn’t write it to her. As the holidays approach, Tim and Cynthia’s adopted son, Dooley, and his wife, Lace, deal with familial and financial pressures, not the least of which is where Harley and his partner-in-crime Willie will live when they “”retire.”” It’s been a while since Karon’s last novel set in western North Carolina, To Be Where You Are (2017), so her many readers will be eager for further dispatches from Mitford. They will not be disappointed with this tender, spiritual tale of family and the boundless love that exists in community. – Starred Booklist Review
Reader’s Note: My Beloved is the fifteenth book in the Mitford Series, if you’d like to binge read from the beginning, check out book one: At Home in Mitford.
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Sharp Force by Patricia Cornwell
Fans of the Kay Scarpetta series will enjoy this crime-laced Christmas installment (a sequel to Identity Unknown), in which the medical examiner teams up with her husband and other series regulars to track down another serial killer. The Phantom Slasher disables his victims’ internet before attacking them in their beds and exsanguinating their bodies with a mysterious sharp weapon. Cornwell is at her best when narrating moments in the mortuary and at the crime scenes rather than in some of the technology-forward subplots here. Still, her command of the form and her characters’ complexity, their relationships, and the multilayered story showcase the author and her investigator at the top of their games. There’s family tension and romance, but not so much that it bogs down the plot, and enough forensic science to keep crime junkies satisfied.
VERDICT With Cornwell’s expert pacing and psychologically nuanced and complex characters, this novel offers a reliable read for longtime fans of the forensic series, but it also includes enough backstory and detail to get newcomers up to speed. – Library Journal Review
Reader’s Note: Sharp Force is the twenty-ninth book in the Kay Scarpetta Series. If you’d like to binge read from the beginning, check out book one: Postmortem.
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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.
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).
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.
Tech & Book Talk at SSCL 