Nonfiction
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Fall Cooking
There’s no better season than autumn to share food with friends and family. Here are some of fall’s most anticipated and unique books for cooks and bakers. Samin Nosrat, the bestselling author of Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat, shares 125 meticulously tested, flavor-forward, soul-nourishing recipes that bring joy and a sense of communion in Good Things while Alison Roman… Continue reading
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New Nonfiction Roundup – October 2025
The fall publishing season is in full swing! An amazing array of biographies and memoirs are being released, along with riveting histories, analyses of current events, guides for self-improvement and more. Looking for cooking? Fear not – there’s such a bounty of cookbooks that it will be in its own forthcoming post. And don’t forget… Continue reading
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Why Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author Tessa Hulls Loves the Library
“I am an artist, writer and adventurer, and the library is one of my favorite places in the world,” said Tessa Hulls while at the International District-Chinatown Branch recently. You might know Tessa as the (sometimes) Seattle-based author and illustrator of the graphic memoir, “Feeding Ghosts,” which was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Memoir/Autobiography earlier… Continue reading
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New Nonfiction Roundup – September 2025
The fall publishing season starts….now! Celebrity biographies (and poetry!), memoir, self care and cookbooks feature heavily this September. In biography and memoir, Charlie Sheen presents how he defied the odds after descending into “a vortex of extracurricular activities” in The Book of Sheen; TLC’s Sister Wives star Christine Brown Woolley pens a memoir about finding… Continue reading
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Why Old Trees Matter: A Conversation with Lynda Mapes
As August draws to a close, our summer book club series with KUOW is wrapping up with a topic relevant to any northwesterner: the connections between trees, salmon, and Indigenous knowledge. On Wednesday, Aug. 27, at 6:30 p.m., Lynda Mapes will be at the Central Library auditorium to talk about her recent book, “The Trees… Continue reading
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‘My One Happy Place’: The Library That Saved a Life
When Elsa Sjunneson was a teenager, she regularly visited the Central Library. She picked up holds, browsed the stacks, and talked about books with Reader Services librarians David Wright and Misha Stone. In some ways, these were fairly normal interactions between a librarian and patron. After all, helping patrons find books they love is part… Continue reading
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New Nonfiction Roundup – August 2025
The last, lazy days of summer are the perfect time to check out some of August’s most notable nonfiction. In science, Bill McKibben embraces solar power as the last chance for the climate and a fresh chance for civilization in Here Comes the Sun while Peter Brannen reveals how carbon dioxide made our world in… Continue reading
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Fruit Book Revue
It’s an open secret that Seattle’s summer is the sunny antithesis of our rainy reputation. Talked about less is the amazing fruit that appears in farmer’s markets, co-ops, and along random sidewalks during the summer months. While there’s probably nothing better than eating a perfectly ripe fruit raw and unadorned, eventually, one wants pie. Or cake.… Continue reading
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6 Titles for Mid-Summer Book Bingo Inspiration
It’s mid-July, which means we’re halfway through Book Bingo season and you have six solid weeks to read books in fun categories and fill up that bingo card. For the uninitiated, all summer long, The Seattle Public Library, Seattle Arts & Lectures and new partner, King County Library System, celebrate Book Bingo, a program that encourages… Continue reading
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Book Bingo NW 2025: Disability
One of the joys of Book Bingo is expanding reading beyond what you might ordinarily pick up, and hopefully discovering what Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop termed “mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors:” books that offer both opportunities for self-affirmation and insight into the experiences of those different from us. Within the Disability category, there is… Continue reading
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New Nonfiction Roundup – July 2025
Happy summer everyone! In addition to this month’s Peak Picks, enjoy these nonfiction titles coming out in July. In history and politics, Tim Weiner follows up his National Book Award-winning classic Legacy of Ashes with a history of the CIA in the 21st century in The Mission. Laurie Gwen Shapiro profiles Amelia Earhart, George Putnam, and the… Continue reading
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A Peek at Peak Picks – July 2025
We’re adding eight new Peak Picks in July! In fiction, Ruben Reyes Jr.’s piercing debut novel follows two families in alternative timelines of the Salvadoran civil war − a stunning exploration of the mechanisms of fate, the gravity of the past, and the endurance of love – in Archive of Unknown Universes; Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Mexican Gothic) returns with a… Continue reading
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Book Bingo NW 2025: Great Escapes
Perhaps more than any other Book Bingo category this year, Great Escapes invites personal taste and creativity into the conversation. A guidebook to somewhere you’ve always wanted to visit? A portal to a world you wish you could escape to? A memoir of around-the-world travel? A gripping thriller or sigh-worthy romance that gives you an… Continue reading
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Book Bingo NW 2025: Flower on the Cover or In the Title
Hopefully you won’t have a hard time finding a flower on the cover of a book! However, if you would like some suggestions for this summer’s Book Bingo, we rounded up some titles. Here’s a variety to interest you, from non-fiction to fantasy. First up is Marigold Mind Laundry by Jungeun Yun, translated by Shanna… Continue reading
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Book Bingo NW 2025: Hope
Besides being the Thing with Feathers, what is hope? How do we hold onto it and why? And if we have it, what do we do with it (or, what does it do for us)? The answers to these questions may be different for each person, but here are some reading suggestions to help fill… Continue reading
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Celebrate Pride With Four Books of Queer Joy and Resistance
Pride month in Seattle is both a celebration and a call to action — a time to reflect on the legacy of queer and transgender people and how we can continue to fight for a more just, inclusive future. This month, the library and Charlie Hunts, owner of Charlie’s Queer Books in Fremont, are sharing books that… Continue reading
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New Nonfiction Roundup – June 2025
Welcome to June! In addition to this month’s Peak Picks, June is abundant with books in the entertainment industry, along with a mix of the latest in memoir, self-care, and history. In music, Jonathan Gould takes a look at Talking Heads and the New York scene that transformed rock in Burning Down the House, while… Continue reading
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Super Summer Reading Series with KUOW: 3 Books, 3 Authors, 3 Events
Seattle summer reading just got better! This summer, the KUOW Book Club and the Library invite you to join a book club adventure featuring three books by local authors. Each month, read along with the KUOW Book Club’s selection, and then bring your friends (and your questions) to an event at the Central Library that… Continue reading