Fifty years after publishing his first novel—the wonderful Wobble to Death, about murder during a Victorian race walking competition—British author Lovesey returns to the sports world in this 19th mystery starring Detective Superintendent Peter Diamond. In the run-up to Bath, England’s spring half-marathon, we’re introduced to Maeve Kelly, a usually non-athletic schoolteacher, who’s training for this …
Despite my natural pessimism, this book broke down my defenses and set me up to root for a well-earned, conventional kind of happy ending. But then it took a turn and became an altogether different story, leaving me to sputter along with the characters, “Unfair—this is not what I was expecting.” I was crushed. And …
On most occasions when I’ve read a book and been struck by its uniqueness, it’s because of something unfamiliar about it, something strange I’ve never seen before. This is the first time one has stood out for its relentless and positively brilliant mundanity. The title characters of Irish writer Rónán Hession’s debut novel are two meek, …
In the latest Madison Books newsletter, James and Connor write that “one of our booksellers… is taking her talents eastward to enrich, enlighten, and energize everyone around her just as she’s done for us in Seattle. We’ll miss you, Erica, and let you have the last word as we sniffle on the sidelines, waving goodbye.” …
Home cooking is all the rage these days (gee, I wonder why?) so a new cookbook is just the thing to keep boredom away from your dining table. Among the newest is one by a native son of Madison Park, Ned Baldwin, who is now a restaurateur running (after a stint at the prestigious Prune) …
This book, by the author who brought us the wildly popular Born to Run, is much more than the cover lets on. If you need a total change of pace, and to be brought fully away from our moment of despair, you need this book, about donkey-racing, animal husbandry, and making the impossible real. Community …
The slim volumes in the Zoey & Sassafras series have much more in them than you’d expect—mystery, fantasy, and actual science. In each book, Zoey and her feline sidekick come to the rescue of a new magical creature by using a combination of gumption and smarts, modeling the research and study practices scientists use in …
Out of an abundance of caution and concern for everyone, this year’s Seattle Independent Bookstore Day, originally scheduled for April 25, has been postponed. August 29, 2020, a Saturday, is the tentative new date. Visit our SIBD web page seattlebookstoreday.org. It lists all of the bookstores involved in this year’s event. Many, if not most, …
by Paul Constant for The Seattle Times (originally posted Jan. 21, 2020) Nourishing “long roots”: In a year, Madison Books has forged an essential role in one of Seattle’s oldest communities Decades before Seattle Center was built, Madison Park was where Seattle came to have fun. Early settlers in Pioneer Square would escape the hustle …
This short story collection does what Yuknavitch does best—asks you to trade your life for a book that is just strange and beautiful enough for you to make the deal. I floated through these stories the same way I’ve floated through her other work, almost unaware of time passing. Her endangered characters make terrible and …
