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susandennisWay back decades ago when I first moved to Seattle, I discovered the first week that the main branch of the Seattle Public Library was 1 block from my office. My first Seattle BFF. I was a very frequent customer. I was a beta tester for their first - command line only - off site log in. I could search for and put a hold on books from my desk at work. In the early 90's!!
A long the way, they tore down that library and built a new, spectacular one that has many floors and a walkway that you can browse the stacks just by walking from the top floor to the bottom in a spiral walkway. For a while after I left that IBM office, I still worked downtown and still visited the library often.
Then I worked from home and discovered a the perfect branch library next to my swimming pool. Then I changed pools and found another perfect branch next to my favorite grocery store. Then I went pretty much all digital and just read audiobooks that I got from their app which is what I still do today. Do no tell them I no longer live in Seattle.
I mentioned the 5 book recommendation service they offer and today I got my recommendations and I am blown right out of the water.
Here is my request:
I love a mystery/thriller/police procedural set in the UK AND a legal thriller set in the US (early grisham) AND weird stuff like The Road to Tender Hearts and Bright Creatures.
I don't like sentimentalist, romantic stuff or stuff with children (Tender Hearts was a rare exception). I'd rather my protagonist be Reacher with less fighting. No Harlen Coben or Lee Child. And contemporary, please.
While I mostly read ONLY fiction, I will actually pre-order anything that Mary Roach writes and I enjoy AJ Jacobs as well.
Misc favorite authors - don't need recommendations from these:
Michael Connelly
Harry Bingham
Noah Hawley
Nick Louth
Lee Goldberg
Tim Sullivan
Michael Stagg
Peter Grainger
Andy Weir
I'm currently reading Thomas Perry's latest and so far it's really a disappointment.
I honestly expected to get a list of books I've already read or heard of and rejected.
I got exactly the opposite! Five books I've never heard of by five authors I've never heard of. I could not be more delighted. Here's what I got exactly:
I’m Andrea, a librarian with The Seattle Public Library. Thanks for using Your Next Five Books, our online service for readers, to find suggestions for contemporary UK mysteries and US legal thrillers. Your list of suggested books is here, in our catalog, to make it easier to place holds if you're interested: Your Next 5 Books: UK mystery, US legal thriller.
Death at the White Hart by Chris Chibnall - In a compromise to save her marriage, Detective Nicola Bridges has moved back to her sleepy coastal hometown. She arrives just in time to investigate a cryptic murder - the owner of the local pub, Jim Tiernan, has been found dead in the middle of the highway, wearing stag antlers. To investigate, she'll enlist the help of inexperienced Detective Harry Ward, and dig into the town's secrets. Author Chibnall is best known as the creator of the TV show Broadchurch.
The In Crowd by Charlotte Vassell - In London, Detective Inspector Caius Beauchamp and his team dig into two seemingly-unrelated cold cases, triggered by natural/accidental deaths: a heart attack at the theatre shines light on the decades-old disappearance of a girl from a boarding school; and a drowning connects to corporate embezzlement. Meanwhile, Caius navigates entitled members of the upper crust.
The Holdout by Graham Moore - Ten years after a high-profile trial where the jury acquitted a teacher accused of killing one of his students, the jurors have reunited to participate in a true crime documentary. Maya Seale, defense attorney and juror, was instrumental in getting the rest of the jury to acquit. Now, at the reunion, a fellow juror is found dead in her room, and Maya goes on the run to figure out who killed them, and the truth in the original case.
Proof by Jon Cowan - Lawyer Jake West's life - both personal and professional - is on the skids, but when his best friend and colleague is killed and Jake becomes a suspect he takes it upon himself to investigate. Digging into the last case his friend worked on, Jake finds himself embroiled in a complex and politically charged rat's nest.
When We Were Real by Daryl Gregory - This is the "something weird" on your list! Like The Road to Tender Hearts and Bright Creatures, there is a real grounding in characters. So - in this science fiction road trip novel, JP (who has terminal cancer) and his friend Dulin join a bus tour traveling cross country to see the Impossibles - strange sites that appeared 7 years prior when it was revealed that everyone was actually living in a simulation. As JP and Dulin get to know the others on the bus, their friend trip turns into a madcap adventure that interrogates the very nature of reality.
And the link in the first paragraph takes me to the list actually in the library - showing availability of the audiobooks with 1 click hold or 1 click checkout!!!!
This is the coolest thing evaaaaaaaar!
A long the way, they tore down that library and built a new, spectacular one that has many floors and a walkway that you can browse the stacks just by walking from the top floor to the bottom in a spiral walkway. For a while after I left that IBM office, I still worked downtown and still visited the library often.
Then I worked from home and discovered a the perfect branch library next to my swimming pool. Then I changed pools and found another perfect branch next to my favorite grocery store. Then I went pretty much all digital and just read audiobooks that I got from their app which is what I still do today. Do no tell them I no longer live in Seattle.
I mentioned the 5 book recommendation service they offer and today I got my recommendations and I am blown right out of the water.
Here is my request:
I love a mystery/thriller/police procedural set in the UK AND a legal thriller set in the US (early grisham) AND weird stuff like The Road to Tender Hearts and Bright Creatures.
I don't like sentimentalist, romantic stuff or stuff with children (Tender Hearts was a rare exception). I'd rather my protagonist be Reacher with less fighting. No Harlen Coben or Lee Child. And contemporary, please.
While I mostly read ONLY fiction, I will actually pre-order anything that Mary Roach writes and I enjoy AJ Jacobs as well.
Misc favorite authors - don't need recommendations from these:
Michael Connelly
Harry Bingham
Noah Hawley
Nick Louth
Lee Goldberg
Tim Sullivan
Michael Stagg
Peter Grainger
Andy Weir
I'm currently reading Thomas Perry's latest and so far it's really a disappointment.
I honestly expected to get a list of books I've already read or heard of and rejected.
I got exactly the opposite! Five books I've never heard of by five authors I've never heard of. I could not be more delighted. Here's what I got exactly:
I’m Andrea, a librarian with The Seattle Public Library. Thanks for using Your Next Five Books, our online service for readers, to find suggestions for contemporary UK mysteries and US legal thrillers. Your list of suggested books is here, in our catalog, to make it easier to place holds if you're interested: Your Next 5 Books: UK mystery, US legal thriller.
Death at the White Hart by Chris Chibnall - In a compromise to save her marriage, Detective Nicola Bridges has moved back to her sleepy coastal hometown. She arrives just in time to investigate a cryptic murder - the owner of the local pub, Jim Tiernan, has been found dead in the middle of the highway, wearing stag antlers. To investigate, she'll enlist the help of inexperienced Detective Harry Ward, and dig into the town's secrets. Author Chibnall is best known as the creator of the TV show Broadchurch.
The In Crowd by Charlotte Vassell - In London, Detective Inspector Caius Beauchamp and his team dig into two seemingly-unrelated cold cases, triggered by natural/accidental deaths: a heart attack at the theatre shines light on the decades-old disappearance of a girl from a boarding school; and a drowning connects to corporate embezzlement. Meanwhile, Caius navigates entitled members of the upper crust.
The Holdout by Graham Moore - Ten years after a high-profile trial where the jury acquitted a teacher accused of killing one of his students, the jurors have reunited to participate in a true crime documentary. Maya Seale, defense attorney and juror, was instrumental in getting the rest of the jury to acquit. Now, at the reunion, a fellow juror is found dead in her room, and Maya goes on the run to figure out who killed them, and the truth in the original case.
Proof by Jon Cowan - Lawyer Jake West's life - both personal and professional - is on the skids, but when his best friend and colleague is killed and Jake becomes a suspect he takes it upon himself to investigate. Digging into the last case his friend worked on, Jake finds himself embroiled in a complex and politically charged rat's nest.
When We Were Real by Daryl Gregory - This is the "something weird" on your list! Like The Road to Tender Hearts and Bright Creatures, there is a real grounding in characters. So - in this science fiction road trip novel, JP (who has terminal cancer) and his friend Dulin join a bus tour traveling cross country to see the Impossibles - strange sites that appeared 7 years prior when it was revealed that everyone was actually living in a simulation. As JP and Dulin get to know the others on the bus, their friend trip turns into a madcap adventure that interrogates the very nature of reality.
And the link in the first paragraph takes me to the list actually in the library - showing availability of the audiobooks with 1 click hold or 1 click checkout!!!!
This is the coolest thing evaaaaaaaar!
(no subject)
Date: 2026-03-12 10:23 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2026-03-12 11:09 pm (UTC)ChatGPT did the worst as it gave you The Dry (an Aussie book, in my tbr pile in fact) for the UK police procedural. What was weirdest was that both AIs said essentially "I know you said no Michael Connolly, but maybe you haven't seen this one? Maybe?" So go Andrea! The AIs did make some intriguing recommendations though.
(no subject)
Date: 2026-03-13 12:48 am (UTC)Have you played around with https://www.whichbook.net/ ? I haven't looked at it much but when I did experiment it was showing me books I hadn't heard of already.
(no subject)
Date: 2026-03-13 01:17 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2026-03-13 10:30 am (UTC)