Suggested Listening May 4, 2018

Hi everyone, here are our five musical recommendations for the week; four streaming suggestions* and one recommended album on CD.

(Click on the photo to stream or request the album you want to listen to!)

Freegal Streaming Suggestions*

Peaks And Valleys by Chris Richards And The Subtractions (2018) (Genre: Rock):

Singer-songwriter & guitarist Chris Richards and his band create great, bright and guitar based music. Richards hails from Michigan and is well known to mid-west music fans – this is his third LP with his new band the Subtractions. And I’d classify this album as a rock album and not a classic rock album; however, you can certainly hear in the music that Chris Richards is a big fan of classic rock in general and the British Invasion bands of the sixties in particular.

This is fun album perfect for listening to while on a long drive or just hanging out on a Saturday!

Songs on the LP include: Half Asleep, The Coast is Clear, Wrapped in a Riddle, Call Me Out, Just Another Season and Maybe That Is All.

Bluegrass Delivers: Theme from Deliverance (1998) by Various Artists (Genre: Bluegrass, Country, Classic Country):

This is a terrific bluegrass collection – perfect to play if you’re in a dancing mood on a Saturday night, or any other night of the week!

Songs/Artists on the LP include: I’m a Stranger Here by Mac Wiseman & The Osborne Brothers, Black Eyed Suzy by Lester Flatt’s Nashville Grass, The River by The Nashville Superpickers, Down the Old Plank Road by Grandpa Jones and Feudin’ Banjos by Charlie Cushman & Bobby Clark.

Jazztet Big City Sounds (1961) by Art Farmer and Benny Golson (Genre: Jazz, Classic Jazz):

Art Farmer started out playing with a variety of groups in Los Angeles in the mid nineteen forties including bands led by Johnny Otis, Benny Carter, Addison Farmer and Lionel Hampton. Farmer moved to New York in the early fifties and continued working with many groups into the sixties including the Horace Silver Quintet, the Gerry Mulligan Quartet and the Jazztet which he co-led with Benny Golson. In 1968 he moved to Vienna to work with the Austrian Radio Orchestra and he continued to live in Austria for the rest of life.

This 1961 album features Art Farmer, saxophonist Benny Golson and pianist McCoy Tyner. This is a fun classic jazz album which does sort of sound as if it might have been the perfect soundtrack to a day and night in a big city in 1961 – or the perfect soundtrack for a great noir film.

Songs on the LP include: Five Spot After Dark, The Cool One, Hi-Fly, Blues On Down, Wonder Why & Bean Bag

Presidential Inaugural Addresses by Various Presidents (Genre: Spoken, Audiobook):

This album doesn’t feature music at all! Instead, it allows you to access the presidential addresses of U.S. Presidents from Franklin Roosevelt’s first address in 1933 through Jimmy Carter’s 1977 address.

The addresses are interesting as they reflect both the times in which they were given and the style of the presidents giving each address. For example, President Roosevelt’s famous 1933 address, given in the midst of The Great Depression is at heart a pep talk for the discouraged American people in the midst of The Great Depression; it was his first inaugural address and the one during which he spoke words that have been remembered ever since: “The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself”. Also included in the set is Roosevelt’s 1945 address, which reflects the fact that the world was moving towards the end of World War II and, President Kennedy’s inspirational 1961 address during which he said the famous words: “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you–ask what you can do for your country.”

And if you’re thinking to yourself “Hmm, I bet she was a history major!” You’d be right!

Recommended CD of the Week:

Eight Classic Albums by Bud Powell (Genre: Jazz):

In his AllMusic biography of Powell, writer Scott Yanow described Powell’s playing this way: “One of the giants of the jazz piano, Bud Powell changed the way that virtually all post-swing pianists play their instruments. He did away with the left-hand striding that had been considered essential earlier and used his left hand to state chords on an irregular basis. His right often played speedy single-note lines, essentially transforming Charlie Parker’s vocabulary to the piano (although he developed parallel to “Bird”).”

This multi-disc collection features the following Powell albums:

Bud Powell Trio (1947)

The Amazing Bud Powell (1951): Also known as The Amazing Bud Powell Vol. 1

The Amazing Bud Powell Vol. 2 (1953)

Bud Powell Trio Vol. 2 (1953)

The Amazing Bud Powell Vol 3: Also known as Bud! The Amazing Bud Powell

TIME WAITS (1958): Also known as the Amazing Bud Powell Vol. 4

Blues In The Closet (1958)

The Scene Changes (1958): Also known as the Amazing Bud Powell, Vol. 5

Songs in the collection include: Bouncing with Bud, Wail, Dance of the Infidels, 52nd Street Theme, You Go To My Head, Ornithology, Un Poco Loco and Over the Rainbow.

Videos of the Week:

The Coast Is Clear – Chris Richards & The Subtractions

White Room – The Cache Valley Drifters

Five Spot After Dark by The Jazztet featuring Art Farmer & Benny Golson

President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Inaugural Address (1933)

President Harry S. Truman’s Inaugural Address (1949)

President John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address (1961)

Un Poco Loco by Bud Powell

Have a great weekend!

Linda, SSCL

*A library card is required to use the Freegal Music Service. If you live in the service area of the Southern Tier Library System, which consists of the public libraries in Steuben, Chemung, Yates, Schuyler and Alleghany counties in New York State, you can get a library card for free at your nearest public library – including our own Southeast Steuben County Library in Corning, New York. The Freegal Music Service is free for all Southern Tier Library System member libraries library card holders to access.

Have a great weekend!

Linda, SSCL

References:

Artist Biography & Discography Information:

http://www.allmusic.com/

The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits by Joel Whitburn (Billboard Books. New York. 2009.)

Inaugural Address of President John F. Kennedy, Washington, D.C., January 20, 1961. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library And Museum. Online. Accessed May 4, 2018.
https://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Research-Aids/Ready-Reference/JFK-Quotations/Inaugural-Address.aspx

The Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents. Yale Law School Lillian Goldman Law Library – The Avalon Project Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy. Yale Law School. Online. Accessed May 4, 2018. http://avalon.law.yale.edu/subject_menus/inaug.asp

P.S. If you have any questions about how to download or stream free music through the Freegal Music service to a desktop or laptop computer or how to download and use the Freegal Music app let us know! Drop by the library or give us a call at: 607-936-3713

*You must have a library card at a Southern Tier Library System member library to enjoy the Freegal Music Service. Your card can be from any library in the system, and the system includes all public libraries in Steuben, Chemung, Yates, Schuyler and Allegheny Counties and includes our own Southeast Steuben Count Library in Corning, New York!

Library cards are free if you live in our service area. And you can obtain a card by visiting the Circulation Desk and presenting staff with a form of ID that features your name and your current address.

Links to the desktop versions of the catalogs for the library system – apps for each are available in your app store:

Digital Library Catalogs:

Freegal offers streaming and downloadable music

OverDrive allows you to check out eBooks, downloadable audiobooks and handful of streaming videos

RB Digital is the place you go to check out magazines – on demand – and you never have to return them!

The Traditional Library Catalog:

You can search for and request books, DVDs, music CDs, audiobooks on CD and other physical format items through StarCat – it is the modern day card catalog!

Did You Know…Victoria!

Hi everyone, here is our Did You Know… posting for May 2018!

Did you know…

Victoria!

So you’ve enjoyed the first two seasons of the PBS series Victoria, which chronicles the early life and reign of Queen Victoria and her dashing Prince Consort, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

But did you know…

The TV series is based upon a book, Victoria: A Novel, written by Daisy Goodwin?

It is!

Daisy Goodwin began doing research for the novel while she was a student at Cambridge University. Goodwin read Victoria’s personal diaries to gain a greater understanding of what life was like for the teenage Princess Victoria, who became queen just a month after her eighteenth birthday.

Interestingly, the novel Victoria actually ends at the time the two cousins, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, became engaged.

So the Goodwin book really is a bildungsroman!

And I love that word, bildungsroman!

Although the first time I read it, in a review of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows, I had to look it up in the dictionary!

But that is cool as learning is a wonderful thing!

The Concise Oxford English Dictionary defines bildungsroman as meaning “a novel dealing with a person’s formative years” , so the term does indeed apply to the story of the young Queen Victoria we see in seasons 1 & 2 of the PBS series.

And having now shown my library geekiness – I’ll get back to the subject at hand – the fact that the Goodwin novel Victoria, which admittedly is only her first book on Queen Victoria*, covers a relatively short period of Queen Victoria’s life beginning just as she becomes queen in 1837 and ending just before her marriage to Prince Albert in 1840. The TV series has already gone past that point in history. And the real life story of Queen Victoria went on for another 61 years! In fact, Queen Victoria held the record for the longest reigning monarch in British history for more than one hundred years until the record was broken by Queen Elizabeth in 2015.

Did you know…

That there are several book available that will allow you, like Daisy Goodwin, to read entries from Queen Victoria’s private diaries?

There are!

The library owns two of them —

Life at the Court of Queen Victoria: 1861-1901 written by Queen Victoria and edited by Barry St-John Nevill:

And

Dearest Mama: Private Correspondence of Queen Victoria and the Crown Princess of Prussia, 1861-64:

Did you know…

That the scientist Ada Lovelace, seen in Season 2, Episode 2 of the Victoria TV series, is considered to be the first computer programmer?

She is!

Disclaimer! I am not a math person! I’d rather write essays all day long then work on advanced math problems! So to properly illustrate Ada Lovelace’s importance, I’m going to quote from her New York Times obituary* the information that relays just why, today, she is considered the first computer programmer:

“A century before the dawn of the computer age, Ada Lovelace imagined the modern-day, general-purpose computer. It could be programmed to follow instructions, she wrote in 1843. It could not just calculate but also create, as it “weaves algebraic patterns just as the Jacquard loom weaves flowers and leaves.”

The computer she was writing about, the British inventor Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine, was never built. But her writings about computing have earned Lovelace — who died of uterine cancer in 1852 at 36 — recognition as the first computer programmer.

The program she wrote for the Analytical Engine was to calculate the seventh Bernoulli number. (Bernoulli numbers, named after the Swiss mathematician Jacob Bernoulli, are used in many different areas of mathematics.) But her deeper influence was to see the potential of computing. The machines could go beyond calculating numbers, she said, to understand symbols and be used to create music or art.

“This insight would become the core concept of the digital age,” Walter Isaacson wrote in his book “The Innovators.” “Any piece of content, data or information — music, text, pictures, numbers, symbols, sounds, video — could be expressed in digital form and manipulated by machines.” (Claire Cain Miller, the New York Times, Online)

So you see, all of us who use technology, from casual cell phone users to tech geeks who eagerly await the next new and exciting personal technology news, should celebrate the work of Ada Lovelace, as without her work we might not have the technology we have today!

Did you know…

That author Walter Isaacson makes prominent mention of Ada Lovelace and her contributions to computer science in his book The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution?

He does!

Not surprisingly, considering how patriarchal an era the 19th Century was, female scientists and inventors of that era have largely been forgotten by those writing the history books. Walter Isaacson does his bit to set the record straight in his book by highlighting the important work done by female scientists.

And as a fun little aside, Isaacson was inspired to research the work done by female scientists and innovators and emphasize that work in his book by, of all things, his daughter’s school work! It seems when Isaacson’s daughter, Betsy, was in college she spent a long time procrastinating and putting off writing her obligatory college essay, much to the chagrin of her parents. And when she finally completed the two-page essay her father asked her what subject she had chosen to write about and she replied “Ada Lovelace”, and noted that historically, women who have made contributions to the sciences have been forgotten. And Betsy planted a seed that eventually inspired Isaacson to emphasize the work done by female scientists and inventors as a major thread in his book.

If you haven’t read the Isaacson book it is fascinating and it discusses a number of scientists and inventors including: Ada Lovelace, Admiral and Computer Scientist Grace Hopper, Vannevar Bush head of the U.S. Office of Scientific Research and Development during World War II, Robert Noyce of Intel, Bill Gates & Paul Alan of Microsoft, Steve Jobs & Steve Wozniak of Apple, Larry Page of Google, Jimmy Wales of Wikipedia and many others.

And should you wish to read Walter Isaacson’s excellent book on technological innovators – click on the photo to request it!

Getting back to the subject of Queen Victoria…

Did you know…

That Prince Albert really did break through the ice while skating and that Queen Victoria really did save him, as seen in the last episode of the second season of Victoria?

He did and she did!

We all know that TV adaptations of books, based on historical fact, are fictionalized a bit when adapted for television or the big screen. So I wondered when I saw that scene if it happened in real life or if it was just created to give more pizzazz to the storyline so I looked it up!

And I discovered that Prince Albert was an enthusiastic ice skater, and that in early 1841 Queen Victoria had a new pair of skates made especially for him. Subsequently, the royal couple went for a walk in Buckingham Palace’s Kensington Gardens with only one Maid of Honour, the Hon Miss Murray, in tow. Prince Albert put on his new skates and was zipping across the ice when he fell through the ice and into the frigid water. Queen Victoria directed Miss Murray to take one of her hands while she reached for Prince Albert with her other hand, and together they pulled Prince Albert out of the water!

And if I didn’t know that story was true I’d say it couldn’t possibly be – but it really did happen!

And here is a description of the accident given by Prince Albert himself in a letter he sent to his stepmother: “I managed, in skating, three days ago, to break through the ice in Buckingham Palace Gardens. I was making my way to Victoria, who was standing on the bank with one of her ladies, and when within some few yards of the bank I fell plump into the water, and had to swim for two or three minutes in order to get out.

“Victoria was the only person who had the presence of mind to lend me assistance, her lady being more occupied in screaming for help. The shock from the cold was extremely painful, and I cannot thank Heaven enough, that I escaped with nothing more than a severe cold.”

So the skating accident may sound like fiction but it is fact!

And for our final did you know of the month…

Did you know…

That Queen Victoria and Prince Albert had nine children?

They did!

And here is a list of Queen Victoria & Prince Albert’s children:

Vicky (Princess Victoria, later German Empress, 1840-1901):

Bertie (Albert Edward Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII, 1841-1910)

Alice (Princess Alice, later Grand Duchess of Hesse, 1843-1878)
Note: Princess Alice’s great-grandson is the current Prince Consort, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

Alfred (Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, later Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha 1844-1900)

Helena (Princess Helena, later Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, 1846-1923)

Louise (Princess Louise, later Duchess of Argyll, 1848-1939)

Arthur (Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, 1850-1942)

Leopold (Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany 1853-1884)

Beatrice (Princess Beatrice, later Princess Henry of Battenberg, 1857-1944)

Victoria Books & DVDs To Enjoy:

Books:

Queen Victoria’s Children by John Van der Kiste

Victoria: A Novel by Daisy Goodwin

Victoria and Albert: A Royal Love Affair by Goodwin and Sarah Sheridan:

Note: This is the companion book to the second season of the Victoria TV series!

Victoria’s Daughters by Jerrold Packard:

DVDs

Edward The King (TV Mini Series from 1975):

And yes, the series is about Queen Victoria’s son Bertie, known to history as King Edward VII. However, as Queen Victoria lived a long time and King Edward survived her by less than ten years — there is a quite a bit of Victoria seen in this dramatized series.

Queen Victoria’s Children:

Queen Victoria’s Empire:

Victoria & Abdul (2017):

Victoria: the Complete First Season:

Victoria: The Complete Second Season:

The Young Victoria (2008) (A stand alone movie not related to the current PBS TV series):

* Season 2 of the PBS series Victoria is based upon the book Victoria and Albert: A Royal Love Affair which was co-authored by Daisy Goodwin and Sarah Sheridan

*Overlooked: Ada Lovelace – Overlooked is a new obituary series the New York has created that highlights the lives of women whose contributions to society were previously overlooked due to their gender.

Have a great day!
Linda, SSCL

References (Because libraries love to cite their sources!)

Bilton, Nick. The Women Tech Forgot ‘The Innovators’ by Walter Isaacson: How Women Shaped Technology. 14 October 2014. The New York Times. Accessed April 30, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/02/fashion/the-innovators-by-walter-isaacson-how-women-shaped-technology.html

Dearest Mama: Letters Between Queen Victoria and the Crown Princess of Prussia 1861-1864. New York, Holt, Rinehart and Winston. 1969.

Gilbert, Deborah. Daisy Goodwin on Writing and Creating Victoria on MASTERPIECE. 12 January, 2018.Thirteen (PBS). Online. Accessed April 30, 2018.
https://www.thirteen.org/blog-post/daisy-goodwin-on-writing-and-creating-victoria-on-masterpiece/

Isaacson, Walter, The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution. New York. Simon & Schuster. 2014.

Miller, Claire Cain. Overlooked: Ada Lovelace: A Gifted mathematician who is now recognized as the first computer programmer. The New York Times. Online. Accessed April 30, 2018.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/obituaries/overlooked-ada-lovelace.html

Life at the Court of Queen Victoria: 1861-1901. Edited by Barry St-John Nevill, Illustration from the collection of Lord Edward Pelham-Clinton, Master of the Household. Exeter. Webb & Bower, 1984.

Goodwin, Daisy. Victoria. St. Martin’s Press. New York. 2016.

Prince Albert. The Home of the Royal Family. Online. Accessed April 30, 2018.
https://www.royal.uk/prince-albert

The true story of Prince Albert’s ice-skating accident – and how Queen Victoria saved his life. Radio Times. Online. Accessed. April 30, 2018.
http://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2018-04-27/the-true-story-of-prince-alberts-ice-skating-accident-and-how-queen-victoria-saved-his-life/

Victoria (r. 1837-1901). The Home of the Royal Family. Online. Accessed April 30, 2018.
https://www.royal.uk/victoria-r-1837-1901

StarCat (The catalog of physical materials, i.e. books, DVDs, music CDs etc.):

OverDrive (The catalog of digital materials including eBooks, downloadable audio books and a handful of streaming videos):

Freegal Music Service (The streaming catalog of music available for free to library card holders):

RB Digital (Free magazines – on demand!):

And apps for OverDrive, Freegal & RB Digital can be found in your app store – so you can access digital library content on a laptop/desktop computer or on a mobile device.

Suggested Reading Week of April 23, 2018

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

This list includes five digital titles available through OverDrive and five print titles available through StarCat.

(Note: Click on the photo of the item you’re interested in to request it or check it out)

Digital Suggestions Of The Week:

50 Beautiful Deer-Resistant Plants: The Prettiest Annuals, Perennials, Bulbs, and Shrubs That Deer Don’t Eat by Ruth Rogers Clausen & Alan L. Detrick:

Keeping your beautiful garden safe from deer is as simple as choosing the right plants.

Are deer destroying your garden? There is a solution, and it doesn’t involve fencing, barriers, or chemicals. In 50 Beautiful Deer-Resistant Plants perennial expert Ruth Rogers Clausen highlights the best, most versatile plants that deer simply don’t eat. The plant choices include annuals and perennials, shrubs, ferns, bulbs, grasses, and herbs; for each Clausen shares helpful growing and design tips. This practical, authoritative, full-color guide is a must-have solution to a must-stop problem.

Ash Princess by Laura Sebastian (release date April 24, 2018):

For fans of Victoria Aveyard’s Red Queen and Sabaa Tahir’s An Ember in the Ashes, Ash Princess is an epic new fantasy about a throne cruelly stolen and a girl who must fight to take it back for her people.

Theodosia was six when her country was invaded and her mother, the Fire Queen, was murdered before her eyes. On that day, the Kaiser took Theodosia’s family, her land, and her name. Theo was crowned Ash Princess—a title of shame to bear in her new life as a prisoner.

For ten years Theo has been a captive in her own palace. She’s endured the relentless abuse and ridicule of the Kaiser and his court. She is powerless, surviving in her new world only by burying the girl she was deep inside.

Then, one night, the Kaiser forces her to do the unthinkable. With blood on her hands and all hope of reclaiming her throne lost, she realizes that surviving is no longer enough. But she does have a weapon: her mind is sharper than any sword. And power isn’t always won on the battlefield.

For ten years, the Ash Princess has seen her land pillaged and her people enslaved. That all ends here.

“Tense and imaginative, this story of a diminished yet vengeful princess inciting a rebellion to recapture her rightful place of power strikes a timely chord. Ash Princess is a smart, feminist twist on a traditional tale of a fallen heroine, with plenty of court intrigue, love, and lies to sweeten the deal. Good luck putting this one down.”-Virginia Boecker, author of The Witch Hunter series

The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng:

Winner of the Man Asian Literary Prize, an “elegant and haunting novel of war, art and memory” (The Independent) from the critically acclaimed author of The Gift of Rain.

Malaya, 1951. Yun Ling Teoh, the scarred lone survivor of a brutal Japanese wartime camp, seeks solace among the jungle-fringed tea plantations of Cameron Highlands. There she discovers Yugiri, the only Japanese garden in Malaya, and its owner and creator, the enigmatic Aritomo, exiled former gardener of the emperor of Japan. Despite her hatred of the Japanese, Yun Ling seeks to engage Aritomo to create a garden in memory of her sister, who died in the camp. Aritomo refuses but agrees to accept Yun Ling as his apprentice “until the monsoon comes.” Then she can design a garden for herself.

As the months pass, Yun Ling finds herself intimately drawn to the gardener and his art, while all around them a communist guerilla war rages. But the Garden of Evening Mists remains a place of mystery.

Who is Aritomo and how did he come to leave Japan?

And is the real story of how Yun Ling managed to survive the war perhaps the darkest secret of all?

The Inn at Rose Harbor, Rose Harbor Series, Book 1 by Debbie Macomber:

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber comes the first book in a new series set in the beloved Pacific Northwest town of Cedar Cove.

Jo Marie Rose first arrives in Cedar Cove seeking a fresh start. A young widow coping with the death of her husband, she purchases a local bed-and-breakfast—the newly christened Rose Harbor Inn—ready to begin her life anew. Her first guest is Joshua Weaver, who has come home to care for his ailing stepfather. The two have never seen eye to eye, and Joshua has little hope that they can reconcile their differences. Jo Marie’s other guest is Abby Kincaid, who has returned to Cedar Cove to attend her brother’s wedding. Back for the first time in twenty years, she almost wishes she hadn’t come, the picturesque town harboring painful memories. And as Abby and Joshua try to heal from their pasts, and Jo Marie dreams of the possibilities before her, they all realize that life moves in only one direction—forward.

Seconds Away, Mickey Bolitar Series, Book 2 by Harlan Coben:

When tragedy strikes close to home, Mickey and his loyal new friends—sharp-witted Ema and the adorkably charming Spoon—find themselves at the center of a terrifying mystery involving the shooting of their classmate Rachel. Now, not only does Mickey need to keep himself and his friends safe from the Butcher of Lodz, but he needs to figure out who shot Rachel—no matter what it takes.

Mickey Bolitar is as quick-witted and clever as his uncle Myron, but with danger just seconds away, it is going to take all of his determination and help from his friends to protect the people he loves, even if he does not know who—or what—he is protecting them from.

From Kirkus Reviews: “Coben deftly weaves…multiple plot threads into a compelling whole. An involving thriller that moves like lightning.”

Print Suggestions Of The Week:

Wade in the Water: Poems by Tracy K. Smith:

The extraordinary new poetry collection by Tracy K. Smith, the Poet Laureate of the United States

Even the men in black armor, the ones
Jangling handcuffs and keys, what else

Are they so buffered against, if not love’s blade
Sizing up the heart’s familiar meat?

We watch and grieve. We sleep, stir, eat.
Love: the heart sliced open, gutted, clean.

Love: naked almost in the everlasting street,
Skirt lifted by a different kind of breeze.

―from “Unrest in Baton Rouge”

In Wade in the Water, Tracy K. Smith boldly ties America’s contemporary moment both to our nation’s fraught founding history and to a sense of the spirit, the everlasting. These are poems of sliding scale: some capture a flicker of song or memory; some collage an array of documents and voices; and some push past the known world into the haunted, the holy. Smith’s signature voice―inquisitive, lyrical, and wry―turns over what it means to be a citizen, a mother, and an artist in a culture arbitrated by wealth, men, and violence. Here, private utterance becomes part of a larger choral arrangement as the collection widens to include erasures of The Declaration of Independence and the correspondence between slave owners, a found poem comprised of evidence of corporate pollution and accounts of near-death experiences, a sequence of letters written by African Americans enlisted in the Civil War, and the survivors’ reports of recent immigrants and refugees. Wade in the Water is a potent and luminous book by one of America’s essential poets.

The Fallen by David Baldacci: 

The closer Amos Decker comes to the truth, the deadlier it gets in #1 New York Times bestselling author David Baldacci’s latest Memory Man thriller.

Something sinister is going on in Baronville. The rust belt town has seen four bizarre murders in the space of two weeks. Cryptic clues left at the scenes–obscure bible verses, odd symbols–have the police stumped.

Amos Decker and his FBI colleague Alex Jamison are in Baronville visiting Alex’s sister and her family. It’s a bleak place: a former mill and mining town with a crumbling economy and rampant opioid addiction. Decker has only been there a few hours when he stumbles on a horrific double murder scene.

Then the next killing hits sickeningly close to home. And with the lives of people he cares about suddenly hanging in the balance, Decker begins to realize that the recent string of deaths may be only one small piece of a much larger scheme–with consequences that will reach far beyond Baronville.

Decker, with his singular talents, may be the only one who can crack this bizarre case. Only this time–when one mistake could cost him everything–Decker finds that his previously infallible memory may not be so trustworthy after all.

Too Scot To Handle (Large Print) by Grace Burrowes:

A MAN WITH MANY TALENTS

As a captain in the army, Colin MacHugh led men, fixed what was broken, and fought hard. Now that he’s a titled gentleman, he’s still fighting-this time to keep his bachelorhood safe from all the marriage-minded debutantes. Then he meets the intriguing Miss Anwen Windham, whose demure nature masks a bonfire waiting to roar to life. When she asks for his help to raise money for the local orphanage, he’s happy to oblige.

Anwen is amazed at how quickly Lord Colin takes in hand a pack of rambunctious orphan boys. Amazed at how he actually listens to her ideas. Amazed at the thrill she gets from the rumble of his Scottish burr and the heat of his touch. But not everyone enjoys the success of an upstart. And Colin has enemies who will stop at nothing to ruin him and anybody he holds dear.

Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente:

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy meets the joy and glamour of Eurovision in bestselling author Catherynne M. Valente’s science fiction spectacle, where sentient races compete for glory in a galactic musical contest…and the stakes are as high as the fate of planet Earth.

A century ago, the Sentience Wars tore the galaxy apart and nearly ended the entire concept of intelligent space-faring life. In the aftermath, a curious tradition was invented—something to cheer up everyone who was left and bring the shattered worlds together in the spirit of peace, unity, and understanding.

Once every cycle, the great galactic civilizations gather for the Metagalactic Grand Prix—part gladiatorial contest, part beauty pageant, part concert extravaganza, and part continuation of the wars of the past. Species far and wide compete in feats of song, dance and/or whatever facsimile of these can be performed by various creatures who may or may not possess, in the traditional sense, feet, mouths, larynxes, or faces. And if a new species should wish to be counted among the high and the mighty, if a new planet has produced some savage group of animals, machines, or algae that claim to be, against all odds, sentient? Well, then they will have to compete. And if they fail? Sudden extermination for their entire species.

This year, though, humankind has discovered the enormous universe. And while they expected to discover a grand drama of diplomacy, gunships, wormholes, and stoic councils of aliens, they have instead found glitter, lipstick, and electric guitars. Mankind will not get to fight for its destiny—they must sing.

Decibel Jones and the Absolute Zeroes have been chosen to represent their planet on the greatest stage in the galaxy. And the fate of Earth lies in their ability to rock.

Jackie, Janet & Lee: The Secret Lives of Janet Auchincloss and Her Daughters, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Lee Radziwill by J. Randy Taraborrelli:

A dazzling biography of three of the most glamorous women of the 20th Century: Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, her mother Janet Lee Auchincloss, and her sister, Princess Lee Radziwill.

“Do you know what the secret to happily-ever-after is?” Janet Bouvier Auchincloss would ask her daughters Jackie and Lee during their tea time. “Money and Power,” she would say. It was a lesson neither would ever forget. They followed in their mother’s footsteps after her marriages to the philandering socialite “Black Jack” Bouvier and the fabulously rich Standard Oil heir Hugh D. Auchincloss.

Jacqueline Bouvier would marry John F. Kennedy and the story of their marriage is legendary, as is the story of her second marriage to Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis. Less well known is the story of her love affair with a world renowned architect and a British peer. Her sister, Lee, had liaisons with one and possibly both of Jackie’s husbands, in addition to her own three marriages—to an illegitimate royal, a Polish prince and a Hollywood director.

If the Bouvier women personified beauty, style and fashion, it was their lust for money and status that drove them to seek out powerful men, no matter what the cost to themselves or to those they stepped on in their ruthless climb to the top. Based on hundreds of new interviews with friends and family of the Bouviers, among them their own half-brother, as well as letters and journals, J. Randy Taraborrelli paints an extraordinary psychological portrait of two famous sisters and their ferociously ambitious mother.

Have a great week!

Linda, SSCL

You can request physical items, i.e. print books, DVDs & CDs, online via StarCat:

or by calling the library at: 607-936-3713 x 502.

Have a great day!

Linda, SSCL

Online Catalog Links:

StarCat

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

The Digital Catalog (OverDrive)

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

Freegal Music Service

This music service is free to library card holders and offers the option to download, and keep, three free songs per week and to stream three hours of commercial free music each day:

RBDigital

Digital magazines on demand and for free! Back issues are available and you can even choose to be notified by email when the new issue of your favorite magazine is available.

About Library Apps:

You can access digital library content on PCs, Macs and mobile devices. For mobile devices simply download the OverDrive, Freegal or Zinio app from your app store to get started. If you have questions call the library at: 607-936-3713 and one of our Digital Literacy Specialists will be happy to assist you.

Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.

Suggested Listening April 21, 2018

Hi everyone, here are our five musical recommendations for the week; four streaming suggestions* and one recommended album on CD.

(Click on the photo to stream or request the album you want to listen to!)

Freegal Streaming Suggestions*

Juliana Hatfield Sings Olivia Newton-John (2018) by Juliana Hatfield (Genre: Pop, Rock):

This just released album by Hatfield, who has been a huge Olivia Newton-John fan since she was kid, is aptly described in the AllMusic Review of the LP as a “love letter” by a huge fan of Olivia Newton-John.

Songs on the LP include: I Honestly Love You, Suspended in Time, A Little More Love, Magic, Physical, Please Mr. Please and Hopelessly Devoted To You.

The Complete Beethoven Quartets (2018) by Budapest String Quartet (Genre: Classical):

About the Budapest String Quartet & The Beethoven Quartets: The modern standard of performance in the Beethoven quartets was set by the Budapest String Quartet, wrote The New York Times. One of the 20th century’s very finest chamber ensembles, the Budapest String Quartet recorded the complete Beethoven cycle three times first on 78s in the 1940s, then between 1951 and 1952 in mono, and later in stereo. The 1951-52 cycle, which has acquired legendary status, is now reissued as a complete set, the first time that Sony Classical has published it in its entirety since the first issue. The Budapest Quartet was the quartet in residence at the Library of Congress from 1938 until 1962, a position created so that they could make regular use of the Library’s collection of Stradivarius instruments. Their regular performances at the Library all made use of these remarkable instruments, and the quartet also used them on these recordings, made in the Library itself. This Beethoven cycle has acquired legendary status. Anthony Tommasini of The New York Times wrote that his favorite performances of the six early Opus 18 quartets are the ones included here, supple, luminous and insightful. NPR critic Lloyd Schwartz calls the entire cycle my touchstone for Beethoven quartet recordings. Founded 100 years ago in 1917, the Budapest Quartet was at the height of its success in the early 1950s, under the leadership of first violinist Joseph Roisman. They had settled in the United States in 1938 at the same time as taking up their position at the Library of Congress, and they disbanded after 50 years in 1967.

The Complete Beethoven Quartet collection is available through Freegal as a five album streaming set.

Oriental Jazz (50’s & 60’s Authentic Recordings) by Various Artists (Genre: Jazz):

A great collection of 50’s and 60’s Jazz featuring both western and non-western instruments, including the oud – neat stuff!

In the fifties and sixties they would have called this type of music “Oriental”, today we call it World Music — but it is great music by whatever designation one give it – check it out!

Songs on the LP include: Jazz Araby by Fuad Hassan, Swingin’ The Blues by Chick Ganimian, Caravan by Fred Elias, St. James Infirmary by Gus Vali and Oglan Oglan by Cris Vardakis

Conundrum – Thirteen Down by Bert Jansch (Genre: Folk, Guitar, Pop, Rock):

Bert Jansch was a masterful British guitarist and pillar member of the contemporary British folk music scene. Jansch was not nearly as well known in the U.S. as in the U.K.; however he was a guitar virtuoso and a master of writing accessible folks songs and if you’re not familiar with his music I urge you to check it out!

Songs in this collection include: In My Mind, Sovay, Where Did My Life Go, Time and Love, Nightfall and Sweet Mother Earth.

Recommended CD of the Week:

Starfire (2018) by Caitlyn Smith (Genre: Pop, Rock, Country):

Caitlyn Smith is a talent singer-songwriter whose first album was released in 2001 when she was just 15. Starfire is her brand new album and it features the songs: Before You Called Me Baby, Starfire, East Side Restaurant, Don’t Give Up on My Love, Scenes from a Corner Booth at Closing Time on a Tuesday and House of Cards.

Videos of the Week:

A Little More Love by Juliana Hatfield:

Beethoven String Quartet – Quartet No. 11 in F Minor, Op. 95: IV. Larghetto espressivo – Allegretto by the Budabest:

Oud in Blues by Lloyd Miller: 

The Night by Ahmed Abdul-Malik:

Let Me Sing by Bert Jansch:

60th Birthday Concert by Bert Jansch and friends:

Starfire by Caitlyn Smith:

Have a great weekend!

Linda, SSCL

*A library card is required to use the Freegal Music Service. If you live in the service area of the Southern Tier Library System, which consists of the public libraries in Steuben, Chemung, Yates, Schuyler and Alleghany counties in New York State, you can get a library card for free at your nearest public library – including our own Southeast Steuben County Library in Corning, New York. The Freegal Music Service is free for all Southern Tier Library System member libraries library card holders to access.

References:

Artist Biography & Discography Information:

http://www.allmusic.com/

The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits by Joel Whitburn (Billboard Books. New York. 2009.)

P.S. If you have any questions about how to download or stream free music through the Freegal Music service to a desktop or laptop computer or how to download and use the Freegal Music app let us know! Drop by the library or give us a call at: 607-936-3713

*You must have a library card at a Southern Tier Library System member library to enjoy the Freegal Music Service. Your card can be from any library in the system, and the system includes all public libraries in Steuben, Chemung, Yates, Schuyler and Allegheny Counties and includes our own Southeast Steuben Count Library in Corning, New York!

Library cards are free if you live in our service area. And you can obtain a card by visiting the Circulation Desk and presenting staff with a form of ID that features your name and your current address.

Suggested Reading Week of April 16, 2018

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

This list includes ebook titles available through OverDrive and five print titles available through StarCat.

(Note: Click on the photo of the item you’re interested in to request it or check it out)

Digital Suggestions Of The Week:

Ghost Stories, The best of The Daily Telegraph’s ghost story competition Edited by Lorna Bradbury: 

In 2010 thousands of people submitted ghost stories to The Daily Telegraph’s first ghost story competition. Standards were chillingly high and only the spookiest went through to the shortlist of six. Presented here are short stories from Gill Baconnier, Justin Crozier, Ceri Hughes, Pat Black, Craig Drew and the winner, Richard Crompton, whose story ‘Friends’ is an uncanny take on social networking. Currently available only in ebook form they are the perfect company for a long winter’s night.

Harvesting the Heart by Jodi Picoult:

From the author of the #1 New York Times bestsellers Small Great Things and My Sister’s Keeper, a novel exploring the story of a young woman overcome by the demands of having a family.

Paige has only a few vivid memories of her mother, who abandoned her at five years old. Now, having left her father behind in Chicago for dreams of art school and marriage to an ambitious young doctor, she finds herself with a child of her own. But her mother’s absence and shameful memories of her past force her to doubt whether she could ever be capable of bringing joy and meaning into the life of her child, gifts her own mother never gave.

Harvesting the Heart is written with astonishing clarity and evocative detail, convincing in its depiction of emotional pain, love, and vulnerability, and recalls the writing of Alice Hoffman and Kristin Hannah. Out of Paige’s struggle to find wholeness, Jodi Picoult crafts an absorbing novel peopled by richly drawn characters, and explores motherhood with a power and depth only she is capable of.

Heat Lightning, Virgil Flowers Series, Book 2 by John Sandford:

Virgil Flowers hunts a killer responsible for a strange string of murders in this thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author John Sandford.

On a hot, humid summer night in Minnesota, Virgil Flowers gets a call from Lucas Davenport. A body has been found near a veterans’ memorial in Stillwater with two shots to the head and a lemon in his mouth—exactly like the body they found two weeks ago.

Working the murders, Flowers becomes convinced that someone is keeping a list—with many more names on it. And when he discovers what connects them all, he’s almost sorry. Because if it’s true, then this whole thing leads down a lot more trails than he thought it did—and every one of them is booby-trapped.

Mad Country by Samrat Upadhyay:

Samrat Upadhyay’s new collection vibrates at the edges of intersecting cultures. Journalists in Kathmandu are targeted by the government. A Nepali man studying in America drops out of school and finds himself a part of the unrest in Ferguson, Missouri. A white American woman moves to Nepal and changes her name. A Nepali man falls in love with a mysterious foreign black woman. A rich kid is caught up in his own fantasies of poverty and bank robbery. In the title story, a powerful woman, the owner of a construction company, becomes a political prisoner, and in stark and unflinching prose we see both her world and her mind radically remade.

Through the course of the stories in this collection, Upadhyay builds new modes of seeing our interconnected contemporary world. A collection of formal inventiveness, heartbreak and hope, it reaffirms Upadhyay’s position as one or our most important chroniclers of globalization and exile.

Tess of the Road by Rachel Hartman:

“In her triumphant return to the world of Seraphina (2012), Hartman introduces Tess Dombegh, one of Seraphina’s stepsiblings. After a shattering fall from grace, Tess has tried to be the dutiful daughter to her critical mother. She may never be good, but maybe she can be good enough to be forgiven. When Tess drunkenly ruins her sister’s wedding night, she’s almost relieved to run away. Disguised as a boy, she seeks oblivion on the road; instead, she’s invited to help find a legendary serpent by her childhood friend, a quigutl (dragon subspecies). Along the way, Tess runs afoul of robbers, works as a manual laborer, poses as a priest, and struggles to make peace with past trauma. First in a duology, this is a perfect example of a familiar fantasy trope being given new dimension through empathetic characters and exquisite storytelling. At first appearing bitter and self-pitying, Tess reveals compassion, courage, and resilience on her journey, which is as emotional and spiritual as it is physical. This achingly real portrayal of a young woman whose self-loathing takes help to heal is a perceptive examination of rape culture rare in high fantasy. Not to be ignored, this is also a fascinating road trip adventure. Absolutely essential.”—Booklist, starred review

The Vineyard Victims: Wine Country Mystery Series, Book 8 (unabridged audiobook) written by Ellen Crosby and read by Christine Marshall:

The death of a former presidential candidate in a fiery car crash at her Virginia vineyard has ties to a thirty-year-old murder, as well as to Lucie Montgomery’s own near-fatal accident ten years ago, as she searches for a killer who now may be stalking her.

When Jamison Vaughn-billionaire real-estate mogul, Virginia vineyard owner, and unsuccessful US presidential candidate-drives his gold SUV into a stone pillar at the entrance to Montgomery Estate Vineyard, Lucie Montgomery is certain the crash was deliberate. But everyone else in Atoka, Virginia, is equally sure that Jamie must have lost control of his car on a rain-slicked country road. In spite of being saddled with massive campaign debts from the recent election, Jamie is seemingly the man with the perfect life. What possible reason could he have for committing suicide? Or was it murder?

Before long, Lucie uncovers a connection between Jamie and some of his old friends, an elite group of academics, and the brutal murder thirty years ago of a brilliant PhD student. Although a handyman is on death row for the crime, Lucie soon suspects someone else is guilty. But the investigation into the two deaths throws Lucie a curve ball when someone from her own past becomes involved, forcing her to confront old demons. Now the race to solve the mystery behind the two deaths becomes intensely personal as Lucie realizes someone wants her silenced-for good.

Print Suggestions Of The Week:

The Golden Vial, Legends of the Realm, Book 3 by Thomas Locke:

When a hidden evil threatens to destroy the realm, a young orphan, untested and untrained, could mean the difference between victory and total defeat.

Vulnerable and weakened by grief after a terrible loss, Hyam has been struck by a mysterious illness that threatens to claim his life. Seeking to help Hyam and restore the realm, Queen Shona travels to Hyam’s remote hometown to find answers and offer aid.

Dally has always had abilities far beyond those of a normal human–far-seeing and magic come naturally to her. Before the arrival of Shona and her army, Dally had always kept her abilities secret. But with an ancient evil bearing down on her village and the fate of the realm hanging in the balance, the orphaned servant girl steps forward to do what no one else can. Will the battle claim more than Dally is willing to give?

The first two book in the Legends of the Realm series are: Emissary (Book 1) and Merchant of Alyss (Book 2)

I’ve Got My Eyes On You by Mary Higgins Clark:

A new thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author and “Queen of Suspense” Mary Higgins Clark.
When a terrible crime shocks a New Jersey community, all signs point to one suspect. But if he’s innocent as he claims, it means the murderer is still out there…

After throwing a party when her parents were away, 18-year-old Kerry Dowling is discovered lifeless at the bottom of the family pool. The police immediately question Kerry’s boyfriend, who—despite proclaiming his love for her—was seen arguing with Kerry that night. As neighbors and classmates grieve the loss of their friend, Kerry’s 28-year-old sister Aline, a guidance counselor, searches for answers. She’ll do anything to help the Detective Mike Wilson learn what really happened the night Kerry was killed.

Was someone watching Kerry the night of the murder? For Aline, the truth could be deadly.

From #1 New York Times bestselling author and “Queen of Suspense” comes a thrilling investigation asking what we truly know about the those we trust, and the secrets lying in even the most idyllic of neighborhoods.

Knucklehead by Adam Smyer:

“While not strictly a crime novel, Smyer’s debut Knucklehead does contain a whole lot of guns, violence, and rage, as well as plenty of love and sadness. A black lawyer in the late 80s through the mid-90s deals with micro and macro aggressions from a society determined to treat him as a criminal. Also, there are cats. Lots of cats.”— Literary Hub, included in the Most Anticipated Crime, Mystery, and Thriller Titles of 2018

Shoot First (Think Later) by Stuart Woods:

In the latest nonstop adventure from #1 New York Times bestselling author Stuart Woods, Stone Barrington must defend a woman whose business–and life–are under threat.

Stone Barrington is enjoying a round of golf in Key West when the game is violently interrupted–and it seems as if the target of the disturbance may have been one of his playing companions, the brilliant businesswoman behind a software startup on the cutting edge of technology. Soon, it becomes clear that this incident is only the first thrust in a deadly scheme to push the beautiful young woman out of the way and put her company’s valuable secrets up for grabs.

From the sun-soaked Florida shores to an idyllic English country retreat, Stone embarks on a quest to protect his lovely new companion while searching for the mastermind behind the plot against her. But he may find that her enemy is far more resourceful–and dangerous–than he could have anticipated.

Too Scot To Handle by Grace Burrowes:

A MAN WITH MANY TALENTS

As a captain in the army, Colin MacHugh led men, fixed what was broken, and fought hard. Now that he’s a titled gentleman, he’s still fighting-this time to keep his bachelorhood safe from all the marriage-minded debutantes. Then he meets the intriguing Miss Anwen Windham, whose demure nature masks a bonfire waiting to roar to life. When she asks for his help to raise money for the local orphanage, he’s happy to oblige.

Anwen is amazed at how quickly Lord Colin takes in hand a pack of rambunctious orphan boys. Amazed at how he actually listens to her ideas. Amazed at the thrill she gets from the rumble of his Scottish burr and the heat of his touch. But not everyone enjoys the success of an upstart. And Colin has enemies who will stop at nothing to ruin him and anybody he holds dear.
“Grace Burrowes is a romance treasure.” –Tessa Dare, New York Times bestselling author of The Duchess Deal

Double Play Non-Fiction Bonus Suggestions (both titles available as print books, eBooks and downloadable audiobooks and audiobooks on CD will be added to the collection in the near future):

Two just released  non-fiction bestsellers that are in the news:

Fascism: A Warning by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright:

A personal and urgent examination of Fascism in the twentieth century and how its legacy shapes today’s world, written by one of America’s most admired public servants, the first woman to serve as U.S. secretary of state

A Fascist, observes Madeleine Albright, “is someone who claims to speak for a whole nation or group, is utterly unconcerned with the rights of others, and is willing to use violence and whatever other means are necessary to achieve the goals he or she might have.”

The twentieth century was defined by the clash between democracy and Fascism, a struggle that created uncertainty about the survival of human freedom and left millions dead. Given the horrors of that experience, one might expect the world to reject the spiritual successors to Hitler and Mussolini should they arise in our era. In Fascism: A Warning, Madeleine Albright draws on her experiences as a child in war-torn Europe and her distinguished career as a diplomat to question that assumption.

Fascism, as she shows, not only endured through the twentieth century but now presents a more virulent threat to peace and justice than at any time since the end of World War II. The momentum toward democracy that swept the world when the Berlin Wall fell has gone into reverse. The United States, which historically championed the free world, is led by a president who exacerbates division and heaps scorn on democratic institutions. In many countries, economic, technological, and cultural factors are weakening the political center and empowering the extremes of right and left. Contemporary leaders such as Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un are employing many of the tactics used by Fascists in the 1920s and 30s.

Fascism: A Warning is a book for our times that is relevant to all times. Written by someone who has not only studied history but helped to shape it, this call to arms teaches us the lessons we must understand and the questions we must answer if we are to save ourselves from repeating the tragic errors of the past.

A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership written by former FBI Director James Comey:

You can also place a hold on the eBook or downloadable audiobook version, in the Digital Catalog, (use the OverDrive app or go to https://stls.overdrive.com/).

Description From The Publisher: In his forthcoming book, former FBI director James Comey shares his never-before-told experiences from some of the highest-stakes situations of his career in the past two decades of American government, exploring what good, ethical leadership looks like, and how it drives sound decisions. His journey provides an unprecedented entry into the corridors of power, and a remarkable lesson in what makes an effective leader.

Mr. Comey served as director of the FBI from 2013 to 2017, appointed to the post by President Barack Obama. He previously served as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, and the U.S. deputy attorney general in the administration of President George W. Bush. From prosecuting the Mafia and Martha Stewart to helping change the Bush administration’s policies on torture and electronic surveillance, overseeing the Hillary Clinton e-mail investigation as well as ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, Comey has been involved in some of the most consequential cases and policies of recent history.

Have a great week!

Linda, SSCL

You can request physical items, i.e. print books, DVDs & CDs, online via StarCat:

or by calling the library at: 607-936-3713 x 502.

Have a great day!

Linda, SSCL

Online Catalog Links:

StarCat

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

The Digital Catalog (OverDrive)

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

Freegal Music Service

This music service is free to library card holders and offers the option to download, and keep, three free songs per week and to stream three hours of commercial free music each day:

RBDigital

Digital magazines on demand and for free! Back issues are available and you can even choose to be notified by email when the new issue of your favorite magazine is available.

About Library Apps:

You can access digital library content on PCs, Macs and mobile devices. For mobile devices simply download the OverDrive, Freegal or Zinio app from your app store to get started. If you have questions call the library at: 607-936-3713 and one of our Digital Literacy Specialists will be happy to assist you.

Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.

Suggested Listening April 13, 2018

Hi everyone, here are our five musical recommendations for the week; four streaming suggestions and one recommended album on CD.

(Click on the photo to stream or request the album you want to listen to!)

Freegal Streaming Suggestions*

Steve Gadd Band (2018) by Steve Gadd Band (Genre: Jazz):

The Steve Gadd Band the self-titled second album by the Grammy award winning band led by Irondequoit, New York native Steve Gadd – who incidentally, celebrated his 73rd birthday this week!

The songs on the album have that classic jazz feel to them and were written and produced by the legendary drummer and band leader Steve Gadd. The other members of the Steve Gadd Band include: Kevin Hays on keyboard, Jimmy Johnson on bass, Michael Landau on guitar and Walk Fowler on trumpet and flugelhorn.

Songs on the album include: I Know, But Tell Me A gain, Where’s Earth? Foameopathy, One Point Five, Temporary Vault and Spring Song.

Forever Words (2018) by Various Artists (Genre: County, Folk, Pop, Rock):

Johnny Cash Forever Words is a various artist collection containing 16 songs originally written as poetry, letters and lyrics by Johnny Cash and set to music by the artists featured on the collection.

Artists/Songs include: Forever/I Still Miss Someone by Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson, To June This Morning by Ruston Kelly & Kacey Musgraves, The Captain’s Daughter by Alison Krauss and Union Station, The Walking Wounded by Rosanne Cash, Them Double Blues by John Mellencamp, June’s Sundown by Carlene Carter, and Goin’, Goin’ Gone by Robert Glasper featuring Ro James and Anu Sun.

The Tree of Forgiveness (2018) by John Prine (Genre: Folk, County, Pop, Singer-Songwriter):

The just released album by quintessential singer-songwriter John Prine is his first since 2005’s Grammy winning LP Fair and Square.

Songs on the LP include: Knockin’ on Your Screen Door, Caravan of Fools, Boundless Love, Lonesome Friends of Science, No Ordinary Blue and Egg & Daughter Nite, Lincoln Nebraska, 1967 (Crazy Bone)

The Sky Is Crying by Elmore James (Charly Records) (Genre: Blues):

The most influential slide guitarist in the post-World War II era. James started out playing as a youth in during the years between the World Wars. He isn’t as well remembered to main stream music listeners today though, because he died so young, at age 45 in 1963. And because he died in 1963 he really missed being re-discovered during the Blues Revival of the Sixties. So if you’re not familiar with the music of Elmore James, and you like guitar music, you really should check this album out!

The LP is from the British Blues label Charly features nine of his best songs including: The Sky is Crying, Take me Where You Go, She Done Moved, Pickin’ The Blues, It Hurts Me Too and Talk to Me Baby.

CD Recommendation of the Week:

Whatever it Takes (2018) by the James Hunter Six:

The new album by the rock and soul British sing-songwriter James Hunter and his band.

If you haven’t heard of James Hunter but you like the sixties soul and enjoyed the film The Commitments then this is an album you enjoy!

Songs on the LP include: Whatever It Takes, I Don’t Wanna Be Without You, I Should’ve Spoke Up, How Long and Show Her.

Videos of the Week:

About the new album with a taste of the new songs by the Steve Gadd Band

Forever by Kris Kristofferson & Willie Nelson and To June This Morning by Ruston Kelly and Kacey Musgraves

Knockin’ On Your Screen Door by John Prine

It Hurts Me Too by Elmore James

I Don’t Want To Be Without You by the James Hunter Six

Have a great weekend!

Linda, SSCL

*A library card is required to use the Freegal Music Service. If you live in the service area of the Southern Tier Library System, which consists of the public libraries in Steuben, Chemung, Yates, Schuyler and Alleghany counties in New York State, you can get a library card for free at your nearest public library – including our own Southeast Steuben County Library in Corning, New York. The Freegal Music Service is free for all Southern Tier Library System member libraries library card holders to access.

References:

Artist Biography & Discography Information:

http://www.allmusic.com/

The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits by Joel Whitburn (Billboard Books. New York. 2009.)

P.S. If you have any questions about how to download or stream free music through the Freegal Music service to a desktop or laptop computer or how to download and use the Freegal Music app let us know! Drop by the library or give us a call at: 607-936-3713

*You must have a library card at a Southern Tier Library System member library to enjoy the Freegal Music Service. Your card can be from any library in the system, and the system includes all public libraries in Steuben, Chemung, Yates, Schuyler and Allegheny Counties and includes our own Southeast Steuben Count Library in Corning, New York!

Library cards are free if you live in our service area. And you can obtain a card by visiting the Circulation Desk and presenting staff with a form of ID that features your name and your current address.

Suggested Reading Week of April 9, 2018

Hi everyone, in anticipation of the coming of warmer weather and an increase in people driving to and from vacation locations, and people just plain driving more in the warmer weather because it is fun, we’ve recently purchased a bunch of new audiobooks both the downloadable kind, accessible through the STLS Digital Catalog, and the traditional kind on CD.

So this week I’m going to suggest ten digital audiobooks and ten audiobooks on CD for your listening pleasure!

 (Just click on the photo of the audiobook you’re interested in to check it out or request it)

We’ll jump back into book recommendations next week with titles that include the new Madeleine Albright and James Comey books coming out April 10 and April 17 respectively.

Now, on to the audiobooks!

Digital (Downloadable) Audiobooks:

The Bishop’s Pawn: Cotton Malone Series, Book 13 written by Steve Berry & read by Scott Brick & Kevin R. Free:

In this audiobook, Steve Berry and Macmillan Audio team up again to bring listeners an expanded, annotated Writer’s Cut edition of The Bishop’s Pawn. This Writer’s Cut edition features fascinating behind-the-scenes commentary read by the author. Critically-acclaimed and award-winning narrator Scott Brick returns to tell the thrilling first case of Cotton Malone — eponymous hero of Berry’s iconic New York Times bestselling series.

History recalls that the ugly feud between J. Edgar Hoover and Martin Luther King, Jr. — marked by years of illegal surveillance and the accumulation of secret files — ended on April 4, 1968, when King was assassinated by James Earl Ray. But that may not have been the case.

Now, fifty years later, former Justice Department agent, Cotton Malone, must reckon with the truth of what really happened that fateful day in Memphis.

It all turns on an incident from eighteen years ago, when Malone, as a young Navy lawyer, was trying hard not to live up to his burgeoning reputation as a maverick. When Stephanie Nelle, a high-level Justice Department lawyer, enlists him to help with an investigation, he jumps at the opportunity. But he soon discovers that two opposing forces, the Justice Department and the FBI, are at war over a rare coin and a cadre of secret files containing explosive revelations about the King assassination — information that could ruin innocent lives and threaten the legacy of the civil rights movement’s greatest martyr.

Malone’s decision to see it through to the end — from the raucous bars of Mexico, to the clear waters of the Dry Tortugas, and ultimately into the halls of power within Washington D.C. itself — not only changes his own life, but the course of history.
Steve Berry always mines the lost riches of history; in The Bishop’s Pawn he imagines a gripping, provocative thriller about an American icon.

The Crow Trap: Vera Stanhope Series, Book 1 written by Ann Cleeves & read by Anne Dover: 

Three very different women come together to complete an environmental survey. Three women who, in some way or another, know the meaning of betrayal…For team leader Rachael Lambert the project is the perfect opportunity to rebuild her confidence after a double-betrayal by her lover and boss, Peter Kemp. Botanist Anne Preece, on the other hand, sees it as a chance to indulge in a little deception of her own. And then there is Grace Fulwell, a strange, uncommunicative young woman with plenty of her own secrets to hide…

When Rachael arrives at the cottage, however, she is horrified to discover the body of her friend Bella Furness. Bella, it appears, has committed suicide—a verdict Rachael finds impossible to accept.

Only when the next death occurs does a fourth woman enter the picture—the unconventional Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope, who must piece together the truth from these women’s tangled lives in The Crow Trap.

Doing Harm: The Truth about How Bad Medicine and Lazy Science Leave Women Dismissed, Misdiagnosed, and Sick written by Maya Dusenbery & read by Dara Rosenberg:

Editor of the award-winning site Feministing.com, Maya Dusenbery brings together scientific and sociological research, interviews with experts within and outside the medical establishment, and personal stories from women across the country to provide the first comprehensive, accessible look at how sexism in medicine harms women today.

Dusenbery reveals how conditions that disproportionately affect women, such as autoimmune diseases, chronic pain conditions, and Alzheimer’s disease, are neglected and woefully under-researched. “Contested” diseases, such as fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome, that are 70 to 80 percent female-dominated are so poorly understood that they have not yet been fully accepted as “real” conditions by the whole of the profession. Meanwhile, despite a wealth of evidence showing the impact of biological difference between the sexes in everything from drug responses to symptoms to risk factors for various diseases-even the symptoms of a heart attack-medicine continues to take a one-size-fits-all approach: that of a 155-pound white man.

In addition, women are negatively impacted by the biases and stereotypes that dismiss them as “chronic complainers,” leading to long delays-often years long-to get diagnosed. The consequences are catastrophic. Offering a clear-eyed explanation of the root causes of this insidious and entrenched bias and laying out its effects, Doing Harm will change the way we look at health care for women.

Faith: A Journey For All written and read by Jimmy Carter:

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

In this powerful reflection, President Jimmy Carter contemplates how faith has sustained him in happiness and disappointment. He considers how we may find it in our own lives.

All his life, President Jimmy Carter has been a courageous exemplar of faith. Now he shares the lessons he learned. He writes, “The issue of faith arises in almost every area of human existence, so it is important to understand its multiple meanings. In this book, my primary goal is to explore the broader meaning of faith, its far-reaching effect on our lives, and its relationship to past, present, and future events in America and around the world. The religious aspects of faith are also covered, since this is how the word is most often used, and I have included a description of the ways my faith has guided and sustained me, as well as how it has challenged and driven me to seek a closer and better relationship with people and with God.”

As President Carter examines faith’s many meanings, he describes how to accept it, live it, how to doubt and find faith again. A serious and moving reflection from one of America’s most admired and respected citizens.

The Fallen: Amos Decker Series, Book 4 written by David Baldacci and read by Kyf Brewer & Orlagh Cassidy:

Amos Decker is the Memory Man. Following a football-related head injury that altered his personality, Decker is now unable to forget even the smallest detail–as much a curse as it is a blessing. And in #1 New York Times bestselling author David Baldacci’s gripping new thriller, Decker’s life might be about to change again…

Something sinister is going on in Baronville. The rust belt town has seen four bizarre murders in the space of two weeks. Cryptic clues left at the scenes–obscure bible verses, odd symbols–have the police stumped.

Amos Decker and his FBI colleague Alex Jamison are in Baronville visiting Alex’s sister and her family. It’s a bleak place: a former mill and mining town with a crumbling economy and rampant opioid addiction. Decker has only been there a few hours when he stumbles on a horrific double murder scene.

Then the next killing hits sickeningly close to home. And with the lives of people he cares about suddenly hanging in the balance, Decker begins to realize that the recent string of deaths may be only one small piece of a much larger scheme–with consequences that will reach far beyond Baronville.

Decker, with his singular talents, may be the only one who can crack this bizarre case. Only this time–when one mistake could cost him everything–Decker finds that his previously infallible memory may not be so trustworthy after all…

Memento Park: A Novel written by Mark Sarvas & read by David Ledoux:

A son learns more about his father than he ever could have imagined when a mysterious piece of art is unexpectedly restored to him

After receiving an unexpected call from the Australian consulate, Matt Santos becomes aware of a painting that he believes was looted from his family in Hungary during the Second World War. To recover the painting, he must repair his strained relationship with his harshly judgmental father, uncover his family history, and restore his connection to his own Judaism. Along the way to illuminating the mysteries of his past, Matt is torn between his doting girlfriend, Tracy, and his alluring attorney, Rachel, with whom he travels to Budapest to unearth the truth about the painting and, in turn, his family.

As his journey progresses, Matt’s revelations are accompanied by equally consuming and imaginative meditations on the painting and the painter at the center of his personal drama, Budapest Street Scene by Ervin Kálmán. By the time Memento Park reaches its conclusion, Matt’s narrative is as much about family history and father-son dynamics as it is about the nature of art itself, and the infinite ways we come to understand ourselves through it.

Of all the questions asked by Mark Sarvas’s Memento Park—about family and identity, about art and history—a central, unanswerable predicament lingers: How do we move forward when the past looms unreasonably large?

Night Moves: Alex Delaware Series, Book 35 written by Jonathan Kellerman & read by John Rubinstein:

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The master of the psychological thriller makes all the right moves in this new novel of spellbinding suspense.

Even with all his years of experience, LAPD homicide detective Milo Sturgis knows there are crimes his skill and savvy cannot solve alone. That’s when he calls on brilliant psychologist Alex Delaware to read between the lines, where the darkest motives lurk. And if ever the good doctor’s insight is needed, it’s at the scene of a murder as baffling as it is brutal.

There’s no spilled blood, no evidence of a struggle, and, thanks to the victim’s missing face and hands, no immediate means of identification. And no telling why the disfigured corpse of a stranger has appeared in an upscale L.A. family’s home. Chet Corvin, his wife, and their two teenage children are certain the John Doe is unknown to them. Despite that, their cooperation seems guarded. And that’s more than Milo and Alex can elicit from the Corvins’ creepy next-door neighbor—a notorious cartoonist with a warped sense of humor and a seriously antisocial attitude.

As the investigation ensues, it becomes clear that this well-to-do suburban enclave has its share of curious eyes, suspicious minds, and loose lips. And as Milo tightens the screws on potential persons of interest—and Alex tries to breach the barriers that guard their deepest secrets—a strangling web of corrupted love, cold-blooded greed, and shattered trust is exposed. Though the grass may be greener on these privileged streets, there’s enough dirt below the surface to bury a multitude of sins. Including the deadliest.

The Origins of Totalitarianism written by Hannah Arendt & read by Wanda McCaddon:

A recognized classic and definitive account of its subject, The Origins of Totalitarianism traces the emergence of modern racism as an “ideological weapon for imperialism,” beginning with the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe in the nineteenth century and continuing through the New Imperialism period from 1884 to World War I.

In her analysis of the institutions and operations of totalitarian movements, Arendt focuses on the two genuine forms of totalitarian government in the twentieth century: Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia, which she adroitly recognizes as two sides of the same coin rather than opposing philosophies of the Right and Left. From this vantage point, she discusses the transformation of classes into masses, the role of propaganda, and the use of terror essential to this form of government. In her brilliant concluding chapter, she discusses the nature of individual isolation and loneliness as preconditions for total domination.

Red Alert: An NYPD Red Mystery written by James Patterson and read by Marshall Karp & Edoardo Ballerini:

The richest of New York’s rich gather at The Pierre’s Cotillion Room to raise money for those less fortunate. A fatal blast rocks the room, stirring up horrifying memories of 9/11. Is the explosion an act or terrorism–or a homicide?

A big-name female filmmaker is the next to die, in a desolate corner of New York City. Detectives Zach Jordan and Kylie MacDonald of the elite NYPD task force investigate, and the intimate details of the director’s life remind them of their own impossible situation–their personal relationship seems as unsolvable as the murders.

The crimes keep escalating as a shadowy killer masterfully plays out his vendetta–and threatens to take down NYPD Red in the bargain.

Twisted Prey: Prey Series, Book 28 written by John Sandford & read by Richard Ferrone:

Lucas Davenport confronts an old nemesis, now a powerful U.S. senator, in the thrilling new novel in the #1 New York Times-bestselling Prey series.

Lucas Davenport had crossed paths with her before.

A rich psychopath, Taryn Grant had run successfully for the U.S. Senate, where Lucas had predicted she’d fit right in. He was also convinced that she’d been responsible for three murders, though he’d never been able to prove it. Once a psychopath had gotten that kind of rush, though, he or she often needed another fix, so he figured he might be seeing her again.

He was right. A federal marshal now, with a very wide scope of investigation, he’s heard rumors that Grant has found her seat on the Senate intelligence committee, and the contacts she’s made from it, to be very…useful. Pinning those rumors down was likely to be just as difficult as before, and considerably more dangerous.

But they had unfinished business, he and Grant. One way or the other, he was going to see it through to the end.

Audiobooks on CD:

City of Endless Night written by Douglas J. Preston and read by Luke Daniels:

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

“A consistently exciting and never predictable series.”–Associated Press
When Grace Ozmian, the beautiful and reckless daughter of a wealthy tech billionaire, first goes missing, the NYPD assumes she has simply sped off on another wild adventure. Until the young woman’s body is discovered in an abandoned warehouse in Queens, the head nowhere to be found.

Lieutenant CDS Vincent D’Agosta quickly takes the lead. He knows his investigation will attract fierce scrutiny, so D’Agosta is delighted when FBI Special Agent A.X.L. Pendergast shows up at the crime scene assigned to the case. “I feel rather like Brer Rabbit being thrown into the briar patch,” Pendergast tells D’Agosta, “because I have found you here, in charge. Just like when we first met, back at the Museum of Natural History.”

But neither Pendergast nor D’Agosta are prepared for what lies ahead. A diabolical presence is haunting the greater metropolitan area, and Grace Ozmian was only the first of many victims to be murdered . . . and decapitated. Worse still, there’s something unique to the city itself that has attracted the evil eye of the killer.

As mass hysteria sets in, Pendergast and D’Agosta find themselves in the crosshairs of an opponent who has threatened the very lifeblood of the city. It’ll take all of Pendergast’s skill to unmask this most dangerous foe-let alone survive to tell the tale.

The Great Alone written by Kristin Hannah and read by Julia Whelan:

An instant #1 New York Times bestseller!

“A TOUR DE FORCE.” ―Kirkus (starred review)

Alaska, 1974.

Unpredictable. Unforgiving. Untamed.

For a family in crisis, the ultimate test of survival.

Ernt Allbright, a former POW, comes home from the Vietnam war a changed and volatile man. When he loses yet another job, he makes an impulsive decision: he will move his family north, to Alaska, where they will live off the grid in America’s last true frontier.

Thirteen-year-old Leni, a girl coming of age in a tumultuous time, caught in the riptide of her parents’ passionate, stormy relationship, dares to hope that a new land will lead to a better future for her family. She is desperate for a place to belong. Her mother, Cora, will do anything and go anywhere for the man she loves, even if means following him into the unknown.

At first, Alaska seems to be the answer to their prayers. In a wild, remote corner of the state, they find a fiercely independent community of strong men and even stronger women. The long, sunlit days and the generosity of the locals make up for the Allbrights’ lack of preparation and dwindling resources.

But as winter approaches and darkness descends on Alaska, Ernt’s fragile mental state deteriorates and the family begins to fracture. Soon the perils outside pale in comparison to threats from within. In their small cabin, covered in snow, blanketed in eighteen hours of night, Leni and her mother learn the terrible truth: they are on their own. In the wild, there is no one to save them but themselves.

In this unforgettable portrait of human frailty and resilience, Kristin Hannah reveals the indomitable character of the modern American pioneer and the spirit of a vanishing Alaska―a place of incomparable beauty and danger. The Great Alone is a daring, beautiful, stay-up-all-night story about love and loss, the fight for survival, and the wildness that lives in both man and nature.

Journey to Munich written by Jacqueline Winspear and read by Orlagh Cassidy:

Working with the British Secret Service on an undercover mission, Maisie Dobbs is sent to Hitler’s Germany in this thrilling tale of danger and intrigue—the twelfth novel in Jacqueline Winspear’s New York Times bestselling “series that seems to get better with each entry” (Wall Street Journal).

It’s early 1938, and Maisie Dobbs is back in England. On a fine yet chilly morning, as she walks towards Fitzroy Square—a place of many memories—she is intercepted by Brian Huntley and Robert MacFarlane of the Secret Service. The German government has agreed to release a British subject from prison, but only if he is handed over to a family member. Because the man’s wife is bedridden and his daughter has been killed in an accident, the Secret Service wants Maisie—who bears a striking resemblance to the daughter—to retrieve the man from Dachau, on the outskirts of Munich.

The British government is not alone in its interest in Maisie’s travel plans. Her nemesis—the man she holds responsible for her husband’s death—has learned of her journey, and is also desperate for her help.

Traveling into the heart of Nazi Germany, Maisie encounters unexpected dangers—and finds herself questioning whether it’s time to return to the work she loved. But the Secret Service may have other ideas. . . .

My Not So Perfect Life written by Sophie Kinsella & read by Fiona Hardingham:

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Part love story, part workplace drama, this sharply observed novel is a witty critique of the false judgments we make in a social-media-obsessed world. New York Times bestselling author Sophie Kinsella has written her most timely novel yet.

Everywhere Katie Brenner looks, someone else is living the life she longs for, particularly her boss, Demeter Farlowe. Demeter is brilliant and creative, lives with her perfect family in a posh townhouse, and wears the coolest clothes. Katie’s life, meanwhile, is a daily struggle—from her dismal rental to her oddball flatmates to the tense office politics she’s trying to negotiate. No wonder Katie takes refuge in not-quite-true Instagram posts, especially as she’s desperate to make her dad proud.

Then, just as she’s finding her feet—not to mention a possible new romance—the worst happens. Demeter fires Katie. Shattered but determined to stay positive, Katie retreats to her family’s farm in Somerset to help them set up a vacation business. London has never seemed so far away—until Demeter unexpectedly turns up as a guest. Secrets are spilled and relationships rejiggered, and as the stakes for Katie’s future get higher, she must question her own assumptions about what makes for a truly meaningful life.

Sophie Kinsella is celebrated for her vibrant, relatable characters and her great storytelling gifts. Now she returns with all of the wit, warmth, and wisdom that are the hallmarks of her bestsellers to spin this fresh, modern story about presenting the perfect life when the reality is far from the truth.

Overload: Finding the Truth in Today’s Deluge of News written by Bob Schieffer & read by David De Vries:

In this 2016 election post-mortem, veteran reporter Schieffer (This Just In: What I Couldn’t Tell You on TV) interviews journalists at media organizations of all types, including NBC, the New York Times Company, Politico, and NPR, to find out how Americans are receiving and interpreting the overwhelming deluge of news—both real and fake. Schieffer shows how powerful events such as J.F.K.’s assassination, which was one of the first major news stories reported in real time on television, and the September 11 attacks, which saw the proliferation of misinformation on the internet, altered how news was presented and consumed for better or worse and set the stage for Donald Trump’s tumultuous 2016 campaign. The 24-hour news cycle and web-enabled communication technology enabled fake news sites to flourish (and profit) while traditional outlets often struggled to keep up. Schieffer maintains a optimistic outlook as he shows the rapid changes in news media. He notes how organizations are adopting new formats, such as podcasts, and revitalizing old-school ones, such as newsletters. Schieffer also highlights successes of smaller and equally vital outlets like the Texas Tribune, which successfully shifted to a fully free-access model, and the Root, an online magazine focusing on African-American culture that helped bring national attention to stories such as the killings of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown. This vital, impressive study adroitly sums up the current and ever-evolving state of news coverage and the vital need for journalism and educated readers alike. (Publishers Weekly, Starred Review)

About the Author: Bob Schieffer, one of America’s pre-eminent television journalists and former host of CBS’s Face the Nation, is the author of This Just In: What I Couldn’t Tell You on TV (Penguin, 2003), Face the Nation: My Favorite Stories from the First 50 Years of the Award-Winning News Broadcast (Simon & Schuster, 2004), and Bob Schieffer’s America (Penguin, 2009). He is a member of the Broadcasting Hall of Fame and in 2009 was named a Living Legend by the Library of Congress. He resides in Washington, DC.

Proof of Life: A J. P. Beaumont Novel written by J. A. Jance & read by Alan Sklar:

Be careful what you wish for . . .

Before he retired, J. P. Beaumont had looked forward to having his days all to himself. But too much free time doesn’t suit a man used to brushing close to danger. When his longtime nemesis, retired Seattle crime reporter Maxwell Cole, dies in what’s officially deemed to be an accidental fire, Beau is astonished to be dragged into the investigation at the request of none other than the deceased victim himself. In the process Beau learns that just because a long-ago case was solved doesn’t mean it’s over.

Caught up in a situation where old actions and grudges can hold dangerous consequences in the present, Beau is forced to operate outside the familiar world of law enforcement. While seeking justice for his frenemy and healing for a long fractured family, he comes face to face with an implacable enemy who has spent decades hiding in plain sight.

Sticky Fingers: The Life and Times of Jann Wenner and Rolling Stone Magazine written by Joe Hagan & read by Dennis Boutsikaris:

A delicious romp through the heyday of rock and roll and a revealing portrait of the man at the helm of the iconic magazine that made it all possible, with candid look backs at the era from Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Elton John, Bono, Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, and others.

The story of Jann Wenner, Rolling Stone’s founder, editor, and publisher, and the pioneering era he helped curate, is told here for the first time in glittering, glorious detail. Joe Hagan provides readers with a backstage pass to storied concert venues and rock-star hotel rooms; he tells never before heard stories about the lives of rock stars and their handlers; he details the daring journalism (Tom Wolfe, Hunter S. Thompson, P.J. O’Rourke) and internecine office politics that accompanied the start-up; he animates the drug and sexual appetites of the era; and he reports on the politics of the last fifty years that were often chronicled in the pages of Rolling Stone magazine.

Supplemented by a cache of extraordinary documents and letters from Wenner’s personal archives, Sticky Fingers depicts an ambitious, mercurial, wide-eyed rock and roll fan of who exalts in youth and beauty and learns how to package it, marketing late sixties counterculture as a testament to the power of American youth. The result is a fascinating and complex portrait of man and era, and an irresistible biography of popular culture, celebrity, music, and politics in America.

Two Kinds of Truth written by Michael Connelly and read by Titus Welliver:

Harry Bosch, exiled from the LAPD, is working cold cases for the San Fernando Police Department when all hands are called out to a local drugstore, where two pharmacists have been murdered in a robbery. Bosch and the tiny town’s three-person detective squad sift through the clues, which lead into the dangerous, big-business world of prescription drug abuse. To get to the people at the top, Bosch must risk everything and go undercover in the shadowy world of organized pill mills.

Meanwhile, an old case from Bosch’s days with the LAPD comes back to haunt him when a long-imprisoned killer claims Harry framed him and seems to have new evidence to prove it. Bosch left the LAPD on bad terms, so his former colleagues are not keen on protecting his reputation. But if this conviction is overturned, every case Bosch ever worked will be called into question. As usual, he must fend for himself as he tries to clear his name and keep a clever killer in prison.

The two cases wind around each other like strands of barbed wire. Along the way, Bosch discovers that there are two kinds of truth: the kind that sets you free and the kind that leaves you buried in darkness.

Tense, fast-paced, and fueled by this legendary detective’s unrelenting sense of mission, Two Kinds of Truth is proof positive that “Connelly writes cops better than anyone else in the business” (New York Post).

The Wanted written by Robert Crais and read by Luke Daniels: 

Investigator Elvis Cole and his partner Joe Pike take on the deadliest case of their lives in the new masterpiece of suspense from #1 New York Times-bestselling author Robert Crais.

It seemed like a simple case—before the bodies started piling up…

When single-mother Devon Connor hires Elvis Cole, it’s because her troubled teenage son Tyson is flashing cash and she’s afraid he’s dealing drugs. But the truth is devastatingly different. With two others, he’s been responsible for a string of high-end burglaries, a crime spree that takes a deadly turn when one of them is murdered and Tyson and his girlfriend disappear.

They stole the wrong thing from the wrong man, and, determined to get it back, he has hired two men who are smart and brutal and the best at what they do.

To even the odds, Cole brings in his friend Joe Pike, but even the two of them together may be overmatched. The police don’t want them anywhere near the investigation, the teenagers refuse to be found, and the hired killers are leaving a trail of bodies in their wake. Pretty soon, they’ll find out everything they need to know to track the kids down—and then nothing that Elvis or Joe can do may make any difference. It might even get them killed.

What Unites Us written and read by Dan Rather: 

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

“I find myself thinking deeply about what it means to love America, as I surely do.” —Dan Rather

At a moment of crisis over our national identity, venerated journalist Dan Rather has emerged as a voice of reason and integrity, reflecting on—and writing passionately about—what it means to be an American. Now, with this collection of original essays, he reminds us of the principles upon which the United States was founded. Looking at the freedoms that define us, from the vote to the press; the values that have transformed us, from empathy to inclusion to service; the institutions that sustain us, such as public education; and the traits that helped form our young country, such as the audacity to take on daunting challenges in science and medicine, Rather brings to bear his decades of experience on the frontlines of the world’s biggest stories. As a living witness to historical change, he offers up an intimate view of history, tracing where we have been in order to help us chart a way forward and heal our bitter divisions.

With a fundamental sense of hope, What Unites Us is the book to inspire conversation and listening, and to remind us all how we are, finally, one.

Have a great week!

Linda, SSCL

You can request physical items, i.e. print books, DVDs & CDs, online via StarCat:

or by calling the library at: 607-936-3713 x 502.

Have a great day!

Linda, SSCL

Online Catalog Links:

StarCat

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

The Digital Catalog (OverDrive)

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

Freegal Music Service

This music service is free to library card holders and offers the option to download, and keep, three free songs per week and to stream three hours of commercial free music each day:

RBDigital

Digital magazines on demand and for free! Back issues are available and you can even choose to be notified by email when the new issue of your favorite magazine is available.

About Library Apps:

You can access digital library content on PCs, Macs and mobile devices. For mobile devices simply download the OverDrive, Freegal or Zinio app from your app store to get started. If you have questions call the library at: 607-936-3713 and one of our Digital Literacy Specialists will be happy to assist you.

Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.

Suggested Listening April 6, 2018

Hi everyone, Freegal Music Service has been upgraded, it has a brand new look and now features playlists by category!

So this week I’m going to suggest several of the new playlists for your weekend listening pleasure.

I will also recommend a couple of large CD box sets to round things off nicely!

(Click on the photo to stream or request the albums you want to listen to!)

Here are the Freegal Playlists:

Jazz Classics (89 Songs):

The Jazz Classics playlist features songs by Louis Armstrong, Coleman Hawkins, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Freddie Hubbard, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Etta James, West Montgomery, Nina Simone, Wynton Marsalis, Billie Holiday and many others.

Traditional Folk (89 Songs):

The Traditional Folk playlist features classic artists from the 1930s and 1940s as well as artists from the sixties folk explosion.

Artists include: Charlie Poole, Woody Guthrie, Tom Rush, Peter, Paul & Mary, Joni Mitchell, The Weavers, Simon & Garfunkel, The Byrds, Pete Seeger, Odetta, Eric Anderson, Bill Monroe, Bob Dylan, The Carter Family and many others.

Queens of Hip Hop Essentials (91 Songs):

The Queens of Hip Hop playlist features songs by L L Cool J, C+C Music Factory, Run DMC, 3rd Base, Eric B. & Rakim, Roxanne Shante, Salt-N-Pepa, Father MC, Nas, A Tribe Called Quest, Mobb Deep, The Showboys and many others.

Appalachian Road Trip (76 Songs):

The Appalachian Road Trip Playlist features folk, pop and country music and includes songs by The Wailin’ Jennys, Noah Gundersen, The Civil Wars, Ryan Bingham, The Avett Brothers, Lonesome River Band, Railroad Earth, The Gourds, The Carolina Chocolate Drops and many other artists.

80’s (82 Songs):

The 80s playlist features songs by Billy Joel, Air Supply, Bonnie Tyler, Bow Wow Wow, Bruce Springsteen, Eddie Money, Europe, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Gloria Estefan, Men at Work and many others.

Coffee House (75 Songs):

(I’d describe this as a modern pop/R&B coffee house playlist and not a traditional folk music based playlist – just FYI!)

The playlist features songs by Oddisee, Caitlyn Smith, Grace VanderWaal, Hozier, Leon Bridges, London Grammar, Childish Gambinio, Maxwell, Sade and more.

CD Box Sets of the Week:

Since the recommend playlists for this week all contain dozes of songs I thought I’d recommend some CD box sets for your weekend listening pleasure!

And on that note, you can drop in on Saturday and check out some CDs as the library is open from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Saturdays!

And you may not know this, but we have some CD sets that are actually too big to be displayed in our CD Section so they are actually housed in the grey cabinet behind the Circulation Desk.

The following six CD box sets are among these – you can ask for them at the Circulation Desk.

The Album Collection: Volume 1 (1973-1984) by Bruce Springsteen (Genre: Rock/Traditional Rock):

The Album Collection Vol. 1 1973-1984 includes the LPs:
Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. (1973)
The Wild, The Innocent and The E Street Shuffle (1973)
Born To Run (1975)
Darkness On The Edge Of Town (1978)
The River (1980)
Nebraska (1982)
Born In The U.S.A. (1984)

Jimmie Driftwood Six Classic Albums Plus Bonus Singles (Genre: Folk, Traditional Country, Americana, Pop):

Jimmie Driftwood was a mid-twentieth century singer-songwriter best known for writing the hit song The Battle of New Orleans which was a big hit for Johnny Horton in the early sixties.

This collection features the following four albums: The Westward Movement (1959), Tall Tales In Song (1960), Songs Of Billy Yank, Johnny Reb (1961) and Driftwood At Sea (1962).

The New Lost City Ramblers Six Classic Albums (Genre: Folk, Traditional Folk, Old Time Music):

The New Lost City Ramblers originally included Mike Seeger, John Cohen and Tom Paley.

This set includes the following albums: The New Lost City Ramblers Volume 1 (1958), the New Lost City Ramblers Volume 2 (1958), Songs From The Depression (1959), The New Lost City Ramblers Volume 3 (1961), The New Lost City Ramblers Volume 4 (1961) and American Moonshine And Prohibition (1962).

Note: The album cover shows Mike Seeger, John Cohen and Tracy Schwarz which is a tad misleading as these are the earliest recordings by the group and feature Mike Seeger, John Cohen and Tom Paley who doesn’t appear on the album cover but is on all the albums. Tracy Schwartz replaced Paley in the group in 1962.

Odetta Seven Classic Albums Plus Radio Tracks (Genre: Folk, Blues, Gospel):

This collection by the legendary folk singer and Civil Rights activist features the following albums: The Tin Angel (1954), My Eyes Have Seen (1959), Odetta Sings Ballads And Blues (1956), At the Gate of Horn (1958), Christmas Spirituals (1960), Ballad for Americans And Other American Ballads (1960) and Odetta at Carnegie Hall (1960) .

Pete Seeger: Four Classic Albums Plus Rare Live Recordings (Genre: Folk):

This set includes four albums by the legendary Pete Seeger include: American Ballads (1957), American Favorite Ballads Volume 1 (1957), Rainbow Quest (1960) & Indian Summer (1961).

The Weavers Six Classic Albums (Genre: Folk):

The Weavers included Pete Seeger, Lee Hayes, Ronnie Gilbert and Fred Hellerman.

The six classic albums in this collection include: The Weavers at Carnegie Hall (1957), Traveling on with The Weavers (1957), The Weavers at Home (1958), Folk Songs Around the World (1959), The Weavers at Carnegie Hall Vol 2 (1959) and The Weavers Almanac (1963).

Videos of the Week:

Take Five by Dave Brubeck

It Don’t Mean A Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing by Louis Armstrong & His Orchestra

I Loves You Porgy by Nina Simone

Blue Train by John Coltrane

Caravan by Duke Ellington & His Orchestra

Don’t Let Your Deal Go Down Blues by Charlie Poole

No Regrets by Tom Rush

If I Had A Hammer by Peter, Paul & Mary

Rambling Boy by Tom Paxton with Pete Seeger

Keep On The Sunny Side by The Carter Family

Banana Boat Song by Harry Belafonte with the Muppets

She Moves Through The Fair by Van Morrision & The Chieftans

I Can’t Live Without My Radio by L L Cool J

Everybody Dance Now by C+C Music Factory

It’s Tricky by RUN-DMC

Shoop by Salt-N-Peppa

The Parting Grass by the Wailin’ Jennys

My Diamond Is Too Rough by Ryan Bingham

Four Dead Guys Waltz by Chris Thile

Baton Rouge by Dailey & Vincent

Sourwood Mountain by Carolina Chocolate Drops

Dancing in the Dark by Bruce Springsteen

Take Me Home Tonight by Eddie Money

Who Can It Be Now? by Men at Work

Jessie’s Girl by Rick Springfield

What Do you Think About Me by Caitlyn Smith

Blue Ain’t Your Color by Jessie James Decker

America by Simon & Garfunkel

Waiting on the World to Change by John Meyer

Born in the USA by Bruce Springsteen

He Had A Long Chain On by Jimmie Driftwood

Man of Constant Sorrow by The New Lost City Ramblers

When First Unto This Country by The New Lost City Ramblers

Give Me Your Hand by Odetta

Waterboy by Odetta

If I Had A Hammer by Pete Seeger (who co-wrote the song with Lee Hayes)

Goodnight Irene by Pete Seeger

Kisses Sweeter Than Wine by The Weavers

Get Up And Go by The Weavers

Have a great weekend!

Linda, SSCL

References:

Artist Biography & Discography Information:

http://www.allmusic.com/

The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits by Joel Whitburn (Billboard Books. New York. 2009.)

P.S. If you have any questions about how to download or stream free music through the Freegal Music service to a desktop or laptop computer or how to download and use the Freegal Music app let us know! Drop by the library or give us a call at: 607-936-3713

*You must have a library card at a Southern Tier Library System member library to enjoy the Freegal Music Service. Your card can be from any library in the system, and the system includes all public libraries in Steuben, Chemung, Yates, Schuyler and Allegheny Counties and includes our own Southeast Steuben Count Library in Corning, New York!

Library cards are free if you live in our service area. And you can obtain a card by visiting the Circulation Desk and presenting staff with a form of ID that features your name and your current address.

Did You Know…Poldark!

Did You Know…Poldark!

This is the first in a new series of monthly postings that will offer fun bits of info on books, TV series and movies that you can check out at the library!

The Did You Know series of posts will come out in the first day of each month.

And our debut positing is on the new Poldark TV series!

So perhaps you’ve enjoyed the first three seasons of the swashbuckling romantic TV series Poldark? If you haven’t gotten to it yet, here’s a brief description: The series is set in 18th Century Cornwall, England, and stars Aidan Turner as Captain Ross Poldark, Eleanor Tomlinson as his wife, and the venerable heroine of the series, Demelza Carne Poldark, Heida Reed as Elizabeth Poldark Warleggan and Jack Farthing as George Warleggan.

And on to the Did You Know items!

Did you know…

• That the TV series is based upon a series of books written by the British author Winston Graham that were published between 1945 and 2002?

You read that right! Mr. Graham published 13 books in the series over the course of 57 years!

The first Poldark novel was originally titled The Renegade. Graham later changed the title to match the name of the hero of the book – Ross Poldark. Mr. Graham was inspired to write the Poldark novels after he moved to Cornwall as a youth and had the chance to take in the breath-taking beauty of Cornwall along with a dose of local history.

And although Graham wrote many other novels, including several that were turned into popular movies*. The Poldark series remained close to his heart. In fact, the very last book he finished in his life was the final book in the Poldark series, titled Bella Poldark, it was published in 2002 just a year before he died at age 95.

Did You Know…

• That the current TV Series, which made its debut in 2015, was preceded by TV series that ran from 1975 – 1977?

It was!

The original series featured Robin Ellis as Ross Poldark, Angharad Rees as Demelza Carne Poldark, Jill Townsend as Elizabeth Poldark Warleggan and Ralph Bates as George Warleggan. Like the current series the original TV series was shown on PBS’s Masterpiece Theatre and I remember watching it with my mother when it was original broadcast on American television. Like the current series, the original Poldark series was great fun to watch.

Did You Know…

• Robin Ellis, the actor who portrayed Ross Poldark in the 1970s series, is also in the new series?

He is!

Robin Ellis portrays the grouchy clergyman and Justice of the Peace the Reverend Doctor Halse in the new Poldark series.

About The Books:

On another interesting note, this one a book note, the one thing the original TV series didn’t have that the new series does – is access to the complete Poldark series of books!

When the original series was filmed in the seventies the author had only written the first seven books in the series, and those books chronicled the lives of Captain Ross Poldark and his family from his return to Cornwall after the American War (on our side of the pond The American Revolution) in 1783 through December of 1799. From the eighties through the early twenty first century the author wrote five more Poldark novels which take the Poldark Family all the way to 1820! So the makers of the new series have five more books, that span twenty more years, to base stories upon!

All the Poldark books, the complete seventies TV series and the first three seasons of the new Poldark TV series  can be requested through StarCat.

The fourth season of the new Poldark TV series will be shown on PBS this fall.

And here is a list of all the Poldark books and videos, which you can request from the library.

To request a title click on the photo of the book or video.

First the books in order:

Ross Poldark

Demelza

Jeremy Poldark

Warleggan 

The Black Moon

The Four Swans

The Angry Tide

The Stranger From The Sea

The Miller’s Dance

The Loving Cup

The Twisted Sword

Bella Poldark

Here are the links to request the videos in the 1970s series starring Robin Ellis:

Poldark, Series 1

Poldark, Series 2

And here are the links to request the first three video sets in the new series starring Aiden Turner:

Poldark: The Complete First Season

Poldark: The Complete Second Season

Poldark: The Complete Third Season

And just as an FYI you can also request the series in ebook and downloadable audio book formats through the Digital Catalog which you can access by clicking on the photo below:

Have a great day!
Linda, The Librarian (a tip of the hat to The Librarian in the old Hilarious House of Frightenstein TV series – I always wanted to type that!)

* The Graham novels that were filmed for the big screen are: Take My Life (1947), Night without Stars (1951), Fortune is a Woman (1957), Marnie produced by Alfred Hitchcock (1964) and The Walking Stick (1970).

References:

Because I’m a librarian and we’re big on citing sources!

Online Sources:

Reverend Dr. Halse day in court with Captain Poldark by Robin Ellis. Robin Ellis Actor, writer cook and author. (12 May, 2014). Online. Accessed March 21, 2018.
https://robin-ellis.net/2014/05/12/reverend-dr-halses-day-in-court-with-captain-poldark/

Obituary Winston Graham written by Dennis Baker and published in The Guardian (14 July 2003). Online. Accessed March 21, 2018.
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/jul/14/guardianobituaries.booksobituaries

Poldark Novels & Writing. The Official Winston Graham Site. Online. Accessed March 21, 2018.
http://www.winstongraham.org/novels1/novels1.htm

Print Sources:

Poldark’s Cornwall written by Winston & Andrew Graham. Published by Macmillan in London in 2015.

The World of Poldark by Emma Marriott. Published in New York by St Martin’s Press in 2016

Suggested Listening March 30, 2018

Hi everyone, here are our five musical recommendations for the week; four streaming suggestions and one recommended album on CD.

(Click on the photo to stream or request the album you want to listen to!)

Freegal Streaming Suggestions*

Modern Lore (2018) by Julian Lage (Genre: Jazz, Instrumental):

Julian Lage was born on December 25, 1987 and was a child prodigy who learned to play the guitar by the age of five. As a child he played with a number of world renowned musicians including: Carlos Santana, Pat Metheny, Toots Thielemans, David Grisman and others. In 1997, he was the focus of the Academy Award Winning documentary Jules at Eight.

So we can safely say this young man can really play the guitar!

Lage’s Modern Lore LP features the following songs: The Ramble, Atlantic Limited, General Thunder, Splendor Riot, Look Book and Whatever You Say, Henry.

Hallelujah Nights (2018) by LANCO (Genre: Country, Pop, Rock):

LANCO, which is short for Lancaster & Company, is a quintet featuring Brandon Lancaster on vocals, Eric Steedly on guitar, Jared Hampton on keyboard, Chandler Baldwin on bass and Tripp Howell on drums.

The group’s music can aptly be described as feel good country-rock – which is always fun!

Hallelujah Nights is the band’s 2018 release and it features the songs: Born to Love You, Long Live Tonight, Greatest Love Story, We Do, Singin’ at the Stars and Middle of the Night.

Coming Home (2015) by Leon Bridges (Genre: Soul, R&B, Pop):

AllMusic aptly describes Bridges as a “Singer, songwriter, and guitarist who emerged on Columbia in 2015 with a rich retro-soul sound.”

I agree with that assessment 100%. This is a lovely album – if you like classic soul and R&B it is right down your street! And I can’t believe that Bridges is as young as he is! He was born in Fort Worth, Texas in 1989! But, wow, listening to this album you get the impression he would have been right at home playing R&B in the 1960s.

Songs on the LP include: Coming Home, Better Man, Brown Skin Girl, Smooth Sailin’, Shine, Flowers and Twistin’ & Groovin’

100 Hits Vintage Nº1 (Genre: Vintage, Vocal, Pop):

This collection features one hundred hits from the golden age of pop! Artists featured in this collection include Doris Day, The McGuire Sisters, Paul Anka, Judy Garland, Betty Johnson, Bing Crosby, Gene Kelly, Cleo Laine, Billie Holiday and many more.

Songs in the collection include: Que Será, Será (Whatever Will Be, Will Be) by Doris Day, Brother Bill by Bing Crosby & Louis Armstrong, Sway by Rosemary Clooney with Perez Prado and His Orchestra, Rum and Coca Cola by The Andrew Sisters, Besame Mucho by Eyde Gorme and Steve Lawrence, Frenesi by The Four Freshman and more.

Bonus Streaming Suggestion:

Snake Drive by Eric Clapton from the V/A Collection The Beginning (Genre: Blues, Blues-Rock, Rock, Classic Rock):

The Freegal Music Catalog mainly features music from SONY Records and its offshoots so there isn’t much music by Eric Clapton in the catalog.

However, since today, March 30, is Eric Clapton’s 73rd birthday, I’m going to recommend you give a listen to one of the two instrumental tunes he did early in his career that appear on this LP: Freightloader or Snake Drive. The songs are from a various artists collection with a long name: The Beginning: Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Carlos Santana, Jimmy Page. Masterpieces, Vol. 1 (Remastered). And the collection features some neat songs but a couple that have less than stellular sound quality so those that value pristine sound quality beware!

CD of the Week:

Trumpet Blues The Best of Harry James (Genre: Swing, Pop, Traditional Jazz):

Harry James was an enthusiastic trumpet player and band leader. Indeed, he ran one of the most popular bands of the Swing Era. He even hired a young and unknown singer for his band – one that in short order became a household name – Frank Sinatra.

Trumpet Blues features recordings of songs that James first recorded in the 1930s and 1940s. The sound quality of many of those early recordings wasn’t so hot so James re-recorded them with more higher end equipment in the 1950s.

Songs on the LP include: Trumpet Blues, Moten Swing, I’m Beginning To See The Light, Sleepy Lagoon, I’ve Heard That Song Before and It’s Been A Long, Long Time.

Videos of the Week:

Roger, The Dodger by Julian Lage

Greatest Love Story by LANCO

Smooth Sailin’ by Leon Bridges

Que Sera Sera (Whatever Will Be Will Be) by Doris Day

Snake Drive by Eric Clapton

Have a great weekend!

Linda, SSCL

*A library card is required to use the Freegal Music Service. If you live in the service area of the Southern Tier Library System, that contains the public libraries in Steuben, Chemung, Yates, Schuyler and Alleghany counties in New York State, you can get a library card for free at your nearest public library – including our own Southeast Steuben County Library in Corning, New York. The Freegal Music Service is free for all library card holders to access.

References:

Artist Biography & Discography Information:

http://www.allmusic.com/

The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits by Joel Whitburn (Billboard Books. New York. 2009.)

P.S. If you have any questions about how to download or stream free music through the Freegal Music service to a desktop or laptop computer or how to download and use the Freegal Music app let us know! Drop by the library or give us a call at: 607-936-3713

*You must have a library card at a Southern Tier Library System member library to enjoy the Freegal Music Service. Your card can be from any library in the system, and the system includes all public libraries in Steuben, Chemung, Yates, Schuyler and Allegheny Counties and includes our own Southeast Steuben Count Library in Corning, New York!

Library cards are free if you live in our service area. And you can obtain a card by visiting the Circulation Desk and presenting staff with a form of ID that features your name and your current address.