Message in a Bottle

Common wisdom around here is that summer doesn’t start until after the 4th of July and can stretch into the middle of September. But once the rains get started and we fall back into The Big Dar...

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Join us on November 6 at 6:30 for our next Cookbook Book Club ! Bebe Black Carminito will be joining us to taste recipes from her newly released cookbook, The Curated Board: Inspired Platters & S...

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Brad is taking over the blog today, sharing his passion for horror and his lovingly crafted Haunted Bookshelf (all his own original artwork!) — Lori BRAD: Each October, as the air turns crisp...

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LOCAL AUTHOR EVENT: SEATTLE SAMURAI Kelly Goto’s new book, Seattle Samurai: A Cartoonist’s Perspective of the Japanese American Experience , is a commemoration of the life and work of not j...

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I read Sabaa Tahir’s Ember Quartet long enough ago that only the first one, An Ember in the Ashes , was out — and then had to wait, not so patiently, for each subsequent installment. With nod...

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While it is always great fun talking with customers about our recent reads, it’s even more fun to chat with my co-workers about the books we’ve finished lately. Whenever I work with Nancy Sha...

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It’s been an interesting trend to watch the cross-over between authors who write mainly YA debuting adult titles, and vice versa. Will this author that I’ve enjoyed so much in one category tr...

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One of my favorite parts about working in the Children’s Section is reading the picture books that we order for the store. Some have excellent stories. Some have amazing art. Some have both. Ev...

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When I was a kid, my cousins and I watched the ABC mini-series The 10th Kingdom on repeat because we loved it so much. A woman’s father is kidnapped by trolls and she has to travel to a land fu...

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I know we’re still in August, but I’m starting to get that fall feeling. The few rainy days we had recently meant I wore shoes with SOCKS for Pete’s sake, all our high school bookstore frie...

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My primary knowledge of the past comes by way of historical fiction. It’s a flawed mechanism, I know, since historical fiction, by virtue of having the word “fiction” in it, means that fact...

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Attachments  was the first book by Rainbow Rowell I read. I loved the tension, the measured build to the two main characters finally getting together. So, when it was announced that she had a ne...

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The other day my eight-year-old asked me about my purpose in the world. How was I making the world a better place, she wanted to know. After a moment of thought I told her I hoped I was changing ...

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Many of us had big hopes for future employment when we were younger. Some of us aspired to being astronauts or veterinarians. I was convinced that I was going to be a mermaid fairy princess (that...

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For all you contemporary romance readers, Business Casual , the fourth book in the Lovelight Farms Series came out the other week and I couldn’t wait to put it on my staff rec shelf! When the f...

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Summer is here. The days are warm and long, and the evenings are perfect for sitting outside and reading (or listening and crocheting, in my case) as the sun goes down. The Spellshop by Sarah Be...

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Island Books is delighted to host author Ethan Joella on Thursday, July 18th. Stop by the store at 6:30pm, meet Ethan in person, and hear all about his wonderful new release, The Same Bright Sta...

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Chatting with Cindy about Nancy Drew a few weeks ago reminded me that I had yet to read the latest (and last) Maisie Dobbs novel from Jacqueline Winspear. I’m not ready for The Comfort of Ghos...

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It’s that time of year again, everyone. The time of year when tiny Waldos infiltrate Mercer Island businesses for the month of July. This is one of our favorite annual events, and we love havin...

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There’s been a new addition back in the kids’ section – a lovely collection of vintage Nancy Drew books. Many of us (myself included) read the yellow spine ones at some point in our childho...

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