June 2009

  • Best audiobooks for family travel

    You are about to embark on that ever-romanticized ritual, the family road trip.  The bags are packed, the car has a full tank and tires have air.  Now, what about entertainment for the backseat crowd?  Having a selection of audio stories may be key to maintaining a zen-like, peaceful atmosphere in your car while you… Continue reading

  • Rereading a favorite book

    Recently my book group read Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo, a book I had savored more than a year ago. But a year later, with the complications of aging and excess information crowding my brain, I had almost completely forgotten the novel. What I did remember was my reaction to Bridge of Sighs — joy… Continue reading

  • Always a bridesmaid …

    Nancy Pearl, bless her, tells us never to apologize for our reading tastes. I hope her advice extends to TV: I am an addict of the reality series The Bachelorette  (and The Bachelor). I get a lot of teasing for this, and you are welcome to chime in! I don’t know why I find them… Continue reading

  • Creative Composting: What to do with those food scraps!

    Now that the growing season is in full swing and new city rules require us to keep food scraps out of the garbage can, do you find yourself with an overflowing yard waste bin each week? If so, perhaps you’ve wondered how hard it would be to convert some of that vegetable matter into lovely… Continue reading

  • Why I love Virginia Woolf

    It’s not because of the plot, nor is it the characters.  It’s the language.  (If you like action-driven page turners, you probably won’t like Woolf.)  Virginia Woolf, along with James Joyce, was one of the pioneers of early Modernism and stream-of-consciousness writing style.  When I first read her novels in college, I fell in love… Continue reading

  • A poem by one of Seattle’s many poets

    For several years, the Northeast branch has offered a Poetry Contest during April for National Poetry Month. 288 kids, teens and adults participated this year and the Awards Ceremony was held on Tuesday, May 19.  The youngest poet was four years old and the oldest was 84 – it’s quite a multigenerational program! Please visit… Continue reading

  • I’ve Got a Secret: Intellectual freedom and you.

    Intellectual Freedom can mean many things: the right to read scandalous or subversive books, patron privacy, and access to information. Today I want to focus on access to information – and more specifically, government information. When politicians talk about government transparency, what do they mean, exactly? What kind of information is given to the public… Continue reading

  • Staff Favorites: On the Bum, On the Road, Sitting on a Dock in the Bay

    Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell Orwell ekes out a living, as Barbara Ehrenreich did in Nickel and Dimed, the disparity being that Orwell manages to survive several days deprived of food while residing in the most uninhabitable living spaces imaginable. Orwell recounts his experiences in Paris, where he lands a… Continue reading

  • Family Name

    Full of a child’s curiosity, Macky Alston looked around and wondered why how it could be that he and some of his African American schoolmates shared the same last name.  That he, his father and grandfather would have the same name was, certainly, understandable.  And, maybe, following them into the ministry was perhaps, something the… Continue reading

  • Dynamic Duo

    “I just want to make sure                       that a million years from now                                         I can still see you up close and                                                          we’ll still have amazing things to say.” Two of my favorite unconventional stars Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are coming together for a second time in the movie titled (500) Days of… Continue reading

  • Staff Favorites: Three more novels for your summer reading . . .

    Rex Libris: I, Librarian by James Turner Rex Libris, Head Librarian at Middleton Public Library, takes his place along other great librarian action adventure heroes like Nancy Pearl and Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Though he may look the part of a nerdy, mild mannered librarian with his suit and tie and thick glasses,… Continue reading

  • Viewing History through a New Lens

    Viewing History through a New Lens I love reading books that help me see history from a fresh angle.  Of course, the narrative has to be interesting, gripping and well-written (no dry textbooks, please).  These days, there are so many great nonfiction history books that fit the bill.  Here are some of my favorites: A… Continue reading

  • June Question of the Month – an irregular series

    The reference librarians at Seattle Public Library are pretty darned amazing! They don’t know everything: instead they know where to find everything. As part of an irregular series of posts we salute the talented and dedicated reference staff at your local library. Names and other identifying information have been removed from the questions we showcase.… Continue reading

  • Is it summer? Are you reading? Guess what that means…

    Oh, those summer evenings in Seattle. Plenty of time to sink into a good book. Sure, we know it isn’t technically summer yet, but mother nature doesn’t seem to have figured that out this June – knock wood – and the nights have been just perfect, with ample light to read by late into the evening, and enough warmth… Continue reading

  • Seattle’s Coming Out Party

    According to Paul Dorpat, Seattle’s iconic historian, in the introduction of the wonderful new book by Alan Stein and Paula Becker, Alaska-Yukon-Pacific-Exposition A Timeline History (published by Historylink),  Seattle caught a lucky break back in 1907 when Jamestown, Virginia claimed that year for their tercentenary celebration. The event Seattle had planned to celebrate the 10 year… Continue reading

  • Staff Favorites: Summer reading ideas

    The Book of Fred by Abby Bardi   Not an average teenager, Mary Fred Anderson has never watched television, eaten meat or read anything other than The Book of Fred. This is the story of what happens when she is placed in a suburban foster family headed by an unhappily divorced librarian mom, her unemployed brother… Continue reading

  • If you like Lee Child and his ‘Jack Reacher’ novels …

    Jack Reacher, a consummate loner and star of Lee Child’s novels, is a thinking person’s action hero. Intelligent, witty and unencumbered by possessions, Reacher drifts into a new town and meets injustice head on. He’s equal measure Dirty Harry and James Bond, always outwitting his opponents.  Child’s swift, cinematic thrillers continue to be among the… Continue reading

  • Wikipedia and more

    I’m not a computer geek, but I can’t help but be fascinated by the ever-growing, ever-changing participatory online culture in which we now live.  I would call it Web 2.0, but someone who is computer savvier than me would probably point out that Web 2.0 has already been replaced by something newer. One example of… Continue reading