Andrea G.

  • #BookBingoNW: published when author was under 35

    Book Bingo 2019 is now underway, and we know many of you are out there pouring over your 2019 bingo cards planning what to read, so today I’m here to help you fill the “published when author was under 35” square. Here are some suggestions for fiction, nonfiction and memoir published when the author was… Continue reading

  • Let’s Go Outdoors

    Spring is sprung, friends, and if that means you’re looking to start hiking then we have guides to help you find trails. From urban hikes to nearby national parks, there’s a little something for everyone. Most of the guides below include information on length and difficulty of hikes, elevation gain, best seasons to hike each… Continue reading

  • New Fiction Roundup, May 2019

    With a trio of new releases by local authors (Chiang, McGuire, Bauermeister), a selection of contemporary romances, several short story collections, and the long awaited latest from Thomas Harris, May should have a little something for every reader. 5/7: The Bride Test by Helen Hoang – Khai Diep, on the autism spectrum, is mortified when… Continue reading

  • New fiction roundup, April 2019

    Now back to our regularly scheduled programming, and the books actually coming out this April. In the fiction realm, you have several options for revisiting high school and its lasting impacts; stories of immigrants trying to forge their lives in the United States; and much more. Happy Reading! Continue reading

  • Historical fantasy – the best of both worlds!

    I appreciate the way genre designations can make books easier to find, but I confess that I love the bleeding edges where books shade from one genre into another; my current bailiwick is historical fantasy. I find that it brings the best elements of historical fiction – a strong sense of time, place, and culture… Continue reading

  • New Fiction Roundup – March 2019

    March sees several new books by Seattle writers, the newest from a former Seattle Reads author, masterful debuts, and the latest from some blockbuster literary fiction authors. 3/5: Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid – A novel about the whirlwind rise of an iconic 1970s rock group, their mesmerizing lead singer, and… Continue reading

  • Read along: Iditarod 2019

    This Saturday, March 2 the 47th Iditarod will begin. 52 mushers and their sled dog teams will run 1000 miles of rough terrain from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska, contending with mountains, frozen rivers, sub-zero temperatures, and sleep deprivation. The route roughly follows historic mail routes from the early 20th century, when gold came out and… Continue reading

  • Fresh Romance Picks

    Romance is a genre with prolific writers and many sub-genres, which means there’s always something new to get excited about. Here are a few titles published in the past year; find a list of 25 recent titles selected by librarians in our catalog. A Princess in Theory by Alyssa Cole Naledi Smith is an epidemiology… Continue reading

  • New Fiction Roundup, February 2019

    February may be a short month, but it packs in a lot of new fiction releases. From quirky family sagas, to stories of immigrants at home and abroad, to some powerhouse fantasy novels, it’s a great month to find something you know you’ll love or to branch out in new directions. Continue reading

  • Winter Reads

    There’s something about cold weather and dark nights that make me want to find a book full of snow and curl up on the couch. If you feel the same, check out one of these recent titles. The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden – In early 1900s Russia, young Vasya roams her father’s… Continue reading

  • New fiction roundup – January 2019

    Did you set a reading resolution to start the new year? If you’re looking for books to get you started, here are a crop of titles coming out in January – from explorations of near-future societies, to eerie short stories, to picaresque adventures and mystery, there’s a little something for everyone. 1/8: An Anonymous Girl… Continue reading

  • 2019 Reading Resolutions

    It’s the end of December, a time when many are setting New Year’s Resolutions, although I personally prefer to just go with a list of goals. Whatever your terminology, perhaps you’re considering a reading resolution? If you’d like to undertake one but you’re unsure where to start, here are a few ideas: BY NUMBER The… Continue reading

  • New Fiction Roundup – December 2018

    12/4: The Accidental Beauty Queen by Teri Wilson – School librarian Charlotte finds herself filling in for her glamorous twin sister who falls ill the night before a beauty pageant. 12/4: The Dakota Winters by Tom Barbash – This family saga follows the Winters family, living New York City’s famed Dakota building, in the year… Continue reading

  • A Foray into Gothic Fiction

    Reading Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier in 7th grade was a formative moment for me: I learned the vocabulary word sepulchre; I was deliciously creeped out. It wasn’t until this year, though, that I realized Rebecca was part of a larger type of fiction that I really, consistently enjoy: Gothic fiction. The good news for… Continue reading

  • A trio of novels for Native American Heritage Month

    November is Native American Heritage Month, a time designated to honor the histories, cultures, and contributions – historical and ongoing – of American Indians and Alaska Natives. You can check out a booklist of novels by Native American authors published in the past five years in our catalog. Highlighted here are three outstanding novels from… Continue reading

  • New Fiction Roundup – November 2018

    11/6: The Best Bad Things by Katrina Carrasco – In 1887, Alma Rosales goes undercover as a man to hunt for an opium shipment missing from a Washington Territory outpost. 11/6: The Colors of All the Cattle by Alexander McCall Smith – In this latest installment of the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, Precious… Continue reading

  • Intriguing Middle Eastern Fiction

    In a return to our intermittent series on interesting international fiction, enjoy this snapshot of titles by Middle Eastern novelists published in the US in the last year. Beginning in Turkey, check out Elif Shafak’s latest novel The Three Daughters of Eve, a story set over a single evening in contemporary Istanbul, as Peri attends… Continue reading

  • A trio of reads on Western land

    The land and coasts that make up the West are many things to many people: recreation areas, sacred sites, grazing land, just to name a few. In the past five years we’ve seen an escalation, reflected in mainstream news stories, of the conflicts among groups with differing visions for public lands: from the ongoing fight… Continue reading