Tech & Book Talk at SSCL

Hi everyone, welcome to our Suggested Listening posting for this week!

Suggested Listening postings are published on Fridays; and our next Suggested Listening posting will be out on Friday, September 27, 2024.

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And here are a dozen songs to compliment the fall/autumn season; in keeping with the fact that the Autumn Equinox is this Sunday, September 22.

Wishing you a great autumn season!

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Apple Pickers Reel by Priscilla Herdman

From The Album: Daydreamer (1993)

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Autumn composed by Vivaldi & performed by Carla Moore & Voices of Music

From The Album: N/A

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Autumn Serenade by John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman

From The Album: John Coltrane And Johnny Hartman (1963) John Coltrane And Johnny Hartman

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Indian Summer by Glenn Miller And His Orchestra

From The Album: Glenn Miller–A Memorial (1944-1969)

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John Barleycorn Must Down by Traffic

From The Album: John Barleycorn (1970)

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September Grass by James Taylor

From The Album: October Road (2002)

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Sine On Harvest Moon by The Ink Spots

From The Album: Classic!! – [The Dave Cash Collection] (2011)

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And just for fun, here’s a second version of the same song by Rosemary Clooney!

Shine On Harvest Moon by Rosemary Clooney

Rosie Solves the Swingin’ Riddle!. (1960)

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September In The Rain by Dinah Washington

From The Album: September In The Rain (1960)

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Stormy Weather by Etta James

From The Album: At Last (1960)

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Summer’s End by John Prine

From The Album: The Tree of Forgiveness (2018)

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Urge For Going by Joni Mitchell

From The Album: Hits (1996)

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When Fall Comes To New England by Cheryl Wheeler

From The Album: Driving Home (1993)

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Hoopla Album of the Week

California Autumn by Tony Rice

And from the album, the title track

California Autumn

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Have a great weekend,

Linda Reimer, SSCL

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Online Catalog Links:

StarCat

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

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The Digital Catalog, web version of Libby

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

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The Libby App

Libby is the companion app to the Digital Catalog and may be found in the Apple & Google app.

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Hoopla

A catalog of instant check out items, including eBooks, downloadable audiobooks, comic books, TV shows and movies for patrons of the Southeast Steuben County Library.

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Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.

Hi everyone, here are our five suggested reads of the week!

Weekly Suggested Reading Five postings are  published on Wednesdays.

And the next Suggested Reading posting will be published on Wednesday, September 25, 2024.

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Entitlement: A Novel by Rumaan Alam 

Thirtysomething Brooke Orr is hoping for a career reboot as program coordinator for the Asher and Carol Jaffee Foundation. A billionaire many times over, Asher wants to give away his money before he dies and Brooke’s job is to help find causes worthy of financial support. Brooke decides that a local New York City children’s art nonprofit is deserving of charity, even if its Black owner remains unconvinced. When her best friend and younger brother begin to settle into comfortable lives, Brooke wonders: Can Asher Jaffee rescue her too, while he’s at it? After all, as one character questions, “what we were taught–get a job, work hard, save, be prudent, buy a little place of your own, contribute to the goddamn economy, do the thing that makes the world go round–is that even possible for us?” Alam follows his best-selling Leave the World Behind (2021) with this visceral and absolutely mesmerizing novel of power plays and capitalism. He gives a shout-out to Sylvia Plath, who once said, “How we need that security. How we need another soul to cling to.”” Brooke, however, doesn’t quite buy that argument. She knows we can find security through other paths, even if we risk flying too close to the sun. – Booklist Review 

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Good Lookin’ Cookin’: A Year of Meals – A Lifetime of Family, Friends, and Food [A Cookbook] by Dolly Parton 

Legendary singer-songwriter Parton (Behind the Seams) teams up with her sister, debut author George, for this cheery guide to entertaining. The sisters provide 12 themed menus, each devoted to one month of the year, with recipes for drinks, appetizers, mains, sides, and desserts. July’s menu, inspired by Fourth of July cookouts, starts with sweet tea and hot wing dip with celery sticks, features barbecue spare ribs as the main, includes grilled corn with spicy mayo and layered salad as the sides, and ends with apple pie with crumb topping. Throughout, the authors share endearing anecdotes (“This is one of Dolly’s favorite dishes, so I usually make it for her birthday,” George writes of the rustic chicken and dumplings) and family recipes, including their mother’s banana pudding and their sister Willadeene’s witches’ brew cider. Instructions are uncomplicated, with prep times and cook times listed to help readers plan ahead and sidebars with handy tips: for the watermelon fruit salad, they suggest adding the dressing (made of citrus, herbs, and champagne) to individual servings instead of the entire bowl to help leftovers last longer. This tasty and heartfelt outing is a gift for Parton’s fans. – Publishers Weekly Review 

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I Dreamed of Falling: A Novel by Julia Dahl

After suffering severe postpartum depression, yoga instructor Ashley Lillian has just gotten back on her feet when she’s found dead, plunging her already-dysfunctional family into a maelstrom of grief, guilt, and recriminations, in this moving psychological thriller from Dahl (The Missing Hours). As police in the tiny Hudson Valley town of Adamsville, N.Y., investigate how Ashley’s body ended up on the slope below the home where she’d been partying with her estranged ex-lover, Bella Abernathy, Ashley’s current partner, Roman Grady—the sole reporter for the local newspaper—can’t help but start asking questions of his own. Roman, who spent the fateful night in Manhattan, wonders when Ashley reconnected with Bella, what happened to her phone, and what accounts for a bizarre discrepancy in the cash-strapped couple’s finances. As Roman takes a fresh look at the people in his orbit—including his domineering mother, Tara, with whom he and Ashley had been living—he begins to fear he may not have known them at all. Dahl’s gift for suspense will keep readers flipping pages, but in the end, it’s her finely wrought characters they’ll remember. It’s an impressive leap forward from the author’s previous, more plot-driven efforts. 

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The Library Thief: A Novel by Kuchenga Shenjé

In Victorian London, Florence Granger is the daughter of a bookbinder and a bookbinder herself. After spending years learning the trade at her father’s feet, she is sent to the house of Lord Francis Belfield, whose library is in a state of extraordinary disrepair. Upon her arrival, Florence’s presence is rejected and then reluctantly accepted. What Lord Belfield doesn’t know is that Florence is Jamaican, passing as a white woman, and that the secrets hidden in his library will change this bookbinder’s life and viewpoint permanently. Fans of Kate Morton’s books and Diane Setterfield’s The Thirteenth Tale (2006) will devour this novel easily. What makes the book unique, however, is the shifting perspective of the main character, who walks a thin line as a woman trying to build a life for herself despite and because of her hidden identity. In her debut novel, The Library Thief: A Novel by Kuchenga Shenjé rightfully joins a distinguished line of authors who love books and secrets and know exactly how to combine the two.  

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A Reason to See You Again by Jami Attenberg

Attenberg sets up her entertaining and empathic eighth work of fiction around a Scrabble board in the Chicago suburbs in 1971. “”This whole family was nervous.”” Teenage sisters Nancy and Shelly Cohen are formidable players, but their mom, Frieda, plans to win and knows Shelly is her only competition. Dad Rudy just wants everyone to have fun. Then it’s 1976 and Rudy, after already surviving so much, including the Holocaust, is gone from cancer. With Frieda’s drinking out of control and Nancy away at college, Shelly can’t wait to escape, too, and with her brain it won’t be a problem. The novel advances like this, years at a time, as Nancy gets pregnant and marries her college boyfriend; Shelly gets a Seattle tech job working on newfangled cellular phones; and Frieda moves to Miami with a friend. Attenberg (All This Could Be Yours, 2019) knows how to imperil her characters and love them at the same time. Quite a lot happens–careers begin and flourish, love affairs start and end, addictions meet their match–and, as time ticks up to the late aughts, those little phones start to change everything. But much remains the same, too, and readers will happily sit with these women through it all. – Starred Booklist Review  

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Happy reading!

Linda Reimer, SSCL

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Note: Book summaries are from the respective publishers unless otherwise specified.

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Information on the three library catalogs

The Digital Catalog: 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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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.

–

Tech & Book Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.

All titles can be requested/checked out through the library.

If you’d like to go the traditional route to request a title on this list and drop by, or call, the library – please do!

Our telephone number is: 607-936-3713

–

There are three catalogs available to Southeast Steuben County Library patrons online, that you can access to search for and request New York Times Bestsellers, and other popular books and materials in a variety of formats, i.e. print books, eBooks, streaming videos.

All you need is a library card to get started!

Links to the catalogs are found after the list of New York Times Bestsellers.

New York Times Bestseller lists are shared via blog post on Sundays. And the next NYT blog post will be posted on Sunday,

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THE BESTSELLERS

FICTION

1. PASSIONS IN DEATH by J.D. Robb: The 59th book of the In Death series. Bad memories come up for Eve Dallas at a crime scene. 

2. VINCE FLYNN: CAPTURE OR KILL by Don Bentley: The 23rd book in the Mitch Rapp series. In 2011, operations take place to prevent a looming war in the Middle East. 

3. IT ENDS WITH US by Colleen Hoover: A battered wife raised in a violent home attempts to halt the cycle of abuse; the basis of the film. 

4. IT STARTS WITH US by Colleen Hoover: In the sequel to “It Ends With Us,” Lily deals with her jealous ex-husband as she reconnects with her first boyfriend. 

 5. WILD EYES by Elsie Silver: The second book in the Rose Hill series. A country singer who recently had some bad press decides whether to take a chance with a horse trainer. 

6. THE WOMEN by Kristin Hannah: In 1965, a nursing student follows her brother to serve during the Vietnam War and returns to a divided America. 

 7. THE GAMES GODS PLAY by Abigail Owen: Gods enlist mortals to fight in their stead to determine who will sit on the throne in Olympus. 

8. A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES by Sarah J. Maas: After killing a wolf in the woods, Feyre is taken from her home and placed inside the world of the Fae. 

9. DAYDREAM by Hannah Grace: The third book in the Maple Hills series. A college student with writer’s block offers to tutor the captain of the hockey team.  

10. THE LIFE IMPOSSIBLE by Matt Haig: A retired math teacher who inherits a run-down house on a Mediterranean island from a friend goes in search of answers. 

 11. THE HOUSEMAID by Freida McFadden: Troubles surface when a woman looking to make a fresh start takes a job in the home of the Winchesters. 

 12. THE PERFECT COUPLE by Elin Hilderbrand: A body is found in Nantucket Harbor hours before a picture-perfect wedding.  

13. DEMON COPPERHEAD by Barbara Kingsolver: Winner of a 2023 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. A reimagining of Charles Dickens’s “David Copperfield” set in the mountains of southern Appalachia.  

14. THE CURSED by Harper L. Woods: The second book in the Coven of Bones series. Feelings of betrayal and revenge put things in a precarious place. 

15. IRON FLAME by Rebecca Yarros: The second book in the Empyrean series. Violet Sorrengail’s next round of training might require her to betray the man she loves. 

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NON-FICTION

1. LOVELY ONE by Ketanji Brown Jackson: The first Black woman ever confirmed to the Supreme Court traces her family’s history and her personal ascent. 

 2. THE ANXIOUS GENERATION by Jonathan Haidt: A co-author of “The Coddling of the American Mind” looks at the mental health impacts that a phone-based life has on children. 

 3. HILLBILLY ELEGY by J.D. Vance: The Yale Law School graduate and 2024 Republican vice presidential nominee looks at the struggles of the white working class through the story of his own childhood. 

4. THE BODY KEEPS THE SCORE by Bessel van der Kolk: How trauma affects the body and mind, and innovative treatments for recovery. 

 5. IMMINENT by Luis Elizondo: The former head of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program shares insights on unidentified anomalous phenomena. 

6. THE DEMON OF UNREST by Erik Larson: The author of “The Splendid and the Vile” portrays the months between the election of Abraham Lincoln and the beginning of the Civil War. 

 7. AMERICA’S DEADLIEST ELECTION by Dana Bash with David Fisher: The CNN chief political correspondent considers the election of 1872 and draws parallels to today’s politics. 

 8. AT WAR WITH OURSELVES by H.R. McMaster: The author of “Battlegrounds” and former national security adviser assesses his time in the Trump White House. 

 9. THE ART OF POWER by Nancy Pelosi: The representative from California chronicles her journey in politics, including her time as the first woman to serve as speaker of the House. 

 10. OUTLIVE by Peter Attia with Bill Gifford: A look at recent scientific research on aging and longevity. 

 11. UPWORTHY: GOOD PEOPLE by Gabriel Reilich and Lucia Knell: A collection of stories highlighting human kindness from the social media platform Upworthy. 

12. BRAIDING SWEETGRASS by Robin Wall Kimmerer: A botanist and member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation espouses having an understanding and appreciation of plants and animals. 

 13. NUCLEAR WAR by Annie Jacobsen: The author of “Operation Paperclip” portrays possible outcomes in the minutes following a nuclear missile launch.

 

14. WHAT’S NEXT by Melissa Fitzgerald and Mary McCormack: Two cast members of “The West Wing” share insights into the creation and legacy of the series. 

 15. GHOSTS OF HONOLULU by Mark Harmon and Leon Carroll Jr.: The story of a Japanese American naval intelligence agent, a Japanese spy and events in Hawaii before the start of World War II. 

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THE CATALOGS:

Catalog 1: StarCat

StarCat is the catalog of physical materials including print books, DVDs, audiobooks on CD etc. StarCat is available to all patrons of all public libraries in the Southern Tier Library System*

Starcat can be found online at: https://starcat.stls.org/

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Catalog 2: The Digital Catalog

The Digital Catalog (and its companion app Libby) offers all Southern Tier Library System member library patrons access to eBooks, eAudiobooks & eMagazines via a lending model known in Library-ese as “one copy/one user;” that library speak means that eBooks & eAudiobooks found in The Digital Catalog/Libby are like print books found on library shelves, only one patron can check out a copy of a title at a time.

Exception: Magazines found in the digital catalog are available via a different lending model known as simultaneous access. And that fancy library speak means that magazines are available for all patrons to check out at the same time, i.e. if you and all your family and friends wish to read the latest digital edition of Newsweek, all of you can check out the e version of the magazine and read it at the same time.

The Digital Catalog/Libby checkout limit is 5 titles a time.

The Digital Catalog is found online at:

https://stls.overdrive.com/

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Catalog 3: Hoopla

The Hoopla Digital Catalog (and its companion app, also called Hoopla) offers Southeast Steuben County Library patrons access to a second digital catalog with an on-demand lending model. In library speak, this lending model, like The Digital Catalog/Libby’s magazine lending model, is known as “simultaneous access.” The difference is, the Hoopla catalog offers access to more formats: eBooks, eAudiobooks, eComics, digital albums, TV shows & movies – and all items, in all those formats, are available  for patrons to checkout immediately. The Hoopla check out limit is ten titles per month.

Hoopla Formats: All Hoopla content can be accessed on a computer or mobile device, and TV shows and movies can be accessed on computers, mobile devices, smart TVs and media streaming players, i.e. Roku or  Apple TV.

The Hoopla Catalog is found online at:

https://www.hoopladigital.com/

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*The Southern Tier Library System includes the public libraries in New York States’ Steuben, Chemung, Yates, Schuyler & Allegheny counties.

Hi everyone, here are our five suggested reads of the week!

Weekly Suggested Reading Five postings are usually published on Wednesdays.

And the next Suggested Reading posting will be published on Wednesday

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Blood and Mascara by Colin Krainin

In scandal-plagued 1990s Washington D.C., a city of sex and secrets, private eye Bronze Goldberg tracks down cheating spouses and delivers proof of infidelity to their humiliated partners. But when Roger Haake hires Bronze to follow his gorgeous wife, Carolyn, there’s more to the job than meets the eye, and Haake harbors some dark secrets of his own. Soon, Carolyn’s side fling—Congressman Billy Kopes—is found dead, and Haake is murdered shortly after. As Bronze tries to connect the dots, and make sense of just how he factors into the assassin’s plans, he realizes he may be the next target. 

Krainin crafts the perfectly flawed hero in Bronze: haunted by his past and burdened by the predicaments of his present, this classic P.I. repeatedly entangles himself in attractions to dangerous women, namely his dalliance with his romance writer landlady, Iris, who keeps close tabs on Bronze herself, and the controversial bombshell Carolyn, newly widowed and with plenty of secrets of her own. Krainin pushes this gritty debut thriller to the max, pumping the stylized, hyper-masculine Bronze and showstopping femme fatales for all they’re worth—with villainous, well-to-do politicians with dark agendas in the mix, too. 

Amid all the classic noir fun, Krainin’s hard-boiled hijinks don’t preclude complexity of character. Bronze is a contrast of macho-laced vulnerability, observing Carolyn’s “glamour of falseness” while he revels in his past Olympic judo skills, and his fascination with Carolyn borders on the obsessive, as “the sight of her engulf him in an unbidden longing that pour into the cracks of his heart.” Readers at times won’t know what to think of the lead, but the action satisfies, bolstered by last-minute escapes and shadowy assassins, with Bronze desperately trying to dodge the next bullet while floundering in his own flashbacks—and Iris muses that “it would be criminal not to squeeze at least part of a novel out of Bronze’s adventures.” 

Takeaway: Hard-boiled PI dodges bullets—and his past—in this gritty D.C. thriller. 

Comparable Titles: Paul Cain’s Fast One, Robert Dugoni’s A Killing on the Hill. 

Production grades Cover: A Design and typography: A Illustrations: N/A Editing: A- Marketing copy: A BookLife Review 

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City of Secrets: A Mystery by P. J. Tracy

The latest outing for LAPD homicide Det. Margaret Nolan and her squad is a pair of felonies that she’s convinced add up to a single case despite the lack of connecting tissue. Why would Bruce Messane, the co-founder of Peppy Pets, miss the biggest business meeting of his life, his sit-down with the food mogul who’s interested in buying the high-end dog food company for $100 million? Because he’s dead in his car in Culver City, that’s why. The vanishing of the deal, which would have been a bitter blow to Messane’s story of self-made success if he weren’t already dead, has dire consequences for chief financial officer Cynthia Jackson, one of Messane’s many ex-lovers, who owns 15% of Peppy Pets, and for retired veterinarian Rome Bechtold, Messane’s former partner, who may have inherited the 70% Messane owned. But that isn’t even the worst news Bechtold has to deal with, because less than 24 hours later, his wife, Nicole, is kidnapped by someone who pointedly doesn’t demand any money. Learning of the abduction despite the kidnappers’ threats to harm Nicole if her husband doesn’t keep quiet, Maggie Nolan can’t believe the two crimes aren’t connected. Her attention will be demanded by a bumper crop of complications. Despite Cynthia’s insistence that Messane would never steal from his own company, it looks like he’s been doing exactly that. And the notorious Los Zetas mob seems to be involved as well. Tracy knits the strands together conscientiously, though not dazzlingly, and the main effect of the final curtain will be to leave you waiting for the next installment. Red meat for fans who want their procedurals as densely tangled as a real-life cop’s job. – Kirkus Review 

Reader’s Note: City of Secrets is the fourth book in the Detective Margaret Nolan series. If you’d like to start reading at the beginning, check out book one: Deep into the Dark (2021)

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Death at the Sanatorium: A Mystery by Ragnar Jónasson

Jónasson follows up Reykjavik with a meticulously plotted whodunit worthy of Agatha Christie, whose work he translates into Icelandic. In 2012 Reykjavik, 30-something Helgi Reykadi is finishing his criminology dissertation on an unsolved homicide in a tuberculosis sanatorium turned research facility. Flashbacks fill in details about Helgi’s subject: in 1983, someone tortured and murdered Ysra, a nurse at the facility, and a few days later the institution’s director suffered a suspicious fall from the balcony. Police arrested the building’s janitor on a false tip from nurse Tinna—who threw the janitor under the bus to distract from her own suspicious behavior—then let him go. After that, the case went cold. In 2012, Tinna turns up dead, so Helgi tracks down her and Ysra’s old coworkers in hopes of solving both murders. When his interview subjects turn out to be strangely tight-lipped, he launches into a twisty investigation that culminates in a volcanic finale. With scrupulously fair-play plotting, Helgi’s tumultuous relationship with his live-in girlfriend as an emotional anchor, and a worthy payoff, this is another winner from Jónasson. Readers will be rapt. – Starred Publishers Weekly  

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Lovely One: A Memoir by Ketanji Brown Jackson

In her inspiring, intimate memoir, the first Black woman to ever be appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States chronicles her extraordinary life story. 

With this unflinching account, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson invites readers into her life and world, tracing her family’s ascent from segregation to her confirmation on America’s highest court within the span of one generation. 

Named “Ketanji Onyika,” meaning “Lovely One,” based on a suggestion from her aunt, a Peace Corps worker stationed in West Africa, Justice Jackson learned from her educator parents to take pride in her heritage since birth. She describes her resolve as a young girl to honor this legacy and realize her dreams: from hearing stories of her grandparents and parents breaking barriers in the segregated South, to honing her voice in high school as an oratory champion and student body president, to graduating magna cum laude from Harvard, where she performed in musical theater and improv and participated in pivotal student organizations. 

Here, Justice Jackson pulls back the curtain, marrying the public record of her life with what is less known. She reveals what it takes to advance in the legal profession when most people in power don’t look like you, and to reconcile a demanding career with the joys and sacrifices of marriage and motherhood. 

Through trials and triumphs, Justice Jackson’s journey will resonate with dreamers everywhere, especially those who nourish outsized ambitions and refuse to be turned aside. This moving, openhearted tale will spread hope for a more just world, for generations to come. 

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Take Care of Them Like My Own: Faith, Fortitude, and a Surgeon’s Fight for Health Justice by Ala Stanford

The founder of the Black Doctors Consortium highlights the devastating racial injustices in our health care system in this inspirational memoir and empowering call to action.

Dr. Ala Stanford knew she wanted to be a doctor by the time she was eight years old. But role models were few and far between in her working-class North Philly neighborhood. Her teachers were dismissive, and the realities of racism, sexism, and poverty threatened to derail her at every turn. Nevertheless, thanks to her faith, family, and the sheer strength of her will, today she is one of the vanishingly small number of Black women surgeons in America—and an unrelenting force in the fight for health justice.

In Take Care of Them Like My Own, Dr. Stanford shares an unflinching account of her story, explaining how her experiences on both sides of the scalpel have informed her understanding of America’s racial health gap, an insidious and lethal form of inequality that exacts a devastating toll on Black communities across the country, affluent and underserved alike.

When Covid-19 arrived in her hometown of Philadelphia, she knew it would disproportionately affect the Black population. As the city stood idly by, unwilling or unable to protect its most vulnerable citizens, Dr. Stanford took matters into her own hands. She rented a van, made some calls, and began administering tests in church parking lots. Soon, she found herself at the helm of a powerful grassroots campaign that successfully vaccinated tens of thousands of Philadelphians. She and her movement are living proof that by drawing on faith, community, and inner strength, everyday people can affect tremendous change.

Part memoir, part manifesto for health equality and justice, Take Care of Them Like My Own offers urgent lessons about the power of communities working together to take care of one another and the importance of fighting for a healthcare system that truly fulfills its promise to all Americans.

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Happy reading!

Linda Reimer, SSCL

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Note: Book summaries are from the respective publishers unless otherwise specified.

–

Information on the three library catalogs

The Digital Catalog: 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.

–

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.

–

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.

–

Have questions about how to access Internet based content (i.e. eBooks, eAudios)? Feel free to drop by the Reference Desk or call the library and we will assist you! The library’s telephone number is: 607-936-3713.

–

Tech & Book Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.

All titles can be requested/checked out through the library.

If you’d like to go the traditional route to request a title on this list and drop by, or call, the library – please do!

Our telephone number is: 607-936-3713

–

There are currently three catalogs available to Southeast Steuben County Library patrons online, that you can access to search for and request New York Times Bestsellers, and other popular books and materials in a variety of formats, i.e. print books, eBooks, streaming videos.

All you need is a library card to get started!

Links to the catalogs are found after the list of New York Times Bestsellers.

New York Times Bestseller lists are shared via blog post on Sundays. And the next NYT blog post will be posted on Sunday,

–

THE BESTSELLERS

FICTION

1. DAYDREAM by Hannah Grace: The third book in the Maple Hills series. A college student with writer’s block offers to tutor the captain of the hockey team.

2. IT ENDS WITH US by Colleen Hoover: A battered wife raised in a violent home attempts to halt the cycle of abuse; the basis of the film.

3. IT STARTS WITH US by Colleen Hoover: In the sequel to “It Ends With Us,” Lily deals with her jealous ex-husband as she reconnects with her first boyfriend.

4. THE WOMEN by Kristin Hannah: In 1965, a nursing student follows her brother to serve during the Vietnam War and returns to a divided America.

5. A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES by Sarah J. Maas: After killing a wolf in the woods, Feyre is taken from her home and placed inside the world of the Fae.

6. THE HOUSEMAID by Freida McFadden: Troubles surface when a woman looking to make a fresh start takes a job in the home of the Winchesters.

7. IRON FLAME by Rebecca Yarros: The second book in the Empyrean series. Violet Sorrengail’s next round of training might require her to betray the man she loves.

8. DEMON COPPERHEAD by Barbara Kingsolver: Winner of a 2023 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. A reimagining of Charles Dickens’s “David Copperfield” set in the mountains of southern Appalachia.

9. THE DARK WIVES by Ann Cleeves: The 11th book in the Vera Stanhope series. Vera and her team search for a missing teen who may be responsible for murder.

10. BY ANY OTHER NAME by Jodi Picoult: A young woman’s play about her ancestor Emilia Bassano, who wrote Shakespeare’s works, is submitted to a festival under a male pseudonym.

11. THE GOD OF THE WOODS by Liz Moore: When a 13-year-old girl disappears from an Adirondack summer camp in 1975, secrets kept by the Van Laar family emerge.

12. A COURT OF MIST AND FURY by Sarah J. Maa: The second book in the Court of Thorns and Roses series. Feyre gains the powers of the High Fae and a greater evil emerges.

13. THE WEDDING PEOPLE by Alison Espach: A woman who is down on her luck forms an unexpected bond with the bride at a wedding in Rhode Island.

14. THE HOUSEMAID IS WATCHING by Freida McFadden: The third book in the Housemaid series. Dangers lurk in a quiet neighborhood.

15. THE HOUSEMAID’S SECRET by Freida McFadden: The second book in the Housemaid series. The sound of crying and the appearance of blood portend misdeeds.

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NON-FICTION

1. THE ANXIOUS GENERATION by Jonathan Haidt: A co-author of “The Coddling of the American Mind” looks at the mental health impacts that a phone-based life has on children.

2. AT WAR WITH OURSELVES by H.R. McMaster: The author of “Battlegrounds” and former national security adviser assesses his time in the Trump White House.

3. HILLBILLY ELEGY by J.D. Vance: The Yale Law School graduate and 2024 Republican vice presidential nominee looks at the struggles of the white working class through the story of his own childhood.

4. THE BODY KEEPS THE SCORE by Bessel van der Kolk: How trauma affects the body and mind, and innovative treatments for recovery.

5. WHAT’S NEXT by Melissa Fitzgerald and Mary McCormack: Two cast members of “The West Wing” share insights into the creation and legacy of the series.

6. IMMINENT by Luis Elizondo: The former head of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program shares insights on unidentified anomalous phenomena.

7. THE ART OF POWER by Nancy Pelosi: The representative from California chronicles her journey in politics, including her time as the first woman to serve as speaker of the House.

8. THE DEMON OF UNREST by Erik Larson: The author of “The Splendid and the Vile” portrays the months between the election of Abraham Lincoln and the beginning of the Civil War.

9. THE TRUTHS WE HOLD by Kamala Harris: A memoir by the daughter of immigrants who is currently serving as the 49th vice president and is the Democratic Party’s 2024 presidential nominee.

10. BRAIDING SWEETGRASS by Robin Wall Kimmerer: A botanist and member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation espouses having an understanding and appreciation of plants and animals.

11. OUTLIVE by Peter Attia with Bill Gifford: A look at recent scientific research on aging and longevity.

12. THE DEVIL AT HIS ELBOW by Valerie Bauerlein: An account of the downfall of the personal injury attorney Alex Murdaugh, who was found guilty of murdering his wife and son.

13. ON THE EDGE by Nate Silver: The founder of FiveThirtyEight and author of “The Signal and the Noise” profiles professional risk-takers.

14. THE EASTERN FRONT by Nick Lloyd: A history of battles fought between 1914 and 1918 on the Eastern Front of the First World War.

15. AN UNFINISHED LOVE STORY by Doris Kearns Goodwin: A trove of items collected by the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian’s late husband inspired an appraisal of central figures and pivotal moments of the 1960s.

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THE CATALOGS:

Catalog 1: StarCat

StarCat is the catalog of physical materials including print books, DVDs, audiobooks on CD etc. StarCat is available to all patrons of all public libraries in the Southern Tier Library System*

Starcat can be found online at: https://starcat.stls.org/

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Catalog 2: The Digital Catalog

The Digital Catalog (and its companion app Libby) offers all Southern Tier Library System member library patrons access to eBooks, eAudiobooks & eMagazines via a lending model known in Library-ese as “one copy/one user;” that library speak means that eBooks & eAudiobooks found in The Digital Catalog/Libby are like print books found on library shelves, only one patron can check out a copy of a title at a time.

Exception: Magazines found in the digital catalog are available via a different lending model known as simultaneous access. And that fancy library speak means that magazines are available for all patrons to check out at the same time, i.e. if you and all your family and friends wish to read the latest digital edition of Newsweek, all of you can check out the e version of the magazine and read it at the same time.

The Digital Catalog/Libby checkout limit is 5 titles a time.

The Digital Catalog is found online at: https://stls.overdrive.com/

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Catalog 3: Hoopla

The Hoopla Digital Catalog (and its companion app, also called Hoopla) offers Southeast Steuben County Library patrons access to a second digital catalog with an on-demand lending model. In library speak, this lending model, like The Digital Catalog/Libby’s magazine lending model, is known as “simultaneous access.” The difference is, the Hoopla catalog offers access to more formats: eBooks, eAudiobooks, eComics, digital albums, TV shows & movies – and all items, in all those formats, are available  for patrons to checkout immediately. The Hoopla check out limit is ten titles per month.

Hoopla Formats: All Hoopla content can be accessed on a computer or mobile device, and TV shows and movies can be accessed on computers, mobile devices, smart TVs and media streaming players, i.e. Roku or  Apple TV.

The Hoopla Catalog is found online at: https://www.hoopladigital.com/

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*The Southern Tier Library System includes the public libraries in Steuben, Chemung, Yates, Schuyler & Allegheny counties.

Hi everyone, welcome to our Suggested Listening posting for this week!

Suggested Listening postings are published on Fridays; and our next Suggested Listening posting will be out on Friday, September 13, 2024.

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This week we’re going to do an artist spotlight on two musicians that are terrific, and not as well known as they should be, and are both members of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: Big Mama Thornton and Big Bill Broonzy.

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Big Mama Thornton was born Willie Mae Thornton (1926 – 1984); she was a blues singer extraordinaire and a great influencer on subsequent generations of rock and blues musicians.

For more information check out a short bio on Big Mama Thornton found on the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame site:

https://rockhall.com/inductees/big-mama-thornton/

And a neat article on the enduring influence of Big Mama, via a 2023 concert honoring the late blues singer; found here:

https://www.rmpbs.org/blogs/rocky-mountain-pbs/big-mama-thornton-colorado

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And on with the music!

Hound Dog (featuring a young guitarist named Buddy Guy!)

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Ball And Chain

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They Call Me Big Mama

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Big Mama’s Blues (My Love)

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I’m Feeling Alright

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Want to hear more?

Check out the Smithsonian album:

Big Mama Thornton With the Muddy Waters Blues Band 1966,

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Big Bill Broonzy (1903-1958), born William Lee Conley Broonzy was a great singer and guitarist during 1930s, 1940s and into the 1950s.

To learn more about Big Bill Broonzy, you can find an overview of his life and career on the Guitar World site, via the following link https://www.guitarworld.com/features/big-bill-broonzy-blues-guitar-pioneer

And NPR offers a cool article that discusses his influence on subsequent generations of musicians:

https://www.npr.org/2011/06/25/137398692/big-bill-broonzy-historys-musical-chameleon

And here are five of his classic songs!

Key To The Highway  

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Mississippi River Blues 

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Baby I Done Got Wise  

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In The Evening When The Sun Goes Down 

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Minding My Own Business

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Want to hear more?

Check out the album Big Bill Broonzy Sings Folk Songs (1956)

 

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Have a great weekend,

Linda Reimer, SSCL

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Online Catalog Links:

StarCat

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

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The Digital Catalog, web version of Libby

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

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The Libby App

Libby is the companion app to the Digital Catalog and may be found in the Apple & Google app.

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Hoopla

A catalog of instant check out items, including eBooks, downloadable audiobooks, comic books, TV shows and movies for patrons of the Southeast Steuben County Library.

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Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.

Hi everyone, here are our five suggested reads of the week!

Weekly Suggested Reading Five postings are usually published on Wednesdays, unless Monday is a holiday and then they are published later in the week.

And the next Suggested Reading posting will be published on Wednesday, September 11, 2024.

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Death at the Sign of the Rook: A Jackson Brodie Book by Kate Atkinson

Atkinson’s deliciously witty sixth adventure for Jackson Brodie (after Big Sky) finds the British PI entangled in a weekend-long murder mystery party. Brodie’s newest clients are Ian and Hazel Padgett, “pensionable-aged” siblings who have discovered, while divvying up their deceased mother’s possessions, that one of her oil paintings has gone missing. With the help of his friend, Det. Const. Reggie Chase, Brodie digs into the siblings’ suspicions that their mother’s caretaker, Melanie Hope, swiped the heirloom. Soon, Brodie and Chase’s investigation unearths art thefts linked to Burton Makepeace House, a crumbling mansion recently converted into a hotel and managed by the self-aggrandizing Piers Milton. Brodie and Chase head to Burton Makepeace and start poking around while an elaborate “Murder Mystery Weekend” event that Piers has organized is underway; before long, a snowstorm strands the duo with the participants and knocks out everyone’s cell reception. Atkinson keeps things fast, funny, and fair, delivering a twist-filled mystery that will stump armchair sleuths and a well-sketched supporting cast that’s easy to fall in love with. This is sure to delight series fans and newcomers alike. – Starred Publishers Weekly Review 

Reader’s Note: As noted, Death At The Sign Of The Rook is the sixth book in the Jackson Brodie Series. If you’d like to start reading the series from the beginning, check out book one: Case Histories.  

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Fatal Intrusion by Jeffery Deaver and Isabella Maldonado

his sure-footed collaboration between bestseller Deaver (The Bone Collector) and Maldonado (The Cipher) centers on special agent Carmen Sanchez, who’s recently been assigned to Homeland Security investigations in Southern California. Sanchez’s rash approach to a hostage situation in the desert town of Ario infuriates her by-the-book colleague, Kevin Albright, who wants her arrested for reckless endangerment. Their boss persuades Albright to keep the handcuffs off Sanchez, but as soon as she’s in the clear, she gets thrown into another intense situation: her younger sister, Sara, has been physically assaulted outside a café near her university. Sanchez takes the cell phone dropped by Sara’s attacker to her friend, private security expert Jacoby Heron, who unlocks the phone and deciphers its encrypted files. Sifting through the data, Sanchez and Jacoby unravel a complex plot connecting Sara’s assailant to a series of homicides and a cyberterrorism ring intent on fostering political discord across California. Slick, cinematic action and fastidiously detailed investigative work bring this series launch to life. Deaver and Maldonado make a good match. – Publisher’s Weekly Review  

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Life Impossible by Matt Haig 

Haig’s anxiously awaited follow-up to The Midnight Library (2020) proves that it’s never too late to change your life. Grace Winters is a retired math teacher and widow who lost a young son many years ago. In an extended letter to a former student, Grace spins the tale of her move to Ibiza, a Mediterranean island off the coast of Spain. An old friend has willed Grace a home there. While she is shocked, she is compelled to go, even at the age of 72. The island is lush and green; the house is not so much, but Grace is entranced all the same. When she realizes that her friend may have disappeared under mysterious circumstances, Grace becomes obsessed with finding out what happened. It turns out the answer is far more complicated than a simple murder or kidnapping, and it leads Grace to a bizarre and transformative experience deep under the sea. Haig’s incomparable style, complete with short chapters and lovely descriptions, will draw readers back; they will be captivated by Grace’s shrewdness and bravery. – Booklist Review  

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What Time the Sexton’s Spade Doth Rust: A Flavia de Luce Novel by Alan Bradley 

Flavia de Luce is in top form in the eleventh book of Bradley’s beloved series, following The Golden Tresses of the Dead (2019), and set shortly after WWII in the English countryside. Flavia is still the most precocious (and only) adolescent detective in the tiny town of Bishop’s Lacey, still a frighteningly accomplished chemist, and still making her biting observations. But her father’s recent death has made Flavia an orphan and left her in the haphazard care of her sister Daffy and the estate staff. When beloved housekeeper Mrs. Mullet is suspected of murder after serving a dish of poisonous mushrooms to their reclusive neighbor, Major Greyleigh, a retired public hangman, Flavia investigates. A labyrinthine series of clues leads her to a shocking personal discovery that completely changes her world–and opens up interesting possibilities for future investigations. The return of Undine, her “pestilent little cousin,” is a bonus, as is the continued presence of Dogger, the estate’s gardener and Flavia’s faithful partner in crime. Bradley gives his loyal readers a story that will more than satisfy their expectations while also inviting new readers to discover an endlessly entertaining amateur young sleuth who has much to teach her elders. – Starred Booklist Review  

Reader’s Note: As mentioned, What Time the Sexton’s Spade Doth Rust is the eleventh book in the Flavia de Luce Mystery Series. If you’d like to start reading the series from the beginning, check out book one: The Sweetness At the Bottom of the Pie. 

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You Belong with Me: A Novel by Mhairi McFarlane

Edie Thompson’s world turns upside down when renowned actor Elliot Owen, her once-in-a-lifetime love, reappears at her doorstep, seeking a second chance. Edie is shocked, to say the least. While Edie is overjoyed at the prospect of rekindling their romance, the challenges of dating a celebrity prove more daunting than she ever anticipated. Caught in a whirlwind of paparazzi-documented scandals and personal demons, Edie and Elliot must navigate the treacherous waters of fame and trust. As Elliot juggles international filming commitments, Edie grapples with her own insecurities and the presence of a newfound confidant in her life. Amid the chaos, they must also confront the unsettling reality that someone in their inner circle might be fueling the tabloid frenzy that threatens to tear them apart.

VERDICT McFarlane’s (Between Us) deft storytelling brings to life a cast of characters who resonate with wit, charm, and vulnerability. Through Edie and Elliott’s trials and triumphs, this novel offers a poignant exploration of love’s resilience and the tumultuous journey toward a happily-ever-after in the glare of the spotlight. – Library Journal Review  

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Happy reading!

Linda Reimer, SSCL

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Note: Book summaries are from the respective publishers unless otherwise specified.

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Information on the three library catalogs

The Digital Catalog: 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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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.

Hi everyone, here are our ten streaming recommendations for September 2024.

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September 2 

English Teacher, Season 1 (2024) (FX) 

 

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September 4 

 Slow Horses, Season 4 (2024) (Apple TV+) 

 

 

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September 5 

The Perfect Couple (2024) (Netflix) 

 

 

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September 6 

His Three Daughters (2023) (Netflix) 

 

 

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September 12 

Emily In Paris, Season 4, Part 2 (2024) (Netflix) 

 

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Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist (2024) (Peacock) 

 

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The Old Man Season 2 (2024) (FX) 

 

 

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September 18 

Agatha All Along (2024) (Disney+) 

 

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September 19 

Frasier, Season 2 (2024) (Paramount) 

 

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The Penguin (2024) (Max) 

 

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September 20 

La Maison, Season 1 (2024) (Apple TV+) 

 

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September 25 

Midnight Family, Season 1 (2024) (Apple TV+) 

 

 

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September 29 

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon: The Book of Carol, Season 2 (2024) (AMC+) 

 

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Hoopla Movie of the Month 

 The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (2024) 

And here is the trailer 

 

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Have a great month,

Linda Reimer, SSCL