Peak Picks
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A Peek at Peak Picks – June 2026
We’re adding ten new Peak Picks in June! In fiction, from Lisa See comes the story of three Chinese women whose unexpected friendship helps them survive and, despite the odds, thrive, in the turmoil of post-Civil War Los Angeles in Daughters of the Sun and Moon; Paul Tremblay delivers a genre-bending near-future tech nightmare that… Continue reading
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A Peek at Peak Picks – May 2026
We’re adding eleven new Peak Picks in May! In fiction, Laurie Frankel returns with an exuberant and timely new novel, Enormous Wings, about 77-year-old Pepper Mills, who moves into a retirement community, falls in love—and becomes pregnant; the latest from Walter Mosley, Ghalen, is a beautiful coming-of-age novel that explores love in all forms—romantic, familial,… Continue reading
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A Peek at Peak Picks – April 2026
We’re adding twelve new Peak Picks in April! In fiction, Emma Straub returns with an irresistible story about what happens when your teenage fantasy comes true after you’re already an adult as she sets sail on a cruise ship for a four-day themed voyage with all five members of a famous 1990s boyband in American Fantasy; Evelyn… Continue reading
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A Peek at Peak Picks – March 2026
We’re adding twelve new Peak Picks in March! In fiction, Maria Adelmann’s newest novel follows an adjunct professor gigging her way through academia’s poor job market when she crosses paths with her old PhD adviser whose new novel might be about her in The Adjunct; the latest from Elizabeth Berg, Life: A Love Story, is a warm, intimate novel… Continue reading
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A Peek at Peak Picks – February 2026
We’re adding ten Peak Picks in February! In fiction, Jonathan Miles (“a writer so virtuosic that readers will feel themselves becoming better, more observant people from reading him”– Los Angeles Times) delivers a blackly comic literary gem in which a broken man confronts a broken world on an uninhabited Pacific island in Eradication; Jasmin Kirkbridge debuts with a… Continue reading
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A Peek at Peak Picks – January 2026
We’re adding ten new books to Peak Picks in January! In fiction, Gabriel Tallent’s sophomore novel tells a story of intense friendship and grit, following two down-and-out teens who escape their lives and chase a different future through rock-climbing in Crux; Rosie Storey debuts with a modern love story about a woman who leads… Continue reading
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What Seattle Read in 2025: The Library’s Most Popular Checkouts
It’s always fascinating to compile The Seattle Public Library’s top checkouts for the year to get a sense of what’s been on the minds of Seattle’s readers. In 2025, they turned closer to home and explored local voices — perhaps not surprising given the state of national dialogue. Several of our most checked-out print books… Continue reading
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2025 Horror Fiction Picks
Explore the world of horror fiction with some of our librarians’ favorites! These titles were chosen as Peak Picks earlier this year and can now be found in our regular collections. They capture a wide range of horror subgenres, from historical to the weird and cosmic. Here you’ll find Gothic tales, witches, carnivals, social and… Continue reading
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A Peek at Peak Picks – November 2025
We’re adding ten new Peak Picks in November – including some late October releases! In fiction, Marisa Kashino’s debut follows Margo, a desperate buyer on the edge in an insanely competitive housing market in Best Offer Wins, a darkly humorous exploration of class, ambition, and the modern housing crisis; Oynkian Braithwaite, author of the smash hit My… Continue reading
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A Peek at Peak Picks – October 2025
We’re adding ten new Peak Picks in October! In fiction, Anna North astonishes with the tale of Agnes, an American forensic anthropologist who is called to investigate a body found in a bog in Northwest England – but this body is unlike any she’s ever seen – in Bog Queen; Daniel H. Wilson draws on his… Continue reading
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A Peek at Peak Picks – September 2025
We’re adding eleven new Peak Picks in September! In nonfiction, Elizabeth Gilbert, who taught millions of readers to live authentically (Eat, Pray, Love) and creatively (Big Magic), shows how to break free with her first nonfiction book in a decade, All the Way to the River; Pulitzer Prize-winner Stephen Greenblatt explores the dangerous times and fatal genius… Continue reading
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A Peek at Peak Picks – August 2025
We’re adding eight new books to Peak Picks in August! In fiction, acclaimed sci-fi author Annalee Newitz delivers a cozy near-future novella about a crew of leftover robots opening their very own restaurant in Automatic Noodle; Joy Fielding’s riveting psychological thriller features a dementia patient who makes a shocking confession—and the one woman must decide whether… Continue reading
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A Peek at Peak Picks – July 2025
We’re adding eight new Peak Picks in July! In fiction, Ruben Reyes Jr.’s piercing debut novel follows two families in alternative timelines of the Salvadoran civil war − a stunning exploration of the mechanisms of fate, the gravity of the past, and the endurance of love – in Archive of Unknown Universes; Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Mexican Gothic) returns with a… Continue reading
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A Peek at Peak Picks – June 2025
Check out the eleven new books we’re adding to Peak Picks in June! In fiction, from Taylor Jenkins Reid (Daisy Jones & the Six) comes an epic new novel set against the backdrop of the 1980s space shuttle program about the extraordinary lengths we go to live and love beyond our limits in Atmosphere; from Leila Mottley, the… Continue reading
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Peek at Peak Picks – May 2025
We’re adding ten new Peak Picks in May! In fiction, Ocean Vuong returns with a bighearted novel about chosen family, unexpected friendship, and the stories we tell ourselves in order to survive in The Emperor of Gladness; Christina Li’s adult debut reveals the secrets that lie in wait in the crumbling mansion of a former Hollywood… Continue reading
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A Peek at Peak Picks – May 2025
We’re adding ten new Peak Picks in May! In fiction, Ocean Vuong returns with a bighearted novel about chosen family, unexpected friendship, and the stories we tell ourselves in order to survive in The Emperor of Gladness; Christina Li’s adult debut reveals the secrets that lie in wait in the crumbling mansion of a former Hollywood starlet,… Continue reading
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What Seattle Read in the First Three Months of 2025
Are you curious what books Seattle readers have turned to in a year that’s already been very eventful? See for yourself in our list of top Library checkouts for the first three months of 2025. As usual, the most popular print book checkouts are from the Library’s very popular no-holds, no-wait Peak Picks collection (which… Continue reading
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A Peek at Peak Picks – April 2025
We’re adding eleven new Peak Picks in April! In fiction, Katie Kitamura returns with an exhilarating, destabilizing Möbius strip of a novel that asks whether we ever really know the people we love in Audition; Jon Hickey debuts with a gripping literary debut about tribal power and corruption, family, and facing the ghosts of the past in Big… Continue reading