Fiction – Page 32 – Tech & Book Talk at SSCL

Daily Print & Digital Suggested Reads: Friday, January 6, 2017

January 6, 2017January 5, 2017 Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, here are our suggested daily recommended titles in print or media and digital formats.

Our digital suggestion for today is the e-book:

The Lemoncholy Life of Annie Aster by Scott Wilbanks:

Annabelle Aster doesn’t bow to convention-not even that of space and time-which makes the 1890s Kansas wheat field that has appeared in her modern-day San Francisco garden easy to accept. Even more peculiar is Elsbeth, the truculent schoolmarm who sends Annie letters through the mysterious brass mailbox perched on the picket fence that now divides their two worlds.

Annie and Elsbeth’s search for an explanation to the hiccup in the universe linking their homes leads to an unsettling discovery-and potential disaster for both of them. Together they must solve the mystery of what connects them before one of them is convicted of a murder that has yet to happen…and yet somehow already did.

Here’s a link to the checkout page in the Digital Catalog:

https://stls.overdrive.com/media/2862045

And our physical format suggestion for today is the print book:

City on Fire by Garth Risk Hallberg:

One of the Best Books of the Year: The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, NPR, Vogue, San Francisco Chronicle, The Wall Street Journal

New York City, 1976. Meet Regan and William Hamilton-Sweeney, estranged heirs to one of the city’s great fortunes; Keith and Mercer, the men who, for better or worse, love them; Charlie and Samantha, two suburban teenagers seduced by downtown’s punk scene; an obsessive magazine reporter and his idealistic neighbor—and the detective trying to figure out what any of them have to do with a shooting in Central Park on New Year’s Eve.

The mystery, as it reverberates through families, friendships, and the corridors of power, will open up even the loneliest-seeming corners of the crowded city. And when the blackout of July 13, 1977, plunges this world into darkness, each of these lives will be changed forever. City on Fire is an unforgettable novel about love and betrayal and forgiveness, about art and truth and rock ’n’ roll: about what people need from each other in order to live—and about what makes the living worth doing in the first place.

You can request the title by clicking on the following link to StarCat:

https://goo.gl/IVMoEW

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. http://starcat.stls.org/

The Digital Catalog: The catalog of e-books, downloadable audiobooks and a handful of streaming videos: https://stls.overdrive.com/

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: http://stlsny.freegalmusic.com/

Zinio: 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: https://www.rbdigital.com/stlschemungcony

About Library Mobile 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.

Daily Print & Digital Suggested Reads: Thursday, January 5, 2017

January 5, 2017 Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, here are our suggested daily recommended titles in print or media and digital formats.

Our digital suggestion for today is the e-book:

The Girl in Green by Derek B. Miller:

From the author of Norwegian by Night, a novel about two men on a misbegotten quest to save the girl they failed to save decades before

1991. Near Checkpoint Zulu, one hundred miles from the Kuwaiti border, Thomas Benton meets Arwood Hobbes. Benton is a British journalist who reports from war zones in part to avoid his lackluster marriage and a daughter he loves but cannot connect with; Arwood is a midwestern American private who might be an insufferable ignoramus, or might be a genuine lunatic with a death wish–it’s hard to tell. Desert Storm is over, peace has been declared, but as they argue about whether it makes sense to cross the nearest border in search of an ice cream, they become embroiled in a horrific attack in which a young local girl in a green dress is killed as they are trying to protect her. The two men walk away into their respective lives. But something has cracked for them both.

Twenty-two years later, in another place, in another war, they meet again and are offered an unlikely opportunity to redeem themselves when that same girl in green is found alive and in need of salvation. Or is she?

Here’s a link to the checkout page in the Digital Catalog:

https://stls.overdrive.com/media/2546450

And our physical format suggestion for today is the print book:

They’re Playing Our Song: A Memoir by Carole Bayer Sager:

The New York Times Bestseller

Grammy and Academy Award–winning songwriter Carole Bayer Sager shares the remarkably frank and darkly funny story of her life in and out of the recording studio, from her fascinating (and sometimes calamitous) relationships to her collaborations with some of the greatest composers and musical artists of our time.

For five decades, Carole Bayer Sager has been among the most admired and successful songwriters at work, responsible for her lyrical contributions to some of the most popular songs in the English language, including “Nobody Does It Better,” “A Groovy Kind of Love,” “Don’t Cry Out Loud,” and the theme from the movie Arthur, “The Best That You Can Do” (about getting lost between the moon and New York City).

She has collaborated with (and written for) a dizzying number of stars, including Peter Allen, Ray Charles, Celine Dion, Bob Dylan, Neil Diamond, Clint Eastwood, Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds, Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Carole King, Melissa Manchester, Reba McEntire, Bette Midler, Dolly Parton, Carly Simon, Frank Sinatra, and Barbra Streisand.

Her relationship with composer Marvin Hamlisch was the basis of the long-running hit musical, They’re Playing Our Song, for which she wrote the lyrics. And her work with composer Burt Bacharach, to whom she was also married for ten years, produced pop standards such as “On My Own” and “That’s What Friends Are For” (inspired by her friendship with Elizabeth Taylor), which raised over two million dollars for AIDS research.

But while her professional life was filled with success and fascinating people, her personal life was far more difficult and dramatic. In this memoir, Carole Bayer Sager tells the surprisingly frank and darkly humorous story of a woman whose sometimes crippling fears and devastating relationships inspired many of the songs she would ultimately write.

They’re Playing Our Song will fascinate anyone interested in the craft of songwriting and the joy of collaboration, but Carole Bayer Sager’s memoir is also a deeply personal account of how love and heartbreak made her the woman, and the writer, she is.

You can request the title by clicking on the following link to StarCat:

https://goo.gl/twS1yC

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. http://starcat.stls.org/

The Digital Catalog: The catalog of e-books, downloadable audiobooks and a handful of streaming videos: https://stls.overdrive.com/

About Library Mobile Apps:

Daily Print & Digital Suggested Reads: Wednesday, January 4, 2017

January 4, 2017January 3, 2017 Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, here are our suggested daily recommended titles in print or media and digital formats.

Our digital suggestion for today is the e-book:

All Joe Knight: A Novel by Kevin Morris:

A prominent figure in the entertainment world who has turned to fiction in the last decade, Kevin Morris received wide literary acclaim with his story collection White Man’s Problems, praised by David Carr as “remarkable” and Tom Perrotta as “revelatory.” Now Morris cements his place as a bold new voice in American literature with his muscular debut novel, All Joe Knight.

Outside Philadelphia, a soon-to-be father runs into a telephone pole while driving drunk; nine months later, his widow dies in a smashed up T-Bird. From the start, the orphaned Joe Knight is a blank slate. Taken in by a kindly aunt in a tough-skinned suburb, Joe finds his family in high school with the Fallcrest basketball team—the kind of team that comes around once in a lifetime. White guys, black guys, speed, height, raw athleticism, every element is perfectly in synch. All these kids want, all they dream of, is to make it to the Palestra, UPenn’s cathedral of college basketball.

Fast-forward thirty years. Joe is newly divorced with one kid and certain he is unfit for love. Ever since selling the ad firm he built from the ground up for millions, he’s had time on his hands, and now he wiles it away in strip clubs, the only place where he can quiet his mind. But then he hears from Chris Scully, a former Fallcrest teammate who is now District Attorney. It seems the Justice Department is sniffing around the deal that got Joe rich years ago—a deal he cut every member of the basketball team into, except for Scully. As the details about Joe’s possible transgression are unreeled, he is forced to face the emptiness inside himself and a secret that has haunted him for decades.

Here’s a link to the checkout page in the Digital Catalog:

https://stls.overdrive.com/media/2813650

And our physical item suggestion for today is the print book:

Speed of Sound: Breaking the Barriers Between Music and Technology:

A Memoir by Thomas Dolby:

The remarkable story of rising to the top of the music charts, a second act as a tech pioneer, and the sustaining power of creativity and art.

Thomas Dolby’s hit songs “She Blinded Me with Science” and “Hyperactive!” catapulted him to international fame in the early 80’s. A pioneer of New Wave and Electronica, Thomas combined a love for invention with a passion for music, and the result was a new sound that defined an era of revolutionary music. But as record company politics overshadow the joy of performing, Thomas finds a surprising second act.

Starting out in a rat-infested London bedsit, a teenage Thomas Dolby stacks boxes by day at the grocery and tinkers with a homemade synthesizer at night while catching the Police at a local dive bar, swinging by the pub to see the unknown Elvis Costello and starting the weekend with a Clash show at a small night club. London on the eve of the 1980s is a hotbed for music and culture, and a new sound is beginning to take shape, merging technology with the musical energy of punk rock. Thomas plays keyboards in other bands’ shows, and with a bit of luck finds his own style, quickly establishing himself on the scene and recording break out hits that take radio, MTV and dance clubs by storm. The world is now his oyster, and sold out arenas, world tours, even a friendship with Michael Jackson become the fabric of his life.

But as the record industry flounders and disillusionment sets in, Thomas turns his attention to Hollywood. Scoring films and computer games eventually leads him to Silicon Valley and a software startup that turns up the volume on the digital music revolution. His company barely survives the dotcom bubble but finally even the mavericks at Apple, Microsoft, Netscape and Nokia see the light. By 2005, two-thirds of the world’s mobile phones embed his Beatnik software. Life at the zenith of a tech empire proves to be just as full of big personalities, battling egos and roller-coaster success as his days spent at the top of the charts.

THE SPEED OF SOUND is the story of an extraordinary man living an extraordinary life, a single-handed quest to make peace between art and the digital world.

Here’s a link to the request page in StarCat:

https://goo.gl/EDDscz

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

Have a great day!

Linda, SSCL

Daily Print & Digital Suggested Reads: Monday, January 2, 2017

January 2, 2017December 27, 2016 Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, as the library is closed today, Monday, January 2, 2017, in observance of New Year’s Day, my two suggested items are both available/requestable through the Digital Catalog.

Suggestion 1 is the first e-book in Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series – titled simply “Outlander.”

If you’ve seen the TV series but haven’t read the books, I urge you to read the books!

The series is great but the books have more depth — the author is a great writer!

Here’s a description of the plot of Outlander:

Unrivaled storytelling. Unforgettable characters. Rich historical detail. These are the hallmarks of Diana Gabaldon’s work. Her New York Times bestselling Outlander novels have earned the praise of critics and captured the hearts of millions of fans. Here is the story that started it all, introducing two remarkable characters, Claire Beauchamp Randall and Jamie Fraser, in a spellbinding novel of passion and history that combines exhilarating adventure with a love story for the ages.

OUTLANDER

Scottish Highlands, 1945. Claire Randall, a former British combat nurse, is just back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon when she walks through a standing stone in one of the ancient circles that dot the British Isles. Suddenly she is a Sassenach—an “outlander”—in a Scotland torn by war and raiding clans in the year of Our Lord . . . 1743.

Claire is catapulted into the intrigues of a world that threatens her life, and may shatter her heart. Marooned amid danger, passion, and violence, Claire learns her only chance of safety lies in Jamie Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior. What begins in compulsion becomes urgent need, and Claire finds herself torn between two very different men, in two irreconcilable lives.

Here’s a link to the checkout/request page in the Digital Catalog:

https://stls.overdrive.com/media/54798

And if you’d like to know the order of the books in the series – here is a list!

1. Outlander
2. Dragonfly in amber
3. Voyager
4. The drums of autumn
5. The fiery cross
6. A breath of snow and ashes
7. An echo in the bone
8. Written in my own heart’s blood

KDL What’s Next–
https://goo.gl/nPSa1c

And suggestion two is the downloadable audiobook:

The Poetry of Robert Frost by Robert Frost:

Drawing upon everyday incidents, common situations, and rural imagery, Robert Frost fashioned poetry of great lyrical beauty and potent symbolism. His language is simple, clear, and colloquial, yet dense with meaning and wider significance. This brilliant collection features some of Frost’s greatest works, including “The Road Not Taken,” “Into My Own,” “Asking for Roses,” “Mending Wall,” “The Death of the Hired Man,” “In the Home Stretch,” “Meeting and Passing,” and more.

The words of this quintessential American poet come to life in the performances by Alfre Woodard, Arte Johnson, Elliott Gould, Joel Grey, Melissa Manchester, and others

Here’s a link to the checkout/request page in the Digital Catalog:
https://stls.overdrive.com/media/2122094

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. http://starcat.stls.org/

The Digital Catalog: The catalog of e-books, downloadable audiobooks and a handful of streaming videos: https://stls.overdrive.com/

About Library Mobile Apps:

Daily Print & Digital Suggested Reads: Friday, December 30, 2016

December 30, 2016December 27, 2016 Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, here are our suggested daily recommended titles in print or media and digital formats.

Our digital suggestion for today is the e-book:

Dinner with Edward: A Story of an Unexpected Friendship

by Isabel Vincent:

“I loved every moment of this book . . . Everyone deserves their own Edward—and everyone deserves to read this book.” —Susannah Cahalan, bestselling author of Brain on Fire

When Isabel meets Edward, both are at a crossroads: he wants to follow his late wife to the grave, and she is ready to give up on love. Thinking she is merely helping Edward’s daughter—who lives far away and has asked her to check in on her nonagenarian dad in New York—Isabel has no idea that the man in the kitchen baking the sublime roast chicken and light-as-air apricot soufflé will end up changing her life.

As Edward and Isabel meet weekly for the glorious dinners that Edward prepares, he shares so much more than his recipes for apple galette or the perfect martini, or even his tips for deboning poultry. Edward is teaching Isabel the luxury of slowing down and taking the time to think through everything she does, to deconstruct her own life, cutting it back to the bone and examining the guts, no matter how messy that proves to be.

Dinner with Edward is a book about love and nourishment, and about how dinner with a friend can, in the words of M. F. K. Fisher, “sustain us against the hungers of the world.”
“A rare, beautifully crafted memoir that leaves you exhilarated and wanting to live this way. Edward is a marvel of resilience and dignity, and Vincent shows us that the ceremony of food is really a metaphor for love. The key is to live your life generously.” —Rosemary Sullivan, author of Stalin’s Daughter

“Isabel Vincent delves deeply into matters of the kitchen and the heart with equal and unabashed passion . . . Rich with description of meals savored, losses grieved, and moments cherished, it’s at once tender, revealing, and utterly enchanting!” —*Gail Simmons, judge on Bravo’s Top Chef and author of Talking with My Mouth Full

“One of the most stylish and emotional works of nonfiction I have ever read. I savored every page.” —Bob Colacello, author Holy Terror: Andy Warhol Close Up

“Although the food (I am partial to the roast chicken, lovingly described) is excellent, it is the charming and effortlessly wise company that makes this sweet read
a charming way to pass a day.” —George Hodgman, New York Times bestselling author of Bettyville

“Delightfully combining the warm-heartedness of Tuesdays with Morrie with the sensual splendor of Julie and Julia. This is a memoir to treasure.” —Booklist, starred review

Here’s a link to the checkout page in the Digital Catalog:

https://stls.overdrive.com/media/2356877

And our physical format suggestion for today is the print book:

Playing Through the Whistle: Steel, Football,

and an American Town by S. L. Price:

In the early twentieth century, down the Ohio River from Pittsburgh, the Jones & Laughlin Steel Company built one of the largest mills in the world and a town to go with it. Aliquippa was a beacon and a melting pot, pulling in thousands of families from Europe and the Jim Crow south. The J&L mill, though dirty and dangerous, offered a chance at a better life. It produced the steel that built American cities and won World War II and even became something of a workers’ paradise. But then, in the 1980’s, the steel industry cratered. The mill closed. Crime rose and crack hit big.

But another industry grew in Aliquippa. The town didn’t just make steel; it made elite football players, from Mike Ditka to Ty Law to Darrelle Revis. Pro football was born in Western Pennsylvania, and few places churned out talent like Aliquippa. Despite its troubles—maybe even because of them—Aliquippa became legendary for producing football greatness. A masterpiece of narrative journalism, Playing Through the Whistle tells the remarkable story of Aliquippa and through it, the larger history of American industry, sports, and life. Like football, it will make you marvel, wince, cry, and cheer.

You can request the title by clicking on the following link to StarCat:

https://goo.gl/H9H3Ow

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. http://starcat.stls.org/

The Digital Catalog: The catalog of e-books, downloadable audiobooks and a handful of streaming videos: https://stls.overdrive.com/

About Library Mobile Apps:

Daily Print & Digital Suggested Reads: Thursday, December 29, 2016

December 29, 2016December 27, 2016 Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, here are our suggested daily recommended titles in print or media and digital formats.

Our digital suggestion for today is the e-book:

Frostfire: The Kanin Chronicles, Book 1

by Amanda Hocking:

Hidden deep in the heart of a snow-covered wilderness lies the secret kingdom of the Kanin—a magical realm as beautiful as it is treacherous…

Bryn Aven has never fit into Kanin society. Her blond hair and blue eyes set her apart as an outsider—a half-blood unable to hold a respectable rank. But she’s determined to prove herself as a loyal protector of the kingdom she loves. Her dream is to become a member of the King’s elite guard, and she’s not going to let anything stand in her way…not even her growing feelings for her boss, Ridley Dresden. A relationship between them is strictly forbidden, but Bryn can’t fight her attraction to him. And she’s beginning to think he feels it too. Meanwhile, there’s an attack on the kingdom—one that will test Bryn’s strength like never before. Finally, she has the chance to confront Konstantin Black, the traitor who tried to kill her father years ago. It’s up to Bryn to put a stop to him before he strikes again. But is she willing to risk everything to protect a kingdom that doesn’t accept her for who she really is? And when her mission brings her closer to Ridley, will she be able to deny her heart?

Here’s a link to the checkout page in the Digital Catalog:

https://stls.overdrive.com/media/1771026

And our physical format suggestion for today is the print book:

Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood

by Trevor Noah:

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY
Michiko Kakutani, New York Times • Newsday • Esquire • NPR • Booklist

Trevor Noah’s unlikely path from apartheid South Africa to the desk of The Daily Show began with a criminal act: his birth. Trevor was born to a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother at a time when such a union was punishable by five years in prison. Living proof of his parents’ indiscretion, Trevor was kept mostly indoors for the earliest years of his life, bound by the extreme and often absurd measures his mother took to hide him from a government that could, at any moment, steal him away. Finally liberated by the end of South Africa’s tyrannical white rule, Trevor and his mother set forth on a grand adventure, living openly and freely and embracing the opportunities won by a centuries-long struggle.

Born a Crime is the story of a mischievous young boy who grows into a restless young man as he struggles to find himself in a world where he was never supposed to exist. It is also the story of that young man’s relationship with his fearless, rebellious, and fervently religious mother—his teammate, a woman determined to save her son from the cycle of poverty, violence, and abuse that would ultimately threaten her own life.

The stories collected here are by turns hilarious, dramatic, and deeply affecting. Whether subsisting on caterpillars for dinner during hard times, being thrown from a moving car during an attempted kidnapping, or just trying to survive the life-and-death pitfalls of dating in high school, Trevor illuminates his curious world with an incisive wit and unflinching honesty. His stories weave together to form a moving and searingly funny portrait of a boy making his way through a damaged world in a dangerous time, armed only with a keen sense of humor and a mother’s unconventional, unconditional love.

You can request the title by clicking on the following link to StarCat:

https://goo.gl/PLpM5X

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. http://starcat.stls.org/

The Digital Catalog: The catalog of e-books, downloadable audiobooks and a handful of streaming videos: https://stls.overdrive.com/

About Library Mobile Apps:

Daily Print & Digital Suggested Reads: Wednesday, December 28, 2016

December 28, 2016December 27, 2016 Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, here are our suggested daily recommended titles in print or media and digital formats.

Our digital suggestion for today is the downloadable audiobook:

Grace: A Novel by Natashia Deón:

For a runaway slave in the 1840s South, life on the run can be just as dangerous as life under a sadistic master. That’s what fifteen-year-old Naomi learns after she escapes the brutal confines of life on an Alabama plantation. Striking out on her own, she leaves behind her beloved Momma and sister Hazel and takes refuge in a Georgia brothel run by a freewheeling, gun-toting Jewish madam named Cynthia. There, amid a revolving door of gamblers, prostitutes, and drunks, Naomi falls into a star-crossed love affair with a smooth-talking white man named Jeremy who frequents the brothel’s dice tables all too often. The product of Naomi and Jeremy’s union is Josey, whose white skin and blonde hair mark her as different from the other slave children on the plantation. Having been taken in as an infant by a free slave named Charles, Josey has never known her mother, who was murdered at her birth. Josey soon becomes caught in the tide of history when news of the Emancipation Proclamation reaches the declining estate and a day of supposed freedom quickly turns into a day of unfathomable violence that will define Josey—and her lost mother—for years to come.Deftly weaving together the stories of Josey and Naomi—who narrates the entire novel, unable to leave her daughter alone in the land of the living—Grace is a sweeping, intergenerational saga featuring a group of outcast women during one of the most compelling eras in American history. It is a universal story of freedom, love, and motherhood, told in a dazzling and original voice and set against a rich and transporting historical backdrop.

Here’s a link to the checkout page in the Digital Catalog:

https://stls.overdrive.com/media/2680360

And our physical item suggestion for today is the print book:

Faithful by Alice Hoffman:

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Marriage of Opposites and The Dovekeepers comes a soul-searching story about a young woman struggling to redefine herself and the power of love, family, and fate.

Growing up on Long Island, Shelby Richmond is an ordinary girl until one night an extraordinary tragedy changes her fate. Her best friend’s future is destroyed in an accident, while Shelby walks away with the burden of guilt.

What happens when a life is turned inside out? When love is something so distant it may as well be a star in the sky? Faithful is the story of a survivor, filled with emotion—from dark suffering to true happiness—a moving portrait of a young woman finding her way in the modern world. A fan of Chinese food, dogs, bookstores, and men she should stay away from, Shelby has to fight her way back to her own future. In New York City she finds a circle of lost and found souls—including an angel who’s been watching over her ever since that fateful icy night.

Here is a character you will fall in love with, so believable and real and endearing, that she captures both the ache of loneliness and the joy of finding yourself at last. For anyone who’s ever been a hurt teenager, for every mother of a daughter who has lost her way, Faithful is a roadmap.

Alice Hoffman’s “trademark alchemy” (USA TODAY) and her ability to write about the “delicate balance between the everyday world and the extraordinary” (WBUR) make this an unforgettable story. With beautifully crafted prose, Alice Hoffman spins hope from heartbreak in this profoundly moving novel.

Here’s a link to the request page in StarCat:

https://goo.gl/hgXO7A

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. http://starcat.stls.org/

The Digital Catalog: The catalog of e-books, downloadable audiobooks and a handful of streaming videos: https://stls.overdrive.com/

About Library Mobile Apps:

Online Catalog Links:

StarCat: The catalog of physical materials, i.e. print books, DVDs, audiobooks on CD etc. http://starcat.stls.org/

The Digital Catalog: The catalog of e-books, downloadable audiobooks and a handful of streaming videos: https://stls.overdrive.com/

About Library Mobile Apps:

Daily Print & Digital Suggested Reads: Tuesday, December 27, 2016

December 27, 2016 Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, here are our suggested daily recommended titles in print or media and digital formats.

Our Digital suggestion for today is the e-book:

The Revenge of Analog: Real Things and Why They Matter

by David Sax:

One of Michiko Kakutani’s (New York Times) top ten books of 2016

A funny thing happened on the way to the digital utopia. We’ve begun to fall back in love with the very analog goods and ideas the tech gurus insisted that we no longer needed. Businesses that once looked outdated, from film photography to brick-and-mortar retail, are now springing with new life. Notebooks, records, and stationery have become cool again. Behold the Revenge of Analog.

David Sax has uncovered story after story of entrepreneurs, small business owners, and even big corporations who’ve found a market selling not apps or virtual solutions but real, tangible things. As e-books are supposedly remaking reading, independent bookstores have sprouted up across the country. As music allegedly migrates to the cloud, vinyl record sales have grown more than ten times over the past decade. Even the offices of tech giants like Google and Facebook increasingly rely on pen and paper to drive their brightest ideas.

Sax’s work reveals a deep truth about how humans shop, interact, and even think. Blending psychology and observant wit with first-rate reportage, Sax shows the limited appeal of the purely digital life-and the robust future of the real world outside it.

Here’s a link to the checkout page in the Digital Catalog:

https://stls.overdrive.com/media/2754015

And the physical item for today is a print book:

Night Watch: A Novel by Iris Johansen:

Sometimes, what you can’t see will kill you…

Kendra is surprised when she is visited by Dr. Charles Waldridge, the researcher who gave her sight through a revolutionary medical procedure developed by England’s Night Watch Project. All is not well with the brilliant surgeon; he’s troubled by something he can’t discuss with Kendra. When Waldridge disappears the very night he visits her, Kendra is on the case, recruiting government agent-for-hire Adam Lynch to join her on a trail that leads to the snow-packed California mountains. There they make a gruesome discovery: the corpse of one of Dr. Waldridge’s associates. But it’s only the first casualty in a white-knuckle confrontation with a deadly enemy who will push Kendra to the limits of her abilities. Soon she must fight for her very survival as she tries to stop the killing…and unearth the shocking secret of Night Watch.

Here’s a link to the request page in StarCat:

https://goo.gl/hm8jlb

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. http://starcat.stls.org/

The Digital Catalog: The catalog of e-books, downloadable audiobooks and a handful of streaming videos: https://stls.overdrive.com/

About Library Mobile Apps:

Daily Print & Digital Suggested Reads: Friday, December 23 – Monday, December 26, 2016

December 23, 2016December 20, 2016 Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, just a reminder, during the holidays, the library is closed Friday, December 23 through Monday, December 26 and Monday, January 2, 2017.

The library will be open our regular hours all other dates and as a refresher, here is a list of our regular hours:

Monday, Wednesday & Friday: 9:00 a. m. – 6:00 p. m.

Tuesday & Thursday: 9:00 a. m. – 8:00 p. m.

Saturday: 10:00 a. m. – 4:00 p. m.

Sunday: Closed

And now back to those cool materials you can check out!

Since the library is closed today through Monday I’m offering a dozen digital suggestions for the next few days and they are all streaming videos!

Check them out!

1) The Milton Berle Show, Volume 1

First, Uncle Miltie is joined by Zsa Zsa Gabor, actress/singer Denise Darcel, and Ray Anthony and His Orchestra in a 1956 installment recorded at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. Then, in a 1953 episode, Ronald Reagan asks Berle to bankroll a movie for him.

Here’s a link to the checkout page:

https://stls.overdrive.com/media/2351258

2) Dark Shadows, Volume 1, Episode 218

This video features the introduction of Jonathan Frid’s vampire Barnabas! — here’s a brief description of the episode:

Barnabas asks permission from Roger and Elizabeth to take up residence in the Old House.

Note: If you’re not familiar with it — Dark Shadows was set in the late 1960s and was a gothic, supernatural TV series set in the fictional town of Collinsport, Maine.

The most prominent family in Collinsport, was you guessed it! The Collins Family! The Collins family consisted of Elizabeth Collins Stoddard (Joan Bennett), her brother Roger Collins (Louis Edmonds), Elizabeth’s daughter Carolyn Stoddard (Nancy Barrett) and Roger’s young son David Collins (David Henesy).

The Collins Family lived in the grandest and largest house around – Collinwood.

And life was relatively quiet and uneventful in the small town of Collinsport until one day when Barnabas knocked on the door of Collinwood!

For Barnabas, was, unbeknownst to the Collins Family, a member of their family and a vampire who had been chained in a coffin for about 200 years.

Barnabas was broken out of his coffin by a thief named Willie Loomis, who was played by a very young John Carlin, and right after that supernatural things began to unfold!

And if you like the intro episode of Dark Shadows — there are more episodes of the series in the Digital Catalog that continue the story of Barnabas and the Collins Family.

Here’s a link to the checkout page:

https://stls.overdrive.com/media/1976979

3) Jack Hunter and the Quest for Akhenattens Tomb:
Jack Hunter is abducted blindfolded to a Turkish US base to be recruited by the NSA, told his mentor was killed because Albert Littmann’s Russian mob employer Doridanov want the ancient Osiris-weapon. He accepts to go look for the other part in Gizeh, where archaeologist Lena Halstrom has dug up a lead on a site which was attacked by mysterious, mythologically cloaked men, hence the Egyptian in charge, Said, shut it down till further notice. In fact it’s the doing of a Midianite (Sinai desert) sect of Akhenaton-worshipers, who try to steal the obelisk from the museum after Jack deciphers its Ugarritian cuneiform text, which contains clues for a treasure-hunt to the pharaoh’s tomb-treasure. Said assumes their flight criminal and mobilizes an army colonel, whose unbridled ambition proves even more dangerous for Jack’s party, which includes his Syrian friends from the first.

Here’s a link to the checkout page:

https://stls.overdrive.com/media/1813631

4) The Organization:

Police detective Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier) returns to finds himself in hot water with the police over his acceptance of help from a neighborhood anti-drug group. The group has done some things which are far from textbook legal, such as stealing and destroying a large shipment of drugs. Though they pulled off their robbery without loss of life, a corpse is found at the scene of the heist. Tibbs, now suspended from the force, uses their help to string together clues which enable him to break up a large drug ring. This is the third movie made starring Poitier and based on John Bail’s novels In The Heat of the Night and They Call Me Mister Tibbs.

Here’s a link to the checkout page:

https://stls.overdrive.com/media/2351311

5) Apollo 8: Christmas at the Moon:

This one hour documentary profiles the first manned Mission to the Moon, and includes interviews with the astronauts and many of the NASA officials who were a part of this historic event.

Here’s a link to the checkout page:

https://stls.overdrive.com/media/1320067

6) I’m Still Here:

Oscar®-nominated actor Casey Affleck, in his directorial debut, together with fellow Oscar® nominee Joaquin Phoenix blows the roof off of conventional filmmaking in this unique and groundbreaking experimental project. Joaquin gives a powerful performance as “JP,” an out-of-control Hollywood celebrity who commits career suicide in announcing that he is “retiring” from acting, while at the top of his game, to become a hip-hop star. JP shuts himself off from the protection and better judgment of his agent, manager and publicist, and sets out on a jaw-dropping journey into a decadent frenzy of sex, drugs and outrageousness, as he tries desperately to break away from his old celebrity persona to develop his rap career. Mired in self-doubt and harsh criticism from the media, he struggles to find his identity.

Here’s a link to the checkout page:

https://stls.overdrive.com/media/1931322

7) The Red Balloon:

Winner of the Best Original Screenplay Oscar 1956

Winner of the Palme d’Or 1956 Cannes Film Festival (short film)

A Boy makes friends with a seemingly sentient balloon, and it begins to follow him. It follows the boy to school, to the bus, and to church. Boy and balloon play together in the streets of Paris and try to elude a gang of boys that wants to destroy the balloon. Winner of the Best Original Screenplay Oscar, and there is almost no dialog spoken in the film.

Here’s a link to the checkout page:

https://stls.overdrive.com/media/2351407

8) A.C.O.R.N.S. Operation Crackdown:

Frankie, a smooth-talking squirrel finds out that the acorns are being stolen by the evil A.C.O.R.N.S. Corporation. Now he must assemble a rag-tag team of forest animals with only three days to pull-off their biggest heist.

Here’s a link to the checkout page:

https://stls.overdrive.com/media/2968659

9) Abbott and Costello: The Christmas Show:

Delightful Christmas special starring comedy team of Abbott and Costello on The Colgate Comedy Hour.

Here’s a link to the checkout page:

https://stls.overdrive.com/media/2046510

10) The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey:

This fantasy stars Hamish McFarlane as a young 14th Century boy with acute psychic powers. During the period of the Black Death, Hamish believes that he can rescue his fellow villagers by leading them into an abandoned mine. The fugitives tunnel their way through the darkness and emerge on the other side–into a bustling New Zealand metropolis in the year 1988. The phenomenon is seen from the point of view of the “aliens,” to whom every modern convenience and invention is a miracle comparable to the Resurrection. The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey creates its own logic, framing the story in the linear form of an ancient legend.

Here’s a link to the checkout page:

https://stls.overdrive.com/media/1999743

11) Planet of the Apes:

Nominated for 2 Oscars.

Taylor (Charlton Heston) and two other astronauts come out of deep hibernation to find that their ship has crashed. Escaping with little more than clothes they find that they have landed on a planet where men are pre-lingual and uncivilized while apes have learned speech and technology. Taylor is captured and taken to the city of the apes after damaging his throat so that he is silent and cannot communicate with the apes.

Note: the three sequel films that followed this one are also available in the Digital Catalog.

Here’s a link to the checkout page:

https://stls.overdrive.com/media/1999658

12) Weather Girl:

Succumbing to the stresses of work and romance, a Seattle morning weather anchor (Tricia O’ Kelley) melts down live on-air. Closing in on forty, she is now unemployed, lacks career prospects, and must cope with her cheating boyfriend (Mark Harmon)—a devilishly handsome newscaster. Weather Girl is a slice of life comedy about reckoning the difference between growing old and growing up.

Here’s a link to the checkout page:

https://stls.overdrive.com/media/899837

Have a great holiday season!
Linda, SSCL

Online Catalog Links:

StarCat: The catalog of physical materials, i.e. print books, DVDs, audiobooks on CD etc. http://starcat.stls.org/

The Digital Catalog: The catalog of e-books, downloadable audiobooks and a handful of streaming videos: https://stls.overdrive.com/

About Library Mobile Apps:

Online Catalog Links:

StarCat: The catalog of physical materials, i.e. print books, DVDs, audiobooks on CD etc. http://starcat.stls.org/

The Digital Catalog: The catalog of e-books, downloadable audiobooks and a handful of streaming videos: https://stls.overdrive.com/

About Library Mobile Apps:

Daily Print & Digital Suggested Reads: Thursday, December 22, 2016

December 22, 2016December 20, 2016 Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, here are our suggested daily recommended titles in print or media and digital formats.

Our digital suggestion for today is the classic streaming video:

Jack Frost:

A 1979 Rankin-Bass, stop-motion animated program similar to Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Jack Frost is a classic winter tale of good and evil, hope and despair, and love and sacrifice that will captivate viewers 5 and older. Narrated by Pardon-me-Pete Groundhog (Buddy Hackett) and framed as an exploration of the tradition of Groundhog Day, the music-filled Jack Frost is actually the story of young sprite Jack Frost who, under Father Winter’s leadership, is responsible for bringing winter weather to the world. Felt, but never seen, a lonely Jack begs to become human when he falls in love with January Junction resident Elisa. Father Winter grudgingly grants Jack Frost a winter of humanity, warning that in order to remain human forever, he must acquire the four essentials of a home, horse, bag of gold, and wife by springtime. Finding these essentials requires that Jack Frost overthrow the evil King of the Cossacks Kubla Kraus, a mission that is difficult and dangerous. Even with the help of fellow sprites Snip the snowflake maker and Holly the snowflake gypsy, Jack must make a very significant personal sacrifice in order to remove Kubla Kraus from power and ensure the continued well-being of Elisa and January Junction. Bonus features include three “Totally Cool Crafty Creations” with Francine Flake (cutting snowflakes, making a snow globe, and creating instant snow) and the three sing-along-songs (“Jack Frost,” “Just What I Always Wanted,” and “The Groundhog Song”) accompanied by movie footage and onscreen lyrics. –Tami Horiuchi, Amazon.com review.

Here’s a link to the checkout page in the Digital Catalog:

https://stls.overdrive.com/media/2366557

And our physical format suggestion for today is the print book:

The World of Poldark: The Adventure & Romance Explored, The Secrets & History Uncovered by Emma Marriott

The World of Poldark explores the characters, the compelling stories and the era that Winston Graham’s Poldark novels- and the television series – set out to recreate, the England that Ross Poldark returned to from the American War of Independence. England, and especially Cornwall, was then marked by social unrest and a deep division between rich and poor. It was a place of tin mines and shipwrecks, of new money versus old, of harsh justice and great kindness.

Amid the turmoil of eighteenth-century Cornwall, Ross comes back to a home in ruins, his father dead and his childhood sweetheart engaged to another – his own heart as battered as the country around him.

Experience the great houses and the glorious landscapes and follow the cast of characters as their stories play out against the backdrop of Cornwall’s wild beauty, through interviews with the actors, behind the scenes insights and in-depth information on costumes, props and locations. Packed full of behind the scenes photographs, The World of Poldark is the ultimate guide to the popular series.

You can request the title by clicking on the following link to StarCat:

https://goo.gl/l2gak4

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. http://starcat.stls.org/

The Digital Catalog: The catalog of e-books, downloadable audiobooks and a handful of streaming videos: https://stls.overdrive.com/

About Library Mobile Apps:

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