July 2009

  • ‘The Help’ reaches its tipping point

    There’s a lot to love about summer reading when you work in a library, but the best part is when people stop by to tell you what they’ve been reading. And that’s how, early in June, I found one of my favorite books of the past several years: The Help by Kathryn Stockett.  In this… Continue reading

  • Explore your Inner Captain: Great Reads about Nautical Pioneers

    Ah, sailing: the full sail puffed up with pride, the wind whipping through my hair, the salty scent of brackish water. At least, for the next 89 minutes. Then I have to return the rental boat.  The beautiful waterways in and around Seattle inspire us with dreams of great voyages, whether you’ve got  Old Salty… Continue reading

  • Films Found at my Branch

    I often browse the shelves of my branch library for impulse DVD’s to watch instead of commercial TV. This can lead to some winners and some losers. Staring at the shelves one asks oneself, “If this film is really any good, how come I haven’t heard of it?” Every now and then I get lucky… Continue reading

  • More Summer Staff Favorites for Children: Historical Fiction

    The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had, by Kristin Levine J LEVINE Prepare to fall in love with the narrator of this story! Dit tells the tale of a memorable year in tiny Moundville, Alabama, during World War I, the year he meets and befriends Emma.  Dit provokes a blatantly racist sheriff to shoot at… Continue reading

  • When journalists turn to crime . . .

    The other day a journalism student came to the Library wanting to try a novel by Edna Buchanan, one of her favorite reporters, and we began talking about why some of our favorite mystery/thriller writers (e.g., Connelly and Buchanan, among others) earned their chops on the crime beat or as investigative journalists.  Of course there’s… Continue reading

  • Historical Statistics of the United States: A portrait in very small strokes

      This amazing compendium must warm the heart of any reference librarian. Historical research generally creates portraits of events and eras  in very broad, sketchy strokes. The image is there, but depicted in terms of ‘trends’, or ‘patterns’ which wash away the minute differences that are reflected in peoples’ lives. This  historical approach is not… Continue reading

  • Summer Reading: A few favorites from Montlake

    Books pictured here include: Love is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss One Song at a Time by Rob Sheffield Blackbird House by Alice Hoffman Two Rivers by T. Greenwood The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier The Book of Joe by Jonathan Tropper The Secret of Lost Things by Sheridan Hay Two… Continue reading

  • Water, Bugs, and Trout

    As the warmer weather sets in, my mind increasingly shifts to the creatures who haunt local streams and lakes.  I used to do a lot of bait fishing, but a number of years ago I converted to the ranks of those who lash the water with artificial flies.  There’s a big difference.  For a delightful… Continue reading

  • Risks of Sunbathing Topless

    Just came across this delightful Literary Staycation post, with book recommendations from Margaret, a high school volunteer at the Teen Center at The Seattle Public Library. How can I now resist reading The Risks of Sunbathing Topless and Other Funny Stories from the Road when Margaret says, “By the end, I felt as if I’d been… Continue reading

  • More Summer Staff Favorites for Children: Fantasy Chapter Books

    Elsie Piddock Skips in Her Sleep by Eleanor Farjeon J FARJEON Elsie Piddock was a born skipper from the age of three and, by the time she was seven, the fairies had heard of her.  They taught her the most fantastical skips anyone ever saw.  As Elsie grows older, her skipping is almost forgotten, becoming… Continue reading

  • The kids are getting restless!

    What are your kids – if you have kids – up to this summer? If I remember my own childhood summers aright, they’re probably getting just a little bit desperate about now, as the fireworks recede in the rearview mirror and the memory of being released from school is just as hazy as the awareness… Continue reading

  • July Question of the Month – an irregular series

    The reference librarians at Seattle Public Library are pretty darn 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

  • Staff Favorites: Summer reads . . .

    Ahhh … summer reading in Seattle. Whether you’re bringing a book to the beach or packing one (or four) for vacation, our staff has some recommendations for you. And perhaps while you’re at the Library you’d like to log your books read in our Adult Summer Reading notebook? All you need to do is write… Continue reading

  • More Summer Staff Favorites for Children: Picture Books

    Beware of the Frog by William Bee  E BEE Mrs. Collywobbles lives all alone on the edge of a dark, scary forest, with no one to protect her except for her pet . . . frog?  Yes, but this is no ordinary frog, as the Greedy Goblin, Smelly Troll, and Giant Hungry Ogre all discover,… Continue reading

  • Seattle’s Food Critics Can Really Write: A Homemade Life and Hungry Monkey

    I just read two fantastic cooking memoirs by Seattle food critics that had me pawing through my pantry and looking at my city anew. The first was Molly Wizenberg’s A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes From My Kitchen Table.  Wizenberg, the author of the popular food blog Orangette (where she shared recipes and family stories… Continue reading

  • Guaranteed no-pressure book group experience

    I clearly have the best job in the world, because I regularly get to go to a book group that does nothing but talk about good books — and lots of them. This isn’t your typical “let’s all read the same book and talk about it” book group. Instead, this is an informal group where… Continue reading

  • Are you more well-read than a 5th grader?

    How’s your summer reading going? Ours is going great. And by ours, we mean our Adult Summer Reading Program. So far this month, 1,434 adults have signed up for the reading program in branches all over the city, and have read 2,969 books, that they’ve told us about anyway. That’s the entire population of Willacoochee,… Continue reading

  • Book review: Fool by Christopher Moore

    If you are in the mood to read something extremely, embarrassingly funny, you might pick up a copy of Fool, the latest book by Christopher Moore.  On the surface this novel is a retelling of Shakespeare’s King Lear told from the perspective of Pocket, the King’s fool.  Any accuracy or comparison to the original story… Continue reading