January 2019
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The best of genre reading in 2018
Coordinated by the American Library Association, each year a group of librarians from across the country form The Reading List Council with the goal to identify the year’s best books across eight genres. Here are the 2019 winners (for books published in 2018) in Adrenaline, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Horror, Mystery, Romance, Science Fiction, and Women’s… Continue reading
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Bus Reads for January
Commuting to Seattle by bus five days a week gives me a lot of reading time. Here’s what I read on the bus in January: The River at Night by Erica Ferenik. Every year four friends, Wini, Pia, Sandra, and Rachel plan a trip, to spend time together and get away from everyday life. This… Continue reading
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Beyond “Bad Girls” – Great Antiheroines of Literature
Lisbeth Salander; Gone Girl‘s Amy Elliott-Dunne; Rachel Watson from The Girl on the Train: these are just a few of the latest in a long line of compelling antiheroines stretching back to the dawn of literature. Here are some of our favorites from the past few millennia. For all their democratic ideals, the Ancient Athenians had… Continue reading
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Down with the Sickness
I just got hit by a winter cold and it hit me hard…usually I only need a day to recover, but not this time. Went back to work on day three and was miserable. Took another day off hoping to get through it – I spent most of my time away moving from the bed… Continue reading
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Library Reads: 10 new books for February
This month’s Library Reads feature a twisty psychological thriller, historical fiction, a graphic memoir, and the newest from Seattle author Tara Conklin. Take a look! The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides Led on a dark path, readers will quickly guess that there’s more to Alicia’s story than what meets the eye. But the big surprises… Continue reading
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Winter Reads
There’s something about cold weather and dark nights that make me want to find a book full of snow and curl up on the couch. If you feel the same, check out one of these recent titles. The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden – In early 1900s Russia, young Vasya roams her father’s… Continue reading
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Peak Picks for January 2019
Eight titles will be joining our Peak Picks collection of most in-demand titles this month including a twisty thriller, a pair of dystopian novels and an Homeric odyssey round out the fiction picks. A genealogical mystery, a memoir about the working poor and a history of Indian America from Wounded Knee to Standing Rock complete… Continue reading
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Chilling Tales for Winter
The formula is simple: a reader, some listeners, and a book of suspenseful stories; beginnings, middles and ends, with a few twists and turns along the way. Nothing fancy of high tech: just words in silence, and the occasional laughter or gasp. That’s Thrilling Tales: A Storytime for Grownups, now entering its sixteenth year at… Continue reading
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Books Coming to the Big Screen in 2019
Two quintessential Seattle novels — Where’d You Go, Bernadette and The Art of Racing in the Rain — are coming to a movie theatre near you in 2019! Some scenes for Bernadette were filmed at our Central Library (and, yes, Cate Blanchette was there, AT OUR LIBRARY!). We can’t wait to see if we made… Continue reading
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To Every Friendship There is a Season
One of the things I constantly try to remind myself and others is that expectations are a relationship killer. And while I was thinking of that in romantic terms, I should have also been looking at that in friendships too. Friendships have been on my mind a lot lately —friendships lost, tested, stretched, made, molded… Continue reading
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Seattle Rep’s LAST OF THE BOYS: Beyond the Theatre
Seattle Repertory Theatre presents LAST OF THE BOYS by Steven Dietz, directed by Braden Abraham, from January 18 to February 10, 2019. Librarians at Seattle Public Library created this list of books, films, and music to enhance your experience of the show. Seattle’s prolific and industrious playwright Steven Dietz received a Pulitzer Prize nomination for… Continue reading
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For Your Listening Pleasure: Always Available Audiobooks
Are you looking for a digital audiobook to listen to while you’re waiting for Becoming to become available? Are you dreading the Seattle Squeeze and wondering how you’ll pass the time on those long commutes? We’ve got a solution for you. Fifty of them, actually. The Seattle Public Library is happy to provide 50 Always Available… Continue reading
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Books for Two
Our book group is growing! We reached out to a few friends to start building that sense of community around books so from now on we’ll be Books for Two or More! It’s still a no pressure book group and size doesn’t matter -we’ll be getting together once every two months to discuss our read.… Continue reading
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Thanks Obama
It’s that time of year again! Former President Barack Obama has released his list of favorite reads in 2018 and it’s gooooooooood. Becoming by Michelle Obama – Obviously his favorite! And a Peak Pick! An American Marriage by Tayari Jones American Prison by Shane Bauer Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Arthur Ashe: A Life by… Continue reading
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Keep track of your reading in 2019
This week many of us are thinking about how to organize our lives better, and for me that always includes putting a plan in place to track what I’ve read and what I want to read next. The plan usually fails (it’s not my failure, mind you, rather the plan‘s failure). I’ve admired from… Continue reading
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New Nonfiction Roundup – January 2019
It’s a new year, and there’s no shortage of books to make 2019 happier and healthier. A few memoirs and a pair of revealing histories round out the best of January nonfiction. 1/1: Bad With Money. Put your financial house in order with this humorous guide from Gaby Dunn. 1/1: The Martha Manual. From entertaining to cleaning and everything… Continue reading
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New fiction roundup – January 2019
Did you set a reading resolution to start the new year? If you’re looking for books to get you started, here are a crop of titles coming out in January – from explorations of near-future societies, to eerie short stories, to picaresque adventures and mystery, there’s a little something for everyone. 1/8: An Anonymous Girl… Continue reading