Tag: Corning NY

Suggested Reading Five: September 9, 2026

Linda Reimer

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

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Agrippa by Robert Harris

A dying Roman recalls his lifelong friendship with the man who became Emperor Augustus. A few short years before the Common Era, Agrippa writes his memoir. In his waning days at age 50, the old Roman general remembers his eventful life, which has been so tightly tied to his friend Octavius’. He began life as Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, a plebeian, a nobody who was taunted as a “mother-killer” because his mother died in childbirth. Octavius, on the other hand, is a great-nephew of Julius Caesar, whom they both admire. As they enter manhood, they fight bravely in Rome’s savage wars, both civil and foreign. Agrippa promises Caesar that he will always protect Octavius, who can be sickly, and he lives up to that commitment. That loyalty becomes his destiny. And when Caesar puts him in command of an army, he knows that is what he was born to do. Put briefly, Agrippa develops into the Roman Republic’s most renowned general and oversees great feats of engineering such as the aqueducts, while Octavius eventually becomes Emperor Augustus. The former ascends by merit, the latter by blood. This is no ordinary friendship, nor is it an equal one. When the emperor wants to adopt one of Agrippa’s sons, for example, Agrippa has no choice but to agree. When he is asked to divorce his wife and marry someone else, what’s a good soldier to do? “You are part of my family,” Augustus tells him. “I want you by my side for eternity. Besides, I shall need you to guard my back in the Underworld.” Agrippa comments: “He punched my arm. A joke.” Much is impossible to know after two millennia, and author Harris weaves a strong story that honors history and imagines vivid details. There are great naval battles, disastrous storms at sea, and the threat posed by Antony and Cleopatra. Women are often interchangeable–who can produce a son? And through it all, Rome descends into dictatorship. A compelling mix of history and imagination.–Kirkus Review

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A Past Without Pictures by Jonathan Ames

When Maria Cole, an LAPD detective, learns that her long-estranged father has been murdered, she heads off to Alabama to sort out his estate. She doesn’t exactly expect to be welcomed by the insular rural community with open arms, but she’s equally unprepared for the unconcealed hatred and distrust she’s met with. Soon she discovers why: her father’s death was not what the local cops are saying it was, and there are people who are determined to keep the real circumstances of his murder a closely guarded secret. The new book by the author of Wake Up, Sir! (2004) and You Were Never Really Here (2013)–two very different but equally splendid novels–is perfect for fans of S. A. Cosby and other writers of Southern noir: it has beautifully drawn characters, a real-feeling setting, pitch-perfect dialogue, and a story that keeps the reader in a constant state of apprehension.– Booklist Review

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Taipei Story by R. F. Kuang

A Yale freshman travels to Taipei for an immersive Chinese language course in hopes of connecting with her roots in this pensive outing from bestseller Kuang (Yellowface). Lily, the narrator, was born in China and raised in the U.S., where she steadily lost her ability to speak Mandarin amid her determination to assimilate. Though her grandparents still live on the mainland in Guangzhou, where she was born, the narrator chose to study in Taiwan for the summer because the “place had nothing to do with me,” leaving her free to make mistakes. Some of her missteps are unexpected, as when JC, a classmate and internet-famous polyglot, invites her to skip class and visit a hot spring with him. After an awkward sexual encounter, which she’s prepared to brush off as a “funny story between friends,” JC tells others in the program, embellishing the details, and the rumor damages Lily’s relationships with her classmates and teachers. Making matters worse, she learns her grandfather has just passed away, and that she’s lost the chance to talk with both grandparents in their native tongue. Lily’s earnestness is heartfelt and poignant, especially as she reels from grief. The result is a touching story of fading heritage.– Publishers Weekly

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Those Who Are Gone by Laurie R. King

King’s solid sequel to Back to the Garden follows San Francisco detective Raquel Laing as she investigates a cold case that links back to her childhood. After being placed on leave, Laing has returned to the SFPD’s cold case unit as a consultant. She resumes investigating the execution-style murder of Gilbert Gallegos, a small-time drug dealer, with special intensity after learning that the fatal bullet matches one removed from her leg when she was shot while she was on the force. The motive for Gallegos’s murder seems obvious—he’d stolen a kilo of cocaine, likely from a narcotics trafficker, before his death. Laing’s digging, however, leads her to suspect that Gallegos’s death was connected to a decades-long string of killings in Northern California, including a 1980s hit on Dolores Ortega, a journalist probing the Sinaloa cartel. That murder has personal resonance for Laing: Ortega was the birth mother of her adopted sister, Dee, who lives with Laing and has since become a PI. As the investigation unfolds, the siblings unearth dark family secrets. King has the mechanics of a police procedural down pat, and she heightens suspense with chapters from the perspective of an unnamed killer. This goes down smooth.– Publishers Weekly Review

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Training for Your Old Lady Body: A Guide to Building Muscle and Mobility at Any Age by Elizabeth Davies

Training for a bikini body? No, thank you. We’re training for dense bones, a healthy heart, good balance, and to maintain physical independence in our senior years. To carry our groceries up a flight of stairs. To play with our children and our grandchildren after them. We’re training for our old lady bodies.

Whether you are starting from scratch or a seasoned pro in the gym, these pages contain everything you need to know to strength train safely and effectively. This essential guide offers practical instruction and powerful motivation to build strength for life, including:

Sections highlighting pelvic floor health, mobility, and bone density

A training jargon dictionary

Modifications for bodyweight exercises

Tips on sleep health and protein intake

Creating a routine that fits within busy schedules

And much more.

Filled with expert guidance and 50 illustrations showcasing various exercises, this empowering companion will provide you with the tools and confidence to establish a healthy, consistent fitness practice, enabling you to feel your best and strongest at any age.

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Happy reading!

Linda Reimer, SSCL

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

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Information on the four library catalogs

The Digital Catalog aka Libby: https://stls.overdrive.com/

The Digital Catalog, is an online catalog containing eBooks, eAudiobooks, and digital magazines. You can use your library card and checkout content on a PC; you can also use the companion app, Libby, to access titles on your mobile devices; so you can enjoy eBooks and eAudiobooks on the go!

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

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

The Hoopla Catalog features on demand checkouts of eBooks, eAudiobooks, comic books, albums, movies and TV shows. Patron check out limit is 10 items per month.

Hoopla is a Southeast Steuben County Library service available to all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders.

The Hoopla companion app, also called Hoopla is available for mobile devices, smart TVs & media streaming players.

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Kanopy Catalog: https://www.kanopy.com/en

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).

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

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

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

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

Suggested Listening & Viewing: September 4, 2026

Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, here is our 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! 

This week, in keeping with it being the long Labor Day Weekend in the U.S., here are some listening and viewing suggestions that compliment Labor Day.

And for anyone interested in the history of Labor Day in the United States; which has its origins in the rise of labor movements in the U.S. in the late nineteenth century; here is a link to a short New York Public Library history of the holiday:

https://wayback.archive-it.org/18689/20220313113753/https://www.nypl.org/blog/2012/09/03/first-labor-day

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First off the music, this week the album

Talking Union (1955) by the Almanac Singers with Song Swappers

Staring with the song:

We Shall Not Be Moved  

 

About The Album: The Almanac Singers were a folk group that originally played together between 1940 and 1943; and included musicians Lee Hayes, Millard Campbell, Bess Hawes, Woody Guthrie, Arthur Stern, Pete Seeger and Sis Cunningham. The group played songs that focused on the lives of working class people and the importance of labor unions. This album was released in 1955.

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Moving on to our Suggested Viewing title of the week; this week our recommendation is:

Matewan (1987) 

 

About The Movie: Written and directed by John Sayles, this wrenching historical drama recounts the true story of a West Virginia coal town where the local miners’ struggle to form a union rose to the pitch of all-out war in 1920. When Matewan’s miners go on strike, organizer Joe Kenehan (Chris Cooper, in his film debut) arrives to help them, uniting workers white and black, Appalachia-born and immigrant, while urging patience in the face of the coal company’s violent provocations. With a crackerjack ensemble cast—including James Earl Jones, David Strathairn, Mary McDonnell, and Will Oldham—and Oscar-nominated cinematography by Haskell Wexler, Matewan taps into a rich vein of Americana with painstaking attention to local texture, issuing an impassioned cry for justice that still resounds today. – Criterion Collection Review

About Formats: Matewan is not currently available to stream through the usual steaming services; it is available on DVD and may be checked out at the library in the DVD format.

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Bonus Labor Day Weekend Streaming Suggestions

Since it is a long weekend – and you might have some extra time on your hands – here are two more suggested views that compliment Labor Day.

Norma Rae (1979) 

 

About The Movie: Norma Rae (1979) is a drama based on the true story of a textile worker in a small Southern town who becomes involved in a campaign to unionize her factory.

Norma Rae (Sally Field, in an Oscar winning performance) works long hours in a harsh textile mill where workers face low wages, poor working conditions, and constant pressure from management. When Reuben Warshowsky (Ron Leibman), a union organizer from New York, arrives to organize the employees, Norma initially remains skeptical.

As she learns more about the workers’ situation, Norma becomes increasingly committed to the union effort. Her activism puts her job—and eventually her personal relationships—at risk.

The film’s most famous moment occurs when Norma is fired for her union activities. She climbs onto a table on the factory floor and writes “UNION” on a piece of cardboard. She holds it up while the machinery around her gradually goes silent as the workers stop working in solidarity with her.

The union ultimately succeeds in organizing the plant.

About Formats: Norma Rae is not currently available to stream through the usual steaming services; it is available on DVD and may be checked out from the library.

The Grapes of Wrath (1940) 

 

About The Movie: The Grapes of Wrath (1940): If you enjoy powerful stories about ordinary people facing extraordinary hardship, The Grapes of Wrath is well worth watching. John Ford’s acclaimed adaptation of John Steinbeck’s novel follows the Joad family as they leave their Oklahoma farm during the Dust Bowl and travel to California in search of work. Along the way, they encounter poverty, exploitation, and the harsh realities faced by migrant workers. Henry Fonda gives a memorable performance as Tom Joad, a man who gradually comes to understand that standing together may be the only way working people can fight for a better life. Both moving and beautifully filmed, the movie remains a powerful portrait of family, dignity, perseverance, and solidarity.

About Formats: The Grapes of Wrath is available to stream through the usual streaming services; i.e. Amazon, Apple, Google Play etc. It may also be checked out and streamed through Hoopla (one of the library’s digital resources)

Additionally, the movie is available on Blu-ray and standard DVD; and may also be checked out at the library in the DVD format.

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Background Viewing

(Perfect to have on while having dinner, reading etc.)

Peaceful Autumn Lakeside Cabin

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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 aka Libby: https://stls.overdrive.com/ 

The Digital Catalog, is an online catalog containing eBooks, eAudiobooks, and digital magazines. You can use your library card and checkout content on a PC; you can also use the companion app, Libby, to access titles on your mobile devices; so you can enjoy eBooks and eAudiobooks on the go! 

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

And The Digital Catalog/Libby features titles that may be checked out via the one-copy-one-user lending model, just like print books.  

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

The Hoopla Catalog features on demand checkouts of eBooks, eAudiobooks, comic books, albums, movies and TV shows. Patron 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.  

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Kanopy Catalog: https://www.kanopy.com/en 

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). 

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

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

Have questions about any of the catalogs?

Give us a call!

You can reach us at 607-936-3713 or visit our website at https://ssclibrary.org/

Suggested Listening & Viewing: August 28, 2026

Linda Reimer

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 and album:

Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (1963) by Bob Dylan  

 

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Moving on to our suggested viewing title of the week; this week our recommendation is the movie Safety Last! (1923)

Here is the movie:

About Formats: Safety Last! Can be streamed, obviously on YouTube with a new score; and also by the usual mainstream streaming services and checked out and streamed via the library’s streaming service Kanopy. It may also be purchased on regular or Blu-ray DVD.

About The Movie: Safety Last! (1923) is a silent film classic produced by Elmira native Hal Roach and starring comedian Harold Lloyd. 

It is one of the most popular films of the silent film era and includes the iconic scene of Harold Lloyd hanging from a large clock tower clock, while viewers can see the traffic below and the city around him.  

The movie’s humor starts with its title Safety Last! – the phrase “Safety First”, being a common phrase of the era that promoted the idea of implementing safety measures to avoid workplace accidents. In the film Lloyd doesn’t put safety first to comedic effect.

About Harold Lloyd: Harold Lloyd was born April 20, 1893, in Burchard, Nebraska to James Darsie Lloyd and Sarah Elisabeth Fraser. Lloyd’s parents divorced when he was a boy and he moved with his father to San Diego, California. Lloyd graduated from high school and then, in keeping with his childhood love of theater; dove right into the performing arts; as a young man he worked for the Edison Film Company. His first appearance in a movie was in the Edison film The Old Monk’s Tale (1914) which saw him portraying an Indian.  

During the teens Lloyd met and became friends with filmmaker Hal Roach and his career took off. Inspired by Chaplin’s Tramp character; Lloyd’s and Roach created a humorous, bumbling character named “Lonesome Luke,” for Lloyd to play. The Lonesome Luke shorts were very popular with movie goers; but as the decade went on Lloyd made the decision to move away from that character and instead created an upbeat, enthusiastic, bespectacled every-day type of character, usually referred to as Harold in film credits; who encounters humorous situations, but who isn’t humorous in and of himself. This new character became even more popular than Lonesome Luke and appeared in numerous films including From Hand to Mouth (1919), Captain Kidd’s Kids (1919), Grandma’s Boy (1922), Why Worry (1923) and Safety Last! (1923). 

Lloyd left the Roach company in 1924, founded his own production company; The Harold Lloyd Motion Picture Company; became an independent filmmaker and successfully made the transition to talking films starting with the movie Welcome Danger (1929). In the 1930s he continued to make movies including Feet First (1930), Movie Crazy (1932) and The Cats-Paw (1934). He sold his studio in 1937 and went on to produce movies for Paramount and RKO and host a radio show, The Old Gold Comedy Theater before retiring in 1947. 

Harold Lloyd died March 8, 1971 in Beverly Hills, California and is buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Los Angeles, California.

About Hal Roach: In brief, Harold Eugene Roach was born in Elmira, New York on January 14, 1892. 

As a youth he showed an adventurous streak traveling solo to Alaska and then down the Pacific Coast to San Diego. Roach landed in Hollywood in 1912 and launched his career by appearing as an extra in silent films. In 1914 he co-founded the Rolin Film Company with Dan Linthicum and I.H. Nance, and the following year he produced his first successful short Just Nuts (1915). In 1920, he inherited $3,000 and was able to pursue his passion to create films with enthusiasm by founding the Hal Roach Studios; shortly thereafter he began making the Lonesome Luke shorts with his friend Harold Lloyd and his career took off.

Roach made more than 2,000 shorts during his career; including some of the most successful films of the 1920s and 1930s; among the most popular and influential of these are the Harold Lloyd films, the Our Gang films (aka The Little Rascals), movie shorts starring Will Rogers and films starring Laurel & Hardy.

Hal Roach died in Los Angeles on November 2, 1992 and is buried in Elmira’s Woodlawn Cemetery.

To learn more about Hal Roach’s works, check out his Internet Movie Database page https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0730018/

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Background Viewing

(Perfect to have on while having dinner, reading etc.)

Lakeside Ambience with Relaxing Nature sounds and Calm Fire

Have a great weekend!

Linda Reimer, SSCL

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Information on the four library catalogs (content available 24/7!)

The Digital Catalog aka Libby: https://stls.overdrive.com/ 

The Digital Catalog, is an online catalog containing eBooks, eAudiobooks, and digital magazines. You can use your library card and checkout content on a PC; you can also use the companion app, Libby, to access titles on your mobile devices; so you can enjoy eBooks and eAudiobooks on the go! 

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

And The Digital Catalog/Libby features titles that may be checked out via the one-copy-one-user lending model, just like print books.  

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

The Hoopla Catalog features on demand checkouts of eBooks, eAudiobooks, comic books, albums, movies and TV shows. Patron 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.  

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Kanopy Catalog: https://www.kanopy.com/en 

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). 

– 

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

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

Have questions about any of the catalogs?

Give us a call!

You can reach us at 607-936-3713 or visit our website at https://ssclibrary.org/

Suggested Listening & Viewing: August 21, 2026

Linda Reimer

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 aka Libby: https://stls.overdrive.com/ 

The Digital Catalog, is an online catalog containing eBooks, eAudiobooks, and digital magazines. You can use your library card and checkout content on a PC; you can also use the companion app, Libby, to access titles on your mobile devices; so you can enjoy eBooks and eAudiobooks on the go! 

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

And The Digital Catalog/Libby features titles that may be checked out via the one-copy-one-user lending model, just like print books.  

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

The Hoopla Catalog features on demand checkouts of eBooks, eAudiobooks, comic books, albums, movies and TV shows. Patron 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.  

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Kanopy Catalog: https://www.kanopy.com/en 

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). 

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

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

Have questions about any of the catalogs?

Give us a call!

You can reach us at 607-936-3713 or visit our website at https://ssclibrary.org/

Book Sale Starts Saturday!

Linda Reimer

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!

Suggested Listening & Viewing: August 14, 2026

Linda Reimer

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 aka Libby: https://stls.overdrive.com/ 

The Digital Catalog, is an online catalog containing eBooks, eAudiobooks, and digital magazines. You can use your library card and checkout content on a PC; you can also use the companion app, Libby, to access titles on your mobile devices; so you can enjoy eBooks and eAudiobooks on the go! 

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

And The Digital Catalog/Libby features titles that may be checked out via the one-copy-one-user lending model, just like print books.  

– 

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

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.  

– 

Kanopy Catalog: https://www.kanopy.com/en 

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). 

– 

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

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

Have questions about any of the catalogs?

Give us a call!

You can reach us at 607-936-3713 or visit our website at https://ssclibrary.org/

Suggested Listening & Viewing: July 31, 2026

Linda Reimer

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) 

–

 

Bustin’ Surfboards by The Tornados 

 

Found on the Album: Bustin’ Surfboards (2017) 

– 

Let’s Go Trippin’ by Dick Dale 

 

Found on the Album: Surfer’s Choice (2006) 

– 

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) 

– 

Pipeline by The Chantays 

 

Found on the Album: Pipeline (1963/2001) 

– 

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) 

– 

Walk, Don’t Run by The Ventures 

 

Found on the Album: Walk Don’t Run: The Best of the Ventures (1990) 

– 

Wipeout by The Surfaris 

 

Found on the Album: Wipe Out (1963) 

– 

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

 

– 

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: 

Hide Away by Freddie King 

 

– 

Mainstream Stream  of the Week

Summer of ‘36 (2026) (Netflix) 

 

– 

Kanopy Stream of the Week

Reeling (2025) 

Reeling (2025) Trailer

– 

Have a great weekend!

Linda Reimer, SSCL

–

Information on the four library catalogs 

The Digital Catalog aka Libby: https://stls.overdrive.com/ 

The Digital Catalog, is an online catalog containing eBooks, eAudiobooks, and digital magazines. You can use your library card and checkout content on a PC; you can also use the companion app, Libby, to access titles on your mobile devices; so you can enjoy eBooks and eAudiobooks on the go! 

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

And The Digital Catalog/Libby features titles that may be checked out via the one-copy-one-user lending model, just like print books.  

– 

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

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.  

– 

Kanopy Catalog: https://www.kanopy.com/en 

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). 

– 

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. 

Suggested Reading Five: July 29, 2026

Linda Reimer

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

–

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?

–

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 

– 

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 

– 

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 

– 

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  

–

Happy reading!

Linda Reimer, SSCL

–

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

–

Information on the four library catalogs

The Digital Catalog aka Libby: https://stls.overdrive.com/

The Digital Catalog, is an online catalog containing eBooks, eAudiobooks, and digital magazines. You can use your library card and checkout content on a PC; you can also use the companion app, Libby, to access titles on your mobile devices; so you can enjoy eBooks and eAudiobooks on the go!

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

–

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

The Hoopla Catalog features on demand checkouts of eBooks, eAudiobooks, comic books, albums, movies and TV shows. Patron check out limit is 10 items per month.

Hoopla is a Southeast Steuben County Library service available to all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders.

The Hoopla companion app, also called Hoopla is available for mobile devices, smart TVs & media streaming players.

–

Kanopy Catalog: https://www.kanopy.com/en

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).

–

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

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

–

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

–

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

Suggested Listening & Viewing: July 24, 2026

Linda Reimer

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!

–

The Eighth of January by Sid Hemphill 

 

Found on the Album: The Devil’s Dream: Alan Lomax’s 1942 Library of Congress Recordings (2013) 

– 

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:

https://www.wkyufm.org/2022-02-18/the-african-american-folklorist-bessie-jones

– 

I Would If I Could by Frazier & Patterson 

 

Found on the Album: My Journey Home (2015) 

– 

Milwaukee Blues by The New Lost City Ramblers 

 

Found on the Album: The New Lost City Ramblers (1958) 

– 

Pan American Blues by DeFord Bailey  

 

Found on the Album: Matchbox Bluesmaster Series, Set 3 (2021) by Various Artists 

– 

Sitting On Top of the World by Mississippi Sheiks 

 

Found on the Album: Mississippi Sheiks – Complete Recorded Works 1930 – 1936 Vol 3 (1931-1934) (2000)

– 

Sometimes by Bessie Jones 

 

Found on the Album: Sounds of the South (2011) by Various Artists  

– 

Tishamingo Blues by Peg Leg Howell 

 

Found on the Album: Matchbox Bluesmaster Set 4 (2021) by Various Artists 

– 

Trouble In Mind by Big Bill Broonzy 

 

Found on the Album: Trouble In Mind (2000) 

– 

Walk Right In by Cannon’s Jug Stompers 

 

Found on the Album: Cannon’s Jug Stompers: The Complete Works 1927 – 1930 (1989) 

–

Mainstream Stream of the Week 

Human Vapor (2026) (Netflix) 

 

– 

Kanopy Stream of the Week 

I Am Big Bird (2015) 

) 

–

Have a great weekend!

Linda Reimer, SSCL

–

Information on the four library catalogs 

The Digital Catalog aka Libby: https://stls.overdrive.com/ 

The Digital Catalog, is an online catalog containing eBooks, eAudiobooks, and digital magazines. You can use your library card and checkout content on a PC; you can also use the companion app, Libby, to access titles on your mobile devices; so you can enjoy eBooks and eAudiobooks on the go! 

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

And The Digital Catalog/Libby features titles that may be checked out via the one-copy-one-user lending model, just like print books.  

– 

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

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.  

– 

Kanopy Catalog: https://www.kanopy.com/en 

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). 

– 

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. 

Suggested Reading Five: July 22, 2026

Linda Reimer

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

–

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 

– 

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 

– 

 
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  

– 

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  

– 

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.  

–

Happy reading!

Linda Reimer, SSCL

–

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

–

Information on the four library catalogs

The Digital Catalog aka Libby: https://stls.overdrive.com/

The Digital Catalog, is an online catalog containing eBooks, eAudiobooks, and digital magazines. You can use your library card and checkout content on a PC; you can also use the companion app, Libby, to access titles on your mobile devices; so you can enjoy eBooks and eAudiobooks on the go!

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

–

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

The Hoopla Catalog features on demand checkouts of eBooks, eAudiobooks, comic books, albums, movies and TV shows. Patron check out limit is 10 items per month.

Hoopla is a Southeast Steuben County Library service available to all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders.

The Hoopla companion app, also called Hoopla is available for mobile devices, smart TVs & media streaming players.

–

Kanopy Catalog: https://www.kanopy.com/en

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).

–

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

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

–

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

–

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