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  • Balzac and the little Chinese seamstress

    Since the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976, numerous authors have engaged in profoundly depicting the passage of Chinese history. Among a great number of novels, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie definitely deserves to be mentioned. Originally written in French, this novel tells the story of two teenage boys who… Continue reading

  • Found in the stacks: Women who boat & cook!

    Wandering through the closed stacks at Central, I stumbled across a classic in the maritime genre – a book that could be considered timeless: The Woman’s Guide to Boating & Cooking! Let’s dive deep into the wonderful world of yachting courtesy of Lael Morgan:  A recipe for Rock Lobster-Langouste begins:                “ Kill Lobster “                        … 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

  • Expecting Adam by Martha Beck

    Is it possible that the true account of two Harvard academicians parenting a Downs Syndrome child could be funny? How about hysterically funny? Expecting Adam: A True Story of Birth, Rebirth, and Everyday Magic by Martha Beck is a charming mixture of sophisticated humor, satire (mostly targeted at Harvard), self deprecation and spirituality including visions and out… Continue reading

  • Metro Reads: Books spotted on local buses

    We’re always interested in what people are reading: We’re the ones on buses craning our necks to get a look at book titles and authors. Perhaps you’re the one maneuvering the book cover at the perfect covert angle to make us really work for our noseyness. Or perhaps, like us, you also notice what others… Continue reading

  • Depression: Out of the Shadows

    On May 7th the Central Library is hosting a special preview of a PBS documentary, Depression: Out of the Shadows, followed by a panel discussion focusing on at-risk youth. One out of four young adults will experience a depressive episode by age 24. How does depression impact at risk youth? DEPRESSION: Out of the Shadows, a PBS documentary… Continue reading

  • When you can’t get enough … a trio of literary trilogies

    What if you love a book so much you can’t bear for it to end? There may be a solution: Read books that have a sequel or — even better — read a trilogy. One of the best known general fiction trilogies is Robertson Davies’ famous “Deptford Trilogy,” which focuses on Deptford, Ontario, and its inhabitants and… Continue reading

  • Family photo sparks information quest

    I was looking through some old photographs recently and came across this one, taken in 1950, of my father with his mother and sisters standing in front of a Totem Pole. Dad tells me the family had driven over from Chewelah to visit his grandparents, and while they were in Seattle, they stopped at the… Continue reading

  • Hike Seattle

    Happy Earth Day! All over Seattle, the flowers are blooming, the birds are singing, the sun is peeking out from behind the clouds – spring is finally here! What better time to get out on the trails and explore the beautiful landscapes of the Pacific Northwest? Whether you are a seasoned hiker or novice, there… Continue reading

  • The Making of a Museum

    With the opening of the Northwest African American Museum (NAAM) on March 8, 2008, Seattle’s cultural map expands to include one more unique and interesting destination. Through interactive exhibits, programs and events the museum promises to “document the unique historical and cultural experiences of African Americans in Seattle and the Pacific Northwest.” NAAM is, clearly,… Continue reading

  • 30,000 Years of Art: The Story of Human Creativity

    30,000 Years of Art: The Story of Human Creativity Across Time and Space  inspires readers to think about art in a different way.  Accessible and not stuffy, this work looks chronologically across the centuries of art in a way that avoids the thematic conventions and classifications of the way we typically study art history. This… Continue reading

  • La Suma de los Días de Isabel Allende

    Our library serves people speaking many languages. Here is one of them. El último libro de Isabel Allende La Suma de los días es la continuación de Paula, el libro que Allende escribió después de la muerte de su hija Paula. La suma de los días nos transporta a California, lugar donde reside Allende. Así… Continue reading

  • Pirates in Polite Society: Wharton’s Buccaneers

    An unfinished book by a favorite writer always raises questions: How would it have ended? How would the story have changed as the author developed the characters and explored their lives? If the author started out with a plan, would that have changed as the book progressed? Stories inspired by real people and events also… Continue reading

  • Got Back Pain?

    Many people suffer from back pain. According to MedlinePlus, a free service offered by the National Library of Medicine, “Back pain is one of the most common medical problems, affecting eight out of 10 people at some point during their lives.” It is also the second leading reason that people visit their physicians. A lot of time and… Continue reading

  • The War in Fiction, part 3: The Pacific

    A war is not one story, but many. Here are some novels that view the war through many eyes, reflecting the diverse experiences of civilians and soldiers around the world whose lives were drawn into the Second World War. The Cloud Atlas by Liam Callanan When Louis Belk is deployed to Alaska to head off and diffuse… Continue reading

  • Wisconsin on my mind

    Maybe it’s the dark cold winters and the subsequently long hours spent indoors but a whole lot of writing is going on in the state of Wisconsin. And a lot of it is quality fiction. Two authors new to me live in Wisconsin − Jesse Lee Kercheval author of The Alice Stories, (connected stories poignantly… Continue reading

  • Happy Birthday, Betty MacDonald!

    Every so often history offers us a chance to revisit a good book. This March is the centennial of the birth of Betty MacDonald, author of The Egg and I (1945) which is a memoir of life on a “chicken ranch” on the Olympic peninsula near Chimacum from 1927-1931. Betty observed the very rural and… Continue reading

  • Follow the Yellow Brick Road to Children’s Book Blogs

    Have you ever wondered how to keep up with the thousands of children’s books that are published in a year? Have you always wanted to be able to know more about a book than what you can look through at a bookstore or read the reviews about on amazon.com? Well, here are a few blogs… Continue reading