Tag: The Handmaid’s Tale

Catching Up On New York Times Bestsellers

Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, this list contains a selection of titles that have appeared on the New York Times Bestseller lists in the past month.

And our Catching Up On New York Times Bestsellers posting — will come out on the first of each month.

To find out more about a book, or to request it, click on the photo of the book you’re interested in which will re-direct you to the StarCat request page*

Fiction:

A Column of Fire by Ken Follett:

A Cuban Affair by Nelson DeMille:

Enemy Of The State by Vince Flynn

(A Mitch Rapp Series Novel):

The Girl Who Takes An Eye For An Eye by David Lagercrantz

(A Lisbeth Salander Novel):

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood:

Haunted by James Patterson and James O. Born

(A Detective Michael Bennett Thriller):

A Legacy of Spies by John Le Carre:

Secrets In Death by J. D. Robb

(Lt. Eve Dallas Series):

To Be Where You Are by Jan Karon 

(Mitford Series) :

Wicked Deeds by Heather Graham 

(Krewe of Hunters Series):

The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware:

Non-Fiction:

Astrophysics For People In A Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson:

Being Mortal: Medicine And What Matters In the End by Atul Gawande:

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls:

Giant of the Senate by Al Franken:

Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J. D. Vance:

Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann:

On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder:

Unbelievable: My Front-Row Seat to the Craziest Campaign in American History by Katy Tur:

The Vietnam War: An Intimate History by Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns:

What Happened by Hillary Rodham Clinton:

Have a great day,

Linda, SSCL

*If you don’t have a library card you can get one at the library. Just bring a form of ID with your name and current address to the library, fill out a short form and presto — you’ll have a library card in less than five minutes!

Daily Digital & Print Suggested Reads: Thursday, September 28, 2017

Linda Reimer

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

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

Our digital suggestion for today is the e-book:

In Defense of a Liberal Education by Fareed Zakaria:

CNN host and best-selling author Fareed Zakaria argues for a renewed commitment to the world’s most valuable educational tradition.
The liberal arts are under attack. The governors of Florida, Texas, and North Carolina have all pledged that they will not spend taxpayer money subsidizing the liberal arts, and they seem to have an unlikely ally in President Obama. While at a General Electric plant in early 2014, Obama remarked, “I promise you, folks can make a lot more, potentially, with skilled manufacturing or the trades than they might with an art history degree.” These messages are hitting home: majors like English and history, once very popular and highly respected, are in steep decline.
“I get it,” writes Fareed Zakaria, recalling the atmosphere in India where he grew up, which was even more obsessed with getting a skills-based education. However, the CNN host and best-selling author explains why this widely held view is mistaken and shortsighted.

Zakaria eloquently expounds on the virtues of a liberal arts education—how to write clearly, how to express yourself convincingly, and how to think analytically. He turns our leaders’ vocational argument on its head. American routine manufacturing jobs continue to get automated or outsourced, and specific vocational knowledge is often outdated within a few years. Engineering is a great profession, but key value-added skills you will also need are creativity, lateral thinking, design, communication, storytelling, and, more than anything, the ability to continually learn and enjoy learning—precisely the gifts of a liberal education.

Zakaria argues that technology is transforming education, opening up access to the best courses and classes in a vast variety of subjects for millions around the world. We are at the dawn of the greatest expansion of the idea of a liberal education in human history.

And our print book suggestion for the day is:

The Handmaid’s Tale, Large Print Edition by Margaret Atwood:

From the bestselling author of Alias Grace and the MaddAddam trilogy, here is the #1 New York Times bestseller and seminal work of speculative fiction from the Booker Prize-winning author.

Now a Hulu series starring Elizabeth Moss, Samira Wiley, and Joseph Fiennes. Includes a new introduction by Margaret Atwood.

Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are valued only if their ovaries are viable.

Offred can remember the days before, when she lived and made love with her husband Luke; when she played with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge. But all of that is gone now….

Funny, unexpected, horrifying, and altogether convincing, The Handmaid’s Tale is at once scathing satire, dire warning, and literary tour de force.

You can also request items by calling the library at: 607-936-3713 x 502.

Have a great day!
Linda, SSCL

Online Catalog Links:

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

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

Daily Print & Digital Suggested Reads: Tuesday, May 9, 2017

Linda Reimer

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

Our digital suggestion for today is the e-book:

Against the Tide of Years by S. M. Stirling:

Emberverse: Island in the Sea of Time Series, Book 2 by S. M. Stirling: In the years since the Event, the Republic of Nantucket has done its best to re-create the better ideas of the modern age. But the evils of its time resurface in the person of William Walker, renegade Coast Guard officer, who is busy building an empire for himself based on conquest by technology. When Walker reaches Greece and recruits several of their greater kinglets to his cause, the people of Nantucket have no choice. If they are to save the primitive world from being plunged into bloodshed on a twentieth-century scale, they must defeat Walker at his own game:

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

https://stls.overdrive.com/media/254001

And the physical item for today the audiobook on CD:

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood:

Now a Hulu Original Series Handmaid’s Tale is a novel of such power that the reader will be unable to forget its images and its forecast. Set in the near future, it describes life in what was once the United States and is now called the Republic of Gilead, a monotheocracy that has reacted to social unrest and a sharply declining birthrate by reverting to, and going beyond, the repressive intolerance of the original Puritans. The regime takes the Book of Genesis absolutely at its word, with bizarre consequences for the women and men in its population.

The story is told through the eyes of Offred, one of the unfortunate Handmaids under the new social order. In condensed but eloquent prose, by turns cool-eyed, tender, despairing, passionate, and wry, she reveals to us the dark corners behind the establishment’s calm facade, as certain tendencies now in existence are carried to their logical conclusions. The Handmaid’s Tale is funny, unexpected, horrifying, and altogether convincing. It is at once scathing satire, dire warning, and a tour de force. It is Margaret Atwood at her best.

Here’s a link to request the book:

https://goo.gl/RuQixB

You can also request items by calling the library at: 607-936-3713 x 502.

Have a great day!
Linda, SSCL

Online Catalog Links:

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