Results tagged “books”

It's a book that will sit on our bookshelf probably until we die, ready to supply a quick trip down memory lane whenever we desire it.

Uh, so why did it take so long for Seattle to re-establish a local book festival after the Northwest Book Festival fizzled out in 2003? Regardless, there seems to have been some sort of suppressed need for such a thing, as the good folks who decided to resurrect a literary festival have received an utter deluge of community support and participation for the project. The inaugural Seattle Bookfest--taking place this weekend at the Columbia City Event Center--is so stuffed with authors and speakers, exhibitors and neat events that it boggles the mind to know that the whole thing evolved from a few Columbia City residents getting together this spring and saying, "Hey, why don’t we try to put together some kind of book festival?"

OCEAN JUNK: Saturday Curtis Ebbesmeyer reads from his new book Flotsametrics and the Floating World: How One Man's Obsession with Runaway Sneakers and Rubber Ducks Revolutionized Ocean Science at the Central Library. Ebbesmeyer is a very smart guy studying a very disturbing and very new topic: ocean-borne trash. If anyone can figure out where those severed feet that washed up around Puget Sound came from, it’s him. A must for anyone concerned about the state of the oceans.

Ballard's Epilogue Books is creating their very own epilogue--and their ending is a sad one for the community and book lovers. Bookstore owner Nathan Heath wrote in a tearjerker e-mail, "So with great regret and heavy hearts Epilogue Books will be closing." Apparently, the beloved book store had been having problems solving (and settling on) lease agreements with the landlord and didn't have enough time to find a suitable new storefront. Now they have 70,000 books, new and old to pull from their shelves. Starting July 5 at 11 a.m., all items will be marked down 20-70 percent off and will continue until the store's anticipated closure in August.

Exactly 20 years ago today, Diane Wei Liang said goodbye to the love of her young life forever. Almost. The preternatural calm over Weiming Lake at Beijing University, patiently awaiting the arrival of army tanks, would have been the perfect setting for two would-be revolutionaries to end their romance that was never-to-be. "Weiming Lake was as peaceful as ever," Liang writes in her memoirs of the heady days of 1989.

Akashic Books is one of the publishers that keeps us excited--they take chances on authors and bring great literature to market in an environment that seldom rewards that sort of foresight. And tonight, another Akashic All-Star tour of some of their finest authors returns to Elliott Bay Books. Achy Obejas is one of the top Cuban writers today, and in her new novel , she tracks the trials and tribulations of a scheming survivor (or better, "endurer") of the ups and downs of post-revolutionary Cuba, where Obejas continues to spend substantial amounts of time.

When we mentioned to a friend that we're re-reading John Steinbeck's Travels With Charley, the friend remarked that he knew another reading same. With summer approaching, maybe the greatest of all American road-trip travelogues (sorry, Kerouac) is just the thing to whet one's appetite for the season of travel.

April 4 is the not-to-be-missed Seattle Edible Book Festival (at Wallingford's Good Shepherd Center, 4649 Sunnyside Ave. N.) where word nerds, book lovers, and creative cooks can get together and cook the books so to speak, or eat their own words and laugh over hokey literary puns.

First of all, let Seattlest be clear up front: we have almost zero respect for Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series. Poorly written, dumb story line, not worth our time. Harry Potter, on the other hand, we loved. A group of opinionated kids at the Seattle Public Library debated the merits of the two series yesterday, and here's the video. Attention, kids: read a lot, frequently, and continue to hone your debate skills--they'll serve you in good stead in MySpace chat rooms for the rest of your lives.

MY AVATAR: We're very fond of the internet and of books, and knowing you, you're fond of those things too. The Richard Hugo House's Literary Series comes to a close with an event tonight called My Avatar, featuring writers who explore identity, technology, and this beautiful wired world in which we live. The Maldives are playing, too, in case you missed them last weekend.

David Williams, the guy who wrote one of the most interesting books about Seattle we've ever read, emailed lately to let us know that what promises to be the absolute most interesting book we've ever read about stone (in a class by itself, actually) is coming in the summer. Where Street-Smart Naturalist explored the plants and animals around Seattle--and not "around Seattle" like just outside Seattle in the Cascades, but "around Seattle" like right there on the sidewalk in front of you--with just a chapter on the stone that can be found in Seattle, this time he's returning to his geologist roots and sticking with rock the whole way through. The book will be titled Stories in Stone.

For the past couple of days, at bottle shops and bookstores around town (12th and Olive, Elliott Bay Books, The Local Vine), Seattle wine lovers had the opportunity to meet the new icon of American curiosity (and irreverence) about wine, Robert Camuto, author of the smash bestseller, Corkscrewed.

He's an American journalist with street cred in two countries: a graduate of the School of Journalism at Columbia and founder of the alternative Fort Worth Weekly. Robert Camuto moved to the south of France 12 years ago (his wife is French), started a blog and began contributing to Wine Specator. And, of course, writing a book.

CACOPHONY: British extreme metal band Cradle of Filth, Norwegian black metal group Satyricon, and Greek death metal band Septic Flesh will converge upon the Showbox at the Market tonight for a riotous, maybe-possibly Satanic, soul-chillingly shockerrific celebration of the dark side this evening. Wear your cutest black leather/nose chain combo and hit up that mess; don't forget your ear plugs.

We take a break from chronicling the collapse of the economy for some happier news. CrunchGear says Kindle 2.0 is finally on the horizon: "We’ve got a seat at another conference on Monday, February 9, and unless they’re announcing a Bezos-themed amusement park in the Ukraine, I’m pretty sure we’re going to see the Kindle 2." Here's a second source, doubters. The design is supposed to be significantly upgraded, but the question everyone has is how much the new candy costs. Will Amazon stick to its $359 guns? And will they make more than 500 of them this time?

As we alerted you the other day, author Steven Johnson was in town this week for a flurry of book talks. We caught up with him at Vivace and talked with him a little about his new book, The Invention of Air, but also about the life of Steven Johnson, author. This is the second and final installment. Here's Part One of the interview.

The King County Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention will double its book budget by ditching their librarians and having inmates and correction officers deliver books within the jails instead. That's how it is in the movies, so we're assuming the new set-up will work just fine. And more money for books is a wonderful development! The P-I's article is warm and fuzzy, and we love us some books, so it's unknown at this point if there even is a downside to the end of the librarian contract. Suffice it to say that if we ever land ourselves in jail, the doubled variety of books to choose from will be much appreciated.

Wow! Today's Friday the twelfth, and that leaves you all of twelve shopping days till Christmas. Which sort of sucks, since you're probably a little nervous about the state of the economy and whatnot and thinking that maybe fattening up the old savings account is a wiser move than buying a new Wii Fit. But insofar as gifts are an unavoidable fact of the holidays, we here at Seattlest thought we'd offer you some clever gift ideas for the holidays with an emphasis on both your budget and what you can do to help grease the wheels of the local economy just a bit.

Books new and used, wi-fi, sandwiches, coffee, and a fireplace: Third Place Books (in both locations) had for years held a perch high up on Seattlest's list of cozy, soul-nourishing morning destinations as the bearer of quite a few good things. When we moved south from our studio apartment on the Ave to a somewhat quieter, albeit shared, old house on Capitol Hill, Third Place's Ravenna location fell into that regrettable out-of-sight-out-of-mind zone. Our visits became rare. When we did remember, the Honey Bear Bakery was always there in the same building to greet us with bottomless cups of dark coffee, warm orange-pecan rolls, or a noon-time sandwich packed with sprouts and hummus.

Author John Updike was at Seattle Arts & Lectures this week. The upcoming SAL appearance of Annie Leibovitz (November 19) is sold out. Michael Pollan (January 12) is almost sold out.

Ten years ago, during the height of the dot-com boom, Seattleites voted to spend almost $200 million to update all of the libraries in our system and to add four new neighborhood branches to it. This week, the Libraries for All Initiative comes to an official close and we thought that, in honor of such a magnificent and useful achievement, we’d allow ourselves the oddity of crushing—for this week only—on an inanimate object: Seattle Public Libraries. We are a bunch of writers who dearly love our books, after all.

The P-I's John Cook reports that Amazon has bought Shelfari. Shelfari is reporting its purchase, too, so it must be true. Wonder if Amazon gets free shipping when it buys an HQ?

IN A WU TANG WAY: Not being of the hip-hop persuasion ourselves, Seattlest asked our resident hip-hop guru Katelyn how relevant it may be to people that Gza of Wu Tang Clan fame is playing at Neumo's tonight. She basically said it was relevant "in a Wu Tang way." We don't know what that means, but if you do, then Neumo's is your place to be.

Seattlest's childhood summers were for three things: camping, sleeping late, and reading. The latter was the most pervasive. We borrowed stacks of ambitiously thick books at a time from the Lake Hills library--a bike ride through the greenbelt away--and we'd burrow somewhere comfortable to read for long hours. We inhaled books, goldfish crackers, and pina colada-flavored slurpees from the corner store during those summers like there was no tomorrow, because back then, it was almost like there really wasn't. At least, there wasn't a tomorrow we needed to concern ourselves terribly with--as long as we had a good book waiting.

Yes, but will it be pork-filled rummage? We've just been alerted that Pork Filled Players, ReAct Theatre, Rk Productions, and SIS Productions are holding a weekend rummage sale from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday the 26th, and from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday the 27th. There you will find "costumes, clothing, small appliances, interesting theatre props, small furniture, equipment, books, knickknacks, and lots of other great finds at bargain prices and all in support of the arts!" It's at Prima Vera Arts Center near the Seattle Center--on the second floor of 112 5th Avenue North. For more info or to donate last-minute rummage, contact ReAct at 206-364-3283.

WHAT A WICKED GAME YOU PLAY: There's some pretty good national names hitting town tonight. But, since Emmylou Harris is sold out at the Zoo, perhaps you'll enjoy the warbling sounds of Chris Isaak at the Chateau Ste. Michelle winery. Tickets for that are still on sale.

One more event for tonight: Christian Lander, the biting satirist of Stuff White People Like, makes a free appearance tonight at the Hideout (1005 Boren Ave) to shill the book based on his blog. There's a private dinner beforehand--begging the question "Exactly what stuff do white people like to eat?"--but tickets to that portion of the evening are long sold out. Show up any time after 8 p.m. to buy a book, get it signed, or just mingle and commiserate with your fellow Caucasians. Prepare for tonight by being offended at the very idea of such a tasteless event, and don't forget to bring your Asian wife and token black friend!

NPR IN DA HOUSE: Seattlest was kind of surprised to hear that tickets are still available for NPR's Wait Wait Don't Tell Me live show at the Paramount tonight. We've never personally been to a live radio show before, but we do love the N to the PR, and we're guessing this'll be well worth your time. In case you don't mack on the NPR, it's the silly quiz show that takes a humorous look at current events. Good stuff.

Weirdly, the case of Amazon's disappearing "Buy Now" button does, in fact, have something to do with Harry Potter. But it's more about accounting wizardry than the fun kind.

FROSH LIT: Desperately hip? Unsuccessful Seattle literary type desperate to bask in the glow of the real thing? Wanna kvetch about how much you hate the stuck-up Ivy League boys over at . It's a book about a bunch of Manhattan office workers, delving deep into the rich inner lives of cubicle dwellers. Or something. Just remember to print a new copy of your manuscript before you try to foist it on him over the book signing table...you want your brilliant new work to stand out!