Hi everyone, here are our five suggested reads of the week!
Weekly Suggested Reading Five postings are usually published on Wednesdays, unless Monday is a holiday and then they are published later in the week.
And the next Suggested Reading posting will be published on Wednesday, April 30, 2025.
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America, América A New History of the New World by Greg Grandin by Greg Grandin
The story of how the United States’ identity was formed is almost invariably told by looking east to Europe. But as Greg Grandin vividly demonstrates, the nation’s unique sense of itself was in fact forged facing south toward Latin America. In turn, Latin America developed its own identity in struggle with the looming colossus to the north. In this stunningly original reinterpretation of the New World, Grandin reveals how North and South emerged from a constant, turbulent engagement with each other.
America, América traverses half a millennium, from the Spanish Conquest—the greatest mortality event in human history—through the eighteenth-century wars for independence, the Monroe Doctrine, the coups and revolutions of the twentieth century, and beyond. Grandin shows, among other things, how in response to U.S. interventions, Latin Americans remade the rules, leading directly to the founding of the United Nations; and how the Good Neighbor Policy allowed FDR to assume the moral authority to lead the fight against world fascism.
Grandin’s book sheds new light on well-known historical figures like Bartolomé de las Casas, Simón Bolívar, and Woodrow Wilson, as well as lesser-known actors such as the Venezuelan Francisco de Miranda, who almost lost his head in the French Revolution and conspired with Alexander Hamilton to free America from Spain; the Colombian Jorge Gaitán, whose unsolved murder inaugurated the rise of Cold War political terror, death squads, and disappearances; and the radical journalist Ernest Gruening, who, in championing non-interventionism in Latin America, helped broker the most spectacularly successful policy reversal in United States history. This is a monumental work of scholarship that will fundamentally change the way we think of Spanish and English colonialism, slavery and racism, and the rise of universal humanism. At once comprehensive and accessible, America, América shows that centuries of bloodshed and diplomacy not only helped shape the political identities of the United States and Latin America but also the laws, institutions, and ideals that govern the modern world. In so doing, Grandin argues that Latin America’s deeply held culture of social democracy can be an effective counterweight to today’s spreading rightwing authoritarianism.
A culmination of a decades-long engagement with hemispheric history, drawing on a vast array of sources, and told with authority and flair, this is a genuinely new history of the New World.
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Dream State: A Novel by Eric Puchner
Puchner’s (Last Day on Earth, 2017) riveting second novel follows a trio of characters and the decades-long ripple effects of their choices on those closest to them. It’s 2004, and Cece is engaged to her medical school sweetheart Charlie, their wedding to be held at Charlie’s idyllic family home in Montana. Charlie enlists his best friend from college, Garrett, to check on Cece before the big day. Initially wary of one another, an adrift Garrett finds himself drawn to Cece, and soon thereafter Cece leaves Charlie. Years later, the three reconnect, and as time unfolds, their complicated friendship and affections shift alongside the ache of the unspoken. Charlie struggles with a string of failed marriages and a strained relationship with his son. Cece, a bookstore owner, finds herself questioning what she may have given up. Garrett, still wrestling with his own regrets, obsessively dives into his job tracking wolverines in a race against their extinction. The ghosts of the past equally haunt their respective children’s formative years, spent vacationing together at the same Montana home, the dwelling and changing rural landscape a touchpoint throughout the novel. With interwoven perspectives, Puchner’s layered saga is a deeply felt exploration of relationships and self-identity, and the imperfections hidden by the heart’s pull.
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OverKill by J.A. Jance
From J.A. Jance, a writer whose thrillers are “hot and getting hotter” (Booklist), the latest in her New York Times bestselling and heart-pounding Ali Reynolds series.
Chuck Brewster, the former business partner of Ali Reynolds’s husband B. Simpson, once carried on an affair with Clarice, B.’s first wife. So when he’s found murdered with Clarice standing nearby covered in blood, it seems an open and shut case.
But Clarice swears she’s innocent and begs for Ali’s help. At the same time, someone is targeting Camille Lee while she’s on the road for High Noon. Ali is swiftly running out of time to find the real killer and keep her employee safe in this high-octane thrill ride.
Reader’s Note: Overkill is the eighteenth book in the Ali Reynolds series, if you’d like to binge read from the beginning, check out book one Edge of Evil.
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Sirens: A Novel by Emilia Hart
Ireland, 1800. Sisters Mary and Eliza move far from the seaside after their mother disappears in the waves. Yet they are drawn to water, and when a violent encounter at a brook leads to deportation, they find themselves in horrendous conditions on a ship bound for Australia. In Australia in 2019, Lucy flees university after attacking her lover, who posted a nude photo of her online. Seeking refuge with her older sister, Jess, at Cliff House, Lucy arrives to find Jess has disappeared. All four women, across time, share a violent skin allergy to water, and as Lucy explores Jess’ history, the town, and the men who vanished from it, dark secrets emerge. Hart focuses on female bonds and the “unfairness” of the feminine condition, characters noting the “injustice” of being born women. Atmosphere is effectively evoked, Cliff House blooming with mold and near reclamation by the ocean. All melds through the supernatural premise of the Irish merrow (mermaid), which Hart combines with the sirens of Greek mythology, ensuring appeal for those who like their folklore Gothic in flavor and seasoned with feminism. – Booklist Review
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Summer Light on Nantucket by Nancy Thayer
A touching novel about parenthood, first love, family bonds, and rekindled relationships from the New York Times bestselling author and beloved Nantucket storyteller Nancy Thayer.
Blythe Benedict is content. Her life didn’t end when her marriage did. In fact, she’s more than happy living in her comfortable house in Boston, working as a middle school teacher, and raising four wonderful children. With three of her kids in the throes of teenagerhood and one not too far behind them, Blythe has plenty of drama to keep her busy every single day.
But no amount of that drama could change the family’s beloved annual summer trip to Nantucket. Blythe has always treasured the months spent at her island home-away-from-home, and has fond memories of her children growing up there. But this summer’s getaway proves to be much more than she bargained for.
Yes, there are sunny days enjoyed at the beach. But Blythe must contend with teenage angst, her ex-mother-in-law’s declining health, and a troubling secret involving her ex-husband. Meanwhile, Blythe reconnects with her first love, her former high school sweetheart Aaden. But their second-time-around romance becomes complicated when another intriguing man enters the picture.
It’s all a bit out of Blythe’s comfort zone. This particular island summer may not be as relaxing as Blythe had hoped, but she’s never felt that life has given her more than she can handle—especially when she has the love and support of her family around her.
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Happy reading!
Linda Reimer, SSCL
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Note: Book summaries are from the respective publishers unless otherwise specified.
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Information on the four library catalogs
The Digital Catalog aka Libby: https://stls.overdrive.com/
The Digital Catalog, is an online catalog containing eBooks, eAudiobooks, and digital magazines. You can use your library card and checkout content on a PC; you can also use the companion app, Libby, to access titles on your mobile devices; so you can enjoy eBooks and eAudiobooks on the go!
All card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries can check out items from the Digital Catalog.
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Hoopla Catalog: https://www.hoopladigital.com/
The Hoopla Catalog features on demand checkouts of eBooks, eAudiobooks, comic books, albums, movies and TV shows. Patron check out limit is 10 items per month.
Hoopla is a Southeast Steuben County Library service available to all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders.
The Hoopla companion app, also called Hoopla is available for mobile devices, smart TVs & media streaming players.
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Kanopy Catalog: https://www.kanopy.com/en
The Kanopy Catalog features thousands of streaming videos available on demand.
The Kanopy Catalog is available for all Southern Tier Library System member library card holders, including all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders!
You can access the Kanopy Catalog through a web browser, or download the app to your phone, tablet or media streaming player (i.e. Roku, Google or Fire TV).
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StarCat: The catalog of physical/traditional library materials: https://starcat.stls.org
Card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries can access StarCat to search for and request materials available at libraries through out the Southern Tier Library System.
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Have questions about how to access Internet based content (i.e. eBooks, eAudios)? Feel free to drop by the Reference Desk or call the library and we will assist you! The library’s telephone number is: 607-936-3713.
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Tech & Book Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.
Tech & Book Talk at SSCL 