June 2017

  • Grilling Season

    Charcoal, gas, open pit: the 4th of July is almost upon us, and my mind has turned to grilling. Perhaps yours has too. Whether you’re a novice with your first grill or an expert looking to try a new ingredient or technique, here are some cookbooks to get your creative juices flowing. The Big-flavor Grill… Continue reading

  • #BookBingoNW2017: Set in another country

    Hopefully by now you’re well on your way to completing a Summer Book Bingo Card, but if not, we’re here to help. For the “Set in another country,” square there is a super-secret librarian trick to browsing fiction by country in the library catalog. To bring up a list of fiction set in a particular… Continue reading

  • Celebrating the Lake Washington Ship Canal Centennial

    Did you know the Ballard Locks turns 100 this year? In recognition of the anniversary, we’ve combed through our archives and digitized some of the most interesting maps, photos, postcards, correspondence, and more related to the history of the Lake Washington Ship Canal. You can find the collection at www.spl.org/shipcanal. Continue reading

  • Seek the Story

    Edward Hopper’s paintings were inspired as well as inspiring. Who could view his moody and spare piece, “Nighthawks,” and not look for a story therein? A recent short story collection, edited by Lawrence Block, called In Sunlight or in Shadow: Stories Inspired by the Paintings of Edward Hopper, makes that point. In the foreword, Block writes:  “Hopper… Continue reading

  • #BookBingoNW2017: Read a Book Recommended by a Librarian

    This one should be easy: it is kind of why we’re here. People think we present our Summer Book Bingo each year as a way to encourage readers over the Summer, adding variety and sense of play to your reading list, and that’s certainly true. But we have an ulterior motive: we want to give… Continue reading

  • Pride Month: Queer Cinema by Queer Directors

    “There have never been lesbians or gay men in Hollywood. Only homosexuals.” With this final despairing statement, gay film historian and activist Vito Russo ends The Celluloid Closet, his landmark study of representations of LGBTQ people in film. When Russo first published The Celluloid Closet in 1981, he could not imagine that over a decade… Continue reading

  • #BookBingoNW2017: Read a book adapted into a movie

    Not to be overly critical of a billion dollar industry or anything, but I think Hollywood has an originality problem. Books with any kind of following are immediately optioned for films – think Gone Girl, Girl on the Train, and The Martian. In other words, we’re not lacking for books that will satisfy the “Adapted… Continue reading

  • #BookBingoNW2017: Maximize your Blackout strategy with comic books

    Comic books are one of your greatest strategic resources in scoring a blackout on your Summer Book Bingo card. Don’t feel like you should limit comics to the Graphic novel square. There’s a comic for any square, many of which are quick reads (helpful for that Finish in a day square). Here are comic book… Continue reading

  • Page to Screen: My Cousin Rachel.

    It was my idea, after all. Lately as we’ve seen readers and filmgoers gobbling up great twisty psychological suspense such as Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train, I kept thinking they should make a fresh version Daphne Du Maurier’s classic tale of the devious anti-heroine known as My Cousin Rachel. Sixty-five years after its original… Continue reading

  • Cultivating a Love of Nature with Children

    The clouds are disappearing and the temperatures are warming, which means the summer months are just within reach in the Pacific Northwest! Take a book or two along as you and your kiddos head to the park or the beach. You’ll satisfy the curiosity of those little scientists and enhance your family’s appreciation for our… Continue reading

  • Thrilling Tales, All Summer Long.

    For over a decade, every other Monday at noon listeners have flocked to Thrilling Tales, the Library’s story time for grownups, spending their lunch hour rapt in suspenseful narratives. Janice Leadingham, a local bookseller said in a recent article in City Arts: “Especially for impatient people, it’s good because it slows things down a bit. For one hour, you can… Continue reading

  • Book Bingo: Published the Year One of Your Parents Was Born

    Listen: when I saw the Book Bingo category “published the year one of your parents was born” the first thing I did was Google “books published in 1950.” I was prepared to tell you of more labyrinthine research processes to help you find a book for this category, but it turns out Google is a… Continue reading

  • All’s Fair in Festival Air

    Summertime and the living is breezy. Warmed by a wondrous sun, the everywhere air urges us to partake of the season. Don’t you wish it would last! There are eye-catching, ear lapping sights and sounds the whole city round. Fairs, festivals and fests abound! Take to the streets! Come to the Fairs!  The city sports… Continue reading

  • #BookBingoNW2017: Washington State Authors

    Not to brag too much about the Evergreen state (clearly bragging here), but it’s not actually much of a challenge to ask someone to read a local author. If you’re playing Summer Book Bingo with us, you have hundreds — seriously hundreds — of excellent choices for books to read to fill your “Washington state… Continue reading

  • Fiction new book roundup – June 2017

    Whether you’re on the bus or on the beach, here are some new fiction titles to get your summer reading under way. 6/13: The Changeling by Victor LaValle – Antiquarian book dealer Apollo Kagwa has built a happy family life with his wife and new baby son. When his family is torn apart by a… Continue reading

  • Nonfiction new book roundup – June 2017

    Looking for new nonfiction or memoir to read? Perhaps something to help fill a square on your Summer Book Bingo grid. Here, for your consideration, is a selection of nonfiction being published in June 2017. 6/1: Discovering Seattle Parks: A Local’s Guide by Linnea Westerlind. Did you know there are 426 parks in the city of… Continue reading