Nonfiction

  • Seafair means Pirates

    Ahoy mates! Shiver me timbers and all that pirate talk.  It’s Seafair in Seattle and for many folks that means the Pirates are in town.  With their booming cannon and boisterous pranks the Seafair Pirates give the kids of Seattle a delicious shiver and scary dreams.  Watching the Pirates kidnap shrieking kids and drag their swords… Continue reading

  • Summer Reads: High Point, Capitol Hill and Montlake readers offer their suggestions.

    This week we find journeys through space, time and the inner mind, in our ongong series that highlights what Seattlites are reading this Summer. We’d love to hear what you’re reading, too! Sign up for the Adult Summer Reading Program and share your recommendations with other book lovers around town. Readers on Capitol Hill recommend: After Dark… Continue reading

  • More Librarians in Fact & Fiction

    Sensible shoes.  Hair in a bun.  Glasses perched on the tip of a nose.  Tweed suits.  Do you recognize the occupation?  Shhhhh!  Whisper the answer!  You’re in the library!  Yes, librarians have been battling this stereotype for years.  Thankfully, books are helping us change our image. While some books work subtly to show librarians in… Continue reading

  • Summer Reads: Delridge, Madrona and South Park readers share a few suggestions

    Espionage, werewolves, Ivy League and the Ivory Coast — aaah, summer reading! Take a look at the varied reading happening around town, with a sampling of titles recommended by Seattle readers. We’d love to hear what you’re reading, too! Sign up for the Adult Summer Reading Program and share your recommendations with other book lovers around… Continue reading

  • Seattle’s vibrant early music scene

    In recent years, Seattle has become a mecca for early music, the world of music created from its earliest beginnings to about the year 1750. World-class performers such as Stephen Stubbs have moved here to join long-time Seattleites Margriet Tindemans and Nancy Zylstra. It means that there are some thrilling opportunities for exploration of the world… Continue reading

  • Summer Reads: Green Lake and International District reader suggestions

    Want to share what you’re reading? Enter the Adult Summer Reading Program at any branch (or downtown at the Central Library), write one or two sentences about three books you’ve read. You’ll be entered in a weekly drawing to win a book bag (one winner per week at each location; lots of chances to win!).… Continue reading

  • Housekeeping

    Have you ever lost yourself in the library? Have you ever felt curious about something, looked up a book on that topic, which led to another and another, and then you went to the shelves and found not only the books you were looking for, but something else fascinating and unexpected? Part of the fun of… Continue reading

  • Summer Reads: West Seattle and Southwest reader suggestions

    In Seattle, the term “beach reads” is generally used figuratively (if not a little wistfully) for books more generally read on decks, in parks, on busses, but not on our pebbled shores. In West Seattle, however, beach reading actually happens on a beach! Here is some of what readers at our West Seattle and Southwest branches… Continue reading

  • Staff Favorites: May we recommend…

    Dishwasher: One Man’s Quest to Wash Dishes in All Fifty States by Pete Jordan  If you have ever worked in a restaurant, you will relate to this book. Jordan retells stories of working all over the United States washing dishes. He works everywhere from a fish cannery in Alaska to an oil rig off the… Continue reading

  • Tour de Amsterdam: Biking as a Tourist

    Biking in Amsterdam is an experience that can be enjoyed by even novice cyclists. On almost all streets and roads, cyclists enjoy an exclusive wide path separated from motor vehicle traffic by a strip of ground, a ditch or high curb. Riders have the right of way over pedestrians (a practice that takes time getting used… Continue reading

  • Read & Listen: White Bicycles

    The first in an occasional series in which we pair reviews of music criticism/history books with a list of accompanying albums for your reading and listening pleasure. READ: Walking off the baseball field of his Connecticut prep school one evening in the late 1950s, Joe Boyd heard the strains of the most recent Fats Domino… Continue reading

  • Baseball with the Seattle Pilots

    This challenging season for local baseball fans brings to mind another last place team in our fair city, the famous and short-lived Seattle Pilots of 1969. An expansion team in the American League, they played at Sicks’ Stadium, a converted minor league ballpark. In their one year here they launched Jim Bouton’s literary career through… Continue reading

  • Summer Reads: Fremont and Queen Anne reader suggestions

    Want to share what you’re reading? Enter the Adult Summer Reading Program at any branch (or downtown at the Central Library), write one or two sentences about three books you’ve read. You’ll be entered in a weekly drawing to win a book bag (one winner per week at each location; lots of chances to win!).… Continue reading

  • Summer Reads: Wallingford and Ballard readers offer suggestions

    How do you find what to read next? Most of us count on personal recommendations from friends and neighbors (and, of course, librarians!). As part of the Adult Summer Reading Program, readers throughout Seattle are writing super short “reviews” of what they’ve been reading. Readers in Wallingford recommend: The Sanctuary Sparrow by Ellis Peters A Brother… Continue reading

  • Knitting

    In 1917, the West Seattle Branch of the Seattle Public Library had a Knitting Club, to help in the War effort. Girls would meet once per week, and while one of their members read out loud, they would knit socks and ambulance pillows out of sturdy wool. A Red Cross volunteer handed out the yarn,… Continue reading

  • After a bike ride, read a book about bicycles

    Bicycles are magical.  Learning to ride one is a rite of passage. The bicycle wobbles between the thighs – yet stays upright. Suddenly, the world extends from the yard to the block, from the neighborhood to the city, and beyond. This skill, once mastered, becomes intimately connected to memory, to knowledge.  It’s like riding a… Continue reading

  • The Decoration of Houses

    Here are some interesting books about interior design, plus some about unusual buildings: The Elements of Style: an Encyclopedia of Domestic Architectural Detail (edited by Stephen Calloway) For anyone who wants to restore their historic house, or for anyone interested in the history of house styles, this beautiful book is a goldmine of information and… Continue reading

  • Buildings and Cities

    The Seattle Public Library has a large and varied collection of books about architecture and city planning. Here are a few that I find interesting and useful. I hope you enjoy them too. The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs Jane Jacobs’ classic ground-breaking attack on the planning of American cities,… Continue reading