Fiction

  • What’s Funny, Part 2: Dysfunction — how bad is it?

    The time for labeling and loving books about “dysfunctional” families is past. Readers have moved on, having acknowledged that no family is actually “functional” and that’s okay. Now we want to read more exciting dysfunction stories: we need more drama, more humor, and more action. We might throw in a little horror and suspense like… Continue reading

  • What’s funny?

    Sometimes we just want a funny book, but our definitions of “funny” differ widely according to individual taste, background and predilection. When I was six going on sixteen I thought my mother’s sense of humor was just bizarre. She loved Jerry Lewis, Tony Curtis and Lucille Ball: it was the slapstick humor she loved. To… Continue reading

  • The Gospel of Anarchy

    I heard Justin Taylor read from The Gospel of Anarchy last month at the University Bookstore with Blake Butler. Usually, readings are similar to reverse radio talk show host sightings: kind of awkward, not what you expected, the voice all wrong. Instead, Justin’s voice was like (another simile?) seeing a band live for the first time… Continue reading

  • What to read while waiting for A Game of Thrones

    It’s hard to believe it’s been a decade since the Lord of the Rings hit theaters, and the world was instantly smitten with High Fantasy–visions of hobbits dancing through our heads! If you loved Tolkien’s Middle Earth and always craved something more after devouring the books, then HBO’s new adaptation of George R. R. Martin’s A… Continue reading

  • Our online book group discusses “Little Bee”

    We’ve been talking for years about doing an online book discussion group, but we never saw a model that really inspired us. It’s easy enough to start something online, but how do you get people to actually show up? People might be eager to share an opinion, but how do you create enough of a sense of… Continue reading

  • Bite Me

    “Vampire? Such a provocative word, wrapped in too many clichés and girly novels.” -Uncle Will, The Radleys Yup, more vampires…admit it, you love them…or love to hate them, but either way they are here to stay. They are making their way into our literature and our movies, but they don’t always have to leave a… Continue reading

  • Nightstand Reads: Novelist Meg Wolitzer

    Meg Wolitzer’s newest novel, The Uncoupling, just came out this week. Wolitzer, whose other novels include The Ten-Year Nap and The Position, will read on Monday, April 11, at 7 p.m. at the Central Library. We are thrilled that she’s our guest blogger for today, telling us about her nightstand reading stack: I tend to be a… Continue reading

  • Nightstand Reads: On tour with The Head and the Heart

    What do musicians read when on tour? We asked Charity Thielen, vocalist and violinist in The Head and the Heart, to give us a peek at her nightstand reads (or, rather, tour van reads) when they were on the U.S. leg of their three-month tour (they’re playing in Amsterdam tonight, then it’s on to Glasgow). We’ve… Continue reading

  • Nightstand Reading: Kerry Colburn and Jen Worick

    We asked local authors Kerry Colburn and Jen Worick to share their nightstand reads with us! Being asked about our nightstand reads is like being asked to choose between children … but we will for the sake of SPL. Jen’s nightstand: After reading A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness, which I loved, I went on… Continue reading

  • Books by People You’ve Probably Never Heard of, Part III

    It’s hard out there for young writers. The only houses that will house them are small, indie enterprises full of energy but lacking funds, and readers are scared by untested virtue. Be scared no longer sovereign readers! I will test your books for poison. Eat up! Richard Yates by Tao Lin What’s in a name?… Continue reading

  • Books with green covers, literally

    A favorite and fun library display to do is one which is literally a rainbow of covers. Library staff go on the search for books with covers in primary and other major colors. These finds are displayed on book easels. Then the serendipitious time happens with people pausing, contemplating, oohing and chuckling. Keeping in mind that the St. Patrick’s Day holiday is this week, I asked… Continue reading

  • Staff Faves: The Lovers and The True Deceiver

     The Lovers by Vendela Vida Yvonne returns to Datca, Turkey, the place where she and her late husband, Peter, honeymooned twenty-eight years ago. As soon as she settles in a large, empty mansion where she’s staying for her vacation, a week that was supposed to be a restorative good time proves to be the same… Continue reading

  • Books by People You’ve Probably Never Heard of, Part I

    It’s hard out there for young writers. The only houses that will house them are small, indie enterprises full of energy but lacking funds, and readers are scared by untested virtue. Be scared no longer sovereign readers! I will test your books for poison. Eat up! The Really Funny Thing About Apathy by Chelsea Martin… Continue reading

  • Seattle Picks: Short Classics

    We’re often asked for suggestions of shorter classics. Sometimes the reader has an assignment where the teacher or professor says “read a classic” and leaves it wide open. Sometimes the reader wants to explore classics, but feels a little intimidated. And sometimes the reader just wants a book that doesn’t weigh a lot. Our Short Classics booklist is one of… Continue reading

  • Pie v. Cake

    Cake and cupcakes are still going strong in the Seattle area. Metropolitan Market has a huge mountain of little boxes with specialty cupcakes in them, and I saw a pink cupcake maker at Fred Meyer. When asked, the baker at Met Market said cake sells better than pie. Some of pie lovers admitted liking cake more often… Continue reading

  • Too good to miss: Josephine Tey

    I recently discovered classic mystery author Josephine Tey. A patron and a colleague had told me about her years ago, and I filed the name away until Nancy Pearl mentioned Tey as well. And like many other readers in Seattle, when Nancy Pearl says something is good, you move that book or author to the front… Continue reading

  • Seattle Picks: Book Group Best Bets

    Is your book group in need of some new books to discuss? Try these new titles that are already becoming book group darlings! Bloodroot by Amy Greene  In lovely, lyrical Appalachian cadence, family members take turns narrating the life of a willful, heartbreaking and bewitching woman, Myra, from the Great Depression to the present time. Continue reading

  • Telling downloads: Top downloadable books

    Did you know that the company the library uses for digital books (OverDrive) publishes its top ten lists of titles downloaded every month? Me either. I took a look at the top ten adult fiction and nonfiction titles downloaded from libraries in the U.S., Canada and the UK to see if I could glean any… Continue reading