Hi everyone, here are our five recommended reads for the week!
*More information on the three catalogs and available formats is found at the end of the list of recommended reads*
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Weekly Suggested Reading postings are published on Wednesday.
And the next Suggested Reading posting will be published on Wednesday, October 4, 2023.
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Evil Eye by Etaf Rum
(Available Formats: Print Book)
Raised in a conservative and emotionally volatile Palestinian family in Brooklyn, Yara thought she would finally feel free when she married a charming entrepreneur who took her to the suburbs. She’s gotten to follow her dreams, completing an undergraduate degree in art and landing a good job at the local college. As a traditional wife, she also raises their two school-aged daughters, takes care of the house, and has dinner ready when her husband gets home. With her family balanced with her professional ambitions, Yara knows that her life is infinitely more rewarding than her own mother’s. So why doesn’t it feel like enough?
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The Last Ranger by Peter Heller
(Available Formats: Print Book & Large Print)
The rugged nature of Yellowstone permeates every page of the latest outdoors adventure from Heller (The Guide, 2021), a tale populated with lyrically defined characters. Some seem to have stepped out of Louis L’Amour’s books. Then there are the rangers, the poachers, the resolute wildlife watchers, the tourists, the many who live in the region hoping to just hold on or trying to put their lives back together. The Pathfinders is a radical group that wants to undo the government’s park policies for millions of acres they feel they could better manage, that is, exploit. Meanwhile, readers experience enforcement ranger Ren Hopper’s entire harrowing life through his torturous memories. At this point, he is just hoping to be able to function. When his closest friend is mangled in a bear trap, Ren’s investigation takes him in some surprising directions, creating a path by which he puts his life back together. This is wilderness noir at its best, a novel that will please fans of C. J. Box, Craig Johnson, and the legions of admirers of the television series, Yellowstone. – Booklist Review
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The Museum of Failures by Thirty Umrigar
(Available Formats: Print Book)
An immersive story about family secrets and the power of forgiveness from the bestselling author of Reese’s Book Club pick Honor
When Remy Wadia left India for the United States, he carried his resentment of his cold and inscrutable mother with him and has kept his distance from her. Years later, he returns to Bombay, planning to adopt a baby from a young pregnant girl–and to see his elderly mother again before it is too late. She is in the hospital, has stopped talking, and seems to have given up on life.
Struck with guilt for not realizing just how ill she had become, Remy devotes himself to helping her recover and return home. But one day in her apartment he comes upon an old photograph that demands explanation. As shocking family secrets surface, Remy finds himself reevaluating his entire childhood and his relationship to his parents, just as he is on the cusp of becoming a parent himself. Can Remy learn to forgive others for their human frailties, or is he too wedded to his sorrow and anger over his parents’ long-ago decisions?
Surprising, devastating, and ultimately a story of redemption and healing still possible between a mother and son, The Museum of Failures is a tour de force from one of our most elegant storytellers about the mixed bag of love and regret. It is also, above all, a much-needed reminder that forgiveness comes from empathy for others. – Booklist Review
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The Pole: A Novel by J. M. Coetzee
(Available Formats: Print Book)
Coetzee, a Nobel laureate and two-time winner of the Booker Prize, is one of the most critically acclaimed writers in the English language. His latest novel focuses on Beatriz, who is Spanish, approaching 50, and married, but no longer passionate with her husband; and Witold, a Polish concert pianist in his early seventies who performs at a recital in Barcelona. Over time, Beatriz and Witold have an affair. He confesses his love for her, but she is restrained and circumspect and their physical relationship quickly ends. Much later, Beatriz comes into possession of Witold’s poetry, written for her in Polish. She hires a translator, interprets the poems, and searches for meaning by attempting to decode hidden messages. Captivated, she begins to write letters to Witold. Concepts of linguistics and the phenomenon of language are central as Beatriz interprets Witold’s poems translated from Polish into Spanish that are then relayed to readers in English. Like Beatriz, readers might ask what is lost in translation, and what these gaps in understanding might reveal. Beatriz, once on the periphery of creative processes, is now immersed and perhaps even able to love more fully. Exquisitely elevating the fundamental influences of music and language, The Pole unequivocally affirms the often-enigmatic relationships among art, love, and human experience. – Booklist Review
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Saving Emma by Allen Eskens
(Available Formats: Print Book)
Eskens (Forsaken Country) brilliantly combines legal and personal drama in this stellar standalone mystery. Minnesota law professor and Innocence Project volunteer Boady Sanden has been caring for Emma Pruitt, the daughter of his college friend, Ben, since the public defender was gunned down by police four years ago while facing charges for killing his wife. One afternoon, Ruth Matthews brings her brother Elijah’s file to Boady at the Innocence Project: Elijah has been convicted of brutally murdering pastor Jalen Bale, but Ruth’s certain he’s innocent. She buttresses her claim with a photo, never presented in Elijah’s trial, that clearly shows him at a magic show at the exact moment of Bale’s murder. Then a bomb drops: Elijah was Ben’s last case before he died, and—having recommended that Ben become a public defender—Boady feels responsible for clearing Elijah’s name. Meanwhile, Emma’s aunt convinces the teen that Boady and his wife are covering up information about the deaths of her parents and leverages that claim for custody. Eskens peppers the thorny, propulsive plot with superior turns of phrase (unreliable memories are compared to “the boards of an aging footbridge, the planks heavy with decay”) and fully realized characters. Scott Turow fans will be enthralled. – Publishers Weekly Review
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Note: Book summaries are from the respective publishers unless otherwise specified.
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Have questions or want to request a book?
Feel free to call the library! Our telephone number is 607-936-3713.
Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.
The Digital Catalog, is an online catalog containing eBooks, Downloadable Audiobooks, digital magazines and a handful of streaming videos. The catalog, which allows one to download content to a PC, also has a companion app, Libby, which you can download to your mobile device; so you can enjoy eBooks and Downloadable Audiobooks on the go!
All card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries can check out items from the Digital Catalog.
The Hoopla Catalog features instant checkouts of eBooks, Downloadable Audiobooks, comic books, albums, movies and TV series. Patron check out limit is 6 items per month.
Hoopla is a Southeast Steuben County Library service available to all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders.
The Hoopla App is available for Android or Apple devices, smart TVs & media streaming players.
Card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries can access StarCat to search for and request materials available at libraries through out the Southern Tier Library System.
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Format Note: Under each book title you’ll find a list of all the different formats that specific title is available in; including: Print Books, Large Print Books, CD Audiobooks, eBooks & Downloadable Audiobooks from the Digital Catalog (Libby app) and Hoopla eBooks & Hoopla Downloadable Audiobooks (Hoopla app).
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Book summaries are from the respective publishers unless otherwise specified.
–
Have questions or want to request a book?
Feel free to call the library! Our telephone number is 607-936-3713.
Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.
Hi everyone, welcome to our Suggested Listening posting for last week.
I caught the nasty cold that is going around, and so was out of commission for most of last week – thus this late posting. So we’ll start our week with ten cool songs and end it, with our usual Friday, Suggested Listening post featuring another ten cool songs!
Suggested Listening postings are usual published on Fridays; and our next Suggested Listening posting will be out on Friday, September 29, 2023.
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And here are the 10 recommended songs of the week for last weekend and early this week!
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Manic Monday by The Bangles (Genre: Pop/Rock)
From The Album: Different Light (1985)
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Monday, Monday by The Mamas & The Papas (Genre: Pop/Rock)
From The Album: If You Can Believe Your Eyes & Ears (1966)
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Autumn In New York by Frank Sinatra (Genre: Vocal)
From The Album: Come Fly With Me (1958)
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Autumn Leaves by Al Hirt (Genre: Easy Listening)
From The Album: They’re Playing Our Song (1966)
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Autumn Leaves/Indian Summer by Tony Bennett (Genre: Vocal, Jazz)
From The Album: MTV Unplugged (1994)
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Early Autumn by Ella Fitzgerald & The Nelson Riddle Orchestra (Genre: Jazz)
From The Album: Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Johnny Mercer Song Book (1997)
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Shine On Harvest Moon by Ruth Etting (Genre: Vocal)
From The Album: Presenting Ruth Etting (1926)
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Take The A Train by Duke Ellington (Genre: Jazz)
From The Album: The Best of Duke Ellington (2008)
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When Fall Comes To New England by Cheryl Wheeler (Genre: Singer-Songwriter)
From The Album: Driving Home (1993)
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You’re The Top by Cole Porter (Genre: Jazz)
From The Album: The Talismanic Cole Porter (19??)
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Have a great week
Linda Reimer, SSCL
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Online Catalog Links:
StarCat
The catalog of physical materials, i.e. print books, DVDs, audiobooks on CD, etc.
The catalog of e-books, downloadable audiobooks and a handful of streaming videos.
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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.
Good morning everyone, I caught the nasty cold that has been being passed around locally, and was out sick for the last three days of last week – thus the delay in putting up any new blog posts.
As you may be aware, although accessing all of the content on the New York Times website does require a paid subscription, accessing the bestseller lists does not.
So to tide us over until the next regular NYTB post coming up this Sunday October 1, here are links to the four main, updated bestseller lists for your perusal.
Hi everyone, here are our five recommended reads for the week!
*More information on the three catalogs and available formats is found at the end of the list of recommended reads*
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Weekly Suggested Reading postings are published on Wednesdays.
And the next Suggested Reading posting will be published on Wednesday, September 27, 2023.
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Black River Orchard by Chuck Wendig
(Available Formats: Print Book)
Bestseller Wendig wows with this wildly unsettling horror tale set in Bucks County, Pa. When Calla Paxson was 12, her father, Dan, came home with a shriveled apple core that resembled a human finger, declaring that he would use the core to create an orchard that would make their family’s future and fortune. Five years later, the orchard has produced enough fruit for Dan to set up a stall at the town market, where his Ruby Slipper Apples (so named by Calla), are an unexpected hit, bringing in far more money than anticipated. Some consumers even come to consider themselves addicted to the unique fruit, which offers “a near-perfect balance of tartness and sweetness—that sour, tongue-scrubbing feel of a pineapple, but one that has first been run through a trench of warm honey.” Gradually, however, Wendig reveals that something darker lurks beneath the orchard, its weirdness affecting the family, as when one of the orchard’s trees impales two baby birds in their nest, and Dan, struck by a brief violent madness, snaps the mother dove’s neck. Wendig is brilliant at slowly raising the plot’s emotional temperature and making his characters, caught in a creeping nightmare, feel both real and empathetic. This masterful outing should continue to earn Wendig comparisons to Stephen King. – Starred Publishers Weekly Review
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Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson
(Available Formats: Print Book & CD Audiobook)
From the author of Steve Jobs and other bestselling biographies, this is theastonishingly intimate story of the most fascinating and controversial innovator of our era—a rule-breaking visionary who helped to lead the world into the era of electric vehicles, private space exploration, and artificial intelligence. Oh, and took over Twitter.
When Elon Musk was a kid in South Africa, he was regularly beaten by bullies. One day a group pushed him down some concrete steps and kicked him until his face was a swollen ball of flesh. He was in the hospital for a week. But the physical scars were minor compared to the emotional ones inflicted by his father, an engineer, rogue, and charismatic fantasist.
His father’s impact on his psyche would linger. He developed into a tough yet vulnerable man-child, prone to abrupt Jekyll-and-Hyde mood swings, with an exceedingly high tolerance for risk, a craving for drama, an epic sense of mission, and a maniacal intensity that was callous and at times destructive.
At the beginning of 2022—after a year marked by SpaceX launching thirty-one rockets into orbit, Tesla selling a million cars, and him becoming the richest man on earth—Musk spoke ruefully about his compulsion to stir up dramas. “I need to shift my mindset away from being in crisis mode, which it has been for about fourteen years now, or arguably most of my life,” he said.
It was a wistful comment, not a New Year’s resolution. Even as he said it, he was secretly buying up shares of Twitter, the world’s ultimate playground. Over the years, whenever he was in a dark place, his mind went back to being bullied on the playground. Now he had the chance to own the playground.
For two years, Isaacson shadowed Musk, attended his meetings, walked his factories with him, and spent hours interviewing him, his family, friends, coworkers, and adversaries. The result is the revealing inside story, filled with amazing tales of triumphs and turmoil, that addresses the question: are the demons that drive Musk also what it takes to drive innovation and progress?
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Kick Out the Jams: Jibes, Barbs, Tributes, and Rallying Cries from 35 Years of Music Writing by Dave Marsh & Dennis Boutsikaris
(Available Formats: Downloadable Audiobook)
Selected writings on three decades of popular music from one of the most influential critics of his generation.
Spanning three decades worth of astute, acerbic, and overall astounding music writing, Kick Out the Jams is the first large-scale anthology of the work of renowned critic Dave Marsh. Ranging from Elvis Presley to Kurt Cobain, from Nina Simone to Ani DiFranco, from the Beatles to Green Day, the book gives an opinionated, eye-opening overview of 20th century popular music—offering a portrait not just of an era but of a writer wrestling with the American empire.
Every essay bears the distinct Dave Marsh attitude and voice. That passion is evident in a heart-wrenching piece on Cobain’s suicide and legacy; a humorous attack on “Bono’s bullshit;” an indignant look at James Brown and the FBI; deep, revelatory probes into the work of underappreciated artists like Patty Griffin and Alejandro Escovedo; and inspiring insight into what drives Marsh as a writer, namely “a raging passion to explain things in the hope that others would not be trapped and to keep the way clear so that others from the trashy outskirts of barbarous America still had a place to stand—if not in the culture at large, at least in rock and roll.”
If you want to explore the recent history of pop music—its politics as well as its performers—Kick Out the Jams is the perfect guidebook.
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The Six: The Untold Story of America’s First Women Astronauts by Loren Grush
(Available Formats: Print Book & CD Audiobook)
In the bestselling tradition of Hidden Figures and Code Girls, the remarkable true story of America’s first women astronauts—six extraordinary women, each making history going to orbit aboard NASA’s Space Shuttle.
When NASA sent astronauts to the moon in the 1960s and 1970s the agency excluded women from the corps, arguing that only military test pilots—a group then made up exclusively of men—had the right stuff. It was an era in which women were steered away from jobs in science and deemed unqualified for space flight. Eventually, though, NASA recognized its blunder and opened the application process to a wider array of hopefuls, regardless of race or gender. From a candidate pool of 8,000 six elite women were selected in 1978—Sally Ride, Judy Resnik, Anna Fisher, Kathy Sullivan, Shannon Lucid, and Rhea Seddon.
In The Six, acclaimed journalist Loren Grush shows these brilliant and courageous women enduring claustrophobic—and sometimes deeply sexist—media attention, undergoing rigorous survival training, and preparing for years to take multi-million-dollar payloads into orbit. Together, the Six helped build the tools that made the space program run. One of the group, Judy Resnik, sacrificed her life when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded at 46,000 feet. Everyone knows of Sally Ride’s history-making first space ride, but each of the Six would make their mark.
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Wellness: A Novel by Nathan Hill
(Available Formats: Print Book)
Hill (The Nix) blends a family chronicle with cultural critique in his expansive and surprisingly tender latest. Jack Baker, a photographer, and Elizabeth Augustine, a self-styled polymath, live across the street from each other as college students in 1990s Chicago, where each spies on the other through their windows. After they meet face-to-face at one of the alt rock shows Jack photographs, they connect over their interest in the local music scene and fall in love. Twenty years later, the couple and their eight-year-old son are planning a move to the suburbs. Jack, who’s now an adjunct professor of art history, and Elizabeth, a researcher for a lab contracted by the FDA to study the placebo effect in wellness products, both wonder what’s left of their bohemian youth and their long-ago voyeuristic romance. One night, they’re invited to a sex club by another couple they meet at a bar, with whom they reminisce about the “abandoned” neighborhood where they first met, prompting a waiter to call out Jack for erasing the community’s Puerto Rican population. As the Dickensian chronicle shifts between past and present and probes such issues as gentrification, toxic internet culture, and modern parenting, the realities of the couple’s meet cute come into focus, and they learn the truth behind their first impressions. In the end, Jack and Elizabeth’s story speaks to the way people craft narratives to give their lives meaning, and it asks whether believing in those narratives ultimately helps or harms. This stunning novel of ideas never loses sight of its humanity. – Starred Publishers Weekly Review
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Note: Book summaries are from the respective publishers unless otherwise specified.
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Have questions or want to request a book?
Call the library! Our telephone number is 607-936-3713.
Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.
The Digital Catalog, is an online catalog containing eBooks, Downloadable Audiobooks, digital magazines and a handful of streaming videos. The catalog, which allows one to download content to a PC, also has a companion app, Libby, which you can download to your mobile device; so you can enjoy eBooks and Downloadable Audiobooks on the go!
All card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries can check out items from the Digital Catalog.
The Hoopla Catalog features instant checkouts of eBooks, Downloadable Audiobooks, comic books, albums, movies and TV series. Patron check out limit is 6 items per month.
Hoopla is a Southeast Steuben County Library service available to all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders.
The Hoopla App is available for Android or Apple devices, smart TVs & media streaming players.
Card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries can access StarCat to search for and request materials available at libraries through out the Southern Tier Library System.
–
Format Note: Under each book title you’ll find a list of all the different formats that specific title is available in; including: Print Books, Large Print Books, CD Audiobooks, eBooks & Downloadable Audiobooks from the Digital Catalog (Libby app) and Hoopla eBooks & Hoopla Downloadable Audiobooks (Hoopla app).
–
Book summaries are from the respective publishers unless otherwise specified.
–
Have questions or want to request a book?
Feel free to call the library! Our telephone number is 607-936-3713.
Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.
Hi everyone, as I am on vacation, here is the link to the New York Times bestsellers page. The Bestseller lists are not behind a paywall, but are instead, free for anyone to peruse.
New York Times Bestsellers can be requested through StarCat (for print books) & The Digital Catalog/Libby for eBooks and Downloadable Audiobooks. Select titles may also be checked out, on demand, through the Hoopla Catalog.
For more information on the three catalogs skip to the section below the bestselling titles*
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New York Times Bestseller blog posts are published on Sundays. And the next New York Times blog post will be posted in two weeks on Sunday, September 24, 2023.
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Have a great week!
Linda Reimer, SSCL
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Search for and request books online!
eBooks & Audiobooks Through The Digital Catalog/Libby
Card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries can access
StarCat to search for and request materials available at libraries throughout the Southern Tier Library System.
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Also of Note: If a New York Times Bestseller isn’t yet available in any of the three catalogs, you can contact the library and request to be notified when it becomes available.
Southeast Steuben County Library Telephone Number: 607-936-3713.
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Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.
The catalog of e-books, downloadable audiobooks and a handful of streaming videos.
–
The Libby App
Libby is the companion app to the Digital Catalog and may be found in the Apple & Google app.
–
Hoopla
A catalog of instant check out items, including eBooks, downloadable audiobooks, comic books, TV shows and movies for patrons of the Southeast Steuben County Library.
–
Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.
A delightfully weird mash-up of office comedy, fractured fairytale, and unrequited love story, TikToker Maehrer’s debut will captivate readers from line one thanks to her quirky sense of humor and incredible writing chops. The novel overflows with fast-paced action and adventure, lighthearted banter, and romantic yearning. Ever optimistic, Evie Sage is a local villager whose luck finally runs out after an accidental meeting with the kingdom’s most infamous antagonist, a powerful magician simply known as The Villain. She expects to be killed on the spot but instead walks away unscathed, with a job as his assistant and the expectation that she will join him at his estate the very next day. The Villain’s manor may be filled with tortured screams, gruesome scenes, and the occasional venom-breathing creature, but over time, within its walls, Evie finds camaraderie in a cast of hilarious and fully formed secondary characters, respect from a dastardly yet secretly soft marshmallow of a boss, and a very real chance at finding her one true love. This story is exceptionally charming and joyful from beginning to end, and readers will likely find themselves all smiles despite the nail-biting cliff-hanger that the book ends on. A must-read. – Booklist Review
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The Blue Zones Secrets For Living Longer by Dan Buettner
National Geographic Explorer and best-selling author Dan Buettner has traveled the globe to uncover the best strategies for longevity, which he found in the Blue Zones: places around the world where higher percentages of people enjoy remarkably long, full lives. In The Complete Blue Zones, Buettner returns to Sardinia, Italy; Ikaria, Greece; Okinawa, Japan; Costa Rica’s Nicoya Peninsula; and Loma Linda, California to check in on the super-agers living in the blue zones and interprets the not-so-secret sauce of purpose, faith, community, down-time, natural movement, and plant-based eating that has powered as many as10 additional years of healthy living in these regions. And Buettner reveals an all-new Blue Zone-Singapore-where pro-health government policies have increased longevity (and reduced healthcare costs), making it the first man-made Blue Zone yet explored. Throughout his two decades of research, Buettner has worked with some of National Geographic’s top photographers-including David McLain and Gianluca Cola-to document the healthy habits of the world’s longest living communities. In this informative collection, their work punctuates Buettner’s lively text, offering a beautiful introduction to the Blue Zones and a companion to fans of the Blue Zones Netflix series.
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Chenneville by Paulette Jiles
(Available Formats: Print Book)
When John Chenneville awakes in a military field hospital, pounds thinner and with no memory of his name or history, he has a long road to recovery ahead. The hospital staff make it clear that he must continue resting and recuperating, with no extreme emotions or upsetting news to further damage his fragile condition. By now, the Civil War has caused plenty of “”shell shock,”” after all. Pledging to keep himself on an even keel, John journeys west to St. Louis to seek news of his family. But the longtime caretaker of the Chenneville estate has been keeping deeply distressing knowledge that, once revealed, causes John to abandon plans of peaceful recovery and begin a quest for vengeance instead. In her richly lyrical prose, acclaimed author Jiles (Simon the Fiddler, 2020) turns to the waning weeks and months of the Civil War, a period when the scales of justice felt heavily tipped toward the war’s administrators and beneficiaries. Jiles uses John’s lawless quest to interrogate the inequalities in the justice system–inequalities that still echo loudly today. Themes of reinvention, accountability, and the power of all-consuming, single-minded focus will spark interest in fans of Geraldine Brooks, Karen Harper, and Jiles’ previous work. – Starred Booklist Review
Darkness is nothing new to LAPD Detective Margaret Nolan, but in P.J. Tracy’s The Devil You Know, even she isn’t prepared for the scandalous deception of deadly proportions that shakes the very foundation of Hollywood and its untouchables…and leaves her entangled in its rotten core.
Los Angeles has many faces: the real LA where regular people live and work, the degenerate underbelly of any big city, and the rarefied world of wealth, power, and celebrity. LAPD Detective Margaret Nolan’s latest case plunges her into this insular realm of privilege, and gives her a glimpse of the decay behind the glitter.
Beloved actor Evan Hobbes is found in the rubble of a Malibu rockslide, a day after a fake video ruins his career. It’s not clear to Nolan if it’s an accident, a suicide, or a murder, and things get murkier as the investigation expands to his luminary friends and colleagues. Meanwhile, Hobbes’s agent is dealing with damage control, his psychotic boss, and a woman he’s scorned.
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The Half Moon: A Novel by Mary Beth Keane
(Available Formats: Print Book & eBook)
Malcolm Gephardt is a charming guy and the consummate bar owner. But charm can’t fix a slow Saturday night, pay the liquor distributors, or convince his wife, Jess, that their family of two is enough. The Half Moon, the platonic ideal of a small town bar, still has big bills to pay. Charm has gotten Malcolm out of more than a few sticky spots, but, lately, everything is different. With a blizzard on the way, the bar falling further in the red, and Jess refusing to talk, Malcolm can tell something’s about to snap. And snap it does, though not in a way he could have ever predicted. Keane (Ask Again, Yes, 2019) explores the sacrifices of a marriage, setting Malcolm’s impulsive deal to buy the bar he loved against Jess’s consuming dream of parenthood. Keane is sympathetic to her subjects, letting Malcolm and Jess air their thoughts in alternating chapters; the tension is undeniable and deeply compelling. Mixing two parts Matthew Norman, one part Greg Olear, topped with J. R. Moehringer’s The Tender Bar and served with an unexpected twist, Keane’s charming, tautly-paced, and introspective novel will delight fans of Jennifer Close’s Marrying the Ketchups. – Publishers Weekly Review
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The Hidden History of Code-Breaking: The Secret World of Cyphers, Uncrackable Codes, and Elusive Encryptions by Sinclair McKay
(Available Formats: Print Book)
A fascinating exploration of the uncrackable codes and secret cyphers that helped win wars, spark revolutions and change the faces of nations.
There have been secret codes since before the Old Testament, and there were secret codes in the Old Testament, too. Almost as soon as writing was invented, so too were the devious means to hide messages and keep them under the wraps of secrecy.
In The Hidden History of Code Breaking, Sinclair McKay explores these uncrackable codes, secret ciphers, and hidden messages from across time to tell a new history of a secret world. From the temples of Ancient Greece to the court of Elizabeth I; from antique manuscripts whose codes might hold prophecies of doom to the modern realm of quantum mechanics, we will see how a few concealed words could help to win wars, spark revolutions and even change the faces of great nations.
Here is the complete guide to the hidden world of codebreaking, with opportunities for you to see if you could have cracked some of the trickiest puzzles and lip-chewing codes ever created.
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How to Survive History: How to Outrun a Tyrannosaurus, Escape Pompeii, Get Off the Titanic, and Survive the Rest of History’s Deadliest Catastrophes by Cody Cassidy
(Available Formats: Print Book)
A detailed guide to surviving history’s most challenging threats, from outrunning dinosaurs to making it off the Titanic alive
History is the most dangerous place on earth. From dinosaurs the size of locomotives to meteors big enough to sterilize the planet, from famines to pandemics, from tornadoes to the Chicxulub asteroid, the odds of human survival are slim but not zero—at least, not if you know where to go and what to do.
In each chapter of How to Survive History, Cody Cassidy explores how to survive one of history’s greatest threats: getting eaten by dinosaurs, being destroyed by the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs, succumbing to the lava flows of Pompeii, being devoured by the Donner Party, drowning during the sinking of the Titanic, falling prey to the Black Death, and more. Using hindsight and modern science to estimate everything from how fast you’d need to run to outpace a T. rex to the advantages of different body types in surviving the Donner Party tragedy, Cassidy gives you a detailed battle plan for survival, helping you learn about the era at the same time.
History may be the most dangerous place on earth, but that doesn’t mean you can’t visit. You can, and you should. And with a copy of How to Survive History in your back pocket, you just might make it out alive.
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Interstellar: The Search for Extraterrestrial Life and Our Future in the Stars by Avi Loeb
(Available Formats: Print Book)
From acclaimed Harvard astrophysicist and bestselling author of Extraterrestrial comes a mind-expanding new book explaining why becoming an interstellar species is imperative for humanity’s survival and detailing a game plan for how we can settle among the stars.
In the New York Times bestseller Extraterrestrial, Avi Loeb, the longest serving Chair of Harvard’s Astronomy Department, presented a theory that shook the scientific community: our solar system, Loeb claimed, had likely been visited by a piece of advanced alien technology from a distant star. This provocative and persuasive argument opened millions of minds internationally to the vast possibilities of our universe and the existence of intelligent life beyond Earth. But a crucial question remained: now that we are aware of the existence of extraterrestrial life, what do we do next? How do we prepare ourselves for interaction with interstellar extraterrestrial civilization? How can our species become interstellar?
Now Loeb tackles these questions in a revelatory, powerful call to arms that reimagines the idea of contact with extraterrestrial civilizations. Dismantling our science-fiction fueled visions of a human and alien life encounter, Interstellar provides a realistic and practical blueprint for how such an interaction might actually occur, resetting our cultural understanding and expectation of what it means to identify an extraterrestrial object. From awe-inspiring searches for extraterrestrial technology, to the heated debate of the existence of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, Loeb provides a thrilling, front-row view of the monumental progress in science and technology currently preparing us for contact. He also lays out the profound implications of becoming—or not becoming—interstellar; in an urgent, eloquent appeal for more proactive engagement with the world beyond ours, he powerfully contends why we must seek out other life forms, and in the process, choose who and what we are within the universe.
Combining cutting edge science, physics, and philosophy, Interstellar revolutionizes the approach to our search for extraterrestrial life and our preparation for its discovery. In this eye-opening, necessary look at our future, Avi Loeb artfully and expertly raises some of the most important questions facing us as humans, and proves, once again, that scientific curiosity is the key to our survival.
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Kick Out the Jams: Jibes, Barbs, Tributes, and Rallying Cries from 35 Years of Music Writing by Dave Marsh & Dennis Boutsikaris
(Available Formats: Downloadable Audiobook)
Selected writings on three decades of popular music from one of the most influential critics of his generation.
Spanning three decades worth of astute, acerbic, and overall astounding music writing, Kick Out the Jams is the first large-scale anthology of the work of renowned critic Dave Marsh. Ranging from Elvis Presley to Kurt Cobain, from Nina Simone to Ani DiFranco, from the Beatles to Green Day, the book gives an opinionated, eye-opening overview of 20th century popular music—offering a portrait not just of an era but of a writer wrestling with the American empire.
Every essay bears the distinct Dave Marsh attitude and voice. That passion is evident in a heart-wrenching piece on Cobain’s suicide and legacy; a humorous attack on “Bono’s bullshit;” an indignant look at James Brown and the FBI; deep, revelatory probes into the work of underappreciated artists like Patty Griffin and Alejandro Escovedo; and inspiring insight into what drives Marsh as a writer, namely “a raging passion to explain things in the hope that others would not be trapped and to keep the way clear so that others from the trashy outskirts of barbarous America still had a place to stand—if not in the culture at large, at least in rock and roll.”
If you want to explore the recent history of pop music—its politics as well as its performers—Kick Out the Jams is the perfect guidebook.
The second in a sexy, fun wedding-themed rom-com duology from Tessa Bailey, #1 New York Times bestselling author of It Happened One Summer-now with a beautiful new package!
It’s Naomi Clemons’s big day. Her dream wedding. And she’s outta here. A chance meeting of gazes through the church window pane-a single moment shared with someone familiar who radiates intrigue-is the final push Naomi needs to realize… she’s boring. A blonde, cookie cutter, well-mannered trophy wife-to-be. How can she expect to lead a fulfilling married life when she’s never lived?
Special Forces diver Jason Bristow needs a beauty pageant coach. Not for himself-although the tattooed bruiser could definitely use some charm-but for his little sister who he has returned to St. Augustine, Florida to raise. When a beautiful southern debutante lands on his doorstep, she awakens a hunger that won’t be ignored. If only she wasn’t planning on winning back the ex-fiancé she left at the altar…
Despite the potential for ruin, heat continues to build between Naomi and Jason beneath the sultry Florida sunshine, consuming them both. But they’re on borrowed time… and it’s about to run out.
The Girl Series
1. Getaway Girl (2018)
2. Runaway Girl (2018)
3. Renaissance Man (2019)
4. Halfway Girl (2019)
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Have a great day!
Linda Reimer, SSCL
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Note: Book summaries are from the respective publishers unless otherwise specified.
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Have questions or want to request a book?
Feel free to call the library! Our telephone number is 607-936-3713.
Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.
The Digital Catalog, is an online catalog containing eBooks, Downloadable Audiobooks, digital magazines and a handful of streaming videos. The catalog, which allows one to download content to a PC, also has a companion app, Libby, which you can download to your mobile device; so you can enjoy eBooks and Downloadable Audiobooks on the go!
All card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries can check out items from the Digital Catalog.
The Hoopla Catalog features instant checkouts of eBooks, Downloadable Audiobooks, comic books, albums, movies and TV series. Patron check out limit is 6 items per month.
Hoopla is a Southeast Steuben County Library service available to all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders.
The Hoopla App is available for Android or Apple devices, smart TVs & media streaming players.
Card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries can access StarCat to search for and request materials available at libraries through out the Southern Tier Library System.
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Format Note: Under each book title you’ll find a list of all the different formats that specific title is available in; including: Print Books, Large Print Books, CD Audiobooks, eBooks & Downloadable Audiobooks from the Digital Catalog (Libby app) and Hoopla eBooks & Hoopla Downloadable Audiobooks (Hoopla app).
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Book summaries are from the respective publishers unless otherwise specified.
–
Have questions or want to request a book?
Feel free to call the library! Our telephone number is 607-936-3713.
Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.
Hi everyone, here is the weekly list of New York Times Bestsellers.
New York Times Bestsellers can be requested through StarCat (for print books) & The Digital Catalog/Libby for eBooks and Downloadable Audiobooks. Select titles may also be checked out, on demand, through the Hoopla Catalog.
For more information on the three catalogs skip to the section below the bestselling titles*
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New York Times Bestseller blog posts are published on Sundays. And the next New York Times blog post will be posted in two weeks on Sunday, September 17, 2023
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FICTION
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AFTER THAT NIGHT by Karin Slaughter
The 11th book in the Will Trent series. Trent’s investigation of a young woman’s assault reveals a link to an attack 15 years ago.
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ASSISTANT TO THE VILLAIN by Hannah Nicole Maehrer
Evie Sage gets a job doing unspecified office duties for the most infamous villain in the kingdom of Rennedawn.
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THE BREAKAWAY by Jennifer Weiner
As her wedding to a man she met at a childhood weight-loss camp approaches, Abby goes on a cycling trip to Niagara Falls in a group that includes an old fling.
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THE COWORKER by Freida McFadden
After an accountant is murdered, a sales rep at a nutritional supplement company gets caught in a game of cat and mouse.
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THE COVENANT OF WATER by Abraham Verghese
Three generations of a family living on South India’s Malabar Coast suffer the loss of a family member by drowning.
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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.
Things kept hidden bubble to the surface when the 9-year-old daughter of a man whose affair just ended badly goes missing.
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FOURTH WING by Rebecca Yarros
Violet Sorrengail is urged by the commanding general, who also is her mother, to become a candidate for the elite dragon riders.
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GIRL IN THE EAGLE’S TALONS by Karin Smirnoff
The seventh book in the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series. When violence disrupts Mikael Blomkvist’s daughter’s marriage, Lisbeth Salander appears to be his last hope.
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HAPPINESS FALLS by Angie Kim
The father and husband of a biracial Korean American family in Virginia goes missing.
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THE HEAVEN & EARTH GROCERY STORE by James McBride
Secrets held by the residents of a dilapidated neighborhood come to life when a skeleton is found at the bottom of a well.
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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.
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IT ENDS WITH US by Colleen Hoover
A battered wife raised in a violent home attempts to halt the cycle of abuse.
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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.
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LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY by Bonnie Garmus
A scientist and single mother living in California in the 1960s becomes a star on a TV cooking show.
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LION & LAMB by James Patterson and Duane Swierczynski
The Eagles’ starting quarterback is murdered and his wife, a Grammy-winning singer, is the prime suspect.
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MASTERS OF DEATH by Olivie Blake
A real estate agent who also is a vampire seeks the help of a medium to extricate the ghost who is haunting the house she needs to sell.
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REMARKABLY BRIGHT CREATURES by Shelby Van Pelt
A widow working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium is aided in solving a mystery by a giant Pacific octopus living there.
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TOM LAKE by Ann Patchett
Three daughters, who return to their family orchard in the spring of 2020, learn about their mother’s relationship with a famous actor.
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TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW by Gabrielle Zevin
Two friends find their partnership challenged in the world of video game design.
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TOO LATE by Colleen Hoover
Dangers develop when a drug trafficker becomes obsessed with a woman who has a mutual attraction to a D.E.A. agent.
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VERITY by Colleen Hoover
Lowen Ashleigh is hired by the husband of an injured writer to complete her popular series and uncovers a horrifying truth.
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NON-FICTION
ALL ABOUT LOVE by bell hooks
The late feminist icon explores the causes of a polarized society and the meaning of love.
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AMERICAN PROMETHEUS by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin
A biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 2006 and an inspiration for the film “Oppenheimer.”
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AN IMMENSE WORLD by Ed Yong
The Pulitzer Prize–winning science writer explains the sensory perceptions and ways of communication used by a variety of animals.
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THE BODY KEEPS THE SCORE by Bessel van der Kolk
How trauma affects the body and mind, and innovative treatments for recovery.
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BORN A CRIME by Trevor Noah
A memoir about growing up biracial in apartheid South Africa by the host of “The Daily Show.”
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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.
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CRYING IN H MART by Michelle Zauner
The daughter of a Korean mother and Jewish American father, and leader of the indie rock project Japanese Breakfast, describes creating her own identity after losing her mother to cancer.
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EDUCATED by Tara Westover
The daughter of survivalists, who is kept out of school, educates herself enough to leave home for university.
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EVERYTHING I KNOW ABOUT LOVE by Dolly Alderton
The British journalist shares stories and observations; the basis of the TV series.
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FOURTH TURNING IS HERE by Neil Howe
One of the authors of “The Fourth Turning” gives reflections on the cycles of history and makes predictions of potential outcomes generated by the present era of polarization.
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GAMBLER by Billy Walters with Armen Keteyian
The sports gambler shares his life story and gives insights on his betting system.
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I’M GLAD MY MOM DIED by Jennette McCurdy
The actress and filmmaker describes her eating disorders and difficult relationship with her mother.
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IN-BETWEEN by Hadley Vlahos
A hospice nurse shares some of her most impactful experiences and questions some of society’s beliefs around end-of-life care.
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KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON by David Grann
The story of a murder spree in 1920s Oklahoma that targeted Osage Indians, whose lands contained oil.
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NEVER ENOUGH by Jennifer Breheny Wallace
The journalist and social commentator looks at how the pressure to succeed affects parents, educators and children.
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OUTLIVE by Peter Attia with Bill Gifford
A look at recent scientific research on aging and longevity.
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PAGEBOY by Elliot Page
The Oscar-nominated star details discovering himself as a trans person and navigating abuse in Hollywood.
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POVERTY, BY AMERICA by Matthew Desmond
The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “Evicted” examines the ways in which affluent Americans keep poor people poor.
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THINK AGAIN by Adam Grant
An examination of the cognitive skills of rethinking and unlearning that could be used to adapt to a rapidly changing world.
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TUCKER by Chadwick Moore
An overview of the personal and professional life of the conservative commentator Tucker Carlson.
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THE WAGER by David Grann
The survivors of a shipwrecked British vessel on a secret mission during an imperial war with Spain have different accounts of events.
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WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU? by Bruce D. Perry and Oprah Winfrey
An approach to dealing with trauma that shifts an essential question used to investigate it.
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Have a great week!
Linda Reimer, SSCL
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Search for and request books online!
eBooks & Audiobooks Through The Digital Catalog/Libby
Card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries can access
StarCat to search for and request materials available at libraries throughout the Southern Tier Library System.
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Also of Note: If a New York Times Bestseller isn’t yet available in any of the three catalogs, you can contact the library and request to be notified when it becomes available.
Southeast Steuben County Library Telephone Number: 607-936-3713.
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Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.
The catalog of e-books, downloadable audiobooks and a handful of streaming videos.
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The Libby App
Libby is the companion app to the Digital Catalog and may be found in the Apple & Google app.
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Hoopla
A catalog of instant check out items, including eBooks, downloadable audiobooks, comic books, TV shows and movies for patrons of the Southeast Steuben County Library.
–
Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.
Hi everyone, here are our recommended reads for the week!
*More information on the three catalogs and available formats is found at the end of the list of recommended reads*
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Weekly Suggested Reading postings are published on Thursdays.
And the next Suggested Reading posting will be published on Thursday, September 14, 2023.
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All the Dead Shall Weep by Charlaine Harris
(Available Formats: Print Book & eBook)
#1 New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author returns with the fifth installment in the bestselling Gunnie Rose series as sisters Lizbeth Rose and Felicia as well as brother Eli and Peter, are reunited in Texoma only to break apart before the Wizard’s Ball held in San Diego, which will determine all their fates.
Following the murderous events of the “gripping…thrill-ride” (Karin Slaughter) Serpent of Heaven, Lizbeth Rose is awaiting the arrival of her sister Felicia and her husband’s younger brother Eli in Texoma. Both needed to leave the seat of the Holy Russian Empire in San Diego after Felicia’s burgeoning wizardly power in death magic became the reason for kidnapping and assassination attempts from her mother’s family of high-powered wizards in Mexico.
Yet bad news has traveled ahead of them, as Eli is called back to San Diego, taking Peter along with him, splitting them apart in more ways than one as their enemies’ plans for revenge come to fruition. In this fifth installment in the beloved and bestselling Gunnie Rose series, #1 New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Charlaine Harris has crafted a family drama of murderous and magical thrills.
Gunnie Rose Series
1. An Easy Death (2018)
2. A Longer Fall (2020)
3. The Russian Cage (2021)
4. The Serpent in Heaven (2022)
5. All the Dead Shall Weep (2023)
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Evil Eye by Etaf Rum
(Available Formats: Print Book)
“A moving meditation on motherhood, inter-generational trauma and how surface appearances often obscure a deeper truth. . . . A stunning second novel from a writer who set the bar very high with her first!”—Tara Conklin, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Romantics and Community Board
The acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of A Woman Is No Man returns with a striking exploration of the expectations of Palestinian-American women, the meaning of a fulfilling life, and the ways our unresolved pasts affect our presents.
“After Yara is placed on probation at work for fighting with a racist coworker, her Palestinian mother claims the provocation and all that’s come after were the result of a family curse. While Yara doesn’t believe in old superstitions, she finds herself unpacking her strict, often volatile childhood growing up in Brooklyn, looking for clues as to why she feels so unfulfilled in a life her mother could only dream of. Etaf Rum’s follow-up to her 2019 debut, A Woman Is No Man, is a complicated mother-daughter drama that looks at the lasting effects of intergenerational trauma and what it takes to break the cycle of abuse.” —Time magazine, “The Most Anticipated Books of the Year”
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The Fraud by Zadie Smith
(Available Formats: Print Book)
From acclaimed and bestselling novelist Zadie Smith, a kaleidoscopic work of historical fiction set against the legal trial that divided Victorian England, about who gets to tell their story—and who gets to be believed.
It is 1873. Mrs. Eliza Touchet is the Scottish housekeeper—and cousin by marriage—of a once-famous novelist, now in decline, William Ainsworth, with whom she has lived for thirty years.
Mrs. Touchet is a woman of many interests: literature, justice, abolitionism, class, her cousin, his wives, this life and the next. But she is also sceptical. She suspects her cousin of having no talent; his successful friend, Mr. Charles Dickens, of being a bully and a moralist; and England of being a land of facades, in which nothing is quite what it seems.
Andrew Bogle, meanwhile, grew up enslaved on the Hope Plantation, Jamaica. He knows every lump of sugar comes at a human cost. That the rich deceive the poor. And that people are more easily manipulated than they realize. When Bogle finds himself in London, star witness in a celebrated case of imposture, he knows his future depends on telling the right story.
The “Tichborne Trial”—wherein a lower-class butcher from Australia claimed he was in fact the rightful heir of a sizable estate and title—captivates Mrs. Touchet and all of England. Is Sir Roger Tichborne really who he says he is? Or is he a fraud? Mrs. Touchet is a woman of the world. Mr. Bogle is no fool. But in a world of hypocrisy and self-deception, deciding what is real proves a complicated task. . . .
Based on real historical events, The Fraud is a dazzling novel about truth and fiction, Jamaica and Britain, fraudulence and authenticity and the mystery of “other people.”
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Holly by Stephen King
(Available Formats: Print Book & eBook)
Holly Gibney, one of Stephen King’s most compelling and ingeniously resourceful characters, returns in this thrilling novel to solve the gruesome truth behind multiple disappearances in a midwestern town.
“Sometimes the universe throws you a rope.” —BILL HODGES
Stephen King’s Holly marks the triumphant return of beloved King character Holly Gibney. Readers have witnessed Holly’s gradual transformation from a shy (but also brave and ethical) recluse in Mr. Mercedes to Bill Hodges’s partner in Finders Keepers to a full-fledged, smart, and occasionally tough private detective in The Outsider. In King’s new novel, Holly is on her own, and up against a pair of unimaginably depraved and brilliantly disguised adversaries.
When Penny Dahl calls the Finders Keepers detective agency hoping for help locating her missing daughter, Holly is reluctant to accept the case. Her partner, Pete, has Covid. Her (very complicated) mother has just died. And Holly is meant to be on leave. But something in Penny Dahl’s desperate voice makes it impossible for Holly to turn her down.
Mere blocks from where Bonnie Dahl disappeared live Professors Rodney and Emily Harris. They are the picture of bourgeois respectability: married octogenarians, devoted to each other, and semi-retired lifelong academics. But they are harboring an unholy secret in the basement of their well-kept, book-lined home, one that may be related to Bonnie’s disappearance. And it will prove nearly impossible to discover what they are up to: they are savvy, they are patient, and they are ruthless.
Holly must summon all her formidable talents to outthink and outmaneuver the shockingly twisted professors in this chilling new masterwork from Stephen King.
“I could never let Holly Gibney go. She was supposed to be a walk-on character in Mr. Mercedes and she just kind of stole the book and stole my heart. Holly is all her.” —STEPHEN KING
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The Long Game by Elena Armas
(Available Formats: Print Book)
A disgraced soccer exec reluctantly enlists the help of a retired soccer star in coaching a children’s team in this smalltown love story in the vein of Ted Lasso and It Happened One Summer —from the New York Times bestselling author of The Spanish Love Deception.
Adalyn Reyes has spent years perfecting her daily routine: wake up at dawn, drive to the Miami Flames FC offices, try her hardest to leave a mark, go home, and repeat.
But her routine is disrupted when a video of her in an altercation with the team’s mascot goes viral. Rather than fire her, the team’s owner—who happens to be her father—sends Adalyn to middle-of-nowhere North Carolina, where she’s tasked with turning around the struggling local soccer team, the Green Warriors, as a way to redeem herself. Her plans crumble upon discovering that the players wear tutus to practice (impractical), keep pet goats (messy), and are terrified of Adalyn (counterproductive), and are nine-year-old kids.
To make things worse, also in town is Cameron Caldani, goalkeeping prodigy whose presence is somewhat of a mystery. Cam is the perfect candidate to help Adalyn, but after one very unfortunate first encounter involving a rooster, Cam’s leg, and Adalyn’s bumper, he’s also set on running her out of town. But banishment is not an option for Adalyn. Not again. Helping this ragtag children’s team is her road to redemption, and she is playing the long game. With or without Cam’s help.
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The Longmire Defense by Craig Johnson
(Available Formats: Print Book, CD Audiobook, eBook & eAudiobook)
Longmire lovers, rejoice! He’s back with a deeply personal case that uncovers family secrets. Walt Longmire, sheriff of Absaroka County, Wyoming, has a long record of solving crimes under unorthodox circumstances. This time, Walt’s hunt for a lost tourist leads to an investigation that’s both personally wrenching and dangerous. The search area recalls a story his father told him about an elk hunt he went on as a teen with his own father, Lloyd. During the hunt, the state accountant, Big Bill Sutherland, was shot and killed, and his murder is still unsolved. When Walt finds the tourist, he also finds a buried, custom-made .300 H&H Magnum that was probably the murder weapon in the Sutherland case. The owner of that rifle was Lloyd Longmire, a wealthy man and a tough taskmaster who used chess lessons to teach Walt about not only the game, but about life. This coldest of cold cases forces Walt to look into his grandfather, with whom he continued to have an adversarial relationship away from the chessboard. Although Walt and cemetery expert Jules Beldon find an empty coffin in Sutherland’s grave, Lucian Connally, who’d been the sheriff when Sutherland was killed, is extremely reticent about the ancient mystery. But Beldon’s shooting turns the cold case hot, and a long conversation with a childhood friend who’s now an agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives stirs up long-lost memories for Walt. Powerful people pressure him to forget the old case, which is tied to vast amounts of money in a hidden fund. It doesn’t matter: Walt has his own moral code, refuses to bend, and is ready to unmask his grandfather as a murderer if that’s where the clues lead. Learning the history of a beloved protagonist raises an exciting mystery to a higher level. – Starred Kirkus Review
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The Raging Storm: A Detective Matthew Venn Novel by Ann Cleeves
(Available Formats: Coming soon as a print book; CD Audiobook, eBook & eAudiobook)
Bestseller Cleeves’s outstanding third Matthew Venn novel (following 2021’s The Heron’s Cry) sees the detective returning to a small village on the northern English coast to solve a pair of murders. In the middle of a storm one September afternoon, Jem Rosco—sailor, bon vivant, and local legend—enters a pub in his misty hometown of Greystone to await a visitor he won’t name. A few days later, a local rescue crew responding to an anonymous distress call discovers Rosco’s lifeless body in an anchored dinghy. Det. Insp. Matthew Venn and his bickering sergeants are called from Devon to investigate. Venn is less than enthusiastic: Greystone is home to the Brethren, a religious sect his family once belonged to, and he left unceremoniously several years earlier. As the detective and his officers dig into Rosco’s past, local magistrate Barty Parker—husband of Rosco’s first love, Nell—turns up dead as well. Then Nell herself disappears, and pressure mounts to identify the killer before the body count climbs. Cleeves crafts a devilishly intricate mystery that will surprise even seasoned genre fans, and Venn remains an appealing lead every bit as memorable as the author’s Vera Stanhope or Jimmy Perez. Cleeves’s fans and newcomers alike will be hungry for the next entry. – Starred Kirkus Review
Two Rivers (Matthew Venn) Series:
1. The Long Call (2019)
2. The Heron’s Cry (2021)
2.5. The Girls on the Shore (2022)
3. The Raging Storm (2023)
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Reykjavík: A Crime Story by Ragnar Jónasson
(Available Formats: Print Book & eAudiobook)
Jónasson, a translator of Agatha Christie mysteries, teams up with Icelandic prime minister Jakobsdóttir for a thrilling Scandinavian noir inspired by a real-life cold case. In 1956, a 15-year-old housemaid named Lára vanishes from the only inhabited house on Videy, a small island off the coast of Reykjavík. Infrequent media inquires into her disappearance prove fruitless until 1986, when Valur Róbertsson, an ambitious young journalist, sees Lára’s case as a potentially career-making story. Just after Valur receives a compelling scoop, he’s pushed in front of a bus and dies, and his grief-stricken younger sister, Sunna, takes over the investigation. Building on her brother’s reporting, she discovers that a cabal including a judge, a real estate developer, a councilman, and a newspaper editor has been concealing a terrible secret central to Lára’s disappearance. Jónasson has clearly learned a thing or two from Christie’s trademark tight plotting and penetrating characterizations, and Jakobsdóttir’s insider knowledge of Iceland’s halls of power lend the proceedings an air of authenticity. Fans of Jo Nesbø’s Harry Hole series will be rapt. – Starred Publishers Weekly Review
In 1958, a small Minnesota town is rocked by the murder of its most powerful citizen, pouring fresh fuel on old grievances in this dazzling standalone novel from the New York Times bestselling author of the “expansive, atmospheric American saga” (Entertainment Weekly) This Tender Land.
On Memorial Day, as the people of Jewel, Minnesota gather to remember and honor the sacrifice of so many sons in the wars of the past, the half-clothed body of wealthy landowner Jimmy Quinn is found floating in the Alabaster River, dead from a shotgun blast. Investigation of the murder falls to Sheriff Brody Dern, a highly decorated war hero who still carries the physical and emotional scars from his military service. Even before Dern has the results of the autopsy, vicious rumors begin to circulate that the killer must be Noah Bluestone, a Native American WWII veteran who has recently returned to Jewel with a Japanese wife. As suspicions and accusations mount and the town teeters on the edge of more violence, Dern struggles not only to find the truth of Quinn’s murder but also put to rest the demons from his own past.
Caught up in the torrent of anger that sweeps through Jewel are a war widow and her adolescent son, the intrepid publisher of the local newspaper, an aging deputy, and a crusading female lawyer, all of whom struggle with their own tragic histories and harbor secrets that Quinn’s death threatens to expose.
Both a complex, spellbinding mystery and a masterful portrait of midcentury American life from an author of novels “as big-hearted as they come” (Parade), The River We Remember is an unflinching look at the wounds left by the wars we fight abroad and at home, a moving exploration of the ways in which we seek to heal, and a testament to the enduring power of the stories we tell about the places we call home.
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Sleep No More by Seanan Maguire
(Available Formats: eBook)
October is very happy with her life as the second daughter of her pureblood parents, Amandine and Simon Torquill. Born to be the changeling handmaid to her beloved sister August, she spends her days working in her family’s tower, serving as August’s companion, and waiting for the day when her sister sets up a household of her own. Everything is right in October’s Faerie. Everything is perfect.
Everything is a lie.
October has been pulled from her own reality and thrown into a twisted reinterpretation of Faerie where nothing is as it should be and everything has been distorted to support Titania’s ideals. Bound by the Summer Queen’s magic and thrust into a world turned upside down, October has no way of knowing who she can trust, where she can turn, or even who she really is. As strangers who claim to know her begin to appear and the edges of Titania’s paradise begin to unravel, Toby will have to decide whether she can risk everything she knows based on only their stories of another world.
But first she’ll have to survive this one, as Titania demonstrates why she needed to be banished in the first place—and this time, much more than Toby’s own life is at stake.
October Daye Series
1. Rosemary and Rue (2009)
2. A Local Habitation (2010)
3. An Artificial Night (2010)
4. Late Eclipses (2011)
5. One Salt Sea (2011)
6. Ashes of Honor (2012)
7. Chimes at Midnight (2013)
7.5. Full of Briars (2016)
8. The Winter Long (2014)
9. A Red-Rose Chain (2015)
10. Once Broken Faith (2016)
11. The Brightest Fell (2017)
12. Night and Silence (2018)
13. The Unkindest Tide (2019)
14. A Killing Frost (2020)
15. When Sorrows Come (2021)
16. Be the Serpent (2022)
17. Sleep No More (2023)
18. The Innocent Sleep (2023)
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Note: Book summaries are from the respective publishers unless otherwise specified.
–
Have questions or want to request a book?
Feel free to call the library! Our telephone number is 607-936-3713.
Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.
The Digital Catalog, is an online catalog containing eBooks, Downloadable Audiobooks, digital magazines and a handful of streaming videos. The catalog, which allows one to download content to a PC, also has a companion app, Libby, which you can download to your mobile device; so you can enjoy eBooks and Downloadable Audiobooks on the go!
All card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries can check out items from the Digital Catalog.
The Hoopla Catalog features instant checkouts of eBooks, Downloadable Audiobooks, comic books, albums, movies and TV series. Patron check out limit is 6 items per month.
Hoopla is a Southeast Steuben County Library service available to all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders.
The Hoopla App is available for Android or Apple devices, smart TVs & media streaming players.
Card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries can access StarCat to search for and request materials available at libraries through out the Southern Tier Library System.
–
Format Note: Under each book title you’ll find a list of all the different formats that specific title is available in; including: Print Books, Large Print Books, CD Audiobooks, eBooks & Downloadable Audiobooks from the Digital Catalog (Libby app) and Hoopla eBooks & Hoopla Downloadable Audiobooks (Hoopla app).
–
Book summaries are from the respective publishers unless otherwise specified.
–
Have questions or want to request a book?
Feel free to call the library! Our telephone number is 607-936-3713.
Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.
Tech & Book Talk at SSCL 