Shelf Talk

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • Party Like It’s 1918!

    I’ve never been one to enjoy the large crowds underneath the Space Needle on New Year’s Eve night; rather, I like to ring in the New Year with friends at smaller events in the city. One year was spent wandering around Tacoma during First Night and when I lived in West Seattle I would ring… Continue reading

  • Library Reads: Books to start 2019

    What could be better than a list of 10 librarian-recommended books coming out in the next month? A list of 14 is the answer to that question. For January, in addition to the Library Reads Top Ten (books voted on by librarians across the U.S.), we’re highlighting four additional books from the Library Reads “Hall of… Continue reading

  • Holiday Reads for the Rest of Us

    To get into the holiday spirit this year I’ve been cranking up the Christmas tunes, decorating the Christmas tree, and drinking hot cocoa while watching Home Alone, but when it comes to books I need something a little less sparkly and bright. I like to read realistic fiction – nothing against a good cozy mystery… Continue reading

  • Books inspired by podcasts

    Being talked at is one of my favorite past times. Whether someone is telling me a fascinating story about Seattle’s history at work or my husband is listing and ranking his favorite cheeseburgers at home, I love listening. So much so, I listen to complete strangers talking inside my earbuds all the time. In this… Continue reading

  • Social Justice and Activism for Young Adults

    From #MeToo to Black Lives Matter to March for Our Lives, the voices of activists are ringing loud and clear across this country right now.  Many of these voices are those of young people, and teens today are more empowered than ever before to create change and make their voices heard.  As a result, there… Continue reading

  • Food Comics and Manga

    I’ve been reading a lot of food-focused manga and comics recently. Maybe I’m just a hungry person? I do like food, but really, while these manga and comics share the culinary theme they span some wildly different story-telling territory; from D&D-esque dungeon crawlers, to queer slice-of-life stories, to cooking competitions. Some of these stories even… Continue reading

  • Seattle Rep’s IN THE HEIGHTS: Beyond the Theatre

    Seattle Repertory Theatre presents IN THE HEIGHTS by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegría Hudes from November 23 – December 30, 2018. Librarians at Seattle Public Library created this list of books, films, and music to enhance your experience of the show. In the Heights blends hip-hop, jazz, pop, salsa, and merengue to tell a story… Continue reading

  • 10 Novels We Loved This Year

    We love all of the end-of-year “top ten” book lists, but the ones we use to guide our own reading  (and gift giving) are always the ones prepared by librarians. These lists tend to have a wider range of titles, genres, and distinct voices. They’re not necessarily bestsellers (although six on this list were Peak… Continue reading

  • Twenty Children’s Books We Loved in 2018

    What a wonderful year for children’s books this was!   Children’s Librarians from Seattle Public Library selected Ten Amazing Picture Books and Ten Wonderful Novels and Comics that were published in 2018.  Each list is rich with stories that reflect a range of different experiences and perspectives.  Here is just a sample of what you can… Continue reading

  • Ten Young Adult Books We Loved 2018

    There are so many truly outstanding books for young people published these days that it gets more and more difficult to chose our favorites at the end of the year.   These ten, selected by the Teen Services Librarians at Seattle Public Library, stood out for their strength of writing, quality of characters, and stories that… Continue reading