Nonfiction
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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
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Book Bingo NW 2025: Pacific Northwest Nature
Our region offers so many incredible opportunities to experience nature, from the mountains to the Puget Sound, from the Duwamish Green Belt to the Burke-Gilman Trail, to the University of Washington Arboretum right here in Seattle. Here are some reading suggestions to fill your PNW nature square for this year’s Book Bingo! Local author and… Continue reading
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Book Bingo NW 2025: Censorship
While Summer Book Bingo has featured “Banned” as a category for many years (2015-2017) and “Banned or challenged book” in 2022, we still get reader requests to feature “Banned Books” as a category every year. As book bans are increasing, it’s not surprising that readers want to highlight this, but we mostly see the same… Continue reading
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Book Bingo NW 2025: Found Family
While stories of romantic love and family drama are easy to find, many of us, especially queer folks who might be estranged or abandoned by their families of origin, find community, solace, and meaning through a network of friends who become family – also known as “found family” or “chosen family,” which is one of… Continue reading
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6 Books for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month
May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage month, but often, Pacific Islander and Filipino books and authors are less acknowledged in publishing, articles and displays. Here are some Pacific Islander and Filipino voices to discover in May and beyond. “Kapaemahu,” a picture book by Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, Dean Hamer and Joe Wilson, illustrated by Daniel… Continue reading
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Book Bingo 2025 Goes Big, and Begins Today
Your favorite summer reading adventure begins today, with a plot twist! Every summer we partner with Seattle Arts & Lectures (SAL) for Book Bingo, our summer reading program for adults and teens. For 2025, we are thrilled to share that King County Library System (KCLS) is joining the fun! Readers in all corners of King… Continue reading
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Local Pulitzer Prize Talent and More!
The 2025 Pulitzer Prize winners were announced on Tuesday, May 5th, and Seattle (unsurprisingly a City of Literature) was represented incredibly well! Local author and illustrator Tessa Hulls won for Memoir or Autobiography with her incredible graphic memoir Feeding Ghosts, while local author Stacey Levine achieved finalist status for Fiction with Mice 1961, Seattle Times… Continue reading
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New Nonfiction Roundup – May 2025
Welcome to May! In addition to this month’s Peak Picks, there are a lot of excellent new nonfiction books to consider. In biography, Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Ron Chernow illuminates the full, fascinating, and complex life of the writer long celebrated as the father of American literature, Mark Twain; Christopher Clarey examines the influence of Rafael Nadal… Continue reading
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A Peek at Peak Picks – May 2025
We’re adding ten new Peak Picks in May! In fiction, Ocean Vuong returns with a bighearted novel about chosen family, unexpected friendship, and the stories we tell ourselves in order to survive in The Emperor of Gladness; Christina Li’s adult debut reveals the secrets that lie in wait in the crumbling mansion of a former Hollywood starlet,… Continue reading