Suggested Listening December 7, 2018

Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, here are our lucky seven musical recommendations for the week.

Our lucky seven suggested listens include five streaming suggestions* and two recommended albums on CD.

(Click on the photo to stream, request or learn more about the album you’re interested in!)

Freegal Streaming Suggestions*

Bob Baldwin Presents Abbey Road and The Beatles (2018) by Bob Baldwin (Genre: Jazz, Smooth Jazz):

Lady Give Me Your Key: The Unissued 1967 Solo Acoustic Sessions by Tim Buckley (Genre: Folk):

The Very Best Of Jive Bunny & The Mastermixers by Jive Bunny And The Mastermixers (Genre: Pop):

No Zip Code (2018) by David Lee Murphy (Genre: Country):

Rev (2014) by Reverend Horton Heat (Genre: Rock):

Recommended CDs of the Week:

Classical Music For Reading (Genre: Classical, Easy Listening)

Rock This Town: Best of the Stray Cats by The Stray Cats (Genre: Rock, Rockabilly):

Videos of the Week:

And I Love Her by Bob Baldwin:

Silver Dagger by Joan Baez:

Complete Concert (From her 2018 Fare Thee Well Tour– Joan Baez (1 hour & 31 minutes):

Once I Was by Tim Buckley:

In The Mood by The Glenn Miller Orchestra:

Swing The Mood by Jive Bunny & The Mixmasters:

No Zip Code by David Lee Murphy:

Zombie Dumb by The Reverend Horton Heat:

Rock This Town by The Stray Cats:

Have a great weekend!

Linda, SSCL

*A library card is required to use the Freegal Music Service. If you live in the service area of the Southern Tier Library System, which consists of the public libraries in Steuben, Chemung, Yates, Schuyler and Alleghany counties in New York State, you can get a library card for free at your nearest public library – including our own Southeast Steuben County Library in Corning, New York. The Freegal Music Service is free for all Southern Tier Library System member libraries library card holders to access.

References:

Artist Biography & Discography Information:

http://www.allmusic.com/

The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits by Joel Whitburn (Billboard Books. New York. 2009.)

P.S. If you have any questions about how to download or stream free music through the Freegal Music service to a desktop or laptop computer or how to download and use the Freegal Music app let us know! Drop by the library or give us a call at: 607-936-3713

*You must have a library card at a Southern Tier Library System member library to enjoy the Freegal Music Service. Your card can be from any library in the system, and the system includes all public libraries in Steuben, Chemung, Yates, Schuyler and Allegheny Counties and includes our own Southeast Steuben Count Library in Corning, New York!

Library cards are free if you live in our service area. And you can obtain a card by visiting the Circulation Desk and presenting staff with a form of ID that features your name and your current address.

Links to the desktop versions of the catalogs for the library system – apps for each are available in your app store:

Digital Library Catalogs:

Freegal offers streaming and downloadable music

OverDrive allows you to check out eBooks, downloadable audiobooks and handful of streaming videos

RB Digital is the place you go to check out magazines – on demand – and you never have to return them!

The Traditional Library Catalog:

You can search for and request books, DVDs, music CDs, audiobooks on CD and other physical format items through StarCat – it is the modern day card catalog!

Did You Know…Holiday Books, Movies, Music, DVDs & CDs Available At The Library!

Linda Reimer

Did You Know…

The Library has holiday books, CDs and DVDs too?

We do!

And did you further know, you can listen to a great selection of holiday albums and playlists, on demand, through the Freegal Music catalog?

You can, indeed, do that too!

And since our list of suggested titles would be rather long if we included both books and media items in one list; this positing will feature the books and tomorrow I’ll put up a posting with recommended media items, including music titles from Freegal and on CD, movies on DVD and a streaming title or two.

And as a beginning note, for our list of suggested holiday books, we’re treating the word “holiday” loosely. The books may be set during the holiday season or have elements of the holiday season, i.e. Christmas, Kwanzaa or Hanukkah, that thread into the plot.

And without further ado – here are our recommend holiday reads:

Christmas Cake Murder (2018) by Joanne Fluke:

It’s Christmas many years ago, and topping young Hannah Swensen’s wish list is becoming the go-to baker in Lake Eden, Minnesota. But as Hannah finds out, revisiting holiday memories can be
murder . . .

With her dream of opening The Cookie Jar taking shape, Hannah’s life matches the hectic December hustle and bustle in Lake Eden—especially when she agrees to help recreate a spectacular Christmas Ball from the past in honor of Essie Granger, an elderly local in hospice care. But instead of poring over decadent dessert recipes for the merry festivities, she instantly becomes enthralled by Essie’s old notebooks and the tale of a woman escaping danger on the streets of New York. Hannah’s surprised by Essie’s secret talent for penning crime fiction. She’s even more surprised when the story turns real. As Hannah prepares to run a bakery and move out of her mother’s house, it’ll be a true miracle if she can prevent another Yuletide disaster by solving a mystery as dense as a Christmas fruitcake . . .

A Christmas Revelation (2018) by Anne Perry:

In this intriguing, uplifting holiday mystery from bestselling author Anne Perry, an orphan boy investigates a woman’s kidnapping—and discovers there’s more at stake than a disappearance.

It wouldn’t quite be Christmas without a holiday mystery decorated with all the Victorian trimmings, as only New York Times bestselling author Anne Perry can render it. Now the tradition continues as mayhem is once again found under the mistletoe, and intrigue stalks the cobblestone streets and gaslit parlors of old London Town.

Formerly a river urchin living on the banks of the Thames, nine-year-old Worm has never experienced a family Christmas. But thanks to a job at Hester Monk’s clinic in Portpool Lane, he’s found a makeshift family in kindly volunteer Miss Claudine Burroughs and curmudgeonly old bookkeeper Squeaky Robinson.

When Worm witnesses the abduction of a beautiful woman by a pair of ruffians just days before Christmas, he frantically turns to Squeaky for help. A one-time brothel owner, Squeaky knows the perils of interfering in nasty business, but he can’t bear to disappoint Worm—or leave the boy to attempt a rescue on his own. What neither of the would-be saviors expects, however, is that the damsel in distress already has her dilemma well in hand . . . and is taking steps to bring her captors to justice for crimes far worse than kidnapping. But the rogues, as cunning as they are deadly, are not to be underestimated. The aid of cynical old Squeaky and hopeful young Worm just might make the difference between a merry triumph over evil and a terrible yuletide tragedy.

The Christmas Room (2017) by Catherine Anderson:

The beloved author of the Mystic Creek series gifts readers with a novel of homespun holiday cheer, as two families discover the joy of hope and redemption….

Widow Maddie McLendon has uprooted her life to move to Rustlers Gulch with her son and grandson. But as a brutal Montana winter looms on the horizon, contractors have yet to break ground on their new house, leaving them to live in a makeshift camp of trailers, tents, and sheds….

Since his wife died six years ago, millionaire rancher Sam Conacher has been content to wallow in his grief alone while keeping a tight rein on his twenty-six-year-old daughter. But now the girl has gone and fallen in love with his foolish new neighbor’s no-good son….

Maddie and Sam will never see eye to eye on anything, until a near-tragedy gives them a true glimpse into each other’s souls. And as the first snowflakes begin to fall, they’ll discover that an open heart is the biggest gift of all….

The Christmas Sisters (2018) by Sarah Morgan:

From award-winning USA TODAY bestselling author Sarah Morgan comes this heartwarming, emotionally rich new novel, brimming with her trademark Christmas sparkle!

The McBride sisters all have different reasons for finding the holiday season challenging, but their adoptive mother is determined this year will be different. As the countdown to Christmas Day begins, arguments, connections and secrets start bubbling. The McBride family was made, not born—but will they be able to make this the magical family Christmas their mother has always dreamed of?

The Complete Kwanzaa: Celebrating Our Cultural Harvest by D. Winbush Riley:

Kwanzaa is the joyous and meaningful holiday when African-Americans reunite with family and friends and pay tribute to their rich cultural heritage. Celebrated from December 26 through January 1, it is an important part of the lives of 18 million people, and it keeps growing in popularity each year. Until now, however, there have been very few resources available to help African-Americans celebrate. The Complete Kwanzaa is a welcome guide to the cultural foundations of this holiday. It provides comprehensive information on all of its ceremonies, foods, clothing and gift-giving traditions and includes instructions on how to hold a Karamu feast. Folktales, proverbs and stories about successful African-Americans who embody the spirit of the holiday are also included to inspire and instruct the reader. With more facts and wisdom than any other book on the subject, The Complete Kwanzaa is the perfect resource for those who already celebrate Kwanzaa, and those who would like to learn how.

Deck the Hounds (2018) by David Rosenfelt:

This Christmas mystery, featuring criminal defense lawyer Andy Carpenter and his faithful golden retriever, Tara, showcases Rosenfelt’s trademark humor and larger-than-life characters.

Reluctant lawyer Andy Carpenter doesn’t usually stop to help others, but seeing a dog next to a homeless man inspires him to give the pair some money to help. It’s just Andy’s luck that things don’t end there. Soon after Andy’s encounter with them, man and dog are attacked in the middle of the night on the street. The dog defends its new owner, and the erstwhile attacker is bitten but escapes. But the dog is quarantined and the man, Don Carrigan, is heartbroken.

Andy’s wife Laurie can’t resist helping the duo after learning Andy has met them before… it’s the Christmas season after all. In a matter of days Don and his dog Zoey are living above Andy’s garage and become two new additions to the family. It’s not until Andy accidentally gives away his guest’s name during an interview that things go awry; turns out Don is wanted for a murder that happened two years ago. Don not only claims he’s innocent, but that he had no idea that he was wanted for a crime he has no knowledge of in the first place. It’s up to Andy to exonerate his new friend, if he doesn’t get pulled into the quagmire first.

David Rosenfelt’s signature wit, charm, and cleverness are back again in this most exciting installment yet.

Disgruntled: A Novel (2015) by Asali Solomon:

An elegant, vibrant, startling coming-of-age novel, for anyone who’s ever felt the shame of being alive

Kenya Curtis is only eight years old, but she knows that she’s different, even if she can’t put her finger on how or why. It’s not because she’s black—most of the other students in the fourth-grade class at her West Philadelphia elementary school are too. Maybe it’s because she celebrates Kwanzaa, or because she’s forbidden from reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Maybe it’s because she calls her father—a housepainter-slash-philosopher—”Baba” instead of “Daddy,” or because her parents’ friends gather to pour out libations “from the Creator, for the Martyrs” and discuss “the community.”

Kenya does know that it’s connected to what her Baba calls “the shame of being alive”—a shame that only grows deeper and more complex over the course of Asali Solomon’s long-awaited debut novel. Disgruntled, effortlessly funny and achingly poignant, follows Kenya from West Philadelphia to the suburbs, from public school to private, from childhood through adolescence, as she grows increasingly disgruntled by her inability to find any place or thing or person that feels like home.

A coming-of-age tale, a portrait of Philadelphia in the late eighties and early nineties, an examination of the impossible double-binds of race, Disgruntled is a novel about the desire to rise above the limitations of the narratives we’re given and the painful struggle to craft fresh ones we can call our own.

The Ghost Of Christmas Past (2017) by Rhys Bowen:

From Rhys Bowen, the author of In Farleigh Field, comes the next Molly Murphy mystery: The Ghost of Christmas Past.

Semi-retired private detective Molly Murphy Sullivan is suffering from depression after a miscarriage following her adventure in San Francisco during the earthquake of 1906. She and her husband, Daniel, are invited for Christmas at a mansion on the Hudson, and they gratefully accept, expecting a peaceful and relaxing holiday season. Not long after they arrive, however, they start to feel the tension in the house’s atmosphere. Then they learn that the host couple’s young daughter wandered out into the snow ten years ago and was never seen again. Molly can identify with the mother’s pain at never knowing what happened to her child and wants to help, but there is so little to go on. No ransom note. No body ever found. But Molly slowly begins to suspect that the occupants of the house know more than they are letting on. Then, on Christmas Eve, there is a knock at the door and a young girl stands there. “I’m Charlotte,” she says. “I’ve come home.”

The Gift (2017): The Amish of Hart County by Shelley Shepard Gray:

The Schwartz family is happy to be spending Christmas on their new farm in Hart County. But when Susanna Schwartz hears gunshots that causes her buggy to overturn, and then her little sister falls through a wooden bridge into the icy creek, it becomes clear from these dangerous “accidents” that someone wants them gone.

Neil Vance has been heartbroken ever since his parents lost their family farm. He knows it’s not the Schwartz family’s fault, but he can’t help but be resentful. Until he meets Susanna. She is kind-hearted and bold, and Neil can’t stop thinking about her pretty green eyes.

Neil thinks the accidents are just that, but Susanna’s father is convinced the Vance family is responsible. Susanna refuses to believe Neil would do anything to harm her. She’s fallen in love with him and knows he is a good man. But her family is ready to pack up and move, and time is running out to uncover the truth before someone gets hurt…or worse.

The Gift Of Christmas Past: A Southern Romance by Cindy Woodsmall & Erin Woodsmall:

Lies Spoken.
Promises Shattered.
She went to juvenile lockup.
He returned to the safety of his wealthy parents.

Almost ten years later, Hadley and Monroe are both specialists in the field of speech therapy. They meet again…thrown together to help a four-year- old girl rendered mute after a suspected arson. Years of secrets and anger beg to be set free as Hadley and Monroe try to push aside past hurts and find common ground in order to help the traumatized child and her family.

Can the love of Christmas past drift into the present, bringing healing and hope for all?

Hanukkah in America: A History by Dianne Ashton:

In New Orleans, Hanukkah means decorating your door with a menorah made of hominy grits. Latkes in Texas are seasoned with cilantro and cayenne pepper. Children in Cincinnati sing Hanukkah songs and eat oranges and ice cream. While each tradition springs from its own unique set of cultural references, what ties them together is that they all celebrate a holiday that is different in America than it is any place else. For the past two hundred years, American Jews have been transforming the ancient holiday of Hanukkah from a simple occasion into something grand. Each year, as they retell its story and enact its customs, they bring their ever-changing perspectives and desires to its celebration. Providing an attractive alternative to the Christian dominated December, rabbis and lay people alike have addressed contemporary hopes by fashioning an authentically Jewish festival that blossomed in their American world.

The ways in which Hanukkah was reshaped by American Jews reveals the changing goals and values that emerged among different contingents each December as they confronted the reality of living as a religious minority in the United States. Bringing together clergy and laity, artists and businessmen, teachers, parents, and children, Hanukkah has been a dynamic force for both stability and change in American Jewish life. The holiday’s distinctive transformation from a minor festival to a major occasion that looms large in the American Jewish psyche is a marker of American Jewish life. Drawing on a varied archive of songs, plays, liturgy, sermons, and a range of illustrative material, as well as developing portraits of various communities, congregations, and rabbis, Hanukkah in America reveals how an almost forgotten festival became the most visible of American Jewish holidays.

High Sierra Christmas (2018) by William Johnstone:

JOHNSTONE JUSTICE. MADE IN AMERICA.

A Jensen family holiday takes a dark and dangerous turn—on the infamous Donner Pass—in this thrilling epic adventure from the bestselling Johnstones . . .

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas in the High Sierras. But Smoke Jensen and his children, Louis and Denise, won’t let a little snow stop them from heading to Reno for the holidays. There are two ways for them to get there: the long way, going around the Sierra Nevada Mountains, or the short way, going right through them. Smoke decides to take a gamble. They’ll follow the trail that, decades earlier, brought the legendary Donner Party to a gruesome, tragic end . . .

And so the journey begins. The Jensens share a stagecoach with a stranger who’s planning to rob a bank. Smoke wants to stop him, as well as his notorious gang of outlaws. But he’s outgunned and outnumbered. And when a blizzard traps them in the mountains, he’s out of luck too. Like the Donner Party before them, the Jensens will be forced to do whatever it takes to survive. This time, they’re hoping history doesn’t repeat itself. But sometimes, the ghosts of the past just won’t stay buried . . .

His Promise: An Amish Christmas in Hart Country (2018) by Shelley Shepard Gray:

It’s set to be a white Christmas in Hart County, and Grace King is pet-sitting in a beautiful home with only a difficult dachshund for company. Just as she starts to miss the bustle of her large Amish family, Grace runs into a familiar face. Living right next door is John Michael Miller. He’s a fireman now, but five years ago, he had courted her older sister, then broke her heart. Seeing him again stirs Grace’s anger, but also reminds her of deeper feelings she’s done her best to deny.

The infatuation John Michael once saw in Grace’s eyes is long gone, though his complicated attraction to her remains. He had walked away all those years ago when he realized he was falling in love with the wrong sister. Now, as suspicious fires are set in their community, that’s not an option. Grace dismisses his warnings, and John Michael vows to keep an eye on her. But he can’t help wondering if he’s reconnected with Grace, only to risk losing her again.

Now all John Michael wants for Christmas is to keep Grace safe, in the hopes that they can one day have a future together.

How the Finch Stole Christmas! (2018) by Donna Andrews:

As in her previous Christmas mysteries, Six Geese a-Slaying, Duck the Halls, and The Nightingale Before Christmas, Andrews continues to write “firmly in the grand tradition of Agatha Christie’s Christmas books” (Toronto Globe and Mail).

New York Times bestselling author Donna Andrews takes us home to Caerphilly for the holidays in her new hilarious Christmas mystery How the Finch Stole Christmas!

Meg’s husband has decided to escalate his one-man show of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol into a full-scale production with a large cast including their sons Jamie and Josh as Tiny Tim and young Scrooge and Meg helping as stage manager.

The show must go on, even if the famous—though slightly over-the-hill—actor who’s come to town to play the starring role of Scrooge has brought a sleigh-load of baggage and enemies with him. And why is Caerphilly suddenly overrun with a surplus of beautiful caged finches?

How the Finch Stole Christmas! is guaranteed to put the “ho ho hos” into the holidays of cozy lovers everywhere with its gut-bustingly funny mystery.

An Irish Country Cottage (2018) by Patrick Taylor:

The New Year brings challenges and changes to the colorful Irish village of Ballybucklebo. The Christmas holidays have barely passed before a fire engulfs the humble thatched cottage housing of Donal Donnally and his family. Although the family escapes the blaze more or less unsinged, Donal, his wife, their three small children, and their beloved dog find themselves with nothing left but the clothes on their back.

Good thing Doctors O’Reilly and Laverty are on hand to rally the good people of Ballybucklebo to come to their aid. Rebuilding the cottage won’t be quick or easy, but good neighbors from all walks of life will see to it that the Donallys get back on their feet again, no matter what it takes.

Meanwhile, matters of procreation occupy the doctors and their patients. Young Barry Laverty and his wife Sue, frustrated in their efforts to start a family, turn to modern medicine for answers. O’Reilly must tread carefully as he advises a married patient on how to avoid another dangerous pregnancy.

As a new and tumultuous decade approaches, sectarian division threaten to bring unrest to Ulster, but in Ballybucklebo at least, peace still reigns and neighbors look after neighbors.

Kissing Under the Mistletoe (2013): A Sullivan Christmas by Bella Andre:

The Sullivan siblings have captivated the hearts of millions of readers worldwide, and now New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Bella Andre shares the love story that started it all…

For Mary Sullivan Christmas is, and always has been, about family. And this year is no different. As she awaits the arrival of her eight children and their partners at the cottage in Lake Tahoe, she hangs the ornaments that they made for her over the years. Each decoration brings with it a tide of memories, all of which she holds dear to her heart. But when she comes across the oldest ornament, the one her beloved husband, Jack, gave her on their very first Christmas together, Mary is immediately swept back to the first days of their whirlwind romance, to the love that would be the foundation on which they built the family she is so proud to call her own. Join the Sullivans this Christmas for a story that explores the wonder of the holidays, the meaning of family and a love that transcends time.

KISSING UNDER THE MISTLETOE is part of Bella Andre’s #1 bestselling series about The Sullivans. While it can easily be read as a stand-alone story, you’ll likely enjoy reading the other books, too.

Mr. Dickens and His Carol by Samantha Silva:

Laced with humor, rich historical detail from Charles Dickens’ life, and clever winks to his work, Samantha Silva’s Mr. Dickens and His Carol is an irresistible new take on a cherished classic.

Charles Dickens is not feeling the Christmas spirit. His newest book is an utter flop, the critics have turned against him, relatives near and far hound him for money. While his wife plans a lavish holiday party for their ever-expanding family and circle of friends, Dickens has visions of the poor house. But when his publishers try to blackmail him into writing a Christmas book to save them all from financial ruin, he refuses. And a serious bout of writer’s block sets in.

Frazzled and filled with self-doubt, Dickens seeks solace in his great palace of thinking, the city of London itself. On one of his long night walks, in a once-beloved square, he meets the mysterious Eleanor Lovejoy, who might be just the muse he needs. As Dickens’ deadlines close in, Eleanor propels him on a Scrooge-like journey that tests everything he believes about generosity, friendship, ambition, and love. The story he writes will change Christmas forever.

Last Christmas in Paris (2017): A Novel of World War I by Hazel Gaynor & Heather Webb:

New York Times bestselling author Hazel Gaynor has joined with Heather Webb to create this unforgettably romantic novel of the Great War.

August 1914. England is at war. As Evie Elliott watches her brother, Will, and his best friend, Thomas Harding, depart for the front, she believes—as everyone does—that it will be over by Christmas, when the trio plan to celebrate the holiday among the romantic cafes of Paris.

But as history tells us, it all happened so differently…

Evie and Thomas experience a very different war. Frustrated by life as a privileged young lady, Evie longs to play a greater part in the conflict—but how?—and as Thomas struggles with the unimaginable realities of war he also faces personal battles back home where War Office regulations on press reporting cause trouble at his father’s newspaper business. Through their letters, Evie and Thomas share their greatest hopes and fears—and grow ever fonder from afar. Can love flourish amid the horror of the First World War, or will fate intervene?

Christmas 1968. With failing health, Thomas returns to Paris—a cherished packet of letters in hand—determined to lay to rest the ghosts of his past. But one final letter is waiting for him…

Murder In her Stocking (2018): A Granny Reid Mystery by G. A. McKevett:

As the Moonlight Magnolia Agency revisits old memories on Christmas Eve, Granny Reid takes the reins back thirty years to the 1980s—back when she went by Stella, everyone’s hair was bigger, and sweaters were colorful disasters. But murder never went out of style . . .

Christmas has arrived in sleepy McGill, Georgia, but holiday cheer can’t keep temperamental Stella Reid from swinging a rolling pin at anyone who crosses her bad side—and this season, there are plenty. First an anonymous grinch vandalizes a celebrated nativity display. Far worse, the scandalous Prissy Carr is found dead in an alley behind a tavern. With police puzzled over the murder, Stella decides to stir the local gossip pot for clues on the culprit’s identity . . .

Turns out Prissy held a prominent spot on the naughty list, and suspects pile up like presents on Christmas morning. Unfortunately, the more progress Stella makes, the more fears she must confront. With a neighbor in peril and the futures of her beloved grandchildren at risk, Stella must somehow set everything straight and bring a cunning criminal to justice before December 25th . . .

The Noel Diary (2017) by Richard Paul Evans:

Bestselling romance author Jacob Churcher hasn’t been home for almost twenty years—not since his mentally ill mother kicked him out of the house when he was just sixteen. When a lawyer calls, days before Christmas, to inform him that his estranged mother has passed away and left her house to him, Jacob returns not just to settle the estate but to try and reconcile with the past and the pain and abuse he experienced as a child. Also, maybe cleaning out her house will be slightly less depressing than spending the holidays alone, watching re-runs of Christmas classics.

But as it turns out, the house holds more than just difficult memories, Jacob’s mother had become a hoarder and he must excavate through two decades worth of clutter. As Jacob digs through the detritus, like an archaeologist, he uncovers many puzzling items including a diary left by someone named Noel, a young woman he has no recollection of, who stayed with Jacob’s family during her pregnancy. That’s not the only echo from the past. Jacob has an unexpected visitor, Rachel, a woman looking for the mother who put her up for adoption thirty years before. United by their quest to make sense of the past and rewrite their futures, Jacob and Rachel begin a search for Noel. Along the way they find more than they possibly imagined, including grace, forgiveness and a chance at love.

The Noel Stranger (2018) by Richard Paul Evans:

Maggie Walther feels like her world is imploding. Publicly humiliated after her husband, a local councilman, is arrested for bigamy, and her subsequent divorce, she has isolated herself from the world. When her only friend insists that Maggie climb out of her hole, and embrace the season to get her out of her funk, Maggie decides to put up a Christmas tree and heads off to buy one—albeit reluctantly. She is immediately taken by Andrew, the kind, handsome man who owns the Christmas tree lot and delivers her tree. She soon learns that Andrew is single and new to her city and, like her, is also starting his life anew.

As their friendship develops, Maggie slowly begins to trust again—something she never thought possible. Then, just when she thinks she has finally found happiness, she discovers a dark secret from Andrew’s past. Is there more to this stranger’s truth than meets the eye? This powerful new holiday novel from Richard Paul Evans, the “King of Christmas fiction” (The New York Times), explores the true power of the season, redemption, and the freedom that comes from forgiveness.

The Second Chance Café (2013) by Amanda Prowse (Format: eBook!)

This title sounded like a nice, light holiday read — and I’m sure it is! It is also the line eBook on this list! You can read library eBooks for free through the Libby or OverDrive apps, or, you can download eBooks to your PC and read them. If you have questions about how to check out eBooks call the library at: 607-936-3713 and one of our tech coaches will be happy to help you.

And here’s a summary of the book:

Can you ever find love twice?

Bea doesn’t believe in second chances. As a widow, she feels like she will be alone forever. She buries her grief in hard work, and soon the deli she runs in Sydney, Australia, has a reputation for the best carrot cake in town.

But then an email from a cafe-owner in Edinburgh leads her to take a trip to Scotland in the depths of winter. There, transported by the twinkling lights and falling snow of a traditional Christmas, Bea is drawn back to a secret past – and a secret love – that she has long ago tried to forget…

A Very Cowboy Christmas: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, Y’all by Kim Redford:

There’s nothing like a firefighting cowboy to keep you toasty warm this Christmas…

Christmas is coming up, and single mom Sydney Steele is determined to make this a holiday to remember for Wildcat Bluff County. She still has to get those pesky, reluctant—and deliciously attractive—firefighting cowboys to pose for her charity calendar. They claim they’re too busy pursuing an unknown arsonist to take a break.

Dune Barrett has been flirting with Sydney for months, so he jumps at the chance to give her a hand. And when he agrees to pose as Mr. December, she couldn’t be happier. But to really win her over, Dune will have to convince eleven other guys from his crew to exploit their good looks for charity…a task much easier said than done.

Winter’s Child (2018) by Cassandra Parkin:

Five years ago, Susannah Harper’s son Joel went missing without trace. Bereft of her son and then of her husband John, Susannah tries to accept that she may never know for certain what has happened to her lost loved ones. She has rebuilt her life around a simple selfless mission: to help others who, like her, must learn to live without hope.

But then, on the last night of Hull Fair, a fortune-teller makes an eerie prediction. Susannah is told that this Christmas Eve, Joel will finally come back to her.

As her carefully-constructed life begins to unravel, Susannah is drawn into a world of psychics and charlatans, half-truths and hauntings, friendships and betrayals, forcing her to confront the buried truths of her family’s past, where nothing and no one are quite as they seem.

Yuletide Homicide by Jennifer David Hesse:

It’s Christmas in Edindale, Illinois, and family law attorney Keli Milanni is preparing to celebrate the Wiccan holiday Yuletide, a celebration of rebirth. But this Yuletide someone else is focused on dying . . .

After years of practicing in secret, Keli has come out as a Wiccan to her boyfriend, and she feels like this Yuletide she’s the one who’s being reborn. But the Solstice is the longest night of the year, and Keli is about to stumble on a mystery so dangerous, she’ll be lucky to make it to morning.

Paired with her unbearably stuffy colleague Crenshaw Davenport III, Keli goes undercover at a real estate company owned by mayoral candidate Edgar Harrison. An old friend of Keli’s boss, Harrison, is being blackmailed, and it’s up to her to find the culprit. But the morning after the company holiday party, Harrison is found dead underneath the hotel Christmas tree. The police rule the death an accident, but Keli knows better—and she’ll risk her own rebirth to nab a missing killer.

“Enjoyable . . . A wintry, woodsy setting.” —Kirkus Reviews on Bell, Book and Candlemas

Wait For Signs (2015) by Craig Johnson:

And even though this last book features short stories, most of which aren’t even set during the holiday season, I’m going to include it because the author, Craig Johnson, has a tradition of putting out Longmire short stories on Christmas Eve and the short stories, like the books in the series, have great humor.

His still does this – and you can get a new story each year for free via email– just sign up at is website: http://www.craigallenjohnson.com/

Johnson’s short stories were so popular fans demanded they be put in a book – thus Wait For Signs.

Have a great day!

Linda, SSCL

New York Times Bestsellers Of The Week – December 9, 2018

Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, here are the top New York Times fiction and non-fiction bestsellers for the week ending December 9, 2018.

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

FICTION

Fire And Blood by George R. R. Martin:

Target: Alex Cross by James Patterson:

The Reckoning by John Grisham:

Dark Sacred Night by Michael Connelly:

Look Alive Twenty-Five by Janet Evanovich:

Past Tense by Lee Child:

Every Breath by Nicholas Sparks:

Long Road to Mercy by David Baldacci:

Beauchamp Hall by Danielle Steel:

Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty:

Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owen:

Elevation by Stephen King:

The Next Person You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom:

The Tattooist Of Auschwitz by Heather Morris:

NON-FICTION

Becoming by Michelle Obama:

Killing The SS by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard:

Educated by Tara Westover:

Ship Of Fools by Tucker Carlson:

Factfulness by Hans Rosling with Ola Rosling and Anna Rosling Ronnlund:

Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari:

Fear by Bob Woodward:

Churchill: Walking With Destiny by Andrew Roberts:

Leadership by Doris Kearns Goodwin:

In Pieces by Sally Field:

Shade by Pete Souza:

The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis:

The Library Book by Susan Orlean:

Brief Answers To The Big Questions by Stephen Hawking:

Beastie Boys Book by Michael Diamond and Adam Horovitz:

Have a great day!

Linda, SSCL

Suggested Reading December 3, 2018

Linda Reimer

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

(Note: Click on the photo of the item you’d like to request or check out)

Digital Suggestions Of The Week:

The Bookshop on the Corner: A Novel written by Jenny Colgan & narrated by Lucy Price-Lewis (Format: Downloadable Audiobook):

Nina Redmond is a librarian with a gift for finding the perfect book for her readers. But can she write her own happy-ever-after? In this valentine to readers, librarians, and book-lovers the world over, the New York Times-bestselling author of Little Beach Street Bakery returns with a funny, moving new novel for fans of Meg Donohue, Sophie Kinsella, and Nina George’s The Little Paris Bookshop.

Later Gator by Jana DeLeon (Format: eBook):

A poacher is at work in Sinful, Louisiana, and Deputy Carter LeBlanc is hot on the trail of the outlaw, trying to apprehend him before the state gets wind of the crime and sends a game warden to take over his investigation. Unfortunately, he’s hindered every step of the way by Sinful’s current mayor and all-around horrible person, Celia Arceneaux, who wants nothing more than to drive Carter to resign.

When a game warden turns up with evidence that implicates a relative of Gertie’s, Carter is left with no choice but to arrest the boy, even though no one thinks he did it. With Carter under the watchful eye of Celia and the state,

Fortune, Ida Belle, and Gertie decide to catch a poacher…before he gets away.

Later Gator is the 9th book in the Miss Fortune Mystery Series

Here is a listing of all the books in the series to date:
1. Louisiana Longshot
2. Lethal Bayou Beauty
3. Swamp Sniper
4. Swamp Team 3
5. Gator Bait
6. Soldiers Of Fortune
7. Hurricane Force
8. Fortune Hunter
9. Later Gator

Scrooge (1970) (Format: Streaming Video):

Scrooge was designed as a follow-up to 1968’s Oliver, the Oscar-winning musicalization of Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist. The umpteenth musical version of Dickens’ 1843 novelette A Christmas Carol, Scrooge is blessed with several sprightly Leslie Bricusse songs, including the bonafide hit Thank You Very Much. Once more buried under mounds of latex, Albert Finney is perfection itself as Ebeneezer Scrooge, proving as effective as a young (un-made up) man as the old skinflint we’ve grown to love. The Three Ghosts who turn the miserly Scrooge’s life around on Christmas Eve are portrayed by Edith Evans (Past), Kenneth More (Present) and Paddy Stone (Yet to Come). Our favorite among the huge, predominantly British supporting cast is Sir Alec Guinness as a fussy, slightly effeminate Marley’s Ghost. Best of all, Finney performs his many songs “live” and not lip-synched to a pre-recording.

Seven Days of Us: A Novel by Francesca Hornak (Format: eBook):

A family can’t escape their secrets when they’re forced to spend a week in quarantine in this “sharply funny” (People) novel—an Indie Next and #1 Library Reads Pick!

“Witty and deeply heartfelt.”—Emily Giffin

It’s Christmas, and for the first time in years the entire Birch family will be under one roof. Even Emma and Andrew’s elder daughter—who is usually off saving the world—will be joining them at Weyfield Hall, their aging country estate. But Olivia, a doctor, is only coming home because she has to. Having just returned from treating an epidemic abroad, she’s been told she must stay in quarantine for a week…and so too should her family.

For the next seven days, the Birches are locked down, cut off from the rest of humanity—and even decent Wi-Fi—and forced into each other’s orbits. Younger, unabashedly frivolous daughter Phoebe is fixated on her upcoming wedding, while Olivia deals with the culture shock of being immersed in first-world problems.

As Andrew sequesters himself in his study writing scathing restaurant reviews and remembering his glory days as a war correspondent, Emma hides a secret that will turn the whole family upside down.

In close proximity, not much can stay hidden for long, and as revelations and long-held tensions come to light, nothing is more shocking than the unexpected guest who’s about to arrive.

What If? Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions written by Randall Munroe & narrated by Wil Wheaton (Format: Downloadable Audiobook):

From the creator of the wildly popular webcomic xkcd comes this hilarious and informative book of answers to important questions you probably never thought to ask.

Millions of people visit xkcd.com each week to read Randall Munroe’s iconic webcomic. His stick-figure drawings about science, technology, language, and love have a large and passionate following. Fans of xkcd ask Munroe a lot of strange questions. What if you tried to hit a baseball pitched at 90 percent of the speed of light? How fast can you hit a speed bump while driving and live? If there were a robot apocalypse, how long would humanity last?

In pursuit of answers, Munroe runs computer simulations, pores over stacks of declassified military research memos, solves differential equations, and consults with nuclear reactor operators. His responses are masterpieces of clarity and hilarity, complemented by signature xkcd comics. They often predict the complete annihilation of humankind, or at least a really big explosion.

The book features new and never-before-answered questions, along with updated and expanded versions of the most popular answers from the xkcd website. What If? will be required reading for xkcd fans and anyone who loves to ponder the hypothetical.

Print Suggestions Of The Week:

The Comforts of Home: A Simon Serrailler Mystery by Susan Hill:

Simon Serrailler faces his most difficult case yet in the ninth installment of Susan Hill’s gripping mystery series.Susan Hill—the Man Booker Prize nominee and winner of the Whitbread, Somerset Maugham, and John Llewellyn Rhys awards—returns with a hair-raising new novel, the ninth book in one of the most acclaimed mystery series of our time. Featuring the enigmatic and brooding chief police inspector Simon Serrailler, this intricate and pulse-pounding series follows a collection of grisly crimes plaguing the city of Lafferton—and The Comforts of Home is the most chilling and unputdownable installment yet.

In this gripping new thriller, Simon, eager to be back at work after recovering from a near-fatal injury, takes on a cold-case review for the Lafferton police about a girl who disappeared some years before. Meanwhile, his family adjusts to changes of its own; namely his sister’s marriage to Chief Constable Kieron Bright. But when events take an unfavorable turn for the Chief Constable and an arsonist goes on a deadly rampage in Lafferton, Simon’s personal and professional lives intertwine in more complex and devastating ways than ever before.In the tradition of the fabulous mysteries of Ruth Rendell and P.D. James, The Comforts of Home is Susan Hill’s best work yet—a heart-pounding new addition to a highly-applauded and “elegant” (The New York Times) series.

The Depth of Winter written by Craig Johnson & narrated by George Guidall (Format: Audiobook on CD):

Johnson’s harrowing 14th mystery featuring Sheriff Walt Longmire (after 2016’s The Western Star) takes the Wyoming lawman to Mexico, where ruthless killer Tomás Bidarte holds Walt’s grown daughter, Cady, captive in a remote mountain compound in the middle of the Chihuahua desert. The six-foot-four Walt faces formidable obstacles in rescuing Cady, not least being his attention-drawing size. Fortunately, one of his allies on this suicidal mission, a blind man known as the Seer, thinks to pass him off as real-life retired NFL star Bob Lilly, a ruse that works for a while. Once Walt and his team arrive at the compound, the trouble really begins. The tension lets up only intermittently as Walt lurches from one dire situation to another. Humorous asides and witty dialogue provide welcome relief from the often grim circumstances in which Walt finds himself, including a stint in the stocks during a Day of the Dead celebration and the climactic confrontation with Bidarte, who plays matador to Walt’s bull. Johnson is in fine form of the 2018 book.

Guess Who by Chris McGeorge:

The rules are simple.

But the game is not.

At eleven years old, Morgan Sheppard solved the murder of a teacher when everyone else believed it to be a suicide. The publicity surrounding the case laid the foundation for his reputation as a modern-day Sherlock Holmes. He parlayed that fame into a gig as TV’s “resident detective,” solving the more typical tawdry daytime talk show mysteries like “Who is the father?” and “Is he cheating?”

Until, that is, Sheppard wakes up handcuffed to a bed in an unfamiliar hotel room. Around him, five strangers are slowly waking up, as well. Soon they discover a corpse in the bathtub and Sheppard is challenged to put his deductive skills to the test. One of the people in the room is the killer. He has three hours to solve the murder. If he doesn’t find the killer, they all will die.

An ingenious, page-turning debut, Chris McGeorge’s Guess Who matches the high-wire plotting of classic “locked room” mysteries into the unstoppable pacing of the modern-day thriller.

In Extremis: The Life and Death of the War Correspondent Marie Colvin by Lindsey Hilsum: 

A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice. Long-listed for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence. One of Esquire’s Best Books of 2018. An Amazon Best Book of November, the Guardian Bookshop Book of November, and one of the Evening Standard’s Books to Read in November

“Now, thanks to Hilsum’s deeply reported and passionately written book, [Marie Colvin] has the full accounting that she deserves.” –Joshua Hammer, The New York Times

The inspiring and devastating biography of Marie Colvin, the foremost war reporter of her generation, who was killed in Syria in 2012, and whose life story also forms the basis of the feature film A Private War, starring Rosamund Pike as Colvin.

When Marie Colvin was killed in an artillery attack in Homs, Syria, in 2012, at age fifty-six, the world lost a fearless and iconoclastic war correspondent who covered the most significant global calamities of her lifetime. In Extremis, written by her fellow reporter Lindsey Hilsum, is a thrilling investigation into Colvin’s epic life and tragic death based on exclusive access to her intimate diaries from age thirteen to her death, interviews with people from every corner of her life, and impeccable research.

After growing up in a middle-class Catholic family on Long Island, Colvin studied with the legendary journalist John Hersey at Yale, and eventually started working for The Sunday Times of London, where she gained a reputation for bravery and compassion as she told the stories of victims of the major conflicts of our time. She lost sight in one eye while in Sri Lanka covering the civil war, interviewed Gaddafi and Arafat many times, and repeatedly risked her life covering conflicts in Chechnya, East Timor, Kosovo, and the Middle East. Colvin lived her personal life in extremis, too: bold, driven, and complex, she was married twice, took many lovers, drank and smoked, and rejected society’s expectations for women. Despite PTSD, she refused to give up reporting. Like her hero Martha Gellhorn, Colvin was committed to bearing witness to the horrifying truths of war, and to shining a light on the profound suffering of ordinary people caught in the midst of conflict.

Lindsey Hilsum’s In Extremis is a devastating and revelatory biography of one of the greatest war correspondents of her generation.

W. H. Auden, Poetry, and Me: A 102-Year-old Reluctant Poet Reflects on Life, Poetry, and Her Famous Teacher by Debbie Shannon with Gladys Dubovsky: 

On Wednesday afternoon, February 7, 1940, I boarded the subway to Midtown to West 12th Street and walked to The New School. I found the classroom—a huge amphitheater that held 250 students. The air was charged as people shifted and murmured all around me. I didn’t speak to anyone. I couldn’t. I was too excited for small talk. To me, he was as sensational as the Beatles were to girls in another generation. The possibility of seeing him in the flesh thrilled me to the core. All I could think about was that Auden was in that building somewhere, and that at any moment, he would be in that room. Then suddenly, the room fell silent as Auden stepped out onto the stage. W.H. Auden, Poetry, and Me is a heartwarming story that fluctuates between Gladys’s and Auden’s life. We see how their lives mirror one another—their joy and pain, and their triumph and loss as they traveled the world, fell in love, and wrote poetry. Spanning the early 1930s to today, the story deals with such subjects as war, love, family, loss, homosexuality, pain, and triumph. This is the story of a woman who has faced adversity with humor and grace, and of the famous poet she loved. Through it all, Gladys bestows pearls of wisdom that only a 102-year-old can give.

Have a great week!

Linda, SSCL

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.

Freegal Music Service

This music service is free to library card holders and offers the option to download, and keep, three free songs per week and to stream three hours of commercial free music each day:

RBDigital

Digital magazines on demand and for free! Back issues are available and you can even choose to be notified by email when the new issue of your favorite magazine is available.

About Library Apps:

You can access digital library content on PCs, Macs and mobile devices. For mobile devices simply download the OverDrive, Freegal or Zinio app from your app store to get started. If you have questions call the library at: 607-936-3713 and one of our Digital Literacy Specialists will be happy to assist you.

Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.

Native American Heritage Month – Focus On Music

Linda Reimer

Here is our final posting honoring Native American Heritage month.

Previously we’ve taken a look at fiction books, non-fiction books and movies that offer a glimpse into Native American history and culture.

Now it is time for some music!

These titles are all available for streaming, on demand, from the Southern Tier Library System’s digital music service Freegal, and if you click on the album cover for any of the titles the Freegal Music page for the album will display, then you just enter your library card number and your PIN (the last four digits of your phone number) to play the music.

And without further ado, here are the suggested listening titles:

Into The Woods by Native American Flute

This album of Native American flute music both offers insight into Native American culture and can be listen to for relaxation or meditation purposes.

Songs on the album include: Dreams of the Elk Men, Touch of the Deer, Deer Spirits Welcome the Dawn, Invoking the Healer and Wind Scent.

Native American Meditations by Native American Coyote: 

Native American Meditations by Native American Coyote features music and readings including:
The Circle of Life, The Things I Know, Great Spirit Told Us, Song of Contentment, Barefoot Prairie Walker & Talking with our Grandfathers

Native American Meditations by Native American Meditations:

Native American Meditations presents the words of Native American leaders and teachers such as Black Elk, Sitting Bull, and Crazy Horse as spoken by their descendants and relations. The Lakota, Dine/Navajo, Oglala, Chumash, and Cherokee are among the native peoples represented on this album, which also features hypnotic tribal music in the background. A uniquely personal and historical document of Native American culture.

Native American Nights by Niall:

This collection contains three long songs featuring nature sounds and flue music: Native American Medicine Power, Night Hawk Wing & Keepers of the Night.

Have a great day,

Linda, SSL

Suggested Listening November 30, 2018

Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, and just a bit late, here are our lucky seven musical recommendations for the week.

Our lucky seven suggested listens include five streaming suggestions* and two recommended albums on CD.

(Click on the photo to stream or request the album you’re interested in!)

Freegal Streaming Suggestions*

Henry Brown Blues (1961) by Henry Brown (Genre: Blues, Piano Blues):

This LP features a  rocking collection of blues tunes by the great Saint Louis pianist Henry Brown.

Songs on album include: Henry Brown Blues, Bottled In Bond, Blues For Charlie O’Brien, Henry Brown Boogie and Handyman Blues.

Starfish (1988) by The Church (Genre: Rock, Eighties Rock):

A classic 1980s LP by the introspective Australian pop group.

Songs on the LP include: Under the Milky Way, Blood Money, North South East And West, Reptile and A New Season.

Live from the Ryman (2018) by Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit (Genre: Rock):

The new album by Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit is a rocking live LP!

Song in the set include; Last Of My Kind, Flying Over Water, The Life You Chose, Cumberland Gap and Something More Than Free.

Sweet Freedom – Now What? (1994) by Joe McPhee (Genre: Jazz):

Saxophonist Joe McPhee recorded this album as a modern day tribute to Max Roach’s classic 1960 album Sweet Freedom. McPhee takes Roach’s songs and makes them his own, which makes for a great listening experience! He is joined on the LP by Paul Plimley on acoustic piano and Lisle Ellis on double bass.

Songs on the LP include: Mendacity, Driva’ Man, Self Portrait, Singing With A Sword In My Hand, Garvey’s Ghost & Approaching The Smoke.

Annie Up (2013) by Pistol Annies (Genre: Country, Pop):

The Pistol Annies are a country trio comprised of singer-songwriters Angaleena Presley, Miranda Lambert and Ashley Monroe. The Annies wrote or co-wrote all the songs on Annie Up and blended their musical narratives together to create an intimate and relatable album.

Songs on the LP include: I Feel A Sin Comin’ On, Hush Hush, Unhappily Married, Loved By A Workin’ Man, Don’t Talk About Him, Tina and Girls Like Us.

Recommended CDs of the Week:

Jazz Profile: Grant Green (1997) by Grant Green (Genre: Jazz):

“Jazz Profile compiles highlights from Grant Green’s recordings for Blue Note, drawing a rough portrait of his career. The compilation features both soul-jazz and hard-bop cuts, giving a good sense of Green’s depth and range. While there isn’t anything here that will appeal to collector’s, Jazz Profile does offer a nice introduction for curious listeners.” (AllMusic)

Songs on the LP include: Baby’s Minor Lope, My Little Suede Shoes, Go Down Moses, Talking About J. C., Somewhere In The Night and My Favorite Things.

River: The Joni Letters (2007) by Herbie Hancock (Genre: Jazz):

This album features Hancock playing tribute to the terrific songwriter Join Mitchell; he covers 10 of her songs and is accompanied by some great guest artists.

Songs in the set include: Court and Spark (w. Norah Jones), The Jungle Line (w. Leonard Cohen), The River, Edith and Kingpen (w. Tina Turner), Tea Leaf Prophecy (w. Joni Mitchell), Both Sides Now and Amelia (w. Luciana Souza).

Videos of the Week:

Henry Brown Blues by Henry Brown

Under The Milky Way by The Church

Hope The High Road by Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit

Best Years Of My Life by Pistol Annies

This Is The Blues by Otis Spann

Tea Leaf Prophecy by Herbie Hancock with Joni Mitchell


River by Herbie Hancock with Joni Mitchell

Somewhere In The Night by Grant Green

Have a great weekend!

Linda, SSCL

*A library card is required to use the Freegal Music Service. If you live in the service area of the Southern Tier Library System, which consists of the public libraries in Steuben, Chemung, Yates, Schuyler and Alleghany counties in New York State, you can get a library card for free at your nearest public library – including our own Southeast Steuben County Library in Corning, New York. The Freegal Music Service is free for all Southern Tier Library System member libraries library card holders to access.

References:

Artist Biography & Discography Information:

http://www.allmusic.com/

The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits by Joel Whitburn (Billboard Books. New York. 2009.)

P.S. If you have any questions about how to download or stream free music through the Freegal Music service to a desktop or laptop computer or how to download and use the Freegal Music app let us know! Drop by the library or give us a call at: 607-936-3713

*You must have a library card at a Southern Tier Library System member library to enjoy the Freegal Music Service. Your card can be from any library in the system, and the system includes all public libraries in Steuben, Chemung, Yates, Schuyler and Allegheny Counties and includes our own Southeast Steuben Count Library in Corning, New York!

Library cards are free if you live in our service area. And you can obtain a card by visiting the Circulation Desk and presenting staff with a form of ID that features your name and your current address.

Links to the desktop versions of the catalogs for the library system – apps for each are available in your app store:

Digital Library Catalogs:

Freegal offers streaming and downloadable music

OverDrive allows you to check out eBooks, downloadable audiobooks and handful of streaming videos

RB Digital is the place you go to check out magazines – on demand – and you never have to return them!

The Traditional Library Catalog:

You can search for and request books, DVDs, music CDs, audiobooks on CD and other physical format items through StarCat – it is the modern day card catalog!

Suggested Reading November 26, 2018

Linda Reimer

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

(Note: Click on the photo of the item you’d like to request or check out)

Digital Suggestions Of The Week:

Becoming by Michelle Obama (Format: eBook):

An intimate, powerful, and inspiring memoir by the former First Lady of the United States

In a life filled with meaning and accomplishment, Michelle Obama has emerged as one of the most iconic and compelling women of our era. As First Lady of the United States of America—the first African-American to serve in that role—she helped create the most welcoming and inclusive White House in history, while also establishing herself as a powerful advocate for women and girls in the U.S. and around the world, dramatically changing the ways that families pursue healthier and more active lives, and standing with her husband as he led America through some of its most harrowing moments. Along the way, she showed us a few dance moves, crushed Carpool Karaoke, and raised two down-to-earth daughters under an unforgiving media glare.

In her memoir, a work of deep reflection and mesmerizing storytelling, Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her—from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world’s most famous address. With unerring honesty and lively wit, she describes her triumphs and her disappointments, both public and private, telling her full story as she has lived it—in her own words and on her own terms. Warm, wise, and revelatory, Becoming is the deeply personal reckoning of a woman of soul and substance who has steadily defied expectations—and whose story inspires us to do the same.

Debbie Macomber’s Table Sharing the Joy of Cooking with Family and Friends by Debbie Macomber (eBook):

One hundred warm and inviting original recipes from the kitchen and the novels of #1 New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber—the perfect gift for Mother’s Day!

She’s welcomed you to the Rose Harbor Inn in Cedar Cove, and now the beloved author invites you to take a seat at her table in a new cookbook featuring her favorite recipes. For Debbie Macomber, food means family—recipes and holiday traditions are passed down through generations, and meals provide opportunities for everyone to gather and share their love. In this treasure trove you’ll find one hundred delicious dishes that have become Debbie Macomber’s staples, some inspired by her novels and others by family and friends, including

• Baked Oatmeal—a comforting start to the day, and something Jo Marie would serve her Rose Harbor Inn guests.

• Grilled Fish Tacos with Cilantro-Lime Sauce—a perfect date night delight for Nichole and Rocco from A Girl’s Guide to Moving On

• Gratitude Bread—a wonderful way to express appreciation for the loved ones in your life, a gift that Shay from Any Dream Will Do would bake for her neighbors

• Honey-Chipotle Oven-Roasted Ribs—a mouthwatering dish created by Debbie’s son-in-law, but Sam Carney from If Not for You would easily whip up a succulent platter for friends

• Eggnog Cookies—a sweet treat that Merry would give to Bright in Debbie’s Christmas classic

• Guinness Pot Pie—a meaty show-stopping sensation that could win the heart of a hero in any of Debbie’s books, or the hero in your life

You’ll also discover Macomber go-to favorites—Roasted Sesame Asparagus, Debbie’s Light Clam Chowder, Cookies and Cream Frozen Dessert. And no cookbook would be complete without Debbie’s guilty pleasure: seasoned popcorn.

Loaded with gorgeous photographs and memorable stories about the author’s cherished traditions, Debbie Macomber’s Table embraces the idea that food is more than nourishment. It is a blessing that brings family and friends together.

The Girl On The Train written by Paula Hawkins & narrated by Claire Corbett (Format: Downloadable Audiobook):

The #1 New York Times Bestseller, USA Today Book of the Year, now a major motion picture.

The debut psychological thriller that will forever change the way you look at other people’s lives.

“Nothing is more addicting than The Girl on the Train.”—Vanity Fair

“The Girl on the Train has more fun with unreliable narration than any chiller since Gone Girl. . . . [It] is liable to draw a large, bedazzled readership.”—The New York Times

“Marries movie noir with novelistic trickery. . . hang on tight. You’ll be surprised by what horrors lurk around the bend.”—USA Today

“Like its train, the story blasts through the stagnation of these lives in suburban London and the reader cannot help but turn pages.”—The Boston Globe

“Gone Girl fans will devour this psychological thriller.”—People

EVERY DAY THE SAME
Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning and night. Every day she rattles down the track, flashes past a stretch of cozy suburban homes, and stops at the signal that allows her to daily watch the same couple breakfasting on their deck. She’s even started to feel like she knows them. Jess and Jason, she calls them. Their life—as she sees it—is perfect. Not unlike the life she recently lost.

UNTIL TODAY
And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough. Now everything’s changed. Unable to keep it to herself, Rachel goes to the police. But is she really as unreliable as they say? Soon she is deeply entangled not only in the investigation but in the lives of everyone involved. Has she done more harm than good?

Sworn to Silence, Kate Burkholder Series, Book 1 by Linda Castillo (Format: eBook):

A killer is preying on sacred ground….

In the sleepy rural town of Painters Mill, Ohio, the Amish and “English” residents have lived side by side for two centuries. But sixteen years ago, a series of brutal murders shattered the peaceful farming community. In the aftermath of the violence, the town was left with a sense of fragility, a loss of innocence. Kate Burkholder, a young Amish girl, survived the terror of the Slaughterhouse Killer but came away from its brutality with the realization that she no longer belonged with the Amish.

Now, a wealth of experience later, Kate has been asked to return to Painters Mill as Chief of Police. Her Amish roots and big city law enforcement background make her the perfect candidate. She’s certain she’s come to terms with her past—until the first body is discovered in a snowy field. Kate vows to stop the killer before he strikes again. But to do so, she must betray both her family and her Amish past—and expose a dark secret that could destroy her.

Tribe On Homecoming and Belonging by Sebastian Junger (Format: Downloadable Audiobook):

Based on a Vanity Fair article from June 2015, Tribe is a look at post-traumatic stress disorder and the challenges veterans face returning to society. Using his background in anthropology, Sebastian Junger argues that the problem lies not with vets or with the trauma they’ve suffered, but with the society to which they are trying to return. One of the most puzzling things about veterans who experience PTSD is that the majority never even saw combat—and yet they feel deeply alienated and out of place back home. The reason may lie in our natural inclination, as a species, to live in groups of thirty to fifty people who are entirely reliant on one another for safety, comfort, and a sense of meaning: in short, the life of a soldier. It is one of the ironies of the modern age that as affluence rises in a society, so do rates of suicide, depression, and of course PTSD. In a wealthy society people don’t need to cooperate with one another, so they often lead much lonelier lives that lead to psychological distress. There is a way for modern society to reverse this trend, however, and studying how veterans react to coming home may provide a clue to how to do it. But it won’t be easy.

Print Suggestions Of The Week:

The Bad Neighbor by David Tallerman:

When part-time teacher Ollie Clay panic-buys a rundown house in the outskirts of Leeds, he soon recognises his mistake. His new neighbour, Chas Walker, is an antisocial thug, and Ollie’s suspicions raise links to a local hate group. With Ollie’s life unravelling rapidly, he feels his choices dwindling: his situation is intolerable and only standing up to Chas can change it. But Ollie has his own history of violence, and increasingly, his own secrets to hide; and Chas may be more than the mindless yob he appears to be. As their conflict spills over into the wider world, Ollie will come to learn that there are worse problems in life than one bad neighbor.

Becoming by Michelle Obama:

An intimate, powerful, and inspiring memoir by the former First Lady of the United States

In a life filled with meaning and accomplishment, Michelle Obama has emerged as one of the most iconic and compelling women of our era. As First Lady of the United States of America—the first African American to serve in that role—she helped create the most welcoming and inclusive White House in history, while also establishing herself as a powerful advocate for women and girls in the U.S. and around the world, dramatically changing the ways that families pursue healthier and more active lives, and standing with her husband as he led America through some of its most harrowing moments. Along the way, she showed us a few dance moves, crushed Carpool Karaoke, and raised two down-to-earth daughters under an unforgiving media glare.

In her memoir, a work of deep reflection and mesmerizing storytelling, Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her—from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world’s most famous address. With unerring honesty and lively wit, she describes her triumphs and her disappointments, both public and private, telling her full story as she has lived it—in her own words and on her own terms. Warm, wise, and revelatory, Becoming is the deeply personal reckoning of a woman of soul and substance who has steadily defied expectations—and whose story inspires us to do the same.

Hazards of Time Travel by Joyce Carol Oates:

“Time travel” — and its hazards — are made literal in this astonishing new novel in which a recklessly idealistic girl dares to test the perimeters of her tightly controlled (future) world and is punished by being sent back in time to a region of North America — “Wainscotia, Wisconsin” — that existed eighty years before. Cast adrift in time in this idyllic Midwestern town she is set upon a course of “rehabilitation” — but cannot resist falling in love with a fellow exile and questioning the constrains of the Wainscotia world with results that are both devastating and liberating. Arresting and visionary, Hazards of Time Travel is both a novel of harrowing discovery and an exquisitely wrought love story that may be Joyce Carol Oates’s most unexpected novel so far.

Long Road To Mercy by David Baldacci:

Atlee Pine, an FBI special agent assigned to the remote wilds of the western United States. Ever since her twin sister was abducted by a

notorious serial killer at age five, Atlee has spent her life hunting down those who hurt others. And she’s the best at it. She could be one of the Bureau’s top criminal profilers, if she didn’t prefer catching criminals in the vast wilderness of the West to climbing the career ladder in the D.C. office. Her chosen mission is a lonesome one–but that suits her just fine. Now, Atlee is called in to investigate the mutilated carcass of a mule found in the Grand Canyon–and hopefully, solve the disappearance of its rider. But this isn’t the only recent disappearance. In fact, it may be just the first clue, the key to unraveling a rash of other similar missing persons cases in the canyon.

Target Alex Cross by James Patterson:

A leader has fallen, and the procession route from Capitol Hill to the White House is lined with hundreds of thousands of mourners. None feel the loss of a President more keenly than Alex Cross, who has devoted his life to the public good. A sniper’s bullet strikes a target in the heart of DC. Alex Cross’s wife, Bree Stone, newly elevated chief of DC detectives, faces an ultimatum: solve the case, or lose the position for which she’s worked her entire career. The Secret Service and the FBI deploy as well in the race to find the shooter. Alex is tasked by the new President to take a personal role with the FBI, leading an investigation unprecedented in scale and scope. Alex has a horrible premonition: is the sniper’s strike only the beginning of a larger attack on the nation?

Have a great week!

Linda, SSCL

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.

Freegal Music Service

This music service is free to library card holders and offers the option to download, and keep, three free songs per week and to stream three hours of commercial free music each day:

RBDigital

Digital magazines on demand and for free! Back issues are available and you can even choose to be notified by email when the new issue of your favorite magazine is available.

About Library Apps:

You can access digital library content on PCs, Macs and mobile devices. For mobile devices simply download the OverDrive, Freegal or Zinio app from your app store to get started. If you have questions call the library at: 607-936-3713 and one of our Digital Literacy Specialists will be happy to assist you.

Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.

Suggested Listening November 23, 2018

Linda Reimer

Happy holiday weekend everyone!

Since the library is open on Friday but closed for rug cleaning on Saturday, I’m going to offer a list of seven streaming music selections for this week and no CDs.

And this week our seven streaming collections all feature music performed at the B.B.C.

Live at the BBC by Chris Farlowe (Genre: Rock, Classic Rock, Pop, Sixties):

Live at the BBC 1970-1978 by Climax Blues Band (Genre: Rock, Pop. Seventies):

Live At The BBC by The Graham Bond Organisation (Genre: Rock, Jazz, Blues, Sixties):

Live at the BBC by The Mystreated (Genre: Garage Band, Rock):

Live at the BBC by The Pretty Things (Genre: Rock, Classic Rock, Sixties):

At the BBC 1972-1982 by Todd Rundgren (Genre: Rock, Pop, Seventies):

Live at the BBC by Zoot Money’s Big Roll Band (Genre: Soul, R&B, Pop, Sixties):

Videos Of The Week:

Harmonica by The Graham Bond Organisation (with future Cream members Jack Bruce & Ginger Baker)

Tyme Is Passing by The Mystreated

The Cat by Zoot Money & The Big Roll Band

Out of Time by Chris Farlowe

Don’t Bring Me Down by The Pretty Things

Couldn’t Get It Right by The Climax Blues Band

I Saw the Light by Todd Rundrgen

Have a great weekend!

Linda, SSCL

Suggested Reading November 21, 2018

Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, here are our recommended titles for this week!

And just in case anyone out there is wondering, although the library is closed on Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday and on Saturday for rug cleaning — we will be open our regular hours of 9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. on Friday.

So while you’re out and about on Friday, drop in and pick up some books and DVDs for the weekend!

(Note: Click on the photo of the item you’d like to request or check out)

Digital Suggestions Of The Week:

All You Can Ever Know: A Memoir by Nicole Chung (Format: eBook)

Named a Best Book of Fall by The Washington Post, Entertainment Weekly, TIME, Elle, and more

“This book moved me to my very core. . . . [All You Can Ever Know] should be required reading for anyone who has ever had, wanted, or found a family―which is to say, everyone.” ―Celeste Ng, author of Little Fires Everywhere

What does it mean to lose your roots—within your culture, within your family—and what happens when you find them?

Nicole Chung was born severely premature, placed for adoption by her Korean parents, and raised by a white family in a sheltered Oregon town. From childhood, she heard the story of her adoption as a comforting, prepackaged myth. She believed that her biological parents had made the ultimate sacrifice in the hope of giving her a better life, that forever feeling slightly out of place was her fate as a transracial adoptee. But as Nicole grew up—facing prejudice her adoptive family couldn’t see, finding her identity as an Asian American and as a writer, becoming ever more curious about where she came from—she wondered if the story she’d been told was the whole truth.

With warmth, candor, and startling insight, Nicole Chung tells of her search for the people who gave her up, which coincided with the birth of her own child. All You Can Ever Know is a profound, moving chronicle of surprising connections and the repercussions of unearthing painful family secrets—vital reading for anyone who has ever struggled to figure out where they belong.

And The Dark Sacred Night: A Novel by Julia Glass (Format: eBook)

In this richly detailed novel about the quest for an unknown father, Julia Glass brings new characters together with familiar figures from her first two novels, immersing readers in a panorama that stretches from suburban New Jersey to rural Vermont and ultimately to the tip of Cape Cod.

Kit Noonan is an unemployed art historian with twins to help support and a mortgage to pay–and a wife frustrated by his inertia. Raised by a strong-willed, secretive single mother, Kit has never known the identity of his father–a mystery that his wife insists he must solve to move forward with his life. Out of desperation, Kit goes to the mountain retreat of his mother’s former husband, Jasper, a take-no-prisoners outdoorsman. There, in the midst of a fierce blizzard, Kit and Jasper confront memories of the bittersweet decade when their families were joined. Reluctantly breaking a long-ago promise, Jasper connects Kit with Lucinda and Zeke Burns, who know the answer he’s looking for. Readers of Glass’s first novel, Three Junes, will recognize Lucinda as the mother of Malachy, the music critic who died of AIDS. In fact, to fully understand the secrets surrounding his paternity, Kit will travel farther still, meeting Fenno McLeod, now in his late fifties, and Fenno’s longtime companion, the gregarious Walter Kinderman.

And the Dark Sacred Night is an exquisitely memorable tale about the youthful choices that steer our destinies, the necessity of forgiveness, and the risks we take when we face down the shadows from our past.

The Noel Stranger written by Richard Paul Evans & narrated by Erin Mallon (Format: Downloadable Audiobook)

From “The King of Christmas,” Richard Paul Evans, comes the next exciting holiday novel perfect for “fans of Debbie Macomber” (Booklist) in his New York Times bestselling Noel Collection.

Maggie Walther feels like her world is imploding. Publicly humiliated after her husband, a local councilman, is arrested for bigamy, and her subsequent divorce, she has isolated herself from the world. When her only friend insists that Maggie climb out of her hole, and embrace the season to get her out of her funk, Maggie decides to put up a Christmas tree and heads off to buy one—albeit reluctantly. She is immediately taken by Andrew, the kind, handsome man who owns the Christmas tree lot and delivers her tree. She soon learns that Andrew is single and new to her city and, like her, is also starting his life anew.

As their friendship develops, Maggie slowly begins to trust again—something she never thought possible. Then, just when she thinks she has finally found happiness, she discovers a dark secret from Andrew’s past. Is there more to this stranger’s truth than meets the eye? This powerful new holiday novel from Richard Paul Evans, the “King of Christmas fiction” (The New York Times), explores the true power of the season, redemption, and the freedom that comes from forgiveness.

The Pisces: A Novel by Melissa Broder (Format: eBook):

LONG-LISTED FOR THE CENTER FOR FICTION FIRST NOVEL PRIZE

“Bold, virtuosic, addictive, erotic – there is nothing like The Pisces. I have no idea how Broder does it, but I loved every dark and sublime page of it.” —Stephanie Danler, author of Sweetbitter

Lucy has been writing her dissertation on Sappho for nine years when she and her boyfriend break up in a dramatic flameout. After she bottoms out in Phoenix, her sister in Los Angeles insists Lucy dog-sit for the summer. Annika’s home is a gorgeous glass cube on Venice Beach, but Lucy can find little relief from her anxiety — not in the Greek chorus of women in her love addiction therapy group, not in her frequent Tinder excursions, not even in Dominic the foxhound’s easy affection.

Everything changes when Lucy becomes entranced by an eerily attractive swimmer while sitting alone on the beach rocks one night. But when Lucy learns the truth about his identity, their relationship, and Lucy’s understanding of what love should look like, take a very unexpected turn. A masterful blend of vivid realism and giddy fantasy, pairing hilarious frankness with pulse-racing eroticism, THE PISCES is a story about falling in obsessive love with a merman: a figure of Sirenic fantasy whose very existence pushes Lucy to question everything she thought she knew about love, lust, and meaning in the one life we have.

The Thanksgiving Megapack, 35 Holiday Classics for Thanksgiving by various authors (Format: eBook):

Thanksgiving is an American tradition, celebrating the coming of autumn, the bounty of the harvest, the peaceful coexistence of the Pilgrims and the Native Americans, football, family—and, of course, the obligatory celebration feast. Here are 35 tales celebrating Thanksgiving in all its forms, by classic authors you know and love (O. Henry, Harriet Becher Stowe, Nathaniel Hawthorne) and others who may be new to you.

A cornucopia of Thanksgiving old-time stories are featured in this collection including:

TWO THANKSGIVING DAY GENTLEMEN, by O. Henry

SKINNY’S TURKEY DINNER, by Mary E. Marcy

EZRA’S THANKSGIVIN’ OUT WEST, by Eugene Field

WHO ATE THE DOLLY’S DINNER? by Isabel Gordon Curtis

THANKFUL, by Mary Wilkins Freeman

BEETLE RING’S THANKSGIVING MASCOT, by Sheldon C. Stoddard

THANKSGIVING AT TODD’S ASYLUM, by Winthrop Packard

HOW WE KEPT THANKSGIVING AT OLDTOWN, by Harriet Beecher Stowe

JOHN INGLEFIELD’S THANKSGIVING, by Nathaniel Hawthorne

HOW OBADIAH BROUGHT ABOUT A THANKSGIVING, by Emily Hewitt Leland

TWO OLD BOYS, by Pauline Shackleford Colyar

A THANKSGIVING DINNER THAT FLEW AWAY, by Hezekiah Butterworth

Print Suggestions Of The Week:

Beauchamp Hall: A Novel by Danielle Steel:

#1 New York Times bestselling author Danielle Steel tells the uplifting story of an ordinary woman embracing an extraordinary adventure, and the daring choice that transforms her world.

Winona Farmington once dreamed of graduating from college, moving to New York City, and pursuing a career in publishing. Then real life got in the way when she left college and returned to her small Michigan hometown to care for her sick mother.

Years later, stuck in a dead-end job and an unsatisfying relationship, Winnie has concluded that dreams were meant for others. She consoles herself with binge-watching the British television series that she loves, Beauchamp Hall, enthralled by the sumptuous period drama set on a great Norfolk estate in the 1920s. The rich upstairs-downstairs world brilliantly brought to life by superb actors is the ultimate in escapism.

On the day Winnie is passed over for a long-overdue promotion, she is also betrayed by her boyfriend and her best friend. Heartbroken, she makes the first impulsive decision of her conventional life—which changes everything.

She packs her bags and flies to England to see the town where Beauchamp Hall is filmed. The quaint B & B where she stays feels like home. The brother and sister who live in the castle where the show is filmed, rich in titles but poor in cash, are more like long-lost friends than British nobility. And the show itself, with its colorful company and behind-the-scenes affairs, is a drama all its own. Winnie’s world comes alive on the set of the show.

What happens next is the stuff of dreams, as Winnie takes the boldest leap of all. Beauchamp Hall reminds us to follow our dreams. . . . You never know what magic will happen!

Kingdom Of The Blind by Louise Penny:

When a peculiar letter arrives inviting Armand Gamache to an abandoned farmhouse, the former head of the Sûreté du Québec discovers that a complete stranger has named him one of the executors of her will. Still on suspension, and frankly curious, Gamache accepts and soon learns that the other two executors are Myrna Landers, the bookseller from Three Pines, and a young builder.

None of them had ever met the elderly woman.

The will is so odd and includes bequests that are so wildly unlikely that Gamache and the others suspect the woman must have been delusional. But what if, Gamache begins to ask himself, she was perfectly sane?

When a body is found, the terms of the bizarre will suddenly seem less peculiar and far more menacing.

But it isn’t the only menace Gamache is facing.

The investigation into what happened six months ago―the events that led to his suspension―has dragged on, into the dead of winter. And while most of the opioids he allowed to slip through his hands, in order to bring down the cartels, have been retrieved, there is one devastating exception.

Enough narcotic to kill thousands has disappeared into inner city Montreal. With the deadly drug about to hit the streets, Gamache races for answers.

As he uses increasingly audacious, even desperate, measures to retrieve the drug, Armand Gamache begins to see his own blind spots. And the terrible things hiding there.

Look Alive by Janet Evanovich:

Stephanie Plum faces the toughest puzzle of her career in the twenty-fifth entry in Janet Evanovich’s #1 New York Times-bestselling series.

There’s nothing like a good deli, and the Red River Deli in Trenton is one of the best. World-famous for its pastrami, cole slaw, and for its disappearing managers. Over the last month, three have vanished from the face of the earth, and the only clue in each case is one shoe that’s been left behind. The police are baffled. Lula is convinced that it’s a case of alien abduction. Whatever it is, they’d better figure out what’s going on before they lose their new manager, Ms. Stephanie Plum.

Night Of Miracles: A Novel by Elizabeth Berg:

The feel-good book of the year: a delightful novel of friendship, community, and the way small acts of kindness can change your life, by the bestselling author of The Story of Arthur Truluv

Lucille Howard is getting on in years, but she stays busy. Thanks to the inspiration of her dearly departed friend Arthur Truluv, she has begun to teach baking classes, sharing the secrets to her delicious classic Southern yellow cake, the perfect pinwheel cookies, and other sweet essentials. Her classes have become so popular that she’s hired Iris, a new resident of Mason, Missouri, as an assistant. Iris doesn’t know how to bake but she needs to keep her mind off a big decision she sorely regrets.

When a new family moves in next door and tragedy strikes, Lucille begins to look out for Lincoln, their son. Lincoln’s parents aren’t the only ones in town facing hard choices and uncertain futures. In these difficult times, the residents of Mason come together and find the true power of community—just when they need it the most.

“Elizabeth Berg’s characters jump right off the page and into your heart” said Fannie Flagg about The Story of Arthur Truluv. The same could be said about Night of Miracles, a heartwarming novel that reminds us that the people we come to love are often the ones we don’t expect.

A Scandal In Scarlet by Vicki Delany:

Sherlockians will delight at the latest charming installment of national bestselling author Vicki Delany’s fourth Sherlock Holmes Bookshop mystery.

Gemma and Jayne donate their time to raise money for the rebuilding of a burned out museum―but a killer wants a piece of the auction.

Walking her dog Violet late one night, Gemma Doyle, owner of the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop, acts quickly when she smells smoke outside the West London Museum. Fortunately no one is inside, but it’s too late to save the museum’s priceless collection of furniture, and damage to the historic house is extensive. Baker Street’s shop owners come together to hold an afternoon auction tea to raise funds to rebuild, and

Great Uncle Arthur Doyle offers a signed first edition of The Valley of Fear.

Cape Cod’s cognoscenti files into Mrs. Hudson’s Tea Room, owned by Gemma’s best friend, Jayne Wilson. Excitement fills the air (along with the aromas of Jayne’s delightful scones, of course). But the auction never happens. Before the gavel can fall, museum board chair Kathy Lamb is found dead in the back room. Wrapped tightly around her neck is a long rope of decorative knotted tea cups―a gift item that Jayne sells at Mrs. Hudson’s. Gemma’s boyfriend in blue, Ryan Ashburton, arrives on the scene with Detective Louise Estrada. But the suspect list is long, and the case far from elementary. Does Kathy’s killing have any relation to a mysterious death of seven years ago?

Gemma has no intention of getting involved in the investigation, but when fellow shopkeeper Maureen finds herself the prime suspect she begs Gemma for her help. Ryan knows Gemma’s methods and he isn’t happy when she gets entangled in another mystery. But with so many suspects and so few clues, her deductive prowess will prove invaluable in A Scandal in Scarlet, Vicki Delany’s shrewdly plotted fourth Sherlock Holmes Bookshop mystery.

Linda, SSCL

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.

Freegal Music Service

This music service is free to library card holders and offers the option to download, and keep, three free songs per week and to stream three hours of commercial free music each day:

RBDigital

Digital magazines on demand and for free! Back issues are available and you can even choose to be notified by email when the new issue of your favorite magazine is available.

About Library Apps:

You can access digital library content on PCs, Macs and mobile devices. For mobile devices simply download the OverDrive, Freegal or Zinio app from your app store to get started. If you have questions call the library at: 607-936-3713 and one of our Digital Literacy Specialists will be happy to assist you.

Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.

November is Native American Heritage Month – Focus On DVDs

Linda Reimer

This is week 3 of our November Did You Know postings.

As mentioned in previous postings, November is Native American Heritage month; last week our suggested reading titles were all non-fiction. This week our focus is on DVDs – both fiction and documentaries.

Recommended DVDs:

Crooked Arrows (2012)

A mixed-blood Native American; Joe Logan; eager to modernize his reservation; must first prove himself to his father; the traditionalist Tribal Chairman; by rediscovering his spirit. He is tasked with coaching the reservation’s high school lacrosse team which competes against the better equipped and better trained players of the elite Prep School League. Joe inspires the Native American boys and teaches them the true meaning of tribal pride. Ignited by their heritage and believing in their new-found potential; coach and team climb an uphill battle to the state championship finals against their privileged prep school rivals – will they win?

Crooked Arrows is an original; uplifting sports movie in the tradition of such classics as Mighty Ducks; Bad News Bears; Hoosiers; and Bend It Like Beckhamaset in the fresh; contemporary worlds of Native American reservations; prep schools; and lacrosse.

Dreamkeeper (2004):

Dreamkeeper tells the story of a resentful Lakota teenager (Eddie Spears) who reluctantly agrees to drive his wise elderly grandfather (August Schellenberg) from their “rez” in South Dakota to a to national Powwow in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

While en route the grandfather, who is the dreamkeeping storyteller for his tribe, tells traditional stories/folklore to his grandson who is transformed from a resistant teen to a proud storyteller himself.

Incident at Oglala: The Leonard Peltier Story (2004):

In 1975, armed FBI agents illegally entered the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Gunfire erupted- a Native American and two FBI agents fell dead. After the largest manhunt in FBI history, three men were apprehended- only one, Leonard Peltier, was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.

This is his story.

From the very beginning, Pelter’s case has been dogged with controversy. Were the charged trumped up? Was the evidence falsified? Were witnesses pressured to change their testimony? Many people, including some of today’s greatest legal minds, believe that Peltier is an innocent man. Twelve years ago, Robert Redford visited Leonard Peltier in prison. Today, after years of struggle with the FBI and the prison system, he and director Michael Apted (GORILLAS IN THE MIST, COAL MINER’S DAUGHTER) are able to present INCIDENT AT OGLALA- a riveting examination of the case and the real story of what may be one of the most outrageous abuses of justice in American history.

Jim Thorpe: The World’s Greatest Athlete (2009):

Born on Native American territory in Oklahoma; a descendant of the last great Sac and Fox chief, Black Hawk—his Indian name, Wa-tho-huck or “Bright Path”—something Jim Thorpe certainly lived up to in a time of hardship and stigmas for Native Americans. Thorpe’s athletic career began at the Carlisle Industrial Indian School where he played football and ran track. His natural athletic abilities are what legends are made of, no matter the sport, he excelled at it. In the 1912 Summer Olympics, Thorpe went on to win gold medals in the decathlon and pentathlon; which were later recalled due to his questionable amateur athlete status, but reinstated after his death. In a 2000 poll conducted by ABC Sports, Jim Thorpe was voted the Greatest Athlete of the Twentieth Century, beating out other greats such as Muhammed Ali and Babe Ruth.

Jim Thorpe was more than a legendary and accomplished athlete; he worked as an extra in the movie industry, travelled as a motivational speaker, and fought tirelessly as an activist for Native American rights and self-sufficiency. During WWII, in 1945, he even enlisted as a merchant marine.

Our Spirits Don’t Speak English (2008):

Our Spirits Don’t Speak English: Indian Boarding School is a Native American perspective on Indian Boarding Schools. This DVD produced by Rich-Heape Films, Inc. uncovers the dark history of U.S. Government policy which took Indian children from their homes, forced them into boarding schools and enacted a policy of educating them in the ways of Western Society. This DVD gives a voice to the countless Indian children forced through a system designed to strip them of their Native American culture, heritage and traditions.

Rumble! Indians That Rocked The World (2017):

This revelatory documentary brings to light a profound and missing chapter in the history of American music: the Indigenous influence. Featuring music icons like Charley Patton, Mildred Bailey, Link Wray, Jimi Hendrix, Jesse Ed Davis, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Robbie Robertson, Randy Castillo, and Taboo, RUMBLE shows how these pioneering Native musicians helped shape the soundtracks of our lives. RUMBLE uses playful re-creations and little-known stories, alongside concert footage, archives, and interviews. The stories of these iconic Native musicians are told by some of America`s greatest music legends who knew them, played music with them, and were inspired with them: everyone from Stevie Van Zandt, Iggy Pop, and Steven Tyler to Tony Bennett, Quincy Jones and Buddy Guy. Popular music and the history of rock and roll itself certainly would not have been the same without the contributions of Native Americans. RUMBLE was executive produced by Stevie Salas (Apache), celebrated guitarist and music producer, and museum exhibitions and programs executive Tim Johnson (Mohawk), formerly of the Smithsonian NMAI.

Smoke Signals (1998):

Based on a couple of short stories (from The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven) by Sherman Alexie, Smoke Signals is a lean and assured feature that speaks well of its lengthy, rich evolution, including a development stint at Sundance. The first feature made by a Native American crew and creative team, the film concerns two young Idaho men with radically different memories of one Arnold Joseph (Gary Farmer), a former resident of the reservation who split years before and has just died in Phoenix. Arnold’s strapping, popular son, Victor (Adam Beach), remembers him best as an alcoholic, occasionally abusive father who drove off one day and never came back. By contrast, Thomas Builds-the-Fire (Evan Adams), whom Arnold had saved from certain death years earlier, has chosen to exaggerate the man’s life and deeds in a mythmaking fashion that drives Victor crazy. Circumstances bring the two together, however, in a bus ride to retrieve Arnold’s ashes. There, in Phoenix, a confrontation with the reality of the dead man’s fullest legacy has a profound effect on both characters. Alexie, who wrote the script and was personally involved in all aspects of the production, and first-time director Chris Eyre are so polished in their approach that you can barely feel the cinematic engine at work here. This is the kind of movie in which the characters seem to be driving everything forward, a captivating and pleasant experience that gets a little too tidy at the end (can we call a moratorium on scenes of human ashes lovingly disposed to the winds?), but which is undeniably moving. The cast, including Irene Bedard (the voice of and physical inspiration for Disney’s Pocahontas) is outstanding. –Tom Keogh, Amazon Review

Spirit Rider (1993):

Without warning, a 16 year-old Native American orphan is uprooted from his latest foster home and returned to the reservation of his birth. He slowly begins to adjust to his new life with his grandfather, but someone who knows the awful secret surrounding his mother’s death is determined to destroy his newfound happiness. For the two adversaries, an annual horse race culminates in a life-and-death struggle that could finish them both.

We Shall Remain (2009):

From PBS’s acclaimed history series, American Experience, in association with Native American Public Telecommunications, We Shall Remain establishes Native history as an essential part of American history. These documentaries tell the story of the Native Americans’ perspective, upending two-dimensional stereotypes of American Indians as simply ferocious warriors or peaceable lovers of the land.

Have a great day!

Linda, SSCL