Emily

Book Bingo 2023

Do you miss the days of checking off a book for summer reading? Do you want to reclaim those days where you had to read during your summer break off from school? Do you just need an excuse to read? Well, you're in luck! Seattle Arts & Lectures and the Seattle Public Library announced on May 25th the squares for this year's Summer Book Bingo. 

We Love Indie Publishers

We Love Indie Publishers

There's just something special about a new title from Milkweed, Graywolf, or Tin House — to name only a few of the groundbreaking independent publishers operating today. I find myself mulling over the beautiful covers, eager to crack the spine without cracking the spine. Some of my favorite books have been published by indie presses, such as Aimee Nezhukumatathil’s World of Wonders from Milkweed and Carmen Maria Macahdo’s Her Body and Other Parties from Graywolf. Copper Canyon Press is also a favorite, publishing poetry books a mere hop, skip, and a jump away from Seattle in Port Townsend, WA. I mean, how cool is it that in this small, nondescript white building in Fort Worden State Park they birthed Ocean Vuong’s beautiful and wildly popular debut collection, Night Sky with Exit Wounds! And these are just some of the indie press titles we have available at Third Place Books.

Adult Summer Book Bingo Recs PART 2

Adult Summer Book Bingo Recs PART 2

Part 2 of our book recommendations for the Adult Summer Reading Book Bingo is here! This game is put together by Seattle Arts & Lectures (SAL) and the Seattle Public Library (SPL). We've got lots of amazing picks for the second half of the bingo card so you can easily check off those squares and be on your way to getting bingo or a full card blackout! The challenge goes until September 7th so you've still got plenty of time to get in some great summer reading and potentially win some prizes.

Adult Summer Book Bingo Recs PART 1

Adult Summer Book Bingo Recs PART 1

Are you participating in the Seattle Public Library's Summer Book Bingo? Have you been meaning to do it during summers passed? Is this the first you're hearing about this? Well, however you answered these questions, I'm here to tell you all about the wonderfulness that is Book Bingo 2021!

Every summer, the Seattle Public Library (SPL) and Seattle Arts & Lectures (SAL) team up to bring hundreds of readers and non-readers alike 24 squares of reading opportunities. Why do kids get to have all the fun? You have until September 7th to read a line of five for a bingo or to read all 24 for a blackout. After submitting it via email, in-person, or social media, you are in the running to win some very cool prizes. 

Your Favorite Literary Underdogs: Short Stories & Essays

Your Favorite Literary Underdogs: Short Stories & Essays

While novels generally take center stage and (let’s be real) steal all the limelight, it behooves me to share my love for the often overlooked and misjudged genre of short stories and essays.

You might be a diehard reader of grand tales and thick tomes. Preferably with lots of characters and plot that grows for pages and pages. The bigger, the better; the longer, the more exciting. And perhaps you believe that short stories and essays tend to end abruptly and without very good resolutions. But I am going to let you in on a secret. The shortness and brevity of these stories can actually work in your favor!

Happy National Poetry Month!

Happy National Poetry Month!

What better way to celebrate April than with poetry books! I am a bit biased as someone who reads poetry not only during National Poetry Month but every other month as well. But I’m here because I love poems and I want more people to love them too. 

Studying it in college, reading it during my lunch breaks, and writing it in my spare time, I am very familiar with the eye rolls and shrugs I get from people when I mention poetry. And, believe me, I understand when they say they just don’t get it because I don't get all of it either. One of the most common responses I hear is that school ruined it for them because required reading sometimes has a way of doing that.The overanalyzing in high school English class, your teacher and their unforgiving red pen, deters readers and nonreaders alike from picking up some of these amazing writers that are doing incredible things with language. Like Billy Collins writes, "all they want to do / is tie the poem to a chair with rope / and torture a confession out of it." You don't need a rope, a chair, or a confession - I promise.

Music to Our Ears

Photo by Malte Wingen on Unsplash

Why we love audiobooks and Libro.fm. Hint: it has to do with five free audiobooks.

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