April 2012

  • Seattle Picks: Scary fiction for kids

    Reading scary stories can give kids the thrill of experiencing a fantasy — without the truly horrifying consequences that go along with it. Our children’s services librarians put together a list of 32 (yes, thirty-two!) spine-tingling tales for children. You can find the entire Scary fiction for kids list in our catalog. Here are just… Continue reading

  • Science Fiction Fridays: If you’re feeling sinister

    For no apparent reason, I’ve read quite a few vampire books over the past two weeks. Maybe with the appearance of the sun and the first signs of spring I’ve tried to keep up my goth cred by playing some Bauhaus records and reading some dark vampire lit. I guess we’ll never know. With that… Continue reading

  • Your Next 5 Books: Surreal fiction

    In this column we regularly highlight a Your Next 5 Books submission that we find interesting, funny, unique, or useful to other readers. Submit Your Next 5 Books entry now, or stop by and see us in person, and maybe you could see your (anonymous) reading habits on Shelf Talk!   Continue reading

  • Science Fiction Friday: SF Film Fest

    Local science fiction fans may be well aware of the Cinerama’s upcoming Science Fiction Film Fest, but how many of you read the book first? Interestingly, most of the films started out as books of one kind or another, and they are worth a look. Here’s a rundown. Metropolis: no source book for this one, but this… Continue reading

  • How I Learned to Love My Kindle (with a little help from my friends)

    Ok. Ok. I’m a laggard. Now, I don’t consider myself to be a Luddite, but I’ve been hanging on to print for dear life. But, the 13 hour flight to New Zealand loomed ever closer. Was I really going to lug all of that paper with me? Of course, it wouldn’t have been just one… Continue reading

  • Woodpecker Wake-Up Call

    Before the calendar told me that spring had arrived, a familiar visitor announced it in a very bold way. Every spring for the past several years, a northern flicker woodpecker (Colaptes auratus) has pecked away on my roof during mating season in spurts of rapid, repetitive motion lasting several seconds. The sound of a jackhammer… Continue reading

  • Your Next 5 Books: Uplifting novels by people of color

    In this column we regularly highlight a Your Next 5 Books submission that we find interesting, funny, unique, or useful to other readers. Submit Your Next 5 Books entry now, or stop by and see us in person, and maybe you could see your (anonymous) reading habits on Shelf Talk! Continue reading

  • Exercise your mind!

    Do you ever find yourself missing your old college days of taking interesting classes and listening to thought-provoking professors? Or have you had to wake up extra early to beat all the other students to register for that most wanted professor? I remember my favorite professor who taught literary analysis in the evening. He was older and usually forgot what he was… Continue reading

  • Sad when that big ship went down…

    This month marks the hundredth anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, yet the passage of time has not reduced the drama of, and questions about,  that cold spring night in the North Atlantic. The most familiar controversy has to do with the inadequate number of lifeboats, and the seeming indifference of the passengers. The… Continue reading

  • Science Fiction Friday: Little grenades of ideas

    I’ve read a number of articles, essays and blogs over the past six months describing the apparent slow death of short fiction. Once the cornerstone of science fiction, and a major component of modern literature in general, it does seem like fewer people are reading short stories these days. Whenever I give reading suggestions to patrons, it’s only one… Continue reading

  • Crime: If You Like Boardwalk Empire

    I just finished season one of Boardwalk Empire, Martin Scorcese’s series set in prohibition era Atlantic City, and am dying for more. I love good immersive TV experiences (and saving money with library DVDs), but in the end you’re as bereft as if you’d just finished a satisfying long novel. So I put together a couple of… Continue reading

  • Happy National Bookmobile Day!

    As we celebrate Bookmobiles today with National Bookmobile Day, I am moved to share something of the little known service we provide to elder members of our community through SPL’s own Mobile Services. We bring books, movies and other goodies from the library not just to kids but also to adults who cannot get to… Continue reading

  • Your Next 5 Books: Simple stories with vibrant characters

    In this column we regularly highlight a Your Next 5 Books submission that we find interesting, funny, unique, or useful to other readers. Submit Your Next 5 Books entry now, or stop by and see us in person, and maybe you could see your (anonymous) reading habits on Shelf Talk! Continue reading

  • What do we do after the world ends? Part III: Survive

    Well, guess what, the world hasn’t actually ended yet. (Hooray). That being the case, here’s a selection of books that looks at what we can do to prepare ourselves, or better yet, head that day off. Just in Case: How to Be Self-sufficient When the Unexpected Happens by Kathy Harrison And here’s a good source… Continue reading

  • Nightstand Reads: Novelist Jim Lynch shares books that made a difference.

    If you’re like us, one of the first things you start looking over when you visit someone’s house is their books. Local author Jim Lynch obliges us with a peek at his own bookcase of favorites. Lynch is the celebrated author of two acclaimed novels, The Highest Tide (winner of the 2006 Pacific Northwest Bookseller Award) and Border Songs (now in production… Continue reading

  • Science Fiction Fridays: The use of weapons

    Maybe it’s the confluence of current world events and election season, but I’ve been on a kind of a military science fiction binge lately. I’ve just had a hankering for some Ender’s Game-style sci-fi where the emphasis is placed not only on the futuristic battle scenes, but also on the implications of war in general.… Continue reading

  • Crime: William Faulker, detective?

    This week, I’m loitering in the F’s in my alphabet of crime, because I’ve got an axe to grind. Recently, Atlantic Monthly added its voice to the endless, senseless eyebrow maneuvers (highbrow/lowbrow) that persist in the foothills of the culture wars, in a piece by Maura Kelly called A Slow-Books Manifesto. The gist of the piece is to get more… Continue reading

  • Beyond Lyle the Crocodile: The truly awesome Bernard Waber

    Some children’s authors get to be well known for one book, character or series of books, and their other books get sidelined. Sometimes it’s because their other books didn’t have the same cultural impact or just aren’t as good. But in other cases, some really great books get ignored and forgotten. This is certainly true in the… Continue reading