Tag: e-books

Daily Digital & Print Suggested Reads: Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, here are our recommended titles for today.

(Note: Click on the photo of the item you’d like to request or check out)

Our digital suggestion for today is the ebook:

The MindWar Trilogy (MindWar, Hostage Run, and Game Over) by Andrew Klavan:

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When Rick lost the ability to run, he came one step closer to becoming a hero.

New High Score! New Record Time!

Rick nodded with grim satisfaction. He laid the game controller aside on the sofa and reached for his crutches.

Rick Dial was the best quarterback Putnam Hills High School had ever seen. Unflappable. Unstoppable.

Number 12. But when a car accident left him crippled, Rick’s life as he knew it ended. He disavowed his triumphant past. He ignored his girlfriend. He disappeared into his bedroom—and into the glowing video screen.

But Rick’s uncanny gaming skills have attracted attention. Dangerous attention. Government agents have uncovered a potentially devastating cyber-threat: a Russian genius has created a digital reality called the Realm, from which he can enter, control, and disrupt American computer systems . . . from transportation to defense. The agents want Rick, quick-thinking quarterback and gaming master, to enter the Realm and stop the madman—before he sends America into chaos.

Entering the Realm will give Rick what he thought he’d never have again: a body as strong and fast as it was before the accident. But this is no game, there are no extra lives, and what happens to Rick in the Realm happens to Rick’s body in reality.

Even after Rick agrees to help, he can’t shake the sense that he’s being kept in the dark. Why would a government agency act so aggressively? Can anyone inside the Realm be trusted? How many others have entered before him . . . and failed to return?

In the tradition of Ender’s Game and The Matrix, MindWar is a complex thriller about a seemingly ordinary teenager who discovers a hidden gift—a gift that could make him a hero . . . or cost him everything.

“Edgar Award–winning Klavan’s well-orchestrated fantasy thriller features . . . an imaginative mix of gaming action with real-life stakes. With just the right cliff-hanger ending, this trilogy opener shows promise.” —Booklist

And our print book suggested read for the day is:

Exile of Fenrir by Peter Curson:

 “We were only five when the gods looked at us in fear.” Fenrir is speaking of him and his siblings. As the children of the trickster Loki, they have good reason to be feared. However, this is not the reason the gods of Asgard fear them. Fenrir, Jormungand, and Hél are some of the few shapeshifters in Norse Mythology. Fenrir has the ability to shapeshift into a great wolf and is capable of taking on even Asgard’s mighty gods. This is Fenrir’s story of his time in Asgard. His journey takes him from Valhalla, the great hall of Odin, to the depths of the Underworld, all the while facing triumph and tragedy and uncovering the mysteries of the Norse mythological world. Join Fenrir in his tale of adventure, conflict, and heartache as he is forced to live amongst the gods of Asgard. Exile of Fenrir is an original work rooted within the world of Norse Mythology. In this novel, Fenrir takes part and witnesses some of the mythological tales that were told by our real world’s Vikings.

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.

Daily Digital & Print Suggested Reads: Monday, December 4, 2017

Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, here are our recommended titles for today.

(Note: Click on the photo of the item you’d like to request or check out)

Our digital suggestion for today is the ebook:

Salt Houses by Hala Alyan:

“Reading Salt Houses is like having your coffee grounds read: cosmic, foreboding and titillating all at once. In this magnificent debut, Alyan’s powerful and poetic voice guides us into the dark recesses of history and leads us right up to the present tensions between East & West, the modern & ancestral, the hopeless and the hopeful.” —Aline Ohanesian, author of Orhan’s Inheritance

On the eve of her daughter Alia’s wedding, Salma reads the girl’s future in a cup of coffee dregs. She sees an unsettled life for Alia and her children; she also sees travel, and luck. While she chooses to keep her predictions to herself that day, they will all soon come to pass when the family is uprooted in the wake of the Six-Day War of 1967.

Salma is forced to leave her home in Nablus; Alia’s brother gets pulled into a politically militarized world he can’t escape; and Alia and her gentle-spirited husband move to Kuwait City, where they reluctantly build a life with their three children. When Saddam Hussein invades Kuwait in 1990, Alia and her family once again lose their home, their land, and their story as they know it, scattering to Beirut, Paris, Boston, and beyond. Soon Alia’s children begin families of their own, once again navigating the burdens (and blessings) of assimilation in foreign cities.

Lyrical and heartbreaking, Salt Houses is a remarkable debut novel that challenges and humanizes an age-old conflict we might think we understand—one that asks us to confront that most devastating of all truths: you can’t go home again.

And our print book suggested read for the day is:

The Long, Long Trail: War at Home, 1917 by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles:

In 1917 the Great War rages on, and for the Hunters, their friends and their servants the war is where they live now.

David has returned from the Front a shadow of his former self; his sister Diana, newly married, copes with pregnancy alone, her husband at the Front. Aunt Laura, eager for challenge, goes to France with an ambulance; while Beattie struggles to manage war work and household, while racked with her secret guilt and a new threat of exposure.

U-boat attacks face Britain with starvation, and with the worsening privation comes a new horror as Germany begins a lethal bombing campaign. But even in the darkest hours of war, new life and new hope can burgeon, with the promise that the future might still hold happiness for them all.

The Long, Long Trail is the fourth book in the War at Home series by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles, author of the much-loved Morland Dynasty novels. Set against the real events of 1917, at home and on the front, this is a vivid and rich family drama featuring the Hunter family and their servants.

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.

Daily Digital & Print Suggested Reads: Friday, November 24, 2017

Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, here are our recommended titles for today.

(Note: Click on the photo of the item you’d like to request or check out)

Our digital suggestion for today is the downloadable audio book & ebook:

Pax written by Sara Pennypacker:

From bestselling and award-winning author Sara Pennypacker comes a beautifully wrought, utterly compelling novel about the powerful relationship between a boy and his fox. Pax is destined to become a classic, beloved for generations to come.

Pax and Peter have been inseparable ever since Peter rescued him as a kit. But one day, the unimaginable happens: Peter’s dad enlists in the military and makes him return the fox to the wild.

At his grandfather’s house, three hundred miles away from home, Peter knows he isn’t where he should be—with Pax. He strikes out on his own despite the encroaching war, spurred by love, loyalty, and grief, to be reunited with his fox.

Meanwhile Pax, steadfastly waiting for his boy, embarks on adventures and discoveries of his own. . . .

And our print book suggested read for the day is:

The Ghost of Christmas Past by Rhys Bowen:

From Rhys Bowen, the author of In Farleigh Field, comes the next Molly Murphy mystery: The Ghost of Christmas Past.

Semi-retired private detective Molly Murphy Sullivan is suffering from depression after a miscarriage following her adventure in San Francisco during the earthquake of 1906. She and her husband, Daniel, are invited for Christmas at a mansion on the Hudson, and they gratefully accept, expecting a peaceful and relaxing holiday season. Not long after they arrive, however, they start to feel the tension in the house’s atmosphere. Then they learn that the host couple’s young daughter wandered out into the snow ten years ago and was never seen again. Molly can identify with the mother’s pain at never knowing what happened to her child and wants to help, but there is so little to go on. No ransom note. No body ever found. But Molly slowly begins to suspect that the occupants of the house know more than they are letting on. Then, on Christmas Eve, there is a knock at the door and a young girl stands there. “I’m Charlotte,” she says. “I’ve come home.”

Also of note, you can also request items 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.

Daily Digital & Print Suggested Reads: Thursday, November 23, 2017

Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, the library is closed today for the Thanksgiving holiday.

We’ll be open regular hours on Friday (9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.) and Saturday (10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.)

And since we’re closed today, my suggestions will consist of on demand music and magazines that everyone can download to a computer or mobile device and enjoy over the long weekend.

(Note: Click on the photo of the item you’d like to request or check out)

On Demand Magazines (including current and back issues – you can read the magazines on a computer or download the RBDigital app from your app store):

AFAR:

AFAR is a different kind of travel magazine that guides and inspires those who travel the world seeking to connect with its people, experience their cultures, and understand their perspectives. Every issue delivers intriguing travel stories told with beautiful photos and a fresh design.

Better Homes & Gardens:

Better Homes and Gardens is the one magazine that helps you turn your home into a comfy, inviting haven. Every issue is packed with bedrooms that wrap you in warmth, kitchens that start your day with sunshine, gardens that greet you with gladness, porches that put you at peace, and recipes that become instant family classics.

Billboard Magazine:

Written for music industry professionals and fans. Contents provide news, reviews and statistics for all genres of music, including radio play, music video, related internet activity and retail updates.

BirdWatching:

BirdWatching is a must-read for anyone who loves birds, whether you are a casual birdwatcher or avid birder. Each issue includes articles by the best known, most respected names in birding, identification tips, spectacular photography, hands-on information about the best birding locations in North America, answers to intriguing reader questions, and much more.

Country Living:

Rooms that invite you to linger. Vintage collectibles displayed with love. A colorful easy-care garden. A porch that says “Come sit!” All yours in the pages of Country Living!

Dirt Rag Magazine:

Dirt Rag is a mountain biking lifestyle magazine. Original art, passionate stories, investigative articles, honest product reviews, comics, music and book reviews and a realistic attitude are what we’re all about. Whether you are a timid beginner or a seasoned race junkie, Dirt Rag speaks to you.

Discover:

Discover Magazine will amaze you, enlighten you, and open your eyes to the awe and wonder of science and technology. Discover reveals secrets, solves mysteries, and debunks old myths. Discover shares new findings and shows you what makes our universe tick.

Esquire:

Esquire is a funny, informative, connected magazine that covers the interests of American men—all the interests of the American man: Politics, style, advice, women, health, eating and drinking, the most interesting people of our time. All that and it’s the most-honored monthly magazine in history.

Guitar Player:

The only magazine committed to the most experienced and serious guitar players. Coverage includes the finest lessons and master classes, interviews with top artists, recording tips, and extensive product reviews.

Star Trek Magazine:

Providing in-depth coverage of all aspects of Star Trek, from the classic years of Kirk and Spock, through Jean Luc Picard, Captains Sisko, Janeway and Archer to the new JJ Abrams movies, Star Trek Magazine is your indispensable guide to the Star Trek universe. Every issue contains star-name interviews, great analytical features and exclusive photography from the CBS archives.

Star Wars Insider:

Celebrating the greatest space adventure saga of all time, Star Wars Insider really gets the reader inside the worlds of Star Wars through interviews, behind-the-scenes exclusives and unrivalled access to the Lucasfilm archives. Each issue offers star interviews, ‘making of’ features and merchandise coverage, plus the unique ‘Blaster!’ section covering up-coming books, comics, action figures and other collectibles.

On Demand Music (the links will take you to the Freegal Catalog – and you can download the Freegal Music app through your app store):

The Classical Thanksgiving, Vol. 1:

This LP, featuring unknown players, contains of light classical music perfect for background music at any dinner gathering.

Songs include: Ave Maria, Brandenburg Concerto No. 2. Hunting Cantata, Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 21 in C Major

Forever Autumn, Vol. 1 by Various Artists:

This is an interesting collection of autumn inspired music.

Songs include: Forever Autumn by Tommy Cruise, Orinoco Flow by Ryan & Rachel O’Donnell, River Man by Gail Arden, Clarie De Lune by Antoine Coercy and Hedwig’s Theme by the Hogwarts Orchestra

The Great Thanksgiving – Hymns and Songs of Thanks and Brotherhood by The Mormon Tabernacle Choir:

Songs include: Ballad of Brotherhood, A Song of Thanksgiving, Onward, Ye Peoples, Prayer of Thanksgiving & All People That on Earth Do Dwell

Jazz Music for Thanksgiving Dinner by Various Artists:

Songs include: Don’t Get Around Much Anymore by the Duke Ellington Orchestra, Till There Was You Be Eddie Fisher, Bicycle Built for Two by Barrel Fingers Barry, My Favorite Things by 101 Strings & Stomping At The Savoy by the Benny Goodman Orchestra

Thanksgiving: A Windham Hill Collection by Various Artists:

Songs include: We Gather Together by Paul McCandless, Bygone Days by Eileen Ivers, Simple Gifts by Tracy Silverman & The Gathering by Will Ackerman

Turkey Day Spectacular! Thanksgiving Music by Various Artists:

Songs Include: Shake A Feather by Ike & Tine Turner, Costello’s Pet Turkey by Abbott & Costello, Turkey Stomp by The Living End, Preparing a Live Turkey for Thanksgiving by Jimmy Durante & We Are Family by Sister Sledge

And if some mediation and relaxation music is order, after a busy Thanksgiving Day, here are two albums of Native American Flute music to fit that bill:

Native American Flute Meditations by Native American Flute Tribe:

The music on this album is perfect if you’re looking to relax and unwind after Thanksgiving dinner.

The LP features three relaxing works: Meditating on Natures Wonders (27 minutes), Four Winds Meditation (42 minutes) & Easter Winds Meditation (9 minutes)

Native American Flute: Sleep Music by Native American Flute:

The music on this LP is a perfect complement to a quiet post-Thanksgiving evening.

Songs include: Lullaby with Flute & Crickets, All Tucked In, Flute of the Moon, Peacful Storm & Winds of Sleep.

Have a great day and drop by the library on Friday or Saturday!

Linda, SSCL

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.

Daily Digital & Print Suggested Reads: Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, here are our recommended titles for today.

(Note: Click on the photo of the item you’d like to request or check out)

Our digital suggestion for today is the e-book:

American Street by Ibi Zoboi:

A National Book Award Longlist title with five starred reviews!

American Street is an evocative and powerful coming-of-age story perfect for fans of Everything, Everything; Bone Gap; and All American Boys.

In this stunning debut novel, Pushcart-nominated author Ibi Zoboi draws on her own experience as a young Haitian immigrant, infusing this lyrical exploration of America with magical realism and vodou culture.

On the corner of American Street and Joy Road, Fabiola Toussaint thought she would finally find une belle vie—a good life.

But after they leave Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Fabiola’s mother is detained by U.S. immigration, leaving Fabiola to navigate her loud American cousins, Chantal, Donna, and Princess; the grittiness of Detroit’s west side; a new school; and a surprising romance, all on her own.

Just as she finds her footing in this strange new world, a dangerous proposition presents itself, and Fabiola soon realizes that freedom comes at a cost. Trapped at the crossroads of an impossible choice, will she pay the price for the American dream?

And our print book suggested read for the day is:

Rebel Seoul by Axie Oh:

EAST ASIA, 2199. After a great war, the East Pacific is in ruins. In brutal Neo Seoul, where status comes from success in combat, ex-gang member Lee Jaewon is a talented pilot rising in the academy’s ranks. Abandoned as a child in the slums of Old Seoul by his rebel father, Jaewon desires only to escape his past.

When Jaewon is recruited into the most lucrative weapons development division in Neo Seoul, he is eager to claim his best shot at military glory. But the mission becomes more complicated when he meets Tera, a test subject in the government’s supersoldier project. Tera was trained for one purpose: to pilot one of the lethal God Machines, massive robots for a never-ending war.

With secret orders to report on Tera, Jaewon becomes Tera’s partner, earning her reluctant respect. But as respect turns to love, Jaewon begins to question his loyalty to an oppressive regime that creates weapons out of humans. As the project prepares to go public amidst rumors of a rebellion, Jaewon must decide where he stands–as a soldier of the Republic, or a rebel of the people.

Pacific Rim meets Korean action dramas in this mind-blowing, New Visions Award-winning science fiction debut.

Also of note, you can also request items 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.

Daily Digital & Print Suggested Reads: Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, here are our recommended titles for today.

(Note: Click on the photo of the item you’d like to request or check out)

Our digital suggestion for today is the ebook:

Rad Women Worldwide, Artists and Athletes, Pirates and Punks, and Other Revolutionaries Who Shaped History written by Kate Schatz by Miriam Klein Stahl:

Educational and inspirational, this gift-worthy New York Times bestseller from the authors of Rad American Women A-Z, is a bold, illustrated collection of 40 biographical profiles showcasing extraordinary women from across the globe.

Rad Women Worldwide tells fresh, engaging, and amazing tales of perseverance and radical success by pairing well-researched and riveting biographies with powerful and expressive cut-paper portraits. The book features an array of diverse figures from 430 BCE to 2016, spanning 31 countries around the world, from Hatshepsut (the great female king who ruled Egypt peacefully for two decades) and Malala Yousafzi (the youngest person to win the Nobel Peace Prize) to Poly Styrene (legendary teenage punk and lead singer of X-Ray Spex) and Liv Arnesen and Ann Bancroft (polar explorers and the first women to cross Antarctica). An additional 250 names of international rad women are also included as a reference for readers to continue their own research.

This progressive and visually arresting book is a compelling addition to women’s history and belongs on the shelf of every school, library, and home. Together, these stories show the immense range of what women have done and can do. May we all have the courage to be rad!

For teachers, this book is appropriate for grades 6-8 and could be used in either Social Studies or English classes, or as part of a text for a multidisciplinary unit. It can also be used as a Common Core text for grades 6-8 Social Studies/History – CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.1-10.

Contents:
Enheduanna (Mesopotamia)
Malala Yousafzai (Pakistan)
Kalpana Chawla (India)
Aung San Suu Kyi (Burma)
Qiu Jin (China)
Junko Tabei (Japan)
Fe Del Mundo (Philippines)
Dame Katerina Te Heikōkō Mataira (New Zealand)
Faith Bandler (Australia)
Liv Arnesen and Ann Bancroft (Norway & U.S.A.)
Miriam Makeba (South Africa)
Wangari Maathai (Kenya)
Kasha Jacqueline Nagabasera (Uganda)
Funmilayo Ransome Kuti (Nigeria)
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Nigeria)
Hatshepsut (Egypt)
Madres de la Plaza de Mayo (Argentina)
Marta (Brazil)
Quintreman Sisters (Chile)
Policarpa “La Pola” Salavarrieta (Colombia)
Bastardilla (Colombia)
Nanny of the Maroons (Jamaica)
Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz (Mexico)
Frida Kahlo (Mexico)
Queen Lili’uokalani (Hawaii)
Venus and Serena Williams (U.S.A.)
Birutė Mary Galdikis (Canada)
Buffy Sainte-Marie (Canada)
ENIAC Programmers (U.S.A.)
Guerrilla Girls (U.S.A.)
Grace “Granuaile” O’Malley (Ireland)
Princess Sophia Duleep Singh (England)
Poly Styrene (England)
Sophie Scholl (Germany)
Marie Curie and Irene Joliot-Curie (France)
Josephine Baker (France)
Maria Montessori (Italy)
Hypatia (Egypt)
Emma Goldman (Russia)
The Stateless (no country listed)

And our print book suggested read for the day is:

Future Home Of The Living God by Louise Erdrich:

 

Louise Erdrich, the New York Times bestselling, National Book Award-winning author of LaRose and The Round House, paints a startling portrait of a young woman fighting for her life and her unborn child against oppressive forces that manifest in the wake of a cataclysmic event.

The world as we know it is ending. Evolution has reversed itself, affecting every living creature on earth. Science cannot stop the world from running backwards, as woman after woman gives birth to infants that appear to be primitive species of humans. Twenty-six-year-old Cedar Hawk Songmaker, adopted daughter of a pair of big-hearted, open-minded Minneapolis liberals, is as disturbed and uncertain as the rest of America around her. But for Cedar, this change is profound and deeply personal. She is four months pregnant.

Though she wants to tell the adoptive parents who raised her from infancy, Cedar first feels compelled to find her birth mother, Mary Potts, an Ojibwe living on the reservation, to understand both her and her baby’s origins. As Cedar goes back to her own biological beginnings, society around her begins to disintegrate, fueled by a swelling panic about the end of humanity.

There are rumors of martial law, of Congress confining pregnant women. Of a registry, and rewards for those who turn these wanted women in. Flickering through the chaos are signs of increasing repression: a shaken Cedar witnesses a family wrenched apart when police violently drag a mother from her husband and child in a parking lot. The streets of her neighborhood have been renamed with Bible verses. A stranger answers the phone when she calls her adoptive parents, who have vanished without a trace. It will take all Cedar has to avoid the prying eyes of potential informants and keep her baby safe.

A chilling dystopian novel both provocative and prescient, Future Home of the Living God is a startlingly original work from one of our most acclaimed writers: a moving meditation on female agency, self-determination, biology, and natural rights that speaks to the troubling changes of our time.

Also of note, you can also request items 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.

Daily Digital & Print Suggested Reads: Monday, November 20, 2017

Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, here are our recommended titles for today.

(Note: Click on the photo of the item you’d like to request or check out)

Our digital suggestion for today is the ebook:

Hyperion, Hyperion Cantos Series, Book 1 by Dan Simmons:

A stunning tour de force filled with transcendent awe and wonder, Hyperion is a masterwork of science fiction that resonates with excitement and invention, the first volume in a remarkable epic by the multiple-award-winning author of The Hollow Man.

On the world called Hyperion, beyond the reach of galactic law, waits a creature called the Shrike. There are those who worship it. There are those who fear it.

And there are those who have vowed to destroy it. In the Valley of the Time Tombs, where huge, brooding structures move backward through time, the Shrike waits for them all.

On the eve of Armageddon, with the entire galaxy at war, seven pilgrims set forth on a final voyage to Hyperion seeking the answers to the unsolved riddles of their lives. Each carries a desperate hope—and a terrible secret. And one may hold the fate of humanity in his hands.

Praise for Dan Simmons and Hyperion

“Dan Simmons has brilliantly conceptualized a future 700 years distant. In sheer scope and complexity it matches, and perhaps even surpasses, those of Isaac Asimov and James Blish.”—The Washington Post Book World

“An unfailingly inventive narrative . . . generously conceived and stylistically sure-handed.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Simmons’s own genius transforms space opera into a new kind of poetry.”—The Denver Post
“An essential part of any science fiction collection.”—Booklist

And our print book suggested read for the day is:

Thessaly: The Complete Trilogy (The Just City, The Philosopher Kings, Necessity) Paperback by Jo Walton:

Finalist for 2017 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature

For the first time, Jo Walton’s critically acclaimed, genre-defying trilogy Thessaly―The Just City, The Philosopher Kings, and Necessity―is available in softcover, in a single-volume trade paperback omnibus.

The goddess Athena thought she was creating a utopia. Populate the island of Thera with extraordinary men, women, and children from throughout history, and watch as the mortals forge a harmonious society based on the tenets of Plato’s Republic.

Meanwhile, following his famous spurning by a nymph, Athena’s ever-curious brother Apollo has decided to live a mortal human life on the island, in an effort to gain a better understanding of humanity.

But as both Athena and Apollo soon discover, even the Just City is susceptible to the iron law that nothing ever happens as planned. And there are sins in Paradise, mortal and divine, far graver than the everyday ones.

In an epic encompassing sandy Mediterranean shores and the farthest reaches of the galaxy, Victorian England and Renaissance Italy, gods and humans argue, fight, love, and most of all, learn from one another, in critically-acclaimed author Jo Walton’s unique exploration of the human condition.

Also of note, you can also request items 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.

Daily Digital & Print Suggested Reads: Friday, November 17, 2017

Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, here are our recommended titles for today.

(Note: Click on the photo of the item you’d like to request or check out)

Our digital suggestion for today is the e-book:

Stand Down by J. A. Jance:

Life has shifted for J. P. Beaumont. After a tragic accident that devastated—and ultimately disbanded—his Special Homicide Investigation Team, he accepts that he has left homicide detection behind at this point, but he has a lot of unanticipated free time on his hands. He’s keeping busy with renovations on the new house that he and his wife Mel Soames, the newly appointed Chief of Police in Bellingham, Washington, have bought. But new fixtures and paint palettes can occupy only so much of Beau’s daily life, and Mel is encouraging him to return to where he is needed: investigating crimes.

In the meantime, she is struggling to gain control of her new situation, cast into a department where some are welcoming—and some are not. It’s been a few months, and the tension in the police department is rising, but Beau realizes Mel has to tackle things in her own way, so he refrains from advising. But when Beau shows up one afternoon to survey the construction at their new house and finds Mel’s car there but no sign of her, his investigative instincts kick in. Suddenly he’s back in the game—except this time, his heart is on the line as well as his professional dignity.

And our print book suggested read for the day is:

The Witches Tree, An Agatha Raisin Mystery by M.C. Beaton:

The Witches’ Tree continues the tradition in M. C. Beaton’s beloved Agatha Raisin mystery series―now a hit show on Acorn TV and public television.

Cotswolds inhabitants are used to inclement weather, but the night sky is especially foggy as Rory and Molly Devere, the new vicar and his wife, drive slowly home from a dinner party in their village of Sumpton Harcourt. They strain to see the road ahead―and then suddenly brake, screeching to a halt. Right in front of them, aglow in the headlights, a body hangs from a gnarled tree at the edge of town. Margaret Darby, an elderly spinster, has been murdered―and the villagers are bewildered as to who would commit such a crime.

Agatha Raisin rises to the occasion (a little glad for the excitement, to tell the truth, after a long run of lost cats and divorces on the books). But Sumpton Harcourt is a small and private village, she finds―a place that poses more questions than answers. And when two more murders follow the first, Agatha begins to fear for her reputation―and even her life. That the village has its own coven of witches certainly doesn’t make her feel any better…

Also of note, you can also request items 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

Daily Digital & Print Suggested Reads: Thursday, November 16, 2017

Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, here are our recommended titles for today.

(Note: Click on the photo of the item you’d like to request or check out)

Our digital suggestion for today is the e-book:

A Casualty of War, A Bess Crawford Mystery by Charles Todd:

From New York Times bestselling author Charles Todd comes a haunting tale that explores the impact of World War I on all who witnessed it—officers, soldiers, doctors, and battlefield nurses like Bess Crawford.

Though the Great War is nearing its end, the fighting rages on. While waiting for transport back to her post, Bess Crawford meets Captain Alan Travis from the island of Barbados. Later, when he’s brought into her forward aid station disoriented from a head wound, Bess is alarmed that he believes his distant English cousin, Lieutenant James Travis, shot him. Then the Captain is brought back to the aid station with a more severe wound, once more angrily denouncing the Lieutenant as a killer. But when it appears that James Travis couldn’t have shot him, the Captain’s sanity is questioned. Still, Bess wonders how such an experienced officer could be so wrong.

On leave in England, Bess finds the Captain strapped to his bed in a clinic for brain injuries. Horrified by his condition, Bess and Sergeant Major Simon Brandon travel to James Travis’s home in Suffolk, to learn more about the baffling relationship between these two cousins.

Her search will lead this smart, capable, and compassionate young woman into unexpected danger, and bring her face to face with the visible and invisible wounds of war that not even the much-longed for peace can heal.

And our print book suggested read for the day is:

All the Crooked Saints by Maggie Stiefvater:

Here is a thing everyone wants:

A miracle.

Here is a thing everyone fears:

What it takes to get one.

Any visitor to Bicho Raro, Colorado, is likely to find a landscape of dark saints, forbidden love, scientific dreams, miracle-mad owls, estranged affections, one or two orphans, and a sky full of watchful desert stars.

At the heart of this place you will find the Soria family, who all have the ability to perform unusual miracles. And at the heart of this family are three cousins longing to change its future: Beatriz, the girl without feelings, who wants only to be free to examine her thoughts; Daniel, the Saint of Bicho Raro, who performs miracles for everyone but himself; and Joaquin, who spends his nights running a renegade radio station under the name Diablo Diablo.

They are all looking for a miracle. But the miracles of Bicho Raro are never quite what you expect.

Also of note, you can also request items 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

Daily Digital & Print Suggested Reads: Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, here are our recommended titles for today.

(Note: Click on the photo of the item you’d like to request or check out)

Our digital suggestion for today is the downloadable audio book:

Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI written by David Grann & narrated by Will Patton:

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER – LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD
“Disturbing and riveting…It will sear your soul.” —Dave Eggers, New York Times Book Review

From New Yorker staff writer David Grann, #1 New York Times best-selling author of The Lost City of Z, a twisting, haunting true-life murder mystery about one of the most monstrous crimes in American history

In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Indian nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, they rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions, and sent their children to study in Europe.

Then, one by one, the Osage began to be killed off. The family of an Osage woman, Mollie Burkhart, became a prime target. Her relatives were shot and poisoned. And it was just the beginning, as more and more members of the tribe began to die under mysterious circumstances.

In this last remnant of the Wild West—where oilmen like J. P. Getty made their fortunes and where desperadoes like Al Spencer, the “Phantom Terror,” roamed—many of those who dared to investigate the killings were themselves murdered. As the death toll climbed to more than twenty-four, the FBI took up the case. It was one of the organization’s first major homicide investigations and the bureau badly bungled the case. In desperation, the young director, J. Edgar Hoover, turned to a former Texas Ranger named Tom White to unravel the mystery. White put together an undercover team, including one of the only American Indian agents in the bureau. The agents infiltrated the region, struggling to adopt the latest techniques of detection. Together with the Osage they began to expose one of the most chilling conspiracies in American history.

In Killers of the Flower Moon, David Grann revisits a shocking series of crimes in which dozens of people were murdered in cold blood. Based on years of research and startling new evidence, the book is a masterpiece of narrative nonfiction, as each step in the investigation reveals a series of sinister secrets and reversals. But more than that, it is a searing indictment of the callousness and prejudice toward American Indians that allowed the murderers to operate with impunity for so long. Killers of the Flower Moon is utterly compelling, but also emotionally devastating.

And our print book suggested read for the day is:

The Gift of Christmas Past by Cindy Woodsmall:

Arson wasn’t the only fire that ignited between them.

Promises shattered.

Lies spoken.

She was arrested.

He returned to the safety of his wealthy parents.

Almost ten years later, Hadley and Monroe are both specialists in the field of speech therapy. They meet again . . . thrown together to help a four-year-old-girl rendered mute after being rescued from a fire.

Years of secrets and anger beg to be set free as Hadley and Monroe try to push aside past hurts and find common ground in order to help the traumatized child and her family.

Can the love of Christmas past drift into the present, bringing healing and hope for all?

You can also request items 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