Tech & Book Talk at SSCL

Hi everyone, here are the top New York Times fiction and non-fiction bestsellers for the upcoming week.

(Click on the book covers to read a summary of each plot and to request the books of your choice.)

FICTION:

A BETTER MAN by Louise Penny:

The 15th book in the Chief Inspector Gamache series. The search for a missing girl is imperiled by rising floodwaters across the province.

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DARK ILLUSION by Christine Feehan:

The 33rd book in the Carpathian series. A mage and an ancient warrior must stop a threat against all Carpathians.

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THE DARK SIDE by Danielle Steel:

Painful childhood memories surface for Zoe Morgan when she has a child of her own.

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THE GIRL WHO LIVED TWICE by David Lagercrantz:

Mikael Blomkvist helps Lisbeth Salander put her past behind her in the latest installment of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium series.

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THE GOLDFINCH by Donna Tartt:

After his mother is killed in a museum explosion, a young man grapples with the world alone while hiding a prized Dutch painting.

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THE INN by James Patterson and Candice Fox:

A former Boston police detective who is now an innkeeper must shield a seaside town from a crew of criminals.

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LONG CALL by Ann Cleeves:

Detective Matthew Venn faces his past in North Devon while he investigates the death of a man with an albatross tattoo.

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LOOK ALIVE TWENTY-FIVE by Janet Evanovich:

The 25th book in the Stephanie Plum series. When several managers of a deli in Trenton disappear, a bounty hunter and her detective boyfriend look for clues.

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NICKEL BOYS by Colson Whitehead:

Two boys respond to horrors at a Jim Crow-era reform school in ways that impact them decades later.

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NOTHING VENTURED by Jeffrey Archer:

While investigating the theft of a Rembrandt painting from the Fitzmolean Museum, the Scotland Yard detective William Warwick falls in love with a research assistant.

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OLD BONES by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child:

An expedition into the Sierra Nevada uncovers new twists to the events involving the Donner party.

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ONE GOOD DEED by David Baldacci:

A World War II veteran on parole must find the real killer in a small town or face going back to jail.

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THE ORACLE by Jonathan Cahn:

A traveler discovers mysteries hidden behind seven locked doors.

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SECRETS WE KEPT by Lara Prescott:

During the Cold War, members of the C.I.A.’s typing pool aid its mission to smuggle the banned book “Doctor Zhivago” behind the Iron Curtain.

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SILENT PATIENT by Alex Michaelides:

Theo Faber looks into the mystery of a famous painter who stops speaking after shooting her husband.

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THE TATTOOIST OF AUSCHWITZ by Heather Morris:

A concentration camp detainee tasked with permanently marking fellow prisoners falls in love with one of them.

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THIS TENDER LAND by William Kent Krueger:

Four orphans escape a Minnesota school and encounter a cross-section of different people struggling during the Great Depression.

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TURN OF THE KEY by Ruth Ware:

A nanny working in a technology-laden house in Scotland goes to jail when one of the children dies.

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VENDETTA IN DEATH by J.D. Robb:

The 49th book of the In Death series. Eve Dallas looks into the misdeeds of a wealthy businessman while a vigilante named Lady Justice uses disguises to avenge women who were wronged.

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WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING by Delia Owens:

In a quiet town on the North Carolina coast in 1969, a young woman who survived alone in the marsh becomes a murder suspect.

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NON-FICTION:

BECOMING by Michelle Obama:

The former first lady describes her journey from the South Side of Chicago to the White House, and how she balanced work, family and her husband’s political ascent.

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BORN A CRIME by Trevor Noah:

A memoir about growing up biracial in apartheid South Africa by the host of “The Daily Show.”

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EDUCATED by Tara Westover:

The daughter of survivalists, who is kept out of school, educates herself enough to leave home for university.

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HOW TO BE AN ANTIRACIST by Ibram X. Kendi:

A primer for creating a more just and equitable society through identifying and opposing racism.

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JUST MERCY by Bryan Stevenson:

 A civil rights lawyer and MacArthur grant recipient’s memoir of his decades of work to free innocent people condemned to death.

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MAYBE YOU SHOULD TALK TO SOMEONE by Lori Gottlieb:

A psychotherapist gains unexpected insights when she becomes another therapist’s patient.

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THE PIONEERS by David McCullough:

The Pulitzer Prize-winning historian tells the story of the settling of the Northwest Territory through five main characters.

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RADICALS, RESISTANCE AND REVENGE by Jeanine Pirro:

The Fox News host posits those she labels anti-Trump conspirators have committed possible crimes and a plot to destroy liberty.

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SAPIENS by Yuval Noah Harari:

How Homo sapiens became Earth’s dominant species.

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THREE WOMEN by Lisa Taddeo:

The inequality of female desire is explored through the sex lives of a homemaker, a high school student and a restaurant owner.

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TRICK MIRROR by Jia Tolentino:

Nine essays delving into late capitalism, online engagement and the author’s personal history.

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Have a great day!

Linda Reimer, SSL

Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.

Hi everyone, here are our five musical recommendations of the week!

1967: A Complete Rock Music History of the Summer of Love written by Harvey Kubernik (Format: Print Book):

During late spring 1967, tens of thousands of young people began streaming into San Francisco, kicking off a counterculture revolution and cultural explosion that was the Summer of Love. Now, on the 50th anniversary of that revolutionary event, acclaimed journalist and pop culture historian Harvey Kubernik takes us on an insider’s look at the happenings in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and beyond—in the months leading up to, during, and after that seminal summer—through the lens of rock music. This lush volume features a trove of little-known and previously unpublished interviews with scenemakers and musicians of the time and the people who knew them; psychedelic festival posters, concert flyers, and other 1960s ephemera; and stunning images from acclaimed photographers of the era.

“Packed with new interviews with principals like Carlos Santana, Michelle Phillips and Roger McGuinn, [1967] gives month-by-month accounts of the scenes in London, San Francisco, New York, and even Australia, where the Bee Gees were scoring their first hits. The result breathes new life into a wide-open cultural moment.”—Rolling Stone

Some of the many musicians featured in the book include Janis Joplin, Jimmy Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, The Jefferson Airplane, The Grateful Dead, The Buffalo Springfield, Otis Redding, The Doors, The Mar-Keys, The Byrds, The Bee Gees and Pink Floyd.

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The Big Red Songbook: 250+ IWW Songs Edited by Archie Green, David Roediger, Franklin Rosemont & Salvatore Salerno (Format: Print Book):

In 1905, representatives from dozens of radical labor groups came together in Chicago to form One Big Union—the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), known as the Wobblies. The union was a big presence in the labor movement and everywhere its members went, they sang.

Their songs were sung in mining camps and textile mills, hobo jungles and flophouses, and anywhere workers might be recruited to the Wobbliers’ cause. The songs were published in a pocket-size tome called the Little Red Songbook, which was so successful that it’s been published continuously since 1909.

In The Big Red Songbook, the editors have gathered songs from over three dozen editions, plus additional songs, rare artwork, personal recollections, discographies, and more into one big all-embracing book.

IWW poets/composers strove to nurture revolutionary consciousness. Each piece—whether topical, hortatory, elegiac, or comic—served to educate, agitate, and emancipate workers. A handful of Wobbly numbers have become classics, still sung by labor groups and folks singers. They include Joe Hill’s sardonic he Preacher and the Slave” (sometimes known by hit famous phrase “Pie in the Sky”) and Ralph Chaplin’s “Solidarity Forever.” Songs lost or found, sacred or irreverent, touted or neglected, serious or zany, singable or not, are here. The Wobblies and their friends have been singing for a century. May this comprehensive gathering simultaneous celebrate past battles and chart future goals.”

Some of the 250+ songs chronicled in the book include:

If You Workers Would Only Unit written by Richard Brazier

Scissor Bill by Joe Hill

Stung Right by Joe Hill

Stand Up! Ye Workers by Ethel Comer

The Parasites by John E. Nordquist

Larimer Street by Utah Phillips

Union Maid by Woody Guthrie

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Blues For Dracula (1958) by Philly Joe Jones (part of the CD set “Six Classic Albums”):

Drummer Philly Joe Jones’ debut recording as a leader, made shortly after he left Miles Davis’ Quintet, starts out with his amusing but overly long monologue on “Blues for Dracula,” during which he does his best to imitate Bela Lugosi. The remainder of the set (which has been reissued on CD) is more conventional, with fine playing from cornetist Nat Adderley, trombonist Julian Priester, the great tenor Johnny Griffin, pianist Tommy Flanagan, bassist Jimmy Garrison, and the drummer/leader. Dizzy Gillespie’s “Ow” and Cal Massey’s “Fiesta” are heard in lengthy versions on the worthwhile but not overly essential release. Scott Yanow, AllMusic Review

Song List:

1. Blues for Dracula

2. Trick Street

3. Fiesta

4. Tune-Up

5. Ow!

The other six LPs in this set are:
Drums Around The World (1958)
Philly Joe’s Beat (1960)
Showcase (1959)
Serge Chaloff – Blue Serge (1958)
J.R. Monterose (1958)

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Halloween Stomp by Various Artists (Format: Music CD):

I know Halloween seems like it is a long time off, however, it will be here before we know it! And as the library only has a handful of Halloween music CDs for adults – I think now is the time to recommend my favorite Halloween CD – Halloween Stomp!

This disc features 27 big band and jazz songs recorded from the 1920s to 1950.

And here’s the AllMusic Review for more info! This collection of “spooky” performances is dominated by songs dealing with ghosts and monsters, everything from “Mysterious Mose” and “Got the Jitters” to “Zombie,” “Skeleton in the Closet,” “The Ghost of Smokey Joe” and “With Her Head Tucked Underneath Her Arm.” Most of the music is from the swing era with such bands as those led by Red Nichols, Don Redman, Glen Gray, Louis Prima, Ozzie Nelson, Cab Calloway, Tommy Dorsey and even Rudy Vallee alternating with much more obscure groups. The producers at Jass have also “enhanced” the music by inserting odd sound effects between songs. This CD certainly qualifies as the definitive (and also only) Halloween jazz album. –Scott Yanow, AllMusic

If you’re having a Halloween party this year, you’ll enjoy this humorous, swinging collection!

Song List:
1. The Haunted House by Ray Noble & His Orchestra
2. Shivery Stomp by Frankie Trumbauer & His Orchestra
3. Mysterious Mose by Harry Reser & The Radio All-Stars
4. The Boogie Man Is Here by Tom Gerun & His Orchestra
5. Haunting Blues by Red Nichols, Jimmy Dorsey & Eddie Lang
6. Bug-A-Boo by Red Nichols & Wingy Mannone
7. Got The Jitters by Don Redman & His Orchestra
8. The Boogie Man by Todd Rollins & Chuck Bullock
9. The House Is Haunted by Glen Gray & The Casa Loma Orchestra
10. Zombie by Gene Kardos & His Orchestra
11. Mr. Ghost Goes To Town by Louis Prima & Pee Wee Russell
12. Skeleton In The Closet by Nat Gonnella & His Georgians
13. The Goblin Band by Glen Gray & Casa Loma Orchestra
14. Hell’s Bells by Sid Peltyn & His Orchestra
15. With her Head Tucked Under Her Arm by Rudy Vallee & His Connecticut Yankees
16. The Black Cat by Ozzie Nelson & His Orchestra
17. Strange Enchantment by Gil Evans
18. The Ghost of Smokey Joe by Cab Calloway & His Orcehstra
19. Ol’ Man Mose Ain’t Dead by The (Nat) King COle Trio
20. Swingin’ At The Seance by Glenn Miller & His Orchestra
“Horror Fantasia For Spooks And Wild Indians” (Tracks 21 – 24) by Charlie Barnet & His Orchestra with Peggy Lee on vocals
21. Fanfare/Cherokee (Theme)
22. Old Man Mose Is Dead
23. Redskin Rhumba
24. Pompton Tunrpike
25. Haunted Heart by Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra
26. The Headless Horseman by Kay Starr
27. Dry Bones by Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra

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Moanin’ In The Moonlight (1959) by Howlin’ Wolf:

Moanin’ in the Moonlight was Howlin’ Wolf’s first collection of sides for the Chess label, packed with great tunes and untouchable performances by the man himself. The last word in electric Chicago blues, Wolf was possessed of fine guitar and harp skills, a voice that could separate skin from bone, and a sheer magnetism and charisma that knew (and has known) no equal. This disc is outstanding throughout, and features some of his best sides, including “How Many More Years,” “Smokestack Lightnin’,” “Evil,” and “I Asked for Water (She Gave Me Gasoline).” Highly recommended for the uninitiated and a must for collectors. -Rovi Staff, AllMusic Review

Song List:
Moanin’ At Midnight
How Many More Years
Smokestack Lightnin’
Baby How Long
No Place To Go (You Gonna Wreck My Life)
All Night Boogie (All Night Long)
Evil (Is Going On)
I’m Leavin’ You
Moanin’ for My Baby
I Asked For Water
Forty Four
Somebody In My Home

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Videos of the Week:

Break On Through by The Doors

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Down On Me by Janis Joplin (with Big Brother & The Holding Company)

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For What Its Worth by Buffalo Springfield

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My Back Pages by The Byrds

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White Rabbit by The Jefferson Airplane

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Solidarity Forever written by Ralph Chaplin and performed by Pete Seeger & The Almanac Singers

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There Is Power In A Union written by Joe Hill and performed by Utah Phillips

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The Tramp written by Joe Hill and performed by Joe Glazer & Bill Friedland

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Blues for Dracula by Philly Joe Jones

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Fiesta by Philly Joe Jones

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Glen Gray & Casa Loma Orchestra

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Headless Horseman by Kay Starr

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Skeleton In The Closet by Nat Gonella & His Georgians

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Swingin’ At The Seance by Glenn Miller & His Orchestra

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No Place To Go by Howlin’ Wolf

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Smokestack Lightening by Howlin’ Wolf

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Spoonful by Howlin’ Wolf

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Have a great weekend!

Linda Reimer, SSCL

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REFERENCES:

Print References

The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits by Joel Whitburn

Online References

AllMusic: https://www.allmusic.com/

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Online Catalog Links:

StarCat

The catalog of physical materials, i.e. print books, DVDs, audiobooks on CD, etc.

The Digital Catalog (OverDrive)

The catalog of e-books, downloadable audiobooks and a handful of streaming videos.

ABOUT LIBRARY APPS: OverDrive & RBDigital:

You can access digital library content on PCs, Macs and mobile devices. For mobile devices simply download the OverDrive and/or the RBDigital app, to check out eBooks, downloadable audiobooks and on-demand magazines, from your app store to get started. If you have questions call the library at 607-936-3713 and one of our tech coaches will be happy to assist you.

Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.

Hi everyone, here are our recommended titles for the week, five digital titles, eBooks & downloadable audio books, available through OverDrive and five print titles available through StarCat.

DIGITAL CATALOG SUGGESTIONS:

Almost Midnight by Paul Doiron (Format: eBook):

In this thrilling entry in Edgar Award finalist Paul Doiron’s bestselling series, a deadly attack on one of Maine’s last wild wolves leads Game Warden Mike Bowditch to an even bigger criminal conspiracy.

While on vacation, Warden Investigator Mike Bowditch receives a strange summons from Billy Cronk, one of his oldest friends and a man he had to reluctantly put behind bars for murder. Billy wants him to investigate a new female prison guard with a mysterious past, and Mike feels honor-bound to help his friend. But when the guard becomes the victim in a brutal attack at the prison, he realizes there may be a darker cover-up at play—and that Billy and his family might be at risk.

Then Mike receives a second call for help, this time from a distant mountain valley where Shadow, a wolf-hybrid he once cared for, has been found shot by an arrow and clinging to life. He searches for the identity of the bowman, but his investigation is blocked at every turn by the increasingly hostile community. And when Billy’s wife and children are threatened, Mike finds himself tested like never before. How can he possibly keep the family safe when he has enemies of his own on his trail?

Torn between loyalties, Mike Bowditch must respond in the only way he knows how: by bending every law and breaking every rule to keep his loved ones safe and the true predators at bay.

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Careful What You Wish For: A Novel of Suspense by Hallie Ephron (Format: eBook)

From the New York Times bestselling author of There Was an Old Woman comes a novel about a professional organizer with a deadly problem she may not be able to clean up.

Emily Harlow is a professional organizer who helps people declutter their lives; she’s married to man who can’t drive past a yard sale without stopping. He’s filled their basement, attic, and garage with his finds.

Like other professionals who make a living decluttering peoples’ lives, Emily has devised a set of ironclad rules. When working with couples, she makes clear that the client is only allowed to declutter his or her own stuff. That stipulation has kept Emily’s own marriage together these past few years. She’d love nothing better than to toss out all her husband’s crap. He says he’s a collector. Emily knows better—he’s a hoarder. The larger his “collection” becomes, the deeper the distance grows between Emily and the man she married.

Luckily, Emily’s got two new clients to distract herself: an elderly widow whose husband left behind a storage unit she didn’t know existed, and a young wife whose husband won’t allow her stuff into their house. Emily’s initial meeting with the young wife takes a detour when, after too much wine, the women end up fantasizing about how much more pleasant life would be without their collecting spouses.

But the next day Emily finds herself in a mess that might be too big for her to clean up. Careful what you wish for, the old adage says . . . now Emily might lose her freedom, her marriage . . . and possibly her life.

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The Diary of a Bookseller written by Shaun Bythell, read by Robin Laing (Format: Downloadable Audiobook)

Shaun Bythell owns The Bookshop, Scotland’s largest second-hand bookshop. It contains 100,000 books, spread over a mile of shelving, with twisting corridors and roaring fires, and all set in a beautiful, rural town by the edge of the sea. A book-lover’s paradise? Well, almost … In these wry and hilarious diaries, Shaun provides an inside look at the trials and tribulations of life in the book trade, from struggles with eccentric customers to wrangles with his own staff, who include the ski-suit-wearing, bin-foraging Nicky. He takes us with him on buying trips to old estates and auction houses, recommends books-both lost classics and new discoveries-introduces us to the thrill of the unexpected find, and evokes the rhythms and charms of small-town life, always with a sharp and sympathetic eye.

Hilarious, wry, and charming, Shaun Bythell’s stories from his second-hand bookshop in remotest Scotland are sure to delight readers of all stripes.

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Out East, Memoir of a Montauk Summer written by John Glynn & read by Michael Crouch (Format: Downloadable Audiobook):

 A gripping portrait of life in a Montauk summer house—a debut memoir of first love, identity and self-discovery among a group of friends who became family. They call Montauk the end of the world, a spit of land jutting into the Atlantic. The house was a ramshackle split-level set on a hill, and each summer thirty one people would sleep between its thin walls and shag carpets. Against the moonlight the house’s octagonal roof resembled a bee’s nest. It was dubbed The Hive.

In 2013, John Glynn joined the share house. Packing his duffel for that first Memorial Day Weekend, he prayed for clarity. At 27, he was crippled by an all-encompassing loneliness, a feeling he had carried in his heart for as long as he could remember. John didn’t understand the loneliness. He just knew it was there. Like the moon gone dark. OUT EAST is the portrait of a summer, of the Hive and the people who lived in it, and John’s own reckoning with a half-formed sense of self. From Memorial Day to Labor Day, The Hive was a center of gravity, a port of call, a home. Friendships, conflicts, secrets and epiphanies blossomed within this tightly woven friend group and came to define how they would live out the rest of their twenties and beyond. Blending the sand-strewn milieu of George Howe Colt’s The Big House, the radiant aching of Olivia Liang’s The Lonely City, OUT EAST is a keenly wrought story of love and transformation, longing and escape in our own contemporary moment. “An unforgettable story told with feeling and humor and above all with the razor-sharp skill of a delicate and highly gifted writer.” —Andre Aciman, New York Times bestselling author of Call Me by Your Name “Out East is full of intimacy and hope and frustration and joy, an extraordinary tale of emotional awakening and lacerating ambivalence, a confession of self-doubt that becomes self-knowledge.” —Andrew Solomon, National Book Award winner

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Very Nice: A Novel by Marcy Dermansky (Format: eBook):

“A story of sex and intrigue set amid rich people in a beautiful house with a picturesque swimming pool… Very funny.” -Rumaan Alam, The Washington Post

A brilliantly funny novel of bad behavior in the post-Obama era, featuring a wealthy Connecticut divorcée, her college-age daughter, and the famous novelist who is seduced by them both.

Rachel Klein never meant to kiss her creative writing professor, but with his long eyelashes, his silky hair, and the sad, beautiful life he laid bare on Twitter, she does, and the kiss is very nice. Zahid Azzam never planned to become a houseguest in his student’s sprawling Connecticut home, but with the sparkling swimming pool, the endless supply of Whole Foods strawberries, and Rachel’s beautiful mother, he does, and the home is very nice. Becca Klein never thought she’d have a love affair so soon after her divorce, but when her daughter’s professor walks into her home, bringing with him an apricot standard poodle named Princess, she does, and the affair is…a very bad idea.

Zigzagging between the rarefied circles of Manhattan investment banking, the achingly self-serious MFA programs of the Midwest, and the private bedrooms of Connecticut, Very Nice is an audacious, addictive, and wickedly smart take on the way we live now.

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PRINT BOOK SUGGESTIONS:

Ghost Fire by Wilbur A. Smith:

“1754. Inseparable since birth and growing up in India, Theo and Connie Courtney are torn apart by the tragic death of their parents. Theo, wracked with guilt, strikes a solitary path through life. Haunted by the spirits of lovers and family members, he is determined to atone for his mistakes. He seeks salvation in combat and conflict, joining the British in the war against the French and Indian army. Believing herself abandoned by her brother, and abused and brutalized by a series of corrupt guardians, Connie vows never to let any man own her. Instead, she uses her beauty to manipulate her way to France, where she is welcomed into high society. But Connie once again finds herself at the mercy of vicious men, whose appetite for war and glory lead her to the frontlines of the French battlefield in North America. As the siblings find their destinies converging once more, they realize that the vengeance and redemption they both desperately seek could cost them their lives . . .”–Amazon.com

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Nottingham by Nathan Makaryk:

“England, 1191. King Richard is half a world away, fighting for God and his own ambition. Back home, his country languishes, bankrupt and on the verge of anarchy. People with power are running unchecked. People without are growing angry. And in Nottingham, one of the largest shires in England, the sheriff seems intent on doing nothing about it. As the leaves turn gold in the Sherwood Forest, the lives of six people, Arable, a servant girl with a secret, Robin and William, soldiers running from their pasts, Marion, a noblewoman working for change, Guy of Gisbourne, Nottingham’s beleaguered guard captain, and Elena Gamwell, a brash, ambitious thief, become intertwined. And a strange story begins to spread . . .”Back cover

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On Fire The (Burning) Case For A Green New Deal by Naomi Klein

“For more than twenty years, Naomi Klein has been the foremost chronicler of the economic war waged on both people and planet-and an unapologetic champion of a sweeping environmental agenda with justice at its center. In lucid, elegant dispatches from the frontlines of contemporary natural disaster, she pens surging, indispensable essays for a wide public: prescient advisories and dire warnings of what future awaits us if we refuse to act, as well as hopeful glimpses of a far better future. On Fire: The (Burning) Case for a Green New Deal gathers for the first time more than a decade of her impassioned writing, and pairs it with new material on the staggeringly high stakes of our immediate political and economic choices. These long-form essays show Klein at her most prophetic and philosophical, investigating the climate crisis not only as a profound political challenge but as a spiritual and imaginative one, as well. Delving into topics ranging from the clash between ecological time and our culture of “perpetual now,” to the soaring history of humans changing and evolving rapidly in the face of grave threats, to rising white supremacy and fortressed borders as a form of “climate barbarism,” this is a rousing call to action for a planet on the brink. With reports spanning from the ghostly Great Barrier Reef, to the annual smoke-choked skies of the Pacific Northwest, to post-hurricane Puerto Rico, to a Vatican attempting an unprecedented “ecological conversion,” Klein makes the case that we will rise to the existential challenge of climate change only if we are willing to transform the systems that produced this crisis. An expansive, far-ranging exploration that sees the battle for a greener world as indistinguishable from the fight for our lives, On Fire captures the burning urgency of the climate crisis, as well as the fiery energy of a rising political movement demanding a catalytic Green New Deal”– Provided by publisher.

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The Paris Orphan by Natasha Lester:

“New York City/Paris, 1942: When American model Jessica May arrives in Europe to cover the war as a photojournalist for Vogue, most of the soldiers are determined to make her life as difficult as possible. But three friendships change that. Journalist Martha Gellhorn encourages Jess to bend the rules. Captain Dan Hallworth keeps her safe in dangerous places so she can capture the stories that truly matter. And most important of all, the love of a little orphan named Victorine gives Jess strength to do the impossible. But her success will come at a price.”– Publisher’s description.

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What Rose Forgot by Nevada Barr:

In New York Times bestselling author Nevada Barr’s gripping standalone, a grandmother in her sixties emerges from a mental fog to find she’s trapped in her worst nightmare Rose Dennis wakes up in a hospital gown, her brain in a fog, only to discover that she’s been committed to an Alzheimer’s Unit in a nursing home. With no memory of how she ended up in this position, Rose is sure that something is very wrong. When she overhears one of the administrators saying about her that she’s “not making it through the week,” Rose is convinced that if she’s to survive, she has to get out of the nursing home. She avoids taking her medication, putting on a show for the aides, then stages her escape. The only problem is–how does she convince anyone that she’s not actually demented? Her relatives were the ones to commit her, all the legal papers were drawn up, the authorities are on the side of the nursing home, and even she isn’t sure she sounds completely sane. But any lingering doubt Rose herself might have had is erased when a would-be killer shows up in her house in the middle of the night. Now Rose knows that someone is determined to get rid of her. With the help of her computer hacker/recluse sister Marion, thirteen-year old granddaughter Mel, and Mel’s friend Royal, Rose begins to gather her strength and fight back–to find out who is after her and take back control of her own life. But someone out there is still determined to kill Rose, and they’re holding all the cards.

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Have a great week!

Linda Reimer, SSCL

Online Catalog Links:

StarCat

The catalog of physical materials, i.e. print books, DVDs, audiobooks on CD, etc.

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ABOUT LIBRARY APPS:

You can access digital library content, i.e. eBooks & downloadable audiobooks, on PCs, Macs and mobile devices.

For mobile devices simply download the Libby app, for eBooks & downloadable audiobooks, or the RB Digital app, for on-demand magazines, from your app store to get started. And if you’re using a PC or Mac simply click on the following links: https://stls.overdrive.com/ or https://www.rbdigital.com/stlschemungcony/service/magazines/landing?

If you have questions call the library at 607-936-3713 and one of our tech coaches will be happy to assist you.

Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.

Hi everyone, here are the top New York Times fiction and non-fiction bestsellers for the week ending September 8, 2019.

(Click on the book covers to read a summary of each plot and to request the books of your choice.)

FICTION:

ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN by Garth Stein:

An insightful Lab-terrier mix helps his owner, a struggling race car driver.

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ASK AGAIN, YES by Mary Beth Keane:

The lives of neighboring families in a New York City suburb intertwine over four decades.

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BEFORE WE WERE YOURS by Lisa Wingate:

A South Carolina lawyer learns about the questionable practices of a Tennessee orphanage.

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A BETTER MAN by Louise Penny:

The 15th book in the Chief Inspector Gamache series. The search for a missing girl is imperiled by rising floodwaters across the province.

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THE BITTERROOTS by C.J. Box:

The fourth book in the Cassie Dewell series. The black sheep of an influential family is accused of assault.

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THE DARK SIDE by Danielle Steel:

Painful childhood memories surface for Zoe Morgan when she has a child of her own.

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THE GIRL WHO LIVED TWICE by David Lagercrantz:

Mikael Blomkvist helps Lisbeth Salander put her past behind her in the latest installment of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium series.

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GOLDFINCH by Donna Tartt:

After his mother is killed in a museum explosion, a young man grapples with the world alone while hiding a prized Dutch painting.

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HOT SHOT by Fern Michaels:

The fifth book in the Men of the Sisterhood series. Trouble erupts when a community for seniors is built on a rival gang’s old stomping ground.

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INLAND by Téa Obreht:

The lives of a frontierswoman and a former outlaw intersect in the unforgiving climate of the Arizona Territory in 1893.

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THE INN by James Patterson and Candice Fox:

A former Boston police detective who is now an innkeeper must shield a seaside town from a crew of criminals.

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LITTLE FIRES EVERYWHERE by Celeste Ng:

An artist with a mysterious past and a disregard for the status quo upends a quiet town outside Cleveland.

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THE NEW GIRL by Daniel Silva:

Gabriel Allon, the chief of Israeli intelligence, partners with the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, whose daughter is kidnapped.

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NICKEL BOYS by Colson Whitehead:

Two boys respond to horrors at a Jim Crow-era reform school in ways that impact them decades later.

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OLD BONES by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child:

An expedition into the Sierra Nevada uncovers new twists to the events involving the Donner party.

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ONE GOOD DEED by David Baldacci:

A World War II veteran on parole must find the real killer in a small town or face going back to jail.

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OUTFOX by Sandra Brown:

F.B.I. Agent Drex Easton has a hunch that the conman Weston Graham is also a serial killer.

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THE RECKONING by John Grisham:

A decorated World War II veteran shoots and kills a pastor inside a Mississippi church.

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SAPPHIRE FLAMES by Ilona Andrews:

When her friend’s mother and sister are murdered, a magic user puts her own safety and reputation at risk.

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SILENT PATIENT by Alex Michaelides:

Theo Faber looks into the mystery of a famous painter who stops speaking after shooting her husband.

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THE TATTOOIST OF AUSCHWITZ by Heather Morris:

A concentration camp detainee tasked with permanently marking fellow prisoners falls in love with one of them.

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TURN OF THE KEY by Ruth Ware:

A nanny working in a technology-laden house in Scotland goes to jail when one of the children dies.

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WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING by Delia Owens:

In a quiet town on the North Carolina coast in 1969, a young woman who survived alone in the marsh becomes a murder suspect.

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NON-FICTION:

BAD BLOOD by John Carreyrou:

The rise and fall of the biotech startup Theranos.

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BECOMING by Michelle Obama:

The former first lady describes her journey from the South Side of Chicago to the White House, and how she balanced work, family and her husband’s political ascent.

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BETWEEN THE WORLD AND ME by Ta-Nehisi Coates:

 A meditation on race in America.

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BODY KEEPS THE SCORE by Bessel van der Kolk:

 How trauma affects the body and mind, and innovative treatments for recovery.

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BORN A CRIME by Trevor Noah:

A memoir about growing up biracial in apartheid South Africa by the host of “The Daily Show.”

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THE BRITISH ARE COMING by Rick Atkinson:

The Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and journalist begins his Revolution Trilogy with events from 1775 to 1777

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EDUCATED by Tara Westover:

The daughter of survivalists, who is kept out of school, educates herself enough to leave home for university.

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HOW TO BE AN ANTIRACIST by Ibram X. Kendi:

A primer for creating a more just and equitable society through identifying and opposing racism.

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JUST MERCY by Bryan Stevenson:

 A civil rights lawyer and MacArthur grant recipient’s memoir of his decades of work to free innocent people condemned to death.

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MAYBE YOU SHOULD TALK TO SOMEONE by Lori Gottlieb:

A psychotherapist gains unexpected insights when she becomes another therapist’s patient.

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THE MOMENT OF LIFT by Melinda Gates:

The philanthropist shares stories of empowering women to improve society.

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THE PIONEERS by David McCullough:

The Pulitzer Prize-winning historian tells the story of the settling of the Northwest Territory through five main characters.

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RADICALS, RESISTANCE AND REVENGE by Jeanine Pirro:

The Fox News host posits those she labels anti-Trump conspirators have committed possible crimes and a plot to destroy liberty.

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THE RANGE by David Epstein:

An argument for how generalists excel more than specialists, especially in complex and unpredictable fields.

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SAPIENS by Yuval Noah Harari:

How Homo sapiens became Earth’s dominant species.

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THANK YOU FOR MY SERVICE by Mat Best with Ross Patterson and Nils Parker:

An inside look into military life by the YouTube personality and former Army Ranger.

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THREE WOMEN by Lisa Taddeo:

The inequality of female desire is explored through the sex lives of a homemaker, a high school student and a restaurant owner.

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UNFREEDOM OF THE PRESS by Mark R. Levin:

The conservative commentator and radio host makes his case that the press is aligned with political ideology.

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WHITE FRAGILITY by Robin DiAngelo:

Historical and cultural analyses on what causes defensive moves by white people and how this inhibits cross-racial dialogue.

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Have a great day!

Linda Reimer, SSL

Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.

Hi everyone, here are our five musical recommendations of the week!

This week our five music recommendation are:

Green Onions by Booker T. Jones & The MG’s (Format: Music CD):

There’s not a note or a nuance out of place anywhere on this record, which featured 35 of the most exciting minutes of instrumental music in any category that one could purchase in 1962 (and it’s no slouch multiple decades out, either). “I Got a Woman” is the single best indicator of how superb this record is and this band was — listening to this track, it’s easy to forget that the song ever had lyrics or ever needed them, Booker T. Jones’ organ and Steve Cropper’s guitar serving as more-than-adequate substitutes for any singer. Their version of “Twist and Shout” is every bit as satisfying. Even “Mo’ Onions,” an effort to repeat the success of “Green Onions,” doesn’t repeat anything from the earlier track except the tempo, and Jones and Cropper both come up with fresh sounds within the same framework. “Behave Yourself” is a beautifully wrought piece of organ-based blues that gives Jones a chance to show off some surprisingly nimble-fingered playing, while “Stranger on the Shore” is transformed into a piece of prime soul music in the group’s hands. Just when it seems like the album has turned in all of the surprises in repertory that it could reasonably deliver, it ends with “Comin’ Home Baby,” a killer jazz piece on which Steve Cropper gets to shine, his guitar suddenly animated around Jones’ playing, his quietly trilled notes at the crescendo some of the most elegant guitar heard on an R&B record up to that time. Bruce Eder, AllMusic Review.

Song List:
1. Green Onions
2. Rinky-Dink
3. I Got a Woman
4. Mo’ Onions
5. Twist and Shout
6. Behave Yourself
7. Stranger on the Shore
8. Lonely Avenue
9. One Who really Loves You
10. Can’t Sit Down
11. A Woman, A Lover, A Friend
12. Comin’ Home Baby
13. Green Onions
14. Can’t Sit Down

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Keeping Score: Revolutions in Music: Copland And The American Sound (Format: DVD):

Dealing notes like cards in a game of poker, Aaron Copland gambled on a new American sound. His roots in Brooklyn’s Jewish community, shuffled with depression-era jazz, folk music, and hymns earned him a hand flush with relentless innovation. How such an unlikely outsider managed to capture the spirit of a nation to create classics like Billy the Kid and Appalachian Spring is a tale possible only in America. In this episode of Keeping Score, Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony pare Copland and his music down to their essence, revealing the sound we now recognize as American. San Francisco Symphony Overview

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Ola Belle Reed and Southern Mountain Music on the Mason Dixon Line by Henry Glasssie, Clifford R. Murphy & Douglas Dowling Peach (Format: Print Book with 2 CDs):

Born to a musical family in the mountains of Ashe County, North Carolina in 1913, Ola Belle Reed became a prolific songwriter and performer. Known for her unique style of banjo playing and singing, she became a mainstay of traditional old-time music on the radio, and inspired generations of bluegrass and old-time players. She was awarded a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1986. Ola Belle Reed died in 2002, yet her influence is still reverberating throughout old time and traditional music.

In 1966, folklorist Henry Glassie traveled from Philadelphia to the town of Oxford, Pennsylvania to see Alex & Ola Belle and the New River Boys and Girls play their exciting brand of Southern mountain music live, on the air, in the back of the Campbell’s Corner general store. Over the next two years, Glassie would record the deep repertoire of Ola Belle Reed – folk ballads, minstrel songs, country standards, and originals like “I’ve Endured,” penned by Ola Belle herself. Glassie also chronicled the remarkable story of the migration of communities from the Blue Ridge Mountains toward the Mason-Dixon Line prior to World War II. Over four decades later, in 2009, Maryland state folklorist Clifford Murphy struck out to discover if this rich musical tradition still existed in the small Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania towns where it once flourished. Murphy, amazed by what he encountered, began making audio recordings to document the descendants of Ola Belle’s musical legacy. –from The American Folklore Center site

The book includes two CDs.

Song List:
Disc 1
Title/Composer Performer
1 Uncloudy Day by Ola Belle Reed
2 My Home’s Across the Blue Ridge Mountain by Alex Campbell / John Miller / Ola Belle Reed
3 Bringing in the Georgia Mail by Alex Campbell / Burl Kilby / Ola Belle Reed
4 Train 45 by Ola Belle Reed
5 The Worried Man Blues by Ola Belle Reed
6 Worried Man Blues by Burl Kilby / Ola Belle Reed
7 The Ranger’s Command by Burl Kilby / John Miller / Ola Belle Reed
8 Big Kid’s Barroom by Burl Kilby / John Miller / Ola Belle Reed
9 The Miller’s by Will Burl Kilby / Ola Belle Reed
10 Black Jack Davy by Burl Kilby / Ola Belle Reed
11 John Hardy by Alex Campbell / John Miller / Ola Belle Reed
12 Single Girl by Burl Kilby / John Miller / Ola Belle Reed
13 Kitty Wells by Burl Kilby / Ola Belle Reed
14 The Orphan Girl by Burl Kilby / John Miller / Ola Belle Reed
15 I’ve Always Been a Rambler by Burl Kilby / Ola Belle Reed
16 Undone in Sorrow by Ola Belle Reed
17 You Led Me to the Wrong by Burl Kilby / John Miller / Ola Belle Reed
18 Absalom My Son, My Son by Ola Belle Reed
19 Amazing Grace by John Miller / Ola Belle Reed
20 Six Feet of Earth by Burl Kilby / John Miller / Ola Belle Reed
21 All the Dark Places by Ola Belle Reed
22 I’m Going Through by Burl Kilby / John Miller / Ola Belle Reed
23 I’ve Endured by Burl Kilby / John Miller / Ola Belle Reed
24 I’ve Endured by Burl Kilby / John Miller / Ola Belle Reed

Disc 2
Title/Composer Performer
1 Undone in Sorrow by Hugh Campbell
2 Plucking the Strings by Dave Reed
3 Cherokee Shuffle by T.J. Lundy / Danny Paisley / Ryan Paisley
4 I’m Longing for a Love I’ll Never Know by T.J. Lundy / Danny Paisley / Ryan Paisley
5 Sally Goodin by Burl Kilby
6 Story of Tom Moore, the Gravedigger by Hugh Campbell
7 Footprints Left Below by Hugh Campbell
8 Leave It There by DeBusk-Weaver Family
9 Six Hours on the Cross by DeBusk-Weaver Family
10 John Hardy by Dave Reed
11 Cherokee Eyes by Zane Campbell
12 High on a Mountain by Burl Kilby
13 Fiddle on the Wall by Hugh Campbell
14 Rachel by T.J. Lundy / Danny Paisley / Ryan Paisley
15 The Old Swinging Bridge by T.J. Lundy / Danny Paisley / Ryan Paisley
16 John Hardy by John Henry/Dave Reed
17 Stolen Love by Hugh Campbell / Zane Campbell
18 The Buzzard and the Monkey by Burton DeBusk
19 The Pussycat and the Bulldog by Burton DeBusk
20 Preacher and the Bear by Dave Reed
21 Turkey in the Straw by Burl Kilby
22 Ryestraw by T.J. Lundy / Danny Paisley / Ryan Paisley
23 The Butcher Boy by Hugh Campbell / Dave Reed
24 Simple Man by Dave Reed
25 1,000 Light Years Away by Dave Reed
26 I Feel Like Traveling On by DeBusk-Weaver Family
27 New River Train by T.J. Lundy / Danny Paisley / Ryan Paisley
28 Salt Creek by T.J. Lundy / Danny Paisley / Ryan Paisley
29 Cumberland Gap by Burl Kilby
30 Boxes Full of Memories by Hugh Campbell
31 Father, Listen by Hugh Campbell
32 My Home’s Across the Blue Ridge Mountains by T.J. Lundy / Danny Paisley / Ryan Paisley
33 Family Graveyard by Zane Campbell
34 Over in the Gloryland by Hugh Campbell / Zane Campbell / DeBusk-Weaver Family / Dave Reed

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Respect Yourself: Stax Records And The Soul Explosion by Robert Gordon with a foreword by Booker T. Jones (Format: Print Book):

The story of Stax Records unfolds like a Greek tragedy. A white brother and sister build a monument to racial harmony in blighted south Memphis during the civil rights movement. Their success soon pits the siblings against each other, and the brother abandons his sister for a visionary African-American partner. Under integrated leadership, Stax explodes as a national player until, Icarus-like, the heights they achieve result in their tragic demise. They fall, losing everything, and the sanctuary they created is torn to the ground. A generation later, Stax is rebuilt brick by brick and is once again transforming disenfranchised youth into stellar young musicians.

Set in the world of 1960s and ’70s soul music, Respect Yourself is a character-driven story of racial integration, and then of black power and economic independence. It’s about music and musicians—Isaac Hayes, Otis Redding, the Staple Singers, and Booker T. and the M.G.’s, Stax’s interracial house band. It’s about a small independent company’s struggle to survive in an increasingly conglomerate-oriented world. And always at the center of the story is Memphis, Tennessee, an explosive city struggling through volatile years. Told by one of our leading music chroniclers, Respect Yourself is the book to own about one of our most treasured cultural institutions and the city that created it.

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So Much In Love! (1962) by Ray Conniff Singers (Format: Music CD):

So Much in Love, like the earlier albums It’s the Talk of the Town and Young at Heart, shifts the emphasis away from Ray Conniff’s trademark blend of voices and instruments to concentrate on the vocal chorus. One of Conniff’s favorite tricks is to split the chorus and give the men and women contrasting vocal lines, and that technique is used throughout the album. “Autumn Leaves” and “Chances Are” turn the spotlight on the women, “Just Walking in the Rain” is handled mostly by the men, and the combined chorus brings a majestic lushness to “I Wish I Didn’t Love You So.” So Much in Love made the Top Five on the album charts in 1962, showing what a huge adult audience still existed for traditional pop music in the rock & roll era. There are no snappy rhythms or “tic tac” electric basslines on So Much in Love — it is a straight choral pop album with orchestral accompaniment and classic songs. Greg Adams, AllMusic Review.

Song List:
1. Autumn Leaves/Just Walking In The Rain
2. I Fall In Love Woo Easily/My Heart Stood Still
3. Dancing On The Ceiling/Dancing In The Dark Timing
4. I Wish I Didn’t Love You So/Bewitched
5. Whatever Will Be, Will Be/True Love
6. Chances Are/It’s Not For Me To Say

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Videos of the Week:

Gee Whiz by Carla Thomas

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Green Onions by Booker T & The MG’s

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Time Is Tight by Booker T & The MG’s

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Tiny Desk Concert by Booker T Jones

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Appalachian Spring (Orchestral suite) composed by Aaron Copland, performed by the Ulster Orchestra, Thierry Fischer conducting

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Fanfare for the Common Man composed by Aaron Copland, performed by the New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein conducting

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Morning On the Ranch composed by Aaron Copland, performed by The Saint Louis Symphony, Leonard Slatkin conducting

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Gonna Write Me A Letter by Ola Belle Reed

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I’ve Endured by Ola Belle Reed

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Undone in Sorrow by Ola Belle Reed

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In The Midnight Hour by Wilson Pickett

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Knock On Wood by Eddie Floyd

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Last Night by Mar-Keys

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Sookie Sookie by Don Covay

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Soul Man by Sam & Dave

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Autumn Leaves/Just Walking In The Rain by the Ray Conniff Singers

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Dancing On The Ceiling/Dancing In The Dark Timing by the Ray Conniff Singers

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Jackie Gleason Music For Lovers Only The Jackie Gleason Orchestra

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Have a great weekend!

Linda Reimer, SSCL

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REFERENCES:

Print References

The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits by Joel Whitburn

Online References

AllMusic: https://www.allmusic.com/

The American Folk Life Center.
Copland And The American Sound. PBS Online. http://www.pbs.org/keepingscore/copland-american-sound.html

Keeping Score: Aaron Copland And The American Sound. The San Francisco Symphony, https://www.keepingscore.org/content/aaron-coplands-appalachian-spring

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Online Catalog Links:

StarCat

The catalog of physical materials, i.e. print books, DVDs, audiobooks on CD, etc.

The Digital Catalog (OverDrive)

The catalog of e-books, downloadable audiobooks and a handful of streaming videos.

ABOUT LIBRARY APPS: OverDrive & RBDigital:

You can access digital library content on PCs, Macs and mobile devices. For mobile devices simply download the OverDrive and/or the RBDigital app, to check out eBooks, downloadable audiobooks and on-demand magazines, from your app store to get started. If you have questions call the library at 607-936-3713 and one of our tech coaches will be happy to assist you.

Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.

Hi everyone, here are our recommended titles for the week, five digital titles, eBooks & downloadable audio books, available through OverDrive and five print titles available through StarCat.

DIGITAL CATALOG SUGGESTIONS:

The Editor by Steven Rowley:

From the bestselling author of Lily and the Octopus comes a novel about a struggling writer who gets his big break, with a little help from the most famous woman in America.

After years of trying to make it as a writer in 1990s New York City, James Smale finally sells his novel to an editor at a major publishing house: none other than Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Jackie–or Mrs. Onassis, as she’s known in the office–has fallen in love with James’s candidly autobiographical novel, one that exposes his own dysfunctional family. But when the book’s forthcoming publication threatens to unravel already fragile relationships, both within his family and with his partner, James finds that he can’t bring himself to finish the manuscript.

Jackie and James develop an unexpected friendship, and she pushes him to write an authentic ending, encouraging him to head home to confront the truth about his relationship with his mother. Then a long-held family secret is revealed, and he realizes his editor may have had a larger plan that goes beyond the page…

From the bestselling author of Lily and the Octopus comes a funny, poignant, and highly original novel about an author whose relationship with his very famous book editor will change him forever–both as a writer and a son.

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Fools and Mortals: A Novel by Bernard Cornwell:

New York Times bestselling author Bernard Cornwell makes a dramatic departure with this enthralling, action-packed standalone novel that tells the story of the first production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream—as related by William Shakespeare’s estranged younger brother.

Lord, what fools these mortals be . . .

In the heart of Elizabethan England, Richard Shakespeare dreams of a glittering career in one of the London playhouses, a world dominated by his older brother, William. But he is a penniless actor, making ends meet through a combination of a beautiful face, petty theft and a silver tongue. As William’s star rises, Richard’s onetime gratitude is souring and he is sorely tempted to abandon family loyalty.

So when a priceless manuscript goes missing, suspicion falls upon Richard, forcing him onto a perilous path through a bawdy and frequently brutal London. Entangled in a high-stakes game of duplicity and betrayal which threatens not only his career and potential fortune, but also the lives of his fellow players, Richard has to call on all he has now learned from the brightest stages and the darkest alleyways of the city. To avoid the gallows, he must play the part of a lifetime . ..

Showcasing the superb storytelling skill that has won Bernard Cornwell international renown, Fools and Mortals is a richly portrayed tour de force that brings to life a vivid world of intricate stagecraft, fierce competition, and consuming ambition.

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The Lost Vintage: A Novel by Ann Mah:

Sweetbitter meets The Nightingale in this page-turning novel about a woman who returns to her family’s ancestral vineyard in Burgundy and unexpectedly uncovers a lost diary, an unknown relative, and a secret her family has been keeping since World War II.

To become one of only a few hundred certified wine experts in the world, Kate must pass the notoriously difficult Master of Wine examination. She’s failed twice before; her third attempt will be her last chance. Suddenly finding herself without a job and with the test a few months away, she travels to Burgundy to spend the fall at the vineyard estate that has belonged to her family for generations. There she can bolster her shaky knowledge of Burgundian vintages and reconnect with her cousin Nico and his wife, Heather, who now oversee day-to-day management of the grapes. The one person Kate hopes to avoid is Jean-Luc, a talented young winemaker and her first love.

At the vineyard house, Kate is eager to help her cousin clean out the enormous basement that is filled with generations of discarded and forgotten belongings. Deep inside the cellar, behind a large armoire, she discovers a hidden room containing a cot, some Resistance pamphlets, and an enormous cache of valuable wine. Piqued by the secret space, Kate begins to dig into her family’s history—a search that takes her back to the dark days of World War II and introduces her to a relative she never knew existed, a great–half aunt who was a teenager during the Nazi occupation.

As she learns more about her family, the line between resistance and collaboration blurs, driving Kate to find the answers to two crucial questions: Who, exactly, did her family aid during the difficult years of the war? And what happened to six valuable bottles of wine that seem to be missing from the cellar’s collection?
“

If you enjoyed Sarah’s Key and Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale, then this wonderful book by Ann Mah is for you.” — Tatiana de Rosnay

Sweetbitter meets The Nightingale in this page-turning novel about a woman who returns to her family’s ancestral vineyard in Burgundy and unexpectedly uncovers a lost diary, an unknown relative, and a secret her family has been keeping since World War II.

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The Midnight Man: Canterbury Tales Mystery Series, Book 7 by Paul Doherty:

In Doherty’s solid seventh Canterbury Tales medieval mystery (after 2009’s A Haunt of Murder), the physician delivers a blood-curdling account of the depredations of the so-called Midnight Man, described as “a warlock well-served by the knights of hell.” Doherty doesn’t stint on the number of puzzles Brother Anselm, principal exorcist to the archbishop of Canterbury, has to unravel. They include a locked-room murder, the apparent haunting of a church by ghosts, the question of whether the activities of the Midnight Man’s coven are connected with some missing buried treasure, and the disappearance of young women in the vicinity. Despite the number of balls in the air, Doherty drops nary a one as he provides another intriguing look at the past through the lens of a murder inquiry. — Publishers Weekly

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The Sparsholt Affair by Alan Hollinghurst:

“Readers of [The Stranger’s Child]—or of Hollinghurst’s earlier The Line of Beauty…will find much that is familiar here, stylistically and thematically. As always, Hollinghurst writes classically beautiful prose, which…is constantly intelligent, alert and mobile…As the story moves forward in time, Hollinghurst achieves the kind of symphonic effect we normally associate with much longer books, like Proust’s In Search of Lost Time or Anthony Powell’s A Dance to the Music of Time. People we first met as students in the 1940s return in new guises: A writer is famous, then forgotten, then the subject of scholarly revival; the teenage David turns into a father, then a grandfather. The effect is moving, and Hollinghurst writes with a wisdom and understanding only available to an experienced writer working with his favorite themes. By the end of the novel, the mystery of David Sparsholt hasn’t quite been solved, but it has served its purpose—as the absent center of a beautiful and complex design.– The New York Times Book Review – Adam Kirsch

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PRINT BOOK SUGGESTIONS:

Biloxi: A Novel by Mary Miller:

Mary Miller seizes the mantle of southern literature with Biloxi, a tender, gritty tale of middle age and the unexpected turns a life can take.

Building on her critically acclaimed novel The Last Days of California and her biting collection Always Happy Hour, Miller transports readers to this delightfully wry, unapologetic corner of the south—Biloxi, Mississippi, home to sixty-three-year-old Louis McDonald, Jr.

Louis has been forlorn since his wife of thirty-seven years left him, his father passed, and he impulsively retired from his job in anticipation of an inheritance check that may not come. These days he watches reality television and tries to avoid his ex-wife and daughter, benefiting from the charity of his former brother-in-law, Frank, who religiously brings over his Chili’s leftovers and always stays for a beer.

Yet the past is no predictor of Louis’s future. On a routine trip to Walgreens to pick up his diabetes medication, he stops at a sign advertising free dogs and meets Harry Davidson, a man who claims to have more than a dozen canines on offer, but offers only one: an overweight mixed breed named Layla. Without any rational explanation, Louis feels compelled to take the dog home, and the two become inseparable. Louis, more than anyone, is dumbfounded to find himself in love—bursting into song with improvised jingles, exploring new locales, and reevaluating what he once considered the fixed horizons of his life.

With her “sociologist’s eye for the mundane and revealing” (Joyce Carol Oates, New York Review of Books), Miller populates the Gulf Coast with Ann Beattie-like characters. A strangely heartwarming tale of loneliness, masculinity, and the limitations of each, Biloxi confirms Miller’s position as one of our most gifted and perceptive writers.

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Everything Inside: Stories by Edwidge Danticat:

Named a Highly Anticipated Book of Summer 2019 by Lit Hub, Esquire, Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, BuzzFeed, TIME, Good Housekeeping, Bustle, and BookRiot

From the internationally acclaimed, best-selling author of Brother, I’m Dying, a collection of vividly imagined stories about community, family, and love.

Rich with hard-won wisdom and humanity, set in locales from Miami and Port-au-Prince to a small unnamed country in the Caribbean and beyond, Everything Inside is at once wide in scope and intimate, as it explores the forces that pull us together, or drive us apart, sometimes in the same searing instant.

In these eight powerful, emotionally absorbing stories, a romance unexpectedly sparks between two wounded friends; a marriage ends for what seem like noble reasons, but with irreparable consequences; a young woman holds on to an impossible dream even as she fights for her survival; two lovers reunite after unimaginable tragedy, both for their country and in their lives; a baby’s christening brings three generations of a family to a precarious dance between old and new; a man falls to his death in slow motion, reliving the defining moments of the life he is about to lose.

This is the indelible work of a keen observer of the human heart–a master at her best.

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Love And Death Among The Cheetahs by Rhys Bowen:

Georgie and Darcy are finally on their honeymoon in Kenya’s Happy Valley, but murder crashes the party in this all-new installment in the New York Times bestselling series.

I was so excited when Darcy announced out of the blue that we were flying to Kenya for our extended honeymoon. Now that we are here, I suspect he has actually been sent to fulfill another secret mission. I am trying very hard not to pick a fight about it, because after all, we are in paradise! Darcy finally confides that there have been robberies in London and Paris. It seems the thief was a member of the aristocracy and may have fled to Kenya. Since we are staying in the Happy Valley—the center of upper-class English life—we are well positioned to hunt for clues and ferret out possible suspects.

Now that I am a sophisticated married woman, I am doing my best to sound like one. But crikey! These aristocrats are a thoroughly loathsome sort enjoying a completely decadent lifestyle filled with wild parties and rampant infidelity. And one of the leading lights in the community, Lord Cheriton, has the nerve to make a play for me. While I am on my honeymoon! Of course, I put an end to that right off.

When he is found bloodied and lifeless along a lonely stretch of road, it appears he fell victim to a lion. But it seems that the Happy Valley community wants to close the case a bit too quickly. Darcy and I soon discover that there is much more than a simple robbery and an animal attack to contend with here in Kenya. Nearly everyone has a motive to want Lord Cheriton dead and some will go to great lengths to silence anyone who asks too many questions. The hunt is on! I just hope I can survive my honeymoon long enough to catch a killer. . . .

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The March Sisters: On Life, Death & Little Women by Kate Bolick:

For the 150th anniversary of the publication of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, Kate Bolick, Jenny Zhang, Carmen Maria Machado, and Jane Smiley explore their strong lifelong personal engagement with Alcott’s novel—what it has meant to them and why it still matters. Each takes as her subject one of the four March sisters, reflecting on their stories and what they have to teach us about life. Kate Bolick finds parallels in oldest sister Meg’s brush with glamour at the Moffats’ ball and her own complicated relationship with clothes. Jenny Zhang confesses to liking Jo least among the sisters when she first read the novel as a girl, uncomfortable in finding so much of herself in a character she feared was too unfeminine. Carmen Maria Machado writes about the real-life tragedy of Lizzie Alcott, the inspiration for third sister Beth, and the horror story that can result from not being the author of your own life’s narrative. And Jane Smiley rehabilitates the reputation of youngest sister Amy, whom she sees as a modern feminist role model for those of us who are, well, not like the fiery Jo. These four voices come together to form a deep, funny, far-ranging meditation on the power of great literature to shape our lives. – Synopsis from The Library of Congress

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The Storyteller’s Secret: A Novel by Sejal Badani:

From the bestselling author of Trail of Broken Wings comes an epic story of the unrelenting force of love, the power of healing, and the invincible desire to dream.

Nothing prepares Jaya, a New York journalist, for the heartbreak of her third miscarriage and the slow unraveling of her marriage in its wake. Desperate to assuage her deep anguish, she decides to go to India to uncover answers to her family’s past.

Intoxicated by the sights, smells, and sounds she experiences, Jaya becomes an eager student of the culture. But it is Ravi—her grandmother’s former servant and trusted confidant—who reveals the resilience, struggles, secret love, and tragic fall of Jaya’s pioneering grandmother during the British occupation. Through her courageous grandmother’s arrestingly romantic and heart-wrenching story, Jaya discovers the legacy bequeathed to her and a strength that, until now, she never knew was possible.

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Have a great week!

Linda Reimer, SSCL

Online Catalog Links:

StarCat

The catalog of physical materials, i.e. print books, DVDs, audiobooks on CD, etc.

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ABOUT LIBRARY APPS:

You can access digital library content, i.e. eBooks & downloadable audiobooks, on PCs, Macs and mobile devices.

For mobile devices simply download the Libby app, for eBooks & downloadable audiobooks, or the RB Digital app, for on-demand magazines, from your app store to get started. And if you’re using a PC or Mac simply click on the following links: https://stls.overdrive.com/ or https://www.rbdigital.com/stlschemungcony/service/magazines/landing?

If you have questions call the library at 607-936-3713 and one of our tech coaches will be happy to assist you.

Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.

Hi everyone, here are the top New York Times fiction and non-fiction bestsellers for the week ending September 8, 2019.

(Click on the book covers to read a summary of each plot and to request the books of your choice.)

FICTION:

ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN by Garth Stein:

An insightful Lab-terrier mix helps his owner, a struggling race car driver.

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ASK AGAIN, YES by Mary Beth Keane:

The lives of neighboring families in a New York City suburb intertwine over four decades.

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BEFORE WE WERE YOURS by Lisa Wingate:

A South Carolina lawyer learns about the questionable practices of a Tennessee orphanage.

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THE BITTERROOTS by C.J. Box:

The fourth book in the Cassie Dewell series. The black sheep of an influential family is accused of assault.

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EVVIE DRAKE STARTS OVER by Linda Holmes:

In a seaside town in Maine, a former Major League pitcher and a grieving widow assess their pasts.

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GOLDFINCH by Donna Tartt:

After his mother is killed in a museum explosion, a young man grapples with the world alone while hiding a prized Dutch painting.

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INLAND by Téa Obreht:

The lives of a frontierswoman and a former outlaw intersect in the unforgiving climate of the Arizona Territory in 1893.

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THE INN by James Patterson and Candice Fox:

A former Boston police detective who is now an innkeeper must shield a seaside town from a crew of criminals.

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LAST WIDOW by Karin Slaughter:

The abduction of a Centers for Disease Control scientist and explosions in an Atlanta neighborhood portend a massacre.

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NICKEL BOYS by Colson Whitehead:

Two boys respond to horrors at a Jim Crow-era reform school in ways that impact them decades later.

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OLD BONES by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child:

An expedition into the Sierra Nevada uncovers new twists to the events involving the Donner party.

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ONE GOOD DEED by David Baldacci:

A World War II veteran on parole must find the real killer in a small town or face going back to jail.

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OUTFOX by Sandra Brown:

F.B.I. Agent Drex Easton has a hunch that the conman Weston Graham is also a serial killer.

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SILENT PATIENT by Alex Michaelides:

Theo Faber looks into the mystery of a famous painter who stops speaking after shooting her husband.

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THE TATTOOIST OF AUSCHWITZ by Heather Morris:

A concentration camp detainee tasked with permanently marking fellow prisoners falls in love with one of them.

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TIDELANDS by Philippa Gregory:

Suspicions surround Alinor, a widow who is skilled with herbs, during the English Civil War in 1648.

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TURN OF THE KEY by Ruth Ware:

A nanny working in a technology-laden house in Scotland goes to jail when one of the children dies.

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WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING by Delia Owens:

In a quiet town on the North Carolina coast in 1969, a young woman who survived alone in the marsh becomes a murder suspect.

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WHISPER MAN by Alex North:

A serial killer’s methods from 20 years ago resonate in the town of Featherbank when a young boy goes missing.

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NON-FICTION:

BECOMING by Michelle Obama:

The former first lady describes her journey from the South Side of Chicago to the White House, and how she balanced work, family and her husband’s political ascent.

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BETWEEN THE WORLD AND ME by Ta-Nehisi Coates:

 A meditation on race in America.

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BODY KEEPS THE SCORE by Bessel van der Kolk:

 How trauma affects the body and mind, and innovative treatments for recovery.

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BORN A CRIME by Trevor Noah:

A memoir about growing up biracial in apartheid South Africa by the host of “The Daily Show.”

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EDUCATED by Tara Westover:

The daughter of survivalists, who is kept out of school, educates herself enough to leave home for university.

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HOW TO BE AN ANTIRACIST by Ibram X. Kendi:

A primer for creating a more just and equitable society through identifying and opposing racism.

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JUST MERCY by Bryan Stevenson:

 A civil rights lawyer and MacArthur grant recipient’s memoir of his decades of work to free innocent people condemned to death.

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KOCHLAND by Christopher Leonard:

How Koch Industries consolidated power and affected important facets of modern life over the last half-century.

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MAYBE YOU SHOULD TALK TO SOMEONE by Lori Gottlieb:

A psychotherapist gains unexpected insights when she becomes another therapist’s patient.

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OUTLAW OCEAN by Ian Urbina:

A New York Times investigative reporter examines the difficulties of policing the high seas.

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THE PIONEERS by David McCullough:

The Pulitzer Prize-winning historian tells the story of the settling of the Northwest Territory through five main characters.

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THE RANGE by David Epstein:

An argument for how generalists excel more than specialists, especially in complex and unpredictable fields.

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SAPIENS by Yuval Noah Harari:

How Homo sapiens became Earth’s dominant species.

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SECOND MOUNTAIN by David Brooks:

A New York Times Op-Ed columnist espouses having an outward focus to attain a meaningful life.

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THREE WOMEN by Lisa Taddeo:

The inequality of female desire is explored through the sex lives of a homemaker, a high school student and a restaurant owner.

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UNFREEDOM OF THE PRESS by Mark R. Levin:

The conservative commentator and radio host makes his case that the press is aligned with political ideology.

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WHITE FRAGILITY by Robin DiAngelo:

Historical and cultural analyses on what causes defensive moves by white people and how this inhibits cross-racial dialogue.

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Have a great day!

Linda Reimer, SSL

Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.

Hi everyone, here are our five musical recommendations of the week!

This week our five music recommendation are:

1. Every 100 Years: The Woody Guthrie Songbook by Woody Guthrie (Format: Print Book):

2012 would have been the 100th birthday of American singer/songwriter Woody Guthrie. To mark his extraordinary achievements in songwriting, we are releasing this souvenir centennial songbook. Woody Guthrie wrote over 3,000 songs in his lifetime, yet only 300 or so were ever recorded. At the invitation of Guthrie’s daughter, Nora Guthrie, contemporary singer/songwriters have set music to Guthrie’s previously unpublished lyrics. Musicians such as Billy Bragg, Wilco, Dropkick Murphys, Jonatha Brooke, Jay Farrar, Tom Morello, Lou Reed, The Klezmatics, Hans-Eckardt Wenzel, Madeleine Peyroux, Janis Ian, Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion, and Woody’s son, Arlo Guthrie, have shown us how timeless Woody’s words are. Every 100 Years is a compilation of 100 Woody Guthrie songs that run the gamut from work songs, love songs and union & protest songs, to topical songs and children’s songs. The book features his classics such as: This Land Is Your Land * Jesus Christ * Do Re Mi * Pretty Boy Floyd * Roll On Columbia * Pastures of Plenty * Deportee * Riding in My Car * and more, as well as hits from the next generation of Guthrie co-authors: California Stars * I’m Shippin’ Up to Boston * The Jolly Banker * Way Over Yonder in the Minor Key * Hoodoo Voodoo * Ease My Revolutionary Mind * Ingrid Bergman * My Peace * Mermaid’s Avenue * Happy Joyous Hanukkah * Every 100 Years * and many others. Includes a preface from Howie Richmond, founder of The Richmond Organization Guthrie’s publisher, as well as other commentary from friends, family, and Woody himself along with photos and facsimiles of Guthrie’s original drawings and hand-written lyrics.

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2. Songs of Work And Protest: 100 Favorite Songs of American Works Complete With Music And Historical Notes by Edith Fowke & Joe Glazer (Format: Print Book):

No other form could capture the history of the labor movement better than the songs sung in times both bitter and courageous by coal miners and textile workers, railroad men and steelworkers, farmers, seamen, and cow-hands as they worked to supply the nation’s needs and as they worked to defeat political and industrial tyranny, child labor, hunger, poverty, and unemployment. This collection includes a hundred songs of the people, as they have been sung at one time or another on the workers’ long road toward freedom and justice, together with the stories of the genuine situations from which they sprang.

They are straight trade union songs and ditties; specific songs of miners, textile workers, steel, and railway workers and farmers; typical working songs of sailors, canalers, lumberjacks, and cowboys; songs of the hardships that working men and women have to face during times of depression; philosophic songs and ironic comments on the economic system; songs that grew out of the fight against slavery; and songs expressing the dreams of people of many lands throughout the ages. Often set to tunes of familiar folk songs, popular songs, and gospel hymns, these are the songs by which unions organized and which the members of each labor group sang out. They are songs sung to words by itinerant wanderers, unlettered farmers, and factory hands; songs by Joe Hill, Ralph Chaplin, Joe Glazer, Merle Traive, Woody Guthrie, the Almanac Singers; songs by famous poets such as Burns and Blake. Most of the songs are American in origin. A few, drawn from England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Germany, Israel, and the Philippines, remind us that the fight for freedom knows no boundaries. The songs are presented with simple piano accompaniments and guitar chords to encourage their use in group singing.

This collection includes 100 songs from the history of the labor movement, together with the stories of the genuine situations from which they sprang. Includes songs by Joe Hill, Ralph Chaplin, Joe Glazer, Merle Travis, Woody Guthrie, the Almanac Singers, and others from around the globe. “Union Maid,” “Joe Hill,” “We Shall Not Be Moved,” and many more.

The songs of work and the songs of protest are, in a very important sense, the songs of the New World, capturing the stirring sounds and deep emotions of people over hundreds of years on the march to build a better world. Whether you are looking for material for singing or whether you are looking for material on the struggles of the labor movement, there will be much in this important collection for song and for thought.

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3. Songs of the Suffragettes sung by Elizabeth McKnight (Format: Music CD):

Original Album Description: It is hard to believe in modern times that the issue of women’s suffrage once wracked the nation. Riots, demonstrations, and indignant editorials highlight the history of this long battle that finally ended in 1920 with the 19th Amendment. Liner notes by Irwin Silber include a brief history of the suffrage movement, lyrics and background on the 16 tracks, and black-and-white political cartoons.

Song List:
Columbia’s Daughters
Uncle Sam’s Wedding
Keep Woman in Her Sphere
Let Us All Speak Our Minds
The Taxation Tyranny
The Promised Land
The Suffrage Flag
Winning The Vote
Give the Ballot to the Mothers
Song of Wyoming
Going to the Polls
Where Are Your Boys Today!
The Yellow Ribbon
Hallelujah Song
Oh, Dear, What Can the Matter Be!
The New America

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4. A Treasury of Library of Congress Field Recordings by Various Artists (Format: Music CD):

Thirty Library of Congress field recordings from 1933 to 1946, compiled and thoroughly annotated by Stephen Wade. There are many Library of Congress collections, but the diversity of performances on this disc might make one of the better selections for someone who’s interested enough in folkloric recordings to have just a few, as opposed to an academic who wants to hear as much as possible. There’s Appalachian folk music, African-American spirituals, nursery rhymes by black Mississippi children, rural Southern blues, and even an a cappella ballad by a Harvard-educated judge. There are a couple of well-known performers as well: Woody Guthrie does “The Gypsy Davy,” and Sonny Terry has a trademark puffing harmonica workout on “Lost John.” But largely these are folks who performed mostly for their neighbors or houses of worship. It’s not the point of a collection such as this to illustrate how this music influenced pop, but there are some real interesting renditions of songs that later became famous in other hands: “Blood-Strained Banders” (done here by Jimmie Strothers) was adapted into “Good Shepherd” by the Jefferson Airplane; “Sea Lion Woman” (Christine and Katherine Shipp) was done by Nina Simone, and “Another Man Done Gone” (Vera Hall) was covered by John Mayall. There’s also the first recorded performance of “Rock Island Line” (by inmates at an Arkansas penitentiary in 1934), which became a folk music standard and eventually started the skiffle craze in England. Richie Unterberger, AllMusic Review

Song List:

Bonaparte’s Retreat by W.H. Stepp
Rock Island Line by Kelly Pace with Charlie Porter, L.T. Edwards, Willie Hubbard, Luther Williams, Napoleon Cooper, Albert Pate, Willie Lee Jones
Pretty Polly by E.C. Ball
Pullin’ the Skiff by Ora Dell Graham
Shortenin’ Bread by Ora Dell Graham
Sea Lion Woman by Christine & Katherine Shipp
Soldier’s Joy by Nashville Washboard Band
Another Man Done Gone by Vera Hall
Northfield by Paine Denson
When I Lay My Burden Down by Turner Junior Johnson
Grub Springs by W.E. Claunch
Ain’t No Grave Can Hold My Body Down by Bozie Sturdivant
Creek Lullaby by Margaret
Coal Creek March by Pete Steele
Worried Life Blues by David “Honeyboy” Edwards
One Morning in May by Texas Gladden
Blood-Strained Banders by Jimmie Strothers
Goodbye, Old Paint by Jess Morris
Lead Me to the Rock by Wash Dennis and Charlie Sims
Glory in the Meetinghouse by Luther Strong
The Avondale Mine Disaster by John J. Quinn
Roll on the Ground by Thaddeus C. Willingham, Jr.
Diamond Joe by Charlie Butler
Lost John by Sonny Terry
Sept ans sur mer by Elita, Mary & Ella Hoffpauir
East Texas Rag by Smith Casey
Old Joe Clark by Wade Ward
The Gypsy Davy by Woody Guthrie
Kiowa Story of the Flute by Belo Cozad

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5. Putumayo Presents Women’s Work by Various Artists (Format: Music CD):

    In 1996 the interest in singer-songwriters was cresting and women were a big part of the emerging trend. The songs they wrote were not about fanciful dream images; they came from real life and were insightful, bitter, funny, and often painfully intimate. While a vanguard of younger artists were just finding their way, established performers were also being rediscovered, and the two groups gave each other considerable inspiration and support. These 13 songs are an amazingly accurate time capsule of a period when the vogue finally shifted to include singers who used small forces to sort out big problems and overwhelming emotions. Romances go sour, philosophy brings cold comfort, and reality is sometimes too much to stomach, but the women keep going as best they can despite craziness, opposition on various fronts, and their own frailty. With Ani DiFranco, Janis Ian, Vonda Shepard, and Toni Childs. –Christina Roden, Amazon Review

Song List:
1. Cradle And All – Ani DiFranco
2. The Wolf – Catie Curtis
3. When The Silence Falls – Janis Ian
4. Maryland – Vonda Shepard
5. Just Enough – Toshi Reagon
6. Notion – Barbara Kessler
7. Letting Go – Fiona Joyce
8. Wild Horse – Eliza Gilkyson
9. Thru Cryin’ – Kristen Hall
10. If You Leave Me – Laura Love
11. Testimony – Ferron
12. Off The Ground – Christine Kane
13. I Met A Man (Live) – Toni Childs
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BONUS Recommendation:

Norma Rae (1979) (Format: DVD):

In honor of American workers throughout the ages I’m going to recommend this great film!

If you haven’t seen it, it is timely as it shows both the lives of a group of working people, and what they achieved by supporting each other. Sally Field won an Oscar for her portrayal of the title character.

Film Synopsis by Hal Erickson, AllMovie: Norma Rae finds Sally Field cast in the title role, a minimum-wage worker in a cotton mill. The factory has taken too much of a toll on the health of Norma Rae’s family for her to ignore her Dickensian working conditions. After hearing a speech by New York union organizer Reuben (Ron Leibman), Norma Rae decides to join the effort to unionize her shop. This causes dissension at home when Norma Rae’s husband, Sonny (Beau Bridges), assumes that her activism is a result of a romance between herself and Reuben. Despite the pressure brought to bear by management, Norma Rae successfully orchestrates a shutdown of the mill, resulting in victory for the union and capitulation to its demands. Based on a true story, Norma Rae is the film for which Sally Field won her first Oscar; an additional Oscar went to David Shire and Norman Gimbel for the film’s theme song, “It Goes Like It Goes.”

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Videos of the Week:

9 to 5 by Dolly Parton

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Bread And Roses by Judy Collins

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Busted by Ray Charles & Johnny Cash

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Columbia’s Daughters by Elizabeth McKnight

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Hard Working Man by Brooks & Dunn

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I’m Working On A Building by The Carter Family

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Joe Hill by Joan Baez

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Norma Rae Title Sequence

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Old Doc Brown by Hank Snow

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Solidarity Forever by Pete Seeger

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There Is Power In A Union by Billy Bragg

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T.R.O.U.B.L.E. by Elvis

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Union Burying Ground by Woody Guthrie

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Which Side Are You On by Pete Seeger

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Working At The Car Wash Blues by Jim Croce

 

Have a great weekend!

Linda Reimer, SSCL

REFERENCES:

Print References

The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits by Joel Whitburn

Online References

AllMusic: https://www.allmusic.com/

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Online Catalog Links:

StarCat

The catalog of physical materials, i.e. print books, DVDs, audiobooks on CD, etc.

The Digital Catalog (OverDrive)

The catalog of e-books, downloadable audiobooks and a handful of streaming videos.

ABOUT LIBRARY APPS: OverDrive & RBDigital:

You can access digital library content on PCs, Macs and mobile devices. For mobile devices simply download the OverDrive and/or the RBDigital app, to check out eBooks, downloadable audiobooks and on-demand magazines, from your app store to get started. If you have questions call the library at 607-936-3713 and one of our tech coaches will be happy to assist you.

Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.

Hi everyone, here are our recommended titles for the week, five digital titles, eBooks & downloadable audio books, available through OverDrive and five print titles available through StarCat.

DIGITAL CATALOG SUGGESTIONS:

Because Internet written and read by Gretchen McCulloch (Format: Downloadable Audiobook):

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!!

A Wired Must-Read Book of Summer

“Gretchen McCulloch is the internet’s favorite linguist, and this book is essential reading. Reading her work is like suddenly being able to see the matrix.” —Jonny Sun, author of everyone’s a aliebn when ur a aliebn too

Because Internet is for anyone who’s ever puzzled over how to punctuate a text message or wondered where memes come from. It’s the perfect book for understanding how the internet is changing the English language, why that’s a good thing, and what our online interactions reveal about who we are.

Language is humanity’s most spectacular open-source project, and the internet is making our language change faster and in more interesting ways than ever before. Internet conversations are structured by the shape of our apps and platforms, from the grammar of status updates to the protocols of comments and @replies. Linguistically inventive online communities spread new slang and jargon with dizzying speed. What’s more, social media is a vast laboratory of unedited, unfiltered words where we can watch language evolve in real time.

Even the most absurd-looking slang has genuine patterns behind it. Internet linguist Gretchen McCulloch explores the deep forces that shape human language and influence the way we communicate with one another. She explains how your first social internet experience influences whether you prefer “LOL” or “lol,” why ~sparkly tildes~ succeeded where centuries of proposals for irony punctuation had failed, what emoji have in common with physical gestures, and how the artfully disarrayed language of animal memes like lolcats and doggo made them more likely to spread.

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Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Margaret Weiss & Tracy Hickman (Format: eBook):

Lifelong friends, they went their separate ways. Now they are together again, though each holds secrets from the others in his heart. They speak of a world shadowed with rumors of war. They speak of tales of strange monsters, creatures of myth, creatures of legend. They do not speak of their secrets. Not then. Not until a chance encounter with a beautiful, sorrowful woman, who bears a magical crystal staff, draws the companions deeper into the shadows, forever changing their lives and shaping the fate of the world.

No one expected them to be heroes.

Least of all, them.

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Moon of the Crusted Snow: A Novel written by Waubgeshig Rice and read by Billy Merasty (Format: Downloadable Audiobook):

A daring post-apocalyptic novel from a powerful rising literary voice

With winter looming, a small northern Anishinaabe community goes dark. Cut off, people become passive and confused. Panic builds as the food supply dwindles. While the band council and a pocket of community members struggle to maintain order, an unexpected visitor arrives, escaping the crumbling society to the south. Soon after, others follow.
The community leadearship loses its grip on power as the visitors manipulate the tired and hungry to take control of the reserve. Tensions rise and, as the months pass, so does the death toll due to sickness and despair. Frustrated by the building chaos, a group of young friends and their families turn to the land and Anishinaabe tradition in hopes of helping their community thrive again. Guided through the chaos by an unlikely leader named Evan Whitesky, they endeavor to restore order while grappling with a grave decision.

Blending action and allegory, Moon of the Crusted Snow upends our expectations. Out of catastrophe comes resilience. And as one society collapses, another is reborn.

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Never Have I Ever: A Novel by Joshilyn Jackson (Format: eBook):

“Wonderful—suspense and surprises, real characters, and a scary, ominous backbeat. This feels like the book Jackson was born to write.” —Lee Child, New York Times bestselling author

Named a Best Book by USA Today • People • Wall Street Journal • Time • Entertainment Weekly • Bustle • and many more!

From New York Times bestselling author Joshilyn Jackson, a twisting novel of domestic suspense in which a group of women play a harmless drinking game that escalates into a war of dark pasts

In this game, even winning can be deadly…

Amy Whey is proud of her ordinary life and the simple pleasures that come with it—teaching diving lessons, baking cookies for new neighbors, helping her best friend, Charlotte, run their local book club. Her greatest joy is her family: her devoted professor husband, her spirited fifteen-year-old stepdaughter, her adorable infant son. And, of course, the steadfast and supportive Charlotte. But Amy’s sweet, uncomplicated life begins to unravel when the mysterious and alluring Angelica Roux arrives on her doorstep one book club night.

Sultry and magnetic, Roux beguiles the group with her feral charm. She keeps the wine flowing and lures them into a game of spilling secrets. Everyone thinks it’s naughty, harmless fun. Only Amy knows better. Something wicked has come her way—a she-devil in a pricey red sports car who seems to know the terrible truth about who she is and what she once did.

When they’re alone, Roux tells her that if she doesn’t give her what she asks for, what she deserves, she’s going to make Amy pay for her sins. One way or another.

To protect herself and her family and save the life she’s built, Amy must beat the devil at her own clever game, matching wits with Roux in an escalating war of hidden pasts and unearthed secrets. Amy knows the consequences if she can’t beat Roux. What terrifies her is everything she could lose if she wins.

A diabolically entertaining tale of betrayal, deception, temptation, and love filled with dark twists leavened by Joshilyn Jackson’s trademark humor, Never Have I Ever explores what happens when the transgressions of our past come back with a vengeance.

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Sisters of Summer’s End by Lori Foster (Format: eBook):

As the summer ends, friendship begins…

When single mom Joy Lee abandoned her old life to take a job at a lakeside resort, she found something that her family’s wealth and influence could never buy: peace of mind. Not easy to come by for the once-burned divorcée who keeps everyone at a distance. But when her new friend, Maris, dares her to take a chance with the drive-in’s charismatic new owner, everything changes for Joy and her young son.

A difficult childhood has left Maris Kennedy with definite priorities. Her job running Summer’s End, the camp store and café, comes first. Always. Nothing could ever make her risk that hard-won security—especially not her free-spirited colleague. But the more she encourages Joy to open herself up to new experiences, the more Maris begins to wonder what she, too, might be missing.

Learning how to trust will bring Joy and Maris together. And soon they form a friendship that leaves them as close as sisters—and open to love where they least expect it…in Summer’s End.

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PRINT BOOK SUGGESTIONS:

A Better Man: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel by Louise Penny:

Catastrophic spring flooding, blistering attacks in the media, and a mysterious disappearance greet Chief Inspector Armand Gamache as he returns to the Sûreté du Québec in the latest novel by #1 New York Times bestselling author Louise Penny.

It’s Gamache’s first day back as head of the homicide department, a job he temporarily shares with his previous second-in-command, Jean-Guy Beauvoir. Flood waters are rising across the province. In the middle of the turmoil a father approaches Gamache, pleading for help in finding his daughter.

As crisis piles upon crisis, Gamache tries to hold off the encroaching chaos, and realizes the search for Vivienne Godin should be abandoned. But with a daughter of his own, he finds himself developing a profound, and perhaps unwise, empathy for her distraught father.

Increasingly hounded by the question, how would you feel…, he resumes the search.

As the rivers rise, and the social media onslaught against Gamache becomes crueler, a body is discovered. And in the tumult, mistakes are made.

In the next novel in this “constantly surprising series that deepens and darkens as it evolves” (New York Times Book Review), Gamache must face a horrific possibility, and a burning question.

What would you do if your child’s killer walked free?

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Contraband by Stuart Woods:

Stone Barrington is caught in the web of a national smuggling operation in the latest action-packed thriller from the #1 New York Times bestselling author.

Stone Barrington is getting some much-needed rest and relaxation in the Florida sun when trouble falls from the sky–literally. Intrigued by the suspicious circumstances surrounding this event, Stone joins forces with a sharp-witted and alluring local detective to investigate. But they run into a problem: the evidence keeps disappearing.

From the laid-back Key West shores to the bustling Manhattan streets, Stone sets out to connect the dots between the crimes that seem to follow him wherever he travels. His investigations only lead to more questions, and shocking connections between old and new acquaintances. But as Stone must quickly learn, answers–and enemies–are often hiding in plain sight .

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The Last Good Guy by T. Jefferson Parker:

In this electrifying new thriller from three-time Edgar Award winner and New York Times bestseller T. Jefferson Parker, Private Investigator Roland Ford hunts for a missing teenager and uncovers a dark conspiracy in his most personal case yet.

When hired by a beautiful and enigmatic woman to find her missing younger sister, private investigator Roland Ford immediately senses that the case is not what it seems. He is soon swept up in a web of lies and secrets as he searches for the teenager, and even his new client cannot be trusted. His investigation leads him to a secretive charter school, skinhead thugs, a cadre of American Nazis hidden in a desert compound, an arch-conservative celebrity evangelist–and, finally, to the girl herself. The Last Good Guy is Ford’s most challenging case to date, one that will leave him questioning everything he thought he knew about decency, honesty, and the battle between good and evil…if it doesn’t kill him first.

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The Oysterville Sewing Circle by Susan Wiggs:

“Stitched together with love, this is a story just waiting for your favorite reading chair. With her signature style and skill, Susan Wiggs delivers an intricate patchwork of old wounds and new beginnings, romance and the healing power of friendship, wrapped in a lovely little community that’s hiding a few secrets of its own.”— Lisa Wingate, New York Times Bestselling author of Before We Were Yours

The #1 New York Times bestselling author brings us her most ambitious and provocative work yet—a searing and timely novel that explores the most volatile issue of our time—domestic violence.

At the break of dawn, Caroline Shelby rolls into Oysterville, Washington, a tiny hamlet at the edge of the raging Pacific.

She’s come home.

Home to a place she thought she’d left forever, home of her heart and memories, but not her future. Ten years ago, Caroline launched a career in the glamorous fashion world of Manhattan. But her success in New York imploded on a wave of scandal and tragedy, forcing her to flee to the only safe place she knows.

And in the backseat of Caroline’s car are two children who were orphaned in a single chilling moment—five-year-old Addie and six-year-old Flick. She’s now their legal guardian—a role she’s not sure she’s ready for.

But the Oysterville she left behind has changed. Her siblings have their own complicated lives and her aging parents are hoping to pass on their thriving seafood restaurant to the next generation. And there’s Will Jensen, a decorated Navy SEAL who’s also returned home after being wounded overseas. Will and Caroline were forever friends as children, with the promise of something more . . . until he fell in love with Sierra, Caroline’s best friend and the most beautiful girl in town. With her modeling jobs drying up, Sierra, too, is on the cusp of reinventing herself.

Caroline returns to her favorite place: the sewing shop owned by Mrs. Lindy Bloom, the woman who inspired her and taught her to sew. There she discovers that even in an idyllic beach town, there are women living with the deepest of secrets. Thus begins the Oysterville Sewing Circle—where women can join forces to support each other through the troubles they keep hidden.

Yet just as Caroline regains her creativity and fighting spirit, and the children begin to heal from their loss, an unexpected challenge tests her courage and her heart. This time, though, Caroline is not going to run away. She’s going to stand and fight for everything—and everyone—she loves

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Tidelands by Philipa Gregory:

The #1 New York Times bestselling author and “one of the great storytellers of our time” (San Francisco Book Review) turns from the glamour of the royal courts to tell the story of an ordinary woman, Alinor, who cannot bear to conform to the life that lies before her.

Midsummer’s Eve, 1648, England is in the grip of a civil war between renegade king and rebellious parliament. The struggle reaches every corner of the kingdom, even the remote tidelands —the marshy landscape of the south coast.

Alinor, a descendant of wisewomen, trapped in poverty and superstition, waits in the graveyard under the full moon for a ghost who will declare her free from her abusive husband. Instead, she meets James, a young man on the run, and shows him the secret ways across the treacherous marsh, not knowing that she is leading disaster into the heart of her life.

Suspected of possessing dark secrets in superstitious times, Alinor’s ambition and determination mark her out from her neighbors. This is the time of witch mania, and Alinor, a woman without a husband, skilled with herbs, suddenly enriched, arouses envy in her rivals and fear among the villagers, who are ready to take lethal action into their own hands.

It is dangerous for a woman to be different.

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Have a great week!

Linda Reimer, SSCL

Online Catalog Links:

StarCat

The catalog of physical materials, i.e. print books, DVDs, audiobooks on CD, etc.

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ABOUT LIBRARY APPS:

You can access digital library content, i.e. eBooks & downloadable audiobooks, on PCs, Macs and mobile devices.

For mobile devices simply download the Libby app, for eBooks & downloadable audiobooks, or the RB Digital app, for on-demand magazines, from your app store to get started. And if you’re using a PC or Mac simply click on the following links: https://stls.overdrive.com/ or https://www.rbdigital.com/stlschemungcony/service/magazines/landing?

If you have questions call the library at 607-936-3713 and one of our tech coaches will be happy to assist you.

Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.

Hi everyone, here are the top New York Times fiction and non-fiction bestsellers for the week ending September 1, 2019.

(Click on the book covers to read a summary of each plot and to request the books of your choice.)

FICTION:

ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN by Garth Stein:

An insightful Lab-terrier mix helps his owner, a struggling race car driver.

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THE BITTERROOTS by C.J. Box:

The fourth book in the Cassie Dewell series. The black sheep of an influential family is accused of assault.

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BLOOD TRUTH by J.R. Ward:

The fourth book in the Black Dagger Legacy series.

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CHANCES ARE …by Richard Russo:

Three men in their 60s who met in college reunite on Martha’s Vineyard, where mysterious events occurred in 1971.

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CONTRABAND by Stuart Woods:

The 50th book in the Stone Barrington series. Crimes come into focus in Key West and Manhattan.

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DANGEROUS MAN by Robert Crais:

Elvis Cole and Joe Pike get more than they bargained for when they investigate the abduction of a bank teller.

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EVVIE DRAKE STARTS OVER by Linda Holmes:

In a seaside town in Maine, a former Major League pitcher and a grieving widow assess their pasts.

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INLAND by Téa Obreht:

The lives of a frontierswoman and a former outlaw intersect in the unforgiving climate of the Arizona Territory in 1893.

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THE INN by James Patterson and Candice Fox:

A former Boston police detective who is now an innkeeper must shield a seaside town from a crew of criminals.

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LITTLE FIRES EVERYWHERE by Celeste Ng:

An artist upends a quiet town outside Cleveland.

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NEW GIRL by Daniel Silva:

Gabriel Allon, the chief of Israeli intelligence, partners with the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, whose daughter is kidnapped.

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NICKEL BOYS by Colson Whitehead:

Two boys respond to horrors at a Jim Crow-era reform school in ways that impact them decades later.

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ONE GOOD DEED by David Baldacci:

A World War II veteran on parole must find the real killer in a small town or face going back to jail.

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OUTFOX by Sandra Brown:

F.B.I. Agent Drex Easton has a hunch that the conman Weston Graham is also a serial killer.

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SUMMER OF ’69 by Elin Hilderbrand:

The Levin family undergoes dramatic events with a son in Vietnam, a daughter in protests and dark secrets hiding beneath the surface.

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THE TATTOOIST OF AUSCHWITZ by Heather Morris:

A concentration camp detainee tasked with permanently marking fellow prisoners falls in love with one of them.

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THINGS YOU SAVE IN A FIRE by Katherine Center:

A Texas firefighter braves her estranged mother and the entrenched culture of a Boston firehouse

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TURN OF THE KEY by Ruth Ware:

A nanny working in a technology-laden house in Scotland goes to jail when one of the children dies.

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THE WARNING by James Patterson and Robison Wells:

A small Southern town is not the same after a power-plant accident.

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WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING by Delia Owens:

In a quiet town on the North Carolina coast in 1969, a young woman who survived alone in the marsh becomes a murder suspect.

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NON-FICTION:.

BECOMING by Michelle Obama:

The former first lady describes her journey from the South Side of Chicago to the White House, and how she balanced work, family and her husband’s political ascent.

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BORN A CRIME by Trevor Noah:

A memoir about growing up biracial in apartheid South Africa by the host of “The Daily Show.”

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EDUCATED by Tara Westover:

The daughter of survivalists, who is kept out of school, educates herself enough to leave home for university.

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HOW TO BE AN ANTIRACIST by Ibram X. Kendi:

A primer for creating a more just and equitable society through identifying and opposing racism.

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KOCHLAND by Christopher Leonard:

How Koch Industries consolidated power and affected important facets of modern life over the last half-century.

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MAYBE YOU SHOULD TALK TO SOMEONE by Lori Gottlieb:

A psychotherapist gains unexpected insights when she becomes another therapist’s patient.

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THE PIONEERS by David McCullough:

The Pulitzer Prize-winning historian tells the story of the settling of the Northwest Territory through five main characters.

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THE RANGE by David Epstein:

An argument for how generalists excel more than specialists, especially in complex and unpredictable fields.

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SAPIENS by Yuval Noah Harari:

How Homo sapiens became Earth’s dominant species.

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THE SOURCE OF SELF-REGARD by Toni Morrison:

A collection of essays and speeches written over four decades, including a eulogy for James Baldwin and the author’s Nobel lecture.

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TEXAS FLOOD by Alan Paul and Andy Aledort:

A biography of Stevie Ray Vaughan, the influential blues guitarist and musician who died in a helicopter crash in 1990 at the age of 35.

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THREE WOMEN by Lisa Taddeo:

The inequality of female desire is explored through the sex lives of a homemaker, a high school student and a restaurant owner.

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UNFREEDOM OF THE PRESS by Mark R. Levin:

The conservative commentator and radio host makes his case that the press is aligned with political ideology.

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WHITE FRAGILITY by Robin DiAngelo:

Historical and cultural analyses on what causes defensive moves by white people and how this inhibits cross-racial dialogue.

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Have a great day!

Linda Reimer, SSL

Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.