biography

  • Nonfiction for Women’s History Month

    Nonfiction for Women’s History Month

    Celebrate Women’s History Month with this selection of recently published memoirs and history highlighting women in the United States, and find more in our booklist Women’s History Month 2025. The Movement: How Women’s Liberation Transformed America, 1963-1973 by Clara Bingham Weaving together over 100 oral histories, Bingham brings to life the first ten years of… Continue reading

  • Women’s History Through Film

    Women’s History Through Film

    Every so often, we like to remind folks about the incredible wealth of content available through the Library’s streaming databases, such as Kanopy. And what better way to celebrate Women’s History Month than watching a series of documentaries about inspiring women? For those wanting to learn more about Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman elected… Continue reading

  • Hamilton and Hip-Hop

    ~posted by Karen D. I did not do well in my high school history class.  As a matter of fact I received a failing mark. Since then, however, I’ve had a lot of fun reading my own selection of books about history.  Some of these books have grabbed and kept my interest throughout the reading… Continue reading

  • Nightstand Reads: Christopher Barzak, author of “Before and Afterlives,” shares what he’s reading

    Christopher Barzak will be reading from his recent collection of short stories, Before and Afterlives, on Wednesday, June 25th at the Central Library on Level 4, Room 2 at 7:00 p.m. His novel One for Sorrow was recently made into the film Jamie Marks is Dead, starring Liv Tyler and Judy Greer. Christopher was kind enough… Continue reading

  • Books that are One with the Bike

    I’ve been reading some interesting books about bikes and bike riding, racing and commuting. Here are a few books that have an interesting angle or two. Sometimes the angle is from the ground looking up. Come and Gone: A true Story of Blue-Collar Bike Racing in America by Joe Parkin This is Parkin’s follow up to… Continue reading

  • Winsor McCay: Ahead of his time

    Have you ever looked at the art of someone like Hieronymus Bosch and wondered “What century did this guy come from?” He lived in the 15th and 16th centuries, but his art is so modern and fanciful that it almost seems out of place. Did Bosch hitch a ride in a flying saucer and visit 1940?… Continue reading

  • Explore your Inner Captain: Great Reads about Nautical Pioneers

    Ah, sailing: the full sail puffed up with pride, the wind whipping through my hair, the salty scent of brackish water. At least, for the next 89 minutes. Then I have to return the rental boat.  The beautiful waterways in and around Seattle inspire us with dreams of great voyages, whether you’ve got  Old Salty… Continue reading

  • Frost/Nixon at the Library.

    For many of us who grew up in the early 1970s, Richard Nixon was almost a storybook figure, his iconic visage glowering from hundreds of political cartoons, his resignation speech one of our “where were you when” moments. (At Summer camp, eating supper in silence while listening to the radio, since you asked). As years go by, his administration… Continue reading

  • Public Health

    There probably aren’t many people who could say they “like” diseases, but they are interesting subjects for researchers and writers.  Especially interesting are accounts of how society copes with illness, now and in the past – and in what ways particular diseases were perceived by the society struggling with them.  Here are a few investigations… Continue reading

  • Ghost Singer as Author

    As I read a recent Seattle Times review of the traveling production, My Fair Lady, the name Marni Nixon “jumped out” at me. The former Seattlite was playing the non-singing role of Higgins’ mother. What a surprise, she’s still active, I thought. A long time admirer of hers, I wondered what would it be like… Continue reading

  • Who was Shakespeare?

    While the academic world is solidly behind William Shakespeare of Stratford, such notables as Mark Twain, Sigmund Freud, Derek Jacobi, Walt Whitman and Orson Welles have questioned whether he could have written the works credited to him. Among those who suspect that Shakespeare of Stratford was not the author of the plays and sonnets, the candidates… Continue reading

  • Bard Bio

    As a lifelong Shakespeare fan, I’ve known of the various debates about which of his plays came first, whether Shakespeare was indeed Shakespeare (and not, say, Francis Bacon), whether he loved his wife, how educated he was, and so on with the minutiae.  I admit I haven’t much cared, preferring to focus my attention on the sublimity… Continue reading

  • Growing Up Small

    A Girl Named Zippy: Growing up Small in Mooreland, Indiana by Haven Kimmel. This witty memoir about growing up in a small town in the 1970s is quirky, endearing and laugh-out-loud funny.  Although populated with some peculiar characters, this autobiography is not a depressing account of dysfunction. There is something joyful and uplifting, though certainly… Continue reading

  • Nonfiction Book Discussions for 2008

    Book groups may occasionally select a biography or a nonfiction title to discuss, but few – except the Nonfiction Book Group here at the Library – are devoted to exclusively reading and discussion nonfiction titles. New members are always welcome! The group meets on the third Tuesday of each month at noon on the 8th… Continue reading