New Fiction Roundup, January 2020

Whether reading is part of your New Year’s resolutions, or already a tried-and-true habit, here are some new novels coming out in January 2020 to consider.

1/1: Lost Hills by Lee Goldberg – Recently promoted as the youngest female homicide detective in the history of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Eve finds herself faced with a crime scene of horrific carnage, but curiously absent of bodies, with just her instinct to go on and a lot of people looking for her to fail.

1/7: The Heap by Sean Adams – In this near-future dystopia, a 500-story building has collapsed, becoming The Heap. Except there’s a survivor, Bernard, somehow broadcasting a radio show from inside the wreckage. Can his brother find him, or will corporate interest prevail?

1/7: Topics of Conversation by Miranda Popkey – This novel about sex, violence, and self-loathing consists of conversations between women over 20 years in the life of an unnamed narrator.

1/14: Cleanness by Garth Greenwell – An American teacher, living in Bulgaria, grapples with the intimate encounters that have marked his time abroad and reflects on a life transformed by the discovery and loss of love.

1/14: Followers by Megan Angelo – Budding novelist Orla and aspiring A-lister Floss come up with a plan to launch themselves using social media; 35 years later, government-appointed celebrities live every moment on camera, and one of them discovers a buried connection to Orla and Floss.

The Yule Log Times Three!

Seattle Weekly

Each of us has a picture that pops into our minds whenever we hear about the yule log. Whether it’s a log on the fire during Winter Solstice, a decadent dessert, or a cozy mystery. Here are a few items in our collection to celebrate the yule log in its many forms!

For apartment dwellers or those of us without a fire place you can stream your yule log fix! Access Video offers an hour of log burning, with music included, in The Ultimate Yule Log – “the Christmas classic! Instrumental and vocal music set against yule log fireplace footage. Songs include “Silent Night,” “Deck the Halls,” “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” ”O Come, All Ye Faithful,” “Good King Wenceslas,” and more!”

Holiday Shopping Guide from Reader Services

Happy Holidays! Here are some of our 2019 favorites for the readers on your shopping list this year:

Edge of Your Seat
• The Last Woman in the Forest by Diane Les Becquets
• The Last House Guest by Megan Miranda
• American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson
• Freefall by Jessica Barry
• No Exit by Taylor Adams

Dysfunctional Families
• The Cassandra by Sharma Shields
• The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
• The Grammarians by Cathleen Schine
• Mostly Dead Things by Kristen N. Arnett
• The Lost Man by Jane Harper

Unreliable Narrator
• The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
• They All Fall Down by Rachel Howzell Hall
• Five Windows by Jon Roemer
• Speaking of Summer by Kalisha Buckhanon
• The Need by Helen Phillips

New Fiction Roundup – December 2019

Is the end of the year going by at light-speed for anyone else? It’s passing so quickly for me that I’m a week late in suggesting new fiction to check out this December.

12/3: Dead Astronauts by Jeff VanderMeer – In a City with no name, in the shadow of the all-powerful Company, lives converge in terrifying and miraculous ways. At stake is the fate of the future and the fate of Earth. By the author of Annihilation.

12/3: The German House by Annette Hess – Set against the 1963 Frankfurt Auschwitz Trials, this coming-of-age story follows a young female translator, caught between societal and familial expectations and her unique ability to speak truth to power, as she fights to expose the dark truths of her nation’s past.

12/3: Now You See Them by Elly Griffiths – Detective Edgar Stephens and magician Max Mephisto investigate a string of presumed kidnappings in the swinging 1960s in this fifth book in the Magic Men Mystery series.

12/3: The Peppermint Tea Chronicles by Alexander McCall Smith – Returning to his series set in the boarding house at 44 Scotland Street, summer finds the residents engaging in flights of fancy and pleasant diversions.

12/3: The Sacrament by Olaf Olafsson – The haunting, vivid story of a nun whose past returns to her in unexpected ways as she investigates a mysterious death and a series of harrowing abuse claims.

12/3: This Is Happiness by Niall Williams – In this intricately observed portrait of a community, the residents of the remote Irish town Faha celebrate first love, the return of a long-lost love, the arrival of electricity, and the end of the rainy season.

Audiobooks Voiced by Your Favorite Seattle Actors

It has probably happened to you. You suddenly sense that the performer you’re enjoying live on stage sounds hauntingly familiar. What you may not have realized is that theirs was the voice reading into your airpods on that morning’s commute. Here’s just a small sampling of local talent on audio.

One of Those Malibu Nights, by Ellizabeth Adler, read by Julie Briskman. You’ve likely seen her at ACT Theatre or the Seattle Rep, most recently in Indecent. Now hear her relate how handsome Private Eye Mac Reilly and his intrepid  gal Friday Sunny Alvarez brave the wilds of Malibu  and southern France to save the life of a beautiful movie star from a stalker.

Heyday, by Kurt Andersen, read by Charles Leggett. Veteran character actor Leggett has appeared at Intiman, the Village Theater, ACT and the Seattle Rep, most recently alongside with Julie Briskman in Tiny Beautiful Things.  Now hear how his knack for characters and accents get a full workout in Andersen’s sweeping historical novel.