October 2014

  • Scary Covers

    We’ve been writing about Halloween all week, and we want to leave you with some images to haunt you tonight and through the weekend. Here are 25 of the scariest, creepiest, weirdest and most disturbing book, DVD and CD covers we could think of. Continue reading

  • Most sincerely dead: Glorious and gory coroner stories

    by Ann G. I’m sure the first time I heard the word coroner was in The Wizard of Oz:   “As coroner I must aver I thoroughly examined her—and she’s not only merely dead, she’s really most sincerely dead!” Since then, I’ve become an aficionado of murder mysteries, true and fictional, on pages or on-screen.  There… Continue reading

  • Mystery Challenge: Cozy Mysteries

    ~by Lori T. Are you reading along with the Mystery Challenge? Grab your choice of a hot beverage, a warm throw, a good snack, and a cozy mystery. Cozy Mysteries are for people that prefer a mystery without graphic descriptions of  blood and violence. These type of mysteries are books where the main character or someone… Continue reading

  • Movie Mondays: horror by hoopla

    Don’t feel like waiting weeks or months in line for your favorite horror film on DVD? Have no fear, your fear is here. You can watch horror on demand on hoopla, the library’s streaming video service, without the wait. Continue reading

  • 826 Seattle and SPL present Greenwood Family Forum

    by Jacob, Teen Advisory Board, Greenwood Branch Did you know the library goes way beyond great books to read!? Come see at the Greenwood Family Forum, an introduction for families about free school and student support resources. Cosponsored by The Seattle Public Library and 826 Seattle, this free event is open to any families with children and will take place at the… Continue reading

  • The Making of a Monster

    ~By Anne C. Beasts, phantoms, despots and serial killers have thrilled and fascinated humans, time out of mind. Some of us shy away from such frightening thoughts, but others venture bravely into the dark corners of imagination, seeking out monsters, making their acquaintance, and bringing them into the light through arts and literature. Earlier this… Continue reading

  • Polio: Ongoing challenges

    posted by Ann G. Polio was one of the most dreaded diseases on earth during the first half of the 20th century, but if you were born after about 1970 you probably haven’t given it much of a thought—until recently. Current news reports include both accounts of the concerning increase in cases of Enterovirus 68,… Continue reading

  • Romantic Wednesdays: Best Bets for Fall

    By Eric G. Every season is a great season for romance books, but there’s something especially enjoyable about reading them as the leaves change, the days shorten, the temperatures drop and the holidays approach. All that’s missing from the following books is a blanket, a fireplace and a hot beverage – preferably pumpkin-flavored. In Your Dreams… Continue reading

  • Mystery Challenge: Queen of Mystery

    ~by Lori T. If Sir Author Conan Doyle was the founder of the mystery genre, Dame Agatha Christie was the Queen.  Agatha Christie wrote 66 mysteries, 14 short stories, and the play The Mousetrap. She is the only mystery writer with two world famous detectives, Hercule Poirot and Jane Marple, to her credit. She changed the mystery… Continue reading

  • Movie Mondays: Halloweird

    I’m not a huge fan of scary movies for one very legitimate reason. They scare me. That can be difficult this time of year as Halloween draws ever closer and seemingly everyone I know is watching the creepiest, ickiest films imaginable. That’s not to say that I’m completely unable to get into the undead spirit… Continue reading

  • Sharing Our Stories: Family History Storytelling at Northeast Library

    by Tom M. Every family has interesting stories. In my own family, both my wife and my sister have started to think about how to present all that they have discovered about their own families. The library can help everyone learn how to tell these family history stories, starting with an innovative workshop on the subject presented… Continue reading

  • Science Friday: An astronaut answers Seattle librarians’ question from the International Space Station

    by Linda J. We made a little video and sent it into outer space, asking astronaut Reid Wiseman, currently living and working on the International Space Station, to talk about a book that changed his view of the world. His thoughtful answer shows the power of imagination and what reading means in his life. Take… Continue reading

  • Sharing Our Stories: Seattle Public Library Celebrates the Art of Storytelling

    “We tell ourselves stories in order to live.” – Joan Didion One evening a friend took me to Roy Street Coffee and Tea in Capitol Hill to a standing room only event. It was a Thursday night and I was at Fresh Ground Stories, a first-person storytelling open mic inspired by The Moth Radio Hour. The room was warm with… Continue reading

  • On Myth and Monsters

    By Anne C. As the shadows lengthen and the autumn winds begin to wuther, you might find your fancy turning to the darker corners of the world and the things that creep and lurk there. Things that growl. Things that hunt.  Magical things. Terrifying things. Monsters. But, what is a monster? Where does the idea… Continue reading

  • As the Lava Flows

    By Diane C. Volcanoes are spectacularly in the news now.  We’ve recently learned of a dramatic, unexpected eruption in Japan, and of ongoing lava flows in Peru, Iceland, and East Java Indonesia.  The one that most concerns me is the creeping leg of an offshoot originating from Kilauea Crater on the Big Island of Hawaii,… Continue reading

  • The Mystery Challenge Begins

    By Selby G. Now that fall is here, the icy fingers of winter will soon be sliding down our necks and forcing us inside to stay warm and dry. This time of year makes me want to curl up with a good mystery. So with that thought in mind, I am issuing another reading challenge.… Continue reading

  • Movie Mondays: Honoring Steve Martin

    The American Film Institute is awarding its 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award to Steve Martin. Martin is a true renaissance man: author of books for children and adults, fiction and non-fiction; Grammy-winning bluegrass musician; hilarious guest star on Saturday Night Live and other television programs; but he’s primarily known for his contribution to film for nearly 40 years. You… Continue reading

  • Nightstand Reads: Confessions of a re-reader

    Today’s guest blogger is mystery author Bernadette Pajer, who shares what she’s been reading — and rereading. I confess. I’m a rereader. Although my to-be-read pile is a teetering stack of intriguing new titles by talented authors, and although I’m sure in that pile are a few “keepers,” books that I will cherish and reread,… Continue reading