Hi everyone, here is our streamlined weekly Suggested Listening and Viewing post; featuring one album or musical collection for your listening pleasure; one movie or TV show/season for your viewing pleasure and one recommendation for background viewing – perfect for having on while having dinner, reading or just hanging out at home. Enjoy!
First off the music, this week the album:
Saxophone Colossus (1957) by Sonny Rollins
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Moving on to our suggested viewing title of the week; this week our recommendation is: The Lion in Winter (1968):
And here is the trailer:
Available Formats: The Lion in Winter may be streamed through the usual streaming services and through the library’s streaming video service/app – Kanopy. It also available from the library on DVD.
About The Movie: The movie set in England during the Christmas season of 1183, tells the story of a scheming family consisting of of King Henry II of England (Peter O’Toole), his wife Queen Eleanor (Katherine Hepburn in an Oscar winning role) and their three rebellious sons Prince Richard (Anthony Hopkins), Prince Geoffrey (Nigel Terry) and Prince John (John Castle).
The big question under discussion in the family is which son will succeed the aging Henry as king. King Henry favors Prince John, Queen Eleanor favors Prince Richard and neither parent favors Prince Geoffrey, much to his displeasure. Joining the family for the drama as they argue and plot; are the young French Princess Alais (Jane Merrow), who is King Henry’s mistress and betrothed to Prince Richard; and Alais’s half brother King Phillip of France (Timothy Dalton).
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Background Viewing Stream
Summer Beach Sunset Campfire Escape
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Have a great weekend!
Linda Reimer, SSCL
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Information on the four library catalogs (content available 24/7!)
The Digital Catalog, is an online catalog containing eBooks, eAudiobooks, and digital magazines. You can use your library card and checkout content on a PC; you can also use the companion app, Libby, to access titles on your mobile devices; so you can enjoy eBooks and eAudiobooks on the go!
All card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries can check out items from the Digital Catalog.
And The Digital Catalog/Libby features titles that may be checked out via the one-copy-one-user lending model, just like print books.
The Hoopla Catalog features on demand checkouts of eBooks, eAudiobooks, comic books, albums, movies and TV shows. Patron checkout limit is 10 items per month.
Hoopla is a Southeast Steuben County Library service available to all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders.
The Hoopla companion app, also called Hoopla is available for mobile devices, smart TVs & media streaming players.
Titles in the Hoopla Catalog are available to be checked out on-demand by all library card holders, with the caveat of being able to check out a maximum of ten titles per month, per card.
The Kanopy Catalog features thousands of streaming videos available on demand.
The Kanopy Catalog is available for all Southern Tier Library System member library card holders, including all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders!
You can access the Kanopy Catalog through a web browser, or download the app to your phone, tablet or media streaming player (i.e. Roku, Google or Fire TV).
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.
Hi everyone, just a quick FYI post – the fall book sale, hosted by the Friends of the Southeast Steuben County Library starts this Saturday, August 22 and is being held at the Union Hall in Corning; which if you’re not familiar with the location – is within walking distance of the library – if you head out the library’s Civic Center Plaza door and walk kitty corner to your right – you’ll run right into the Union Hall!
Here is the listing of the dates and times of the sale:
Kudos to the Friends for all their hard work in setting up and hosting the sale and in creating this terrific map of where items are located!!
You’ll find great books and other items at the sale – mysteries, romances, local interest books, biographies, audiobooks, DVDs, puzzles and more!
Have a great day and see you at the book sale!
Linda Reimer, SSCL
P.S. Accepted payment methods for the book sale: If you’re like me you probably make electronic payments, debit or card cards etc., while you’re out and about and don’t use cash – and I think a lot of us do that today – so be aware that the book sale does not accept digital payments – they’ll take cash or a check – just FYI so you can be prepared and take your check book with you!
Hi everyone, here is the our second newly streamlined weekly Suggested Listening and Viewing post; featuring one album or musical collection for your listening pleasure; one movie or TV show/season for your viewing pleasure and one recommendation for background viewing – perfect for having on while having dinner, reading or just hanging out at home. Enjoy!
First off the music, this week the album:
In The Wee Small Hours of the Morning (1955) by Frank Sinatra
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Moving on to our suggested viewing title of the week; this week our recommendation is the movie:
The Kid (1921).
Here is the trailer:
About Formats: You can request a DVD of the film via StarCat https://starcat.stls.org or stream it through the library’s streaming video service Kanopy either online at https://www.kanopy.com or by downloading the Kanopy app from your app store.
About The Movie: Written and directed by Charlie Chaplin and starring Charlie Chaplin (1889 – 1977) and a cute kid – then child actor Jackie Coogan (1914 – 1984); who later appeared in the memorable role of Uncle Fester in the 1960s Addams Family TV series. The Kid was Chaplin’s first full-length movie and told the tale of an unwed mother leaving her infant son, with a note, in an expensive car, only for thieves to steal the car and the child to wind up being recused by Chaplin’s character.
About Charlie Chaplin: Charlie Chaplin was born on April 16, 1889, in London, England, the son of actor parents Charles Chaplin & Hannah Hill. Charlie had a rough childhood; his father died when he and his older half-brother Sydney were young boys; and their mother’s mental health challenges saw her committed to an asylum leaving the brothers to face the world on their own.
As a youth Chaplin worked as a Vaudeville performer and in 1910 traveled to New York, to tour as a member of the Fred Karno Company. In 1913, he was hired by the Keystone Film Company for $150 a week.; and it quickly became apparent that Chaplin was a natural in the newly emerging field of (silent) filmmaking. Between 1915 and 1917 Chaplin worked for several film companies making humorous short films and introducing his signature character The Tramp, a lovable a young man with a mustache in a suit and bowler hat who frequently finds himself in humorous situations.
In 1917, Chaplin decided to become an independent filmmaker in order to gain greater creative control over his work. After producing several more short films, he released The Kid (1921), widely regarded as his first feature-length film and one of his masterpieces. He followed it with a remarkable series of films that are also considered classics of the silent era, including A Woman of Paris (1923), The Gold Rush (1925), The Circus (1928), City Lights (1931), and Modern Times (1936). In 1940, he released his first “talkie” or talking film, The Great Dictator. During this period, Chaplin became one of the most celebrated and influential actors and filmmakers in the world.
Chaplin was one of the brightest and most influential stars of the silent film era; but by the early 1940s films, that era had passed as movie making technology had advanced to offering films with recorded sound; and that combined with Chaplin being involved in two sensational public controversies, a false paternity suit with a subsequent acrimonious trial; and his fourth marriage to an 18-year-old actress, Oona O’Neill; daughter of the famous playwright Eugne O’Neill – saw Chaplin’s popularity as filmmaker sharply decline in the 1940s.
In 1952 Chaplin was traveling from the U.S. to Europe and learned that he was going to be denied reentry to the U.S. upon his return. So, Chaplin, O’Neill and their growing family; which eventually included eight children, moved to Switzerland and Chaplin continued making films until shortly before he died in 1977.
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Background Viewing
(Perfect to have on while having dinner, reading etc.)
Cozy London Cafe
Have a great weekend!
Linda Reimer, SSCL
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Have a great weekend!
Linda Reimer, SSCL
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Information on the four library catalogs (content available 24/7!)
The Digital Catalog, is an online catalog containing eBooks, eAudiobooks, and digital magazines. You can use your library card and checkout content on a PC; you can also use the companion app, Libby, to access titles on your mobile devices; so you can enjoy eBooks and eAudiobooks on the go!
All card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries can check out items from the Digital Catalog.
And The Digital Catalog/Libby features titles that may be checked out via the one-copy-one-user lending model, just like print books.
The Hoopla Catalog features on demand checkouts of eBooks, eAudiobooks, comic books, albums, movies and TV shows. Patron checkout limit is 10 items per month.
Hoopla is a Southeast Steuben County Library service available to all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders.
The Hoopla companion app, also called Hoopla is available for mobile devices, smart TVs & media streaming players.
Titles in the Hoopla Catalog are available to be checked out on-demand by all library card holders, with the caveat of being able to check out a maximum of ten titles per month, per card.
The Kanopy Catalog features thousands of streaming videos available on demand.
The Kanopy Catalog is available for all Southern Tier Library System member library card holders, including all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders!
You can access the Kanopy Catalog through a web browser, or download the app to your phone, tablet or media streaming player (i.e. Roku, Google or Fire TV).
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.
Hi everyone, here is our weekly Suggested Listening and Viewing post; featuring ten songs and two streaming video recommendations, one from a mainstream service and the other from Kanopy, the library’s free to access streaming service (all you need is a library card!).
First off the music!
And this week we’re taking a list to some classic surf songs – surfs up!
Baja by The Astronauts
Found on the Album: Surfin’ With The Astronauts (1963)
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Bustin’ Surfboards by The Tornados
Found on the Album: Bustin’ Surfboards (2017)
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Let’s Go Trippin’ by Dick Dale
Found on the Album: Surfer’s Choice (2006)
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Mr. Moto by The Bel-Airs
Found on the Album: Golden Echoes (1962)
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Out of Limits by The Marketts
Found on the Album: Out of Limits! (1963/2005)
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Pipeline by The Chantays
Found on the Album: Pipeline (1963/2001)
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Soul Surfer by Johnny Fortune
Found on the Album: Soul Surfer (1963)
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Underwater by The Frogmen
Found on the Album: Rock Instrumental Classics, Vol. 5: Surf (2006) (Rhino Records)
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Walk, Don’t Run by The Ventures
Found on the Album: Walk Don’t Run: The Best of the Ventures (1990)
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Wipeout by The Surfaris
Found on the Album: Wipe Out (1963)
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Bonus Listen: Here is a song by a great guitarist & instrumentalist and granted he was not a surf music player but his music is definitely worth listening — Lonnie Mack. His first album is The Wham of that Memphis Man (1963).
And from that album, here is the song:
Wham! by Lonnie Mack
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And as a second bonus listen, another non-surfer & great guitar player whose music is also definitely worth checking out – although he was not just an instrumentalist – he also sang – is Freddie King and if you like guitar-centric instrumentals check out his instrumental album Let’s Hide Away and Dance Away (1961).
And from that album, here is the original version of the song Hide Away, which Eric Clapton later recorded to great acclaim while playing with John Mayall’s Bluebreakers:
The Digital Catalog, is an online catalog containing eBooks, eAudiobooks, and digital magazines. You can use your library card and checkout content on a PC; you can also use the companion app, Libby, to access titles on your mobile devices; so you can enjoy eBooks and eAudiobooks on the go!
All card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries can check out items from the Digital Catalog.
And The Digital Catalog/Libby features titles that may be checked out via the one-copy-one-user lending model, just like print books.
The Hoopla Catalog features on demand checkouts of eBooks, eAudiobooks, comic books, albums, movies and TV shows. Patron checkout limit is 10 items per month.
Hoopla is a Southeast Steuben County Library service available to all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders.
The Hoopla companion app, also called Hoopla is available for mobile devices, smart TVs & media streaming players.
Titles in the Hoopla Catalog are available to be checked out on-demand by all library card holders, with the caveat of being able to check out a maximum of ten titles per month, per card.
The Kanopy Catalog features thousands of streaming videos available on demand.
The Kanopy Catalog is available for all Southern Tier Library System member library card holders, including all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders!
You can access the Kanopy Catalog through a web browser, or download the app to your phone, tablet or media streaming player (i.e. Roku, Google or Fire TV).
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.
Hi everyone, here are our five suggested reads of the week!
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Blood River Witch by T. J. Martinson
On Kentucky’s Blood River, a Sheriff’s Deputy investigates the death of her ex-fiance, whose brutal occultist murder strongly resembles a similar murder decades ago, for readers of Tana French, Gillian Flynn, Megan Abbott, and fans of True Detective Deputy Sheriff Alicia Moore is thrust into the center of a chilling murder investigation when she discovers a victim identifiable only by his hauntingly familiar tattoo—her name inked onto the knuckles of her ex-fiancé, Jake.
Years earlier, Alicia’s father, the then-Sheriff, had arrested a teenage occultist for a nearly identical murder, believed to be driven by the suspect’s worship of demonic entities. Now, with Jake’s murder mirroring that past crime, doubts arise about whether the true culprit was ever caught. The mystery deepens with the arrival of Lucas Masterson, a Criminology PhD student studying the confluence between religious trauma and occult crime, who is eager to lend his expertise to the investigation. As Lucas delves into the case, his profound knowledge of the town’s grim history and his outsider perspective strain the local social fabric, while Alicia grapples with her suspicion towards his unsettling familiarity with the crimes. Caught between her strained relationship with her father, the community’s watchful eyes on a female deputy, and her own harrowing ties to the case, Alicia must navigate a maze of potential occultists, convicts, corrupt officials, and clergy to prevent a gruesome history from repeating itself once again. For what lies at the heart of Blood River—is it an ancient malicious force seeking to harm the townfolk, or is there a deeper prejudice in a town that continues to punish women in a way that it does not punish the men?
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If Books Could Kill by Kate Eberle
DEBUT Roxie loves romance novels, but when her wish to live out a storyline from her favorite romance author is magically granted, it’s not quite what she’d hoped for. Turns out, the new book is a crime thriller, and Roxie is stuck as the protagonist in a dangerous genre she doesn’t know much about. In an effort to escape a serial killer, she accidentally kidnaps a nerdy but hot professor, Grant, in the strangest meet-cute ever. With his knowledge of the thriller genre and her expertise in self-defense, they team up to solve an international murder plot that takes them from Boston to London. In order to end the spell and get back to her real life, she must figure out the mystery. As Roxie and Grant live through several literary devices, they find true love together, but Roxie is reluctant to give her heart to Grant since he’s a character in the novel and will disappear once the story is over. VERDICT Full of adventure, a touch of the supernatural, plenty of kooky, adorable characters, and hilarious hijinks, Eberle’s highly original and fun debut is for fans of heartfelt, original rom-coms with strong bookish themes. — Library Journal Review
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Obstinate Daughters: The Rebels, Writers, and Renegade Women Who Ignited the American Revolution by Denise Kiernan
In honor of the 2026 United States Semiquincentennial, aka the 250th birthday of the Declaration of Independence, deep-dive American history chronicler Kiernan (We Gather Together, 2020) considers an array of contributions made by various Revolutionary War-era women. Kiernan’s approach is impressively inclusive. She tends toward less celebrated individuals whose accomplishments often occurred behind the scenes (Sarah Bradlee Fulton’s cosmetics helped disguise Boston Tea Party participants) or were left out of male-centric standard narratives (Chief Nanye’hi helped broker Cherokee peace treaties). Subjects represent diverse segments of society (patriots and loyalists, New Englanders and Southerners, enslaved individuals, aristocrats, housewives, poets, spies). Chapters alternate between detailed historic accounts, effortlessly incorporating primary source material, and accounts of the author’s recent research-inspired visits to three landmarks: Mount Vernon, a former South Carolina plantation, and a casino on Indigenous lands. A few luminaries make cameo appearances (Abigail Adams, Marie Antoinette) but the emphasis is on everyday women who are resurrected through diaries and letters, shipping lists, headstones, and bills of sale. This is an engaging, enlightening, and quite satisfying read. – Booklist Review
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Sisters of the Midnight Sun by Rebecca Wright Stevens
On August 3, 1993, the bodies of two sisters, Wanda and Bernice Ipalook, were discovered in Utqiagvik, an oil-rich area on Alaska’s North Slope. Both women had been strangled, and one had been raped. Amos Lane, a drifter with a prior record, was charged with the crimes, and Stevens was the public defender assigned to defend him. She secured immunity for him if he testified for the prosecution against the person ultimately charged with the crime, Bernice’s fiance , John Adams. Ultimately, Adams was found not guilty of the murders, and Lane was found guilty of perjury. To this day, the crime remains unsolved. Stevens’s novelistic writing style focuses less on the trial itself than on her experiences as an outsider in the community and on the lives of the Iupiat people in Arctic Alaska. Stevens spent 36 years working as a defense lawyer, and readers will appreciate everything she did to protect her client, though they may wish for more insight into the Ipalook murders. VERDICT Although this true crime book boasts an expansive view of the surrounding I upiat community, readers may leave this book with further questions about the grisly, complex case at its center. – Library Journal Review
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The Talking Bone by Renee Denfeld
Ruby Spencer, known as “the Exonerator,” has devoted her life to finding missing women and freeing the people wrongly convicted for their disappearances. Her work leads her to Georgia, where Mitchell Brown, a 32-year-old man on death row, has just two weeks left before his execution. A decade earlier, Mitchell celebrated landing a new job, drank too much, and wandered into a gas station. He later awoke in his truck to find the attendant missing and the station splashed with blood. The evidence was lost, the body was never found, and Mitchell’s memory of that night never returned. As Ruby investigates, she travels to Mitchell’s Oregon hometown. There she uncovers a chilling parallel: Mitchell’s mother vanished when he was a child, just as Ruby’s mother disappeared years before. Chapters weave between past and present, revealing the story of Ruby’s mother as the clock ticks toward Mitchell’s execution. Forced to confront her own trauma and unresolved grief, Ruby pushes deeper into a case where justice feels out of reach.
VERDICT Drawing on her experience as a licensed death-row investigator, Denfeld (Sleeping Giants) crafts a taut, emotional thriller. Readers of her earlier novels will appreciate this intricately layered tale of suspense. –Library Journal Review
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Happy reading!
Linda Reimer, SSCL
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Note: Book summaries are from the respective publishers unless otherwise specified.
The Digital Catalog, is an online catalog containing eBooks, eAudiobooks, and digital magazines. You can use your library card and checkout content on a PC; you can also use the companion app, Libby, to access titles on your mobile devices; so you can enjoy eBooks and eAudiobooks on the go!
All card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries can check out items from the Digital Catalog.
The Hoopla Catalog features on demand checkouts of eBooks, eAudiobooks, comic books, albums, movies and TV shows. Patron check out limit is 10 items per month.
Hoopla is a Southeast Steuben County Library service available to all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders.
The Hoopla companion app, also called Hoopla is available for mobile devices, smart TVs & media streaming players.
The Kanopy Catalog features thousands of streaming videos available on demand.
The Kanopy Catalog is available for all Southern Tier Library System member library card holders, including all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders!
You can access the Kanopy Catalog through a web browser, or download the app to your phone, tablet or media streaming player (i.e. Roku, Google or Fire TV).
Card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries can access StarCat to search for and request materials available at libraries through out the Southern Tier Library System.
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Have questions about how to access Internet based content (i.e. eBooks, eAudios)? Feel free to drop by the Reference Desk or call the library and we will assist you! The library’s telephone number is: 607-936-3713.
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Tech & Book Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.
Hi everyone, here is our weekly Suggested Listening and Viewing post; featuring ten songs and two streaming video recommendations, one from a mainstream service and the other from Kanopy, the library’s free to access streaming service (all you need is a library card!).
First off the music! And this week we’re turning our listening spotlight on classic country and folk songs – enjoy!
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The Eighth of January by Sid Hemphill
Found on the Album: The Devil’s Dream: Alan Lomax’s 1942 Library of Congress Recordings (2013)
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I Love You A Lot A Whole Bunch by Bess Lomax Hawes
Found on the Album: N/A – Recorded live in Ash Grove, Los Angles in 1963
For more on Bessie Jones check out the following PBS article:
The Digital Catalog, is an online catalog containing eBooks, eAudiobooks, and digital magazines. You can use your library card and checkout content on a PC; you can also use the companion app, Libby, to access titles on your mobile devices; so you can enjoy eBooks and eAudiobooks on the go!
All card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries can check out items from the Digital Catalog.
And The Digital Catalog/Libby features titles that may be checked out via the one-copy-one-user lending model, just like print books.
The Hoopla Catalog features on demand checkouts of eBooks, eAudiobooks, comic books, albums, movies and TV shows. Patron checkout limit is 10 items per month.
Hoopla is a Southeast Steuben County Library service available to all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders.
The Hoopla companion app, also called Hoopla is available for mobile devices, smart TVs & media streaming players.
Titles in the Hoopla Catalog are available to be checked out on-demand by all library card holders, with the caveat of being able to check out a maximum of ten titles per month, per card.
The Kanopy Catalog features thousands of streaming videos available on demand.
The Kanopy Catalog is available for all Southern Tier Library System member library card holders, including all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders!
You can access the Kanopy Catalog through a web browser, or download the app to your phone, tablet or media streaming player (i.e. Roku, Google or Fire TV).
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.
Hi everyone, here are our five suggested reads of the week!
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Data Empire The Power of Information to Organize, Control, and Dominate by Roopika Risam
During 11,000 years of global history, recordkeeping has taken countless forms–tally sticks, clay tablets, knotted cords, scrolls, codices, ledgers, formularies, databases, and digital content–but people have always collected and classified information in pursuit of power. According to Risam (digital humanities, Dartmouth Coll.; New Digital Worlds), collecting and making sense of data drives commerce, conquest, and social control. Powerful elites decide how to interpret data and create narratives. Empires gather intelligence, draw maps, deed land, tax trade, and conduct censuses. Traditions and customs may endure, but information is authoritative only when recognized by authorities. Over the past century, data has become an empire in its own right, shaping institutions and worldviews, powering surveillance capitalism and the rise of artificial intelligence, and reducing all ideas and actions to raw data and predictive modeling. The author’s arguments will resonate with readers of Nexus by Yuval Noah Harari, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff, and The Power of Knowledge by Jeremy Black. Readers are left with the impression that information and its uses produce exploitation, failing to enrich or empower lives. It is high time to reclaim data for good.
VERDICT A sweeping and convincing argument that information undergirds power. –Library Journal Review
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Dooneen by Keith Ridgway
A surreal, magical realist joy of a novel, highly acclaimed Ridgway’s (A Shock, 2021) latest is a remarkable work sure to feature on best-of-the-year lists. The opening sees Bartholomew Port–Mew–mysteriously transport from a London park to a near-future Dublin with no cars, shifting roads, and a still-worsening housing crisis. As Mew drifts around a recognizable but off-kilter Dublin seeing acquaintances and family, he describes all to his lover Mootie, whom he longs to rejoin in London. Mew stumbles into being part of a reckoning of sorts, led by those seeking a collective solution to the housing crisis, and here the novel truly takes off with a staccato, breathless pace that sweeps the reader up and refuses to let go. Like the intoxicating, dreamlike prose of Evan Dara and Kazuo Ishiguro, this suspenseful tale explores community, identity, housing, and the remorseless power of the state. The vividly described backdrop of monuments of Irish revolutionary history contrasts with the contemporary feeling of powerlessness many people feel. A love letter, a puzzle, a haunting–Doneen unsettles and entrances like Susanna Clarke’s dreamlike Piranesi (2020) but also packs a political punch. A stunning achievement, Ridgway’s novel is urgent, profound, and shimmeringly beautiful. — Starred Booklist Review
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The Forty-Year Grudge by Liza Tully
The guests at an exclusive sorority reunion include murder. Aubrey Merritt, “the nationally renowned private investigator,” never intended to leave Gramercy Park for the wilds of New Mexico even though she was an invited member of Sarah Lawrence College’s Sigma Delta Tau chapter. She changes her mind when her old friend John Fitzroy tells her of a note announcing that “she who lives by the sword shall die” that his wife, retired Brigadier General Joan Battersea, received shortly before her guests were scheduled to arrive at the Muddy River Ranch. Merritt decides to make the trip in the company of her assistant and amanuensis, Olivia Blunt. Sure enough, someone’s shot to death during the festivities, but it’s not the general. Instead, the victim is MIT biochemist Eve Exeter, who together with her husband, entrepreneur Conrad Zander, had been about to launch Lifespan, Inc., as a public corporation dedicated to using Eve’s research to extend the lives of its clients. As the newly married Blunt mingles with the guests, all of them old enough to be her mother, she learns one of them has held a grudge against Eve since they were in school together. In case you’ve forgotten that original threat against the general, someone hides no fewer than five scorpions in her bed. Of all the possible antagonists, the one Blunt takes most seriously is Merritt, who challenges her to solve the mystery herself if she wants to keep her job. Considering Merritt’s national reputation, which actually ends up being an important plot point, the mystery is, as she acknowledges, not very challenging at all. Looking for a reason to avoid your college reunion? Tully is happy to oblige. –Kirkus Review
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It Will Come Back to You: Collected Stories by Sigrid Nunez
The dazzling first collection by novelist Nunez (The Friend, 2018) includes 13 stories published over the past few decades. They range from the nightmarishly surreal “Airport Story,” in which an unnamed woman spirals downward after being diverted to an airport she doesn’t know, to the noir-tinged “The Plan,” in which an increasingly unstable narrator contemplates murder, to the wild, coming-of-age tale “Imagination,” in which a high-strung 14-year-old sees one guest at a party at her parents’ country home “turn into a small dog, no, a large dog” as he enters the bathroom, and the deceptively casual title story, which asks, “Aren’t we all unreliable narrators of our own lives?” Nunez has a gift for surprise, whether it’s in the turn a sentence or a story takes, the little revelations that detonate as a seemingly matter-of-fact story unwinds or the variety of protagonists and settings in her stories. She also knows how to calibrate despair and surprising joy, leaving the reader giddily off-balance. Each of these stories, even the most ostensibly wispy, reverberates long after it ends. – Starred Booklist Review
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Shadow Step: A Detective Miller Novel by Mark Billingham
The Cookie Monster with a badge personified, or as the Brits might say, a biscuit fiend with a warrant card: Billingham’s peripatetic DS Declan Miller takes his third turn, following The Wrong Hands (2024), tearing around Blackpool on his trusty blue moped. His dead wife, Alex, continues to manifest herself as needed. This is one rambling and wildly funny tale that is set in motion by Ruby, a wobbling, incontinent sausage of a dog who is the companion of the unfortunate Barry Cheshire. The pair are involved in a contretemps with a mean dog owner in the park, and when that man is found dead, Cheshire is the likely suspect. It turns out the victim was involved in a major drug network with ties to Alex’s death. The story branches out from there, with intermittent fox-trotting for Miller, who proudly displays his tango trophy on his mantelpiece. Not spiraling out of control, by any means, this is as carefully plotted as expected from Billingham. There is the promise of redemption for some, although for “Google” McDougall, maybe not so much. – Booklist Review
Reader’s Note: If you’d like to start reading the Detective Miller Mystery Series from the beginning, check out book one: The Last Dance.
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Happy reading!
Linda Reimer, SSCL
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Note: Book summaries are from the respective publishers unless otherwise specified.
The Digital Catalog, is an online catalog containing eBooks, eAudiobooks, and digital magazines. You can use your library card and checkout content on a PC; you can also use the companion app, Libby, to access titles on your mobile devices; so you can enjoy eBooks and eAudiobooks on the go!
All card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries can check out items from the Digital Catalog.
The Hoopla Catalog features on demand checkouts of eBooks, eAudiobooks, comic books, albums, movies and TV shows. Patron check out limit is 10 items per month.
Hoopla is a Southeast Steuben County Library service available to all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders.
The Hoopla companion app, also called Hoopla is available for mobile devices, smart TVs & media streaming players.
The Kanopy Catalog features thousands of streaming videos available on demand.
The Kanopy Catalog is available for all Southern Tier Library System member library card holders, including all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders!
You can access the Kanopy Catalog through a web browser, or download the app to your phone, tablet or media streaming player (i.e. Roku, Google or Fire TV).
Card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries can access StarCat to search for and request materials available at libraries through out the Southern Tier Library System.
–
Have questions about how to access Internet based content (i.e. eBooks, eAudios)? Feel free to drop by the Reference Desk or call the library and we will assist you! The library’s telephone number is: 607-936-3713.
–
Tech & Book Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.
Hi everyone, here is our weekly Suggested Listening and Viewing post; featuring ten songs and two streaming video recommendations, one from a mainstream service and the other from Kanopy, the library’s free to access streaming service (all you need is a library card!).
First off the music and this week we’re taking a listen to songs that have appeared on soundtracks over the years. Enjoy!
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Beat Girl by the John Barry Seven
From The Soundtrack: Beat Girl (1960)
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Body & Soul by Dexter Gordon
From The Soundtrack: ‘Round Midnight (1986)
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California Sun by The Rivieras
From The Soundtrack: Good Morning, Vietnam
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Every Day by Buddy Holly
From The Soundtrack: Stand By Me (1986)
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Honky Tonk, Part II by Bill Doggett
From The Soundtrack: American Hot Wax (1978)
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Lonely Way by Leith Stevens
Heard in the Movie: Wild One (1953)
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Molten Swing by the Kansas City Band
From The Soundtrack: Kansas City (1996)
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Rock Around The Clock by Bill Haley & The Comets
Heard in the Movie; Blackboard Jungle (1955)
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Scalding Hot Coffee Rag by Craig Ventresco
Found on the Soundtrack: Ghost World (2005)
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See You In September by The Tempos
From the Soundtrack: American Graffiti
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Stormy Weather by Lena Horne
From the Soundtrack: Stormy Weather (1943)
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Tuxedo Junction by The Glenn Miller Orchestra
From the Soundtrack: The Glenn Miller Story (1954)
The Digital Catalog, is an online catalog containing eBooks, eAudiobooks, and digital magazines. You can use your library card and checkout content on a PC; you can also use the companion app, Libby, to access titles on your mobile devices; so you can enjoy eBooks and eAudiobooks on the go!
All card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries can check out items from the Digital Catalog.
And The Digital Catalog/Libby features titles that may be checked out via the one-copy-one-user lending model, just like print books.
The Hoopla Catalog features on demand checkouts of eBooks, eAudiobooks, comic books, albums, movies and TV shows. Patron checkout limit is 10 items per month.
Hoopla is a Southeast Steuben County Library service available to all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders.
The Hoopla companion app, also called Hoopla is available for mobile devices, smart TVs & media streaming players.
Titles in the Hoopla Catalog are available to be checked out on-demand by all library card holders, with the caveat of being able to check out a maximum of ten titles per month, per card.
The Kanopy Catalog features thousands of streaming videos available on demand.
The Kanopy Catalog is available for all Southern Tier Library System member library card holders, including all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders!
You can access the Kanopy Catalog through a web browser, or download the app to your phone, tablet or media streaming player (i.e. Roku, Google or Fire TV).
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.
Hi everyone, here are our five suggested reads of the week!
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Death of a Wild Swimmer by Peter Boland
Still waters run deep in this baffling new case for the Charity Shop Detective Agency!
Wild swimming in February? No, thank you. It sounds like torture to Fiona, Daisy and Partial Sue, the retired ladies behind the counter at Dogs Need Nice Homes charity shop.
Still, no one ever died of plunging into the icy waters around the sleepy little English town of Southbourne.
Until now.
The body of Colin Barclay, retired PE master and wild-swimming fanatic, washes up in a secluded cove.
Days later, a shifty new customer comes calling at Dogs Need Nice Homes. Is this where you solve murders? She asks, her eyes darting wildly round the shelves of bric-a-brac. I think I have one . . .
This woman belongs to Colin’s swimming club — and she’s convinced his death was no accident. It was murder.
She just needs the ladies to dive in and help her prove it . . .
Fans of Richard Osman, Robert Thorogood, Janice Hallett, Simon Brett, Ian Moore and Sarah Yarwood-Lovett will adore this exciting new talent in cozy crime.
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Fullness of Time: Marking the Day by Birdsong, Blooms, Shadows, and Stars by Cathy Haynes
A celebration of circadian rhythms. British curator, artist, and educator Haynes, who has served as timekeeper in residence at University College London’s Petrie Museum, makes an engaging book debut with a naturalist’s view of marking time. Ranging widely around England, Scotland, and Iceland, Haynes becomes newly attentive to the ways plants and animals respond to changes in light and seasons. She listens to layers of song that build as birds join the dawn chorus, and to the sounds of owls and bats at night. She notices the regular unfolding of flowers–the primrose in the evening, and many flowers, including the daisy, at predictable times during the day. Linnaeus and other scientists tried to create floral clocks based on the movement of petals, most recently at the Botanical Garden in Bern, Switzerland. The Cambridge University Botanic Garden Circadian Beds are planted with flowers that give off scents, half in the morning, half in the evening, possibly an adaptation for attracting pollinators. Sundials have served as rudimentary clocks since ancient times: a stick in the turf or a spike stuck into a wall with lines scratched beneath could suffice to mark time by the movement of shadows. Humans contrived ways both to ascertain time and keep time: In northern Scotland, Haynes hears songs and chants sung by weavers, millers, and knitters to accompany their work. Assuming that sunlight was of primary importance in telling time, Haynes is surprised to discover the colors and qualities of twilight, which have given rise to three gradations: civil twilight, when it is too dim to read and the brightest stars emerge; nautical twilight, when the atmosphere is too dark to see the horizon; and astronomical twilight, when the faintest stars appear. Curiosity and enthusiasm impel a foray into the natural world. – Kirkus Review
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In Stormy Weather: A Novel by Chelsea Curto
Quincy Monroe has a PhD in atmospheric sciences, a successful weather show online, and millions of followers on social media–and she still gets grief from men questioning her credentials. When her dream job opens up at the National Weather Service, she quashes her doubts and submits an application. Nothing can stop her now, except maybe Sebastian Dunn. Sebastian is a New York City TV weatherman with his own set of fans–and Quincy’s best friend’s brother, who’s been Quincy’s academic and professional rival since high school. Back in their hometown to film a documentary on the hurricane season, he shows up everywhere Quincy does, chasing the same storms as well as the same NWS job. As they endure record-breaking storms together, Quincy begins to question everything she thought she knew about Seb. Is it possible he’s not the self-absorbed clout chaser she thought he was? Does it even matter, if they’re both trying for the same prestigious job?
VERDICT Curto’s (“D.C. Stars” series) first traditionally published book is a page-turner, sure to appeal to fans of Ali Hazelwood’s women-in-STEM books, as well as those who enjoy antagonists-to-lovers romances.–Starred Library Journal Review
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Shampoo Effect by Jenny Jackson
Jackson (Pineapple Street) offers sharp social commentary on millennials navigating middle age, set in a close-knit Massachusetts beach town. Caroline, an outsider, narrates much of the story, with other voices offering their perspectives. The daughter of a bestselling author, Caroline is determined to forge her own literary identity. After publishing a story in the New Yorker, she quits her publishing job and wins a prestigious writing fellowship that comes with a stay in a seaside cottage once owned by a legendary local writer. There she meets Van, a passionate environmentalist, and is drawn into his circle of longtime friends. As she immerses herself in their world–and falls in love with Van–initially guarded relationships soften. Everything shifts when one of Van’s friends reveals she is pregnant with his child. Though Caroline and Van navigate the pregnancy, things change after the baby’s birth, and Caroline lashes out the only way she knows how: through her writing. Her thinly veiled short story, based on Van’s friends, detonates the small town. Hidden truths surface, relationships fracture, and everyone is forced to reckon with what they’ve been avoiding.
VERDICT Fueled by humor, sex, and drugs, this pointed, character-driven novel will appeal to fans of Emma Straub or Taffy Brodesser-Akner.–Starred Library Journal Review
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Yellow Pine by Claire Vaye Watkins
The Mojave Desert is Watkins’ muse and the setting for her spiky novels. In her third, following I Love You but I’ve Chosen Darkness (2021), Rose has returned to the pitiless Nevada desert after the demise of her marriage and the painful decision to have her daughter live on the East Coast with her father during the school year. Rose has been working for the Sierra Club but feels like “a flunky for the nonprofit-corporate-industrial complex.”” She prefers the scrappy eco-activists occupying Yellow Pine, an enormous commercial solar installation on public land that is causing the deaths of desert tortoises, among other abominations. After her first love reappears, Rose wants a second child, but he balks. Both are deep thinkers tormented by crimes against the planet and humanity. How to keep from plunging into despair? How to cultivate hope and love? Churning with Rose’s ethical, profane, furious, funny, and cosmic reflections and forays into desert geology, ancient goddess cultures, and numerous books, Watkins’ keen and righteous novel wrestles with myriad paradoxes, spirituality, and how ecocide does “deep, grievous injury to the collective soul.” — Booklist Review
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Happy reading!
Linda Reimer, SSCL
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Note: Book summaries are from the respective publishers unless otherwise specified.
The Digital Catalog, is an online catalog containing eBooks, eAudiobooks, and digital magazines. You can use your library card and checkout content on a PC; you can also use the companion app, Libby, to access titles on your mobile devices; so you can enjoy eBooks and eAudiobooks on the go!
All card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries can check out items from the Digital Catalog.
The Hoopla Catalog features on demand checkouts of eBooks, eAudiobooks, comic books, albums, movies and TV shows. Patron check out limit is 10 items per month.
Hoopla is a Southeast Steuben County Library service available to all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders.
The Hoopla companion app, also called Hoopla is available for mobile devices, smart TVs & media streaming players.
The Kanopy Catalog features thousands of streaming videos available on demand.
The Kanopy Catalog is available for all Southern Tier Library System member library card holders, including all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders!
You can access the Kanopy Catalog through a web browser, or download the app to your phone, tablet or media streaming player (i.e. Roku, Google or Fire TV).
Card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries can access StarCat to search for and request materials available at libraries through out the Southern Tier Library System.
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Have questions about how to access Internet based content (i.e. eBooks, eAudios)? Feel free to drop by the Reference Desk or call the library and we will assist you! The library’s telephone number is: 607-936-3713.
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Tech & Book Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.
Hi everyone, here is our weekly Suggested Listening and Viewing post; featuring ten songs and two streaming video recommendations, one from a mainstream service and the other from Kanopy, the library’s free to access streaming service (all you need is a library card!).
First off the music and this week we’re offering an easy listening collection of classic songs that compliment the summer season. Enjoy!
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Blue Gardenia by Dinah Washington
Found on the Album: Blue Gardenia: Songs of Love (1995)
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In The Good Old Summertime by Les Paul & Mary Ford
Found on the Album: The Best Of The Capitol Masters (1992)
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Misty by Sarah Vaughan
Found on the Album: Sarah Vaughan’s Golden Hits (1958)
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Moon River by Jerry Butler
Found on the Album: Moon River / Delicious Together (2007)
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Night Train by Jimmy Forest
Found on the Album: Night Train (1990)
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On The Sunny Side of the Street by Louis Armstrong
Found on the Album: Satchmo: The Decca And Verve Years 1924 – 1967 (2020)
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On A Slow Boat To China by Kay Kyser & His Orchestra with Harry Babbitt & Gloria Wood on vocals
Found on the Album: The Best of Kay Kyser & His Orchestra (2000)
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Pipeline by The Chantays
Found on the Album: Pipeline (2014)
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Red Sails In The Sunset by Nat King Cole
Found on the Album: Unforgettable (1954)
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Sail Along Silv’ry Moon by Billy Vaughn
Found on the Album: Sail Along Silv’ry Moon (1958)
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Summer Wind by Frank Sinatra
Found on the Album: Nothing But The Best (2008)
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Take Five by The Dave Brubeck Quartet with Carmen McRae
Found on the Album: Tonight Only (1960)
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Theme from a Summer Place by Percy Faith & His Orchestra
Found on the Album: Percy Faith’s Greatest Hits (1960)
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Twistin’ The Night Away by Sam Cooke
Found on the Album: Twistin’ The Night Away (1962)
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What A Little Moonlight Can Do by Billie Holiday
Found on the Album: The Essential Billie Holiday: The Columbia Years (2010)
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Sleepy Time Gal by The Les Brown Orchestra with Rosemary Clooney
Found on the Album: The Sweetest Sound by The Les Brown Orchestra with Rosemary Clooney (2007)
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In The Evening by Ray Charles
Found on the Album: Ingredients in a Recipe for Soul (1963)
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And onto the Streaming Videos:
A new title available through one of the usual U.S. streaming services, followed by a Kanopy title that you can check out with your library card and stream on-demand.
The Digital Catalog, is an online catalog containing eBooks, eAudiobooks, and digital magazines. You can use your library card and checkout content on a PC; you can also use the companion app, Libby, to access titles on your mobile devices; so you can enjoy eBooks and eAudiobooks on the go!
All card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries can check out items from the Digital Catalog.
And The Digital Catalog/Libby features titles that may be checked out via the one-copy-one-user lending model, just like print books.
The Hoopla Catalog features on demand checkouts of eBooks, eAudiobooks, comic books, albums, movies and TV shows. Patron checkout limit is 10 items per month.
Hoopla is a Southeast Steuben County Library service available to all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders.
The Hoopla companion app, also called Hoopla is available for mobile devices, smart TVs & media streaming players.
Titles in the Hoopla Catalog are available to be checked out on-demand by all library card holders, with the caveat of being able to check out a maximum of ten titles per month, per card.
The Kanopy Catalog features thousands of streaming videos available on demand.
The Kanopy Catalog is available for all Southern Tier Library System member library card holders, including all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders!
You can access the Kanopy Catalog through a web browser, or download the app to your phone, tablet or media streaming player (i.e. Roku, Google or Fire TV).
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.
Tech & Book Talk at SSCL 