July 2016

  • Bus Reads for July

    American Housewife: Stories by Helen Ellis is an entertaining and hilarious take on the ups and downs of domesticity. These twelve stories take you from disputes of interior design to suggestions on how to be a grown-ass lady to a stream of consciousness in the day in the life of housewifedom. Some of the stories… Continue reading

  • Book Bingo: Recommended by an Independent Bookstore (Nonfiction)

    Join The Seattle Public Library and Seattle Arts & Lectures for our 2nd annual Summer Book Bingo for adults! Follow us throughout the summer for reading suggestions based on each category.  Our guest blog today is from the staff of Ada’s Technical Books & Café in Capitol Hill; Ada’s Technical Books & Cafe is home to the kinds of books, gifts, workshops and events… Continue reading

  • A Little History of Seafair

    With Seafair just around the corner, ever wonder about the history? The Seafair Beginnings article on HistoryLink,org writes, “The first Seafair took place from August 11 to 20, 1950. Hundreds of thousands of people enjoyed more than 100 events throughout King County. The events ranged from a 25-mile bicycle race around Lake Sammamish to a decorated-boat… Continue reading

  • Nightstand Reads: Bob Wyss

    Bob Wyss is associate professor of journalism at the University of Connecticut and a journalist who has written for the New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, Boston Globe, Smithsonian, Providence Journal and Yankee. His most recent work is the 2016 book, The Man Who Built the Sierra Club: A Life of David Brower. He will read excerpts from… Continue reading

  • A Rich and Ripe Bounty: Northwest Arts and Artists

    Traveler, the season is ripe. Ripe for taking in an abundance of art. Artists abound and their work is to be found in, near and far from Seattle. This summer, on any given weekend, you can attend any number of art fairs and festivals as well as art walks. Did you know that Pioneer Square’s… Continue reading

  • Book Bingo: Set in a Place You’ve Always Wanted to Visit

    Join The Seattle Public Library and Seattle Arts & Lectures for our 2nd annual Summer Book Bingo for adults! Follow us throughout the summer for reading suggestions based on each category.  I am not a frequent or world traveler so it’s been fun compiling a list of books for of places that I’ve always wanted to visit. Guatemala was my fourth grade… Continue reading

  • Book Bingo: Young Adult Book

    Join The Seattle Public Library and Seattle Arts & Lectures for our 2nd annual Summer Book Bingo for adults! Follow us throughout the summer for reading suggestions based on each category. Even if I wasn’t a Young Adult librarian, I would still read tons of YA literature.  While I love the maturity and intellectual demands of adult literary fiction, sometimes a YA… Continue reading

  • Golden Potlatch: The First Seafair

    You’re probably familiar with the Seafair festival that Seattle holds every summer in July, but have you ever heard of its predecessor — the Golden Potlatch? Started in 1911, this annual celebration served as the inspiration for the Seafair festival that we know today. Continue reading

  • Get Outside: Crafting

    I grew up in Highland Park, a neighborhood that knocks on the door of White Center, in West Seattle. It was a childhood spent outside. I had a wonderful sloping hill in my front yard that was perfect for rolling down; the grass was soft and filled with clover and daises. I’d spend a lot… Continue reading

  • Book Bingo: Banned

    Join The Seattle Public Library and Seattle Arts & Lectures for our 2nd annual Summer Book Bingo for adults! Follow us throughout the summer for reading suggestions based on each category. Every year, the American Library Association compiles reports of challenged and banned materials from libraries around the country.  The Top Ten Frequently Challenged Books are reported annually, and the results can… Continue reading

  • Book Bingo: Written Over 100 Years Ago – Vintage Beach Reads!

    Join The Seattle Public Library and Seattle Arts & Lectures for our 2nd annual Summer Book Bingo for adults! Follow us throughout the summer for reading suggestions based on each category. Wait, we’ve got a Book Bingo square asking you to read a book written over one hundred years ago? This is Summer reading! What’s with Ye Olde musty dusty classics!? Not to… Continue reading

  • Get Outside for a Picnic!

    For my mom’s 60th birthday this year we wandered through antique shops, reminiscing on things from our mutual childhoods — a copper pot she used to cook with would catch my attention, a ceramic doll would remind her of my great grandmother. These things, while old, held memories that could be recalled instantly, giving them… Continue reading

  • Anime Appreciation

    I recently heard someone say, “I hate anime.” Since I was in one of our venerable library branches I stifled my indignant gasp. As a neophyte* anime otaku†, my body shook with a barely suppressed pontification. My opening salvo likely would have been to highlight the debate over whether anime is a genre or a… Continue reading

  • Book Bingo: From your childhood

    Join The Seattle Public Library and Seattle Arts & Lectures for our second annual Summer Book Bingo for adults! Follow us throughout the summer for reading suggestions based on each category. Today, suggestions for your “Read a book from your childhood” square: We all have fond memories of books from our childhoods, but just how well do they hold up? Will you love… Continue reading

  • Summer Time When the Reading is “Natural”

    When Children’s and Teen Librarians visit schools before summer vacation begins, we are often armed with a plethora of “good reads” and entice the kids to come to their local branch to check them out. The Summer of Learning program this year proclaims “Astounding Tales of Nature!”  The “oohs and ahs” that came from the… Continue reading

  • Book Bingo: Cookbooks and food memoirs

    Join The Seattle Public Library and Seattle Arts & Lectures for our second annual Summer Book Bingo for adults! Follow us throughout the summer for reading suggestions based on each category. Today, suggestions for your “Read a Cookbook or a Food Memoir” square: A cookbook might seem like an odd choice for summer reading, but nowadays chefs are including more narrative next to… Continue reading

  • Strength Training for the Everyday Person

    With the arrival of summer, there is no better time to up our activity levels. Athletic training is just one of the ways to do this, and it can be a lot of fun and yield great results as well. You’ve probably encountered terms like strength and conditioning, strength training, circuit training, and plyometrics before.… Continue reading