Tag: Southeast Steuben County Library

Suggested Reading Five: December 4, 2025

Linda Reimer

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

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Home of the American Circus: A Novel by Allison Larkin 

In Larkin’s charming latest (after The People We Keep), a 30-something woman forges an unexpected bond with her teenage niece. Freya, a bartender in coastal Maine, returns to her hometown in the Hudson Valley after her parents die in a car accident, having inherited the ramshackle house she grew up in. She’s surprised to find her troubled niece Aubrey, 15, secretly living in the house. The reason at first seems to be teenage rebellion, but the troubling truth is gradually revealed, along with Freya’s fraught history with her sister, Steena, who is Aubrey’s mother, and with Steena’s scummy husband, Charlie. Freya gets a job at a local inn and reconnects with old friends, who, along with Aubrey, help her repair the house. While the storytelling is simplistic—Steena, Charlie, and the sisters’ late mother are dastardly, while those on Freya and Aubrey’s side are correspondingly good-hearted—Larkin explores with tenderness and nuance the strong yet complicated relationship between her protagonists, and successfully uses the details of home repair as a metaphor for the rebuilding of Freya’s and Aubrey’s lives. It’s a cozy tale of new beginnings. – Publishers Weekly Review  

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Murder in Constantinople by A.E. Goldin 

DEBUT Ben Canaan, the son of a Jewish East End tailor in 1850s London, finds himself at the center of the international intrigue of the Crimean War in this first entry in a swashbuckling and highly entertaining series. Ben, dissatisfied with his lot in life and itching for more, runs afoul of the law, his family, and a local gangster. Discovering a recent photo of a lost love he believed was dead, Ben escapes to Constantinople to find her. Once there, he is pursued by the police and embroiled in a series of political murders called the White Death, plus a conspiracy that threatens the life of the sultan of the Ottoman Empire with potentially disastrous outcomes for Britain in the Crimean War. Although the book includes numerous plot contrivances and derring-do stereotypes, Goldin writes Ben with such verve and fun that he’s a natural companion to Agatha Christie’s Tommy and Tuppence and John Buchan’s Richard Hannay. VERDICT Goldin interweaves romance and vibrant local and historical color into this winning first novel. Readers willing to fully suspend their disbelief will be delighted by this boisterous and charming espionage mystery.-Library Journal Review  

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Murder at Holly House by Denzil Meyrick 

In Meyrick’s proposed trilogy starter, it’s December 1952 and Detective Inspector Frank Grasby has once again mishandled an investigation in York, England. As a reprimand, he is temporarily reassigned to the village of Elderby in the North Yorkshire moors to solve a string of thefts at several farms. Upon arrival, he discovers his staff consists of two constables, an American intern, and a sergeant prone to narcolepsy. While interviewing the local aristocratic family about the latest theft, Frank finds a body stuffed into a chimney. No one in the area claims to know the victim. After a second murder occurs, Frank realizes that Elderby is not just a sleepy country village; it conceals many secrets. When he is warned off investigating the deaths by his superiors, however, he is more curious than ever. Frank soon discovers he may be in over his head and that the people he has chosen to depend on may be his worst career mistake yet. VERDICT This is quite a departure from the author’s DCI Daley series. Meyrick, who died in February 2025, includes plenty of humorous asides and commentary from Grasby. That and the dialogue style add a lighthearted mood.-Library Journal Review  

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Never Rescue A Rogue: A Novel by Virginia Heath 

A duke teams up with a journalist to protect his tenants from his scheming uncle in Heath’s infectious second Merriwell Sisters historical romance (after Never Fall for Your Fiancée). Roguish Giles Sinclair, heir to the Duke of Harpenden, learned years ago that his real mother was the duke’s mistress, making him illegitimate. When his father dies suddenly, Giles fears it’s only a matter of time before the truth gets out and the law comes calling to seize his dukedom and hand it over to his greedy, philandering uncle Gervais. Brilliant Diana Merriwell also has a secret: she’s The Sentinel, an anonymous reporter with a reputation for using her pen to uncover dangerous secrets. Though no one in Diana’s family knows her real role at the paper, Giles suspects the truth. The quarrelsome pair have been forced to tolerate each other ever since Giles’s best friend married Diana’s sister—and now Giles turns to Diana for help. As they work together to protect each other’s secrets, their witty bickering becomes more like foreplay and trust and loyalty grow. Still, the threat of Gervais and Diana’s distrust for men threaten their budding romance. It’s the perfect mix of romance and intrigue, and the formidable central couple is sure to win hearts. This is a gem. – Starred Publishers Weekly Review  

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Return of the Spider by James Patterson 

Return of the Spider is the stunning companion novel to Along Came a Spider, the New York Times bestselling classic thriller from the world’s most popular storyteller. 

Enter the thrilling world of the #1 bestselling detective series that inspired the Prime Video show, Cross. 

Along Came a Spider introduced Detective Alex Cross to readers around the globe and delivered an unsurpassed rivalry: Cross—named the “human superhero” by The New York Times—versus Gary Soneji, who the Lexington-Herald Leader called the “most deliciously wicked character since Hannibal Lecter”. But that wasn’t their first meeting … 

Police discover that Soneji kept a murder book, Profiles in Homicidal Genius, detailing his transformation from substitute teacher to hardened serial killer—including clues that imply missteps that Alex Cross may have made a rookie homicide detective. 

Now, Alex must retrace the steps of that long-ago investigation and face … the Return of the Spider. 

Reader’s Note: Return of the Spider is the thirty-third book in the Alex Cross Series. If you’d like to binge read from the beginning, check out book one: Along Came A Spider. 

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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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Weekly Suggested Reading Five postings are usually published on Wednesdays, unless Monday is a holiday, or the library is closed a day due to inclement weather, and then they are published later in the week.

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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).

–

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

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

–

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

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

Suggested Reading Five: October 10, 2025

Linda Reimer

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

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Clown Town by Mick Herron 

A series of mounting complications leads to yet another fight to the death between the discarded intelligence agents of Slough House and the morally bankrupt head of MI5. As Jackson Lamb’s motley crew on Aldersgate Street struggles to cope with the deaths of River Cartwright’s grandfather and mentor, intelligence veteran David Cartwright, and their dim, beloved colleague Min Harper, new troubles are brewing. Diana Taverner, who runs the British Intelligence Service from Regent’s Park, is being blackmailed by former MP Peter Judd to do his bidding. Nothing untoward about that, of course, but this time, Judd’s demands, backed by a compromising tape recording, are more pressing than usual. So Diana reconvenes the Brains Trust–Al Hawke, Avril Potts, Daisy Wessex, and their ex-boss Charles Cornell Stamoran–whose last assignment was to serve as the contact for psychopathic IRA informant Dougie Malone while turning a blind eye to his multiple rapes and murders, which were really none of the Crown’s business. Taverner’s new assignment for the Brains Trust is the assassination of Judd. Since all these developments are filtered through the riotously cynical lens of Herron’s imagination, nothing goes as planned, and when the smoke clears, the fatalities don’t include Judd. Now that Judd knows he has as much reason to fear Taverner as she does to fear him, Lamb offers to broker a peace meeting between them which Slough House computer geek Roddy Ho will keep secret by knocking out 37 security cameras around Taverner’s dwelling. What could possibly go wrong? The best news of all: The climax leaves the door open to further reports from the hilariously misnamed British Intelligence. – Kirkus Review  

Reader’s Note: Clown Town is the nineth book in the Slough House series. If you’d like to start reading the series from the beginning, check out book one: Slow Horses.  

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It Was the Way She Said It Short Stories, Essays, and Wisdom by Terry McMillan 

The best part of reading this entertaining collection of published and unpublished fiction, sketches, and nonfiction is the sheer delight of immersing yourself in the works of a writer who has plenty to say and has never been afraid to say it. Author of 1990s megahits like Waiting To Exhale and How Stella Got Her Groove Back, McMillan has been chronicling the hopes, dreams, and defiance of Black women for decades, examining relationships between men and women, friends, neighbors, and family with hard-won wisdom and a rebellious authenticity. In these stories, economic woes figure prominently in the lives of her characters. Most of the protagonists are women, but in “The End,” published in 1976, a weary worker at the Ford Motor Co. confronts his dull days and the myriad factors that trap and isolate him. In “Reconstruction,” a man loses his job, and a couple’s relationship deteriorates into physical violence and sexual abuse. In “Ma’Dear (for Estelle Ragsdale),” a scrappy elderly widow survives by taking in boarders she’s not supposed to have. There are also characters struggling with love and its fallout–pregnancy scares, anger, regret, loneliness and loss–proving that McMillan has never shied away from frank assessments of sex and its power. In one of the best stories, “Can’t Close My Eyes to It,” a young girl spends time with her beloved grandmother and learns hard lessons about life. Even McMillan’s quick sketches are so immediately absorbing that you wish she’d fleshed them out into full-blown stories. You won’t want to skip the nonfiction pieces, which range from essays to a commencement speech, because the author’s voice is always engaging. But it’s through her fiction that McMillan shines brightest. “She reads the times we’re living through,” author Ishmael Reed writes in the foreword, a truth evident on every page. An entertaining reminder of McMillan’s storytelling abilities and unflinching honesty. – Starred Kirkus Review  

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A Land So Wide: A Novel by Erin A. Craig 

Greer Mackenzie has always dreamed of seeing the world beyond the borders of her settlement of Mistaken, and her work as a mapmaker only adds to that desire. However, she and everyone else who lives in Mistaken are trapped there by the Warding Stones that surround their tiny community. These stones also keep out the monsters, known as the Bright-Eyed, that live in the woodlands beyond Mistaken’s borders. Greer makes plans with her childhood love, Ellis Beaufort, to find each other during the Hunt (a hide-and-seek courting game that pairs up couples to marry), but when the Hunt begins, she is shocked to see Ellis walk through the boundary of the Warding Stones and be hunted by a creature. Determined to save Ellis, Greer discovers that the history of their town is not what its residents have been told. She and Mistaken have mysterious origins, and all will come to light as the Bright-Eyed face the travelers. The novel starts off at a slow pace, but the second half quickly sets up an action-filled sequence of events.

VERDICT Craig’s (The Thirteenth Child) adult debut pulls from Scottish folklore to explore a woman’s desire to be free. – Library Journal Review 

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Please Don’t Lie by Christina Baker Kline and Anne Burt 

In this stylish, twisty thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Christina Baker Kline and award-winning author Anne Burt, a young woman heads to the Adirondacks with her new husband for a fresh start—but the past won’t let her go. 

Two years ago, Hayley Stone lost everything. First, her parents died in a devastating fire. Then, her sister overdosed, leaving Hayley alone and hounded by a media circus that turned her family’s tragedy into tabloid fodder. When her new husband suggests a fresh start in the Adirondacks, the promise of anonymity in an isolated mountain town feels like salvation. 

But the mountains hold darker secrets than she ever imagined. 

Her once-loving husband grows distant and volatile. The widow down the road keeps spewing vague accusations. Not even their new friends—a free-spirited couple living on the property—can help Hayley shake the creeping sense that something is off. 

As winter edges closer, Hayley discovers that her sanctuary is anything but safe. Trapped and isolated, she faces a terrifying truth: in trying to escape her past, she may have run straight into something far more dangerous. – from the publisher  

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Secret of Secrets by Dan Brown  

The world’s most celebrated thriller writer and author of The Da Vinci Code returns with his most stunning novel yet—a propulsive, twisty, thought-provoking masterpiece that will entertain readers as only Dan Brown can do. 

Robert Langdon, esteemed professor of symbology, travels to Prague to attend a groundbreaking lecture by Katherine Solomon—a prominent noetic scientist with whom he has recently begun a relationship. Katherine is on the verge of publishing an explosive book that contains startling discoveries about the nature of human consciousness and threatens to disrupt centuries of established belief. But a brutal murder catapults the trip into chaos, and Katherine suddenly disappears along with her manuscript. Langdon finds himself targeted by a powerful organization and hunted by a chilling assailant sprung from Prague’s most ancient mythology. As the plot expands into London and New York, Langdon desperately searches for Katherine . . . and for answers. In a thrilling race through the dual worlds of futuristic science and mystical lore, he uncovers a shocking truth about a secret project that will forever change the way we think about the human mind.  

The Secret of Secrets is the sixth book in the Robert Langdon series, if you’d like to start reading the series from the beginning check out book one: Angels & Demons.  

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Happy reading!

Linda Reimer, SSCL

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

–

Weekly Suggested Reading Five postings are usually published on Wednesdays, unless Monday is a holiday and then they are published later in the week.

–

Information on the four library catalogs

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

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

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

–

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

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

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

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

–

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

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

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

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

–

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

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

–

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

–

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

Suggested Listening: August 8, 2025

Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, welcome to our Suggested Listening posting for this week!

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Albert’s Shuffle by Michael Bloomfield & Al Kooper

 

Found on the Album: Super Sessions (1968)

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Blues Chase The Blues Away by Buddy Guy

Found on the Album: Ain’t Done With The Blues (2025)

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I Been Down by Margie Joseph

 

Found on the Album: Margie Joseph (1973)

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Last Night by The Mar-Keys

 Found on the Album: Stax Revue: Live In ‘65! (2025)

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Nobody’s Fault but Mine by Katie Henry 

  

From The Album: Get Goin’ (2024)

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Red Rooster by Carla Thomas 

  

Found on the Album: Carla (1966)

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Sit Down I Think I Love You by Buffalo Springfield 

  

Found on the Album: Buffalo Springfield (1966)

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Slow Ride by Bonnie Raitt 

  

Found on the Album: Luck of the Draw (1991)

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Soul Searching by The Electric Flag 

Found on the Album:  American Music Band (1968)

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Too Far To Be Gone by Shemekia Copeland

 

Found on the Album: Done Come Too Far (2022)

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Hoopla Album of the Week (this week a short music-related audiobook!) 

The Blues: A Very Short Introduction by Elijah Wald 

Here’s a YouTube preview of the audio:

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Have a great weekend,

Linda Reimer, SSCL

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Suggested Listening postings are published on Fridays.

–

Information on the four library catalogs

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

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

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

–

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

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

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

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

–

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

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

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

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

–

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

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

–

Have questions about how to access Internet based content (i.e. eBooks, eAudios or streaming videos)? 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.

–

Visit the Southeast Steuben County Library website for more information on the library, its programs and services: https://ssclibrary.org

Suggested Listening: August 1, 2025

Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, welcome to our Suggested Listening posting for this week!

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Here is our Suggested Listening post spotlighting ten great musicians born during the month of August, on this the first day of August 2025.

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I Guess I Showed Her by Robert Cray (Born August 1, 1953, in Columbus, Georgia)

Found on the Album: Strong Persuader (1986)

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West End Blues by Louis Armstrong (Born August 4, 1901, in New Orleans, Louisiana) 

Found on the Album: Volume IV – Louis Armstrong And Earl Hines (1989)

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Act Naturally by Buck Owens (Born August 12, 1929, in Sherman, Texas) 

Found on the Album: Essential Country Hits (2017)

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Walk of Life by Dire Straits featuring Mark Knopfler (Born August 12, 1949, in Glasgow, Scotland) 

 

 Found on the Album: Brothers In Arms (1985)

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Guinnevere by Crosby, Stills & Nash featuring David Crosby (Born August 14, 1941, in Los Angeles, California) 

Found on the Album: Crosby, Stills & Nash (1969)

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One O’Clock Jump by Count Basie (Born August 21, 1904, in Red Bank, New Jersey)  

Found on the Album: One O’Clock Jump: The Very Best of Count Basie (2006)

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Boogie Woogie by Count Basie featuring Jimmy Rushing on vocals (Born August 26, 1901, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) 

Found on the Album: Count Basie at the Piano (1948)

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Boom Boom by John Lee Hooker (Born August 22, 1917, near Clarksdale, Mississippi) 

Found on the Album: Whiskey & Wimmen: John Lee Hooker’s Finest (2017)

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Scrapple from the Apple by Charlie Parker Jr. (Born August 29, 1920, in in Kansas City, Kansas) 

Found on the Album: The Original Parker (2008)

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What a Diff’rence a Day Makes by Dinah Washington (Born August 29, 1924, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama) 

 

Found on the Album: What a Diff’rence a Day Makes (2000)

 

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Have a great weekend,

Linda Reimer, SSCL

–

Suggested Listening postings are published on Fridays.

–

Information on the four library catalogs

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

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

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

–

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

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

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

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

–

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

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

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

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

–

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

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

–

Have questions about how to access Internet based content (i.e. eBooks, eAudios or streaming videos)? 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.

–

Visit the Southeast Steuben County Library website for more information on the library, its programs and services: https://ssclibrary.org

Suggested Listening: July 25, 2025

Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, welcome to our Suggested Listening posting for this week!

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This week we’re offering a “It’s The Middle of Summer & Time Flies, So Enjoy The Season” collection – enjoy!

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Bare Necessities by Phil Harris & Bruce Reitherman

Found on the Album: Songs and Story: The Jungle Book (1967) by Various Artists

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Blue Skies by Ella Fitzgerald

Found on the Album: Get Happy (1958)

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Caste Your Fate to the Wind by The Vince Guaraldi Trio

Found on the Album: Greatest Hits (1989)

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Cool Water by the Sons of the Pioneers

Found on the Album: Cool Water (1959)

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East of the Sun (and West of the Moon) by Sarah Vaughan

Found on the Album: Sarah Vaughan In Hi-Fi (1997)

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Flamingo by Duke Ellington with Herb Jeffries on vocals

Found on the Album: Jazz Masters (2002)

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Green, Green, Green by Hank Snow

Found on the Album: Hits Covered by Snow (1969)

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Route 66 by The Rolling Stones

Found on the Album: England’s Newest Hitmakers (1964)

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Summertime by Jimmy Smith 

From The Album: Jimmy Smith At The Organ (Vol. 1) (1957)

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Little Hoda by The Hondells 

Found on the Album: Go Little Honda (1964)

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Pipeline by The Chantays 

Found on the Album: Pipeline (2014)

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Sleepwalk by Santo & Johnny 

Found on the Album: Sleepwalk (2002)

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Soulful Strut by Young-Holt Unlimited 

Found on the Album: The Definitive Young-Holt Unlimited (2010)

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Summer Breeze by Seals and Croft 

Found on the Album: Summer Breeze (1972)

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Around Midnight by Art Pepper 

Found on the Album: Art Pepper + Eleven: Modern Jazz Classics (1959)

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Summertime Blues by Eddie Cochran 

 

Found on the Album: The Best of Eddie Cochran (1996)

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Johnny B. Goode by Chuck Berry

Found on the Album: Chuck Berry Is On Top (1959)

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Summertime by Billy Stewart

Found on the Album: 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection: Best Of Billy Stewart (2000)

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The Sound of Music by Julie Andrews 

Found on the Album: The Sound of Music (1965)

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Theme from A Summer Place by Percy Faith  

Found on the Album: Percy Faith’s Greatest Hits (1960)

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Under The Boardwalk by The Drifters 

Found on the Album:  Under The Boardwalk (1964)

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Watermelon Man by Mongo Santamaría

Found on the Album: Watermelon Man (1963)

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Have a great weekend,

Linda Reimer, SSCL

–

Suggested Listening postings are published on Fridays.

–

Information on the four library catalogs

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

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

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

–

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

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

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

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

–

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

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

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

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

–

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

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

–

Have questions about how to access Internet based content (i.e. eBooks, eAudios or streaming videos)? 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.

–

Visit the Southeast Steuben County Library website for more information on the library, its programs and services: https://ssclibrary.org

New York Times Bestsellers: July 13, 2025

Linda Reimer

All titles can be requested/checked out through the library.

If you’d like to go the traditional route to request a title on this list and drop by the library, or give us a call – please do!

Our telephone number is: 607-936-3713

You can also request titles through StarCat found at https://starcat.stls.org

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THE BESTSELLERS

FICTION

1. DON’T LET HIM IN by Lisa Jewell: A man with dark secrets in his past may cause trouble for three women who did not heed the warning about him.

2. A MOTHER’S LOVE by Danielle Steel: After her handbag is stolen during a trip to Paris, a best-selling author with a traumatic past determines not to be a victim.

3. ATMOSPHERE by Taylor Jenkins Reid: In the summer of 1980, Joan Goodwin begins training with a group of candidates for NASA’s space shuttle program.

4. ONE GOLDEN SUMMER by Carley Fortune: A photographer returns to a place where she spent a summer as a teenager and runs into the guy she had a crush on back then.

5. SEVERED HEART by Kate Stewart: The second book in the Ravenhood Legacy series. Tyler gets his friend’s aunt to help him on his quest to become a man before his time.

6. THE TENANT by Freida McFadden: Things take an unsettling turn when a marketing executive loses his job and a woman rents a room in his brownstone.

7. CAUGHT UP by Navessa Allen: The second book of the Into Darkness series. Nico “Junior” Trocci and Lauren Marchetti become ensnared in a game of seduction.

8. THE FIRST GENTLEMAN by Bill Clinton and James Patterson: When President Wright’s husband goes on trial for murder, a pair of journalists search for answers.

9. NEVER FLINCH by Stephen King: Holly Gibney does double duty by helping head off acts of retribution and protecting a women’s rights activist.

10. GREAT BIG BEAUTIFUL LIFE by Emily Henry: A writer looking for her big break competes against a Pulitzer winner to tell the story of an octogenarian with a storied past.

11. PROBLEMATIC SUMMER ROMANCE by Ali Hazelwood: Things get complicated between an older biotech guy and a struggling graduate student who go to a destination wedding.

12. ONYX STORM by Rebecca Yarros: The third book in the Empyrean series. As enemies gain traction, Violet Sorrengail goes beyond the Aretian wards in search of allies.

13. MY FRIENDS by Fredrik Backman: A young woman looks into the story behind a painting that was made 25 years ago and a small group of teens depicted in it; translated by Neil Smith.

14. REMARKABLY BRIGHT CREATURES by Shelby Van Pelt: A widow working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium is aided in solving a mystery by a giant Pacific octopus living there.

15. THE RIVER IS WAITING by Wally Lamb: A man struggling in several areas of his life is sentenced to prison, where he encounters acts of kindness and brutality.

–

NON-FICTION

1. BEHIND THE BADGE by Johnny Joey Jones: The Fox News military analyst extols the first responders among his friends and family.

2. THE BODY KEEPS THE SCORE by Bessel van der Kolk: How trauma affects the body and mind, and innovative treatments for recovery.

3. THE ANXIOUS GENERATION by Jonathan Haidt: A co-author of “The Coddling of the American Mind” looks at the mental health impacts that a phone-based life has on children.

4. NOT MY TYPE by E. Jean Carroll: The journalist shares moments from her life and the two trials in which she accused President Trump of sexual assault and defamation.

5. MARK TWAIN by Ron Chernow: The Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer portrays the life and career of the literary celebrity and political pundit.

6. ABUNDANCE by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson: A New York Times opinion columnist and a staff writer at The Atlantic evaluate obstacles to American progress.

7. ORIGINAL SIN by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson: An account of Joe Biden’s initial decision to run for re-election in 2024 and its numerous consequences.

8. EVERYTHING IS TUBERCULOSIS by John Green: The author of “The Anthropocene Reviewed” chronicles the fight against the deadly infectious disease tuberculosis.

9. ON TYRANNY by Timothy Snyder: Twenty lessons from the 20th century about the course of tyranny.

10. CULTISH by Amanda Montell: The author of “The Age of Magical Overthinking” evaluates language techniques used by various groups to develop followers.

11. OUTLIVE by Peter Attia with Bill Gifford: A look at recent scientific research on aging and longevity.

12. THE WAGER by David Grann: The survivors of a shipwrecked British vessel on a secret mission during an imperial war with Spain have different accounts of events.

13. BORN A CRIME by Trevor Noah: A memoir about growing up biracial in apartheid South Africa by the former host of “The Daily Show.”

14. BIG DUMB EYES by Nate Bargatze: The Grammy Award-nominated comedian shares snippets from his life and career.

15. EDUCATED by Tara Westover: The daughter of survivalists, who is kept out of school, educates herself enough to leave home for university.

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Have a great week!

Linda

–

New York Times Bestseller lists are shared via blog post on Sundays; unless the poster is going in on vacation and inadvertently selects a different date, as was the case for last Sunday and yesterday (sorry about that!) – and with this list (7.13.25) – we are finally up to date!

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THE CATALOGS:

(Information on the four library catalogs)

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

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

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

–

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

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

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

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

–

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

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

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

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

–

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

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

–

For more information on library materials and services, including how to get a library card call the library at 607-936-3713.

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*The Southern Tier Library System includes the public libraries in Steuben, Chemung, Yates, Schuyler & Allegheny counties.

Suggested Reading Five: July 2, 2025

Linda Reimer

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

–

1776 by David McCullough 

Bestselling historian and two-time Pulitzer winner McCullough follows up John Adams 

by staying with America’s founding, focusing on a year rather than an individual: a momentous 12 months in the fight for independence. How did a group of ragtag farmers defeat the world’s greatest empire? As McCullough vividly shows, they did it with a great deal of suffering, determination, ingenuity—and, the author notes, luck. 

Although brief by McCullough’s standards, this is a narrative tour de force, exhibiting all the hallmarks the author is known for: fascinating subject matter, expert research and detailed, graceful prose. Throughout, McCullough deftly captures both sides of the conflict. The British commander, Lord General Howe, perhaps not fully accepting that the rebellion could succeed, underestimated the Americans’ ingenuity. In turn, the outclassed Americans used the cover of night, surprise and an abiding hunger for victory to astonishing effect. Henry Knox, for example, trekked 300 miles each way over harsh winter terrain to bring 120,000 pounds of artillery from Fort Ticonderoga to Boston, enabling the Americans, in a stealthy nighttime advance, to seize Dorchester Heights, thus winning the whole city. 

Luck, McCullough writes, also played into the American cause—a vicious winter storm, for example, stalled a British counterattack at Boston, and twice Washington staged improbable, daring escapes when the war could have been lost. Similarly, McCullough says, the cruel northeaster in which Washington’s troops famously crossed the Delaware was both “a blessing and a curse.” McCullough keenly renders the harshness of the elements, the rampant disease and the constant supply shortfalls, from gunpowder to food, that affected morale on both sides—and it certainly didn’t help the British that it took six weeks to relay news to and from London. Simply put, this is history writing at its best from one of its top practitioners. – Starred Publishers Weekly Review  

– 

Deep Beneath Us by Catriona McPherson 

The murder of her cousin moves a Scottish woman to explore her past. 

When her husband divorced her, Tabitha Lawson lost not only her marriage but her job, since he anonymously told her employer about a schizophrenia diagnosis she hadn’t revealed to them. Her son chose to live with his father; Tabitha moved in with her mother, Zelda, whose dark paintings give her nightmares. So do the dark waters of the loch she’s lived nearby most of her life. Her cousin Davey Muir, a coder and collector, and his friend Gordo spend a lot of time with Barrett, a divorced gardener with two teen girls, picking up litter near the loch. It’s all very routine until Gordo reports a mysterious underwater explosion at the loch, which is set to be drained and turned into parkland. When Davey doesn’t answer his door, Tabitha gets the police to investigate just as Barrett and Gordo arrive to find Davey dead. Although he’s left what looks like a suicide note, his friends can’t believe he’d kill himself. Neither can Tabitha, who’s inherited everything he owned. When she, Barrett, and Gordo clean out his house, which is packed to the rafters with junk, they start uncovering long-hidden family secrets. Tabitha and her sister, Jocasta, and Davey and his brother, Johnny, all grew up together, children of a pair of brothers who both died by suicide. The marriage of Jo and Johnny puts even more pressure on the turbulent family dynamics. Tabitha, Davey’s friends, and their teenage children launch an investigation that will reveal that everything Tabitha thought she knew about her childhood is based on false memories. 

A tense, beautifully written page-turner with a truly unsettling denouement. – Kirkus Review 

– 

I’ll Be Right Here by Amy Bloom 

Bloom returns to fiction after her bestselling memoir In Love (which was a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist) with the decades-spanning story of four friends in New England who spin in and out of each other’s lives over the years. The novel opens during World War II, when young Gazala and her brother Samir—orphaned Algerian immigrants living in poverty in France—must do whatever it takes to survive. Forced to split up, they each make their way independently to New York City after the war and ultimately reunite. While in New York, Gazala meets a pair of sisters named Anne and Alma and forges a lifelong bond with them. Relationships are truly at the heart of this slim novel, and readers are rewarded with Bloom’s signature empathetic writing style as she explores the many ways that there are to love and care for other people. As the novel slips back and forth in time, narrated from the perspectives of each of the main characters, readers will find themselves continually surprised and moved by the choices they make, the secrets they keep, and how they show up for one another.

VERDICT Bloom’s (White Houses) insightful new novel is a quick and affecting read. Recommended for all collections. – Library Journal Review  

– 

Summer of the Big Bachi by Naomi Hirahara 

In chapter one of Hirahara’s seamless and shyly powerful first novel, a Japanese PI unsettles prickly, stubborn Mas Arai, Hiroshima survivor, widower and estranged father, and the other elderly Japanese-American gardeners who hang out at Wishbone Tanaka’s Lawnmower Shack in the seedy L.A. suburb of Altadena. The PI’s disturbing questions concern a nurseryman called Joji Haneda, reported dead in the atomic blast that leveled Hiroshima in August 1945, but who was actually still alive in California in June 1999. A month later, Haneda is brutally murdered. Mas must revisit his past and open old, still festering wounds in order to solve the crime, while the specter of bachi, akin to instant bad karma, hovers over him like the black clouds of his recurring nightmares. In his cherished 1956 Ford truck, unlikely sleuth Mas pursues a trail that leads him to an all-night noodle shop, an illegal gambling loft and a chow-mien bowling-alley/cafe. After his truck and dignity are stolen, Mas enlists the help of two lovingly rendered, all-too-human friends: Haruo Mukai, whose long white hair hides a false eye and shocking keloid scar, and Tug Yamada, a gentle, honorable giant willing to put his own life on the line for others. Peppered with pungent cultural details, crisp prose and credible, fresh descriptions of the effects of the A-bomb, this perfectly balanced gem deserves a wide readership. – Starred Publishers Weekly Review 

– 

This Fierce People: The Untold Story of America’s Revolutionary War in the South by Alan Pell Crawford 

So much of Revolutionary War history focuses on battles fought in the North: Lexington, Concord, Boston, Saratoga, New York, Valley Forge. But key to the Revolution’s ultimate success were the soldiers who kept British troops tied down in skirmishes in the southern colonies. Crawford (Twilight at Monticello, 2008) details how Generals Francis Marion and Thomas Sumter and their bands of partisans helped drive Cornwallis and his loyalists out of the Carolinas, which were key to British supply lines. Crawford details the often desperate efforts and guerrilla tactics of the ragtag troops against the usually superior numbers of the British. He devotes useful attention to the role of enslaved fighters, whom both the British and the Americans tried to woo with promises of future freedom. The “final” battle at Yorktown, Virginia, in 1781, as Crawford points out, did not itself bring an end to the struggle–but by then, Parliament had turned against the war. Crawford’s achievement is a valuable addition to Revolutionary War history that adds useful detail and perspective. 

–

Happy reading!

Linda Reimer, SSCL

–

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

–

Weekly Suggested Reading Five posts are published on Wednesdays.

–

Information on the four library catalogs

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

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

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

–

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

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

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

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

–

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

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

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

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

–

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

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

–

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

–

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

Suggested Reading Five: June 25, 2025

Linda Reimer

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

–

Broken Fields by Marcie Rendon 

Cash Blackbear, a young Ojibwe woman and occasional sleuth, is back on the case after a man is found dead on a rural Minnesota farm in the next installment of the acclaimed Native crime series. 

Minnesota, 1970s: It’s spring in the Red River Valley and Cash Blackbear is doing fieldwork for a local farmer—until she finds him dead on the kitchen floor of the property’s rented farmhouse. The tenant, a Native field laborer, and his wife are nowhere to be found, but Cash discovers their young daughter, Shawnee, cowering under a bed. The girl, a possible witness to the killing, is too terrified to speak. 

In the wake of the murder, Cash can’t deny her intuitive abilities: she is suspicious of the farmer’s grieving widow, who offers to take in Shawnee temporarily. While Cash is scouring White Earth Reservation for Shawnee’s missing mother—whom Cash wants to find before the girl is put in the foster system—another body turns up. Concerned by the escalating threat, Cash races against the clock to figure out the truth of what happened in the farmhouse. 

Reader’s Note: Broken Fields is the fourth book in the Cash Blackbear mystery series. If you’d like to read the series from the beginning, check out book one: Murder on the Red River. 

– 

Don’t Let Him In: A Novel by Lisa Jewell 

Meet Nick Radcliffe: tall, handsome, successful–everything Nina needs, a year after her husband’s unexpected death. She’s been struggling, alongside her daughter Ash. But Nick has secrets, apparently. We learn this before Nina begins to suspect: the author gives the reader a broader perspective, letting us see Nick when he’s not with Nina . . . when he’s not the man he’s pretending to be. Meanwhile, a florist and mother is dealing with her own list of revelations about the man she married and thought she could trust. Jewell is on a hot streak, with one brilliant thriller after another: The Night She Disappeared (2021), The Family Remains (2022), None of this is True (2023), even her Marvel Crime novel Breaking the Dark (2024). Her fans will be lining up to read this new novel (libraries should stock multiple copies), but it’s also a perfect introduction for new readers to the author’s brand of storytelling. As tantalizingly labyrinthine as her stories are, it’s the way she anchors them in a recognizably real world, and populates them with abundantly human characters, that makes them so successful. In a genre full of top-flight authors, she ranks very near the absolute top.

HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Jewell has become a multi-time best-seller with her sensational thrillers. – Starred Booklist Review 

– 

The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong 

When elderly Grazina, of East Gladness, Connecticut, sees 19-year-old Hai poised to jump from a bridge into the rushing river below, she stops him, invites him in, and offers him a room in her nearly condemned house on the river’s bank. She needs a new nurse, after all. When their cash for frozen dinners runs low, Hai gets a job at the chicken chain HomeMarket through Sony, his Civil War-war obsessed cousin who sees their enthusiastic manager, BJ, as the finest general these young soldiers could ask for. Found family is the core of award-winning poet and novelist Vuong’s (On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, 2019) meaty second novel, especially the loving relationship between Hai, who’s caught in the grips of a pill addiction while his mom thinks he’s away at medical school, and Grazina, who increasingly needs Hai’s help to both stay above water in the present and also excavate the traumas she lived through in WWII-era Lithuania. Love grows, too, among the richly sketched HomeMarket crew, who rally around one another in word and deed. Also exploring themes of war and labor–their wretchedness, their dignity–Vuong’s epic-feeling novel is a determined portrait of community, caretaking, and characters who, if they only have each other, have quite a lot. – Starred Booklist Review 

– 

Picturing Black History: Photographs and Stories that Changed the World by Daniela Edmeier 

Picturing Black History uncovers untold stories and rarely seen images of the Black experience, providing new context around culturally significant moments. This beautiful collectible volume makes a thoughtful gift and is full of rousing, vibrant essays paired with rarely seen photographs that expand our understanding of Black history. 

The book is a collaborative effort between Getty Images, Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective, and the History departments at The Ohio State and Miami Universities. It informs, educates, and inspires our current moment by exploring the past, blending the breadth and depth of Getty Images’s archives with the renowned expertise of Origins contributors and The Ohio State’s and Miami’s History departments, including Daniela Edmeier, Damarius Johnson, Nicholas Breyfogle, and Steve Conn. 

Created by a growing collective of professional historians, art historians, Black Studies scholars, and photographers and showcasing Getty Images’s unmatched collection of photographs, Picturing Black History embraces the power of visual storytelling to relay little-known stories of oppression and resistance, perseverance and resilience, freedom, dreams, imagination, and joy within the United States and around the world. 

In collecting these new photographic essays, this book furthers an ongoing dialogue on the significance of Black history and Black life, sharing new perspectives on the current status of prejudice and discrimination bias with a wider audience. Picturing Black History uses the latest academic learning and scholarship to recontextualize and dispel prejudices, while uncovering, digitizing, and preserving new archival materials to amplify a more inclusive visual landscape. 

“Picturing Black History offers a trove of both famous and unseen photos with brief, poignant accompanying essays to show not only the centrality of Black people to American history but also how African Americans used the photographer’s lens to tell their own stories. The editors, authors, and Getty images have created a beautiful book that stands on its own as a work of art, a veritable museum in print.” —Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor, Harvard University 

– 

Them Bones: A McKenzie Novel by David Housewright 

Cop-turned-millionaire Rushmore McKenzie isn’t exactly a private investigator. Sure, he takes on the occasional case for a friend, but he doesn’t have a license or, you know, any official standing as a PI. When he’s asked to track down a stolen dinosaur skull, how can he possibly refuse? Turns out this was no random heist–the people who took the very rare specimen knew exactly what they were doing, and they are determined to hold onto the skull, no matter what it takes. Rushmore isn’t what you’d call an action hero, but he’s no stranger to physical danger, either, and he’s never been known to shy away from a fight. Can he recover the stolen skull without risking his own life? The McKenzie series has been rolling along smoothly since 2004’s A Hard Ticket Home, and this, the 22nd installment, is just as well written, suspenseful, and satisfying as its predecessors. A sure-fire hit for Housewright’s fans. – Booklist Review 

Reader’s Note: As mentioned, Them Bones it the twenty-second mystery in the Rushmore McKenzie mystery series. If you like to binge read from the beginning, check out book one: A Hard Ticket Home.  

–

Happy reading!

Linda Reimer, SSCL

–

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

–

Suggested Reading Five posts are published on Wednesdays.

–

Information on the four library catalogs

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

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

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

–

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

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

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

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

–

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

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

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

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

–

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

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

–

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

–

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

Suggested Reading Five: June 18, 2025

Linda Reimer

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

–

King of Ashes by S. A. Cosby 

Roman Carruthers did it. He got out. He left the dying town of Jefferson Run, Virginia, and he built himself a prosperous life making money for other people. When he learns that his father is in a coma after a car accident, he flies home immediately to find a family in disarray: a sister who’s become obsessed with the long-ago disappearance of their mother, and a brother who’s deep in debt to some very bad people. Can Roman somehow find a way to bring peace to his family, even as his father lies dying? Cosby has published one magnificent crime novel after another, beginning with 2019’s My Darkest Prayer, and this new book spotlights the author’s gift for building complex characters. It also continues his exploration of the dark places humans keep hidden within us. His dialogue, too, is pitch-perfect: colloquial and idiomatic, reflecting the education and upbringing of his characters–it feels like we’re eavesdropping on real people. A stunning novel. 

HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Cosby’s rural southern noir mysteries have become consistent best-sellers, and this one comes out in time for beach read season. – Booklist Review 

– 

The Listeners by Maggie Stiefvater 

 It’s January 1942, and in the immediate aftermath of the Pearl Harbor attack, the regal Avallon Hotel in rural West Virginia has been requisitioned by the United States government as a detention center for diplomats from Axis countries. General manager June Hudson, who controls the hotel and the mysterious sweetwater that runs through the property, must convince her staff–men who are worried about being drafted into the war, and women with family members heading off to fight–to offer the same level of service to the detainees as they do to their regular guests. Complicating matters is the presence of the State Department and the FBI, especially mysterious agent Tucker Minnick, who has more of a connection to the region and the sweetwater than he initially lets on. June must be careful as she navigates her loyalties to the hotel and the realities of life during wartime.

VERDICT YA author Stiefvater’s (“The Raven Cycle”) first foray into historical fiction retains her unique voice and signature magical realism. Well-drawn characters and excellent worldbuilding bring a little-known element of World War II to life in this must-read for all historical fiction fans.-Starred Library Journal Review 

– 

Poet’s Square: A Memoir in Thirty Cats by Courtney Gustafson  

Sad Boy and Lola, Monkey, and Mr. Bigbutt are just a few of the feral cats featured on Gustafson’s social media pages, @poetsquarecats. Gustafson had no idea that after moving into her new home in Tucson’s Poets Square neighborhood, the 30 feral cats living on and around the property would change the trajectory of her life and career. After months of haphazardly tossing kibble at the wayward ferals and lamenting over how best to care for them on her meager nonprofit salary, Gustafson took some chances, learning about TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return) efforts and feral cat care just as the COVID-19 pandemic struck. In alternating story lines–one often connected to a specific cat and the other to Gustafson’s life experiences–she shares her battles with mental health, chronic illness, and quarter-life crisis. As she contemplates her life and internet virality, Gustafson grapples with perception by the online masses, the significant and empowering love of an animal, misogyny in rescue work, the financial strain of pet ownership, the ache of animal loss, and most importantly, how to develop a community. Her riveting and emotional vignettes are loaded with humanity and all the important lessons we can learn from little creatures just trying to survive. – Starred Booklist Review  

– 

Three Junes by Julia Glass 

A National Book Award Winner. 

This strong and memorable debut novel draws the reader deeply into the lives of several central characters during three separate Junes spanning ten years. At the story’s onset, Scotsman Paul McLeod, the father of three grown sons, is newly widowed and on a group tour of the Greek islands as he reminisces about how he met and married his deceased wife and created their family. Next, in the book’s longest section, we see the world through the eyes of Paul’s eldest son, Fenno, a gay man transplanted to New York City and owner of a small bookstore, who learns lessons about love and loss that allow him to grow in unexpected ways. And finally there is Fern, an artist and book designer whom Paul met on his trip to Greece several years earlier. She is now a young widow, pregnant and also living in New York City, who must make sense of her own past and present to be able to move forward in her life. In this novel, expectations and revelations collide in startling ways. Alternately joyful and sad, this exploration of modern relationships and the families people both inherit or create for themselves is highly recommended for all fiction collections. – Booklist Review 

– 

With a Vengeance: A Novel by Riley Sager  

Sager’s newest book, With a Vengeance, is also one of his very best. The setup is simple: in the mid-1950s, Anna Matheson invites a handful of people to take a cross-country journey, overnight from Philadelphia to Chicago, aboard a luxury train. Who is Anna? What is her relationship to these seemingly unconnected people? All will be revealed in the author’s good time: Sager demonstrates his gift for dispensing information a piece at a time by keeping the reader in a constant state of suspense. And, anyway, Anna’s plan–one enacting her own idea of justice–goes tragically wrong when one of the passengers is apparently murdered, and the killer begins picking off passengers, one by one. Back at the top of his game, Sager delivers a thriller so tautly written, so tightly constructed, that readers will emerge from the book breathless and in a mild state of shock. With this book, Sager has committed an act of brilliance. 

–

Happy reading!

Linda Reimer, SSCL

–

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

–

Suggested Reading Five posts are published on Wednesdays.

–

Information on the four library catalogs

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

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

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

–

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

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

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

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

–

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

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

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

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

–

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

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

–

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

–

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

New York Times Bestsellers: June 22, 2025

Linda Reimer

All titles can be requested/checked out through the library.

If you’d like to go the traditional route to request a title on this list and drop by the library, or give us a call – please do!

Our telephone number is: 607-936-3713

You can also request titles through StarCat found at https://starcat.stls.org

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THE BESTSELLERS

FICTION

1. ATMOSPHERE by Taylor Jenkins Reid: In the summer of 1980, Joan Goodwin begins training with a group of candidates for NASA’s space shuttle program. 

2. THE FIRST GENTLEMAN by Bill Clinton and James Patterson: When President Wright’s husband goes on trial for murder, a pair of journalists search for answers. 

3. NEVER FLINCH by Stephen King: Holly Gibney does double duty by helping head off acts of retribution and protecting a women’s rights activist. 

4. PROBLEMATIC SUMMER ROMANCE by Ali Hazelwood: Things get complicated between an older biotech guy and a struggling graduate student who go to a destination wedding. 

 5. ONE GOLDEN SUMMER by Carley Fortune: A photographer returns to a place where she spent a summer as a teenager and runs into the guy she had a crush on back then. 

6. BADLANDS by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child: The fifth book in the Nora Kelly series. The discovery of a pair of skeletons sparks an investigation that runs into a dark power. 

7. THE TENANT by Freida McFadden: Things take an unsettling turn when a marketing executive loses his job and a woman rents a room in his brownstone. 

 8. GREAT BIG BEAUTIFUL LIFE by Emily Henry: A writer looking for her big break competes against a Pulitzer winner to tell the story of an octogenarian with a storied past. 

 9. TILL SUMMER DO US PART by Meghan Quinn: To keep up with her co-workers, Scottie Price takes a fake husband with her to a summer marriage camp. 

10. NIGHTSHADE by Michael Connelly: The Los Angeles County sheriff’s detective Stilwell gets reassigned to Catalina Island, where he investigates a poaching case and a Jane Doe found in the harbor. 

 11. HIDDEN NATURE by Nora Roberts: After recovering from a gunshot, a Natural Resources police officer investigates a woman’s disappearance. 

12. IRON FLAME by Rebecca Yarros: The second book in the Empyrean series. Violet Sorrengail’s next round of training under the new vice commandant might require her to betray the man she loves.  

13. MY FRIENDS by Fredrik Backman: A young woman looks into the story behind a painting that was made 25 years ago and a small group of teens depicted in it; translated by Neil Smith. 

14. ONYX STORM by Rebecca Yarros: The third book in the Empyrean series. As enemies gain traction, Violet Sorrengail goes beyond the Aretian wards in search of allies. 

15. IT TAKES A PSYCHIC by Jayne Castle: The 18th book in the Harmony series. An investigation brings Leona and Oliver to a town where locals are obsessed with a chilling legend. 

NON-FICTION

1. HOW COUNTRIES GO BROKE by Ray Dalio: The author of “Principles” evaluates the forces that contribute to what he calls the “big debt cycle.” 

2. ORIGINAL SIN by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson: An account of Joe Biden’s initial decision to run for re-election in 2024 and its numerous consequences. 

3. A DIFFERENT KIND OF POWER by Jacinda Ardern: The former prime minister of New Zealand details challenges her country faced and makes her case for empathetic leadership. 

4. THIS DOG WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE by Elias Weiss Friedman with Ben Greenman: The photographer known as the Dogist contends that dog ownership can improve your life. 

5. TRUMP’S TRIUMPH by Newt Gingrich: The former speaker of the House depicts the political comeback of President Trump. 

 6. HOW TO LOSE YOUR MOTHER by Molly Jong-Fast: A contributing writer at Vanity Fair and podcast host describes her relationship with her mother, Erica Jong. 

7. THE ANXIOUS GENERATION by Jonathan Haidt: A co-author of “The Coddling of the American Mind” looks at the mental health impacts that a phone-based life has on children. 

8. MARK TWAIN by Ron Chernow: The Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer portrays the life and career of the literary celebrity and political pundit. 

9. THE BODY KEEPS THE SCORE by Bessel van der Kolk: How trauma affects the body and mind, and innovative treatments for recovery. 

10. SO GAY FOR YOU by Leisha Hailey and Kate Moennig: Two stars of “The L Word” share stories of their friendship, the making of the series and the positive effects of chosen family. 

11. FREE RIDE by Noraly Schoenmaker: The creator of the YouTube channel Itchy Boots recounts the transcontinental motorcycle ride she took after personal and professional changes. 

12. ABUNDANCE by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson: A New York Times opinion columnist and a staff writer at The Atlantic evaluate obstacles to American progress. 

13. THE DISENLIGHTENMENT by David Mamet: The author of “Recessional” shares his views on politics and entertainment. 

14. THE HAVES AND HAVE-YACHTS by Evan Osnos: The National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize winner examines the excesses of the ultrarich and the influence that Silicon Valley and Wall Street have on politics. 

15. BIG DUMB EYES by Nate Bargatze: The Grammy Award-nominated comedian shares snippets from his life and career. 

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Have a great day!

Linda

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New York Times Bestseller lists are shared via blog post on Sundays; and occasionally on Mondays.

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THE CATALOGS:

(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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For more information on library materials and services, including how to get a library card call the library at 607-936-3713.

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*The Southern Tier Library System includes the public libraries in Steuben, Chemung, Yates, Schuyler & Allegheny counties.