library staff

  • A Vitamin D Deficiency Rx: A Little “Light” Reading

    As we approach the winter solstice with its abbreviated daylight, many of us in the Pacific Northwest find ourselves in need of a little light therapy. To infuse some much-needed luster into our lives, we’ve compiled an eclectic-and electric-selection of books, music, and videos. Cozy up in a chair and read by the radiant warmth… Continue reading

  • Visiten nuestra página en español!

    La biblioteca pública de Seattle añade páginas en español al Web de la biblioteca. El pasado 19 de noviembre la biblioteca pública de Seattle lanzó la nueva sección en español en el Web de la biblioteca. La nueva sección en español contiene cerca de 30 páginas adicionales de información como: Visite la biblioteca Calendario de… Continue reading

  • The Secret Lives of Authors: Literary gossip

    What does it mean to know a lot about writers’ personal lives? That I am a literary snoop?  Why is it that I can remember that Jean Korelitz Hanff is married to poet Paul Muldoon, that the mother of  YA author Margo Rabb died at a young age of cancer, that Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman… Continue reading

  • Some books we’re thankful for.

    Other Voices, Other Rooms by Truman Capote Capote’s first published novel displays thoroughly his skills at poetic description. This is a story of illusions from the inner self of Joel, a sensitive young man, as he copes with the strange household that becomes his home. Coming from New Orleans, he passes through Biloxi and with… Continue reading

  • See the world from a different point of view: Read a book by an animal

    Woof! Woof! Miaow! Miaow! Books with talking dogs and cats are as numerous as feathers on a hen. Witness Sight Hound by Pam Houston or Caroline Alexander’s Mrs. Chippy’s Last Expedition: The Remarkable Journal of Shackleton’s Polar-Bound Cat. Our canine and feline companions are forever sticking their little wet noses into criminal investigations, as well.… Continue reading

  • The End of the Alphabet, by C.S. Richardson

    While checking in a batch of library materials recently my attention was caught by a little book and on a whim I checked it out. It was a novella by C. S. Richardson entitled The End of the Alphabet, and while I was drawn initially to its theme of travel my interest was held by… Continue reading

  • Napoleon on the Nile at the Frye

     How did 19th century artists and scientists come to rediscover Egypt and the Middle East? How did the images and explorations of those artists and scientists spark “Egyptomania” as a cultural phenomenon? Two museums in the Puget Sound area try to answer those questions with complementary exhibitions that look at Egypt and the Middle East… Continue reading

  • 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

  • Our Newly Enlarged French-Canadian Genealogy Collection

    The Seattle Public Library’s French-Canadian Genealogy Collection has expanded over three fold, thanks to the generosity of Carmen Westwater Anderson, who is a local French-Canadian researcher.  Many of the titles in her gift are not available anywhere else on the West Coast. This addition consists of over 180 Repertoires (indexes) to marriages, baptisms and burials from the Catholic… 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

  • Halloween Costumes – DIY

    If you’re anything like me, and studies show you are, Halloween has already got you in a tizzy. The big question is how to outdo your friends and families with an amazing, clever and altogether unforgettable Halloween costume. As we all know, the best Halloween costumes are DIY (Do-it-Yourself) through and through. The venerable CityRag… Continue reading

  • Emerald City Search and Year of the Frog

    Here is another opportunity to celebrate frogs this year. The third annual Emerald City Search will take a frog theme in honor of The Year of the Frog. The goal is to find a special medallion hidden in a public place somewhere in Seattle, and whoever finds it first will win $2,500 in cash and… Continue reading

  • Tom’s Midnight Garden

    I have just read again one of my very favorite children’s books, Tom’s Midnight Garden, by Philippa Pearce, a book that like all the best children’s books can be read with a great deal of pleasure by adults. I know that I find new depths every time I read it. It is a fantasy about… Continue reading

  • Before Autumn Leaves

    Before autumn leaves, settle down into a bounty of words, sights and sounds that crackle with the color and energy of the season.  Then, take a few moments to take in an eclectic array of books and CDs that’ll bring an extra spark to warm the chill heading up that frosty hill. Let’s start with some… Continue reading

  • Top Ten Things to Do in our Music Practice Rooms

    Drumroll Please! You’ll have to imagine you are hearing one of those amazing announcer voices reading the list below (with no apologies to any TV show): #10 Play 1 piano 4 hand duets with a friend. #9 Play your favorite song with different keyboard sounds. #8 Improvise on that tune you can’t get out of… Continue reading

  • The Piano: A Romance on Three Legs

    Few other instruments equal the piano for beauty, simplicity, engineering and sensitivity. For more than one hundred years pianos have been found in homes all around the world. It is the easiest instrument to make music on, but also fiendishly difficult to master. Our love affair with the piano has grown over the years. In… Continue reading