Books

Men: Think of your closest friend, the person who knows you best, with whom you feel the most comfortable. Your pal, your bud, your homie. What is the basis of your friendship? What would it take to rupture the years of trust and confidence between you? What would you be willing to forgive in order to maintain that relationship? Is there a circumstance in which you might choose your friend over a member of your own family? These are the questions at the heart of Hal Ebbott’s stylish and assured debut novel. Arriving at a moment when there is a widely discussed crisis in male friendship, “Among Friends” is a timely book, placing such a relationship at the center of its narrative.

The tables have turned on longtime Seattle Times arts critic Moira Macdonald.

A longtime frequenter of indie bookstores, Seattle Times arts critic Moira Macdonald collects the ephemera she finds in books – lists, bookmarks, cards. One day, she was in her neighborhood bookstore, Ravenna Third Place Books, and she observed a worker sorting through used books.

“Fur-fat and stock-still in the trail / they appear to be looking / into a mythic sky ...”

If you’re looking for a fun summer novel, Moira Macdonald’s “Storybook Ending” is ready to be packed in the tote bag to read under on a sun-swept afternoon through rose-colored glasses.

Like many of Jess Walter’s novels, there’s usually a connection to that one newsroom on Riverside and Monroe where he spent his formative years chasing crime stories.

Frederick Forsyth, a mega-selling British novelist of political thrillers, cunning spy craft and globe-trotting intrigue who used his own background as a foreign correspondent to inspire such page-turners as “The Day of the Jackal,” “The Odessa File” and “The Dogs of War,” died June 9 at his home in Buckinghamshire, a county in southeast England. He was 86.

In the opening chapter of “So Far Gone,” Rhys Kinnick, a former Spokesman-Review environmental journalist, throws his phone out the car window after a fight with his son-in-law, marking the beginning of several years of isolation.

Art imitates life with deadly accuracy in Jess Walter’s “So Far Gone.”

Craig Johnson’s latest book in the 21-novel Walt Longmire mystery series centers on a profession he admires and wanted to be part of when he was a child: the U.S. Postal Service.

In Craig Johnson’s newest novel, “Return to Sender,” we finally get the answer to the question you never thought you had: “When the mail person with the longest route in the country goes missing, where do you look?” Fortunately for us, Sheriff Walt Longmire’s tenacity and resolve is the perfect guide to this thrilling tale, leading us through the hills and valleys of the 21st installment of the New York Times bestselling Longmire mystery series.

As summer rolls in, now is a good time to make sure you’re prepared with the essentials: sunscreen, a picnic blanket and a juicy romance novel. If you’re looking for the perfect love story to get you a little flustered in the coming heat, here are eight recent and forthcoming recommendations certain to sweep you off your feet.

On April 12, Seattle writer Daniel Tam-Claiborne read an excerpt from his debut novel, “Transplants,” to a packed crowd at People’s Waffle, which was open for the reading after hours. Tam-Claiborne was one of the artists performing for the Foray for the Arts event, which closed out the in-person events for the 2025 Get Lit Festival.

Where have all the torsos gone? The photorealistic “clinch cover,” featuring lovers mid-embrace, is a critically endangered species. Fabio? Hasn’t been seen around these parts in years. But he hasn’t been traded in for a younger model; models generally have vanished from the romance shelves. They’ve been deposed by a new breed: the vector couple.

Seattle author Tessa Hulls, who confronted her family’s complex, continent-spanning history in her graphic novel “Feeding Ghosts,” has won the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for memoir or autobiography. It is her first book.

When Percival Everett’s novel “James” won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction Monday, it seemed like an obvious choice. Everett’s subversive reimagining of “Huckleberry Finn” had already landed critical acclaim and a string of literary honors, including the National Book Award and the Kirkus Prize.

Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month celebrations are underway for the month of May, and the Spokane community has something particularly special planned.

The role of Spokane poet laureate asks laureates to, putting it plainly, bring poetry to one and all. To do this, laureates host classes and workshops, among other projects, which give members of the community the opportunity to listen to, read, write and, above all, appreciate poetry.