May 2020

  • Hello from the Center of the Universe!

    Your Fremont Branch team misses seeing you at the Center of the Universe and hearing about your latest Library discoveries. Here’s what we’ve enjoyed lately and think you might like, too. While you’re waiting for the Seattle Reads There There events to happen later this year, try reading Lot by Bryan Washington. It’s also a… Continue reading

  • Bus Reads for May: Quarantine Edition

    My main form of reading on the bus was audio books, then that changed to long walks with a pair of earbuds, but as the weeks go on it’s been physical books on my shelf that have been getting more and more attention even though my reading habits have drastically slowed. Here’s what I read… Continue reading

  • Write On! Crafting the Novel, Creating Imaginary Lives

    Write On! Crafting the Novel, Creating Imaginary Lives

    Let’s start at the beginning, in that place From Where You Dream, at the first flash of a place, a line or a face.  Start, precisely, there, Creating Characters as you continue to construct, in your mind, the Architecture of the Novel you will write. Ok, maybe, you have to start at that other beginning.… Continue reading

  • Staying Healthy with Your Library: Consumers’ Checkbook – Healthcare Providers

    Consumers’ Checkbook is the local Consumer Reports, but for services instead of products. It’s a consumer-driven non-profit with clear methods for ratings and reviews. In the Puget Sound region, you’ll find they have reviews for thousands of doctors, dentists, massage therapists, psychologists, nursing homes, and more. To access this database from your own device, sign… Continue reading

  • #BookBingoNW: Published in the 1920s

    Book Bingo is taking us back in time to the 1920s! Books published in the 1920s made up most of my English curriculum and though it was often hard to love a book that was assigned, that century on its own has held a lot of fascination for me, especially now, a hundred years later.… Continue reading

  • Comics Before Cinema, Part One

    Like many stuck at home, I have been looking forward to warm days that could coax me outdoors and read a good comic while basking in the sun. However, us Washingtonians do expect a spat of rain every now and again to water our Evergreen state and it is a given that most of us… Continue reading

  • Slowing Down

    For me March was always the kick off to camping season. Finding a cabin early in the season then in April heading to our family campsite on the Olympic Peninsula for opening day of fishing; May and June to Eastern Washington before it gets too hot and that itch to go and explore is still… Continue reading

  • Trekking Through Time: Seattle Historic Postcard Collection

    Many of us walk the same paths and commute by the same route, paying less attention with every trip. During Stay Home, Stay Safe many of us are slowing down, getting some fresh air in our neighborhoods, and noticing little details that can feel grounding. But with parks and trails closed, we can find even… Continue reading

  • Panic on the Rails in our Thrilling Tales podcast

    Panic on the Rails in our Thrilling Tales podcast

    Two trains speed toward each other in a blizzard, as a killer wanders the night! Melodrama on the rails, in this week’s Thrilling Tales: Storytime for Grownups, available now! On May 20, 1920 the readers opening the new issue of Metropolitan magazine were captivated by a heart-stopping tale entitled The Signal Tower, by Wadsworth Camp.… Continue reading

  • “Fizzy vegetables” – Fermenting foods for fun and science 

    As a parent of small children who are homebound during the pandemic, I am giddily excited about any project that checks multiple boxes on my to-do list—especially those related to food, education, entertainment, and household chores. My most recent effort has been home vegetable fermentation, and it’s been surprisingly fun. We’ve tried cabbage, carrots, and… Continue reading

  • Write On!: A Story Only You Can Tell, Writing a Memoir

    Your Life is a Book. The very act of writing the story of your life whether for yourself, your family and friends or for any reading eye, is significant. Where to begin? How will you capture those Shimmering Images in words that evoke the feelings, the meaning and importance of long ago moments? How do… Continue reading

  • #BookBingoNW2020: Afrofuturism

    #BookBingoNW2020 is upon us! One of the new categories this summer is Afrofuturism. If you saw Black Panther or watched Janelle Monaé’s emotion picture for their album “Dirty Computer,” then chances are you have already been exposed to Afrofuturism. But have you read any Afrofuturist books? Dictionary.com defines Afrofuturism as (noun) “a cultural movement that… Continue reading

  • Recommendations from My Precarious Piles of Printed Pictures and Prose

    I moved in the middle of this pandemic, and have nearly twenty open boxes and unsorted piles of comics and graphic novels sitting around. Revisiting the books I already own (whether I’ve gotten around to reading them all, or not) while unpacking has been incredibly fun, and is the basis of the following comics recommendations.… Continue reading

  • Animal Crossing in Real Life

    So, I hear you spent a lot of time at home during the quarantine. Same here – I was getting out, though, here and there. Chatting with neighbors, planting flowers, even travelling via plane – all from the comfort of my own home! Like the vast majority of Nintendo Switch owners, I’ve been playing Animal… Continue reading

  • Remembering Lynn Shelton

    On May 15th, Seattle filmmaker Lynn Shelton died from a blood disorder at 54. Shelton was known for her intimate style of filmmaking, which was frequently both touching and funny, and for her commitment to making films about (and filming them in) Seattle. As her career moved forward, she worked with bigger and bigger stars… Continue reading

  • Escapism Through the Documentary

    Documentaries gives us a peek into the window of someone else’s reality, and in these very unusual times, a glimpse into a place where the real world is not upended and devastated by a global panic sounds quite comforting. While during “normal” times, one might escape through fantasy, sci-fi, or a very engrossing drama, during… Continue reading

  • The Story of Film, Part 7: The European New Wave

    In last week’s column on Mark Cousin’s The Story of Film, we took a look at what was happening in world cinema in the United States, India, and Japan. But what was happening in Europe? Quite a bit, as we’ll see in this column. Some of the most famous directors in cinema history were creating masterpieces… Continue reading

  • Science Fiction 4 All Seasons

    Four Science Fiction eAudiobooks featuring four different styles of Science Fiction stories. Happy listening! Anne Manx in Lives of the Cat by Larry Weiner, read by Claudia Christian and Patricia Tallman Anne Manx is an honest detective, maybe the last one remaining in the star system. And because of this, when a sudden insurrection within… Continue reading