Fiction

  • School Days: These adult novels take you back

    Those of us who are finished with — but who keenly remember — pencils, books and teachers’ dirty looks, September always seems like the start of a new year.  We might not be buying back to school supplies this September, but we can reconnect with our past experiences —  good and bad — by delving… Continue reading

  • Magic in the Blood – still magic?

    Magic in the Blood is the second book in Devon Monk’s Allie Beckstrom series (after Magic to the Bone). This time around, there are ghosts causing trouble in Portland, OR and Allie keeps running into them as she tries to track down a couple missing girls for the police. Although this second installment in the series isn’t quite… Continue reading

  • Book review: ‘Admission’ brings novel insight to college admission process

    Michelle Obama, Sonia Sotomayor, Brooke Shields, activist Ralph Nader, Meg Whitman (CEO of E-Bay) and novelist Jodi Picoult — what do they all have in common? They all went to Princeton University. There’s something of a mystique surrounding the old Ivy League schools of the east coast, but now there’s a novel that gives some… Continue reading

  • Nightstand Reading: Seattle novelist Heather Barbieri’s late summer reading

    In Heather Barbieri’s newest book, The Lace Makers of Glenmara, 26-year-old fashion designer Kate Robinson heads to Ireland to change destructive patterns in her own life. In Glenmara, Kate finds inspiration in the local lace-making society. Fans of Maeve Binchy’s work and The Friday Night Knitting Club (Kate Jacobs) will find much to enjoy in Lace Makers.… Continue reading

  • Staff Favorites from Magnolia, Ballard and Central librarians

    Paradise by A.L. Kennedy This is one brutal book. You’ll either love it or hate it. Hannah is in her mid-30s and works in corrugated box sales. She’s a hardcore alcoholic in love with Robert, also an alcoholic. From Scotland to Montreal their story unfolds like a train wreck. The writing is what makes this… Continue reading

  • Staff Favorites: Novel suggestions for August nights

    The Crime Writer by Gregg Hurwitz Andrew Danner is a well-respected mystery writer who one morning wakes up after brain surgery with no memory of having a tumor and no idea why he is being charged with murder. All the evidence points to his guilt, so he reluctantly agrees to plead guilty by reason of… Continue reading

  • Books that Seem Made for Each Other

    Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safer Foer and A History of Love  by Nicole Krauss were published in 2005 within a few months of each other. After listening to each novel recently on my commute to work, I was struck by the similarities.  Both novels incorporate aspects  of “magical realism,” depict a quest by… Continue reading

  • ‘The Help’ reaches its tipping point

    There’s a lot to love about summer reading when you work in a library, but the best part is when people stop by to tell you what they’ve been reading. And that’s how, early in June, I found one of my favorite books of the past several years: The Help by Kathryn Stockett.  In this… Continue reading

  • More Summer Staff Favorites for Children: Historical Fiction

    The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had, by Kristin Levine J LEVINE Prepare to fall in love with the narrator of this story! Dit tells the tale of a memorable year in tiny Moundville, Alabama, during World War I, the year he meets and befriends Emma.  Dit provokes a blatantly racist sheriff to shoot at… Continue reading

  • When journalists turn to crime . . .

    The other day a journalism student came to the Library wanting to try a novel by Edna Buchanan, one of her favorite reporters, and we began talking about why some of our favorite mystery/thriller writers (e.g., Connelly and Buchanan, among others) earned their chops on the crime beat or as investigative journalists.  Of course there’s… Continue reading

  • Summer Reading: A few favorites from Montlake

    Books pictured here include: Love is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss One Song at a Time by Rob Sheffield Blackbird House by Alice Hoffman Two Rivers by T. Greenwood The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier The Book of Joe by Jonathan Tropper The Secret of Lost Things by Sheridan Hay Two… Continue reading

  • More Summer Staff Favorites for Children: Fantasy Chapter Books

    Elsie Piddock Skips in Her Sleep by Eleanor Farjeon J FARJEON Elsie Piddock was a born skipper from the age of three and, by the time she was seven, the fairies had heard of her.  They taught her the most fantastical skips anyone ever saw.  As Elsie grows older, her skipping is almost forgotten, becoming… Continue reading

  • Staff Favorites: Summer reads . . .

    Ahhh … summer reading in Seattle. Whether you’re bringing a book to the beach or packing one (or four) for vacation, our staff has some recommendations for you. And perhaps while you’re at the Library you’d like to log your books read in our Adult Summer Reading notebook? All you need to do is write… Continue reading

  • Book review: Fool by Christopher Moore

    If you are in the mood to read something extremely, embarrassingly funny, you might pick up a copy of Fool, the latest book by Christopher Moore.  On the surface this novel is a retelling of Shakespeare’s King Lear told from the perspective of Pocket, the King’s fool.  Any accuracy or comparison to the original story… Continue reading

  • Great Fantasy Audiobooks for the Road

    Parents everywhere are looking for solutions to their annual summer dilemma…  “How do we find audiobooks that the entire family – adults included – can enjoy for that long car/airplane/boat trip?”  Here are a few suggestions that are guaranteed to entertain:  The Amulet of Samarkand, by Johnathan Stroud Read by Simon Jones CDJ St892A Nathaniel,… Continue reading

  • Books for Tour de France followers

    Written from the perspective of a participant, The Rider by Tim Krabbe takes the reader into the heart of a 150-kilometer bicycle race. Krabbe does an amazing job of containing the strategy, thrills, motivation and accumulated folk history of bicycle enthusiasts in a scant 150 pages. The reader will feel the burning of over-burdened muscles,… Continue reading

  • Rereading a favorite book

    Recently my book group read Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo, a book I had savored more than a year ago. But a year later, with the complications of aging and excess information crowding my brain, I had almost completely forgotten the novel. What I did remember was my reaction to Bridge of Sighs — joy… Continue reading

  • Always a bridesmaid …

    Nancy Pearl, bless her, tells us never to apologize for our reading tastes. I hope her advice extends to TV: I am an addict of the reality series The Bachelorette  (and The Bachelor). I get a lot of teasing for this, and you are welcome to chime in! I don’t know why I find them… Continue reading