Nonfiction

  • #BookBingoNW2021 Black Joy

    A short list of good reads that can be applied to the Black Joy 2021 Book Bingo square. These are funny, romantic stories that follow Black characters whose best lives find them. Girl Gurl Grrrl: On womanhood and belonging in the age of Black girl magic by Kenya Hunt, deputy editor of the fashion magazine… Continue reading

  • Pregnancy During Pandemic

    The pandemic was a very odd time to be pregnant. All the ideas I had about community and gathering and connection was very different, but also in a way I didn’t have to share this time with anyone besides just my husband and I. I had a small bubble I could reach out to, I… Continue reading

  • Book Group Picks, July 2021

    Book Group Picks, July 2021

    Are you in a book discussion group, and looking for affordable ways to supply your group with books to discuss? The library is here for you! Each month or so, we’ll share a varied handful of titles, any one of which would make for terrific discussion, and each of which – at the time of… Continue reading

  • Let’s Swim!

    Let’s Swim!

    This return of warmer weather has me thinking about swimming – dipping my feet in a lake,* seeking out a pool. I’m still feeling cautious about being in proximity to people, even as pandemic precautions wane, which means that while I scope out swimming spots I’m also finding books to satisfy my urge. Waterlog: A… Continue reading

  • Surrounded by ADHD

    The last year has been interesting, complicated, and/or stressful for all. In my household we add the diagnosis of ADHD to all of my immediate family members except me. One way that quarantine worked for my family is that we were all working or schooling from home. There was not the desperate search in the morning… Continue reading

  • PNW Asian American and Pacific Islander Authors

    May is Asian Pacific American Heritage month, but as author Nicole Chung noted, “work by Asian American writers is always timely.” The library has created some fantastic lists celebrating Asian American writers and artists for all ages to explore, but I wanted to call attention to some Pacific Northwest Asian American and Pacific Islander authors… Continue reading

  • The Irresistible Lure of Russian Literature

    Recently, a curious thing happened in the Library’s beloved Peak Picks collection (still very much available at a curbside location near you, by the way); we featured a not unscholarly explication 19th Century Russian literature. Admittedly, A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, in which four Russians give a master class on writing, reading, and… Continue reading

  • Jacob Lawrence’s American Struggle

    In March, the Seattle Art Museum will host a timely exhibition, Jacob Lawrence:  The American Struggle. Best known for his work The Migration Series, Lawrence set his sight on the American Revolution creating a series of 30 painted panels between 1954 and 1956, focusing on historical events occurring from 1775 to 1817. It is interesting… Continue reading

  • Spring Cooking

    As we prepare to face a second spring largely indoors, it’s a good time to be inspired by some new culinary skills and dishes. Here are a baker’s dozen of cookbooks coming out this spring to enjoy, whether cooking solo or for family and friends. Nigella Lawson returns with Cook, Eat, Repeat, her first cookbook… Continue reading

  • Pandemic Garden Reset!

    Did you pick up a new hobby last year? At the start of the pandemic, many of us dived into bread-baking, knitting, music-making, or any number of social-distance friendly hobbies. Mine was panic-gardening. I say panic-gardening because I started by haphazardly pulling out a small patch of lawn and throwing down whatever random seeds and… Continue reading

  • Quilting through lockdown

    Quilting through lockdown

    Entertaining oneself while at home on lockdown can be challenging during this most hard time. Now we can get actual books during curbside pick-up it’s great to see some beautiful art!  If you can have hobbies that keep your mind and body active, you are less likely to be depressed. During the summer, it is… Continue reading

  • Alzheimer’s and memory loss: You are not alone

    No one ever wants to hear a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s, whether it’s for yourself, a family member or friend. The disease is progressive and has no cure. As Ann Hedreen writes in Her Beautiful Brain, a memoir about her mother’s illness, “I’m not up for this. Whatever this is.” It takes a community to support… Continue reading

  • Staying Healthy with Your Library: Search the Catalog for Health Topics

    In this Shelf Talk consumer health series, we’ve covered a variety of ways of accessing health information through Library databases, but what about the Library’s bread and butter, materials in the online catalog? Don’t worry, we’ve got you. In addition to discovering much of the material in some of our databases, you’ll find hundreds of… Continue reading

  • America’s forgotten white supremacist coup d’état

    The questions we get at the library are a barometer of what is on our collective minds, so it comes as no surprise that this week people have been asking us just what is a ‘coup’? The word ‘coup’ is a French word meaning ‘strike’ or ‘blow,’ and when combined with ‘état,’ or ‘state,’ we… Continue reading

  • David Bowie’s Movie Music

    David Bowie’s Movie Music

    Today, January 8, 2021, would’ve been David Bowie’s 74th birthday. It’s been five years since we lost our patron saint of glam. Five years, what a surprise. He still turns up everywhere, that sound and vision shapeshifter, especially on movie soundtracks. When I’m watching a movie, and a Bowie song comes on, I feel like… Continue reading

  • Watch and Read: Stranger Things

    While I can honestly watch Stranger Things over and over and over again we have so much material that adds on to the Stranger Things universe to quench your nerdy hearts. As well as a few reads to give you the same feeling the show did – for all ages! The Stranger Things Field Guild… Continue reading

  • New Year Resolutions: Exercise in the Time of Covid

    Coming to you from the cyberpunk dystopia that will not end, a series of New Year’s Resolution-themed posts, because the only way out is through. My fellow apocalypse-sters, you and I both know the importance of exercise. It keeps your meat sack in working condition, helps you sleep better, gives you energy, and can even… Continue reading

  • Goal Setting for 2021

    Throughout this past year and a half of _______?, I have realized one thing. This one short life we are given could be lost at any time. Time is so short! How does one even clarify how to make the best use of the time we have left? Illuminating this forced me to narrow my search.… Continue reading