#BookBingoNW2021 Made You Laugh

Summer Book Bingo has officially launched, so let’s get reading! With so many great categories to work with, The Seattle Public Library staff would love to help you find your perfect match.

You are in no short supply of hilarious books for the Made You Laugh category. Safe bets include the various works of David Sedaris, the essays Sloane Crosley and even the scientific oddities Mary Roach explores, but here are some more newly released titles that may be of interest to you.

You’ll Never Believe What Happened To Lacey: Crazy Stories About Racism, written by siblings Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar, does something few books can: it makes you laugh and think while bringing up cringe-worthy events. The genius of these sisters is that they talk about their experiences with racism through their anecdotes and conversational writing, differentiated with fonts. If a book can be both hilarious and horrifying, then this is it. You may know Amber Ruffin from her work on Late Night with Seth Meyers.

Casey McQuiston’s hilarious romantic comedy One Last Stop picks right up where they left off in terms of pop-cultural references, crazy mix-ups, first loves and laugh-out-loud narration. We find August, a cynical twenty-three year old working at an all-night diner. August really isn’t impressed by much and she definitely isn’t a believer. Then she meets Jane on a subway and something is different; very different – like time-displaced different. What ensues will make you laugh and hopefully end up believing in the impossible. It is great follow up to their debut novel Red, White & Royal Blue.

For the audiophiles out there, finding a great narrator can be a challenge sometimes, but the Made You Laugh category gives you an opportunity to hear hilarious stories told in the author’s own voice. Ali Wong’s Dear Girls: Intimate Tales, Untold Secrets, & Advice for Living Your Best Life is a perfect example of this. In a series of letters (chapters), Ali gives life advice to her daughters, candidly and honestly. If you are familiar with her stand up, this books is right up there, so beware the potty humor.

Wow, No Thank You by Samantha Irby was a finalist for the 2021 Audies award for Humor. (Not familiar with the Audies? They are pretty much the Oscars but for audiobooks.) Samantha’s newest collection of short stories includes stories that are often very self-deprecating and often relatable. She tells it like it is, whether it is about her slowly aging or about settling down, while using brutally honest humor to tell her hilarious stories. She does not hold back, which is the best thing about her.

Finally, be sure to check out Broken (in the Best Possible Way) by Jenny Lawson. While this book describes her struggle with depression and anxiety (something already known to her fans), Jenny takes us on a journey through her experiences with heartbreaking and often devastatingly funny anecdotes, like the time she was attacked by bears or the reason why she can no longer go to the Post Office. She is not afraid to laugh at herself, and we are helpless not to laugh along.

If you haven’t yet, you can download your Bingo card and find some of our curated lists and related articles at our Book Bingo page, and find our Spanish-language Bingo card and lists here! Still looking for ideas? Don’t forget you can ask for a personalized reading list from Your Next 5 Books! Book bingo is presented in partnership with Seattle Arts & Lectures.

Celebrating 30 Years of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): The ADA Anniversary Movie Project

Hello, my name is Isaac. I have worked for the Seattle Public Library for about a year now and I have come to appreciate a lot of what the Library has to offer. I have been recently helping the Library with the ADA anniversary movie project and I would have to say there is a lot I learned about working on the project. A good amount of it is looking up movies for the ADA event and shaving the movie list by narrowing down the number of movies. Growing up with autistic Asperger’s, I have always loved to read despite the challenges. I would never have imagined though that one day I would be working for the Library in downtown Seattle; what a joy and privilege.

Letters to Father Jacob

This is a movie that is about redemption and grace. A seemingly clueless blind priest and a cold former murder convict realize that there is more in common between them than they think.

 

Mozart and the Whale

Two non-stereotypical individuals with autism fall in love in this wonderful yet unusual movie. The girl in the movie has been through a deep life that we do not usually associate with special needs people.

 

Gifted

Gifted is about a gentleman who adopts his niece after her mother passes away. When the niece is found to have high knowledge and her controlling grandmother tries to take advantage of it, the main character must try to make things right.

Fresh Transgender and Non-binary Fiction

As readers’ interest in diverse voices and experiences continues to expand, it can be challenging to keep up. Here’s a variety of recent novels and stories that reflect on aspects of transgender and non-binary lives and identities; see our accompanying list for more.

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.

Top 10 Noteworthy 2019 Speculative Fiction Books Part 1

Even though it’s only October and there are still two more months left for publishing and reading in 2019 we are already assembling our “best lists”.

Here are some of our favorite speculative fiction works this year (so far):

The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders. This is a science fiction novel steeped in the politics and prose of relationships. Humanity has arrived on a cold, tidally-locked planet, January, with searing sun rays on one side and constructed societies of survival in different pockets on the dark side of the planet with different rules and regulations. Sophie and Bianca, and the itinerant Mouth narrate the novel. Sophie is spellbound by Bianca, a beautiful girl from the ruling class with bold ideas about how to change the society they are in, intoxicating with out-sized personality and revolutionary dreams. This is a story of ecological consequences, humanity’s push and pull for control and freedom, our need to have someone to believe in, how our idea of the person we love may be quite different from the person they truly are, and how it is so hard to admit when we have been betrayed by a person we thought worthy of our trust.