By Becky Merilatt from Secret Garden Books in Seattle, WA: Four years ago, I came back to work at the Secret Garden after spending a few years at home raising my two boys. My return to work also meant a return to reading, a practice that had nearly been lost to me while elbows deep …
From Third Place Books in Seattle, WA: When I didn’t have a dog, I dreamed about the days when I finally would. I pictured long walks to far flung parks where I would spend an afternoon reading and dozing in the sun with my beloved pal resting against my legs. Or maybe a chilly fall …
I loved this! The oddball narrator might have been irritating if I didn’t find her so relatable–her musings/fixations/insights felt like gentle personal attacks, and they often left me snorting out loud. Read, cringe, and carefully consider whether you’re a moderate or radical rice cracker company worker. It’s important, probably. –Ellen, Queen Anne Book Company, Seattle, …
In The Netanyahus: An Account of a Minor and Ultimately Even Negligible Episode in the History of a Very Famous Family, his deceptively compact sixth novel, Joshua Cohen (The Book of Numbers) blends fiction and nonfiction in a piercingly funny campus comedy brimming with ideas about Jewish history and identity. To readers, the name that …
The Seattle Times’ Paul Constant wrote a lovely profile of Magnolia’s Bookstore in Seattle’s Magnolia neighborhood, “one of Seattle’s most isolated neighborhoods.” For the article, Constant interviewed store owner, Georgiana Blomberg. Blomberg purchased the store in 2001 after working there for almost a decade. Constant also visited the store on a busy Farmers Market Saturday …
Last night I read this wonderful book. The story of a little boy in CT who grows up to be a restaurant critic in Paris, then at Gourmet magazine (oh how I miss that publication). If you love food & dining like I do, you will devour this in one sitting. James Beard, Julia Child, …
If you’ve ever struggled to lead a creatively satisfying professional life, there’s a good chance Cass’s story will resonate. Cass’s chosen career path? Theater. After an entire decade of working on “weird downtown plays” as a no-name playwright in NYC, she wins an award along with $50,000 and lands herself an off-Broadway debut. She’s 33 …
Watch Rachel Griffin talk about her book, The Nature of Witches A magical YA debut about accepting and even embracing changes in yourself. The Nature of Witches is also a love letter to our planet, showing readers how to appreciate what each season has to offer us, to see the beauty in the world we …
It might be nigh on impossible to stay cool in this kind of heat wave, but some bookstores in the Pacific Northwest DO have air conditioning. If you have a safe way to get to them, it would be worth planning a visit. Secret Garden Books in Ballard, Seattle, WA 2214 NW Market St …
I first read Brian Doyle’s The Grail (Oregon State University Press, $18.95) while serving on the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Awards Committee years ago. I fell in love with his abundant affection for people and place and his exquisite prose. Over the years, I had the pleasure of meeting him several times. I was just discovering his poetry/poetic essays and …
