Authors & Books
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Black History Month 2025
Each February we observe Black History Month, but why limit your enjoyment of Black writers, illustrators, thinkers, and creators to just one month? Librarians at the Seattle Public Library have put together several booklists to help keep you reading throughout the year, and highlighted a few titles from each list below: Black American Nonfiction Black… Continue reading
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Black Love and Friendship
This Black History Month, celebrate titles that illuminate the power of Black love and friendship with titles from our recent booklist: Black Love and Friendship! Curvy Girl Summer by Danielle Allen – Aaliyah James, a 29-year-old plus size Black woman, is ready to find real love and prove her body shaming family wrong by debuting… Continue reading
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5 Books That Celebrate Nonromantic Love
February is traditionally a month to celebrate romantic love. But while romance novels are easy to find on the shelves of any library near you, we think it’s time to highlight the passion, tenderness and devotion expressed in other types of relationships. These five books focus on love in a variety of settings, from friendship… Continue reading
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The Best of Genre Fiction From 2024
This January, librarians from across the country met to hash out the best books published in 2024 for adults. The Notable Books List highlights literary fiction, nonfiction, and poetry; the Listen List is all about outstanding audiobooks; and The Reading List, which I want to focus on today, highlights outstanding genre fiction in eight genres: Adrenaline (aka thrillers, adventure… Continue reading
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2025 Seattle Reads Selection Celebrates Poetry and the Natural World
We are so excited to share this year’s selection for Seattle Reads, the Library’s citywide book group: Edited by U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón, “You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World,” celebrates our deep connection with the natural world and the collective power of poetry. For the book, Limón invited 50 American poets to observe… Continue reading
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New Fiction Roundup, February 2025
Ok, we’re a month into 2025. How is your reading going? For those on a roll, or those still on the hunt for their first good read of the year, February brings a range of offerings. And of course, don’t miss the new Peak Picks titles coming to branches in February. 2/4: The Dissenters by… Continue reading
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February 2025 Author and Community Events at the Library
The Library has many programs that will get you reading, talking and connecting this month, including a sweet silent reading program at the Green Lake Branch; an event featuring Jennifer Finney Boylan talking about “Cleavage,” and Omar El Akkad in conversation with Ijeoma Oluo about his new book “One Day Everyone Will Have Been Against… Continue reading
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A Peek at Peak Picks – February 2025
We’re adding eleven books to Peak Picks in February! In fiction, Pulitzer Prize finalist Eowyn Ivey (The Snow Child) returns to the mythical landscapes of Alaska with an unforgettable dark fairy tale that asks the question – can love save us from ourselves? – in Black Woods, Blue Sky. TJ Klune is back with a supernatural road-trip thriller featuring… Continue reading
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New Teen Romance – January 2025
We updated our Teen Romance list in time for February, and here are six of our favorite titles. In All Alone with You by Amelia Diane Coombs, loner Eloise agrees to volunteer to help out seniors so she can pad her college applications. Her trainer and partner, Austin, takes an instant liking to her, but… Continue reading
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Middle Grade Fiction for the New Year
I’m still a huge fan of middle grade fiction and love finding new titles to enjoy, even as an adult. Here are some that I recommend for the new year A Whale of the Wild by Rosanne Parry Vega, an orca whale living in the Salish Sea, knows that someday she will take on the responsibility… Continue reading
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How to Read More in 2025
“Books are uniquely suited to helping us change our relationship to the rhythms and habits of daily life in this world of endless connectivity. We can’t interrupt them; we can only interrupt ourselves while reading them.” — Will Schwalbe, “Books for Living“ Here’s a secret: Librarians give you permission to read anything you like because… Continue reading
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Depth Year Skills: Stitching Across Time
One of the things I love most about working in a library is the immediate access to books and other media that help me learn how to do things. The O’Reilly Database is a fantastic place to find scientific, technical, and computer skills resources, like the Canva Cookbook, which can teach me how to make… Continue reading
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Friendship Stories for the New Year
Though we often associate love stories with romantic partnership, Lilly Dancyger’s First Love: Essays on Friendship highlights the role that friendship plays in forming our associations with love, as well as opportunities to care for one another and show forms of love we may not receive in our families of origin or romantic relationships. After reading… Continue reading
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Miss Amanda’s Picture Book Picks – January 2025
Picture books are such a wonderful way to explore the world, and I am a firm believer that they can be enjoyed by all ages. Here are three new(ish) books that I recommend as we start the new year. Brown Girl, Brown Girl, written by Leslé Honoré and illustrated by Cozbi A. Cabrera Honoré wrote… Continue reading
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New Teen Fiction for 2025
As we launch into the new year, we recommend eleven of the best and most popular new novels for teens. In Aisle Nine, by Ian X. Cho, Jasper spends his life recovering from a head injury that left him with deep amnesia and working for a retail store where, in aisle nine, there is a… Continue reading