Fiction

  • Harry Potter versus Twilight: Who did you vote for?

    Yesterday Seattle teens tackled one of the biggest issues of 2009: Which is better, the Harry Potter or Twilight series? Three-hundred passionate Potter and Bella fans packed the auditorium at the Central Library for this hotly contested literary smackdown. The winner? According to the debate judges … Harry Potter!  A poll of the audience also… 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

  • The Third Policeman

    The Irish may be said to possess the gift of gab, but the truth is they’re none too shabby with the pen, either. Most readers have at least a passing familiarity with the usual suspects-Joyce, Yeats, Wilde-but may not be aware of the lesser known author Flann O’Brien. O’Brien (a pseudonym of Brian O’Nolan) wrote,… Continue reading

  • The Visitor and Little Bee

    Two of the most powerful stories that I recently encountered were stories about immigrants and refugees. One was in a film and the other was a novel, but both left a strong impression on me. In the film, The Visitor, a widowed, burnt-out professor in Connecticut, Walter Vale, (played to perfection by Richard Jenkins, who… Continue reading

  • Reminds Me Of Garden State

    “Maybe that’s all family really is a group of people who miss the same imaginary place.” Ever since Garden State came out I’ve been trying to recreate the sensation I got when I saw that movie for the very first time. You know the laughing, crying, not wanting the story to end. Here are just… Continue reading

  • El Lector

    Our library serves people speaking many languages. Here is one of them. En El Lector de Bernhard Schlink; Michael es un adolescente enfermo de hepatitis, un día al volver a casa se siente mal y una señora lo ayuda. Siguiendo los consejos de su madre va a buscarla y agradecerle lo que hizo por él.… Continue reading

  • Looking for ornery fae in the Tri-Cities

    Moon Called by Patricia Briggs tells the story of Mercy Thompson, an auto-mechanic in the Tri-Cities who can turn into a coyote at will. Mercy’s world is full of ornery fae, egocentric werewolves, and quirky, creepy vampires, all more supernaturally powerful than her. If Mercy can keep her head down and her mouth shut, she… Continue reading

  • My Night with Greg Kinnear

    “There is a story about the Greek Gods; they were bored so they invented human beings, but they were still bored so they invented love, then they weren’t bored any longer. So they decided to try love for themselves. And finally, they invented laughter, so they could stand it.” I put two promising titles on… Continue reading

  • Publisher Crush: Hesperus Press

    Perhaps it is a side effect of being around books all day, but about as often as I find myself falling for a particular author’s style or voice, I become fascinated with a particular publisher or imprint. I’m especially fond of re-print houses that specialize in bringing back into print those lost treasures and hidden gems… Continue reading

  • Nightstand Reading: Get your recommendations from Scottish mystery author Val McDermid

    Crime fiction fans take note: Val McDermid, author of several popular series (including the Tony Hill series) will be at the Seattle Public Library this Sunday at 2 p.m. to read from—and talk about—her newest book, A Darker Domain. We’re wildly excited to host Val on one of her rare Seattle visits as she reads… 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

  • The Street of a Thousand Blossoms, by Gail Tsukiyama

    I haven’t really thought about the lives of ordinary Japanese people during World War II  until I started to read The Street of a Thousand Blossoms by Gail Tsukiyama. The concepts that were deeply rooted in my mind were how the war and Japan’s soldiers brought disaster, tragedy, and despair to the Chinese people and… Continue reading

  • Toronto, Mon Amour

    I grew up in Seattle, and am used to hearing out-of-towners who visit the downtown library raving about our breathtaking city (and libraries). Well now I know how they feel. I just returned from my third visit to Toronto, where I was speaking at a library conference, and have been boring everyone silly with effusions… Continue reading

  • Staff Favorites: Three ‘book group’ books

    A Death in the Family by James Agee Other writers describe this book as a near-perfect work of art. The prose is poetic and musical, and the characterizations are so true to life that you feel you are part of the family, insular and innocent in a small Tennessee town in 1915. With incredible insight… 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

  • Inaugural Buzz

    Transitions of power have always had the capacity to fascinate us, and today’s inauguration is no exception.  Washington D.C. is expecting an influx of 4 to 5 million people trying to get close to the action, and many more of us (including in the Central Library’s own Microsoft Auditorium) will be watching the ceremony on… Continue reading

  • A la sombra del ángel de Kathryn Skidmore Blair

    Our library serves people speaking many languages. Here is one of them. Antonia Rivas Mercado nació en los albores de 1900 en el seno de una acomodada familia mejicana. Desde muy tierna edad sufrió el rechazo de su madre por su color oscuro. A los 12 años su madre abandona la familia para correr a… Continue reading

  • Salem Witch Trials

    As a girl growing up in Massachusetts, I was obsessed for awhile with reading anything and everything about the Salem Witch Trials.  Though my reading interests have broadened since then, I am still fascinated by the maelstrom of social, political and psychological events that led to witchcraft accusations and mass hysteria.  Recently I have been… Continue reading