Fiction

  • Book review: Ghouls Just Haunt to Have Fun

    In Ghouls Just Haunt to Have Fun by Victoria Laurie, ghost-hunting medium MJ Holliday signs on to film a reality TV series centered around her paranormal talent. When a murderer strikes at the hotel where MJ and her crew are staying (and where the TV show is set to be filmed), it quickly becomes apparent… Continue reading

  • Staff Favorites: Three mysteries for spring

    Three Bags Full: A Sheep Detective Story by Leonie Swann “Act naturally,” bleated the sheep attempting to evade notice. Standing around munching grass seems to be the most natural thing for sheep to do, but solving a murder mystery? When this Irish flock’s favored shepherd shows up dead in a field, our intrepid sheep detectives,… Continue reading

  • Publisher Crush: McSweeney’s Press

    These books are just too pretty! It’s the pretty ones that give me pause. As a clerk for The Seattle Public Library, I handle hundreds of books every day without being able to stop and look through any of them. But every once in a while one catches my eye, a real stunner, and I make… Continue reading

  • New literary craze has readers topsy-turvy!

    Readers of avant-garde literature are flipping over the latest experimental wrinkle in fiction. Inspired by the narrative hijinx of such post-modern stylists as the late David Foster Wallace, and Mark Danielewski (whose Only Revolutions asks the reader to rotate the book while reading), a bold new breed of writers and publishers are literally overturning the literary scene with what may be the… Continue reading

  • Close to you: Our fascination with ‘Siamese’ twins

    My book group recently read Lori Lansens’ novel The Girls about sisters in Canada who are conjoined twins. We were all a little hesitant to tackle it and not sure we’d be able to get past the subject matter to get to the characters and story, but Lansen’s writing made that concern a moot point, and we all… Continue reading

  • Which books to bring?

    Whenever I plan a trip, the first thing I consider is which books to bring with me. I want books that are pertinent to my travels as well as books that will entertain and inform me—and comfort me in my strange and scary new environment. Also, for obvious reasons they must be in paperback. I… Continue reading

  • Nightstand Reading: Author Lisa Lutz talks about what she’s reading — and even what she’s not reading

    Lucky us! The author of the hilarious mystery series starring Izzy Spellman will be in Seattle next week. Double lucky us—because Lisa Lutz sent us a note from her book tour to give us a peek at what she’s reading:  Since I’ve been under a strict deadline lately, and am currently on a book tour,… Continue reading

  • Harry Potter versus Twilight: Who did you vote for?

    Yesterday Seattle teens tackled one of the biggest issues of 2009: Which is better, the Harry Potter or Twilight series? Three-hundred passionate Potter and Bella fans packed the auditorium at the Central Library for this hotly contested literary smackdown. The winner? According to the debate judges … Harry Potter!  A poll of the audience also… Continue reading

  • The Tudors

    I have become obsessed with the Tudors. It all started when I checked out the DVD set of the first season of the Showtime series The Tudors, which stars Jonathan Rhys Meyers as King Henry VIII, from the Central Library right before the big snowstorm this past December. My husband and I spent several evenings… Continue reading

  • The Third Policeman

    The Irish may be said to possess the gift of gab, but the truth is they’re none too shabby with the pen, either. Most readers have at least a passing familiarity with the usual suspects-Joyce, Yeats, Wilde-but may not be aware of the lesser known author Flann O’Brien. O’Brien (a pseudonym of Brian O’Nolan) wrote,… Continue reading

  • The Visitor and Little Bee

    Two of the most powerful stories that I recently encountered were stories about immigrants and refugees. One was in a film and the other was a novel, but both left a strong impression on me. In the film, The Visitor, a widowed, burnt-out professor in Connecticut, Walter Vale, (played to perfection by Richard Jenkins, who… Continue reading

  • Reminds Me Of Garden State

    “Maybe that’s all family really is a group of people who miss the same imaginary place.” Ever since Garden State came out I’ve been trying to recreate the sensation I got when I saw that movie for the very first time. You know the laughing, crying, not wanting the story to end. Here are just… Continue reading

  • El Lector

    Our library serves people speaking many languages. Here is one of them. En El Lector de Bernhard Schlink; Michael es un adolescente enfermo de hepatitis, un día al volver a casa se siente mal y una señora lo ayuda. Siguiendo los consejos de su madre va a buscarla y agradecerle lo que hizo por él.… Continue reading

  • Looking for ornery fae in the Tri-Cities

    Moon Called by Patricia Briggs tells the story of Mercy Thompson, an auto-mechanic in the Tri-Cities who can turn into a coyote at will. Mercy’s world is full of ornery fae, egocentric werewolves, and quirky, creepy vampires, all more supernaturally powerful than her. If Mercy can keep her head down and her mouth shut, she… Continue reading

  • My Night with Greg Kinnear

    “There is a story about the Greek Gods; they were bored so they invented human beings, but they were still bored so they invented love, then they weren’t bored any longer. So they decided to try love for themselves. And finally, they invented laughter, so they could stand it.” I put two promising titles on… Continue reading

  • Publisher Crush: Hesperus Press

    Perhaps it is a side effect of being around books all day, but about as often as I find myself falling for a particular author’s style or voice, I become fascinated with a particular publisher or imprint. I’m especially fond of re-print houses that specialize in bringing back into print those lost treasures and hidden gems… Continue reading

  • Nightstand Reading: Get your recommendations from Scottish mystery author Val McDermid

    Crime fiction fans take note: Val McDermid, author of several popular series (including the Tony Hill series) will be at the Seattle Public Library this Sunday at 2 p.m. to read from—and talk about—her newest book, A Darker Domain. We’re wildly excited to host Val on one of her rare Seattle visits as she reads… Continue reading

  • Odd Jobs: Someone’s got to do it . . .

    Ah, just another day outside of the Central Library: Beautiful maybe-sunny-maybe-rainy-probably-cloudy weather, roving gangs of Greenpeace canvassers hunting down unsuspecting pedestrians for their signature, the occasional person shouting obscenities at an imaginary friend/hands-free cell phone, and, of course, men in climbing gear rappelling down the glass on the side of the library. These climbers are,… Continue reading