New York – Tech & Book Talk at SSCL

Suggested Reading Five: August 5, 2026

August 5, 2026August 3, 2026 Linda Reimer

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

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Carry Me To My Grave by Christopher Golden

It’s 1956, and Malcolm, a Korean War veteran, youngest child of narcissistic Maggie, is in a race against time to get the body of his recently deceased mother from Elkhart, IN, to an island in Maine and buried safely in the ground before the sun rises in two days. It seems that the local lore about Maggie being a witch was not too far off base, as there are very real monsters who have been awakened by her death and will do whatever it takes to stop Malcolm and his family. Moving from trains to fire trucks to a VW Bus, readers are on this terrifying, desperate ride, following the point of view as it alternates between characters, good and evil, supernatural and human, allowing them to develop fully. The motivations of the ancient evil are intriguing; when balanced with the family members and their own complicated histories, the story blossoms from an average chase novel into a moving portrait of undying love.

VERDICT Intense, violent, nuanced, heartbreaking, and fun to read, Golden’s (The Night Birds) latest gives readers everything they could want in a thrilling horror story; for fans of Tananarive Due’s The Good House and Nat Cassidy’s When the Wolf Comes Home. — Library Journal

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Extracurricular by Rachel Lynn Solomon

Professor Nick Navarro is less than enthused when he discovers that the recently retired mega pop-star Ramona Wilder (the idol of his young niece) will be a student in one of his psychology classes at UCLA. Handling a celebrity’s ego while managing his own turmoil about his recent divorce is not how Nick wanted to start the new school year. Nick vows to treat Ramona like any other student but soon discovers that he can’t. He learns that there’s far more to Ramona than the persona she shared on stage and in the media, and he is absolutely flustered and enchanted by her wit and flirting. Ramona lived under a microscope as a child actor and star and has only recently been able to cut her overbearing stage mother and toxic ex-partners out of her life. She enjoys her interactions with Nick, but how can she trust that the feelings are real? Having both been hurt in the past, Ramona and Nick must navigate their histories before they can find a path forward together.

VERDICT Solomon’s (What Happens in Amsterdam) latest will suit readers looking for academia-set romances such as Ali Hazelwood’s The Love Hypothesis. – Library Journal

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The Masala Chai Mystery Club by MJ Soni

A retired New England librarian takes on a case the local police have been too quick to close. Forced into early retirement by a board looking to replace her with someone younger and cheaper, Neeti Shah is bored. She misses both her late husband, Ravi, and the stimulating contact with the book-loving public she got from her job. She’s pleased to be able to provide a stable home for her niece, Myra, whose parents abandoned her when she made it clear she had no intention of marrying Shane, the shiftless father of her own son, Ved, now 5 years old. So the death of her neighbor, Rohit Solanki, in what the police insist was a slip-and-fall, provides her the perfect opportunity to put her research skills to work proving them wrong. Author Soni provides Neeti with a colorful, multinational cast of collaborators and coconspirators in her quest. This series kickoff has some problems with pacing: It takes a painfully long time to reveal the backstory of Neeti’s prior relationship with Rohit, as Soni drops the same hints over and over again. And the characters are often jarringly cartoonish, especially when they’re being mean or stupid. Sometimes there’s more than one way to handle a dilemma. A bit more nuance and a more careful approach to the solution would have made this debut a worthy addition to the cozyverse. – Kirkus Review

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Mr. and Mrs. Dixon Hide a Body: A Novel by Jennifer Holdich

Daisy is a complicated woman. She was bullied in school as an outcast who was raised by a poor single mother who dressed her in homemade clothes. For the past 20 years, however, Daisy has been married to James Dixon, a billionaire. She is now Lady Langley, overseeing a crumbling manor in the English countryside of Upper Iffley. Holdich’s (Julie Tudor Is Not a Psychopath) novel details James and Daisy’s plots to destroy each other as their relationship sours. After leaving a fundraiser, Daisy and James are involved in a pedestrian accident where Daisy injures a beloved TV personality whom James then strangles to death. James points to Daisy during the subsequent police investigation. Then Daisy uncovers James’s Ponzi investment schemes. The novel includes a humorous social media Greek chorus of neighbors who comment and speculate when two bodies are found in the river near Langley Hall after a torrential rainstorm. A key secondary character is Lady Langley’s housekeeper, Mrs. Billings, a kleptomaniac who pockets the tchotchkes left out for her to steal. VERDICT Holdich’s out-of-the-ordinary, cozy-adjacent novel is recommended for readers who enjoy marriage revenge stories with eccentric characters.–Library Journal Review

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The Oxford Detective Society by Faith Martin

Oxford biographer Lyssa Moore is delighted to be commissioned to write about Amelia ‘Monty’ Montrose, the 1960s music icon who died mysteriously at her birthday party in 1966. But as Lyssa delves into Monty’s past, she discovers the wild child portrayed by the press was hiding far more than anyone knew.

And someone is taking a very keen interest in Lyssa’s research. Her flat has been broken into, her phone is acting strangely, and she has a feeling she is being followed. Is Lyssa getting too close to a dangerous truth―was there more to Monty’s death than a tragic accident?

With the help of her cat Bibbie and her Oxford friends, who form the Oxford Detective Society, Lyssa must uncover what really happened sixty years ago. Because in Oxfordshire’s country houses and picture-perfect gardens, the past refuses to stay buried…

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Happy reading!

Linda Reimer, SSCL

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

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Information on the four library catalogs

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Kanopy Catalog features thousands of streaming videos available on demand.

The Kanopy Catalog is available for all Southern Tier Library System member library card holders, including all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders!

You can access the Kanopy Catalog through a web browser, or download the app to your phone, tablet or media streaming player (i.e. Roku, Google or Fire TV).

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

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

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

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

Daily Print & Digital Suggested Reads: Thursday, November 10, 2016

November 10, 2016November 9, 2016 Linda Reimer

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

Our Digital Catalog suggested title for today is the e-book:

Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age

by Sherry Turkle:

Renowned media scholar Sherry Turkle investigates how a flight from conversation undermines our relationships, creativity, and productivity—and why reclaiming face-to-face conversation can help us regain lost ground.

We live in a technological universe in which we are always communicating. And yet we have sacrificed conversation for mere connection.

Preeminent author and researcher Sherry Turkle has been studying digital culture for over thirty years. Long an enthusiast for its possibilities, here she investigates a troubling consequence: at work, at home, in politics, and in love, we find ways around conversation, tempted by the possibilities of a text or an email in which we don’t have to look, listen, or reveal ourselves.

We develop a taste for what mere connection offers. The dinner table falls silent as children compete with phones for their parents’ attention. Friends learn strategies to keep conversations going when only a few people are looking up from their phones. At work, we retreat to our screens although it is conversation at the water cooler that increases not only productivity but commitment to work. Online, we only want to share opinions that our followers will agree with – a politics that shies away from the real conflicts and solutions of the public square.

The case for conversation begins with the necessary conversations of solitude and self-reflection. They are endangered: these days, always connected, we see loneliness as a problem that technology should solve. Afraid of being alone, we rely on other people to give us a sense of ourselves, and our capacity for empathy and relationship suffers. We see the costs of the flight from conversation everywhere: conversation is the cornerstone for democracy and in business it is good for the bottom line. In the private sphere, it builds empathy, friendship, love, learning, and productivity.

But there is good news: we are resilient. Conversation cures.

Based on five years of research and interviews in homes, schools, and the workplace, Turkle argues that we have come to a better understanding of where our technology can and cannot take us and that the time is right to reclaim conversation. The most human—and humanizing—thing that we do.

The virtues of person-to-person conversation are timeless, and our most basic technology, talk, responds to our modern challenges. We have everything we need to start, we have each other.

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

https://stls.overdrive.com/media/2102286

And our Print Book Suggested Read for today is:

City of Dreams: The 400-Year Epic History of Immigrant New York

by Tyler Anbinder:

A defining American story, never before told with such breadth of scope, lavish research, and resounding spirit

With more than three million foreign-born residents today, New York has been America’s defining port of entry for nearly four centuries, a magnet for transplants from all over the globe. These migrants have brought their hundreds of languages and distinct cultures to the city, and from there to the entire country. More immigrants have come to New York than all other entry points combined.

City of Dreams is peopled with memorable characters both beloved and unfamiliar, whose lives unfold in rich detail: the young man from the Caribbean who passed through New York on his way to becoming a Founding Father; the ten-year-old Angelo Siciliano, from Calabria, who transformed into Charles Atlas, bodybuilder; Dominican-born Oscar de la Renta, whose couture designs have dressed first ladies from Jackie Kennedy to Michelle Obama. Tyler Anbinder’s story is one of innovators and artists, revolutionaries and rioters, staggering deprivation and soaring triumphs, all playing out against the powerful backdrop of New York City, at once ever-changing and profoundly, permanently itself. City of Dreams provides a vivid sense of what New York looked like, sounded like, smelled like, and felt like over the centuries of its development and maturation into the city we know today.

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

https://goo.gl/jwv5cD

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.

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Daily Print & Digital Suggested Reads: Thursday, September 8, 2016

September 9, 2016 Linda Reimer

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

Our Digital Catalog suggested title for today is the downloadable audiobook:

The Forgotten Room by Lincoln Child

A long-lost experiment of unknown intent. . .
A hidden room in a vast seaside estate. . .
An investigator marked for danger. . .

On a sprawling estate on the coast of Rhode Island, at the nation’s oldest and most prestigious think tank, an unfathomable tragedy takes place. No one knows what to make of the disturbing evidence left behind. Then reports begin to surface of increasingly bizarre behavior among the organization’s distinguished scientists.

Called upon to investigate these strange happenings, history professor and analyst of inexplicable phenomena Jeremy Logan comes across an ingeniously concealed room in a long-dormant wing of the mansion. What he discovers within may provide answers—and, in the process, unleash a new wave of catastrophe.

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

https://stls.overdrive.com/media/1901996

And our Print Book Suggested Read for today is:

Surrender, New York: A Novel by Caleb Carr:

Caleb Carr, bestselling author of The Alienist and The Angel of Darkness, has created a contemporary psychological thriller haunted by the shadowy hands of established power.

In rural, impoverished Burgoyne County, New York, a pattern of strange deaths begins to emerge: adolescent boys and girls are found murdered, their corpses left hanging in gruesome, ritualistic fashion. Senior law enforcement officials are quick to blame a serial killer, yet their efforts to apprehend this criminal are peculiarly ineffective.

Meanwhile, in the county’s small town of Surrender, Trajan Jones, a psychological profiler (and the world’s leading expert on the life and work of one Dr. Laszlo Kreizler), and Michael Li, a trace evidence expert, once famed advisors to the New York City Police Department, teach online courses in profiling and forensic science from Jones’s family farm. Alone and armed mainly with their wits, protected only by farmhands and Jones’ unusual “pet,” the outcast pair are secretly called in to consult on the case.

Jones and Li immediately discern that the various victims were all “throwaway children,” a new state classification given to young people who are neither orphans, runaways nor homeless, but victims of a terrible phenomenon sweeping America’s poor: abandoned by their families, the throwaways are left to fend for themselves. One of these throwaways, Lucas Kurtz, along with his blind older sister, cross paths with Jones and Li, offering information that could blow the case wide open.

Racing against the case’s mounting stakes, Jones and Li find that they are battling not only to unravel the mystery of how the throwaways died, but also to defend themselves and the Kurtz siblings from the threats of shadowy but powerful agents who want to stop them from uncovering the truth. It is a truth that, Jones believes, leads away from their world and back to the increasingly wealthy city where both he and his long-dead intellectual guide, Dr Kreizler, did their greatest work. But will they be able to trace the case to New York before they fall victim to the murderous forces that stalk them?

Moving at the same rapid pace as his earlier books, yet with the same depth of historical and scientific research, Carr creates another rollercoaster ride of ideas and emotions. Like The Alienist, Surrender, New York brings to life the grim underbelly of a prosperous nation – and those most vulnerable to its failings.

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

http://goo.gl/72iRCn

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, September 7, 2016

September 7, 2016 Linda Reimer

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

Our Digital Catalog suggested title for today is the e-book:

The Hare in March by Vin Packer

A MURDER BEGINS AND ENDS this story of scandal and tragedy in a college town. You’ll meet some memorable characters here-most of them hair-raising-as novelist Vin Packer spins out a sinister excursion with the cool, campy kids of Far Point College, New York. It’s a wild, wild joyride-from Thunderbird to Bluebird, from classroom to Cheetah, with stops on the way at rent-by-the-hour motel rooms. You’ll watch in horror as the Pucci-Plantagenet crowd burns up the roads, heading for that sickening, inevitable crash . . . that jolting confrontation with the reality they can’t escape . . . with THE HARE IN MARCH.

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

https://stls.overdrive.com/media/721474

And our Print Book Suggested Read for today is:

Killer Look by Linda Fairstein:

New York Times bestselling author Linda Fairstein delivers a heart-pounding thriller that explores the dark secrets of Manhattan’s iconic fashion scene in her latest Alexandra Cooper novel.

New York City is one of the fashion capitals of the world, well-known for its glamour and style. Nowhere is this more apparent than on the runway, where American haute couture continually astounds with its creativity, daring, and innovation in the name of beauty. Yet high fashion means high stakes, as Alex Cooper quickly discovers when businessman and designer Wolf Savage is found dead in an apparent suicide, mere days before the biggest show of his career. When the man’s daughter insists Savage’s death was murder, the case becomes more than a media sensation: It is a race to find a killer in a world created entirely out of fantasy and illusion.

With her own job at the DA’s office in jeopardy, and the temptation to self-medicate her PTSD with alcohol almost too strong to resist, Alex is not anyone’s first choice for help. But she is determined to uncover the grime—and the possible homicide—beneath the glitz. Along with detectives Mike Chapman and Mercer Wallace, Alex must penetrate the twisted roots and mixed motives among the high-profile players in the Garment District. The investigation takes the trio from the missing money in Wolf Savage’s international fashion house to his own recovery from addiction; from the role of Louisiana Voodoo in his life to his excessive womanizing; and to the family secrets he kept so well-hidden, even from those closest to him—just as things are about to get deadly on the catwalk.

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

http://goo.gl/72iRCn

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/

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:

Adult Services, Digital Literacy & Makerspace Events Week of October 26, 2015

October 26, 2015October 26, 2015 Linda Reimer

Monday, October 26, 2015:

Creation Station, The Southeast Steuben County Library’s Makerspace, open from 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. on Mondays.

About Creation Station:
Creation Station (Makerspace) projects that will be available to be created at the Southeast Steuben County Library include:

3 D Printer created projects*

Computer created projects

Sewing projects*

Scanning

Art projects*

Scrapbooking projects*

Drawing

All patrons interested in using the Creation Station will be required to receive training before using the space. Projects that require training are only accessible upon staff availability.

Tuesday October 27, 2015:

Sticky Notes: A Thematic Book Club: Simply pick a book to read related to the monthly theme in some way, fiction or non-fiction, any genre, then come tell the group about it – what it was about, what you liked, or didn’t like. Then we’ll vote on the next theme! Light refreshments served. For questions, call Michelle Wells at 607 936 3713 x 209 or email wellsm@stls.org.
Date & Time: 4th Tuesday of each month starting at 1:00 p.m.

Creation Station, The Southeast Steuben County Library’s Makerspace, open from 3:00 – 5:00 p.m. on Tuesdays.

About Creation Station:
Creation Station (Makerspace) projects that will be available to be created at the Southeast Steuben County Library include:

3 D Printer created projects*

Computer created projects

Sewing projects*

Scanning

Art projects*

Scrapbooking projects*

Drawing

All patrons interested in using the Creation Station will be required to receive training before using the space. Projects that require training are only accessible upon staff availability.

*Some projects will require a small fee for materials.

3 D Printer Program: Bird Feeders: This program will include a brief 3 D Printer presentation and then attendees will select one of several 3 D bird feeder templates to create their own bird feeders.

Registration is required for this program. You can register at the Reference Desk, by telephone:
607-936-3713 ext. 502 or by email: DIGLIT@STLS.ORG

Time: 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm

Thursday, October 28, 2015:

Corning Area Writer’s Group: Inject some socialization into your solo writing time by join the library’s Adult Creative Writers Group for conversation, inspiration and feedback on writing projects. No sign up is required. This group meets every Thursday from 6-8 pm. On the third Thursday of the month the group meets in the library. On the other Thursdays the group meets at Soul Full Cup CoffeeHouse.

For more information, please call Adult Services Director Michelle Wells at (607) 936-3713 ext. 209 or email wellsm@stls.org.

Time: 6:00 – 8:00 pm

Creation Station, The Southeast Steuben County Library’s Makerspace, open from 5:00 – 7:30 p.m. on Thursdays.

About Creation Station:
Creation Station (Makerspace) projects that will be available to be created at the Southeast Steuben County Library include:

3 D Printer created projects*

Computer created projects

Sewing projects*

Scanning

Art projects*

Scrapbooking projects*

Drawing
All patrons interested in using the Creation Station will be required to receive training before using the space. Projects that require training are only accessible upon staff availability.

*Some projects will require a small fee for materials.

Have a great week!
Linda, SSCL

Summer Reading Season Digital Literacy Services Raffles Week 4

July 27, 2015July 27, 2015 Linda Reimer

Our Summer Reading Program Season is quickly passing by!

Check out our programs, all of which may be seen on the Calendar section of our website located at: http://ssclibrary.org/Calendar.html

And stop by the Reference Desk and ask us about our new Makerspace, Creation Station, and fill out a raffle ticket to win one of our weekly gift bags! (and this week we have three of them as seen in the photos!) You can also drop by Creation Station during our summer hours of operation which are:

Tuesdays: 1 – 4 p.m.

And Thursdays: 5 – 8 p.m.

Have a great day!

Linda, SSCL

Note: If you click on the photos you’ll get a larger view!

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