Andrea G.

  • For Writers: Getting The Historical Details Right

    by Andrea There is no one season for writing, but often the fall feels like a time of rededication – students back to school, weather which encourages staying indoors, even National Novel Writing Month in November if sprint writing is your thing. To help you refocus, through November the Library is offering a variety of… Continue reading

  • Seattle Cooks: Canning and Fermenting

    Posted by Andrea G. It’s time to get canning, pickling, and fermenting, and preserve some of that market fresh goodness for the rest of the year. Also, you’re a grown-up; it’s time to start eating – and enjoying – turnips!! Brined Baby Turnips    —  Adapted from Saving the Season by Kevin West Yields 1… Continue reading

  • Your Next 5 Books: poetic post-apocalyptic and police procedurals

    In this column we regularly highlight a Your Next 5 Books submission that we find interesting, funny, unique, or useful to other readers. Submit Your Next 5 Books entry now, or stop by and see us in person, and maybe you could see your (anonymous) reading habits on Shelf Talk! Continue reading

  • Behind the scenes in North Korea

    If you’ve been following international news lately, you have probably noticed a spike in rhetoric and tension coming out of North Korea, and corresponding political maneuvering from South Korea and the United States. Fortunately for information buffs, in the past five years several excellent non-fiction books have been published that provide us a rare peek… Continue reading

  • For the love of llamas

    Have you noticed all the recent books* starring llamas? In case you’ve missed out, here’s a list for the whole family: Llama of Death – the third installment in the Gunn Zoo Mysteries series by Betty Webb – features Alejandro, a grumpy llama who loves children. When a dead man is found in Alejandro’s pen,… Continue reading

  • On the Pitch: Books about soccer (Go, Sounders!)

    I am a thematic reader – I love to read summer books in the summer months, books chock full of snow in the winter months, books about family during the holidays and about love around Valentine’s Day. This, as an avid soccer fan and supporter of the Seattle Sounders, means that this time of year… Continue reading

  • What’s Next? David Tennant and Doctor Who

    Oh, David Tennant; you were the only Doctor for me. Over the holidays, the British TV series Doctor Who bid farewell to its 10th Doctor and welcomed a new actor to play the 11th (confused? Think James Bond, but with an explanation for the change). Now that it’s over, how are David Tennant fans to… Continue reading

  • The movie made me love the book: Jane Austen

    We all have one (at least) of those books: a book that you had to read in school and weren’t that into, but is hailed throughout the English-speaking world as a masterpiece; a book that you wouldn’t read again because it’s now so fraught with memories and expectations. For me, that book was Pride and… Continue reading

  • Further down The Road: Dystopian Fiction

    If Cormac McCarthy’s book The Road – or the movie adaptation hitting theaters October 16 – piques your interest in fictional visions of a dystopian, post-apocalyptic world, here are some other books to check out. There’s been a massive flood and only one family, on an ark, has been saved.  Sound familiar?  The Island at the… Continue reading

  • Music + Books = Delightful Synergy

    Music and reading are subjects that, separately, many people are passionately enthusiastic about.  But what about great music-book pairings for those of us who love them both?  A way to soundtrack our reading, if you will.  For my own personal love match, there is something about the Death Cab for Cutie album Transatlanticism that I… Continue reading

  • Short Stories – all the narrative you want, now condensed!

    There comes a point during summer – usually toward the end – when my reading momentum begins to flag and I find it difficult to muster the energy required to pick up the next 400 page book.  The answer, for me, is short stories.  Done well, a short story does everything a novel does: there’s… Continue reading