About Found at Phinney

The Archive

Found at Phinney is an archive of book reviews from the Phinney Books weekly newsletter, a collection of over 1,174 thoughtful, enthusiastic book recommendations written by independent booksellers who are passionate about connecting readers with great books.

Just about every other week since 2014, the staff at Phinney Books has shared reviews of new releases, beloved backlist titles, and hidden gems across all genres. This archive makes those 11 years of recommendations searchable, browsable, and preserved for book lovers to discover.

About Phinney Books

Phinney Books is an independent neighborhood bookstore in Seattle's Phinney Ridge, serving the community since 2010. The store is a gathering place for readers, a champion of independent publishing, and a hub for literary events and author visits.

The store's mission is simple: to connect readers with books they'll love. Whether visitors are looking for the latest bestseller, a classic they've been meaning to read, or something completely unexpected, the knowledgeable staff is there to help.

You should visit the store if you are in Seattle!

Phinney by Post

In addition to the newsletter, Phinney Books offers a monthly book subscription service called Phinney by Post. Each month, the store hand-selects a book and sends it to subscribers with a letter from the staff explaining why they love it. Phinney Books also offers Phinney Kids by Post for young readers. Many of these subscription selections are featured in this archive.

How This Archive Was Built

This archive was created by extracting book reviews from 11 years of newsletter archives, enriching them with cover images and metadata from Google Books, and organizing them into a searchable website.

Data Sources

• Newsletter Content - All reviews written by Phinney Books staff (2014-2025)
• Cover Images - From the newsletter or from Google Books API (via ISBN lookup)
• Book Metadata - Google Books API (publisher, categories, publication dates)
• Purchase Links - BookShop.org affiliate program beefits Phinney Books directly

Categorization

In an echo of the belovedly idiosyncratic organization of the physical store itself (where one side of the store is for "Made-Up" books and the other for "True" books), the books reviewed in this archive are categorized as Made-Up (fiction) or True (non-fiction) based on their Google Books categories. Books are also tagged with their original newsletter section (New Book of the Week, Old Friends, Kids Books, etc.) and marked as "New" if they appeared in one of the three most recent newsletters.

Credits

All book reviews on this site were written by the talented staff at Phinney Books. Their passion for reading and their dedication to thoughtful recommendations is what makes this archive valuable. Special thanks to all the booksellers who have contributed reviews over the years.

Technical Note: This site is built happily with Astro, styled grudgingly with Tailwind CSS, searched swiftly with Fuse.js, and uses Gentium Plus for body text.

Get in Touch

Have questions about the archive, found an error, or want to share feedback? Contact information is below.