This site offers news and discussion mostly about books, with a sprinkling of information on personal technology and digital literacy.
Author: Linda Reimer
I am a librarian at The Southeast Steuben County Library in Corning, New York, where we love books, technology and life-long learning for patrons and ourselves too!
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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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, March 26, 2025.
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Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave by Elle Cosimano
Cosimano’s latest Finlay adventure (after Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice) allows readers to learn more about the series’ key players. Finlay and her sidekick, nanny Vero, are looking forward to a break from crime solving, but when a neighbor’s pipes burst and a body is unearthed in her yard, they must solve this new case. Since Mrs. Haggerty’s house is now a crime scene, she ends up staying at Finlay’s, which creates chaos that might not be all bad. Cosimano uses Mrs. Haggerty’s backstory to give greater depth to the current mysterious happenings and brings up topics worth a good book club discussion. Fans of the series will appreciate that this installment shows growth in Finlay and Nick’s romance, creates space for newer characters to shine, and gives small moments of appreciation to the wider family connections. There are enough explanations of previous hijinks that new readers won’t be lost but not so much that the story gets bogged down. VERDICT A great suggestion for fans of Janet Evanovich, Mary Kay Andrews, or Stephanie Bond. – Library Journal Review
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Kills Well with Others by Deanna Raybourn
The Golden Girls of murder are back–bickering Natalie and Mary Alice, classy Helen, and, of course, ruthless Billie. After the events of Killers of a Certain Age (2022), these sexagenarian assassins are eager to retire yet are thwarted when a colleague dies, an obsidian carving of a wolf clutched in her fist. The symbol harks back to their first job, suggesting that someone is pursuing overdue revenge. Never ones to shy away from danger, they face this threat, and their off-the-books mission takes them to an ocean liner, Italy, Switzerland, and more. As they use wigs and face tape to age themselves down or drawn-on wrinkles and incontinence pants to age themselves up, they gather evidence and hatch plans. In between the action scenes, they also snipe at each other in a way only lifelong friends can while also admitting their fears, such as pursuing relationships as a widow or the looming guilt of a mission gone wrong. Fans of the first book will be eager to return to this gang of kick-butt ladies. – Booklist Review
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The Library Game by Gigi Pandian
A theatrical murder mystery turns from entertainment to crime scene when an actor turns up dead and then disappears. Transforming Gray House’s cottagelike structure into the Gray House Library of Classic Detective Fiction is a labor of love for Tempest Raj. It’s exactly the sort of clever and imaginative transformation her family’s San Francisco Bay-area based Secret Staircase Construction company is known for. Gray House’s late owner, Harold Gray, didn’t live long enough to see his dream come to life, but his heir, Cameron, has ably taken his place in guiding the work. Though Tempest and her team haven’t fully realized Harold’s plan yet, there’s already a murder mystery play evening in the works to celebrate and take advantage of the space. Written by Tempest’s best friend, Ivy Youngblood, the play, set in the 1930s, is almost derailed from its dress rehearsal when actor Lucas Cruz doesn’t show. Luckily, Sanjay Rai, Tempest’s dear friend from her past career as a magician, willingly steps in to play Lucas’ role. All goes well until the mystery gets a little too real-life (and death), and the reason Lucas couldn’t turn up becomes all too apparent. Except it doesn’t, because almost as soon as he shows up with a bullet hole in his chest, his body vanishes. Now Tempest and her friends aren’t sure whether to call the police, especially since Tempest doubts that Hidden Creek Det. Blackburn will be amused by a case of a vanishing corpse. There’s welcome character development and a plot that ends with a bang, all with a touch of whimsy. – Kirkus Review
Reader’s Note: This is the fourth book in the “A Secret Staircase” series; if you’d like to read the series from the beginning, check out book one: Under Lock & Skeleton Key.
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A Map To Paradise by Susan Meissner
Meissner returns with a post-World War II story set in California against the backdrop of the Red Scare. Blacklisted by association, actress Melanie Cole occupies her time pestering her housekeeper, Eva, and seeking the advice of her agoraphobic neighbor, Elwood, through their respective backyards. Eva is a displaced person from Europe, grieving her old life and trying to avoid entanglement with Melanie’s alleged Communist reputation. When Elwood stops appearing for their chats, Melanie sends Eva over to spy on him. The plan backfires, as Elwood’s caretaker, June, who is also his sister-in-law, has her own secrets to guard. The tension among the three women amplifies until they’re forced to trust each other out of necessity. The story moves at a fast clip; regular mystery readers will easily guess what happened to Elwood but will stick with the novel for the motivations behind each character’s choices. The epilogue, where the women reconnect under better circumstances, is nicely done. VERDICT Less somber than Meissner’s previous works, this novel will attract fans of Heather Webb and Melanie Benjamin. – Starred Library Journal Review
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Truth Matters: A Dialogue on Fruitful Disagreement in an Age of Division by Robert P. George & Cornel West
Two leading public intellectuals and dear friends—one progressive, one conservative—explore What is Truth? and Why Does Truth Matter?
In Truth Matters, Cornel West and Robert P. George address a range of social issues on which Americans today are bitterly divided. Their book models robust intellectual engagement and civil discourse as they explore vital questions surrounding the idea of truth and its foundational role in our lives. Along the way, they reflect on social conditions—such as respect for freedom of speech—that must be established and maintained if truth is to be seriously pursued. They also explore the virtues—such as intellectual humility and courage—that must be acquired and practiced if we frail, fallible, fallen human beings are to be determined truth seekers and bold truth speakers.
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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.
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Have questions about how to access Internet based content (i.e. eBooks, eAudios)? Feel free to drop by the Reference Desk or call the library and we will assist you! The library’s telephone number is: 607-936-3713.
–
Tech & Book Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.
Hi everyone, taking a week of vacation the first week in March, combined with a busy month in Library Land, and I just didn’t quite get to publishing streaming recommendations for March on the first of the month, sorry about that!
So since it is half-way through March, I’m going to do something different and offer a special list of recommended streaming titles from Kanopy, the new streaming service available for free to all Southern Tier Library System member library card holders
Kanopy allows you to stream thousands of videos, for free, 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.
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 digital library content (i.e. eBooks, eAudios & 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.
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, March 23, 2025.
THE BESTSELLERS
FICTION
1. 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.
2. WILD SIDE by Elsie Silver: The third book in the Rose Hill series. Tension rises between Tabitha and Rhys.
3. 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.
4. BLOOD MOON by Sandra Brown: The producer of a true crime TV series enlists the help of a detective to look into the disappearances of several teenage girls.
5. FAR FROM HOME by Danielle Steel: A woman whose husband was killed after a failed attempt to assassinate Hitler hides out in Normandy under an assumed name.
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 NIGHTINGALE by Kristin Hannah: Two sisters are separated in World War II France: one in the countryside, the other in Paris.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. DEEP END by Ali Hazelwood: As the pressure leading up to the Olympics builds so do the feelings Lukas and Scarlett have for each other.
12. WARD D by Freida McFadden: Patients and staff at a hospital’s mental health unit begin to disappear.
13. BATTLE MOUNTAIN by C.J. Box: The 25th book in the Joe Pickett series. Nate seeks vengeance while off the grid and Joe looks for the governor’s missing son-in-law.
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. IF CATS DISAPPEARED FROM THE WORLD by Genki Kawamura: A young postman, who has only months to live, gets an offer from the devil; translated by Eric Selland.
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NON-FICTION
1. THE HOUSE OF MY MOTHER by Shari Franke: Franke gives an account of abuse within her family, who gained a following with their YouTube channel “8 Passengers.”
2. THE TEARS OF THINGS by Richard Rohr: The author of “The Universal Christ” explicates the writings of Jewish prophets and reflects upon modern life.
3. ON TYRANNY by Timothy Snyder: Twenty lessons from the 20th century about the course of tyranny.
4. THE BODY KEEPS THE SCORE by Bessel van der Kolk: How trauma affects the body and mind, and innovative treatments for recovery.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. I’LL HAVE WHAT SHE’S HAVING by Chelsea Handler: In a collection of essays, the comedian shares some public and private moments from her life.
8. POVERTY, BY AMERICA by Matthew Desmond: The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “Evicted” examines the ways in which affluent Americans keep poor people poor.
9. THE TECHNOLOGICAL REPUBLIC by Alexander C. Karp and Nicholas W. Zamiska: Two senior leaders at Palantir Technologies enumerate what they see as potential global threats to the United States.
10. THE LAST MANAGER by John W. Miller: A biography of Earl Weaver, the Baltimore Orioles manager from 1968 to 1982.
11. THE ART OF THE SNL PORTRAIT by Mary Ellen Matthews with Alison Castle and Emily Oberman: Portraits and behind-the-scenes photographs by the resident photographer for “Saturday Night Live.”
12. HILLBILLY ELEGY by JD Vance: The vice president, in a memoir written shortly after graduating from Yale Law School, looks at the struggles of the white working class through the story of his own childhood.
13. SAY EVERYTHING by Ione Skye: The performer who gained notice in the movie “Say Anything” shares details of her career and relationships.
14. GREENLIGHTS by Matthew McConaughey: The Academy Award-winning actor shares snippets from the diaries he kept over the last 35 years.
15. OUTLIVE by Peter Attia with Bill Gifford: A look at recent scientific research on aging and longevity.
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Have a great Sunday!
Linda
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THE CATALOGS:
Catalog 1: StarCat
StarCat is the catalog of physical materials including print books, DVDs, audiobooks on CD etc. StarCat is available to all patrons of all public libraries in the Southern Tier Library System*
The Digital Catalog (and its companion app Libby) offers all Southern Tier Library System member library patrons access to eBooks, eAudiobooks & eMagazines via a lending model known in Library-ese as “one copy/one user;” that library speak means that eBooks & eAudiobooks found in The Digital Catalog/Libby are like print books found on library shelves, only one patron can check out a copy of a title at a time.
Exception: Magazines found in the digital catalog are available via a different lending model known as simultaneous access. And that fancy library speak means that magazines are available for all patrons to check out at the same time, i.e. if you and all your family and friends wish to read the latest digital edition of Newsweek, all of you can check out the e version of the magazine and read it at the same time.
The Digital Catalog/Libby checkout limit is 5 titles a time.
The Hoopla Digital Catalog (and its companion app, also called Hoopla) offers Southeast Steuben County Library patrons access to a second digital catalog with an on-demand lending model. In library speak, this lending model, like The Digital Catalog/Libby’s magazine lending model, is known as “simultaneous access.” The difference is, the Hoopla catalog offers access to more formats: eBooks, eAudiobooks, eComics, digital albums, TV shows & movies – and all items, in all those formats, are available for patrons to checkout immediately. The Hoopla check out limit is ten titles per month.
Hoopla Formats: All Hoopla content can be accessed on a computer or mobile device, and TV shows and movies can be accessed on computers, mobile devices, smart TVs and media streaming players, i.e. Roku or Apple TV.
Kanopy, is the new streaming video app/catalog available to all Southern Tier Library System members libraries patrons – including patrons of the Southeast Steuben County Library!
You can find the Kanopy app in your app store, or check out the streaming service online at: https://www.kanopy.com/en
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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.
The catalog of e-books, downloadable audiobooks and a handful of streaming videos.
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The Libby App
Libby is the companion app to the Digital Catalog and may be found in the Apple & Google app.
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Hoopla
A catalog of instant check out items, including eBooks, downloadable audiobooks, comic books, TV shows and movies for patrons of the Southeast Steuben County Library.
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Kanopy – the new streaming video service, available for free to all card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member librarys – you can checkout the catalog online at kanopy.com and/or download the Kanopy app to your phone, tablet, smart TV or video streaming player.
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Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.
Hi everyone, here are our five suggested reads of the week!
Weekly Suggested Reading Five postings are usually published on Wednesdays, unless Monday is a holiday and then they are published later in the week.
And the next Suggested Reading posting will be published on Wednesday, March 19, 2025.
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Black Woods, Blue Sky: A Novel by Eowyn Ivey
Myth and reality fuse together in the Alsakan wilderness in the potent latest from Ivey (The Snow Child). Single mom Birdie, 26, occasionally drinks too much. When sober, she devotes herself to caring for her six-year-old daughter, Emaleen, a precocious girl who believes in witches. After Birdie falls for a mysterious and badly scarred man named Arthur, she and Emaleen move with him to his remote cabin. At first, life is bucolic, full of mushroom hunting and berry picking on the mountains, and Birdie is excited by Arthur’s primitive lifestyle. But when Emaleen catches him walking the woods in a bear skin, things take a dangerous turn for mother and child. Ivey shifts perspectives between Birdie, who longs to remake her life, and Emaleen, whose attempts to make sense of what she sees animate a story rich in legends about local animals and shape-shifters. The novel is alive with a sense of the natural world of Alaska, which Ivey portrays as a liminal space where the human and animal kingdoms interact, and it’s buoyed by gripping suspense and moments of tenderness. Ivey’s fans will be well pleased. – Publishers Weekly Review
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Blood Moon by Sandra Brown
Sandra Brown’s readers know what she’s up to. Her seventy-plus novels, mostly romance and suspense, often contain sly parodies of pop genres. Her current offering begins with a familiar scene: a lawman enters a saloon, orders a drink, and pays no mind to the jeers of the boozed-up yahoos nearby. Brown invites the reader to grin knowingly, only for the scene to turn wonky. The story unfolds from there: a female producer of a true-crime TV show visits Auclair, Louisiana, for a story on unsolved cases of disappearing teenage girls. She finds herself sharing notes with a local cop scarred by betrayal–his boss once wanted a case wrapped quickly: he obeyed, even though he knew it betrayed the victims. Why? He wanted in on the promotion track and its promised a pay increase. Such shots of realism keep the novel anchored in the everyday, as do bursts of nice writing and a couple of steamy sex scenes. The story reminds us what a fine writer Brown is. – Booklist Review
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Food For Thought: Essays and Ruminations by Alton Brown
Food Network host Brown (Good Eats: The Final Years) details his culinary career in this appealing memoir in essays, which takes readers from the author’s early life in North Hollywood, Calif., through his stints at Iron Chef America and Cutthroat Kitchen. As a child with a penchant for “unorthodox flavors,” Brown developed an early fascination with food science, and attended culinary school in New England before finding work at a bakery. While in school, he dreamed up the concept for his first show, Good Eats, which put a cheeky spin on food science, and recounts the bumpy road to getting it produced on the Food Network. Elsewhere, Brown reveals what he hates to cook (hard shell blue crab); examines famous scenes of cooking and eating in Hollywood blockbusters including The Godfather and Apocalypse Now; and shares some of his favorite regional dishes, like Nebraska’s unlikely combination of chili and cinnamon rolls. The author’s dry wit (“I’ll never go back because I don’t want to see the inevitable change that forty years have wrought,” he writes of a magical trip to an Italian village. “Looking in the mirror is bad enough”) makes this irresistible for home cooks and foodies alike. It’s another delicious treat from Brown. – Publishers Weekly Review
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Goddess Complex by Sanjena Sathian
Sathian’s second novel (after Gold Diggers) opens with Sanjana Satyananda in the middle of divorcing her husband Killian, whom she left behind in India after they disagreed over whether to have children. They haven’t spoken in nearly a year. Sanjana’s best friend and her husband are gleefully expectant parents, whereas Sanjana is feeling melancholy about her own life after terminating a pregnancy before leaving Killian. Then Sanjana starts receiving texts from unknown senders congratulating her on her pregnancy and sending photos they believe are of her with Killian in India. But the pictured woman is not Sanjana, so she goes on a quest to find out who her doppelganger is and to learn more about her, her relationship with Killian, and the pregnancy. Relationships, mental health, well-being, motherhood, jealousy, and contentment are explored as Sanjana returns to India, where she winds up at a fertility clinic known as the God Complex. Readers may deem some of the novel’s subplots more successful than others, but all will agree that the overall story remains suspenseful to the very end. VERDICT This well-crafted, mysterious novel with some dystopian twists is a worthwhile read. Fans of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale will devour it. -Starred library Journal Review
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Last Days of Kira Mullan by Nicci French
From international bestselling master of suspense Nicci French comes a chilling new psychological thriller about a woman determined to get justice for a murder no one else believes happened.
Nancy North is ready to put her life back together. After suffering a psychotic break that ruined friendships, stalled her fledgling restaurant, and forced her to move out of her comfortable flat, she’ll do anything to get back to normal. She and her partner Felix—who has been a saint through her recent troubles—move into a new flat for a fresh start.
Nancy is taking her pills, seeing her therapist, and avoiding unnecessary stress. She’s doing absolutely everything right, but something is still very, very wrong. On the first day in the new flat, she hears them again; the mysterious voices that triggered her first episode. It could just be the unfamiliar sounds of water in the pipes, or the screaming baby across the hall, but deep down she knows something more sinister is going on. Her fears are confirmed when the young woman in the downstairs flat, Kira, is found dead. Felix, her neighbors, and even the police insist it’s a tragic suicide, but the pieces aren’t adding up for Nancy. Can she trust her own instincts, or is it all in her head?
Meanwhile, Detective Inspector Maud O’Connor has misgivings about her colleagues’ investigation of Kira’s death. The boys club at the top seems intent on closing the case as quickly as possible, especially since the only person who thinks it could be anything other than suicide is known to be unreliable. But Maud knows what it’s like to be dismissed as an overemotional woman and isn’t so quick to discount Nancy’s claims. As tensions reach an explosive breaking point, the line between fact and delusion becomes dangerously blurred, but Maud will stop at nothing to ensure that the truth comes to light.
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Happy reading!
Linda Reimer, SSCL
–
Note: Book summaries are from the respective publishers unless otherwise specified.
The Digital Catalog, is an online catalog containing eBooks, eAudiobooks, and digital magazines. You can use your library card and checkout content on a PC; you can also use the companion app, Libby, to access titles on your mobile devices; so you can enjoy eBooks and eAudiobooks on the go!
All card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries can check out items from the Digital Catalog.
The Hoopla Catalog features on demand checkouts of eBooks, eAudiobooks, comic books, albums, movies and TV shows. Patron check out limit is 10 items per month.
Hoopla is a Southeast Steuben County Library service available to all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders.
The Hoopla companion app, also called Hoopla is available for mobile devices, smart TVs & media streaming players.
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.
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, March 16, 2025.
THE BESTSELLERS
FICTION
1. 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.
2. MIDNIGHT BLACK by Mark Greaney: The 14th book in the Gray Man series. Gentry’s lover, a former spy for Russian foreign intelligence, is imprisoned in a Russian gulag.
3. THE NIGHTINGALE by Kristin Hannah: Two sisters are separated in World War II France: one in the countryside, the other in Paris.
4. 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.
5. DEEP END by Ali Hazelwood: As the pressure leading up to the Olympics builds so do the feelings Lukas and Scarlett have for each other.
6. 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.
7. 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.
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. SCYTHE & SPARROW by Brynne Weaver: The third book in the Ruinous Love series. A circus motorcycle performer involved in devious exploits gets close to a doctor.
10. 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.
11. JAMES by Percival Everett: A reimagining of “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” shines a different light on Mark Twain’s classic, revealing new facets of the character of Jim.
12. LIGHTS OUT by Navessa Allen: As Aly and Josh live out their dark fantasies, someone with sinister intentions impinges on them.
13. A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES by Sarah J. Maas: After killing a wolf in the woods, Feyre is taken from her home and placed inside the world of the Fae.
14. 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.
15. THE WOMEN by Kristin Hannah: A nurse follows her brother to serve during the Vietnam War and returns to a divided America.
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NON-FICTION
1. THE TECHNOLOGICAL REPUBLIC by Alexander C. Karp and Nicholas W. Zamiska: Two senior leaders at Palantir Technologies enumerate what they see as potential global threats to the United States.
2. SEVEN THINGS YOU CAN’T SAY ABOUT CHINA by Tom Cotton: The Republican senator from Arkansas delineates what he perceives as threats from China.
3. ON TYRANNY by Timothy Snyder: Twenty lessons from the 20th century about the course of tyranny.
4. LORNE by Susan Morrison: A biography of the creator and producer of “Saturday Night Live.”
5. THE BODY KEEPS THE SCORE by Bessel van der Kolk: How trauma affects the body and mind, and innovative treatments for recovery.
6. 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.
7. HILLBILLY ELEGY by JD Vance: The vice president, in a memoir written shortly after graduating from Yale Law School, looks at the struggles of the white working class through the story of his own childhood.
8. HERE BE DRAGONS by Melanie Shankle: A co-host of the podcast “The Big Boo Cast” examines her faith and family dynamics.
9. SOURCE CODE by Bill Gates: The philanthropist and co-founder of Microsoft describes events from his childhood and his discovery of computers.
10. MONEY, LIES, AND GOD by Katherine Stewart: Profiles of the strange bedfellows that make up the American right, with an analysis of authoritarian impulses in the United States.
11. OUTLIVE by Peter Attia with Bill Gifford: A look at recent scientific research on aging and longevity.
12. THE SERVICEBERRY by Robin Wall Kimmerer: The author of “Braiding Sweetgrass” illuminates how the gift economy in the natural world works and draws lessons for our economy; with illustrations by John Burgoyne.
13. MEMORIAL DAYS by Geraldine Brooks: Three years after the sudden death of her partner, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author spent time on a remote island to grieve.
14. THE SIRENS’ CALL by Chris Hayes: The MSNBC host considers the ways in which attention capitalism affects politics and society.
15. THE HOUSE OF MY MOTHER by Shari Franke: Franke gives an account of abuse within her family, who gained a following with their YouTube channel “8 Passengers.”
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Have a great Sunday!
Linda
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THE CATALOGS:
Catalog 1: StarCat
StarCat is the catalog of physical materials including print books, DVDs, audiobooks on CD etc. StarCat is available to all patrons of all public libraries in the Southern Tier Library System*
The Digital Catalog (and its companion app Libby) offers all Southern Tier Library System member library patrons access to eBooks, eAudiobooks & eMagazines via a lending model known in Library-ese as “one copy/one user;” that library speak means that eBooks & eAudiobooks found in The Digital Catalog/Libby are like print books found on library shelves, only one patron can check out a copy of a title at a time.
Exception: Magazines found in the digital catalog are available via a different lending model known as simultaneous access. And that fancy library speak means that magazines are available for all patrons to check out at the same time, i.e. if you and all your family and friends wish to read the latest digital edition of Newsweek, all of you can check out the e version of the magazine and read it at the same time.
The Digital Catalog/Libby checkout limit is 5 titles a time.
The Hoopla Digital Catalog (and its companion app, also called Hoopla) offers Southeast Steuben County Library patrons access to a second digital catalog with an on-demand lending model. In library speak, this lending model, like The Digital Catalog/Libby’s magazine lending model, is known as “simultaneous access.” The difference is, the Hoopla catalog offers access to more formats: eBooks, eAudiobooks, eComics, digital albums, TV shows & movies – and all items, in all those formats, are available for patrons to checkout immediately. The Hoopla check out limit is ten titles per month.
Hoopla Formats: All Hoopla content can be accessed on a computer or mobile device, and TV shows and movies can be accessed on computers, mobile devices, smart TVs and media streaming players, i.e. Roku or Apple TV.
And Kanopy, the new streaming video app/catalog available to all Southern Tier Library System members libraries patrons – including patrons of the Southeast Steuben County Library!
You can find the Kanopy app in your app store, or check out the streaming service online at: https://www.kanopy.com/en
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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, March 14, 2025.
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This week I’m going to do something a little different and spotlight the music of two musicians who were born on March 1. Their styles are completely different, but it is all great music – the music of Roger Daltrey, lead singer for The Who and big band master Glenn Miller.
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First, five tunes by The Who fronted by Daltrey:
Bab O’Riley
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Behind Blue Eyes
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Pinball Wizard
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Won’t Get Fooled Again
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Love, Reign O’er Me
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And now, five songs by Glenn Miller & His Orchestra:
American Patrol
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I’ve Got a Gal in Kalamazoo
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Pennsylvania 6-5000
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In The Mood
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Moonlight Serenade
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And remember the Hoopla Catalog (and app) is always avaialable, if you’d like to check out more music. hoopladigital.com
Have a great weekend,
Linda Reimer, SSCL
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Online Catalog Links:
StarCat
The catalog of physical materials, i.e. print books, DVDs, audiobooks on CD, etc.
The catalog of e-books, downloadable audiobooks and a handful of streaming videos.
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The Libby App
Libby is the companion app to the Digital Catalog and may be found in the Apple & Google app.
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Hoopla
A catalog of instant check out items, including eBooks, downloadable audiobooks, comic books, TV shows and movies for patrons of the Southeast Steuben County Library.
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Also available, our new streaming video app – Kanopy – the app is available in your app store, check it out!
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Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.
Hi everyone, here are our five suggested reads of the week!
Weekly Suggested Reading Five postings are usually published on Wednesdays, unless Monday is a holiday and then they are published later in the week.
And the next Suggested Reading posting will be published on Wednesday, March 12, 2025.
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If This Book Exists, You’re in the Wrong Universe by Jason Pargin
This time, it starts with an alien bug eating a man’s brain. Then there’s a specter that manifests inside of John’s wall and gets sliced up. So begins an ouroboros of a tale involving cults, alternate time lines, the end of the world, and a possessed plastic toy. This fourth entry in Pargin’s John Dies at the End series is less frenetic than its predecessor, What the Hell Did I Just Read (2017, as David Wong). Within the snarky humor is an incisive commentary on social media and the state of our connected world, and a story about trauma and how people lash out when they’re hurt. It’s a story about love and how people can be better. It’s rewarding to witness how Pargin has grown as a writer. He’s less interested in the gimmick and more focused on his characters. His compassion runs deep. This isn’t just a funny tale of inept supernatural investigators; it’s a story of people struggling through pain to find a better path. Pargin offers us a welcome note of hope. – Booklist Review
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The Lodge by Kayla Olson
Celebrity journalist Alix Morgan just got the biggest break of her career–writing the memoir of Sebastian Green, a former member of True North, the hottest boy band in recent memory. It’s been eight years since True North’s lead singer, Jett Beckett, mysteriously disappeared in the middle of a tour, and Alix, who was one of the last journalists to interview Jett, hopes that Sebastian’s notes and voice memos can give her and the band’s fans some answers. When Sebastian offers Alix the chance to spend the month writing at a luxury ski resort in Vermont, she jumps at the chance to get out of the city and away from the tiny apartment that she shares with her sister. After she meets the guy in the room next to hers, handsome ski instructor Tyler, her month on the slopes gets even more interesting, and ultimately her work gets a lot more complicated. Even though the twists are predictable, the well-paced storytelling will draw readers into this entertaining winter romance. VERDICT Readers will love Olson’s (The Reunion) trademark blend of romance and pop culture and the unique spin on the traditional third-act conflict, which ultimately leads to a satisfying conclusion.–Library Journal Review
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Show Don’t Tell: Stories by Curtis Sittenfeld
Sittenfeld’s first story collection since You Think It, I’ll Say It (2019) is peopled by women and men in midlife, examining their pasts and the parts of themselves they’ve lost, jettisoned, or prioritized thus far. They have kids, regrets, and embarrassing little secrets; they were in marriages that ended or are in marriages that maybe should. The protagonist of “”Follow-up”” must ask “”What is this a story about?”” in her work as a corporate lawyer as she awaits a life-changing judgment in her own life. In the truly hilarious “”The Hug,”” a husband and wife spend days discussing, to the point that they are hardly speaking, whether it would be appropriate for her to embrace an ex-boyfriend who plans to visit on his way through town during a pandemic road trip. “”Given that there’s not much difference between hugging him and not hugging him, how about not doing it?”” the husband suggests. Sittenfeld can describe midlife romance as more like “”an essential recognition,”” and it does sound pretty romantic. Her perfectly contained stories are a joy for their realistically and mundanely fractured characters, moral ambiguities, movingly related moments, and the message that even the smallest tale offers lessons to uncover. – Booklist Review
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Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood
Shortlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize, a novel about forgiveness, grief, and what it means to be good, from the award-winning author of The Weekend.
Burnt out and in need of retreat, a middle-aged woman leaves Sydney to return to the place she grew up, taking refuge in a small religious community hidden away on the stark plains of rural Australia. She doesn’t believe in God, or know what prayer is, and finds herself living this strange, reclusive existence almost by accident.
But disquiet interrupts this secluded life with three visitations. First comes a terrible mouse plague, each day signaling a new battle against the rising infestation. Second is the return of the skeletal remains of a sister who disappeared decades before, presumed murdered. And finally, a troubling visitor plunges the narrator further back into her past.
Meditative, moving, and finely observed, Stone Yard Devotional is a seminal novel from a writer of rare power, exploring what it means to retreat from the world, the true nature of forgiveness, and the sustained effect of grief on the human soul.
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You Are Fatally Invited by Ande Pliego
Pliego’s tongue-in-cheek debut puts a postmodern spin on the classic locked-room mystery. Six thriller authors are invited to a retreat on a private island off the coast of Maine organized by the mysterious J.R. Alastor, a pseudonymous bestseller who has never been seen in public and whose real identity remains unknown. At dinner on the first evening, each guest is invited to play a game that exposes some wrongdoing they’ve buried in their past. The next morning, the writers discover that their elusive benefactor has cut off all communication between the island and the mainland. Then one of the writers turns up dead, his mutilated corpse displayed above a gravestone with his name on it. Mila del Angél, a once-aspiring author whom Alastor has recruited to host the retreat, is stunned—mostly because she’s planning a murder of her own, and she never accounted for a second killer in her midst. Pliego gleefully toys with genre tropes while delivering a slick, satisfying mystery all her own. Seasoned Agatha Christie fans may have quibbles about mechanics and motives once the dust settles, but those issues are too minor to detract from the fun. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable ride. – Publishers Weekly Review
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Happy reading!
Linda Reimer, SSCL
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Note: Book summaries are from the respective publishers unless otherwise specified.
The Digital Catalog, is an online catalog containing eBooks, eAudiobooks, and digital magazines. You can use your library card and checkout content on a PC; you can also use the companion app, Libby, to access titles on your mobile devices; so you can enjoy eBooks and eAudiobooks on the go!
All card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries can check out items from the Digital Catalog.
The Hoopla Catalog features on demand checkouts of eBooks, eAudiobooks, comic books, albums, movies and TV shows. Patron check out limit is 10 items per month.
Hoopla is a Southeast Steuben County Library service available to all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders.
The Hoopla companion app, also called Hoopla is available for mobile devices, smart TVs & media streaming players.
Card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries can access StarCat to search for and request materials available at libraries through out the Southern Tier Library System.
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Have questions about how to access Internet based content (i.e. eBooks, eAudios)? Feel free to drop by the Reference Desk or call the library and we will assist you! The library’s telephone number is: 607-936-3713.
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Tech & Book Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.
Hi everyone, here are our five suggested reads of the week!
Weekly Suggested Reading Five postings are usually published on Wednesdays, unless Monday is a holiday and then they are published later in the week.
And the next Suggested Reading posting will be published on Wednesday, February 26, 2025.
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Dream Girl Drama by Tessa Bailey
Bestseller Bailey follows The Au Pair Affair with another irresistible sports rom-com. After a difficult childhood with a struggling single mother, Sig Gauthier basks in his newfound financial comfort as a member of the Boston Bearcats hockey team. When his truck breaks down while he’s driving through Connecticut with a dead cellphone, he walks into a nearby country club for help, where he meets Chloe Clifford, a beautiful blonde harp player. The pair are smitten from the first glance and share a passionate kiss. There’s just one thing standing in the way of their relationship: Sig’s absentee father, who wants back into his life, happens to be engaged to Chloe’s mother. After Chloe moves to Boston to study at Berklee College of Music and play with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the pair try to avoid each other—and their feelings—to stave off a scandal that would put both their futures in jeopardy. But the chemistry between these soon to be stepsiblings is explosive and ignoring it proves impossible. Readers who don’t like the instalove trope may not buy into the immediate connection between the leads, but Bailey backs it up with thoughtful characterization and red-hot sex scenes. This is a winner. – Publishers Weekly Review
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Half a Cup of Sand and Sky by Nadine Bjursten
Rich with longing, heartbreak, romance, and intrigue, Bjursten’s standout debut centers on Amineh, a bright young girl eager to avoid the spotlight but who finds herself caught in the tumultuous events sweeping toward the Iranian revolution. In 1977, amid student protests, Amineh, a student of Persian literature, strives to focus on her studies even as the University of Tehran is convulsed in conflict, at a moment when poets and writers, now “tired of metaphor,” dare to speak out for freedom and human rights. “The air around her felt charged, as if something new was hiding in its folds,” Bjursten writes, but for Amineh that charge isn’t just the fervor for change. She has met Farzad, a well-meaning man who is afraid of becoming his father but at the same time committed to fighting for a better country.
With sweeping details and a life-drawn story full of political unrest, murder, and romantic uncertainty, Bjursten immerses readers in a life, a nation, and an era. Amineh is a loving, relatable protagonist, striving to fit in, to write her parent’s story in a novel, and then to survive as a wife and mother performing her duties even as “her inner world flattened.” Her perceptions illuminate a fractious, world-altering moment too rarely dramatized in English but also its complex fallout and the challenges, especially for a woman, of finding fulfillment afterwards. The novel sweeps across decades, attentive to the textures of life and hard compromises, but Bjursten moves the story briskly, and the slight romantic undertones provide relief.
Bjursten’s prose is clear, polished, and touched with poetry and insight but never getting in the way of the heart of the story: a woman fighting for her family, love, and freedom from political injustice. Well-drawn characters and a tangible sense of living through history will grip readers of realistic and historical fiction, especially as Amineh dares to tell her own story. The final pages will bring tears.
Takeaway: Powerful novel of regret, love, loss, and the Iranian revolution. – Publishers Weekly Review
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The Medici Return by Steve Berry
Five centuries ago, Pope Julius II asked the powerful Medici family for a favor–a very expensive favor–and made a promise, a Pledge of Christ, that the debt would be repaid. But it never was. And now, someone who claims to be a descendant of the Medici family (which history says died out 300 years ago) has come forward to demand repayment. Enter Cotton Malone, former U.S. government operative turned rare-book dealer. The nineteenth Malone thriller finds him trying to find one of two copies of the Pledge of Christ for his former bosses. At stake: the future of the Catholic Church, the fate of Italy, and the truth about the Medicis. (But no pressure, Cotton.) There is a formula to the Malone novels–a present-day mystery tied to an ancient mystery, some deliciously evil bad people, lots of scrapes and near misses–but it’s such a winning formula that we never tire of it. Cotton, too, is a marvelous character: world-weary but not jaded, cynical but not close-minded, and intensely curious. Berry’s fans will be delighted. – Booklist Review
Reader’s Note: The Medici Return is the nineteenth book in the otton Malone series. If you’d like to binge read from the beginning, check out book one: The Templar Legacy.
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Presidents at War: How World War II Shaped a Generation of Presidents, from Eisenhower and JFK Through Reagan and Bush by Steven Gillon
Steven M. Gillon, New York Times bestselling author of America’s Reluctant Prince, is back with the story of how WWII shaped the characters and politics of seven American presidents.
World War II loomed over the twentieth century, transforming every level of American society and international relationships and searing itself onto the psyche of an entire generation, including that of seven American presidents: John F. Kennedy, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush.
The lessons of World War II, more than party affiliation or ideology, defined the presidencies of these seven men. They returned home determined to confront any force that threatened to undermine the war’s hard-won ideals, each with their own unique understanding of patriotism, sacrifice, and America’s role in global politics.
In Presidents at War, Gillon examines what these men took away from the war and how they then applied it to Cold War policies that proceeded to change America, and the world, forever. A nuanced and deeply researched exploration of the lives, philosophies, and legacies of seven remarkable men, Presidents at War deftly argues that the lessons learned by these postwar presidents continue to shape the landscape upon which current, and future, presidents stand today. – Publisher Description
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The Quiet Librarian by Allen Eskens
Library patrons know her as “The Sweater Lady.” To Serbians, she’s “The Night Mora.” Her friends call her Hana Babic. But when this quiet librarian fled Bosnia 30 years ago, she was Nura Divjak, a woman running from war and hiding a deadly secret. Now living a mundane life in Minnesota, Hana thinks her past is behind her until her best friend is murdered, and a detective comes looking for answers. Can Hana find the killer and keep her secret? No typical whodunit, this is an intense and emotional story about grief, loss, and the horrors of war. Hana is a woman who, we learn, had to grow up too fast and whose family experienced horrific violence from those they considered friends. Eskens (Saving Emma, 2023) doesn’t hold back in his descriptions of the Bosnian War and the brutality it wrought. Hana is a compelling character readers can’t help but root for, even if they disagree with her actions. The Quiet Librarian will make readers contemplate their definition of justice and the decisions humans make when trapped in terrible situations. This book is perfect for fans of intense, bleak mysteries and those who like fiction featuring real-life history. — Booklist Review
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Happy reading!
Linda Reimer, SSCL
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Note: Book summaries are from the respective publishers unless otherwise specified.
The Digital Catalog, is an online catalog containing eBooks, eAudiobooks, and digital magazines. You can use your library card and checkout content on a PC; you can also use the companion app, Libby, to access titles on your mobile devices; so you can enjoy eBooks and eAudiobooks on the go!
All card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries can check out items from the Digital Catalog.
The Hoopla Catalog features on demand checkouts of eBooks, eAudiobooks, comic books, albums, movies and TV shows. Patron check out limit is 10 items per month.
Hoopla is a Southeast Steuben County Library service available to all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders.
The Hoopla companion app, also called Hoopla is available for mobile devices, smart TVs & media streaming players.
Card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries can access StarCat to search for and request materials available at libraries through out the Southern Tier Library System.
–
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 