Category Archives: Books (Libraries and Bookstores)

libraries, bookstores

Little Free Library #8353, Kent and the Neely Soames House

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todayMy dentist use to be kind of nearby, but she moved to a new office in Kent and I faithfully followed here. After my appointment, I wandered off to find a park that promised a pirate’s ship (that didn’t happen) and the adjacent Little Free Library. The historic home was just a bonus!

The Neely Soames House is located at 5311 South 237th Place, Kent in a residential area next to the Green River Trail. The house was constructed in 1884 making it the oldest standing residence in Kent. What I loved about the house was the amazing porch and wisteria. Looking at my photo, it looks like a one story house with abundant landscaping, but it is really a two story house with the wisteria almost completely covering the porch. More information including some interior photos can be found here.

The Little Free Library #8353 is around the corner from the Soames House was built by Orval Dealy at the request of the Kent Senior Center. It has a delightful paint job featuring children at the adjacent park. Inside there are about two dozen books, mostly paperback. The titles include The Fountainhead (which yes, I’ve read) in case you were on the lookout for a little light summer reading.

I found this interesting Pinterest Page with Little Free Libraries from around the glove.

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Little Free Library #6267, Tacoma

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imageWooHoo! Two Little Free Libraries in a row. Tacoma has a couple of dozen Little Free Libraries which were part of the Little Free Library Project. This Little Free Library was created by a grandfather/granddaughter team is located on the south side of N. 22nd between North Hudson Street and North Ferdinand Street.

This “Little Free Library” is unusual in that it has a two toned blue paint job and some kind of sports boards attached to the side. Inside there are over a dozen books.

Little Free Libraries is part of a community movement which offers free books. When I considered my first Little Free Library in November 2012, a Wikipedia article informed me that there were over 200 of these libraries. There are now over 15,000!  Each of the libraries is registered and can be located by their GPS coordinates. Per the November 2012 website:

Our Mission

  • To promote literacy and the love of reading by building free book exchanges worldwide.
  • To build a sense of community as we share skills, creativity, and wisdom across generations
  • To build more than 2,510 libraries around the world – more than Andrew Carnegie–and then more. (yes, they made that one!)

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Little Free Library #16986, Lakewood

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19256413431_e5b9895279_kBack in November of 2012, Tacoma had two little free library, which were part of the Little Free Library Project. Now there must be a couple of dozen little free libraries and Lakewood, WA has two.

This “Little Free Library” is located at 10317 Interlaaken Drive SW, Lakewood, WA. It is unusual in that it is attached to a tree stump and has a darling dragonfly handle. Inside there are about a dozen books, but none for me today.

Little Free Libraries is part of a community movement which offers free books. When I considered my first Little Free Library in November 2012, a Wikipedia article informed me that there were over 200 of these libraries. There are now over 15,000!  Each of the libraries is registered and can be located by their GPS coordinates. Per the November 2012 website:

Our Mission

  • To promote literacy and the love of reading by building free book exchanges worldwide.
  • To build a sense of community as we share skills, creativity, and wisdom across generations
  • To build more than 2,510 libraries around the world – more than Andrew Carnegie–and then more. (yes, they made that one!)

 

Storiebook Cafe, Glen Rose

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14732961299_4eb2b1ff8e_kFlashback! I realized that I never published this lovely summary memory of Storiebook Cafe where mom and I had lunch one hot summer day. Their Facebook Page is here.

Storiebook Cafe in Glen Rose, TX is a delightful combination of two of my favorite things, food and books.  Mom and I went for lunch, a cub of soup & a turkey/avocado wrap for me and a Reubin & soup for her. Both were really good. We shared the blueberry cobbler for dessert.

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Murray Morgan Room in the Northwest Room at Tacoma Public Library

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8897981558_9d11e1498a_hI was lucky enough to have a brief tour of the Murray Morgan Room, which is situated in the Northwest Room of the Tacoma Public Library. The Northwest Room is in Tacoma’s originally Carnegie Library.  I was lucky enough to meet Murray Morgan years ago when he spoke at this very same library. His obituary can be found here. The room is welcoming and houses Mr. Morgan’s personal book collection about the Northwest.

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Edible Book Festival at the Collins Memorial Library at UPS

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8612732922_ca0d1afc7f_bThe Edible Book Festival took place in the Collin Memorial Library at the University of Puget Sound. My favorite was Jello Pages, which was covered in a cheerful yellow jello. It was all I could do not to tap it to see it wiggle 😀

Below are photos of the one day exhibit and some of the exhibits. The art includes Little Men (with small gingerbread men), Ketchup in the Rye, Who is Afraid of Virginia Ham and Moveable Feast (the banana). There is also a photo of the library (interior and exterior) and the bound periodicals entrance. The last one lead to an interesting conversation about old fashioned library practices. The library was constructed in 1954.

 

American Library Association@Seattle

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ALA

The Theme of the ALA Midwinter is “The conversation starts here”. ALA takes place this weekend in the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle. I went up for the day to visit the zillion vendors (more or less) The first person I ran into was somebody that I know! Really there were a bunch of friends there and one long time Facebook, AAUW friend that I got to meet face to face 🙂 And while there were a plethora of phones and tablets, there was also a great deal of discussion. And the vendors were friendly and had excellent freebies! I was particularly interested in learning that Gaylord was promoting Little Free Libraries “Libraries Big & Small We <3 Them All!” I put my name in to win a premade little library structure. While there I also snapped a photo of some of the art, the view and the ALA poster that my daughter (via phone) insisted I purchase.

 

Central Tacoma FREE RADICAL Media Exchange

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Little FreeWhen I went to visit my last Little Free Library in November 2012, there were two in Tacoma, this one in the alley between South Anderson Street and South Oakes north of South 19th Street (#666) and the one pictured here http://blog.firsttries.com/little-free-library-tacoma/.

Now Tacoma has a total of four Little Libraries, so they are gaining popularity. Today’s Little Free Library is really more of a midsized free library with three freestanding shelving units and a several shelves towards the top of an outbuilding. Everything is covered with heavy plastic to protect the books from the Northwest rains.

There were a bunch of books in this collection that I’ve read and enjoyed. I picked out two, Ghosts Stores of Washington State and a dog identification book. The dog book I’m giving to a young friend who wants to be a vet when he grows up. In exchange I left a Lemony Snicket blank book for a budding writer. I’ll drop off another title soon (heaven knows I have a couple of books!). Per the Wikipedia article, there are currently over 200 of these libraries. There are building plans to create the containers or participate may design their own. Each of the libraries is registered and can be located by their GPS coordinates. Per the website:

Our Mission

  • To promote literacy and the love of reading by building free book exchanges worldwide.
  • To build a sense of community as we share skills, creativity, and wisdom across generations
  • To build more than 2,510 libraries around the world – more than Andrew Carnegie–and then more.

Details about the Library Project can be found here: http://www.littlefreelibrary.org/.

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Kinokuniya Bookstore for all your Manga needs

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When dear daughter was in middle school, she didn’t want to go anywhere with her parents. The idea of going up to Seattle was abhorrent to her, but we dragged her along anyway. We stopped at Uwajimaya and the Kinokuniya Bookstore (525 S Weller St
Seattle, WA 98104) and she fell for it — hard. Ever since we have been visiting Seattle’s International District at least once a quarter. Today, my now happy travel companion and I went up to Uwajimaya because we were having an udon craving. We can’t go to Uwajimaya without buying those little chocolate mushroom cookie treats and visiting Kinokuniya. She walked away with a present for her friend, a manga and a CD. The store is packed with manga and all types of traditional, Japanese language books (novels, cookbooks, art, history, etc.). We found both The Hobbit and 50 Shades of Grey in Japanese! There is also a large music selection and plenty of adorable stuffed animals, toys, t-shirts, stickers, pens and miscellaneous. Parking is free for up to two hours with store validation.  http://www.kinokuniya.com/us/

By the way, when we got home… she thanked me for taking her!

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University of Washington Bookstore

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University of Washington Tacoma’s Bookstore is the only bookstore in Tacoma that exclusively sells new books. People think of them as being primarily for student textbooks, but they have a bunch of great stuff including all types of books, art supplies, jewelery, scarfs and, of course, plenty of Huskies material. And there is a Starbucks adjoining. Just remember not to get lost in book store browsing and forget to pay the meter!

https://www.tacoma.washington.edu/shopuwt/business_detail.cfm?business_ID=2

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