rablogspl

  • Synchronicity in the Backyard

    Even with the gardening season right around the corner, the thoughtful gardener will still always find time to read, dream of and ponder the natural world around us. After reading about global warming via the lengthy series of New Yorker articles excerpted from Elizabeth Kolbert’s acclaimed recent book Field Notes from a Catastrophe, documenting the… Continue reading

  • Bard Bio

    As a lifelong Shakespeare fan, I’ve known of the various debates about which of his plays came first, whether Shakespeare was indeed Shakespeare (and not, say, Francis Bacon), whether he loved his wife, how educated he was, and so on with the minutiae.  I admit I haven’t much cared, preferring to focus my attention on the sublimity… Continue reading

  • Sleuthing for a good mystery?

    I don’t know why, but somehow reading a good mystery has a soothing effect on me. Go figure. The Library has lots of mysteries, but how to know which ones you will like? Librarians are always happy to talk to you and try to match up your tastes with the “right” book. There are also… Continue reading

  • The Wire finale: now what? (A reading list).

    Okay, so it is over.  Case closed. After five captivating years, HBO’s lauded series The Wire calls it a wrap. Now what do we do? Aside from chain-watching DVDs of the series (and its excellent Baltimore precursor, Homicide: Life on the Street), we’re seeing a lot of Wire fans in withdrawal are turning to books to prolong the feeling. This… Continue reading

  • Northwest author Jo Dereske creates a ‘loving sendup’ to librarians in Miss Zukas mysteries

    Turns out my favorite librarian in the universe will be making an appearance at our very own Green Lake Library this week. Okay, make that my favorite fictional librarian, created by Northwest author Jo Dereske, who will be reading from her popular Miss Zukas mystery series and discussing writing mysteries (she has a new series… Continue reading

  • Tapping your feet at the Ballet

    Ballet is a feast for the eyes. But don’t forget your ears. DIRECTOR’S CHOICE, the Pacific Northwest Ballet’s March 2008 program, includes some material from new choreographers and some unusual composers. Musical selections by Mikel Rouse, Arvo Paart, Phlip Glass and Thom Willems will be previewed in the Microsoft Auditorium of the Seattle Public Library’s… Continue reading

  • The War in Fiction, part 2: The Home Front

    A War is not one story, but many. Here is the second of three lists of fiction that views the war through many eyes, reflecting the diverse experiences of civilians and soldiers around the world whose lives were drawn into the Second World War. A Place on Earth, by Wendell Berry. As the war draws… Continue reading

  • Books About Autism

    Why are there so many good books about autism? Sadly, maybe it’s because there are so many families dealing with this very difficult diagnosis. I love to read “my problem and how I solved it books” (think Ladies Home Journal’s long-running “Can This Marriage Be Saved?” series). Unfortunately many of the family members with autism… Continue reading

  • Blurring Boundaries: translating the digital to the book

    With all the press lately about Kindle, the latest wireless reading device to take a stab at capturing the book reading market, it is interesting to see books traveling the other way, out of the ether and on to the printed page. The Laws of Simplicity: Design, Technology, Business, Life by John Maeda an internationally… Continue reading

  • Thinking about people with disabilities

    March is Disability Awareness month. This is a great time to remember the achievements of people with disabilities — folks who live in a world designed to accommodate people whose bodies, minds or senses work a little differently from their own. I recently discovered two really interesting memoirs on this subject. Both demonstrate that disabilities… Continue reading

  • Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore

    Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore. When Jody becomes a vampire, she realizes that even though being young and beautiful forever is kind of cool, there are a few serious draw backs — like blood thirst, dropping dead at dawn, and the problem of finding suitable employment. So what’s a girl to do when she can’t… Continue reading

  • Spun to distraction – surviving life between the primaries and the general election

    This is probably the most exciting election year I’ve ever seen. It’s exhilarating and exhausting. Just keeping track of the code words and the spin cycles, not to mention the charges and counter-charges is enough to give even a committed political junky a headache. Enter unSpun: Finding Facts in a World of Disinformation. Written by… Continue reading

  • Gaiman gives it away!

    And we like it. To celebrate the seventh birthday of his blog, the wildly inventive Neil Gaiman asked his fans to vote on which of his titles they’d like a free electronic copy of. Now that the voting is over, American Gods is available for online readers at the Harpercollins site for the month of… Continue reading

  • Dear Farmer John

    For Valentine’s Day I made dinner and invited friends over to watch the documentary The Real Dirt on Farmer John.  It’s the deeply personal story of John Peterson, a creative northern Illinois farmer who suffered from the near loss of his family farm and exclusion by his neighbors. The film narrates the history of the Peterson family and explains how John ended up running… Continue reading

  • Did the FBI go too far …

    … in 1954?  The FBI amassed a huge file over many years in their investigation of J. Robert Oppenheimer.  Much of the information they gathered – including illegal wiretapping of conversations between Oppenheimer and his lawyer – was used against him at his security clearance hearing. Twenty-seven years in the making, American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin… Continue reading

  • The Other Boleyn Girl

    I’m a sucker for Tudor tales, so you can bet I’m excited that Philippa Gregory’s wonderful novel, The Other Boleyn Girl, is coming to the big screen this coming weekend (opens on February 29). I’ve certainly read a lot about Anne Boleyn over the years, but Mary Boleyn? This piece of historical fiction was new… Continue reading

  • Modern Scotland: A unique view of a people

    Being of Scottish descent on my mother’s side of the family (the Crawford Clan), I eagerly await and devour each fictional window of modern Scotland from Alexander McCall-Smith. Although best known for his delightful tales (beginning with the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency) set in Botswana, he also brings today’s Scottish folks alive in two… Continue reading

  • An old master dies

    The dowager queen of suspense, prolific author Phyllis Whitney died earlier this month (February 8, 2008) from pneumonia. She was 104 years old. In 80 years she wrote more than 100 short stories and 70 novels in four genres – adult, children’s mystery, young adult and nonfiction guides to writing. She published her last book… Continue reading