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 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.
–
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.
And the next Suggested Reading posting will be published on Wednesday
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Blood and Mascara by Colin Krainin
In scandal-plagued 1990s Washington D.C., a city of sex and secrets, private eye Bronze Goldberg tracks down cheating spouses and delivers proof of infidelity to their humiliated partners. But when Roger Haake hires Bronze to follow his gorgeous wife, Carolyn, there’s more to the job than meets the eye, and Haake harbors some dark secrets of his own. Soon, Carolyn’s side fling—Congressman Billy Kopes—is found dead, and Haake is murdered shortly after. As Bronze tries to connect the dots, and make sense of just how he factors into the assassin’s plans, he realizes he may be the next target.
Krainin crafts the perfectly flawed hero in Bronze: haunted by his past and burdened by the predicaments of his present, this classic P.I. repeatedly entangles himself in attractions to dangerous women, namely his dalliance with his romance writer landlady, Iris, who keeps close tabs on Bronze herself, and the controversial bombshell Carolyn, newly widowed and with plenty of secrets of her own. Krainin pushes this gritty debut thriller to the max, pumping the stylized, hyper-masculine Bronze and showstopping femme fatales for all they’re worth—with villainous, well-to-do politicians with dark agendas in the mix, too.
Amid all the classic noir fun, Krainin’s hard-boiled hijinks don’t preclude complexity of character. Bronze is a contrast of macho-laced vulnerability, observing Carolyn’s “glamour of falseness” while he revels in his past Olympic judo skills, and his fascination with Carolyn borders on the obsessive, as “the sight of her engulf him in an unbidden longing that pour into the cracks of his heart.” Readers at times won’t know what to think of the lead, but the action satisfies, bolstered by last-minute escapes and shadowy assassins, with Bronze desperately trying to dodge the next bullet while floundering in his own flashbacks—and Iris muses that “it would be criminal not to squeeze at least part of a novel out of Bronze’s adventures.”
Takeaway: Hard-boiled PI dodges bullets—and his past—in this gritty D.C. thriller.
Comparable Titles: Paul Cain’s Fast One, Robert Dugoni’s A Killing on the Hill.
Production grades Cover: A Design and typography: A Illustrations: N/A Editing: A- Marketing copy: A BookLife Review
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City of Secrets: A Mystery by P. J. Tracy
The latest outing for LAPD homicide Det. Margaret Nolan and her squad is a pair of felonies that she’s convinced add up to a single case despite the lack of connecting tissue. Why would Bruce Messane, the co-founder of Peppy Pets, miss the biggest business meeting of his life, his sit-down with the food mogul who’s interested in buying the high-end dog food company for $100 million? Because he’s dead in his car in Culver City, that’s why. The vanishing of the deal, which would have been a bitter blow to Messane’s story of self-made success if he weren’t already dead, has dire consequences for chief financial officer Cynthia Jackson, one of Messane’s many ex-lovers, who owns 15% of Peppy Pets, and for retired veterinarian Rome Bechtold, Messane’s former partner, who may have inherited the 70% Messane owned. But that isn’t even the worst news Bechtold has to deal with, because less than 24 hours later, his wife, Nicole, is kidnapped by someone who pointedly doesn’t demand any money. Learning of the abduction despite the kidnappers’ threats to harm Nicole if her husband doesn’t keep quiet, Maggie Nolan can’t believe the two crimes aren’t connected. Her attention will be demanded by a bumper crop of complications. Despite Cynthia’s insistence that Messane would never steal from his own company, it looks like he’s been doing exactly that. And the notorious Los Zetas mob seems to be involved as well. Tracy knits the strands together conscientiously, though not dazzlingly, and the main effect of the final curtain will be to leave you waiting for the next installment. Red meat for fans who want their procedurals as densely tangled as a real-life cop’s job. – Kirkus Review
Reader’s Note: City of Secrets is the fourth book in the Detective Margaret Nolan series. If you’d like to start reading at the beginning, check out book one: Deep into the Dark (2021)
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Death at the Sanatorium: A Mystery by Ragnar Jónasson
Jónasson follows up Reykjavik with a meticulously plotted whodunit worthy of Agatha Christie, whose work he translates into Icelandic. In 2012 Reykjavik, 30-something Helgi Reykadi is finishing his criminology dissertation on an unsolved homicide in a tuberculosis sanatorium turned research facility. Flashbacks fill in details about Helgi’s subject: in 1983, someone tortured and murdered Ysra, a nurse at the facility, and a few days later the institution’s director suffered a suspicious fall from the balcony. Police arrested the building’s janitor on a false tip from nurse Tinna—who threw the janitor under the bus to distract from her own suspicious behavior—then let him go. After that, the case went cold. In 2012, Tinna turns up dead, so Helgi tracks down her and Ysra’s old coworkers in hopes of solving both murders. When his interview subjects turn out to be strangely tight-lipped, he launches into a twisty investigation that culminates in a volcanic finale. With scrupulously fair-play plotting, Helgi’s tumultuous relationship with his live-in girlfriend as an emotional anchor, and a worthy payoff, this is another winner from Jónasson. Readers will be rapt. – Starred Publishers Weekly
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Lovely One: A Memoir by Ketanji Brown Jackson
In her inspiring, intimate memoir, the first Black woman to ever be appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States chronicles her extraordinary life story.
With this unflinching account, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson invites readers into her life and world, tracing her family’s ascent from segregation to her confirmation on America’s highest court within the span of one generation.
Named “Ketanji Onyika,” meaning “Lovely One,” based on a suggestion from her aunt, a Peace Corps worker stationed in West Africa, Justice Jackson learned from her educator parents to take pride in her heritage since birth. She describes her resolve as a young girl to honor this legacy and realize her dreams: from hearing stories of her grandparents and parents breaking barriers in the segregated South, to honing her voice in high school as an oratory champion and student body president, to graduating magna cum laude from Harvard, where she performed in musical theater and improv and participated in pivotal student organizations.
Here, Justice Jackson pulls back the curtain, marrying the public record of her life with what is less known. She reveals what it takes to advance in the legal profession when most people in power don’t look like you, and to reconcile a demanding career with the joys and sacrifices of marriage and motherhood.
Through trials and triumphs, Justice Jackson’s journey will resonate with dreamers everywhere, especially those who nourish outsized ambitions and refuse to be turned aside. This moving, openhearted tale will spread hope for a more just world, for generations to come.
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Take Care of Them Like My Own: Faith, Fortitude, and a Surgeon’s Fight for Health Justice by Ala Stanford
The founder of the Black Doctors Consortium highlights the devastating racial injustices in our health care system in this inspirational memoir and empowering call to action.
Dr. Ala Stanford knew she wanted to be a doctor by the time she was eight years old. But role models were few and far between in her working-class North Philly neighborhood. Her teachers were dismissive, and the realities of racism, sexism, and poverty threatened to derail her at every turn. Nevertheless, thanks to her faith, family, and the sheer strength of her will, today she is one of the vanishingly small number of Black women surgeons in America—and an unrelenting force in the fight for health justice.
In Take Care of Them Like My Own, Dr. Stanford shares an unflinching account of her story, explaining how her experiences on both sides of the scalpel have informed her understanding of America’s racial health gap, an insidious and lethal form of inequality that exacts a devastating toll on Black communities across the country, affluent and underserved alike.
When Covid-19 arrived in her hometown of Philadelphia, she knew it would disproportionately affect the Black population. As the city stood idly by, unwilling or unable to protect its most vulnerable citizens, Dr. Stanford took matters into her own hands. She rented a van, made some calls, and began administering tests in church parking lots. Soon, she found herself at the helm of a powerful grassroots campaign that successfully vaccinated tens of thousands of Philadelphians. She and her movement are living proof that by drawing on faith, community, and inner strength, everyday people can affect tremendous change.
Part memoir, part manifesto for health equality and justice, Take Care of Them Like My Own offers urgent lessons about the power of communities working together to take care of one another and the importance of fighting for a healthcare system that truly fulfills its promise to all Americans.
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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.
–
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, or call, the library – please do!
Our telephone number is: 607-936-3713
–
There are currently three catalogs available to Southeast Steuben County Library patrons online, that you can access to search for and request New York Times Bestsellers, and other popular books and materials in a variety of formats, i.e. print books, eBooks, streaming videos.
All you need is a library card to get started!
Links to the catalogs are found after the list of New York Times Bestsellers.
New York Times Bestseller lists are shared via blog post on Sundays. And the next NYT blog post will be posted on Sunday,
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THE BESTSELLERS
FICTION
1. DAYDREAM by Hannah Grace: The third book in the Maple Hills series. A college student with writer’s block offers to tutor the captain of the hockey team.
2. IT ENDS WITH US by Colleen Hoover: A battered wife raised in a violent home attempts to halt the cycle of abuse; the basis of the film.
3. IT STARTS WITH US by Colleen Hoover: In the sequel to “It Ends With Us,” Lily deals with her jealous ex-husband as she reconnects with her first boyfriend.
4. THE WOMEN by Kristin Hannah: In 1965, a nursing student follows her brother to serve during the Vietnam War and returns to a divided America.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. IRON FLAME by Rebecca Yarros: The second book in the Empyrean series. Violet Sorrengail’s next round of training might require her to betray the man she loves.
8. DEMON COPPERHEAD by Barbara Kingsolver: Winner of a 2023 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. A reimagining of Charles Dickens’s “David Copperfield” set in the mountains of southern Appalachia.
9. THE DARK WIVES by Ann Cleeves: The 11th book in the Vera Stanhope series. Vera and her team search for a missing teen who may be responsible for murder.
10. BY ANY OTHER NAME by Jodi Picoult: A young woman’s play about her ancestor Emilia Bassano, who wrote Shakespeare’s works, is submitted to a festival under a male pseudonym.
11. THE GOD OF THE WOODS by Liz Moore: When a 13-year-old girl disappears from an Adirondack summer camp in 1975, secrets kept by the Van Laar family emerge.
12. A COURT OF MIST AND FURY by Sarah J. Maa: The second book in the Court of Thorns and Roses series. Feyre gains the powers of the High Fae and a greater evil emerges.
13. 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.
14. THE HOUSEMAID IS WATCHING by Freida McFadden: The third book in the Housemaid series. Dangers lurk in a quiet neighborhood.
15. THE HOUSEMAID’S SECRET by Freida McFadden: The second book in the Housemaid series. The sound of crying and the appearance of blood portend misdeeds.
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NON-FICTION
1. 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.
2. AT WAR WITH OURSELVES by H.R. McMaster: The author of “Battlegrounds” and former national security adviser assesses his time in the Trump White House.
3. HILLBILLY ELEGY by J.D. Vance: The Yale Law School graduate and 2024 Republican vice presidential nominee looks at the struggles of the white working class through the story of his own childhood.
4. THE BODY KEEPS THE SCORE by Bessel van der Kolk: How trauma affects the body and mind, and innovative treatments for recovery.
5. WHAT’S NEXT by Melissa Fitzgerald and Mary McCormack: Two cast members of “The West Wing” share insights into the creation and legacy of the series.
6. IMMINENT by Luis Elizondo: The former head of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program shares insights on unidentified anomalous phenomena.
7. THE ART OF POWER by Nancy Pelosi: The representative from California chronicles her journey in politics, including her time as the first woman to serve as speaker of the House.
8. THE DEMON OF UNREST by Erik Larson: The author of “The Splendid and the Vile” portrays the months between the election of Abraham Lincoln and the beginning of the Civil War.
9. THE TRUTHS WE HOLD by Kamala Harris: A memoir by the daughter of immigrants who is currently serving as the 49th vice president and is the Democratic Party’s 2024 presidential nominee.
10. BRAIDING SWEETGRASS by Robin Wall Kimmerer: A botanist and member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation espouses having an understanding and appreciation of plants and animals.
11. OUTLIVE by Peter Attia with Bill Gifford: A look at recent scientific research on aging and longevity.
12. THE DEVIL AT HIS ELBOW by Valerie Bauerlein: An account of the downfall of the personal injury attorney Alex Murdaugh, who was found guilty of murdering his wife and son.
13. ON THE EDGE by Nate Silver: The founder of FiveThirtyEight and author of “The Signal and the Noise” profiles professional risk-takers.
14. THE EASTERN FRONT by Nick Lloyd: A history of battles fought between 1914 and 1918 on the Eastern Front of the First World War.
15. AN UNFINISHED LOVE STORY by Doris Kearns Goodwin: A trove of items collected by the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian’s late husband inspired an appraisal of central figures and pivotal moments of the 1960s.
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THE CATALOGS:
Catalog 1: StarCat
StarCat is the catalog of physical materials including print books, DVDs, audiobooks on CD etc. StarCat is available to all patrons of all public libraries in the Southern Tier Library System*
The Digital Catalog (and its companion app Libby) offers all Southern Tier Library System member library patrons access to eBooks, eAudiobooks & eMagazines via a lending model known in Library-ese as “one copy/one user;” that library speak means that eBooks & eAudiobooks found in The Digital Catalog/Libby are like print books found on library shelves, only one patron can check out a copy of a title at a time.
Exception: Magazines found in the digital catalog are available via a different lending model known as simultaneous access. And that fancy library speak means that magazines are available for all patrons to check out at the same time, i.e. if you and all your family and friends wish to read the latest digital edition of Newsweek, all of you can check out the e version of the magazine and read it at the same time.
The Digital Catalog/Libby checkout limit is 5 titles a time.
The Hoopla Digital Catalog (and its companion app, also called Hoopla) offers Southeast Steuben County Library patrons access to a second digital catalog with an on-demand lending model. In library speak, this lending model, like The Digital Catalog/Libby’s magazine lending model, is known as “simultaneous access.” The difference is, the Hoopla catalog offers access to more formats: eBooks, eAudiobooks, eComics, digital albums, TV shows & movies – and all items, in all those formats, are available for patrons to checkout immediately. The Hoopla check out limit is ten titles per month.
Hoopla Formats: All Hoopla content can be accessed on a computer or mobile device, and TV shows and movies can be accessed on computers, mobile devices, smart TVs and media streaming players, i.e. Roku or Apple TV.
Hi everyone, welcome to our Suggested Listening posting for this week!
Suggested Listening postings are published on Fridays; and our next Suggested Listening posting will be out on Friday, September 13, 2024.
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This week we’re going to do an artist spotlight on two musicians that are terrific, and not as well known as they should be, and are both members of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: Big Mama Thornton and Big Bill Broonzy.
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Big Mama Thornton was born Willie Mae Thornton (1926 – 1984); she was a blues singer extraordinaire and a great influencer on subsequent generations of rock and blues musicians.
For more information check out a short bio on Big Mama Thornton found on the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame site:
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.
–
Hoopla
A catalog of instant check out items, including eBooks, downloadable audiobooks, comic books, TV shows and movies for patrons of the Southeast Steuben County Library.
–
Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.
Hi everyone, here are our five suggested reads of the week!
Weekly Suggested Reading Five postings are usually published on Wednesdays, unless Monday is a holiday and then they are published later in the week.
And the next Suggested Reading posting will be published on Wednesday, September 11, 2024.
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Death at the Sign of the Rook: A Jackson Brodie Book by Kate Atkinson
Atkinson’s deliciously witty sixth adventure for Jackson Brodie (after Big Sky) finds the British PI entangled in a weekend-long murder mystery party. Brodie’s newest clients are Ian and Hazel Padgett, “pensionable-aged” siblings who have discovered, while divvying up their deceased mother’s possessions, that one of her oil paintings has gone missing. With the help of his friend, Det. Const. Reggie Chase, Brodie digs into the siblings’ suspicions that their mother’s caretaker, Melanie Hope, swiped the heirloom. Soon, Brodie and Chase’s investigation unearths art thefts linked to Burton Makepeace House, a crumbling mansion recently converted into a hotel and managed by the self-aggrandizing Piers Milton. Brodie and Chase head to Burton Makepeace and start poking around while an elaborate “Murder Mystery Weekend” event that Piers has organized is underway; before long, a snowstorm strands the duo with the participants and knocks out everyone’s cell reception. Atkinson keeps things fast, funny, and fair, delivering a twist-filled mystery that will stump armchair sleuths and a well-sketched supporting cast that’s easy to fall in love with. This is sure to delight series fans and newcomers alike. – Starred Publishers Weekly Review
Reader’s Note: As noted, Death At The Sign Of The Rook is the sixth book in the Jackson Brodie Series. If you’d like to start reading the series from the beginning, check out book one: Case Histories.
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Fatal Intrusion by Jeffery Deaver and Isabella Maldonado
his sure-footed collaboration between bestseller Deaver (The Bone Collector) and Maldonado (The Cipher) centers on special agent Carmen Sanchez, who’s recently been assigned to Homeland Security investigations in Southern California. Sanchez’s rash approach to a hostage situation in the desert town of Ario infuriates her by-the-book colleague, Kevin Albright, who wants her arrested for reckless endangerment. Their boss persuades Albright to keep the handcuffs off Sanchez, but as soon as she’s in the clear, she gets thrown into another intense situation: her younger sister, Sara, has been physically assaulted outside a café near her university. Sanchez takes the cell phone dropped by Sara’s attacker to her friend, private security expert Jacoby Heron, who unlocks the phone and deciphers its encrypted files. Sifting through the data, Sanchez and Jacoby unravel a complex plot connecting Sara’s assailant to a series of homicides and a cyberterrorism ring intent on fostering political discord across California. Slick, cinematic action and fastidiously detailed investigative work bring this series launch to life. Deaver and Maldonado make a good match. – Publisher’s Weekly Review
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Life Impossible by Matt Haig
Haig’s anxiously awaited follow-up to The Midnight Library (2020) proves that it’s never too late to change your life. Grace Winters is a retired math teacher and widow who lost a young son many years ago. In an extended letter to a former student, Grace spins the tale of her move to Ibiza, a Mediterranean island off the coast of Spain. An old friend has willed Grace a home there. While she is shocked, she is compelled to go, even at the age of 72. The island is lush and green; the house is not so much, but Grace is entranced all the same. When she realizes that her friend may have disappeared under mysterious circumstances, Grace becomes obsessed with finding out what happened. It turns out the answer is far more complicated than a simple murder or kidnapping, and it leads Grace to a bizarre and transformative experience deep under the sea. Haig’s incomparable style, complete with short chapters and lovely descriptions, will draw readers back; they will be captivated by Grace’s shrewdness and bravery. – Booklist Review
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What Time the Sexton’s Spade Doth Rust: A Flavia de Luce Novel by Alan Bradley
Flavia de Luce is in top form in the eleventh book of Bradley’s beloved series, following The Golden Tresses of the Dead (2019), and set shortly after WWII in the English countryside. Flavia is still the most precocious (and only) adolescent detective in the tiny town of Bishop’s Lacey, still a frighteningly accomplished chemist, and still making her biting observations. But her father’s recent death has made Flavia an orphan and left her in the haphazard care of her sister Daffy and the estate staff. When beloved housekeeper Mrs. Mullet is suspected of murder after serving a dish of poisonous mushrooms to their reclusive neighbor, Major Greyleigh, a retired public hangman, Flavia investigates. A labyrinthine series of clues leads her to a shocking personal discovery that completely changes her world–and opens up interesting possibilities for future investigations. The return of Undine, her “pestilent little cousin,” is a bonus, as is the continued presence of Dogger, the estate’s gardener and Flavia’s faithful partner in crime. Bradley gives his loyal readers a story that will more than satisfy their expectations while also inviting new readers to discover an endlessly entertaining amateur young sleuth who has much to teach her elders. – Starred Booklist Review
Reader’s Note: As mentioned, What Time the Sexton’s Spade Doth Rust is the eleventh book in the Flavia de Luce Mystery Series. If you’d like to start reading the series from the beginning, check out book one: The Sweetness At the Bottom of the Pie.
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You Belong with Me: A Novel by Mhairi McFarlane
Edie Thompson’s world turns upside down when renowned actor Elliot Owen, her once-in-a-lifetime love, reappears at her doorstep, seeking a second chance. Edie is shocked, to say the least. While Edie is overjoyed at the prospect of rekindling their romance, the challenges of dating a celebrity prove more daunting than she ever anticipated. Caught in a whirlwind of paparazzi-documented scandals and personal demons, Edie and Elliot must navigate the treacherous waters of fame and trust. As Elliot juggles international filming commitments, Edie grapples with her own insecurities and the presence of a newfound confidant in her life. Amid the chaos, they must also confront the unsettling reality that someone in their inner circle might be fueling the tabloid frenzy that threatens to tear them apart.
VERDICT McFarlane’s (Between Us) deft storytelling brings to life a cast of characters who resonate with wit, charm, and vulnerability. Through Edie and Elliott’s trials and triumphs, this novel offers a poignant exploration of love’s resilience and the tumultuous journey toward a happily-ever-after in the glare of the spotlight. – 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.
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.
Hi everyone, welcome to our Suggested Listening posting for this week; a bit late as I somehow didn’t hit publish last week when I finished the post – so we’ll celebrate the lives and contributions of working class people today, and all through this week!
Suggested Listening postings are published on Fridays; and our next Suggested Listening posting will be out on Friday, September 6, 2024.
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Our recommended songs for this week celebrate the history of American workers, on the occasion of Labor Day weekend (and the week after it!).
The songs are listed in chronological order, with the exception of the last song, This Land Is Your Land, which is certainly a quintessentially American song, celebrating the freedom of all Americans. And as it is a very hopeful song, and hope seeming to be in short supply today, at least if one watches the news – I thought we’d end on that hopeful note!
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Life Is Just A Bowl Of Cherries by Rudy Vallee
From The Album: The Very Best Of Rudy Vallee (2009)
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Brother Can You Spare A Dime? By Bing Crosby
From The Album: The Essential Bing Crosby (1932/2003)
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Midnight Special by Lead Belly
From The Album: Midnight Special — The Library of Congress Recordings, V. 1 (1991)
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Solidarity Forever by Pete Seeger
From The Album: Talking Union and Other Union Songs (1955)
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Sixteen Tons by Tennessee Ernie Ford
From The Album: Sixteen Tons (1960)
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Working On A Chain Gang by Sam Cooke
From The Album: The Best of Sam Cooke (2011)
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The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll by Bob Dylan
From The Album: The Times They Are A-Changin’ (1964)
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Work Song by Nina Simone
From The Album: High Priestess Of Soul (1967)
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Hoopla Album Of The Week
The Almanac Singers, Volume 1 by The Almanac Singers
And from the album the song:
Talking Union by The Almanac Singers
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Have a great week,
Linda Reimer, SSCL
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Online Catalog Links:
StarCat
The catalog of physical materials, i.e. print books, DVDs, audiobooks on CD, etc.
The catalog of e-books, downloadable audiobooks and a handful of streaming videos.
–
The Libby App
Libby is the companion app to the Digital Catalog and may be found in the Apple & Google app.
–
Hoopla
A catalog of instant check out items, including eBooks, downloadable audiobooks, comic books, TV shows and movies for patrons of the Southeast Steuben County Library.
–
Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.
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, or call, the library – please do!
Our telephone number is: 607-936-3713
–
There are currently three catalogs available to Southeast Steuben County Library patrons online, that you can access to search for and request New York Times Bestsellers, and other popular books and materials in a variety of formats, i.e. print books, eBooks, streaming videos.
All you need is a library card to get started!
Links to the catalogs are found after the list of New York Times Bestsellers.
New York Times Bestseller lists are shared via blog post on Sundays. And the next NYT blog post will be posted on Sunday,
–
THE BESTSELLERS
FICTION
1. IT ENDS WITH US by Colleen Hoover: A battered wife raised in a violent home attempts to halt the cycle of abuse; the basis of the film.
2. IT STARTS WITH US by Colleen Hoover: In the sequel to “It Ends With Us,” Lily deals with her jealous ex-husband as she reconnects with her first boyfriend.
3. BY ANY OTHER NAME by Jodi Picoult: A young woman’s play about her ancestor Emilia Bassano, who wrote Shakespeare’s works, is submitted to a festival under a male pseudonym.
4. THIS IS WHY WE LIED by Karin Slaughter: The 12th book in the Will Trent series. Will and Sarah’s honeymoon is interrupted by the murder of the manager of the lodge where they are staying.
5. THE WOMEN by Kristin Hannah: In 1965, a nursing student follows her brother to serve during the Vietnam War and returns to a divided America.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. SPIRIT CROSSING by William Kent Krueger: The 20th book in the Cork O’Connor mystery series. A local politician’s teenage daughter goes missing and the shallow grave of a young Ojibwe woman is discovered.
9. BETRAYAL ROAD by Christine Feehan: The ninth book in the Torpedo Ink series. Maestro must get close to Azelie quickly in order to break up a human trafficking ring.
10. TOM CLANCY: SHADOW STATE by M.P. Woodward: The 12th book in the Jack Ryan Jr. series. Jack uncovers dangers in Vietnam.
11. IRON FLAME by Rebecca Yarros: The second book in the Empyrean series. Violet Sorrengail’s next round of training might require her to betray the man she loves.
12. THE WEDDING PEOPLE by Alison Espach: A woman who is down on her luck forms an unexpected bond with the bride at a wedding in Rhode Island.
13. A COURT OF MIST AND FURY by Sarah J. Maas: The second book in the Court of Thorns and Roses series. Feyre gains the powers of the High Fae and a greater evil emerges.
14. THE HOUSEMAID IS WATCHING by Freida McFadden: The third book in the Housemaid series. Dangers lurk in a quiet neighborhood.
15. THE GOD OF THE WOODS by Liz Moore: When a 13-year-old girl disappears from an Adirondack summer camp in 1975, secrets kept by the Van Laar family emerge.
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NON-FICTION
1. IMMINENT by Luis Elizondo: The former head of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program shares insights on unidentified anomalous phenomena.
2. HILLBILLY ELEGY by J.D. Vance: The Yale Law School graduate and 2024 Republican vice presidential nominee looks at the struggles of the white working class through the story of his own childhood.
3. THE ANXIOUS GENERATION by Jonathan Haidt: A co-author of “The Coddling of the American Mind” looks at the mental health impacts that a phone-based life has on children.
4. WHAT’S NEXT by Melissa Fitzgerald and Mary McCormack: Two cast members of “The West Wing” share insights into the creation and legacy of the series.
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 ART OF POWER by Nancy Pelosi: The representative from California chronicles her journey in politics, including her time as the first woman to serve as speaker of the House.
7. THE DEVIL AT HIS ELBOW by Valerie Bauerlein: An account of the downfall of the personal injury attorney Alex Murdaugh, who was found guilty of murdering his wife and son.
8. OUT OF THE DARKNESS by Ian O’Connor: A portrait of the N.F.L. quarterback Aaron Rodgers detailing his life on and off the field.
9. THE DEMON OF UNREST by Erik Larson: The author of “The Splendid and the Vile” portrays the months between the election of Abraham Lincoln and the beginning of the Civil War.
10. ON THE EDGE by Nate Silver: The founder of FiveThirtyEight and author of “The Signal and the Noise” profiles professional risk-takers.
11. SHAMELESS by Brian Tyler Cohen: The YouTube host and podcaster gives his take on the current state of the Republican Party.
12. THE TRUTHS WE HOLD by Kamala Harris: A memoir by the daughter of immigrants who is currently serving as the 49th vice president and is the Democratic Party’s 2024 presidential nominee.
13. CHAOS by Tom O’Neill with Dan Piepenbring: A reassessment of events surrounding the murders committed by Charles Manson’s followers.
14. OUTLIVE by Peter Attia with Bill Gifford: A look at recent scientific research on aging and longevity.
15. BORN A CRIME by Trevor Noah: A memoir about growing up biracial in apartheid South Africa by the former host of “The Daily Show.”
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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.
This blog post includes all the new titles that have been ordered by the library for September 2024.
Some of these titles have arrived and can be requested through StarCat; other titles are not yet published and/or are not yet ready to circulate (and thus are not yet found in StarCat).
So, if you see a book you’d love to read, but don’t find it listed in StarCat, send me an email and let me know which title you’d like to read; and I will place it on hold for you, when it is ready to circulate.
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, September 4, 2024.
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Buried Too Deep by Karen Rose
From New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Karen Rose comes another explosive novel in the New Orleans series, where some secrets are worth dying for—or killing to keep.
Three can keep a secret if two of them are dead.
Employed as the nighttime security guard of Broussard Investigations, Phineas Bishop has been working through overwhelming PTSD episodes from his army service while still utilizing his military skills. But when a violent break-in occurs at the office, the accusatory eyes of the NOPD are on Phin, and he resolves to track down the intruder and clear his name.
Phin’s only lead is Cora Winslow, a spirited librarian who also needs answers. The body of her father, murdered twenty-three years ago, has just been discovered under a recently demolished building. So who has been sending her handwritten letters—written and signed by her father—every year since she was five? Someone wants to keep Cora in the dark. And now, they’re coming for her.
As Cora’s self-appointed bodyguard, Phin is surprised by his growing fondness for the woman and her fierce determination and research prowess. But New Orleans’s Garden District holds secrets as old as the streets themselves. With help from the entire Broussard P.I. team, Phin and Cora enter a labyrinth of fraud and homicide that threatens to bury them all.
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Daydream by Hannah Grace
The third in the New York Times bestselling Maple Hills series follows fan-favorite Henry and a bookish fellow student who come up with a plan to help them both overcome their respective challenges in a difficult year.
When his procrastination lands him in a difficult class with his least favorite professor, Henry Turner knows he’s going to have to work extra hard to survive his junior year of college. And now with his new title of captain for the hockey team—which he didn’t even want—Henry absolutely cannot fail. Enter Halle Jacobs, a fellow junior who finds herself befriended by Henry when he accidentally crashes her book club.
Halle may not have the romantic pursuits of her favorite fictional leads, but she’s an academic superstar, and as soon as she hears about Henry’s problems with his class reading material, she offers to help. Too bad being a private tutor isn’t exactly ideal given her own studies, job, book club, and the novel she’s trying to write. But new experiences are the key to beating her writer’s block, and Henry’s promising to be the one to give them to her.
They just need to stick to their rule book.
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The Dark Wives: A Vera Stanhope Novel by Ann Cleeves
On the same night Josh, a supervisor in an at-risk teen shelter, is murdered, Chloe, a 14-year-old resident, goes missing. Is she a suspect or a victim? Such is the investigatory challenge facing detective Vera Stanhope and her team, including a new member, Rosie Bell. The case grows more complicated when Brad, another teen resident, is also found dead in an area where Stanhope’s crew is searching for Chloe. The Northumberland district is known for its unforgiving countryside, dominated by three stone monuments called “The Dark Wives,” and for its annual pageant celebrating witches. Although sinister folklore, a tight-knit community, troubled teens, and a corrupt business enterprise give the detectives multiple avenues to pursue, Stanhope feels a personal connection to the wayward Chloe, whose discovered diaries reveal a scared, sensitive soul. A taut police procedural enhanced by relevant social consciousness, the eleventh book in Cleeves’ popular Vera Stanhope series is dedicated to “teens everywhere, and especially to . . . uppity young women with minds of their own, struggling to find a place in a difficult world.” – Booklist Review
Reader’s Note: The Dark Wives is the eleventh book in the Vera Stanhope mystery series. If you like to start reading the series from the beginning, check out book one: The Crow Trap.
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I Need You to Read This: A Novel by Jessa Maxwell
When the murder of the Herald’s beloved advice columnist goes unsolved, her longsought replacement, Alex Marks, nearly withers under the strain of filling the void. Alex was not only a devoted fan, she also had contacted “Dear Constance” multiple times throughout an abusive relationship, signing her pleas for help, “Lost Girl.” It’s not only dispensing the same empathetic advice in the same sympathetic tone that challenges Alex, it’s the overall mystery surrounding the sudden death, the haunted eeriness of the New York newspaper offices, the erratic behavior of her boss, and the ominous threats she receives that prompt her to delve into her predecessor’s murder. But having forged a new identity when she moved to the city, Alex is paranoid about getting close to people. Are her new friends and colleagues allies or enemies? With a propulsive pace of escalating violence and immersive compassion for Alex’s untenable position, Maxwell’s palm-sweat-inducing psychological thriller decisively captures the subterranean fear and uncertainty that accompany victims of domestic violence. – Booklist Review
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Worst Case Scenario: A Novel by T.J. Newman
Former flight attendant Newman (Drowning) parlays her professional experience into another nail-biter centered on a commercial airline accident. Nearly 300 people die when the pilot of a plane en route from Minneapolis to Seattle suffers a heart attack and crashes into a nuclear power plant shortly after taking off. The resulting leak at the Waketa, Minn., energy facility raises twin concerns: first, that 900 locals will be exposed to dangerous levels of radiation; second, that the breach could ignite an impossible to extinguish fire that would spread radioactive material across the entire Midwest. Waketa fire chief Steve Tostig spearheads an effort, with support from Nuclear Emergency Support specialist Joss Vance, to contain the radiation and save the country. Like Michael Crichton and other disaster novelists before her, Newman loops several ordinary people into her sprawling narrative, including Waketa schoolteachers and employees at the power plant, but she sets herself apart by giving notable weight and color to the human-scale dramas. She doesn’t skimp when it comes to action, either, resulting in a rip-roaring adventure that’s anchored in palpable emotion. This should satisfy the author’s fans and win her new ones. – 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.
Tech & Book Talk at SSCL 