Nightstand Reads
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Nightstand Reads: Stewart O’Nan shares his reading list
A review in the Washington Post of The Odds started with this: “Stewart O’Nan seems incapable of writing a false line” and later said “O’Nan is an author you learn to trust, no matter what he’s writing about.” Many of our librarians and readers feel the exact same way, and that’s why we’re thrilled to have… Continue reading
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Novelist Adam Johnson’s insights into North Korea
Editor’s note: We are thrilled to have Adam Johnson here today talking about books about North Korea and one of his research trips for his novel The Orphan Master’s Son. I must admit that I’m a huge fan of The Seattle Public Library—its yellow tubes and downhill stacks, the way rain sheets off the glass… Continue reading
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Nightstand Reads: Karen Gaudette
As a writer, food lover and former reporter, I look to cookbooks as entry points to a variety of cultures and eras. Ever wonder why Southern cookbooks devote so many pages to dessert? One trip to my husband’s grandmother’s church social in middle Tennessee, with its bountiful tables of cakes and pies, neatly answered that… Continue reading
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Nightstand Reads: Matthew Amster-Burton
When I’m sick, sad, or don’t know what to eat for lunch, I always turn to Asian food for comfort. Usually it’s some kind of spicy noodles, like pad Thai or the Tetsu Hell Fire dipping ramen at Samurai noodle, a dish you can’t eat without looking like a barbarian. Similarly, when I wander into… Continue reading
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Nightstand Reads: Greg Atkinson
As a food writer, I use words and letters almost without thinking. Just as whisks, rolling pins, pots and pans are incidental to the actual foodstuffs with which they interface, so words and letters, paragraphs and sentences are just a means to an end. The end is whatever meaning I hope they will eventually convey… Continue reading
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Nightstand Reads: Russell Banks
Usually I’m reading three or four books more or less simultaneously — just starting one, halfway through a second, and about to finish a third or fourth. They await me somewhat impatiently in different spots around my house and studio: the bedside table, yes, and the chairside table in the living room, even the kitchen… Continue reading
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Nightstand Reads: Author Julie Otsuka talks about books
Author Julie Otsuka will read from her new novel, The Buddha in the Attic, on Friday, September 23, at 7 p.m. (doors will open at 6:30) at the Central Library. We’re thrilled to have Ms. Otsuka as a guest blogger today: One of the most emotionally affecting books I’ve read recently is a short novel… Continue reading
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Nightstand Reads with Marcellus Turner, our new city librarian!
Editor’s note: Marcellus Turner, the city librarian for The Seattle Public Library, will be checking in with us occasionally to let us know what he’s reading. We’ll turn it over to M.T. now! So, here am I, trying to write a “Nightstand Reads” when in truth, nothing around me evokes the comfy feeling that one… Continue reading
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Nightstand Reads: Novelist Meg Wolitzer
Meg Wolitzer’s newest novel, The Uncoupling, just came out this week. Wolitzer, whose other novels include The Ten-Year Nap and The Position, will read on Monday, April 11, at 7 p.m. at the Central Library. We are thrilled that she’s our guest blogger for today, telling us about her nightstand reading stack: I tend to be a… Continue reading
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Nightstand Reads: On tour with The Head and the Heart
What do musicians read when on tour? We asked Charity Thielen, vocalist and violinist in The Head and the Heart, to give us a peek at her nightstand reads (or, rather, tour van reads) when they were on the U.S. leg of their three-month tour (they’re playing in Amsterdam tonight, then it’s on to Glasgow). We’ve… Continue reading
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Nightstand Reading: Kerry Colburn and Jen Worick
We asked local authors Kerry Colburn and Jen Worick to share their nightstand reads with us! Being asked about our nightstand reads is like being asked to choose between children … but we will for the sake of SPL. Jen’s nightstand: After reading A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness, which I loved, I went on… Continue reading
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Nightstand Reads: Debut novelist Laurie Frankel shares her summer reading
We’re excited about novelist Laurie Frankel’s debut novel, The Atlas of Love, the story of a young single graduate student in Seattle who becomes pregnant and with the help of friends raises her baby, Atlas. Library Journal said, “Frankel’s debut is a wonderful literary treat that offers a fresh twist on the modern family.” Laurie,… Continue reading
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Nightstand Reading: Translator Bruce Fulton
Editor’s note: Seattleites Bruce and Ju-Chan Fulton will read from their translation of the work of Hwang Sunwon at the Montlake Branch on Tuesday, May 25, at 6:30 p.m. We asked Bruce how he and his wife came to work translating the masters of Korean literature. We also asked him what books (not in Korean) he… Continue reading
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Nightstand Reading: Newbery winner Rebecca Stead
This month’s guest blogger is Rebecca Stead, author of When You Reach Me, a middle-grade novel that just won the Newbery Medal (the most distinguished honor in children’s literature). Rebecca is in Seattle today to visit schools, chat with Nancy Pearl for an upcoming episode of Book Lust on the Seattle Channel and to read tonight… Continue reading
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Nightstand Reads: Royce Buckingham
Seattle writer Royce Buckingham is the author of Demonkeeper (“scary and laugh-out-loud funny” said a School Library Journal Review) and Goblins (“a riotously good adventure” said Kirkus Reviews) . We asked this imaginative writer of teen books what he’s been reading, but forgot to ask him where he got the t-shirt he’s sporting in the photo below.… Continue reading
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Nightstand Reading: Seattle novelist Heather Barbieri’s late summer reading
In Heather Barbieri’s newest book, The Lace Makers of Glenmara, 26-year-old fashion designer Kate Robinson heads to Ireland to change destructive patterns in her own life. In Glenmara, Kate finds inspiration in the local lace-making society. Fans of Maeve Binchy’s work and The Friday Night Knitting Club (Kate Jacobs) will find much to enjoy in Lace Makers.… Continue reading
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Nightstand Reading: Amy Stewart on plant books, and planting books.
Most authors who write about plants are only of interest to the green thumbed, but Amy Stewart’s books are for everyone. Her latest – Wicked Plants: The Weed that killed Lincoln’s mother, & other botanical attrocities – might even save your life, or your pets’. Amy will be appearing around the area next week, including an evening… Continue reading
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Nightstand Reading: Author Lisa Lutz talks about what she’s reading — and even what she’s not reading
Lucky us! The author of the hilarious mystery series starring Izzy Spellman will be in Seattle next week. Double lucky us—because Lisa Lutz sent us a note from her book tour to give us a peek at what she’s reading: Since I’ve been under a strict deadline lately, and am currently on a book tour,… Continue reading