New York Times Bestsellers September 12, 2021

Hi everyone, here is the weekly list of New York Times Bestsellers.

Each title is followed by a listing of which formats it is available in for check out within the three catalogs: StarCat (Print, Large Print & CD Audiobooks), The Digital Catalog (eBook & Downloadable Audiobook) and the Hoopla Catalog (Hoopla instant checkout eBook & Hoopla Audiobook).

For more information on the three catalogs skip to the section below the bestselling titles*

New York Times Bestseller blog postings are published on Sundays; and the next New York Times Bestselling blog posting will be published on Sunday, September 12, 2021.

FICTION

BILLY SUMMERS by Stephen King

(Print Book, Large Print, CD Audiobook & eBook)

Billy Summers

A killer for hire who only takes out bad guys seeks redemption as he does one final job.

BOMBSHELL by Sarah MacLean

(Available Formats: Print Book & eBook)

The first book in the Hell’s Belles series.

COMPLICATIONS by Danielle Steel

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print & CD Audiobook)

Complications

A September night, guests at the reopening of an exclusive Paris hotel experience love, tragedy and political intrigue

INVISIBLE LIFE OF ADDIE LARUE by V.E. Schwab

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print, CD Audiobook, eBook, Downloadable Audiobook & Hoopla instant checkout audiobook)

Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

A Faustian bargain comes with a curse that affects the adventure Addie LaRue has across centuries.

IT ENDS WITH US by Colleen Hoover

(Available Formats: Print Book & Downloadable Audiobook)


A battered wife raised in a violent home attempts to halt the cycle of abuse.

THE LAST THING HE TOLD ME by Laura Dave

(Available Formats: Print Book & eBook)

The Last Thing He Told Me

Hannah Hall discovers truths about her missing husband and bonds with his daughter from a previous relationship.

LIGHTNING STRIKE by William Kent Krueger

(Available Formats: Print Book, eBook & Downloadable Audiobook)

The 18th book in the Cork O’Connor mystery series. The 12-year-old son of a small town sheriff who rules a man’s death as a suicide suspects another cause.

LOVE SONGS OF W.E.B. DU BOIS by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers

(Available Formats: Print Book & eBook)

Ailey Pearl Garfield endeavors to embrace her full heritage by digging into the stories of her ancestors who were Indigenous, Black and white.

MALIBU RISING by Taylor Jenkins Reid

(Available Formats: Print Book & Downloadable Audiobook)

Four famous siblings throw an epic party to celebrate the end of summer. But over the course of 24 hours, their lives will change forever.

THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY by Matt Haig

(Available Formats: Print Book, eBook & Downloadable Audiobooks)

Nora Seed finds a library beyond the edge of the universe that contains books with multiple possibilities of the lives one could have lived.

THE MADNESS OF CROWDS by Louise Penny

(Available Formats: Print Book, CD Audiobook, eBook & Downloadable Audiobook)

The 17th book in the Chief Inspector Gamache series. Gamache is tasked with providing security for a statistics professor whose views are repulsive to him.

NINE PERFECT STRANGERS by Liane Moriarty

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print, CD Audiobook, eBook, Downloadable Audiobook & Hoopla instant check out audiobook)

Nine Perfect Strangers

A romance writer becomes fascinated by the owner and director of a health resort.

THE NOISE by James Patterson and J. D. Barker

(Available Formats: Print Book & Large Print)

The Noise

A strange vibration rises out of a forest near Mount Hood.

THE PAPER PALACE by Miranda Cowley Heller

(Available Formats: Print Book)

The Paper Palace

After an extramarital dalliance, Elle must choose between her husband and her childhood love.

PEOPLE WE MEET ON VACATION by Emily Henry

(Available Formats: Print Book & eBook)

Opposites Poppy and Alex meet to vacation together one more time in hopes of saving their relationship.

PRESIDENT’S DAUGHTER by Bill Clinton and James Patterson

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print, CD Audiobook, eBook & Downloadable Audiobook)

Matthew Keating, a past president and former Navy SEAL, goes on his own to find his abducted teenage daughter.

PROJECT HAIL MARY by Andy Weir

(Available Formats: Print Book, CD Audiobook & eBook)

Ryland Grace awakes from a long sleep alone and far from home, and the fate of humanity rests on his shoulders.

THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO by Taylor Jenkins Reid

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print & Downloadable Audiobook)

Seven Husbands of Eveyln Hugo

A movie icon recounts stories of her loves and career to a struggling magazine writer.

WE WERE NEVER HERE by Andrea Bartz

(Available Formats: Print Book & eBook)

We Were Never Here

Will the secrets Emily shares with Kristen about violent incidents in the past ruin her life?

WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING by Delia Owens

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print, CD Audiobook, eBook & Downloadable Audiobook)

Where The Crawdads Sing
In a quiet town on the North Carolina coast in 1969, a young woman who survived alone in the marsh becomes a murder suspect.

NON-FICTION:

AMERICAN MARXISM by Mark R. Levin

(Available Formats: Print Book)

American Marxism

The Fox News host gives his take on the Green New Deal, critical race theory and social activism.

THE BODY KEEPS THE SCORE by Bessel van der Kolk

(Available Formats: Print Book, eBook, Downloadable Audiobook & Hoopla Audiobook)

How trauma affects the body and mind, and innovative treatments for recovery.

BORN A CRIME by Trevor Noah

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print, CD Audiobook & eBook)

A memoir about growing up biracial in apartheid South Africa by the host of “The Daily Show.”

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.

CASTE by Isabel Wilkerson

(Available Formats: Print Book, Audiobook on CD, eBook & Downloadable Audiobook)

The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist examines aspects of caste systems across civilizations and reveals a rigid hierarchy in America today.

CRYING IN H MART by Michelle Zauner

(Available Formats: Print Book & eBook)

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.

EDUCATED by Tara Westover

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print, CD Audiobook, eBook & Downloadable Audiobook)

The daughter of survivalists, who is kept out of school, educates herself enough to leave home for university.

GREENLIGHTS by Matthew McConaughey

(Available Formats: Print Book, Audiobook on CD & Downloadable Audiobook)

The Academy Award-winning actor shares snippets from the diaries he kept over the last 35 years.

HERO OF TWO WORLDS by Mike Duncan

(Available Formats: Print Books)

An overview of Marquis de Lafayette’s career on both sides of the Atlantic during the Age of Revolution.

I ALONE CAN FIX IT by Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker

I Alone Can Fix It

The Pulitzer Prize-winning reporters examine Trump’s final year in office, with a focus on the key players around him.

THE RECKONING by Mary L. Trump

(Available Formats: eBook, Downloadable Audiobook & CD Audiobook)

The Reckoning

The author of “Too Much and Never Enough” examines potential trauma caused by current and historical events.

THINK AGAIN by Adam Grant

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print, eBook & Downloadable Audiobook)

An examination of the cognitive skills of rethinking and unlearning that could be used to adapt to a rapidly changing world.

UNTAMED by Glennon Doyle

(Available Formats: Print Book, Audiobook on CD, eBook & Downloadable Audiobook)

The activist and public speaker describes her journey of listening to her inner voice.

WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU? by Bruce D. Perry and Oprah Winfrey

(Available Formats: Print Book, CD Audiobook & Downloadable Audiobook)

What Happend To You

An approach to dealing with trauma that shifts an essential question used to investigate it.

Happy reading!

Linda Reimer, SSL

*Information on the Three Catalogs*

Digital Catalog: https://stls.overdrive.com/

The Digital Catalog has two companion apps, Libby & OverDrive. Libby is the app for newer devices and the OverDrive app should be used for older devices and Amazon tablets.

All card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries can check out items from the Digital Catalog.

Hoopla Catalog: https://www.hoopladigital.com/

The Hoopla Catalog features instant check outs of eBooks, downloadable audiobook, comic books, albums and streaming videos. Patron check out limit is 4 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 and most smart TVs & media streaming players.

StarCat: The catalog of physical/traditional library materials: https://starcat.stls.org

Card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries can access StarCat to search for and request materials available at libraries through out the Southern Tier Library System.

The StarCat app is called Bookmyne and is available for Apple and Android devices.

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 Tel: 607-936-3713

Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.

Suggested Listening September 3, 2021

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

Suggested Listening postings are published on Fridays; and our next Suggested Listening posting will be published on Friday, 10, 2021.

This week, just in time for the long weekend, we have a Labor Day Collection featuring a mix of historical, country, folk and modern tunes.

9 to 5 by Dolly Parton

From The Album: The Essential Dolly Parton (2011) & other albums too – including Dolly Parton Live From London, available for instant checkout through Hoopla.

Bread & Roses by Judy Collins

From The Album: Bread & Roses (1976), available for instant checkout through Hoopla.

Carpal Tunnel by John O’Connor

From The Album: Classic Labor Songs From Smithsonian Folkways (2007) by various artists

Blowing Down This Road by Woody Guthrie

From The Album: Dust Bowl Ballads (1940)

A Hard Days Night by The Beatles

From The Album: A Hard Day’s Night (1964)

I’m Going Home by Menhaden Chanteymen

Recorded live and unavailable on any album.

I’m Union And I’m Proud by Eddie Starr

From The Album: Classic Labor Songs From Smithsonian Folkways (2007) by various artists

I’ve Been Working On The Railroad by Pete Seeger

From The Album: American Favorite Ballads, Vols. 1-5 (2009)

Joe Hill by Paul Robeson

From The Album: Live At Carnegie Hall (2006)

Manic Monday by The Bangles

From The Album: A Different Light (1986)

More Than A Paycheck by Sweet Honey & The Rock

From The Album: Breaths (2006)

Nation Working Woman’s Holiday by Sammy Kershaw

From The Album: The Definitive Sammy Kershaw (1994)

Ordinary Man by Christy Moore

From The Album: On The Road (2017)

Scottish Waulking Song

Recorded by the University of Edinburgh, School of Scottish Studies

Sixteen Tons by Tennessee Ernie Ford

From The Album: Sixteen Tons (1955)

Solidarity Forever by Pete Seeger

From The Album: If I Had a Hammer: Songs of Hope and Struggle (2006)

Takin’ Care of Business by Bachman-Turner Overdrive

From The Album: Best of BTO (1974)

There Is Power In A Union by Billy Bragg

From The Album: Must I Paint You a Picture?: The Essential Billy Bragg (2016)

This Land Is Your Land by Woody Guthrie

From The Album: The Best Of Woody Guthrie (2016)


Three Miles Down by Gil Scott-Heron

From The Album: Secrets (1978)

We Shall Not Be Moved/Roll The Union On by Joe Glazer

From The Album: Classic Labor Songs From Smithsonian Folkways (2007) by various artists

Which Side Are You On? By the Almanac Singers

From The Album: Pete Seeger, the Almanac Singers & the Song Swappers (1955)

Workin’ Man Blues by Merle Haggard

From The Album: The Best Of The Capital Years (1969)

Working For A Livin’ by Huey Lewis & The News

From The Album: Picture This (1982)

Working Man’s Ph.D by Aaron Tippin

From The Album: Call of the Wild (1993)

Working On The Highway by Bruce Springsteen

From The Album: Born In The U.S.A. (1984)

Hoopla Recommend Album of the Week

Labor Day Moods by Various Artists

Labor Day Moods

This album features bright, upbeat band music by a variety of groups including

The Boston Pops Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra & The United States Marine Band.

And from the album, the song:

Fanfare For The Common Man performed by The President’s Own United States Marine Band:

Have a great weekend,

Linda Reimer, SSCL

REFERENCES:

Print References

The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits by Joel Whitburn

Online References

Banas, E. (2020, September 4). 6 Classic Tunes For Your Labor Day Playlist. 105.7 WRORK 80’s & More! https://wror.com/2020/09/04/labor-day-playlist-classic-rock-songs/


Classic Labor Songs from Smithsonian Folkways. (n.d.). Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Retrieved September 3, 2021, from https://folkways.si.edu/classic-labor-songs-from-folkways/american-folk-struggle-protest/music/album/smithsonian


Impola, K. (2020, September 6). Folk Songs for Labor Day. Iowa Public Radio. https://www.iowapublicradio.org/ipr-music/2020-09-06/folk-songs-for-labor-day


Rothberg, P. (2019, September 2). Top 10 Labor Day SOngs. The Nation. https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/top-ten-labor-day-songs/

Online Catalog Links:

StarCat

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

The Digital Catalog, web version of Libby

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

The Libby App

Libby

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.

Suggested Reading August 31, 2021

Hi everyone, here are our recommended reads for the week.

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 (OverDrive & Libby apps) and Hoopla eBooks & Hoopla Downloadable Audiobooks (Hoopla App).

*More information on the three catalogs is found at the end of the list of recommended reads*

Weekly Suggested Reading postings are published on Tuesdays.

And as I’m taking a couple of vacation days next week, the next Suggested Reading posting will be published in two weeks on Tuesday, September 14, 2021.

And this week, we have a theme! All the books on this list can be classified as futuristic or dystopian!

American War: A Novel by Omar El Akkad

(Available Formats: Print Book, eBook & CD Audiobook)

American War

Award-winning journalist Akkad’s gripping and frightening debut novel takes off from current American political and environmental issues to imagine a bleak and savage not-too-distant future. During a long second American civil war, the Chestnut family, consisting of a mother, son, and twin daughters, are moved to a refugee camp in what’s left of a region of Mississippi in the year 2081. There, one of the daughters, Sarat, grows into a strong and independent soul who is recruited by a shadowy operative to conduct missions against the northern borders. She assassinates a high-ranking leader of the North’s military, leading to reprisals and her eventual capture. She is tortured by the North, then finally released and moves back south with her injured brother and his family. Later, she’s offered the chance to perform one final deadly mission in order to sabotage the peace talks that are finally taking place between the two bitter enemy regions. VERDICT Well written, inventive, and engaging, this relentlessly dark tale introduces a fascinating character in Sarat. Highly recommended. Starred Library Journal Review

The Book of The Unnamed Midwife by Meg Elison

(Available Formats: Print Book)

Book of the Unnamed Midwife

Elison’s gripping and grim first novel, which won the Philip K. Dick Award in its previous, small press publication, tells the story of an unnamed woman who survives a plague that wipes out most of humankind in just weeks, leaving 10 male survivors for every woman. Years after the initial wave of the terrible disease, all pregnancies still end in the death of the baby, and most also kill the mother. Told by turns through the diary of the protagonist, the diaries of other survivors, and third-person narration, the tale covers her several years of wandering, dressed as a man, from San Francisco, where she had worked as a nurse and midwife, through the dangerous, near-empty western U.S., where marauding groups of men try to enslave any woman they meet or are occasionally recruited into polyamorous “hives” dominated by one alpha woman. Eventually, she finds a stable, caring community where the inhabitants allow their members to find their own appropriate gender roles; at last she can live without fear, be the person she wants to be, and practice her trade for the betterment of everyone.

The story is beautifully written in a stripped down, understated way, though frequently gruesome in its depiction of rapes, murders, and stillbirths. The protagonist, who sometimes calls herself Karen, or Dusty, or Jane, is beautifully realized as a middle-aged, bisexual woman with considerable skills, an indomitable will, and great adaptability, though she suffers considerably and is far from a superwoman. A prologue and an epilogue set long after the events of the main narrative (and reminiscent of the concluding chapter of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale) hint at a positive future, leaving the reader with a glimmer of optimism in the midst of despair. This fine tale should particularly appeal to readers of earlier feminist dystopias such as The Handmaid’s Tale, Suzy McKee Charnas’s Walk to the Edge of the World series, and P.D. James’s The Children of Men. Many questions are left unanswered at the book’s end, but a sequel is forthcoming. Starred Publishers Weekly Review

The Road To Nowhere Series:
1. The Book of the Unnamed Midwife (2014)
2. The Book of Etta (2017)
3. The Book of Flora (2019)

By The Waters of Babylon by Stephen Vincent Benet

(Available Formats: Print Book & free online)

Selected Works of Stephen Vincent Benet V 2

By The Waters of Babylon is a neat tale of a young man going on quest; at first it seems the tale is set in the past but as the story unfolds the reader realizes it is instead set in the future. I’ll say no more about the plot – except to say I first read this short story in middle school and loved it.

For those who prefer paper, the story is included in volume 2 of the print collection The Selected Works of Stephen Vincent Benet which our library owns.

Here is the link to the PDF of the short story; found on the Broome Tioga BOCES site:

Click to access 13_By%20the%20Waters%20of%20Babylon%20by%20Stephen%20Vincent%20Benet.pdf

The Country of Ice Cream Star by Sandra Newman

(Available Formats: Print Book, eBook & Hoopla instant checkout eBook)

Country of Ice Cream Star

Newman’s latest depicts a dystopian future in which America has been decimated by “Posies,” a powerful plague that leaves few living beyond 20 years of age. Ice Cream Star, the novel’s 15-year-old narrator, is a member of the Sengles tribe of the Massa Woods, which was once Massachusetts. Ice Cream’s brother, Driver, the 18-year-old leader of the Sengles, has just begun coughing—the first telltale sign of the plague. During a standard raid of an abandoned neighborhood for left-behind supplies, Ice Cream and her fellow raiders capture Pasha, a stranger to Massa, who is a shocking 30 years old and knows a rumor about a Posies cure. Ice Cream begins her harrowing adventure to find it and save her brother—and maybe the rest of the country in the process. Written entirely in the broken English of these short-lived children, now generations removed from the plague’s onset, Newman’s novel is ambitious, taking on race, sex, class, religion, politics, and war all at once. What sets the work apart is its unapologetic narrator, whose fantastically unbridled, wholly teenage point of view renders each page a pleasure to read. Starred Publishers Weekly Review

The Dead Lands by Benjamin Percy

(Available Formats: Print Book & Large Print)

The Dead Lands

A century and a half after a deadly pandemic and nuclear exchange, what remains of St. Louis has become Sanctuary, a walled city surrounded by the desert known as the Dead Lands. The government is growing more oppressive as conditions worsen, and then a strange, black-eyed young woman rides out of the west claiming there is a green land where the rain falls and everything grows. The rulers of Sanctuary can’t afford to allow hope into the metropolis, but a small group, including museum curator Lewis Meriwether and city guard Mina Clark, break out and head up the Missouri River to find this land of Oregon. Pursued by hunters from the city and surrounded by deadly dangers, both human and not, this small band of explorers must keep heading west until they discover just what is waiting for them on the shores of the Pacific. VERDICT Percy’s sophomore outing (after the acclaimed Red Moon) is not only a compelling postapocalyptic adventure populated by fascinating characters but a clever riff on the Lewis and Clark expedition. Fans of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, Paolo Bacigalupi’s Ship Breaker, and Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven will embrace this literary vision of humanity’s first steps back up the ladder of civilization after near-extinction disasters. Library Journal Review

The Dog Stars by Peter Heller

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print & CD Audiobook)

The Dog Stars

Outdoor life has been the focus of Heller’s award-winning nonfiction. In his gripping first novel, his gift for action and appreciation for prowess and courage fuel a harrowing yet charming postapocalyptic tale. The book’s complex spell is cast by its tough yet sensitive can-do narrator, Hig. Happiest while trout fishing, he’s a skilled hunter, daring pilot, and poet turned outdoorsy writer. Hig misses his wife, who died in the nation-crushing pandemic, dearly loves his dog, and is both leery of and grateful for Bangley, an older guy of few words but immense tenacity, military know-how, and firepower. They are holed up in a small Colorado airport, fighting off intermittent assaults by bands of murderous survivors. Richly evocative yet streamlined journal entries propel the high-stakes plot while simultaneously illuminating Hig’s nuanced states of mind as isolation and constant vigilance exact their toll, along with his sorrow for the dying world as global warming worsens. Hig takes long, risky, meditative walks; tends the garden; and stubbornly takes to the air in a 1956 Cessna, searching for some remnant of civilization. Heller’s surprising and irresistible blend of suspense, romance, social insight, and humor creates a cunning form of cognitive dissonance neatly pegged by Hig as an apocalyptic parody of Norman Rockwell a novel, that is, of spiky pleasure and signal resonance. Starred Booklist Review

Gather The Daughters: A Novel by Jennie Melamed

(Available Formats: Print Book)

Gather The Daughters

Melamed’s haunting and powerful debut blazes a fresh path in the tradition of classic dystopian works. In her searing portrayal of a utopian society gone wrong, four girls share their stories of life on a sheltered island where they are ostensibly safe from the war- and disease-torn wastelands that their ancestors had escaped generations earlier. The darker truths behind their heavily patriarchal society—in which girls must submit first to their fathers, then to their husbands—emerge over the course of a year marked by a devastating plague and a quietly assembled rebellion. Led by 17-year-old Janey Solomon, who is holding her body’s development at bay to retain any lingering shreds of adolescent freedom, the island’s daughters begin to ask forbidden questions: Why do so many women mysteriously bleed out in childbirth after defying the island’s traditions? Is there habitable land beyond their shores? Can any of them choose to stray from their assigned fate? It’s a chilling tale of an insular culture grounded in “the art of closing off the world to those who seek it.” Melamed’s prose is taut and precise. Her nuanced characters and honest examination of the crueler sides of human nature establish her as a formidable author in the vein of Shirley Jackson and Margaret Atwood.

The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln: A Novel by Stephen L. Carter

(Available Formats: Print Book & CD Audiobook)

Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln

What if Abraham Lincoln had not been killed by John Wilkes Booth? What if he survived the assassination attempt and lived on to face the vociferous criticism of Republican Radicals and others in the aftermath of the Civil War? What if the criticism reached the level of a call for impeachment, charging Lincoln with planning to impose martial law on the nation’s capital? Into such tumult steps Abigail Canner, a young, educated black woman challenging the conventions of the period, who goes to work as a clerk for the law firm defending Lincoln against impeachment. Among her compatriots are a taciturn partner unsure he wants to be involved in the impeachment, a rising young attorney engaged to marry into a prominent political family, and a peg-legged investigator who has been been acquitted of murdering his wife’s lover. Their defense hinges on the mysterious disappearance of a list of conspirators against Lincoln. This novel has all the juicy stew of post Civil War Washington, with the complexities of race, class, and sex mixed in. Carter draws on historical documents and a vivid imagination to render a fascinating mix of murder mystery, political thriller, and courtroom drama. Starred Library Journal Review

Island In The Sea of Time by S. M. Stirling

(Available Formats: Print Book, CD Audiobook, eBook, Downloadable Audiobook & Hoopla instant checkout audiobook)

Island in Sea of Time

A cosmic disturbance transports the island of Nantucket and its inhabitants over three thousand years back in time to the shores of a Stone Age America. In addition to coping with the day-to-day problems of survival and the trauma of losing all connection with the modern world, the residents of the time-stranded island find their lives complicated by the presence of native tribes across the water. Stirling’s imaginative foray into time travel should also please fans of alternate history. Library Journal Review

Librarian Note: I’ve read this one and loved it! The long running series the author wrote about, that compliments this one, and tells the story of what happened to the people of the 20th Century that were left behind in the 20th Century, when the slice of Nanutket, and its surrounding water, were transported 3,000 years in the past is called the Change series; and it gets more attention – and that is a good series too – but this one is, by far, my favorite of the two. LR

The Nantucket Trilogy
1. Island In The Sea of Time
2. Against The Tide of Years
3. On The Oceans of Eternity

One Second After by William R. Forstchen

(Available Formats: Print Book, CD Audiobook & Downloadable Audiobook)

One Second After

In this entertaining apocalyptic thriller from Forstchen, a high-altitude nuclear bomb of uncertain origin explodes, unleashing a deadly electromagnetic pulse that instantly disables almost every electrical device in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world. Airplanes, most cars, cellphones, refrigerators—all are fried as the country plunges into literal and metaphoric darkness. History professor John Matherson, who lives with his two daughters in a small North Carolina town, soon figures out what has happened. Aided by local officials, Matherson begins to deal with such long-term effects of the disaster as starvation, disease and roving gangs of barbarians. While the material sometimes threatens to veer into jingoism, and heartstrings are tugged a little too vigorously, fans of such classics as Alas, Babylon and On the Beach will have a good time as Forstchen tackles the obvious and some not-so-obvious questions the apocalypse tends to raise.

The John Matherson Triology:
1. One Second After (2009)
2. One Year After (2015)
3. The Final Day (2017)

The Salt Line by Holly Goddard Jones

(Available Formats: Print Book & eBook)

The Salt Line

Jones’ latest is a dystopian tale set in the near future when the world is overrun by horrific miner ticks that kill all whom they bite. The Salt Line refers to a chemical border that demarcates zones protected from the ticks. Life in these zones is much like that in Gary Shteyngart’s Super Sad True Love Story (2010), a manufactured world where all interactions are controlled through ubiquitous social-media apps. The story is told from the perspectives of Edie, Marta, and Wes, who are part of a group on a very expensive excursion to the dangerous world outside of the zones. After they are all mysteriously kidnapped, the narrative twists and turns as the reasons for their capture unfold. This mystery-like structure keeps the reader guessing as Jones switches seamlessly from evocative pastoral descriptions of North Carolina and Tennessee to action-packed scenes of violence. Along the way, she explores themes of environmental degradation, technological dependence, and corporate greed. At once dark, disturbing, and highly enjoyable, this is a timely novel bursting with ideas. Booklist Review

The Years of Rice and Salt: A Novel by Kim Stanley Robinson

(Available Formats: Print Book & Hoopla instant checkout audiobook)

Years of Rice & Salt

Having revolutionized the novel of planetary exploration with his Nebula- and Hugo-winning Mars trilogy (Red Mars, etc.), Robinson is attempting to do the same to another genre with this highly realistic and credible alternate history. It’s the 14th century, and the Black Death has swept through Europe, killing not 30% or 40% of the population but 99%. With Europeans now no more than a historical curiosity, the empires of China and Islam spread rapidly across the world. India, caught between superpowers, struggles to maintain its independence until, fueled by a scientific renaissance, its forces besiege and conquer the great city that in our world would be called Constantinople. The New World is discovered by the Chinese, who rapidly settle the west coast, while an Islamic fleet lands at the mouth of the Mississippi. Eventually, the enlightened Indian nation of Travancore comes to the aid of the beleaguered native people of the New World. New technologies appear as the centuries go by and, as often as not, are applied to military ends. Adding a mystical balance and a human note to this counterfactual history is a small cast of recurring characters who live through each episode of the book as soldiers, slaves, philosophers and kings. Dying, they spend time in the afterlife, only to be reborn into the next era, generally with no knowledge of their past lives. Robinson, who has previously demonstrated his mastery of alternate history in the classic short story “The Lucky Strike” and his Three Californias sequence, has created a novel of ideas of the best sort, filled to overflowing with philosophy, theology and scientific theory. Starred Publishers Weekly Review

Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor

(Available Formats: Print Book & eBook)

Who Fears Death

Now optioned as a TV series for HBO, with executive producer George R. R. Martin!
An award-winning literary author enters the world of magical realism with her World Fantasy Award-winning novel of a remarkable woman in post-apocalyptic Africa.

In a post-apocalyptic Africa, the world has changed in many ways; yet in one region genocide between tribes still bloodies the land. A woman who has survived the annihilation of her village and a terrible rape by an enemy general wanders into the desert, hoping to die. Instead, she gives birth to an angry baby girl with hair and skin the color of sand. Gripped by the certainty that her daughter is different—special—she names her Onyesonwu, which means “Who fears death?” in an ancient language.

It doesn’t take long for Onye to understand that she is physically and socially marked by the circumstances of her conception. She is Ewu—a child of rape who is expected to live a life of violence, a half-breed rejected by her community. But Onye is not the average Ewu. Even as a child, she manifests the beginnings of a remarkable and unique magic. As she grows, so do her abilities, and during an inadvertent visit to the spirit realm, she learns something terrifying: someone powerful is trying to kill her.

Desperate to elude her would-be murderer and to understand her own nature, she embarks on a journey in which she grapples with nature, tradition, history, true love, and the spiritual mysteries of her culture, and ultimately learns why she was given the name she bears: Who Fears Death.

Zone One by Colson Whitehead

(Available Formats: Print Book & CD Audiobook)

Zero One

While the revolution will not be televised, the apocalypse and what comes after, at least according to Whitehead (Sag Harbor), will have sponsors. It will even have an anthem, the brilliantly self-referential “Stop! Can You Hear the Eagle Roar?” (theme from Reconstruction). As we follow New Yorker and perpetual B-student “Mark Spitz” over three harrowing days, Whitehead dumpster dives genre tropes, using what he wants and leaving the rest to rot, turning what could have been another zombie-pocalypse gore-fest into the kind of smart, funny, pop cultureâfilled tale that would make George Romero proud. While many stories in this genre are set in a devastated nowheresville, Whitehead plants his narrative firmly in New York City, penning a love letter to a Manhattan still recognizable after the event referred to only as “Last Night.” Far from the solemn affair so often imagined, the apocalypse in Whitehead’s hands is filled with the kind of dark humor one imagines actual survivors adopting in order to stave off madness. The author sometimes lets the set pieces he’s so good at run long, but otherwise succeeds brilliantly with a fresh take on survival, grief, 9/11, AIDS, global warming, nuclear holocaust, Katrina, Abu Ghraib, Pol Pot’s Year Zero, Missouri tornadoes, and the many other disasters both natural and not that keep a stranglehold on our fears and dream. Starred Publishers Weekly Review

Also check out some of these classic dystopian novels

1984 by George Orwell (Originally published in 1949)

(Available Formats: Print Book, CD Audiobook, DVD, eBook, Downloadable Audiobook, Hoopla instant checkout eBook, audiobook & movie)

1984

A PBS Great American Read Top 100 Pick

With extraordinary relevance and renewed popularity, George Orwell’s 1984 takes on new life in this edition.

“Orwell saw, to his credit, that the act of falsifying reality is only secondarily a way of changing perceptions. It is, above all, a way of asserting power.”—The New Yorker

In 1984, London is a grim city in the totalitarian state of Oceania where Big Brother is always watching you and the Thought Police can practically read your mind. Winston Smith is a man in grave danger for the simple reason that his memory still functions. Drawn into a forbidden love affair, Winston finds the courage to join a secret revolutionary organization called The Brotherhood, dedicated to the destruction of the Party. Together with his beloved Julia, he hazards his life in a deadly match against the powers that be.

Lionel Trilling said of Orwell’s masterpiece, “1984 is a profound, terrifying, and wholly fascinating book. It is a fantasy of the political future, and like any such fantasy, serves its author as a magnifying device for an examination of the present.” Though the year 1984 now exists in the past, Orwell’s novel remains an urgent call for the individual willing to speak truth to power.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (Originally published in 1932)

(Available Formats: Print Book, CD Audiobook, Downloadable Audiobook, Hoopla instant checkout eBook & audiobook)

Brave New World

Originally published in 1932, this outstanding work of literature is more crucial and relevant today than ever before. Cloning, feel-good drugs, anti-aging programs, and total social control through politics, programming, and media—has Aldous Huxley accurately predicted our future? With a storyteller’s genius, he weaves these ethical controversies in a compelling narrative that dawns in the year 632 AF (After Ford, the deity). When Lenina and Bernard visit a savage reservation, we experience how Utopia can destroy humanity.

A powerful work of speculative fiction that has enthralled and terrified readers for generations, Brave New World is both a warning to be heeded and thought-provoking yet satisfying entertainment.

The Drowned World by J.G. Ballard (Originally published in 1962)

(Available Formats: Print Book)

The Drowned World

The Drowned World imagines a terrifying world in which global warming has melted the ice caps and primordial jungles have overrun a tropical London. Set during the year 2145, this novel follows biologist Dr. Robert Kearns and his team of scientists as they confront a cityscape in which nature is on the rampage and giant lizards, dragonflies, and insects fiercely compete for domination. Both an unmatched biological mystery and a brilliant retelling of Heart of Darkness—complete with a mad white hunter and his hordes of native soldiers—this “powerful and beautifully clear” (Brian Aldiss) work becomes a thrilling adventure with “an oppressive power reminiscent of Conrad” (Kingsley Amis).

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (Originally published in 1953)

(Available Formats: Print Book, CD Audiobook, Audio Playaway, Downloadable Audiobook, Hoopla instant checkout audiobook & DVD)

Fahrenheit 451

The system was simple. Everyone understood it. Books were for burning, along with the houses in which they were hidden.

Guy Montag was a fireman whose job it was to start fires. And he enjoyed his job. He had been a fireman for ten years, and he had never questioned the pleasure of the midnight runs or the joy of watching pages consumed by flames, never questioned anything until he met a seventeen-year-old girl who told him of a past when people were not afraid. Then Guy met a professor who told him of a future in which people could think. And Guy Montag suddenly realized what he had to do.

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (Originally published in 1985)

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print, CD Audiobook, eBook, Downloadable Audiobook & Hoopla instant checkout audiobook)

The Handmaid's Tale CD

Before The Testaments, there was The Handmaid’s Tale: an instant classic and eerily prescient cultural phenomenon, from “the patron saint of feminist dystopian fiction” (New York Times).

The Handmaid’s Tale is a novel of such power that the reader will be unable to forget its images and its forecast. Set in the near future, it describes life in what was once the United States and is now called the Republic of Gilead, a monotheocracy that has reacted to social unrest and a sharply declining birthrate by reverting to, and going beyond, the repressive intolerance of the original Puritans. The regime takes the Book of Genesis absolutely at its word, with bizarre consequences for the women and men in its population.

The story is told through the eyes of Offred, one of the unfortunate Handmaids under the new social order. In condensed but eloquent prose, by turns cool-eyed, tender, despairing, passionate, and wry, she reveals to us the dark corners behind the establishment’s calm facade, as certain tendencies now in existence are carried to their logical conclusions. The Handmaid’s Tale is funny, unexpected, horrifying, and altogether convincing. It is at once scathing satire, dire warning, and a tour de force. It is Margaret Atwood at her best.

The Stand by Stephen King (Originally published in 1978)

(Available Formats: Print Book, CD Audiobook, eBook, Downloadable Audiobook & DVD)

The Stand

The tie-in edition of the nine-part CBS All Access series starring Whoopi Goldberg, Alexander Skarsgard, and James Marsden.

When a man escapes from a biological testing facility, he sets in motion a deadly domino effect, spreading a mutated strain of the flu that will wipe out 99 percent of humanity within a few weeks.

The survivors who remain are scared, bewildered, and in need of a leader. Two emerge—Mother Abagail, the benevolent 108-year-old woman who urges them to build a peaceful community in Boulder, Colorado; and Randall Flagg, the nefarious “Dark Man,” who delights in chaos and violence. As the dark man and the peaceful woman gather power, the survivors will have to choose between them—and ultimately decide the fate of all humanity.

References

100 Great Works Of Dystopian Fiction Tales about a world gone wrong. (n.d.). Vulture. Retrieved August 31, 2021, from https://www.vulture.com/article/best-dystopian-books.html

Beckett, L. (2020, March 16). A dystopian reading list: books to enjoy while in quarantine. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/mar/15/books-to-read-while-quarantined-coronavirus

Dystopian, Apocalyptic, and Post-Apocalyptic Fiction. (n.d.). Madison Public Library. Retrieved August 31, 2021, from https://www.madisonpubliclibrary.org/reading-and-viewing/book-lists/dystopian-apocalyptic-and-post-apocalyptic-fiction

Katwala, A. (2019, August 31). 11 of the best dystopian novels everyone should read. Wired. https://www.wired.co.uk/article/best-dystopian-novels-books

Quimbly, C. (2020, November 19). 38 Best Dystopian Novels Everyone Should Read. Oprah. https://www.oprahdaily.com/entertainment/books/g29549145/best-dystopian-novels/

Have a great week & holiday weekend!

Linda Reimer

*Information on the Three Catalogs*

Digital Catalog: https://stls.overdrive.com/

The Digital Catalog, a catalog containing eBooks, downloadable audiobooks, Digital Magazines and a handful of streaming videos, has two companion apps, Libby & OverDrive. Libby is the app for newer devices and the OverDrive app should be used for older devices and Amazon tablets.

All card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries can check out items from the Digital Catalog.

Hoopla Catalog: https://www.hoopladigital.com/

The Hoopla Catalog features 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 and most smart TVs & media streaming players.

StarCat: The catalog of physical/traditional library materials: https://starcat.stls.org

Card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries can access StarCat to search for and request materials available at libraries through out the Southern Tier Library System.

The StarCat app is called Bookmyne and is available for Apple and Android devices.

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.

Library Connections, A Readers’, Listener’s & Viewers’ Advisory Videocast August 27, 2021

Hi everyone, here is the latest edition of Library Connections, our weekly readers, viewers and listeners advisory videocast.

The next Library Connections video will be posted on Tuesday, September 7, 2021.

Have a great day,
Linda Reimer, SSCL

New York Times Bestsellers September 5, 2021

Hi everyone, here is the weekly list of New York Times Bestsellers.

Each title is followed by a listing of which formats it is available in for check out within the three catalogs: StarCat (Print, Large Print & CD Audiobooks), The Digital Catalog (eBook & Downloadable Audiobook) and the Hoopla Catalog (Hoopla instant checkout eBook & Hoopla Audiobook).

For more information on the three catalogs skip to the section below the bestselling titles*

New York Times Bestseller blog postings are published on Sundays; and the next New York Times Bestselling blog posting will be published on Sunday, September 5, 2021.

FICTION

BILLY SUMMERS by Stephen King

(Print Book, Large Print, CD Audiobook & eBook)

Billy Summers

A killer for hire who only takes out bad guys seeks redemption as he does one final job.

BLOODLESS by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print & eBook)

Bloodless

The 20th book in the Pendergast series. Bodies found without blood in their veins might be connected to an unsolved skyjacking.

THE CELLIST by Daniel Silva

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print & CD Audiobook)

The Cellist

The 21st book in the Gabriel Allon series. A private intelligence service plans an act of violence that will aid Russia and divide America.

CELLIST by Daniel Silva

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print, CD Audiobook & eBook)

The Cellist

The 21st book in the Gabriel Allon series. A private intelligence service plans an act of violence that will aid Russia and divide America.

CHASING THE BOOGEYMAN by Richard Chizmar

(Available Formats: Print Book, CD Audiobook & eBook)

Chasing The Bogeyman

A college graduate returns to his hometown, where the mutilated bodies of several missing girls are discovered.

COMPLICATIONS by Danielle Steel

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print & CD Audiobook)

Complications

A September night, guests at the reopening of an exclusive Paris hotel experience love, tragedy and political intrigue

THE FOUR WINDS by Kristin Hannah

(Available Formats: Print Book, CD Audiobook, eBook & Downloadable Audiobook)

As dust storms roll during the Great Depression, Elsa must choose between saving the family and farm or heading West.

GOLDEN GIRL by Elin Hilderbrand

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print, eBook & Downloadable Audiobook)

Golden Girl

A Nantucket novelist gets one final summer to watch what happens from the great beyond.

GUEST LIST by Lucy Foley

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print, eBook, Downloadable Audiobook & Hoopla instant checkout audiobook)

The Guest List

A wedding between a TV star and a magazine publisher on an island off the coast of Ireland turns deadly.

INVISIBLE LIFE OF ADDIE LARUE by V.E. Schwab

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print, CD Audiobook, eBook, Downloadable Audiobook & Hoopla instant checkout audiobook)

Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

A Faustian bargain comes with a curse that affects the adventure Addie LaRue has across centuries.

IT ENDS WITH US by Colleen Hoover

(Available Formats: Print Book & Downloadable Audiobook)


A battered wife raised in a violent home attempts to halt the cycle of abuse.

THE LAST THING HE TOLD ME by Laura Dave

(Available Formats: Print Book & eBook)

The Last Thing He Told Me

Hannah Hall discovers truths about her missing husband and bonds with his daughter from a previous relationship.

MALIBU RISING by Taylor Jenkins Reid

(Available Formats: Print Book & Downloadable Audiobook)

Four famous siblings throw an epic party to celebrate the end of summer. But over the course of 24 hours, their lives will change forever.

THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY by Matt Haig

(Available Formats: Print Book, eBook & Downloadable Audiobooks)

Nora Seed finds a library beyond the edge of the universe that contains books with multiple possibilities of the lives one could have lived.

NINE PERFECT STRANGERS by Liane Moriarty

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print, CD Audiobook, eBook, Downloadable Audiobook & Hoopla instant check out audiobook)

Nine Perfect Strangers

A romance writer becomes fascinated by the owner and director of a health resort.

THE NOISE by James Patterson and J. D. Barker

(Available Formats: Print Book & Large Print)

The Noise

A strange vibration rises out of a forest near Mount Hood.

THE PAPER PALACE by Miranda Cowley Heller

(Available Formats: Print Book)

The Paper Palace

After an extramarital dalliance, Elle must choose between her husband and her childhood love.

PEOPLE WE MEET ON VACATION by Emily Henry

(Available Formats: Print Book & eBook)

Opposites Poppy and Alex meet to vacation together one more time in hopes of saving their relationship.

PRESIDENT’S DAUGHTER by Bill Clinton and James Patterson

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print, CD Audiobook, eBook & Downloadable Audiobook)

Matthew Keating, a past president and former Navy SEAL, goes on his own to find his abducted teenage daughter.

THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO by Taylor Jenkins Reid

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print & Downloadable Audiobook)

Seven Husbands of Eveyln Hugo

A movie icon recounts stories of her loves and career to a struggling magazine writer.

THE SONG OF ACHILLES by Madeline Miller

(Available Formats: Print Book, eBook & Downloadable Audiobook; Hoopla instant checkout eBook & Audiobook)

A reimagining of Homer’s “Iliad” that is narrated by Achilles’ companion Patroclus.

WE WERE NEVER HERE by Andrea Bartz

(Available Formats: Print Book & eBook)

We Were Never Here

Will the secrets Emily shares with Kristen about violent incidents in the past ruin her life?

WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING by Delia Owens

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print, CD Audiobook, eBook & Downloadable Audiobook)

Where The Crawdads Sing
In a quiet town on the North Carolina coast in 1969, a young woman who survived alone in the marsh becomes a murder suspect.

NON-FICTION:

ALL IN by Billie Jean King with Johnette Howard and Maryanne Vollers

(Available Formats: Print Book & eBook)

All In

The former No. 1-ranked tennis player details her career and activism.

AMERICAN MARXISM by Mark R. Levin

(Available Formats: Print Book)

American Marxism

The Fox News host gives his take on the Green New Deal, critical race theory and social activism.

THE BODY KEEPS THE SCORE by Bessel van der Kolk

(Available Formats: Print Book, eBook, Downloadable Audiobook & Hoopla Audiobook)

How trauma affects the body and mind, and innovative treatments for recovery.

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.

CASTE by Isabel Wilkerson

(Available Formats: Print Book, Audiobook on CD, eBook & Downloadable Audiobook)

The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist examines aspects of caste systems across civilizations and reveals a rigid hierarchy in America today.

CRYING IN H MART by Michelle Zauner

(Available Formats: Print Book & eBook)

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.

GREENLIGHTS by Matthew McConaughey

(Available Formats: Print Book, Audiobook on CD & Downloadable Audiobook)

The Academy Award-winning actor shares snippets from the diaries he kept over the last 35 years.

HOW I SAVED THE WORLD by Jesse Watters

(Available Formats: Print Book)

How I Saved The World

The Fox News host recounts his career and prescribes ways to defend against what he considers left-wing radicalism.

I ALONE CAN FIX IT by Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker

I Alone Can Fix It

The Pulitzer Prize-winning reporters examine Trump’s final year in office, with a focus on the key players around him.

THE PREMONITION by Michael Lewis

(Available Formats: Print Book & eBook)

The Premonition

Stories of skeptics who went against the official response of the Trump administration to the outbreak of Covid-19. The profiles include a local public-health officer and a group of doctors nicknamed the Wolverines.

THE RECKONING by Mary L. Trump

(Available Formats: eBook, Downloadable Audiobook & CD Audiobook)

The Reckoning

The author of “Too Much and Never Enough” examines potential trauma caused by current and historical events.

SAPIENS by Yuval Noah Harari

(Available Formats: Print Book, CD Audiobook, eBook & Downloadable Audiobook)

Sapiens

How Homo sapiens became Earth’s dominant species.

UNTAMED by Glennon Doyle

(Available Formats: Print Book, Audiobook on CD, eBook & Downloadable Audiobook)

The activist and public speaker describes her journey of listening to her inner voice.

WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU? by Bruce D. Perry and Oprah Winfrey

(Available Formats: Print Book, CD Audiobook & Downloadable Audiobook)

What Happend To You

An approach to dealing with trauma that shifts an essential question used to investigate it.

Happy reading!

Linda Reimer, SSL

*Information on the Three Catalogs*

Digital Catalog: https://stls.overdrive.com/

The Digital Catalog has two companion apps, Libby & OverDrive. Libby is the app for newer devices and the OverDrive app should be used for older devices and Amazon tablets.

All card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries can check out items from the Digital Catalog.

Hoopla Catalog: https://www.hoopladigital.com/

The Hoopla Catalog features instant check outs of eBooks, downloadable audiobook, comic books, albums and streaming videos. Patron check out limit is 4 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 and most smart TVs & media streaming players.

StarCat: The catalog of physical/traditional library materials: https://starcat.stls.org

Card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries can access StarCat to search for and request materials available at libraries through out the Southern Tier Library System.

The StarCat app is called Bookmyne and is available for Apple and Android devices.

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 Tel: 607-936-3713

Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.

Suggested Listening August 27, 2021

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

Suggested Listening postings are published on Fridays; and our next Suggested Listening posting will be out on Friday, September 3, 2021.

This week, as it is the last full week of August, we have a collection of end-of-summer/autumn is approaching songs!

Autumn: I. Allegro Composed by Vivaldi & performed by St Martin In The Fields Orchestra with Joshua Bell on violin (Genre: Classical)

From The Album: The Four Seasons (2008)

Blame It On September by Allstar Weekend (Genre: Pop/Rock)

From The Album: All The Way (2011)

Indian Summer by Chet Baker (Genre: Jazz)

From The Album: The Complete 1955 Concerts In Holland (2011)

Maggie May by Rod Stewart (Genre: Rock)

From The Album: Every Picture Tells A Story (1971)

Night Moves by Bob Seger (Genre: Rock)

From The Album: Night Moves (1976)

Papa Was A Rolling Stone by The Temptations (Genre: R&B)

From The Album: All Directions (1972)

See You In September by The Happenings (Genre: Pop, Sixties Pop)

From The Album: The Happenings (1966)

September Girls by Big Star (Genre: Rock, Classic Rock)

From The Album: Radio City (1974)

September Song by Dee Dee Bridgewater (Genre: Vocal, Jazz)

From The Album: This Is New (2002)

Summer of ’69 by Bryan Adams (Genre: Rock)

From The Album: Reckless (1984)

Summertime Sadness by Lana Del Rey (Genre: Vocal)

From The Album: Born To Die (2012)

Hoopla Recommend Album of the Week

Autumn (1980) by George Winston

Autumn

Autumn is one of George Winston’s great seasonal albums, joined of course by Winter Into Spring (1982) Summer (1991) and December (1982).

And from the album, the song:

Woods by George Winston

Have a great weekend,

Linda Reimer, SSCL

REFERENCES:

Print References

The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits by Joel Whitburn

Online References

Lemke, K. (n.d.). Bryan Adams. Britannica. Retrieved August 27, 2021, from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Bryan-Adams

Machosky, S. (2008, August 25). Jazz For Summer’s End. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2008/08/25/93951124/jazz-for-summers-end

Sterdan, D. (2012, September 2). Top 10 end-of-summer songs you need to hear. Toronto Sun. https://torontosun.com/2012/09/02/top-10-end-of-summer-songs-you-need-to-hear

Wythe, R. (2017, August 29). 15 Songs About The End of Summer. IHeart Radio. https://www.iheart.com/content/2017-08-30-songs-about-the-end-of-summer/

Online Catalog Links:

StarCat

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

The Digital Catalog, web version of Libby

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

The Libby App

Libby

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.

Suggested Reading August 24, 2021

Hi everyone, here are our recommended reads for the week.

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 (OverDrive & Libby apps) and Hoopla eBooks & Hoopla Downloadable Audiobooks (Hoopla App).

*More information on the three catalogs is found at the end of the list of recommended reads*

Weekly Suggested Reading postings are published on Tuesdays.

The next Suggested Reading posting will be published on Tuesday, August 31, 2021.

The Anchoress by Robyn Cadwallader

(Available Format: Print Book)

The Anchoress

At 17, Sarah voluntarily enters a small cell to be permanently secluded from medieval English society. By taking the vows of an anchoress, she has dedicated herself to praying for others. Her only contact is to be with her maids, the priest who is her confessor, and the women of the village, who will come to her for intercessions and advice. In this life, Sarah desires safety, simplicity, and a release from the judgments and expectations of the outside world, leaving nothing between herself and God. She soon finds, though, that not even in her tiny chamber can she fully retreat. Dealing with unforeseen trials, fearing temptations of the flesh, and wrestling with heartbreaking memories of losing her sister, she contemplates for the first time the possibility of failure in her new role.

Cadwallader’s vivid period descriptions set a stunning backdrop for this beautiful first novel as Sarah rejects a larger world that will not allow her to live on her own terms and goes about creating a smaller one that will. Sarah’s path will intrigue readers at the crossroads of historical fiction, spirituality, and even feminism as she faces the internal and external pressures on women of the Middle Ages. Starred Booklist Review

Before The Fire by Sarah Butler

(Available Formats: Print Book)

Before The Fire

It is 2011, and Seventeen-year-old Stick and his best mate, Mac, are bound for Malaga, Spain, from their home in Manchester. But then Mac is murdered, and all bets are suddenly off. Stick spirals into a state of mixed grief, shock, and rage until two things happen: the police find and arrest the murderer, and Stick meets a girl called J, prompting him to begin thinking of his future. Stick’s well-meaning father divorced from his mother, who suffers from OCD offers him a job he doesn’t want, but his stepmother offers him the promise of one he does. But in the meantime justice is subverted, leaving Stick further enraged just as riots spread from London to Manchester. Will they offer him an outlet for his furious anger? Butler has written a psychologically astute, satisfyingly insightful portrait of a troubled teenager. Her style is typically straightforward and unadorned and perhaps more powerful for being so but it does have the occasional flourish: freshly washed sheets, for example, smell of soap and summer. The absorbing plot speaks directly to the reader’s heart and inspires hope for Stick’s future. Booklist Review

Bonita Avenue by Peter Buwalda

(Available Formats: Print Book & Hoopla instant checkout audiobook)

Bonita Ave

Siem Sigerius is a first-class judoka, a genius mathematician, a jazz aficionado, and head of Tubantia University. Life is good in the spacious farmhouse he shares with his furniture-maker wife, Tineke, and her two teenage daughters, Joni and Janis, until an explosion at a fireworks factory brings to light secrets that send Siem and those around him on a hellish descent. Siem discovers the sex website of Joni and her photographer boyfriend, Aaron, under particularly ignoble circumstances, and the reemergence of convicted murderer Wilbert, Siem’s son from a previous marriage, doesn’t bode well for anyone. Guilt and fear rule the decisions the characters make, sending each further down the darkest of paths, as the narrative spins from the Netherlands to Los Angeles and Berkeley, CA.

VERDICT Published in Buwalda’s native Holland in 2010, this award-winning debut novel is flat-out extraordinary. The rich layer of detail would be impressive when applied to one topic, but Buwalda creates multiple complex worlds around vastly different subjects: the porn industry, mathematics, music, and judo, among others. An outstanding literary suspense story that will appeal to a wide range of readers. Starred Library Journal Review.

The Children’s Book by A.S. Byatt

(Available Formats: Print Book)

The Children's Book

Byatt steps deeper into the realm of writing for special readers, forging onward in creating increasingly complicated fictional narratives. Her new novel can be labeled, at first call, as both historical fiction and a family saga; on second consideration, it can also be seen as a psychological study of social and economic privilege in the high tide of Britains power: the last decade of the Victorian age, the Edwardian period, and up to World War I. The theme of privilege is attended by subthemes on the nature of childhood, the meaning of parenthood, and utopianism. Two families occupy the core of the elaborate plot, with one mother-wife, Olive Wellwood, at the absolute epicenter; she is a children’s author and the family’s breadwinner. The catalyst by which Byatt begins her detailed analysis of privilege is the early introduction into the story of a teenager named Phillip, who comes from a meager background and is more or less adopted into the Wellwood clan, to his benefit, for he is now allowed to give free rein to his talent in pottery making. An overlong but overall engaging evocation of time and place. Booklist Review

The Gentleman And The Thief by Sarah M. Eden

(Available Formats: Print Book, Hoopla instant checkout eBook & audiobook)

The Gentleman And The Thief

From the moment Hollis Darby meets Ana Newport, he’s smitten. Even though he’s from a wealthy, established family and she isn’t, he wishes he could have a life with her by his side. But Hollis has a secret: the deep coffers that have kept his family afloat for generations are bare, so he supports himself by writing penny dreadfuls under a pseudonym. If not for the income from his novels, he would be broke.

Ana Newport also has a secret. Though she once had a place in society thanks to her father’s successful business, bankruptcy and scandal reduced his fortune to nothing more than a crumbling town house. So Ana teaches music during the day, and at night she assumes the identity of the “Phantom Fox.” She breaks into the homes of the wealthy to reclaim trinkets and treasures she feels were unjustly stolen from her family when they were struggling.

When Hollis’s brother needs to hire a music tutor for his daughter, Hollis recommends Ana, giving him a chance to spend time with her. Ana needs the income and is eager for the opportunity to get to know the enigmatic gentleman. What neither of them expects is how difficult it will be to keep their respective secrets from each other.

When a spree of robberies rocks the city, Ana and Hollis join forces to solve the crimes, discovering that working together deepens the affection between them. After all, who better to save the day than a gentleman and a thief?

Gods of Gold by Chris Nickson

(Available Formats: Print Book & Hoopla instant checkout eBook)

Gods of Gold

DI Tom Harper of the Leeds Police Department is looking forward to his upcoming wedding. But his daydreams about the joys of married life are interrupted by the disappearance of nine-year-old Martha Parkinson, whose mother is in prison for petty thieving and whose father claims Martha is visiting his sister except that Col Parkinson doesn’t have a sister. When Col is found hanged a few days later, Harper fears the worst and even wonders if Col sold his daughter into child prostitution. But Martha’s disappearance takes a backseat when the employees of the local gasworks go on strike, substitutes are brought in to keep the gas flowing, and every copper in Leeds is called out to keep the strike from erupting into violence. But always at the back of Harper’s mind is Martha. Solidly plotted and smartly paced, with intriguing period details of 1890s England and vivid characters, this is an entertaining and thoroughly engaging procedural. Booklist Review

It Started with a Secret by Jill Mansell

(Available Formats: Print Book & Hoopla instant checkout eBook)

It Started With A Secret

Feel-good chick-lit from international bestseller Jill Mansell, with a chaotic cast who must let go of their grudges and secrets to build the lives they’ve dreamed of.

Thanks to little white lie, Lainey and Kit arrive at their new jobs in blissful, summery Cornwall only to find themselves in the midst of a lovable but overwhelming family—where every family member is having an identity crisis at the same time.

Widowed mom Majella has done her best for years, but can’t quite grasp why things are falling apart. No one can guess what’s causing the chaos because everyone is keeping secrets.

In classic Jill Mansell style, Lainey and her friends are drawn through a hilarious multi-generational soap opera. By the end, happily-ever-afters are available to anyone willing to tell the truth about their heart’s desire.

Romantic fiction with characters you can root for, this is the perfect beach read for fans of Sophie Kinsella and Elin Hilderbrand.

Late Migrations by Margaret Renkl

(Available Formats: Print Book, CD Audiobook & Hoopla instant checkout eBook)

Late Migrations

Renkl, a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times, has written a lyrical memoir entwined with the natural history surrounding her childhood home in rural Alabama and her current suburban Nashville residence. In short chapters, the author shares stories along with memories recounted by her family, notably the fire that claimed her grandparents’ home. Included in these anecdotes are tales of births and deaths, coming-of-age and following your dreams, caretaking and the importance of home. As a child, Renkl and her siblings would explore the world around them, and this fascination with nature continues into her adulthood. A keen observer of the natural world she so clearly loves and seeks to understand, Renkl tells of housing bluebird families, raising monarch caterpillars, the sadness of death in nature, and the chipmunks and squirrels with whom she currently shares her home.

VERDICT A captivating, beautifully written story of growing up, love, loss, living, and a close extended family by a talented nature writer and memoirist that will appeal to those who enjoy introspective memoirs and the natural world close to home.–Sue O’Brien, Downers Grove, IL, Library Journal Review

Remembrance by Meg Cabot

(Available Formats: Print Book, CD Audiobook, Hoopla instant checkout eBook & audiobook)

Remembrance

Suze Simon faces a curse and an angry ghost in the first adult installment of Cabot’s Mediator series (Twilight, 2004, etc.). School counselor-in-training Suze may be a mediator–that is, a person who helps spirits move on to the afterlife–but the biggest thing going on in her life right now is her engagement to her hunky (and formerly dead) fiance, Jesse de Silva. Or at least it would be if problems didn’t keep getting in the way. One of the unwelcome visitors from the past is her sometime nemesis Paul, who has plans to unleash a curse that might turn Jesse from a caring medical resident into a demon–that is, unless Suze can agree to Paul’s demands. As if that isn’t enough, Suze is also dealing with a particularly tricky young NCDP (noncompliant deceased person) who has a habit of attacking Suze and her loved ones. Add in plenty of family drama, and it’s a lot for anyone to handle–but Suze faces it all with heavy doses of attitude, ass-kicking, and profanity. The mysterious death Suze investigates is truly creepy, and the case’s conclusion is surprisingly dark. Mostly, though, this is an entertaining, funny, and fast-paced chapter in Suze’s life. Although the book leaves Suze in a happy place, readers will find themselves hoping to read about more of her drama and her fights with NCDPs in the future. A fun and satisfying grown-up update on Suze’s life. – Kirkus Review

The Secret Keeper by Sandra Byrd

(Available Formats: Print Book & Hoopla instant checkout audiobook)

The Secret Keeper

A young woman with the gift of prophecy becomes entangled in Henry VIII’s court in this engaging novel. After her father dies, Juliana St. John is encouraged by family friend Sir Thomas Seymour to enter the household of Kateryn Parr, the last of Henry VIII’s six wives. Juliana adjusts relatively well to her new environment, but soon she has recurring visions of Sir Thomas, her father’s former business partner, chopping up a young woman’s dress. It is only when Juliana begins to connect her dreams to the new people in her life that she discovers some startling secrets. Byrd (To Die For) crafts a well-researched historical novel that engrosses readers in Juliana’s world and the juicy details of the Tudor court. Although the prose often lapses into overly stylized Renaissance speak, Anglophiles and history buffs alike will surely enjoy this bird’s-eye view into royal politics, love, and scandal. Publishers Weekly Review

Have a great week!

Linda Reimer

*Information on the Three Catalogs*

Digital Catalog: https://stls.overdrive.com/

The Digital Catalog, a catalog containing eBooks, downloadable audiobooks, Digital Magazines and a handful of streaming videos, has two companion apps, Libby & OverDrive. Libby is the app for newer devices and the OverDrive app should be used for older devices and Amazon tablets.

All card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries can check out items from the Digital Catalog.

Hoopla Catalog: https://www.hoopladigital.com/

The Hoopla Catalog features 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 and most smart TVs & media streaming players.

StarCat: The catalog of physical/traditional library materials: https://starcat.stls.org

Card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries can access StarCat to search for and request materials available at libraries through out the Southern Tier Library System.

The StarCat app is called Bookmyne and is available for Apple and Android devices.

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.

Library Connections, A Readers’, Listeners’ & Viewers’ Advisory Videocast August 20, 2021

Hi everyone, here is the latest edition of Library Connections, our weekly readers’, viewers’ and listeners’ advisory videocast.

The next Library Connections video will be posted on Tuesday, August 31, 2021.

Have a great day,
Linda Reimer, SSCL

New York Times Bestsellers August 29, 2021

Hi everyone, here is the weekly list of New York Times Bestsellers.

Each title is followed by a listing of which formats it is available in for check out within the three catalogs: StarCat (Print, Large Print & CD Audiobooks), The Digital Catalog (eBook & Downloadable Audiobook) and the Hoopla Catalog (Hoopla instant checkout eBook & Hoopla Audiobook).

For more information on the three catalogs skip to the section below the bestselling titles*

New York Times Bestseller blog postings are published on Sundays; and the next New York Times Bestselling blog posting will be published on Sunday, August 29, 2021.

FICTION

BLACK ICE by Brad Thor

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print & CD Audiobook)

The 20th book in the Scot Harvath series. The American spy faces dangers in the Arctic Circle.

BILLY SUMMERS by Stephen King

(Print Book, Large Print, CD Audiobook & eBook)

Billy Summers

A killer for hire who only takes out bad guys seeks redemption as he does one final job.

THE CELLIST by Daniel Silva

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print & CD Audiobook)

The Cellist

The 21st book in the Gabriel Allon series. A private intelligence service plans an act of violence that will aid Russia and divide America.

BLIND TIGER by Sandra Brown

(Available Formats: Print Book & Large Print)

Blind Tiger

During Prohibition, Thatcher Hutton and Laurel Plummer wind up on opposite sides of a moonshine war in Texas.

CELLIST by Daniel Silva

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print, CD Audiobook & eBook)

The Cellist

The 21st book in the Gabriel Allon series. A private intelligence service plans an act of violence that will aid Russia and divide America.

THE FOUR WINDS by Kristin Hannah

(Available Formats: Print Book, CD Audiobook, eBook & Downloadable Audiobook)

As dust storms roll during the Great Depression, Elsa must choose between saving the family and farm or heading West.

GUEST LIST by Lucy Foley

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print, eBook, Downloadable Audiobook & Hoopla instant checkout audiobook)

The Guest List

A wedding between a TV star and a magazine publisher on an island off the coast of Ireland turns deadly.

IT ENDS WITH US by Colleen Hoover

(Available Formats: Print Book & Downloadable Audiobook)


A battered wife raised in a violent home attempts to halt the cycle of abuse.

THE LAST THING HE TOLD ME by Laura Dave

(Available Formats: Print Book & eBook)

The Last Thing He Told Me

Hannah Hall discovers truths about her missing husband and bonds with his daughter from a previous relationship.

MALIBU RISING by Taylor Jenkins Reid

(Available Formats: Print Book & Downloadable Audiobook)

Four famous siblings throw an epic party to celebrate the end of summer. But over the course of 24 hours, their lives will change forever.

THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY by Matt Haig

(Available Formats: Print Book, eBook & Downloadable Audiobooks)

Nora Seed finds a library beyond the edge of the universe that contains books with multiple possibilities of the lives one could have lived.

THE PAPER PALACE by Miranda Cowley Heller

(Available Formats: Print Book)

The Paper Palace

After an extramarital dalliance, Elle must choose between her husband and her childhood love.

PEOPLE WE MEET ON VACATION by Emily Henry

(Available Formats: Print Book & eBook)

Opposites Poppy and Alex meet to vacation together one more time in hopes of saving their relationship.

PRESIDENT’S DAUGHTER by Bill Clinton and James Patterson

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print, CD Audiobook, eBook & Downloadable Audiobook)

Matthew Keating, a past president and former Navy SEAL, goes on his own to find his abducted teenage daughter.

PROJECT HAIL MARY by Andy Weir

(Available Formats: Print Book & eBook)

Project Hail Mary

Ryland Grace awakes from a long sleep alone and far from home, and the fate of humanity rests on his shoulders.

THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO by Taylor Jenkins Reid

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print & Downloadable Audiobook)

Seven Husbands of Eveyln Hugo

A movie icon recounts stories of her loves and career to a struggling magazine writer.

THE SONG OF ACHILLES by Madeline Miller

(Available Formats: Print Book, eBook & Downloadable Audiobook; Hoopla instant checkout eBook & Audiobook)

A reimagining of Homer’s “Iliad” that is narrated by Achilles’ companion Patroclus.

VERITY by Colleen Hoover

(Print Book: Print Book)

Verity

Lowen Ashleigh is hired by the husband of an injured writer to complete her popular series and uncovers a horrifying truth.

VORTEX by Catherine Coulter

(Available Formats: Print Book & Large Print)

Vortex

The 25th book in the F.B.I. Thriller series. A college frat rave and a mission in Iran offer clues for agents Sherlock and Savich.

WE WERE NEVER HERE by Andrea Bartz

(Available Formats: Print Book & eBook)

We Were Never Here

Will the secrets Emily shares with Kristen about violent incidents in the past ruin her life?

WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING by Delia Owens

(Available Formats: Print Book, Large Print, CD Audiobook, eBook & Downloadable Audiobook)

Where The Crawdads Sing
In a quiet town on the North Carolina coast in 1969, a young woman who survived alone in the marsh becomes a murder suspect.

NON-FICTION:

AMERICAN MARXISM by Mark R. Levin

(Available Formats: Print Book)

American Marxism

The Fox News host gives his take on the Green New Deal, critical race theory and social activism.

THE BODY KEEPS THE SCORE by Bessel van der Kolk

(Available Formats: Print Book, eBook, Downloadable Audiobook & Hoopla Audiobook)

How trauma affects the body and mind, and innovative treatments for recovery.

BOMBER MAFIA by Malcolm Gladwell

(Available Formats: Print Book, eBook & Hoopla instant checkout audiobook)

Bomber Mafia

A look at the key players and outcomes of precision bombing during World War II.

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.

CASTE by Isabel Wilkerson

(Available Formats: Print Book, Audiobook on CD, eBook & Downloadable Audiobook)

The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist examines aspects of caste systems across civilizations and reveals a rigid hierarchy in America today.

CRYING IN H MART by Michelle Zauner

(Available Formats: Print Book & eBook)

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.

GREENLIGHTS by Matthew McConaughey

(Available Formats: Print Book, Audiobook on CD & Downloadable Audiobook)

The Academy Award-winning actor shares snippets from the diaries he kept over the last 35 years.

HERE, RIGHT MATTERS by Alexander Vindman

Here Right Matters

The retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel recounts his actions that led to the impeachment of President Trump and his testimony before Congress.

HOW I SAVED THE WORLD by Jesse Watters

(Available Formats: Print Book)

How I Saved The World

The Fox News host recounts his career and prescribes ways to defend against what he considers left-wing radicalism.

I ALONE CAN FIX IT by Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker

I Alone Can Fix It

The Pulitzer Prize-winning reporters examine Trump’s final year in office, with a focus on the key players around him.

KILLING THE MOB by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard

(Available Formats: Print Book)

Killing The Mob

The 10th book in the conservative commentator’s Killing series looks at organized crime in the United States during the 20th century.

THE PREMONITION by Michael Lewis

(Available Formats: Print Book & eBook)

The Premonition

Stories of skeptics who went against the official response of the Trump administration to the outbreak of Covid-19. The profiles include a local public-health officer and a group of doctors nicknamed the Wolverines.

UNTAMED by Glennon Doyle

(Available Formats: Print Book, Audiobook on CD, eBook & Downloadable Audiobook)

The activist and public speaker describes her journey of listening to her inner voice.

WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU? by Bruce D. Perry and Oprah Winfrey

(Available Formats: Print Book, CD Audiobook & Downloadable Audiobook)

What Happend To You

An approach to dealing with trauma that shifts an essential question used to investigate it.

Happy reading!

Linda Reimer, SSL

*Information on the Three Catalogs*

Digital Catalog: https://stls.overdrive.com/

The Digital Catalog has two companion apps, Libby & OverDrive. Libby is the app for newer devices and the OverDrive app should be used for older devices and Amazon tablets.

All card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries can check out items from the Digital Catalog.

Hoopla Catalog: https://www.hoopladigital.com/

The Hoopla Catalog features instant check outs of eBooks, downloadable audiobook, comic books, albums and streaming videos. Patron check out limit is 4 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 and most smart TVs & media streaming players.

StarCat: The catalog of physical/traditional library materials: https://starcat.stls.org

Card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries can access StarCat to search for and request materials available at libraries through out the Southern Tier Library System.

The StarCat app is called Bookmyne and is available for Apple and Android devices.

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 Tel: 607-936-3713

Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.

Suggested Listening August 20, 2021

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

Suggested Listening postings are published on Fridays; and our next Suggested Listening posting will be out on Friday, August 27 2021; unless I’m called to jury duty – which is a possibility – in which case, the next Suggested Listening posting will be up on Friday, September 3, 2021!

And here are the 10 recommended songs of the week; and a couple extra too, as I couldn’t count this week!

Between Midnight And Day by Son House (Genre: Blues, Acoustic Blues, Delta Blues)

Between Midnight And Day was recorded live at London’s 100 Club in the summer of 1970. The great blues singer and guitarist Son House was discovered by main stream music fans during the blues/rock boom of the 1960s, and on this song his back up band is the blues-rock group Canned Heat, best known for their performance at the original Woodstock Festival in 1969.

From The Album: Delta Blues & Spirituals (1970).

Happy Together by The Turtles (Genre: Pop-Rock, Classic Rock)

Happy Together is one of the most upbeat rock songs ever recorded!

And of course, the song was recorded by the musically harmonious rock group, The Turtles, led by Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman.

From The Album: Happy Together (1967)

Hard Times Killing Floor Blues by Skip James (Genre: Blues, Acoustic Blues, Delta Blues)

Hard Times Killing Floor Blues is classic song by the great blues musician Skip James; this version was recorded live at the American Folk and Blues Festival in Cologne, Germany on October 9, 1967.

From The Album: Skip James Today! (1965)

If It Makes You Happy by Sheryl Crow (Genre: Rock, Pop-Rock)

If It Makes You Happy is a modern rockin’ classic from a master of modern rock – Sheryl Crow!

From The Album: Sheryl Crow (1996).

I’m In The Mood by John Lee Hooker (Genre: Blues, Chicago Blues)

I’m In The Mood is a great song written by John Lee Hooker and Bernard Besman; it is found on one of Hooker’s terrific sixties albums, I’m John Lee Hooker.

From The Album: I’m John Lee Hooker (1960).

And if you’d like to dig deep – here is a version of the song that Hooker performs as a duet with Bonnie Raitt, it is found on his 1989 album The Healer.

I’m In The Mood by John Lee Hooker & Bonnie Raitt (Genre: Blues too!)

It Had To Be You by Dick Haymes and Helen Forrest (Genre: Vocal, Easy Listening, Big Band)

A duet of the classic song, It Had To Be You, by the vocalists Dick Haymes and Helen Forrest, who had a hit with their version of the perennial classic in the 1940s.

From The Album: Songs That Won The War by Various Artists (2016).

I’ve Been Everywhere by Johnny Cash (Genre: Country)

A great summer-time traveling song; perfect to play while you’re driving down the road with the windows down!

And of course, the song is sung by country legend Johnny Cash.

From The Album: The Legend Of Johnny Cash (2005).

Joy To The World by Three Dog Night (Genre: Pop-Rock, Classic Pop-Rock)

Joy To The World is a truly joyous rock song, penned by the terrific and under-rated singer-songwriter Hoyt Atxon. The song was a number one hit for Three Dog Night in 1970.

From The Album: Naturally (1970); and if you’re looking for an intro to the group’s music – check out The Complete Singles (2004) – it is available for instant checkout through Hoopla.

Love At The Five And Dime by Nanci Griffith (Genre: Singer-Songwriter, Folk, Country)

Love At The Five And Dime is an excellent example of the great storytelling songs written and performed by the crystal voiced singer-songwriter Nanci Griffith. Griffith, recorded more than twenty albums during her thirty odd year career; and one of her best albums, is the one this song appears on, The Last Of The True Believers.

From The Album: The Last Of The True Believers (1986).

Look Out Heart by Connie Smith (Genre: Country)

Look Out Heart is a song from the brand-new album Cry Of The Heart by the great country singer Connie Smith.

From The Album: Cry Of The Heart (2021).

Snakes Crawl by Shannon & The Clams (Genre: Pop-Rock)

A rather dreamy tune by Shannon & The Clams, a band that likes to play rock in a variety of historical rock genres.

From The Album: Year Of The Spider (2021)

What A What a Diff’rence a Day Makes  A Day Makes by Dinah Washington (Genre: Vocal, Jazz, Blues,  R&B)

An upbeat love song by the terrific vocalist Dinah Washington.

From The Album: What a Diff’rence a Day Makes (1959).

Hoopla Recommend Album of the Week

A Boy Named Charlie Brown by The Vince Guaraldi Trio (Genre: Instrumental, Soundtrack, Jazz)

A Boy Names Charlie Brown

I’m probably showing my vintage, but if you grew up watching the Charlie Brown TV specials on TV, you too heard the great music that backed the action!

And that terrific music was performed by the jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi and the other members of his trio. And this album, A Boy Named Charlie Brown, features that terrific music!

And from the album, the song:

Linus & Lucy by the Vince Guaraldi Trio

Have a great weekend,

Linda Reimer, SSCL

REFERENCES:

Print References

The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits by Joel Whitburn

Online Catalog Links:

StarCat

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

The Digital Catalog

The Digital Catalog, web version

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

The Libby App

Libby

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

Hoopla

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

Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.