David W.

  • A Sense of Fair Play

    I love mysteries, and am quick to defend them against snobs as being so much more than mere pastimes and puzzles. The style, introspection and character development in many crime novels easily rivals what one sees in mainstream fiction, and they often best historical fiction as a diverting way to explore another culture or era… Continue reading

  • My Bloody Lutefisk: The Scandinavian Mystery Boom

    What with so many Scandinavian crime writers getting translated lately, a trip down the mystery aisle has been getting more and more like a visit to IKEA. I mean seriously – you be the judge: SCANDINAVIAN CRIME WRITER, or IKEA FURNISHING? ALÄNG                              6. BOHOLMEN             FOSSUM                           7. KARLJOHAN BIRKELAND                     8. NESSER NESBØ                               9. KJELL KNUTAS                          10. HAGALUND 1.)  … Continue reading

  • An eBook for True Booklovers.

    If 2011 is the year of the eBook, it might also be considered the year of the eBook rant, as editorials declare their undying loyalty to leather tomes. eBooks just don’t compare, they say. How can you curl up with an eBook, they ask? eBooks just don’t feel the same in your hand, they don’t have the same texture, they don’t have… Continue reading

  • Let me tell you a story

    In March of 2005, I sat down in front of a crowd in our auditorium and read them a story about a man planning to poison his wife. Six years later, our regular lunch hour program Thrilling Tales: A Storytime for Grownups is still going strong on the first and third Mondays of every month,… Continue reading

  • A book I’d overlooked

    Walking around the library I have to deliberately ignore the shelves sometimes, shutting out the siren song of all those stories crying out to be read. Some I’ve always meant to read, but many more are perfect strangers to me: little worlds languishing on the lower shelves, waiting to be opened. One especially beguiling title… Continue reading

  • Desert Island Books

    There seem to be a lot of lists of Desert Island books out there, such as this one here on Nancy Pearl’s Booklust site, or this person’s Flickr album, or this cute cartoon thingy. What bugs me is that no matter how many interesting or worthwhile titles one finds on these lists, almost none of… Continue reading

  • Thrilling Tales for 2010.

    Entering its sixth year, the library’s Thrilling Tales: A Storytime for Grownups continues to thrill and delight. Last year’s season was our most popular yet, and this year we’ve got a great slate of tales, many from yesteryear. Thrilling Tales takes place in the Microsoft Auditorium on level one of the Central library, on alternating Mondays from 12:05 –… Continue reading

  • LOL Cats LIVE at the library!

    How does one build an empire on pictures of cats with silly, misspelled captions? As most of us know, the Cheezburger Network – which consists of more than thirty popular humor sites such as I Can Has Cheezburger, FAIL Blog, There I Fixed It, and Photobombs – has become an Internet phenomenon. Its daily collection of LOLCats,… Continue reading

  • Still More Books Worth Talking About

    Here is another mixed batch of literary food for thought, and for discussion. The Condition, by Jennifer Haigh The McKotch family unravels during the summer of 1976 when 13-year-old Gwen is diagnosed with Turner’s syndrome, leaving her forever trapped in the body of a child. Twenty years later, the three siblings are still dealing with… Continue reading

  • Great writers born in 2010, so far.

    It seems as though we’ve lost an awful lot of writers in 2010, and the year’s still young. Many will remember where they were when they heard J.D. Salinger was gone, and the recent deaths of Robert B. Parker, Dick Francis, Kage Baker, Louis Auchincloss, Barry Hannah, Erich Segal, Howard Zinn and others have made this… Continue reading

  • More Books Worth Talking About

    Good titles for book discussions come from all over the place, and provoke all kinds of responses. Here is a diverse international blend: The Elegance of the Hedgehog, by Muriel Barbery Nobody guesses at the unplumbed depths hidden behind the veiled eyes of the self-taught drudge Renée or the precociously suicidal 12-year-old Paloma, until one man… Continue reading

  • Books worth talking about.

    As sure as the Seattle Winter turns to Spring, and then back to Winter again, readers will come to the library looking for something new for their book group. Here are some of our suggestions for books that will inspire discussion, and even complement each other in interesting ways. Man in the Dark, by Paul Auster… Continue reading

  • Science: Deep Thoughts, Deep Space

    Physics of the Impossible: a scientific exploration into the world of phasers, force fields, teleportation, and time travel by Michio Kaku 2008 Kaku examines the stuff of science fiction – time machines, invisibility cloaks, starships – and uses the laws of physics to judge their feasibility.   The Unfinished Game: Pascal, Fermat, and the seventeenth-century… Continue reading

  • J.D. Salinger Dies: Share Your Feelings.

    I just learned that J.D. Salinger, author of Catcher in the Rye, died yesterday at the age of 91. Of course I’m a fan (and for me it is more Franny and Zooey than Catcher). How to describe the strange feeling hearing this news has given me? As though an old friend from high school or… Continue reading

  • Christmas Stories and Poems.

    Having a hard time getting in the holiday spirit? Gather round and listen to some heartwarming holiday tales and poems. My new favorite blog is USEDBUYER 2.0, a delightful collection of essays, doodles, reviews, clerihews, quotations, observations and all manner of wonderfulness from out of the mind of Brad Craft, used book buyer for the… Continue reading

  • Kirkus Reviews to cease publication.

    More bad news on the publishing front, I’m afraid. Today it was announced that KIRKUS Reviews will be closing its doors, to the dismay of librarians (and the secret delight of authors) around the world. I can think of few better ways to pay tribute to and commemmorate the passing of this epoch-making review source, than… Continue reading

  • Happy Hallowe’en: A Spooky Story for you.

    After years of sharing thrilling tales with a lunch hour crowd in the Central library, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to share a short and spooky tale for Hallowe’en, on NPR’s All Things Considered. Enjoy! For more such tales, join us at the library for Thrilling Tales: the story time for grownups. Continue reading

  • Seattle’s New Bookfest: of course you’re going.

    I am bummed. After five years without a local literary festival, there’s a brand spanking new one launching not just in my fair city, but right smack in my own neighborhood, Columbia City, aka the best neighborhood in the northwest; yes, I’m biased. The first annual Seattle Bookfest will be happening on October 24th and 25th at the Columbia City Community Center,… Continue reading