Fiction

  • Your Next 5 Books: Fantasy with females

    In this column we regularly highlight a Your Next 5 Books submission that we find interesting, funny, unique, or useful to other readers. Submit Your Next 5 Books entry now, or stop by and see us in person, and maybe you could see your (anonymous) reading habits on Shelf Talk! Continue reading

  • Science Fiction Fridays: Don’t wait! Act now!

    Lots of great science fiction authors have books out this month, but with brand new books from well-known science fiction and fantasy authors there is usual wait list for their books at the Library. With that in mind, here is a list of author read alikes that are available right now while you’re waiting for… Continue reading

  • The Phantom Tollbooth at 51

    One of my favorite books of all time, The Phantom Tollbooth, the novel by Norton Juster and illustrated by Jules Feiffer, celebrates its 51st birthday this year. It is fitting that I am writing to mark its 51st birthday, rather than its 50th because the book itself is a celebration of the unusual in the… Continue reading

  • Science Fiction Fridays: Eating what you’re reading

    I thought about writing some witty intro about Soylent Green being people, or a joke about asking a bartender for his strongest chalice of elven wine. However, in the end I just decided to let these delightfully unique cookbooks speak for themselves. What a great weekend to lock yourself inside and make some sci-fi and… Continue reading

  • G is for Goodis, Dark Prince of Noir.

    I know – you were thinking G was for Grafton, but as the Kinsey Milhone series already made an appearance in a recent post on the most prolific female detectives, I get to resume my Alphabet of Crime with one of my all time favorites: David Goodis. Close your eyes and think of “Noir.” What do you see, hear, feel?… Continue reading

  • Science Fiction Fridays: That is not dead which can eternal lie

    I get asked rather frequently by patrons for horror recommendations, but it’s always a tricky question. While the explosion of the urban fantasy and paranormal romance readers seem to be the most frequent horror reader’s I encounter, I have also noticed a disturbing trend of people looking for H.P. Lovecraft read alikes. I say disturbing… Continue reading

  • Seattle Reads Author Amy Waldman Reflects on Her Recent Experiences at Seattle Public Library Readings

    Author Amy Waldman recently appeared at several Seattle Public Library locations to talk with audiences about her novel,  The Submission, this year’s Seattle Reads selection. The book describes the events following a jury’s blind selection of a ground zero memorial, designed by a Muslim-American architect. Here are her reflections on talking with Seattle readers about the book. One of the primary goals of… Continue reading

  • Science Fiction Fridays: As cool as their covers

    Even though I did a column not too long ago about updated book covers, I was really struck by the fact that three books I read this week all have gorgeous artwork. These titillating and beautifully rendered designs stopped me in my tracks and had more than a little influence in my choosing to read… Continue reading

  • Crime: Evil under the Rising Sun.

    Watching the cherry blossoms burst forth and fade always makes me think of Japan. But my Japan is not a place of samurai, ninja and serene Zen temples. The Japan I think of is lit by neon rather than a rising sun. A place of tailored suits, leather jackets, discos and hostess bars, a place where… Continue reading

  • Your Next 5 Books: Characters you can sink your teeth into

    In this column we regularly highlight a Your Next 5 Books submission that we find interesting, funny, unique, or useful to other readers. Submit Your Next 5 Books entry now, or stop by and see us in person, and maybe you could see your (anonymous) reading habits on Shelf Talk! Continue reading

  • Reading John Irving’s ‘In One Person’

                               Note: John Irving will speak at Town Hall, this Thursday, at 7 p.m. Slightly shocking, discomforting and utterly wonderful: these words describe every book John Irving has written, some more than others. And if you check the literary components chart under Irving’s name in Wikipedia, you’ll note that nearly all of the author’s repeat… Continue reading

  • Who We Become

    “We had been so close to missing each other, he and I. He had turned out to be the greatest gift of all.”        -The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate There are people we interact with in life that help us become the people we are supposed to be. While some are with us for a lifetime… Continue reading

  • Science Fiction Fridays: An ode to teenage anarchists

    There’s nothing like a great story starring a strong, resourceful teenager who thumbs their nose at authority and manages to save the day by being true themselves, instead of bowing to whims of establishment. Whether we’re talking about young adult literature or not (and really, does that distinction matter to us science fiction aficionados?), I… Continue reading

  • Crime: If You Like Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch series.

    In his 1950 essay The Simple Art of Murder, Raymond Chandler outlined the character of the modern detective, in words fit to quote at length: “…down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. … He must be a complete man and a common man and yet an unusual… Continue reading

  • A Mother’s Day tribute

    My love for books was instilled in me by my mom when I was a child. Mom became a high school librarian when I was an elementary school student. She would always bring home books that she checked out from her library for my siblings and me. We were extremely lucky to have books to… Continue reading

  • Science Fiction Fridays: When the TV is turned off

    So of all my deep, dark secrets (including the Rupaul-shaped one that has taken the place of my heart), the one I am most ashamed of is the fact that for most of my life I have had a snobby aversion to science fiction television. For some reason, I felt that the television medium must be… Continue reading

  • Seattle Reads: Interview with Amy Waldman, author of ‘The Submission’

    How did it feel to have your debut novel chosen for the Seattle Reads program? I was stunned, to be honest! A first novel gets written in a void — it’s hard to imagine anyone reading your book, let alone a whole city discussing it. It’s an honor to be part of such a pioneering… Continue reading

  • Science Fiction Fridays: If you’re feeling sinister

    For no apparent reason, I’ve read quite a few vampire books over the past two weeks. Maybe with the appearance of the sun and the first signs of spring I’ve tried to keep up my goth cred by playing some Bauhaus records and reading some dark vampire lit. I guess we’ll never know. With that… Continue reading