May 2013

  • Science Fiction Fridays: 5 books that prove werewolves are the new vampires

    Liar by Justine Larbalestier Micah is a compulsive liar who decides to come clean with a big revelation—but will she be believed? Is she telling the truth even to herself? This is a complicated and slippery novel that has one of the most unreliable narrators I’ve ever come across. Part of the fun is trying to… Continue reading

  • Romantic Wednesdays: Time Travel Romance

    The great thing about time travel romance is that I can go back to it again and again. And I probably will! There are oodles of different versions of time travel romances, and time travel stories in general. One variation that incorporates very cool elements of romance and conspiracy are time travel stories involving organizations that… Continue reading

  • Nightstand Reads: Novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

    In novelist  Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s newest work, Americanah, a young woman from Nigeria leaves behind her home and her first love to start a new life in America, only to find her dreams are not all she expected. Ms. Adichie took some time from her author tour to talk to us about books she’s recently read and those… Continue reading

  • Movie Mondays: Brat Pack Book Club

    I admit it—I love brat pack movies, especially Pretty in Pink and The Breakfast Club. So when I heard that Molly Ringwald, the iconic red-headed star of those two movies, had recently published a novel, I was intrigued but skeptical. Can she write, I wondered? The answer, happily, is YES! And she isn’t the only… Continue reading

  • Civil Rights in the 1940s: When Seattle began to grow up

    The 1940’s were times of change for Seattle, as the world war and social pressures associated with it brought the beginnings of maturity to the city. Seattle’s African American citizens experienced much of this change directly. Populations from the south, and elsewhere in the country, were drawn to better-paying war work in Seattle and brought cultural… Continue reading

  • Science Fiction Fridays: A science fiction reading list for Mad Men’s Don Draper

    The Space Merchants by Frederik Pohl In an over-populated future, Mitch Courtenay follows fame and fortune as one of the best ad copywriters in the solar system. But how does one sell products on worlds were resources are scarce but the desire to consume products is overwhelming? A dark and unflinchingly hilarious look at the… Continue reading

  • Five for the Fourth and Fifth Graders

    Did you know that we have book lists for kids in our catalog? And that our children’s librarians have been hard at work, revamping them? No? Well today we’ll take a look at Broadview Librarian Louisa’s list: Books for Fourth and Fifth Graders. Here are her top five picks from the list and some insight into why… Continue reading

  • Labor in Film: We Are Wisconsin

    In late winter of 2011, while the Middle East was deep in the midst of the “Arab Spring,” United States workers in the state of Wisconsin found themselves embroiled in a take-down struggle with Governor Scott Walker and the Wisconsin Legislature to preserve their collective bargaining rights. Continue reading

  • Romantic Wednesdays: Small Town Romances With Local Flavor!

    There are many reasons why small town romances are so appealing. You don’t just get a standard happily-ever-after; you also get a chance to fall in love with a nice town while the couple falls in love with each other. Continue reading

  • Historical Fiction: While you wait for Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel

    Hilary Mantel clearly hit a homer with Wolf Hall and her latest, Bring up the Bodies, both biographical novels of Thomas Cromwell, King Henry VIII’s chief minister for eight years until the king executed him for treason and heresy. The Library’s waiting list for “Bodies” is at 200. “What can we read while we wait”… Continue reading

  • Movie Mondays: Punk’s Not Dead!

    Well, not at SIFF anyways. I always look forward to the festival’s music documentaries (which are conveniently grouped together by mood—“Face the Music” in this year’s event guide), and this year I noticed a common theme in the films that caught my eye: they’re all about PUNK in some shape or form. If you love… Continue reading

  • Science Fiction Fridays: Must-read books for the Trekkie in your life

    The Best of All Possible Worlds by Karen Lord After their planet is destroyed, an alien race looks for help from humans and other races in the universe while struggling to keep their culture alive. A smart, moving novel that features alien species that will remind one of the Vulcans and Betans from Star Trek,… Continue reading

  • Time travel simplified

    Back back back back back back back back in time                                                 I can dream, it’s a simple thing                                                                                          I’m building a time machine… The ad reads: Wanted: Somebody to go back in time with me. This is not a joke. P.O. Box 91 Ocean View, WA 99393. You’ll get paid after we get back. Must bring your… Continue reading

  • At the River I Stand screening at the Douglass-Truth Branch

    At the River I Stand, a film detailing the strike of Memphis sanitation workers in 1968 will be screened at Douglass-Truth Branch in the Gayton Family Meeting Room on May 16, 2013 at 6:30 PM. King went to Memphis to support and advise the strike, and there he lost his life. Continue reading

  • Documentaries from SIFFs gone by

    As I pore over the hundreds of screenings at the Seattle International Film Festival every year, I find myself focusing on two categories – documentaries and Scandinavian films. Here are some of my favorite documentaries from SIFFs gone by. Every Little Step is about the making of “A Chorus Line” on Broadway. Yes, it’s about actors… Continue reading

  • Science Fiction Fridays: Top 5 astronauts having a bad day

    What kid hasn’t dreamt of being an astronaut? Being chosen among the elite to venture into space and explore the unkown is a childhood fantasy almost everyone has indulged in. However, in the world of science fiction, being an astronaut is not exactly the safest nor glamorous profession popular culture has imagined. So here are… Continue reading

  • Mysteries for non-mystery readers

    “Oh, I would never read a mystery!” If you love crime fiction, you almost certainly have at least one of these in your life. They don’t mean to be snobs or anything, but mysteries? Um, no thanks. Life’s too short, they’ll say, to waste it on such frivolities. In the library, they don’t even know… Continue reading

  • Romantic Wednesdays: Head versus Heart

    Try as they might to avoid it, the hapless and headstrong individuals in the following tales are about to fall headlong in love. Step away from the stresses in your life, curl up in a comfortable chair, and join them. Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie After overhearing her slimy ex-boyfriend bet his good-looking friend Cal that Cal couldn’t… Continue reading