Fiction
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7 Summer Book Bingo Recommendations
Book Bingo season is a time to reconnect with reading for joy and discovery. To help readers across King County find great picks for their Book Bingo board, the owners of West Seattle’s Paper Boat Booksellers join a Seattle Public Library Reader Services librarian with suggestions for three bingo categories. Learn about Book Bingo and get… Continue reading
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Book Bingo NW 2026: HEA/HFN
‘Happily Ever After’ or ‘Happy For Now’, HEA/HFN, might make you think of romance, but it doesn’t always have to be. It can be the calm at the end of a horror book, a biography where a person details finding contentment, or even the end of a dystopian novel where the big bad has been… Continue reading
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Book Bingo NW 2026: Women’s Sports
I’ve become an avid women’s sports fan over the past few years. I dedicate most of my time and interest to women’s soccer, but I’m proud to call myself a casual WNBA and PWHL fan, too. I’m super excited that women’s sports is a Book Bingo category this year! Part of what hooks me is the storylines and personalities… Continue reading
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Adventure Romance for Summer
Summer is the perfect time to go into the great outdoors in pursuit of treasure (and romance)! As with all genres, there are many possible sub-genres to be had here; adventure romance can be modern, historical, set in a desert, a jungle, or on the sea! What matters is the journey. Let’s set the scene with movies! Romancing the Stone is a classic romantic comedy from… Continue reading
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Book Bingo NW 2026: PNW Black, Indigenous, or POC Author
Every year readers request Local Authors of Pacific Northwest as a general category, because reading about this place we call home can be so inspiring. But let’s be honest—not all local authors get the same attention and broad readership as others, and this is especially the case for authors of color. Here are some PNW Black, Indigenous, or POC titles to try: Red Paint:… Continue reading
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Listen Up: Looking at Seattle’s Love of E-Audiobooks
Have you become an e-audiobook convert in recent years? Perhaps you’ve discovered the appeal of full-cast recordings, the satisfaction of making your way through a book while walking or weeding, or the joy of being read to by Meryl Streep. If so, you’re in good company. The Seattle Public Library’s e-audiobook checkouts have more than… Continue reading
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Book Bingo NW 2026: Queer/Trans Voices
We love reading books by queer and trans voices all year round, but here are some to finish out Pride Month and count towards your Book Bingo reading goals! Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar is a meditative, slyly comic novel about a poet and recovering addict, Cyrus Shams, who ruminates on grief, sacrifice, and art in the… Continue reading
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Summer 2026 Author and Community Events
Stay cool and cultured by attending one of the Library’s author and community events this summer, including a conversation between KUOW’s Katie Campbell and cabin-builder Patrick Hutchison, an evening with science fiction author with Rebecca Roanhorse, and a Book Bingo silent reading party at the Seattle Center’s Mural Amphitheater. Also check out Summer Quest, our… Continue reading
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Lambda Literary Award Winners
The Lambda Literary Awards, highlighting LGBTQ+ writers across genres, identities, experiences, age ranges, and categories, are the perfect blend of Pride Month and the library, showcasing the best in queer books. The 2026 winners were just announced, and any of these would be great options for your Queer/Trans voices Book Bingo square! With 26 categories… Continue reading
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LGBTQ+ Books Worth Seeking Out This Pride Month
This June, we’re going beyond the bestseller lists with books we keep pressing into people’s hands because we can’t stop thinking about them. “Hurricane Envy” by Sara Jaffe Portland writer Jaffe’s collection of short stories finds her characters caught in liminal moments. Jaffe deftly captures the palpable tension when all options feel like a compromise. Her… Continue reading
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Aging Protagonists in Fiction
As May (Older Americans Month) has just passed, I’ve been thinking about the many books being published that feature older protagonists. It’s been exciting to see this shift—possibly a result of the American population living longer, and hence, reading longer. The publishing industry must be paying attention as the number of Americans 65 and older is projected… Continue reading
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New Fiction Roundup – June 2026
Summer reading season begins! 6/2: Blunt Instrument by Amy BloomWhen a largely disliked professor is murdered, Dell Chandler – former English professor, current private investigator – is called in to sift through departmental squabbles and student complaints to solve the murder before bad PR can damage the school’s reputation. (mystery) 6/2: The Disaster Gay Detective… Continue reading
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Teen Pride Graphic Novels
Here are some fantastic new stories to enjoy during Pride, all lushly illustrated. MS = middle school In Balazs Lorinczi’s book A Bite of Pepper, a skateboarding vampire falls for a human artist whose attraction to her might be enough to make her commit to turning this human into a vampire and becoming immortal herself. Dan in Green Gables, by Ray Terciero, follows a queer teen in… Continue reading
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Book Bingo NW 2026: Historical
One of the goals of Book Bingo is to have as many entry points as possible for readers, and the “Historical” category is a great example. An alternate history speculative fiction? Check! A biography of a historical figure? Perfect! A Regency romance? That works! If you’re looking for somewhere to start, try one of these,… Continue reading
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Book Bingo NW 2026: Honorable Mentions
Every year, dozens of excellent books that are nominated for major book awards every year, but don’t quite make it over the finish line. Just because a book didn’t win doesn’t mean it isn’t worth your time. Celebrate these also-rans and runners-up, and check off a Book Bingo square, with books that were nominated, longlisted… Continue reading
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A Peek at Peak Picks – June 2026
We’re adding ten new Peak Picks in June! In fiction, from Lisa See comes the story of three Chinese women whose unexpected friendship helps them survive and, despite the odds, thrive, in the turmoil of post-Civil War Los Angeles in Daughters of the Sun and Moon; Paul Tremblay delivers a genre-bending near-future tech nightmare that… Continue reading
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Ready, Set, Book Bingo 2026
Happy Book Bingo Day! Just in time for Memorial Day weekend, the 12th annual Book Bingo launches with a beautiful board of 24 reading challenges that invites adults to read adventurously all summer and to connect with friends, family, and neighbors around books and reading. Because we’re once again partnering with Seattle Arts and Lectures (SAL) and King County Library System (KCLS), the… Continue reading
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The Pitt Readalikes
“The Pitt” season 2 recently wrapped and I already miss the characters and the unfolding drama. If you also miss the high stakes, mission-driven ER environment of The Pitt, as well as the interpersonal dynamics between the cast members, here are some books to read while we wait for another season: The Hospital: Life, Death,… Continue reading