Nightstand Reads

Nightstand Reads with Author and Editor Becky Siegel Spratford

November 3, 2025

Hear Becky discuss her latest book, Why I Love Horror: Essays on Horror Literature with Sadie Hartmann, aka Mother Horror, at Central Library this Thursday, November 6th at 7pm. This event is presented in partnership with Charlie’s Queer Books and the Horror Writers Association of America’s Seattle Chapter. Continue on for her nightstand reads! While… Continue reading
Nightstand Reads with Moira Macdonald, Seattle Times Critic and Author of ‘Storybook Ending’

May 16, 2025

Ready for some super summer reading recs? We asked Moira Macdonald, Seattle Times arts critic and author of the debut novel “Storybook Ending,” to share some of the books currently crowding her nightstand (virtual and physical). Come celebrate the release of “Storybook Ending” with Moira on Wednesday, May 28 at the Central Library! Registration is… Continue reading
Nightstand Reads with Tricia Romano, author of The Freaks Came Out to Write

March 14, 2024

Tricia Romano, author of The Freaks Came Out to Write: The Definitive History of the Village Voice, the Radical Paper That Changed American Culture and a member of the 2023 Writers Room cohort at The Seattle Public Library, shares some books she’s loving. Romano will be appearing in conversation with Dan Savage at Town Hall at… Continue reading
Nightstand Reads with Tobi Ogundiran

July 21, 2023

Tobi Ogundiran’s debut short story collection Jackal, Jackal is out this month with Undertow Publications, and he will be in Seattle at the Central Library in conversation with Nisi Shawl on Wednesday, July 26th at 7pm. Third Place Books is our community partner on the event. We asked him to share a bit about his… Continue reading
Nightstand Reads with Bonnie Garmus, author of Lessons in Chemistry

February 16, 2023

Bonnie Garmus, author of Lessons in Chemistry, shares some books she’s loving. Garmus will be appearing in conversation with Nancy Pearl at the Central Library at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 23. Set in 1960s California, Bonnie Garmus’ blockbuster debut novel follows Elizabeth Zott, a scientist whose career is shaped by the idea that a… Continue reading
Book picks from the author of ‘Growing Up Gorilla’

September 27, 2019

Clare Hodgson Meeker’s new nonfiction picture book, Growing Up Gorilla: How a Zoo Baby Brought Her Family Together, is a heartwarming true story about a baby gorilla at the Woodland Park Zoo. When a mother gorilla walks away from her newborn, the staff at the zoo finds innovative ways for mother and baby (Yola) to… Continue reading
Nightstand Reads with author Sara Donati

September 19, 2019

Where the Light Enters is the latest from Sara Donati, a bestselling author known for her riveting and well-researched historical novels. We asked her to share her own reading list with us: I read a wide variety of fiction and non-fiction out of personal interest and professional necessity. My novels are deeply researched, so I spend… Continue reading
Naomi Shihab Nye shares her Nightstand Reads

September 9, 2019

Internationally beloved poet Naomi Shihab Nye, who is coming to Seattle September 19 for a SAL event, shares a mix of her recent favorites in fiction, memoir, nonfiction and poetry. Nye is the author and/or editor of more than 30 volumes, including 19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East (a finalist for the… Continue reading
Nightstand Reads: Trudi Trueit recommends middle-grade novels to read now

October 17, 2018

Seattle author Trudi Trueit’s newest book, The Nebula Secret, is part of the Explorer Academy series of novels from National Geographic. We asked Trudi to tell us about some other middle-grade books she’s been reading and loving. Here are five she recommends: Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed When Amal, a young Pakistani girl,… Continue reading
Nightstand Reads: Author Will Taylor Shares Some Favorite Middle Grade Books

May 22, 2018

We’re delighted to have Seattle author Will Taylor, whose debut middle grade novel Maggie & Abby’s Neverending Pillow Fort came out last month, here to share with young readers and parents five novels he can’t wait for you all to read. But first, let us tell you a bit more about his novel: Maggie &… Continue reading
Nightstand Reads: Seattle author Kim Fu shares recent favorites

February 12, 2018

Our guest blogger today is Kim Fu, author of the forthcoming novel The Lost Girls of Camp Forevermore, in which a group of young girls descend on Camp Forevermore, a sleepaway camp in the Pacific Northwest, where their days are filled with swimming lessons, friendship bracelets, and camp songs by the fire. Filled with excitement and… Continue reading
Omar El Akkad, author of American War, on reading and the radical act of empathy

April 10, 2017

Our guest blogger Omar El Akkad has been garnering rave reviews for his powerful, thought-provoking debut novel, American War. Set during the Second American Civil War of 2075, American War lays bare our own fractured cultural and political existence in a dystopian fantasy that rings all too true for many others struggling in war-torn places of the world. Today he shares… Continue reading
Nightstand Reads: Michael Engelhard shares his favorite Nature Writing.

November 18, 2016

Our guest blogger today is Fairbanks author and wilderness guide Michael Engelhard, whose latest book Ice Bear: The Cultural History of an Arctic Icon, was just released by University of Washington Press. As a “nature writer” myself, I read voraciously in this field. In part, this is research for my own nonfiction projects. I’d also… Continue reading
Nightstand Reads: Jane Wong

November 3, 2016

Our guest blogger today is Seattle poet Jane Wong, visiting Assistant Professor at Pacific Lutheran University and author of Overpour, shares with us her current project and a few books of inspiration. She will be at MadArt at 7pm on Nov. 8 for the event “The Poetics of Haunting.” Dear Readers, My project, The Poetics of Haunting,… Continue reading
Nightstand Reads: Seattle author Sharon H. Chang shares from her bookpile(s)

September 21, 2016

Our guest blogger today is Sharon H. Chang, author of Raising Mixed Race: Multiracial Asian Children in a Post-Racial World. Sharon H. Chang is a writer, scholar and activist who focuses on racism, social justice and the Asian American diaspora with a feminist lens. She serves as a consultant for Families of Color Seattle and… Continue reading
Nightstand Reads: Bob Wyss

July 25, 2016

Bob Wyss is associate professor of journalism at the University of Connecticut and a journalist who has written for the New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, Boston Globe, Smithsonian, Providence Journal and Yankee. His most recent work is the 2016 book, The Man Who Built the Sierra Club: A Life of David Brower. He will read excerpts from… Continue reading
David Bowie’s Favorite Books, at your library.

January 11, 2016

Music legend, movie star, icon, iconoclast, and yes – reader. As part of the Victoria and Albert Museum’s 2013 exhibit “David Bowie Is,” Bowie shared an eclectic list of 100 favorite books. Here they are, in reverse chronological order, linked to the library catalog. Still looking for a reading challenge for the next year, or five? This… Continue reading
Nightstand Reads: Seattle mystery novelist Ingrid Thoft shares some favorites

June 16, 2015

Our guest blogger today is Ingrid Thoft, author of the Fina Ludlow mystery series (now in development as a series for ABC Studios) about a private investigator working with her three attorney brothers for her father’s maybe-shady Boston law firm. Brutality, the third in the series, comes out June 23. Start with Loyalty, move on to… Continue reading