Fiction

  • The End of the Alphabet, by C.S. Richardson

    While checking in a batch of library materials recently my attention was caught by a little book and on a whim I checked it out. It was a novella by C. S. Richardson entitled The End of the Alphabet, and while I was drawn initially to its theme of travel my interest was held by… Continue reading

  • Combining noir and urban fantasy

    In A Kiss Before the Apocalypse by Thomas E. Sniegoski, Death goes missing and the angels turn to the one person with the unique skill set they need to find him. Remy Chandler is a private investigator living in Boston and he isn’t all that surprised when some of God’s worker bees show up asking… Continue reading

  • Sea Monsters

    The Telegraph and Yahoo News have given me nightmares for life by reporting on a story involving a giant catfish in India with a taste for human flesh.  Yes, you read correctly.  Catfish. Human. Flesh.  The alleged Bunyanesque catfish is also known as a goonch which have been known to appear in the Great Kali… Continue reading

  • Julia Glass: Book Group Darling

    When Julia Glass’ first book, Three Junes, came out in 2002 and won the National Book Award, it became a book group trailblazer. Book groups everywhere rejoiced in a new author of contemporary fiction whose writing was fresh and confident and featured complex, memorable characters. You’d think that would be easy to do, but it… Continue reading

  • Is Political Satire Redundant?

    You know how when something’s on your mind, you start seeing it everywhere? I find this to be especially the case in the libary, where lately the red, white and blue covers of political fiction have been jumping off the shelves at me. Did you know that Senator Barbara Boxer wrote a novel – a… Continue reading

  • Mishima’s Sword

    Mishima’s Sword: Travels in Search of a Samurai Legend  by Christopher Ross. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, I lived in a southern city in China called Guangzhou. At that time Guangzhou was more vibrant than ever.  People were pouring into this so-called Window of the South Wind city to look for opportunity. Many… Continue reading

  • Nightstand Reading: Eric Liu

    Editor’s note: Whether he’s interviewing Daniel Schorr at Town Hall, inspiring leadership or talking about patriotism, local author Eric Liu manages to get us thinking—and to get the conversation going. In The True Patriot, a book written in the pamphleteering style of Thomas Paine, Liu and co-author Nick Hanauer offer a lively challenge to look… Continue reading

  • Reading those censored books

    Every year, the American Library Association puts out a list of the most challenged books of the previous year, plus a distressingly thick catalog of banned and challenged books. This article at The Onion made me think about all the various banned books that most of us really never read (or read for the wrong… Continue reading

  • Celebrating the freedom to read for over two millennia

    This month and next all over Seattle (and all over the country), libraries will be putting up displays and posters and hosting events in honor of Banned Books Week (Sept 27 – Oct 4). The annual event, started in 1982 by the American Library Association, is a celebration of your freedom to read, and an important reminder that… Continue reading

  • Oliver Sacks walked my dog this morning

    Oliver Sacks has been hanging out on my iPod for a few months. I actually forgot he was there until this morning when I was looking through my podcasts and found his presentation at the Central Library. At one hour and one minute, that’s about the right length for a walk with my hound, Owen.… Continue reading

  • Neil Gaiman fans vote for ‘Neverwhere’

    The last time HarperCollins posted a free Gaiman book, American Gods was the people’s choice and it was a hands-down success. This time they’ve made Neverwhere the 30-days or bust book! The novel will be available to read for 30 days, then expires. Until then, though, freeeeee! (You just need Adobe Digital Editions, which you… Continue reading

  • Spending the afternoon in a Japanese Garden

    Seattle is a city of garden aficionados, so it is fitting that we have one of the best Japanese gardens outside of Japan. With sweeping vistas and decades-old plantings tended with exquisite care, the Seattle Japanese Garden is a spot of meditative beauty. It is also host to a variety of festive events. If you… Continue reading

  • Opening new worlds: Mysteries in translation

    For those of us who love mystery novels, the quest for the next exciting detective or, better yet, the next series, is endlessly diverting. As it happens, this is a wonderful age for us, with the advent of many new absolutely top-notch works and series from abroad, best-sellers in their own countries, being released here… Continue reading

  • Central District and High Point reader suggestions

    Readers from the Douglass-Truth Branch and the High Point Branch offer some of their favorite books from this summer. Here are suggestions for some late-summer memoirs, a medical thriller set in Seattle, poetry and novels. Readers in Douglass-Truth’s Adult Summer Reading Program suggest: Shame on It All by Zane A captivating story of three sisters showing the true meaning of… Continue reading

  • Book review: Dog Days by John Levitt

    After Mason is attacked by a giant magical spider, he realizes things around San Francisco are even weirder than normal. Since he used to be a supernatural enforcer, his threshold for “weird” is a little higher than the average jazz musician’s. In an effort to get to the bottom of what’s going wrong in his… Continue reading

  • Fantastic librarians, or librarian fantasies?

    In a recent post, I enthused about a few of my favorite fictional librarians, and invited others to share their favorites. The suggestions that followed were many and varied, ranging from Public Librarian Barbara Gordon, aka Batgirl, to Henry DeTamble from Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveler’s Wife, to Garth Nix’s Lirael, who is given a job… Continue reading

  • Summer Reads: Ballard, Broadview, Mobile and University reader suggestions

    Looking for a book for these last few weeks of summer? Here are 12 suggestions from Library users from Mobile Services and the Ballard, Broadview and University branches: Mobile Services’ readers suggest: Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World by Bill Clinton He tells all of us how we can really help save the world by… Continue reading

  • Nightstand Reading: Artist Margaret Chodos-Irvine dives into teen lit this summer

    Editor’s note: We love Margaret Chodos-Irvine’s vivid mixed-media prints and innovative linocuts, which can be found in award-winning children’s books such as the charming Ella Sarah Gets Dressed (a 2004 Caldecott Honor Book) and Buzz (where her collages seem to move across the pages), and in the posters, brochures and book bags that celebrate reading… Continue reading