Nonfiction

  • A president in the family

    During this presidential election, I am reminded of our family’s dearly held connection to another president, in another time. Our family has always been proud to be able to claim a connection (although distant) to Franklin Pierce.  My mother and grandmother took our family history very seriously. Stories and White House artifacts we own were… Continue reading

  • Staff Favorites: Non-Fiction Thrills.

    The Devil’s Teeth: A True Story of Obsession and Survival Among America’s Great White Sharks by Susan Casey “The killing took place at dawn and as usual it was a decapitation, accomplished by a single vicious swipe.” Thus begins this intriguing look at the great white sharks that congregate every fallat the Farallon Islands, just… Continue reading

  • The Haunted Northwest

    Over the years, reference staff dealt with questions about ghost stories, preferably authentic, in the greater Seattle area. Some of the haunted locations which patrons wanted to research included the Manresa Castle in Port Townsend, the Martha Washington School for Girls which is now a park, the Pike Place Market, and the Harvard Exit theatre… Continue reading

  • Gearing up for NaNoWriMo — National Novel Writing Month

    November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), a creative frenzy in which tens of thousands of ordinary people around the world sit down in coffee shops, at kitchen tables, and in classrooms to compose their own 50,000 word novels in 30 days. Nanowrimo is not about producing brilliant writing, but about finally putting that great… Continue reading

  • Sea Monsters

    The Telegraph and Yahoo News have given me nightmares for life by reporting on a story involving a giant catfish in India with a taste for human flesh.  Yes, you read correctly.  Catfish. Human. Flesh.  The alleged Bunyanesque catfish is also known as a goonch which have been known to appear in the Great Kali… Continue reading

  • Nightstand Reads: Martha Brockenbrough’s essential books for writers

    It’s a little daunting to write a proper introduction here about Martha Brockenbrough. She is the founder of SPOGG, the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar, as well as National Grammar Day (which received quite a lot of press attention). Her new book, Things That Make Us [Sic], which just came out today, takes… Continue reading

  • Mishima’s Sword

    Mishima’s Sword: Travels in Search of a Samurai Legend  by Christopher Ross. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, I lived in a southern city in China called Guangzhou. At that time Guangzhou was more vibrant than ever.  People were pouring into this so-called Window of the South Wind city to look for opportunity. Many… Continue reading

  • Nightstand Reading: Eric Liu

    Editor’s note: Whether he’s interviewing Daniel Schorr at Town Hall, inspiring leadership or talking about patriotism, local author Eric Liu manages to get us thinking—and to get the conversation going. In The True Patriot, a book written in the pamphleteering style of Thomas Paine, Liu and co-author Nick Hanauer offer a lively challenge to look… Continue reading

  • Bungalow Nation

    I love craftsman bungalows. I love the open floor plans, the overhanging eaves with the knee braces, the porches with the pillars, the classic bungalow interior wall with a fireplace flanked by windows and built-in bookcases, the nooks and crannies, the stained glass, wood, stone and tile work, the sconces and the chandeliers. What’s not… Continue reading

  • Big Change: Modernism

    At some point in the recent history of western civilization, a big cultural change occurred-in Europe, but especially in the United States. This change was so complicated that scholars really can’t grasp it completely. There was the nineteenth century, and then there was the twentieth-so very different from each other, in art, in music, in… Continue reading

  • Celebrating the freedom to read for over two millennia

    This month and next all over Seattle (and all over the country), libraries will be putting up displays and posters and hosting events in honor of Banned Books Week (Sept 27 – Oct 4). The annual event, started in 1982 by the American Library Association, is a celebration of your freedom to read, and an important reminder that… Continue reading

  • Washington Wines & Wineries

    There is a lot of talk these days about eating locally produced food.  Should this also extend to drinking locally produced wine? I think so!  Washington state is home to many fine wines and wineries, and you can learn all about them at the Library.  If you’re interested in visiting – or learning about – any of… Continue reading

  • Oliver Sacks walked my dog this morning

    Oliver Sacks has been hanging out on my iPod for a few months. I actually forgot he was there until this morning when I was looking through my podcasts and found his presentation at the Central Library. At one hour and one minute, that’s about the right length for a walk with my hound, Owen.… Continue reading

  • Science Books for the Non-Scientist

    I am not a scientist, but I’m married to one.  I was an English major and for most of my life have been a loyal fiction reader.  A few years ago, though, I began dipping into nonfiction and discovered that there is a rich realm of science books for the non-scientist.  Many are elegantly written… Continue reading

  • Central District and High Point reader suggestions

    Readers from the Douglass-Truth Branch and the High Point Branch offer some of their favorite books from this summer. Here are suggestions for some late-summer memoirs, a medical thriller set in Seattle, poetry and novels. Readers in Douglass-Truth’s Adult Summer Reading Program suggest: Shame on It All by Zane A captivating story of three sisters showing the true meaning of… Continue reading

  • What Is a Mix Tape?

    “When I first saw you, I saw love.” “All you need is love.” “Love is a battlefield.” “I’m not going to write you a love song.” “I’m all out of love.” From famed music critic and contributing editor at Rolling Stone Magazine, Rob Sheffield’s book Love is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song… Continue reading

  • A book leads to redemption: Bringing honor to Fort Lawton soldiers from World War II

    The tale begins in WWII era Seattle. Our city was host to 200 Italian prisoners of war and a number of African-American servicemen in transit, at Fort Lawton on Magnolia Bluff. The Italians were treated more hospitably than the African-Americans — and tension rose. In one dramatic night of violence, one of the POWs was… Continue reading

  • Americans in Paris

    Oscar Wilde said that good Americans go to Paris when they die, but for many the ville lumière was a regular destination in life, and for some, the one place where they felt free to live realized, adult lives.  Herewith, a few titles by and about notable American lovers of Paris: Paris was Yesterday by… Continue reading