Fiction

  • More Books Worth Talking About

    Good titles for book discussions come from all over the place, and provoke all kinds of responses. Here is a diverse international blend: The Elegance of the Hedgehog, by Muriel Barbery Nobody guesses at the unplumbed depths hidden behind the veiled eyes of the self-taught drudge Renée or the precociously suicidal 12-year-old Paloma, until one man… Continue reading

  • Touring Egypt via book or camel

    When I took a tour of Egypt earlier this year, I found myself exchanging book titles with my fellow travelers.  Historical fiction, mysteries, contemporary serious literature; some are fun reading for getting a feel for the country, the history, the landscape, the emotional qualities of Egypt.  Others are very heavy reading, intense, much like the… Continue reading

  • Ali Zaoua: Prince of the Streets movie

    Come to the Central Library this Sunday, March 21, from 2-4pm in the Microsoft Auditorium on Level 1 for a film screening of Ali Zaoua: Prince of the Streets. This film is a memorable and moving portrait of the lives of street kids living in Casablanca’s abandoned lots. Ali, Kouka, Omar and Boubker, four young… Continue reading

  • Not Just a Pretty Face

    It’s not the power of the curse – it’s the power you give the curse. Born with a pig snout for a nose due to her rich family’s curse Penelope, played by Christina Ricci,  must find one man to marry her from the world of high society blue blood to make that curse go away forever.… Continue reading

  • Allen Say’s Beautiful Children’s Books

    Allen Say was born in Yokohama, Japan in 1937. At age 16 he came to the United States. He first went to a military high school, and then to different colleges to study art. In 1989, he earned his fist Caldecott honor award for his illustrations for The Boy of Three-Year Nap written by Dianne… Continue reading

  • Books worth talking about.

    As sure as the Seattle Winter turns to Spring, and then back to Winter again, readers will come to the library looking for something new for their book group. Here are some of our suggestions for books that will inspire discussion, and even complement each other in interesting ways. Man in the Dark, by Paul Auster… Continue reading

  • Canadian Authors – Five Stars & a Maple Leaf

    The Olympics puts me in mind of Canada, which puts me in mind of some of my favorite fiction authors.  I know you can’t talk of “Canadian authors” in a monolithic sense, the same way you can’t treat  “U.S. authors” as a homogenous group, but I find that many of my favorite literary fiction novelists… Continue reading

  • Science Fiction for the Rest of Us

    I’ll admit it straight up: I’ve never really liked science fiction.  I’ve never seen a single episode of Star Trek or read a book by Robert Heinlein.  But I’m a librarian, and in order to recommend books to readers of every genre, I have to read outside my comfort zone.  Thanks to a coworker, patrons,… Continue reading

  • Cover art for Hunger Games #3 revealed — and here’s how you’ll know when you can put a hold on it

    Is it mean to tease you with the cover of a book that isn’t available yet? Maybe. But I thought you’d forgive me since now fans of Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games can ramp up the anticipation for the August 24 release of Mockingjay. Read all about the trilogy at the Scholastic blog. Now, you know… Continue reading

  • Seeing Ourselves in Chaucer’s Mirror.

    Can we really relate to people from 700 years ago? Thanks to Peter Ackroyd, it’s easier than ever. In our iPod, iPad, texting and tweeting world, you’d think there is not too much in common with the lives of 14th century pilgrims on their way to Canterbury, but, in fact, there is. Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales… Continue reading

  • The movie made me love the book: Jane Austen

    We all have one (at least) of those books: a book that you had to read in school and weren’t that into, but is hailed throughout the English-speaking world as a masterpiece; a book that you wouldn’t read again because it’s now so fraught with memories and expectations. For me, that book was Pride and… Continue reading

  • Nightstand Reading: Newbery winner Rebecca Stead

    This month’s guest blogger is Rebecca Stead, author of When You Reach Me, a middle-grade novel that just won the Newbery Medal (the most distinguished honor in children’s literature). Rebecca is in Seattle today to visit schools, chat with Nancy Pearl for an upcoming episode of Book Lust on the Seattle Channel  and to read tonight… Continue reading

  • Transhumanism in the bleak midwinter

    At this time of year, when the cold, grey sameness of winter softly wraps us in the bitter knowledge of our own mortality, I find myself squarely in the mood for a little transhumanist science fiction.   What is that, you ask? It’s a highly philosophical body of literature dedicated to the rich question of… Continue reading

  • Dishing Up Romance

    Welcome to SPL’s Romance Restaurant!  On our menu you’ll find many different flavors of romance: historical, contemporary, urban, inspirational, suspenseful, paranormal, and more.  For this month’s special, we’re serving up romance in three levels of spiciness.  Here’s a preview of our tasty offerings.   Mild and Romantic Whether sweet, inspirational, or humorous, these romances have one… Continue reading

  • Historical mysteries with an Asian flair

    Curse of the Pogo Stick by Colin Cotterill One of my favorites features a delightfully quirky 70-plus year old Dr. Siri Paiboun, a coroner living in 1970s Laos. A French trained doctor and an ex-freedom fighter who fought to throw off colonialism, he is philosophically resigned as well as amused by the inept bureaucracy that’s become… Continue reading

  • Catholic Humor

    As a lapsed Catholic not ready to change religions or to abandon it completely, I’ve been reading modern novels written by other people who take “THE FAITH” seriously, but not that seriously. Morte D’Urban by J. F. Powers won the National Book Award in 1963, and it’s set in rural Minnesota, where my most of… Continue reading

  • Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol: What’s True?

    Love him or hate him, you can’t deny that Dan Brown is a publishing phenomenon.    His novel The Da Vinci Code held the #1 spot on every major best-seller list in the country, and his books have been translated into more than 50 languages.  His current best-seller, The Lost Symbol, again features Robert Langdon, a… Continue reading

  • Uwem Akpan’s ‘Say You’re One of Them’

    As a librarian who has spent a fair bit of time in Africa, I am always looking for books that describe the Africa that I have seen. When I picked up Uwem Akpan’s Say You’re One of Them earlier this year,  I had no idea how painful the stories would feel, or how stunningly accurate… Continue reading