Lost Classics

  • 125th Anniversary Series: What We Were Reading in 1891

    2016 marks the 125th anniversary of The Seattle Public Library. After it was adopted as a department of the city in 1890, the Library opened its first reading room in Pioneer Square on April 8, 1891. To honor this milestone, we will be posting a series of articles here about the Library’s history and life in… Continue reading

  • Fantasy Checklist Challenge: Classic Fantasy

    ~posted by Meranda T. Classic Fantasy is both old and new. What we casually think of as Fantasy is relatively new. However, Fantasy has been around for ages if we take into consideration fairy tales, myths, folk stories, and legends. Look to the Brothers Grimm, Charles Perrault, Yei Theodora Ozaki, and many more for translations of stories… Continue reading

  • Who is Fantômas?

    “Fantômas.”                 “What did you say?” “I said: Fantômas.”                 “And what does that mean?” “Nothing…Everything!”                  “But what is it?” “Nobody….and yet, yes, it is somebody!”                  “And what does the somebody do?” “Spreads terror!” A century ago, these words unleashed reign of terror upon the literary world which continues to this day. It was… 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

  • Publisher Crush: Hesperus Press

    Perhaps it is a side effect of being around books all day, but about as often as I find myself falling for a particular author’s style or voice, I become fascinated with a particular publisher or imprint. I’m especially fond of re-print houses that specialize in bringing back into print those lost treasures and hidden gems… 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

  • The Slaves of Solitude by Patrick Hamilton

    Hamilton’s best-known title is Hangover Square, but I think that the recently re-printed The Slaves of Solitude may be a better introduction to his genius to most readers, with its more measured, benevolent view of human folly and its sympathetic heroine — the sober, bewildered Miss Roach. Having fled the bombings, Roach returns from London each night to a boarding house in a quiet suburb where she… Continue reading