Nonfiction

  • Tax Haiku for You

    Much work goes on behind the scenes at the library ordering and channeling federal tax forms into the hands of our patrons. Like our fellow citizens we look forward to today, the last filing day of the 2008 tax period and offer you a few haiku moments in honor of the day… April’s cruelest day… Continue reading

  • Gardening in the City, or “No yard, no problem!”

    Spring is finally in the air, rousing the deep need in many of us to get down in the dirt and help things grow. About this time of year I flash back to summer days in my grandmother’s garden with its aromas of sweet peas, fresh earth, and tangy tomato vines. I’d love to grow… Continue reading

  • Viewing History through a wide-angle lens

    A Shelf Talk post last month called Viewing History with a tightly focused lens generated a lot of comments and great book suggestions from readers.  That post looked at the growing popularity of history books that focus on a single thing—salt, baseball bat, pencil—and trace its impact (huge, according to the author) over time.  Our reviewer… 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

  • 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

  • Legacies of Slavery film series starts March 29th

     “Family Confronts Its Slave-Trading Past: Local DeWolf descendant is featured in ‘P.O.V.’ documentary” was the headline in the P-I that caught my eye.  I was intrigued because of  my own history of growing up in South Carolina as a descendent of a slave-owning family. “Traces of the Trade: a Story from the Deep North” tells… Continue reading

  • Discovering Oxford: Then and Now

    My small town roots drew me to a hefty arty book about the people in Oxford, Iowa, population 705.  But it was my love of a good story that kept me glued to The Oxford Project. In 1984, Peter Feldstein photographed 670 Oxford residents (the population then was 676) and displayed the 4×5 black and… 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

  • Kindergarten choices

    At this time of year, preschool parents are discovering that they have a tough decision to make – kindergarten selection.  As a parent of a preschooler myself, I’ve recently been immersed in the wonderful world of classroom sizes, test scores, transportation options, extra-curricular activities, PTSA involvement, after school care, and profiles of teachers and principals.   If… Continue reading

  • Researching names for babies, characters and all kinds of cats

    Earlier this year a group of librarians offered to help one of our pregnant coworkers name her babies (yes, babies—as in two!). Although she graciously declined our assistance, the conversation continued and headed, as it so often does when librarians confab, to research—in this case researching names for babies, pets and characters in novels.    … Continue reading

  • Viewing history with a tightly focused lens

    I think I’ve spotted a trend in the History publishing world.  The days of sweeping, sprawling sagas that cover a vast canvas appear to be over.  This is the day of the mono-history (to coin a term), the history of a single invention, food, natural resource or other singular item.  The titles below are in… Continue reading

  • A New Craze in Memoir Writing

    Writing your life in six words… Is it too hard a challenge— or just the kind you like? Here’s a book with others’ examples (sequel to this timeless tiny tome): inspiring, hilarious, meditative, poignant, regretful, triumphant. Try it next time you’re free!              ~ Ann G Continue reading

  • Northwest Flower & Garden Show, 2009

    It’s that time of year again. Like thousands of other gardeners, I have eagerly awaited the Northwest Flower & Garden Show.  This huge annual February event at the Convention Center is always a welcome chance to experience the joys of gardening while the ground outside is still frozen.  This year’s theme is “Sustainable Spaces. Beautiful… Continue reading

  • Celebrating Honest Abe

    Abraham Lincoln, nicknamed “Honest Abe” was born 200 years ago today, and his impact on our nation is enduring.  We’ve heard much about him recently, as President Obama was sworn in using his Bible, and did a pre-inaugural train trip along the same route as his predecessor.  An earlier post mentioned the commonality between the… 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

  • Maps for Your Reading Pleasure

    I was three chapters into reading Gertrude Bell, Queen of the Desert, Shaper of Nations, when I discovered the maps in the front of the book.  Gertrude Bell, “poet, scholar, historian, mountaineer, photographer, archaeologist, gardener, cartographer, linguist and distinguished servant of the state,” was instrumental in helping define the borders of modern day Iraq.  As I read… Continue reading

  • A shed of one’s own

    My husband and I have decided we need separate rooms. For more than a decade, we’ve shared a home “office” that hasn’t worked well for either of us. There’s no room for flat files for him, nor is there the quiet retreat I crave for writing. I look longingly at our friend John’s backyard music… Continue reading

  • Oh Sweet, Sweet, Vacation!

    In general, I would say the life of a Master’s of Library and Information Science (MLIS) student, is pretty great. We get to learn all about an institution as hallowed as the library and we get to spend our class-time with other compulsively organized and readerly people. My only complaint would be a catch-22 that… Continue reading