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.
–
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 Wednesday.
And the next Suggested Reading posting will be published on Wednesday, November 22, 2023.
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The Adults by Caroline Hulse
(Available Formats: Print Book)
Coparenting is difficult any time of year, but trying to create a happy, memorable Christmas for seven-year-old Scarlett leads Claire and Matt to make seriously questionable choices. No one remembers who suggested the trip to family fun park Happy Forest, but both parents, their new partners, their daughter, and her imaginary friend Posey, a large purple rabbit, are all set to spend the holiday “having fun” together, or not? All the characters are genuinely likable and relatable, especially in their flaws.
VERDICT A snappy writing style and changing viewpoints make the pages of this debut fly by as readers will want to know what happens next. – Starred Library Journal Review
If some authors are masters of suspense, others postmodern verbal acrobats, and still others complex-character pointillists, few excel in all three arenas. In his long-awaited third novel, Franzen does. Unlike his previous works, The 27th City (1988) and Strong Motion (1992), which tackled St. Louis and Boston, respectively, this one skips from city to city (New York; St. Jude; Philadelphia; Vilnius, Lithuania) as it follows the delamination of the Lambert family—Alfred, once a rigid disciplinarian, flounders against Parkinson’s-induced dementia; Enid, his loyal and embittered wife, lusts for the perfect Midwestern Christmas; Denise, their daughter, launches the hippest restaurant in Philly; and Gary, their oldest son, grapples with depression, while Chip, his brother, attempts to shore his eroding self-confidence by joining forces with a self-mocking, Eastern-Bloc politician. As in his other novels, Franzen blends these personal dramas with expert technical cartwheels and savage commentary on larger social issues, such as the imbecility of laissez-faire parenting and the farcical nature of U.S.–Third World relations. The result is a book made of equal parts fury and humor, one that takes a dry-eyed look at our culture, at our pains and insecurities, while offering hope that, occasionally at least, we can reach some kind of understanding. This is, simply, a masterpiece. – Starred Publishers Weekly Review
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The Glass Kitchen by Linda Francis Lee
(Available Formats: Print Book & Large Print)
Portia Cuthcart wakes up in her Manhattan apartment with the taste of chocolate cake in her mouth. Recognizing the strange gift that comes in the form of compulsions to bake, mix, boil, or cook any given thing at any given time, she heads to the store to pick up the ingredients. After years of ignoring her cooking talents in favor of being the perfect politician’s wife, Portia is excited and a little scared to know that her gift has come back. With the support of her two older sisters and a terrifyingly handsome investor, Portia begins to make her dream of opening a restaurant in New York City a very real possibility. With shades of The Tempest, Chocolat, and Stepmom, The Glass Kitchen is a story of redemption, rediscovery, and renewal through the marriage of love and food. Lee includes several recipes in this fun addition for book clubs and culinarily minded readers. A tantalizing mix of romance, wit, and family secrets, it will leave fans of Elin Hilderbrand, Erin McGraw, and Sophie Kinsella hungry for more. – Booklist Review
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The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo
(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print, Libby eAudiobook)
Lombardo’s impressive debut follows the Sorenson clan—physician David, wife Marilyn, and their four daughters: Wendy, Violet, Liza, and Grace—through the 1970s to 2017.David and Marilyn raised the family in a rambling suburban Chicago house that belonged to Marilyn’s father. The daughters find varying degrees of success in their professional lives but fail to find the passion and romance that their parents continue to have in their own marriage. Wendy is a wealthy widow with a foul mouth and a drinking problem. Violet is a former lawyer turned stay-at-home mother of two young sons. At 32, Liza is a tenured professor with a depressive boyfriend. The baby of the family, 20-something Grace, is the only one of the daughters to have moved away, and now lives in Oregon. The daughters’ lives are in various stages of tumult: Wendy locates Jonah, the teenage son Violet gave up for adoption years prior; Violet struggles to integrate Jonah into her perfectly controlled life; Liza is shocked to discover she is pregnant; and Grace lies about being in law school after she was rejected. Lombardo captures the complexity of a large family with characters who light up the page with their competition, secrets, and worries. Despite its length and number of plotlines, the momentum never flags, making for a rich and rewarding family saga. – Publishers Weekly Review
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The Portable Veblen by Elizabeth McKenzie
(Available Formats: Print Book & Hoopla Instant Checkout eAudiobook)
An endearing young woman arrives into adulthood intact, despite a histrionic mother who chose to name her daughter after a somewhat obscure social scientist. Veblen’s coping skills involve a love of typing and of the natural world, especially the squirrels that live near her cottage in Palo Alto, CA. Paul, the neurologist to whom she is engaged, has family issues as well: he grew up in a commune where behavioral boundaries were lax and where his disabled brother commanded attention. In Paul’s lab at Stanford University, he invents a device that minimizes brain trauma in combat situations, and a large medical corporation entices him to join its ranks. From there, everything goes awry. Amid all the craziness, Veblen’s innate sweetness and relative groundedness keep this large cast of characters from spinning out of orbit.
VERDICT McKenzie (MacGregor Tells the World) skewers modern American culture while quoting from a panoply of voices, with Frank Zappa, Robert Reich, and, of course, Thorstein Veblen among them. The result is a wise and thoroughly engaging story in a satirical style comparable to the works of Christopher Moore and Carl Hiaasen. – Library Journal Review
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The Red Car by Marcy Dermansky
(Available Formats: Print Book)
In the sleek and polished third novel by the author of Bad Marie, aspiring novelist Leah receives the bequest of the titular vehicle from her former boss Judy, killed when a driver runs a red light. Leah, 33 and unhappily married to the perhaps too-conveniently villainous Hans, whom she married when they were both graduate students and he needed a green card, takes off from Queens for San Francisco to retrieve the car. There follows a series of surreal adventures with old coworkers, a college friend “worth insane amounts of money,”a hippie mechanic, and a motel receptionist, as Leah begins to imagine the possibility of a happier future for herself. Dermansky’s short, punchy chapters keep the tightly written novel moving smoothly along, and flashbacks to her past add depth without slowing momentum. When fantasy elements—such as the fact that Leah constantly hears the deceased Judy talking to her, as well as the alleged “haunting” of a car that wants its drivers to exceed the speed limit—threaten to steer the novel off course, the author brings it sharply back in line with snappy dialogue and a great ending. – Publishers Weekly Review
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The Senator’s Wife by Sue Miller
(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print, CD Audiobook & Libby eAudiobook)
A recently married couple new to a New England college town purchases one-half of a double house because Nathan, a history professor, is thrilled to learn that the other half is owned by the famous, now retired senator Tom Naughton. But it seems that Delia, the senator’s wife, lives alone. In her seventies, she is glamorous, charming, considerate, and armored to the teeth. Nathans sly, smart, and moody wife, Meri, unnerved by her accidental pregnancy, becomes rather too intrigued with her secretive neighbor. Best-selling and impeccably literary Miller shrewdly contrasts the high drama of Delia and Toms epically difficult marriage with the newlywed’s raw skirmishes, creating characters of intense interest and infusing everything thing they do with a kaleidoscopic array of meanings. Miller not only sharply illuminates the paradoxes of family life the difficulty of sustaining one’s autonomy in marriage, complicated love for one’s children, brutal shifts in power, the grimness of old age she also takes an askance view of Clintonian Washington and tests the thin membrane between private and public lives as she weighs the marathon demands on a politician’s spouse. Millers remarkable grasp of both grand passion and the consolation of the daily makes this an incandescent tale of betrayal and the perpetual divide between men and women, and a galvanizing novel of lifes imperative to use yourself up. – Starred Booklist Review
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The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis
(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print, CD Audiobook, Libby eBook & eAudiobook)
Mathis’s remarkable debut traces the life of Hattie Shepherd through the eyes of her offspring, depicting a family whose members are distant, fiercely proud, and desperate for connection with their mother. When 16-year-old Hattie’s newborn twins, her first with husband August, die from pneumonia in the winter of 1925, it is a devastation that will disfigure her for the rest of her life. As the novel moves from closeted musician Floyd’s fearful attempt to love another man in 1948, to Six’s flight to Alabama two years later after beating a boy nearly to death, Alice’s rift with her brother Billups in the late 1960s, consumptive Bell’s aborted suicide in 1975, and Cassie’s descent into schizophrenia in the early 1980s, what ties these lives together is a longing for tenderness from the mother they call the General. Strong, angry Hattie despairs as August, an ineffectual though affectionate father, reveals himself to be a womanizer who is incapable of supporting the family. Hattie finds happiness with Lawrence, a gambler; after having his baby, Hattie leaves August and her other children and goes with Lawrence to Baltimore, but returns to the house on Wayne Street, in Philadelphia, almost immediately. Sick with longing for her dead twins and all that her children will never have, Hattie retreats into coldness. As her children age, they come to terms with their intense need for and resentment of the mother who kept them alive but starved their hearts, while Hattie faces a choice between anger and peace. Mathis weaves this story with confidence, proving herself a gifted and powerful writer. Starred Publishers Weekly Review
Chinese immigrant Charles Wang made a fortune with his cosmetics empire. His three children and their stepmother had all they could want, including a palatial home in Bel Air, CA. Then things came crashing down. Soon the family must travel in a rickety old car to New York in order to move in with eldest daughter, Saina, an artist. En route they have an accident that brings them closer as they become better acquainted. Chang’s clever minibiographies of each family member are informative and enjoyable. “Baby” Grace is the warmest, while middle child Andrew is sweet and hesitant. The siblings’ banter is charming and illustrates how well they relate. Once he reaches New York, Charles decides to follow his dream of returning to China to reclaim his ancestral land. After he’s admitted to a Chinese hospital, the family travels to see him. It’s apparent their bond is stronger than ever. Debut author Chang leaves it to readers to interpret the conclusion in their own way. VERDICT Fans of sweeping family sagas will be rewarded. – Library Journal Review
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We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler
(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print & Libby eBook)
What is the boundary between human and animal beings and what happens when that boundary is blurred are two of many questions raised in Fowler’s provocative sixth novel (The Jane Austen Book Club, 2004, etc.), the narration of a young woman grieving over her lost sister, who happens to be a chimpanzee. Rosemary recounts her family history at first haltingly and then with increasingly articulate passion. In 1996, she is a troubled student at U.C. Davis who rarely speaks out loud. She thinks as little as possible about her childhood and the two siblings no longer part of her family. But during a Thanksgiving visit home to Bloomington, Ind., where her father is a psychology professor, that past resurfaces. Rosemary recalls her distress as a 5-year-old when she returned from visiting her grandparents to find her family living in a new house and her sister Fern gone. Denying any memory of why Fern disappeared, she claims to remember only the aftermath: her mother’s breakdown; her father’s withdrawal; her older brother Lowell’s accelerating anger until he left the family at 18 to find Fern and become an animal rights activist/terrorist; her own continuing inability to fit in with human peers. Gradually, Rosemary acknowledges an idyllic earlier childhood when she and Fern were inseparable playmates on a farm, their intact family shared with psych grad students. By waiting to clarify that Fern was a chimpanzee, Rosemary challenges readers to rethink concepts of kinship and selfhood; for Rosemary and Lowell, Fern was and will always be a sister, not an experiment in raising a chimpanzee with human children. And when, after 10 years of silence, Lowell shows up in Davis to describe Fern’s current living conditions, he shakes free more memories for Rosemary of her sibling relationship with Fern, the superior twin she loved, envied and sometimes resented. Readers will forgive Fowler’s occasional didacticism about animal experimentation since Rosemary’s voice–vulnerable, angry, shockingly honest–is so compelling and the cast of characters, including Fern, irresistible. A fantastic novel: technically and intellectually complex, while emotionally gripping. – Starred Kirkus Review
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Happy reading!
Linda Reimer, SSCL
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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.
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Note: Book summaries are from the respective publishers unless otherwise specified.
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.
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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, November 19, 2023.
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FICTION
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ABSOLUTION by Alice McDermott
Two American women form an uneasy alliance in Saigon in 1963.
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ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE by Anthony Doerr
The lives of a blind French girl and a gadget-obsessed German boy before and during World War II.
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ARMOR OF LIGHT by Ken Follett
The fifth book in the Kingsbridge series. Change and turmoil affect various aspects of society in the latter part of the 18th century.
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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.
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THE EXCHANGE by John Grisham
In a sequel to “The Firm,” Mitch McDeere, who is now a partner at the world’s largest law firm, gets caught up in a sinister plot.
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FIRE IN THE FLESH by Jennifer L. Armentrout
The third book in the Flesh and Fire series. The destinies of Nyktos and Sera may be out of their hands.
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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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GRAHAM EFFECT by Elle Kennedy
Gigi Graham wants hockey glory but must ignore the chemistry she has with Luke Ryder to attain it.
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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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HOLLY by Stephen King
The private detective Holly Gibney investigates whether a married pair of octogenarian academics had anything to do with Bonnie Dahl’s disappearance.
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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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ICEBREAKER by Hannah Grace
Anastasia might need the help of the captain of a college hockey team to get on the Olympic figure skating team.
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KING OF GREED by Ana Huang
The third book in the Kings of Sin series. The trophy wife of a Wall Street tycoon decides to put herself first.
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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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LET US DESCEND by Jesmyn Ward
Annis, who was sold by the white enslaver who fathered her, tries to comfort herself with memories of her mother and stories of her African warrior grandmother.
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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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THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO by Taylor Jenkins Reid
A movie icon recounts stories of her loves and career to a struggling magazine writer.
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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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WILDFIRE by Hannah Grace
The second book in the Maple Hills series. Two summer camp counselors who previously had a one-night stand may run afoul of the camp’s rules.
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NON-FICTION
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BEING HENRY by Henry Winkler with James Kaplan
The Emmy Award-winning actor shares how playing roles such as the Fonz and his struggles with dyslexia affected his life.
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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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DEMOCRACY AWAKENING by Heather Cox Richardson
The historian and author of the newsletter “Letters From an American” shares her views on the current political moment.
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ELON MUSK by Walter Isaacson
The author of “The Code Breaker” traces Musk’s life and summarizes his work on electric vehicles, private space exploration and artificial intelligence.
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FRIENDS, LOVERS, AND THE BIG TERRIBLE THING by Matthew Perry
The late actor, known for playing Chandler Bing on “Friends,” shares stories from his childhood and his struggles with sobriety.
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GOING INFINITE by Michael Lewis
The author of “The Big Short” and “The Premonition” chronicles the rise and fall of Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX.
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THE HUNDRED YEARS’ WAR ON PALESTINE by Rashid Khalidi
An account of the history of settler colonialism and resistance, based on untapped archival materials and reports.
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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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KILLING THE WITCHES by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard
The 13th book in the conservative commentator’s Killing series gives a portrayal of the events of 1692 and 1693 in Salem Village, Mass.
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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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PREQUEL by Rachel Maddow
The MSNBC host and co-author of “Bag Man” details a campaign to overthrow the U.S. government and install authoritarian rule prior to and during our involvement in World War II.
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RENEGADE by Adam Kinzinger with Michael D’Antonio
The former congressman from Illinois gives an account of his time serving in the military and on the Jan. 6 committee.
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ROMNEY by McKay Coppins
A staff writer at The Atlantic profiles the Republican senator from Utah and former governor of Massachusetts.
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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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THE WOMAN IN ME by Britney Spears
The Grammy Award-winning pop star details her personal and professional experiences, including the years she spent under a conservatorship overseen by her father.
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WORTHY by Jada Pinkett Smith
The actress and talk-show host describes personal and professional difficulties she encountered and her journey to finding self-love.
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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.
–
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.
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*
–
Weekly Suggested Reading postings are published on Wednesday.
And the next Suggested Reading posting will be published on Wednesday, November 15, 2023.
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Christmas Presents by Lisa Unger
(Available Formats: Print Book & Hoopla Instant Checkout eAudiobook)
Madeline Martin, owner of an independent bookstore and daughter of Sheriff James Martin, suffers survivor’s guilt and PTSD from events in 2014. She’s reluctant to cooperate when Harley Granger, a successful true-crime author and podcaster, shows up around Christmastime, wanting to talk about Evan Handy. At 17, Madeline was part of a group that had known each other forever–Stephanie Cramer, sisters Ainsley and Samantha Wallace, and Madeline’s best friend Badger. When Evan moved to town, he came with a reputation, but Madeline broke every rule to be with him. It all came crashing down when Stephanie was murdered at a party at Evan’s house; Ainsley and Sam disappeared, and Madeline was left for dead. Sheriff Martin arrested Evan but, convinced there was a second person involved, hunted for that person until suffering a stroke. Now Granger wants to stir everything up. With another girl’s disappearance, Granger points out that five girls have disappeared in the last 10 years. Was Evan innocent?
VERDICT The latest psychological suspense by the author of Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six emphasizes survivor’s guilt and the inability to move on in this compelling story. – Library Journal Review
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Deus X by Stephen Mack Jones
(Available Formats: Print Book & eBook)
Donut shops that employ skilled killers, young hackers planning revenge, and midnight meetings at rundown cathedrals are typical of this Hammett Award–winning series set in Detroit. Ex-cop August Snow received a $12 million settlement from the city after he was fired and is using the money to restore his beloved neighborhood. While doing that, he’s built a found family, including two elderly neighbors, a young hacker, his godfather, and a Franciscan priest, Father Grabowski, who was beloved by August’s mother and abruptly retired following the hanging death of a young priest in a neighboring suburb. Put the suicide and retirement together with the sudden appearance of a priest who claims to be from the Vatican, and threatening phone calls to the retired priest, and Snow is suspicious. He doesn’t know much about Father Grabowski’s past, but he’ll dig for the truth. He won’t let religious fanatics or the Catholic Church hierarchy take down his friend without a fight.
VERDICT There’s a face-off between organized religion and friendship in Jones’s well-written, compelling sequel to Dead of Winter. It’s a gritty crime novel for fans of Joe Ide’s “IQ” series or David Heska Wanbli Weiden’s Winter Counts. – Starred Library Journal
Everyone expected Violet Sorrengail to die during her first year at Basgiath War College—Violet included. But Threshing was only the first impossible test meant to weed out the weak-willed, the unworthy, and the unlucky.
Now the real training begins, and Violet’s already wondering how she’ll get through. It’s not just that it’s grueling and maliciously brutal, or even that it’s designed to stretch the riders’ capacity for pain beyond endurance. It’s the new vice commandant, who’s made it his personal mission to teach Violet exactly how powerless she is–unless she betrays the man she loves.
Although Violet’s body might be weaker and frailer than everyone else’s, she still has her wits—and a will of iron. And leadership is forgetting the most important lesson Basgiath has taught her: Dragon riders make their own rules.
But a determination to survive won’t be enough this year.
Because Violet knows the real secret hidden for centuries at Basgiath War College—and nothing, not even dragon fire, may be enough to save them in the end.
Winstead serves up a sharp meditation on feminism and religious oppression in this atmospheric Louisiana-set thriller. Ruth Cornier, the independent-minded daughter of Pastor James Cornier, is the sole librarian in the small town of Bottom Springs, who takes particular pleasure in works of heretical fiction, including the Twilight novels. One afternoon, Ruth is devastated to learn that a human skull has been found in the swamp next to the library. When Ruth was 17, she was almost raped in the same swamp by itinerant worker Renard Michaels. Ruth’s friend Everett, a local outcast, intervened, and Michaels was killed in the ensuing fight and his body left to sink into the swamp. When the remains are identified as those of another man, Ruth’s worst fears are momentarily averted, but then a bigger problem emerges: might Bottom Springs have a killer on its hands? Alternating between past and present, Winstead movingly fleshes out Ruth and Everett’s friendship without sacrificing pace or surprise as the body count rises. Evocative prose (the setting sun is described as “fighting death, reaching out with grasping fingers of orange and rose against the falling twilight”) is a major plus. Fans of Michael Koryta’s Southern gothic novels, including The Cypress House, will be enchanted. – Publishers Weekly Review
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Murtagh by Christopher Paolini
(Available Formats: Print Book & eBook)
The world is no longer safe for the Dragon Rider Murtagh and his dragon, Thorn. An evil king has been toppled, and they are left to face the consequences of the reluctant role they played in his reign of terror. Now they are hated and alone, exiled to the outskirts of society.
Throughout the land, hushed voices whisper of brittle ground and a faint scent of brimstone in the air—and Murtagh senses that something wicked lurks in the shadows of Alagaësia. So begins an epic journey into lands both familiar and untraveled, where Murtagh and Thorn must use every weapon in their arsenal, from brains to brawn, to find and outwit a mysterious witch. A witch who is much more than she seems.
In this gripping novel starring one of the most popular characters from Christopher Paolini’s blockbuster Inheritance Cycle, a Dragon Rider must discover what he stands for in a world that has abandoned him. Murtagh is the perfect book to enter the World of Eragon for the first time…or to joyfully return.
Inheritance Cycle Reading List (Although Murtagh really is a stand alone novel as the main character, Murtagh, is the half-brother of the hero of the original series – Eragon)
Inheritance Cycle
1. Eragon (2001)
2. Eldest (2005)
3. Brisingr (2008)
Eragon’s Guide to Alagaesia (2009)
4. Inheritance (2011)
5. Murtagh (2023)
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Passionate Mothers, Powerful Sons The Lives of Jennie Jerome Churchill and Sara Delano Roosevelt by Charlotte Gray
(Available Formats: Print Book)
A portrait of the mothers who nurtured two prominent politicians. Canadian historian Gray, author of Mrs. King and Sisters in the Wilderness, draws on abundant sources to create an engaging dual biography of Jennie Jerome Churchill (1854-1921), mother of Winston, and Sara Delano Roosevelt (1854-1941), mother of Franklin. The two had markedly different personalities, but “the examples of resilience, acumen, and loyalty that Jennie and Sara set, the initiatives they took, the impressive support that they provided, and the networks they built, helped mold their sons’ characters and careers.” Gray recounts each woman’s family background, childhood, and young adulthood, when each met her husband. Jennie, 19, “shapely and coquettish,” met 24-year-old Lord Randolph Churchill on a yacht where they were guests of the Prince and Princess of Wales; Sara was 26 when she married James Roosevelt, a widower twice her age, whom she had met at a small dinner party. For Jennie, the marriage meant entry into British aristocracy; for Sara, it meant alliance with a prestigious Knickerbocker family, though one not as wealthy as her own. Jennie’s first son was born seven months after the wedding; Sara’s only child–she was advised, after a difficult delivery, to have no more–was born in 1882. “Knowing there would be no more babies, she dedicated herself to protecting the one she had,” writes Gray. “From the day of his birth, her son would be the center of her attention.” Jennie’s marriage, like her husband’s political career, was stormy. The couple was always in debt, due in part to Jennie’s expensive tastes. “Her zest in spending was one of her charms,” a friend commented. Both were widowed in their 40s. While Jennie’s flirtatiousness and three marriages led gossips to call her a “wicked seductress,” Sara’s imperiousness made her daughter-in-law, Eleanor, portray her as “snobbish, domineering, and unkind.” Gray sees those stereotypes as ill-fitting, convincingly portraying her subjects as ambitious, astute, and determined. A sympathetic portrait of formidable women. – Kirkus Review
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Resurrection Walk by Michael Connelly
(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print, CD Audiobook, eBook & eAudiobook)
Dynamo defense attorney Mickey Haller is back in Connelly’s latest (following The Law of Innocence). He’s still working out of his Lincoln Town Car, but this time he’s riding the high of having gotten an innocent man released from prison. Now he’s on the hunt for another wrongful conviction to appeal, while his half-brother, retired LAPD detective Harry Bosch, serves as Mickey’s driver and part-time investigator. Harry identifies a potential job for Mickey in the case of Lucinda Sanz, a woman sentenced to 11 years in prison for the murder of her police deputy ex-husband. While studying the autopsy photos in the Sanz case, Harry recognizes a tattoo on the deceased officer that marks him as a member of a sheriffs gang. Inconsistencies in the case, along with the incompetent counsel who advised Lucinda to plead no contest, are enough to convince Mickey to pursue a petition of habeas corpus. Then he learns that Lucinda’s ex may have been an FBI informant. Suddenly, it looks more and more likely that Lucinda was set up. VERDICT Another solid series installment from Connelly. This Lincoln Lawyer/Harry Bosch crossover is sure to keep readers on the edge of their seats as Mickey absorbs each legal setback. A brief appearance by Renee Ballard, as well as a few other familiar faces from the Harry Bosch universe, will delight fans. – Library Journal
Lincoln Lawyer Series Reading List:
1. The Lincoln Lawyer (2005)
2. The Brass Verdict (2008)
3. The Reversal (2010)
4. The Fifth Witness (2011)
5. The Gods of Guilt (2013)
5.5. The Crossing (2015)
6. The Law of Innocence (2020)
The Lincoln Lawyer: A Mysterious Profile (2022)
7. Resurrection Walk (2023)
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The Sisterhood: The Secret History of Women at the CIA by Liza Mundy
(Available Formats: Print Book)
Created in the aftermath of World War II, the Central Intelligence Agency relied on women even as it attempted to channel their talents and keep them down. Women sent cables, made dead drops, and maintained the agency’s secrets. Despite discrimination—even because of it—women who started as clerks, secretaries, or unpaid spouses rose to become some of the CIA’s shrewdest operatives.
They were unlikely spies—and that’s exactly what made them perfect for the role. Because women were seen as unimportant, pioneering female intelligence officers moved unnoticed around Bonn, Geneva, and Moscow, stealing secrets from under the noses of their KGB adversaries. Back at headquarters, women built the CIA’s critical archives—first by hand, then by computer. And they noticed things that the men at the top didn’t see. As the CIA faced an identity crisis after the Cold War, it was a close-knit network of female analysts who spotted the rising threat of al-Qaeda—though their warnings were repeatedly brushed aside.
After the 9/11 attacks, more women joined the agency as a new job, targeter, came to prominence. They showed that data analysis would be crucial to the post-9/11 national security landscape—an effort that culminated spectacularly in the CIA’s successful effort to track down bin Laden in his Pakistani compound.
Propelled by the same meticulous reporting and vivid storytelling that infused Code Girls, The Sisterhood offers a riveting new perspective on history, revealing how women at the CIA ushered in the modern intelligence age, and how their silencing made the world more dangerous.
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Wandering Through Life: A Memoir by Donna Leon
(Available Formats: Print Book & Hoopla Instant Checkout eBook)
Although celebrated crime writer Leon describes herself as “feckless and unthinking by nature,” she is anything but in the pages of her sprightly memoir, where she focuses the same keen eye for detail and backstory that infuses her beloved, long-running Venetian mystery series featuring Guido Brunetti. From a rural New Jersey childhood filled with farm escapades, vibrant relatives, and character-defining rites of passage, Leon’s zesty, adventurous spirit presented early on and was honed through college and its aftermath with the acceptance of teaching positions in locations as disparate as Iran, China, Switzerland, and Saudi Arabia. It was Venice that captured her heart as the cultural center for all the things she loved the most, from opera to cappuccino to the stealth strategies of grocery-hunting grandmothers. Leon is coy and discerning in the anecdotes she selects to chronicle her 80 years on Earth, whether lamenting Venice’s environmental degradation or reveling in the works of Handel. Though fans will bask in these candid glimpses, one need not be a devoted Brunetti aficionado to appreciate Leon’s delightfully spirited account of a life well lived. – Booklist Review
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Wild Girls: How the Outdoors Shaped the Women Who Challenged a Nation by Tiya Miles
(Available Formats: Print Book & eAudiobook)
How women discovered themselves in nature. Harvard historian Miles, a MacArthur fellow and National Book Award winner for All That She Carried, offers a sensitive examination of the lives of women–primarily Black and Native American–for whom the natural world served as an “imagination station and training ground.” For women such as escaped slave Harriet Tubman, Indigenous explorer Sacagawea, and science fiction writer Octavia Butler, the natural world provided “a space to discover who they were and what they were capable of.” Tubman, who labored largely in fields, farms, and forests, learned how “to listen to, forage, and navigate the woods,” skills that enabled her to successfully liberate dozens of slaves. Similarly, Harriet Jacobs, who was formerly enslaved, saw “trees and woods as places of relief, restoration, secrecy, and refuge.” For Tubman, Jacobs, and white abolitionist Laura Smith Haviland, “nature’s classroom” made them acutely aware of societal and political subjugation and oppression. Miles connects love of nature with a celebration of “wild freedom” in the works of Louisa May Alcott, a self-proclaimed tomboy who loved to romp in the woods, escaping the strictures of Victorian girlhood; and in the writings of Native American poet Jane Johnston Schoolcraft, for whom the “uncomfortable realities of colonial intimacies” underlay her lyrical depictions of beloved landscapes. When Native American children were forcibly sent to government boarding schools, wrenched from their natural surroundings, many rebelled against the cultural and physical confinement they endured. Among 20th-century women whose lives were indelibly shaped by their outdoor experiences, Miles includes Chinese American activist Grace Lee Boggs and Mexican American labor activist Dolores Huerta. The author’s own reverence for nature intensified during the pandemic, when her backyard became a place of solace and beauty. Acknowledging the privilege that affords her this space for herself and her family, she makes a compelling plea for fostering “outside equity” to allow everyone to partake of nature’s gifts. A fresh, graceful contribution to women’s history. – Kirkus Review
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Happy reading!
Linda Reimer, SSCL
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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.
–
Note: Book summaries are from the respective publishers unless otherwise specified.
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.
–
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, November 12, 2023.
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FICTION
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ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE by Anthony Doerr
The lives of a blind French girl and a gadget-obsessed German boy before and during World War II.
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ARMOR OF LIGHT by Ken Follett
The fifth book in the Kingsbridge series. Change and turmoil affect various aspects of society in the latter part of the 18th century.
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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.
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THE EXCHANGE by John Grisham
In a sequel to “The Firm,” Mitch McDeere, who is now a partner at the world’s largest law firm, gets caught up in a sinister plot.
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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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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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HOLLY by Stephen King
The private detective Holly Gibney investigates whether a married pair of octogenarian academics had anything to do with Bonnie Dahl’s disappearance.
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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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ICEBREAKER by Hannah Grace
Anastasia might need the help of the captain of a college hockey team to get on the Olympic figure skating team.
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JUDGMENT PREY by John Sandford
The 33rd book in the Prey series. Davenport and Flowers investigate the murder of a federal judge and his two young sons.
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KING OF GREED by Ana Huang
The third book in the Kings of Sin series. The trophy wife of a Wall Street tycoon decides to put herself first.
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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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LET US DESCEND by Jesmyn Ward
Annis, who was sold by the white enslaver who fathered her, tries to comfort herself with memories of her mother and stories of her African warrior grandmother.
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A LITTLE LIFE by Hanya Yanagihara
Four college friends, one with a traumatic past, move to New York seeking fame and fortune.
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NONE OF THIS IS TRUE by Lisa Jewell
After meeting a woman who shares the same birthday, Alix Summer becomes the subject of her own true crime podcast.
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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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THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO by Taylor Jenkins Reid
A movie icon recounts stories of her loves and career to a struggling magazine writer.
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SWORD CATCHER by Cassandra Clare
An orphan who is the body double for a royal heir and a woman with magical abilities are drawn into the underworld of the city-state of Castellane.
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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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WILDFIRE by Hannah Grace
The second book in the Maple Hills series. Two summer camp counselors who previously had a one-night stand may run afoul of the camp’s rules.
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NON-FICTION
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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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ELON MUSK by Walter Isaacson
The author of “The Code Breaker” traces Musk’s life and summarizes his work on electric vehicles, private space exploration and artificial intelligence.
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EMPEROR OF ROME by Mary Beard
The author of “SPQR” questions some assumptions about imperial power as she examines the social and political world of Roman emperors.
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ENOUGH by Cassidy Hutchinson
The former special assistant to President Trump and his chief of staff, Mark Meadows, details events surrounding the crisis of conscience she faced.
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GOING INFINITE by Michael Lewis
The author of “The Big Short” and “The Premonition” chronicles the rise and fall of Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX.
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IF YOU WOULD HAVE TOLD ME by John Stamos with Daphne Young
A memoir by the star of “Full House,” “ER” and “General Hospital.”
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THE 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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KILLING THE WITCHES by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard
The 13th book in the conservative commentator’s Killing series gives a portrayal of the events of 1692 and 1693 in Salem Village, Mass.
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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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PREQUEL by Rachel Maddow
The MSNBC host and co-author of “Bag Man” details a campaign to overthrow the U.S. government and install authoritarian rule prior to and during our involvement in World War II.
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ROMNEY by McKay Coppins
A staff writer at The Atlantic profiles the Republican senator from Utah and former governor of Massachusetts.
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STANDING MY GROUND by Harry Dunn
A memoir by a Capitol Police officer who was on duty on Jan. 6.
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THE WOMAN IN ME by Britney Spears
The Grammy Award-winning pop star details her personal and professional experiences, including the years she spent under a conservatorship overseen by her father.
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WORTHY by Jada Pinkett Smith
The actress and talk-show host describes personal and professional difficulties she encountered and her journey to finding self-love.
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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.
–
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.
–
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.
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 Wednesday.
And the next Suggested Reading posting will be published on Wednesday, November 8, 2023.
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And here are our ten recommended reads for the week!
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The Boston Girl by Anita Diamont
(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print, CD Audiobook, eAudiobook & Hoopla Instant Checkout eAudiobook)
Bestseller Diamant (The Red Tent) tells a gripping story of a young Jewish woman growing up in early-20th-century Boston. Addie Baum, an octogenarian grandmother in 1985, relates long-ago history to a beloved granddaughter, answering the question: “How did I get to be the woman I am today?” The answer: by living a fascinating life. First reminiscing about 1915 and the reading club she became a part of as a teenager, Addie, in a conversational tone, recounts the lifelong friendships that began at club meetings and days by the seaside at nearby Rockport. She tells movingly of the fatal effects of the flu, a relative’s suicide, the touchy subject of abortion and its aftermath, and even her own disastrous first date, which nearly ended in rape. Ahead of her time, Addie also becomes a career woman, working as a newspaper typist who stands up for her beliefs at all costs. This is a stunning look into the past with a plucky heroine readers will cheer for. – Publishers Weekly Review
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How To Know A Person: The Art Of Seeing Others Deeply And Being Seen by David Brooks
(Available Formats: Print Book)
In this chatty, charming volume, conservative NY Times commentator Brooks (The Road to Character, 2015) synthesizes the findings of psychologists and philosophers recent and past to make a case for the value of friendship and offer practical suggestions on how to connect more deeply with both old friends and new acquaintances. Acknowledging his own “certain aloofness,” he illustrates his points with personal anecdotes from his life (including a wrenching one about the death by suicide of a close friend and earnestly told experiences on discussion panels) and those of others (including novelist and theologian Frederick Buechner and former president George W. Bush). Seeking to confront the “epidemic of loneliness” in the United States, Brooks recommends “tenderness, receptivity, and active curiosity,” and suggests that we should all strive less to be heroes than to be “illuminators”–in other words, people who are “social, humble, understanding, and warm.” His advice may not be revolutionary, but it’s certainly down-to-earth and entertaining. – Booklist Review
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The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer
(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print, CD Audiobook & eBook)
Orringer’s stunning first novel far exceeds the expectations generated by her much-lauded debut collection, How to Breath Underwater
In this WWII saga, Orringer illuminates the life of Andras Lévi, a Hungarian Jew of meager means whose world is upended by a scholarship to the École Spéciale d’Architecture in Paris. There, he makes an unlikely liaison with ballet teacher Claire Morgenstern (née Klara Hász), a woman nine years his senior whose past links her to a wealthy Hungarian family familiar to Andras. Against the backdrop of grueling school assignments, exhausting work at a theater, budding romance, and the developing kinship between Andras and his fellow Jewish students, Orringer ingeniously depicts the insidious reach of the growing tide of anti-Semitism that eventually lands him back in Hungary. Once there, Orringer sheds light on how Hungary treated its Jewish citizens—first, sending them into hard labor, though not without a modicum of common decency—but as the country’s alliance with Germany strengthens, the situation for Jews becomes increasingly dire. Throughout the hardships and injustices, Andras’s love for Claire acts as a beacon through the unimaginable devastation and the dark hours of hunger, thirst, and deprivation. Orringer’s triumphant novel is as much a lucid reminder of a time not so far away as it is a luminous story about the redemptive power of love. – Starred Publishers Weekly Review
Intensely poetic, startlingly imaginative and moving, this remarkable book will speak to many women, mothers and grown daughters, about the persistent tensions and powerful bonds between generations and cultures. The narrative voice moves among seven characters. Jing-mei June'' Woo recounts her first session in a San Francisco mah-jong club founded by her recently dead, spiritually vital, mother. The three remaining club members and their daughters alternate with stories of their lives, tales that are stunning, funny and heartbreaking. The mothers, all born in China, tell about grueling hardship and misery, the tyranny of family pride and the fear of losing face. The daughters try to reconcile their personalities, shaped by American standards, with seemingly irrational maternal expectations.My mother and I never understood each other; we translated each other’s meanings. I talked to her in English, she answered back in Chinese,” says one character. A crippling generation gap is the result: the mothers, superstitious, full of dread, always fearing bad luck, raise their daughters with hope that their lives will be better, but they also mourn the loss of a heritage their daughters cannot comprehend. Deceptively simple, yet inherently dramatic, each chapter can stand alone; yet personalities unfold and details build to deepen the impact and meaning of the whole. Thus, when infants abandoned in China in the first chapter turn up as adults in the last, their reunion with the one remaining family member is a poignant reminder of what is possible and what is not. On the order of Maxine Hong Kingston’s work, but more accessible, its Oriental orientation an irresistible magnet, Tan’s first novel is a major achievement. First serial to Atlantic, Ladies’ Home Journal and San Francisco Focus; BOMC and QPBC featured alternates. – Publishers Weekly Review
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The Night Watch by Sara Waters
(Available Formats: Print Book & CD Audiobook)
Waters applies her talent for literary suspense to WWII-era London in her latest historical. She populates the novel with ordinary people overlooked by history books and sets their individual passions against the chaotic background of extraordinary times. There are Kay, a “night watch” ambulance driver; her lover, Helen; two imprisoned conscientious objectors, upper-class Fraser and working-class Duncan; Duncan’s sister, Viv; Viv’s married soldier-lover, Reggie; and Julia, a building inspector–cum–mystery novelist. The novel works backward in time, beginning in 1947, as London emerges from the rubble of war, then to 1944, a time of nightly air raids, and finally to 1941, when the war’s end was not in sight. Through all the turmoil on the world stage, the characters steal moments of love, fragments of calm and put their lives on the line for great sex and small kindnesses. Waters’s sharply drawn page-turner doesn’t quite equal the work of literary greats who’ve already mapped out WWII-era London. But she matches any of them with her scene of two women on the verge of an affair during a nighttime bombing raid, lost in blackout London with only the light of their passion as a guide. – Starred Publishers Weekly Review
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Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror, edited by John Joseph Adams and Jordan Peele
(Available Formats: Print Book)
For this electrifying anthology, horror movie director Peele brings together 19 Black authors to “give us their Sunken Places.” The cars have eyes in N.K. Jemisin’s “Reckless Eyeballing,” about a corrupt police officer named Carl who gets his comeuppance for wrongfully pulling people over. “Wandering Devil” by Cadwell Turnbull follows Freddy, a man driven by wanderlust and a fear of commitment, who finally finds a place—and a person—he wants to call his home, only to encounter a terrible apparition that threatens him if he stays still too long. Other authors find horror in history: in Tananarive Due’s “The Rider,” two Freedom Riders on their way to Montgomery, Ala., in 1961, are joined on their bus by a strange being whose presence may spell their doom, while “The Norwood Trouble” by Maurice Broaddus concerns a Reconstruction-era community calling upon higher powers to bring bloody justice to a lynch mob of Night Riders. These tales are all both gruesomely imaginative and firmly rooted in the realities of anti-Black racism and brutality—and there isn’t a weak one in the bunch. This is essential reading for any horror fan. – Starred Publishers Weekly Review
Alyan blends joy with pain, frustration with elation, longing with boredom in this beautiful debut novel filled with the panoply of life. The frontispiece tells the whole story in microcosm with a family tree of the Palestinian Yacoub family, who, for most of the book, no longer lives in Palestine. One brother, Mustafa, is lost in the Six-Day War and the sisters, Alia and Widad, relocate to Kuwait while their mother, Salma, moves to Jordan. Later generations end up in France, America, and Lebanon. Alia, the young bride in 1963 in the first pages, is the family matriarch with Alzheimer’s as the book comes to a close. In 1977, her daughter, Souad, is a tantrum-throwing five-year-old in Kuwait City; by 1990, she is a student in Paris entering into an ill-considered marriage, then, 14 years later, a divorced mother of two, recently relocated from America to Beirut. Chapters focus on different family members as time and geography shift. These lives full of promise and loss will feel familiar to any reader; Alyan’s excellent storytelling and deft handling of the complex relationships ensures that readers will not soon forget the Yacoub family. – Starred Publishers Weekly Review
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Their Eyes Watching God by Zora Neale Thurston
(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print, CD Audiobook, eBook & eAudiobook)
A PBS Great American Read Top 100 Pick
“A deeply soulful novel that comprehends love and cruelty, and separates the big people from the small of heart, without ever losing sympathy for those unfortunates who don’t know how to live properly.” —Zadie Smith
One of the most important and enduring books of the twentieth century, Their Eyes Were Watching God brings to life a Southern love story with the wit and pathos found only in the writing of Zora Neale Hurston. Out of print for almost thirty years—due largely to initial audiences’ rejection of its strong black female protagonist—Hurston’s classic has since its 1978 reissue become perhaps the most widely read and highly acclaimed novel in the canon of African-American literature.
An unsuspecting host finds himself at the center of a supernatural plot to eradicate life from the planet. Rattled awake from a disorienting slumber–and apparently unaware of his own nudity and physical arousal–mild-mannered Black family man Marty Just wanders onto his balcony, the elaborate details of an intergalactic plan to end life on Earth seared into his mind. “Mama, look!” a neighbor child cries, and from that moment, Marty’s week only gets weirder: He’s arrested for public indecency; kills his vile, racist cellmate in a fugue state of self-defense; posts bail and returns home, only to encounter Aryan gang members ready to avenge their murdered leader. Until this point, the question of whether Marty has suffered a psychotic break or schizophrenic episode is unresolved, but then something inside Marty–an entity called Temple–takes over, attacking the racist thugs with his teeth, biting and tearing the life out of them in a marvelously frenzied action sequence. As it turns out, not only can Temple summon inhuman strength, he can resurrect the dead (!), and he recruits the formerly lifeless racists to help him prevent the encroaching genocide, personified by Tor Waxman, the Angel of Death. Equal parts body horror and necromancy, the book has cinematic fast cuts and an explosive pace that make it read like a Black Mirror episode set against the Hollywood Hills. While a subplot about Marty’s pending legal woes adds little to the excitement (it wouldn’t be Mosley without sharp-tongued lawyers and pushy cops), the novel is complicated in compelling ways by the racial dynamics and overt gestures toward a pandemic, as Tor Waxman spreads feverish death via unseen contagion to nearly 5,000 souls. Fast-moving action and jaw-dropping twists move this slim volume along at a dizzying rate. – Kirkus Review
The New York Times bestseller and Read with Jenna TODAY SHOW Book Club pick telling the story of three generations of Palestinian-American women struggling to express their individual desires within the confines of their Arab culture in the wake of shocking intimate violence in their community.
“Where I come from, we’ve learned to silence ourselves. We’ve been taught that silence will save us. Where I come from, we keep these stories to ourselves. To tell them to the outside world is unheard of—dangerous, the ultimate shame.”
Palestine, 1990. Seventeen-year-old Isra prefers reading books to entertaining the suitors her father has chosen for her. Over the course of a week, the naïve and dreamy girl finds herself quickly betrothed and married, and is soon living in Brooklyn. There Isra struggles to adapt to the expectations of her oppressive mother-in-law Fareeda and strange new husband Adam, a pressure that intensifies as she begins to have children—four daughters instead of the sons Fareeda tells Isra she must bear.
Brooklyn, 2008. Eighteen-year-old Deya, Isra’s oldest daughter, must meet with potential husbands at her grandmother Fareeda’s insistence, though her only desire is to go to college. Deya can’t help but wonder if her options would have been different had her parents survived the car crash that killed them when Deya was only eight. But her grandmother is firm on the matter: the only way to secure a worthy future for Deya is through marriage to the right man.
But fate has a will of its own, and soon Deya will find herself on an unexpected path that leads her to shocking truths about her family—knowledge that will force her to question everything she thought she knew about her parents, the past, and her own future.
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Happy reading!
Linda Reimer, SSCL
–
Have questions or want to request a book?
Feel free to call the library! Our telephone number is 607-936-3713.
–
Note: Book summaries are from the respective publishers unless otherwise specified.
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.
–
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*
–
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, November 5, 2023.
–
FICTION
–
ARMOR OF LIGHT by Ken Follett
The fifth book in the Kingsbridge series. Change and turmoil affect various aspects of society in the latter part of the 18th century.
–
BLOOD LINES by Nelson DeMille and Alex DeMille
The second book in the Scott Brodie and Maggie Taylor series. After a mission in Venezuela, Brodie and Taylor search for the murderer of a fellow agent.
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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.
–
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.
–
THE EXCHANGE by John Grisham
In a sequel to “The Firm,” Mitch McDeere, who is now a partner at the world’s largest law firm, gets caught up in a sinister plot.
–
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.
–
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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HOLLY by Stephen King
The private detective Holly Gibney investigates whether a married pair of octogenarian academics had anything to do with Bonnie Dahl’s disappearance.
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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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ICEBREAKER by Hannah Grace
Anastasia might need the help of the captain of a college hockey team to get on the Olympic figure skating team.
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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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JUDGMENT PREY by John Sandford
The 33rd book in the Prey series. Davenport and Flowers investigate the murder of a federal judge and his two young sons.
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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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A LITTLE LIFE by Hanya Yanagihara
Four college friends, one with a traumatic past, move to New York seeking fame and fortune.
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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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SECOND ACT by Danielle Steel
The former head of a Hollywood studio thinks the unfinished novel written by a woman he hired to get his affairs in order could be adapted for the screen.
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THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO by Taylor Jenkins Reid
A movie icon recounts stories of her loves and career to a struggling magazine writer.
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SWORD CATCHER by Cassandra Clare
An orphan who is the body double for a royal heir and a woman with magical abilities are drawn into the underworld of the city-state of Castellane.
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THINGS WE LEFT BEHIND by Lucy Score
The third book in the Knockemout series. A mogul and a small-town librarian share a dark secret from their past.
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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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TWISTED LOVE by Ana Huang
The first book in the Twisted series. Secrets emerge when Ava explores things with her brother’s best friend.
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THE UNMAKING OF JUNE FARROW by Adrienne Young
After her grandmother’s death, a woman goes on a journey that might change the past and the future.
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WILDFIRE by Hannah Grace
The second book in the Maple Hills series. Two summer camp counselors who previously had a one-night stand may run afoul of the camp’s rules.
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NON-FICTION
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ASTOR by Anderson Cooper and Katherine Howe
The authors of “Vanderbilt” chronicle the Astor family’s place in American society from 1793 through 2009.
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BEHIND THE SEAMS by Dolly Parton with Holly George-Warren
The country music legend shares stories about her favorite outfits she has worn on and off the stage.
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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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CONFLICT by David Petraeus and Andrew Roberts
An assessment of wars over the last 70-plus years.
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DEMOCRACY AWAKENING by Heather Cox Richardson
The historian and author of the newsletter “Letters From an American” shares her views on the current political moment.
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DEMOCRAT PARTY HATES AMERICA by Mark R. Levin
The Fox News host and author of “American Marxism” argues for the defeat of the Democratic Party.
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DETERMINED by Robert M. Sapolsky
The author of “Behave” makes his case against free will.
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ELON MUSK by Walter Isaacson
The author of “The Code Breaker” traces Musk’s life and summarizes his work on electric vehicles, private space exploration and artificial intelligence.
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ENOUGH by Cassidy Hutchinson
The former special assistant to President Trump and his chief of staff, Mark Meadows, details events surrounding the crisis of conscience she faced.
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GOING INFINITE by Michael Lewis
The author of “The Big Short” and “The Premonition” chronicles the rise and fall of Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX.
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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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KILLING THE WITCHES by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard
The 13th book in the conservative commentator’s Killing series gives a portrayal of the events of 1692 and 1693 in Salem Village, Mass.
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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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PREQUEL by Rachel Maddow
The MSNBC host and co-author of “Bag Man” details a campaign to overthrow the U.S. government and install authoritarian rule prior to and during our involvement in World War II.
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TO RESCUE THE CONSTITUTION by Bret Baier with Catherine Whitney
The chief political anchor for Fox News gives an account of important actions taken by George Washington.
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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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WORTHY by Jada Pinkett Smith
The actress and talk-show host describes personal and professional difficulties she encountered and her journey to finding self-love.
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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.
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Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.
Tech & Book Talk at SSCL 