Books

572 Stories

Soundside

Hear it again: A Puget Sound tech dystopia: Vauhini Vara's "The Immortal King Rao"

The fictional tech company at the center of the new book, “The Immortal King Rao,” is called “Coconut.” It’s a rough amalgamation of Apple and Microsoft of the 1980s and 1990s, driving a personal computer revolution, and later it morphs into a Google, Amazon and Facebook avatar in the way it gobbles up peoples’ data and monetizes human interaction.
By
Libby Denkmann

Alec Cowan

Sep 01, 2022 at 9:03 am
Soundside

The books that bind us -- your favorite Washington books and authors

Summer is a great time to curl up in the park with a good book. It's also a time when we start to thaw a bit from our Seattle freeze and head out to explore everything Washington has to offer. From the Palouse to the Peninsula, we have a lot of landscapes to explore. Those landscapes -- and their histories -- have inspired many of our local authors. Today Soundside speaks with some of your favorite authors about what makes Washington a literary wonderland.
By
Alex Rochester

Libby Denkmann

Alec Cowan

Aug 08, 2022 at 4:14 pm
Weekend Edition Sunday

Authors and bookstore owners worry a big publishing merger will affect diversity

The proposed merger between Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster will likely change things for authors and readers - for better or worse
By
Chloe Veltman

Aug 07, 2022 at 6:00 am NPR
Soundside

What was life was like after the Great Spokane Fire of 1889?

In her novel Fire Season, Leyna Krow weaves together three fictional accounts of life after the Spokane Fire of 1889 - following the grifters, con artists, and incompetent leaders trying to build their reputation and make a quick buck in Spokane.
By
Libby Denkmann

Jul 21, 2022 at 2:53 pm
New owners, same local feel: Elliott Bay Book Co. changes hands

Seattle's beloved Elliott Bay Bookstore is changing ownership for only the second time in its 49 year history.
By
Paige Browning

Jun 03, 2022 at 4:11 pm
Speakers Forum

A wild literary ride from rural Vancouver Island to Station Eleven and Sea of Tranquility

‘All anybody wanted to talk about was the pandemic, which I resisted for about a week, and then I realized we all need to talk about the pandemic. It's not even like it was the elephant in the room. It's like it was the room. It was unavoidable.’
By
John O'Brien

May 18, 2022 at 8:54 pm
Speakers Forum

‘What will I carry forward?’ A journey through wilderness, dementia, and memory

‘It took her some time to find her voice, but when she did she said three careful words, it’s so beautiful.’
By
John O'Brien

May 12, 2022 at 12:53 pm
Speakers Forum

One man’s story of the scourge of child sexual abuse

‘In the equation of institutional sexual abuse, the constant is the abuser. There's always going to be a certain percentage of child sex abusers in the population.’
By
John O'Brien

May 04, 2022 at 7:43 pm
Speakers Forum

In honor of women: poetry and music of struggle and joy

One poet asks, ‘Will you not open this door for me? My hand is exhausted from knocking at your door.’
By
John O'Brien

Apr 14, 2022 at 12:04 pm
Soundside

Adulting 101: Tap into your inner child

Throughout this pandemic many of us have dipped into nostalgia and tapped into childhood to cope. Borrowing from the past can be helpful, but it can also be really hard to go back there. That’s where inner child work comes in.
By
Brandi Fullwood

Libby Denkmann

Apr 12, 2022 at 4:59 pm