From the desk of Kim Smeenk There is a bestselling fantasy series about werewolves and vampires in Washington State, and it isn’t the one you’re thinking of. Instead of the rain, mountains and misty forests that most people think of when they picture Washington State, Patricia Briggs has set her Mercy Thompson series where she herself lives. The dry and sunny Tri Cities region in Eastern Washington. More desert than forest, more farmland than mountains. Mercy Thompson is…
Border Songs. By Jim Lynch (New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2009. 291 pp.) Recommendation submitted by: Will Stuivenga, Cooperative Projects Manager, Washington State Library, Tumwater, WA. Jim Lynch’s second novel, Border Songs (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009), follows his enormously popular debut novel, The Highest Tide. In Border Songs, we follow the adventures of a zany and seemingly dysfunctional cast of characters, of which the foremost is Brandon Vanderkool, a dyslexic, six-foot-eight U.S. Border Control guard who keeps a running daily bird…
The Boys in the Boat. By Daniel James Brown. (New York : Viking Adult, 2013. 416pp.) Recommendation by Mary Paynton Schaff, Reference Librarian at the Washington State Library. Once again the world’s best athletes have gathered to compete in the Olympic games, and television viewers can’t get enough. Standout personalities shine in the individual competitions like speed skating, skiing, and snowboarding. American broadcasts indulge in extended biographical features about our favorite competitors and their hometowns. It’s clear our society loves…
The Drifter. By Susan Wiggs (Don Mills, Ont. : Mira, 2003?. 376 pp. Reprint Ed.) Recommendation by: Carolyn Petersen, Assistant Program Manager, Library Development, Tumwater, WA. The town of Coupeville on Whidbey Island in 1894 is the setting for this historical romance. Coupeville residents have reluctantly accepted female physician Leah Mundy as they don’t have many other options. Leah guards her reputation and her heart until she wakes up to find a gun barrel in her face. On the other end of…
Hunter Kiss (Series). By Marjorie Liu The Iron Hunt (New York: Ace Books, 2008. 305 p.) Darkness Calls (New York: Ace Books, 2009. 303 p.) A Wild Light (New York: Ace Books, 2010. 308 p.) The Mortal Bone (New York: Ace Books, 2012. 287 p.) Recommendation by: Carolyn Petersen, CLRS Project Manager, Tumwater, WA. If paranormal romance that happens in an action packed setting appeals to you, then you will enjoy the Hunter Kiss series. Set in Seattle’s Pioneer Square,…
Bonanzas & Borrascas is a well written two-volume set on mining and mineral investing in the West. The first book is “Gold Lust and Silver Sharks, 1848-1884”, the second book is “Copper Kings and Stock Frenzies, 1885-1918”.
Well written, with great character development, as per usual with author Kate Wilhelm, this NW mystery is just the ticket for anyone who might have overlooked it back when it first came out.
The Pacific Northwest: Growth of a Regional Identity attempts to distill and define the major themes and players in the Pacific Northwestern literature as they trace the development of both the style and substance of the writing represented in our regional literary tradition.
The Pacific Northwest has long been renowned for its lyric lineage, from Ella Higginson through celebrity poets, such as Theodore Roethke and Carolyn Kizer, to our current Washington State Poet Laureate Kathleen Flenniken.
Place, specifically the Olympic coast, plays a major role in this fast-paced adventure story.