Borrowed Copy

Multnomah County Library Volunteer Spotlight: Bookseller Earl Dizon

Earl Dizon is a beloved bookseller at Green Bean Books in Portland. He serves on the PNBA Awards Committee and spreads the love of books off-hours as a volunteer at his local library, too. Multnomah County Library recently featured him in their Volunteer Spotlight.  “I want to get kids excited to read.” by Sarah Binns Good books have long been a part of Earl Dizon’s life: “When I was really young I was reading an Agatha Christie mystery at the library …

Mar 19, 2019

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Mar

18

2019

Pam Houston and Deep Creek

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Deep Creek: Finding Hope in the High Country by Pam Houston

This deeply personal account of author Pam Houston’s life is centered around her beloved ranch situated at 9,000 feet above sea level in the Colorado Rockies. Reflections on wilderness and learning the meaning of home spill out of this book, interspersed with charming and often humorous anecdotes from life on the ranch. Already a bookseller …

Mar

15

2019

Sharma Shields photographed by Rajah Bose

Conversations

A Better World: An Interview with Critically-Acclaimed WA Author Sharma Shields

From my first encounter with Sharma Shields’ work, I was awed by her gifts with character, plot, mythology, and the most meaningful expressions of the human condition. From her Autumn House Award winning collection of stories, Favorite Monster, to the psychological devastation of the inner life revealed in The Sasquatch Hunter’s Almanac, and now to …

Mar

14

2019

Underground: A Human History of the Worlds Beneath Our Feet

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Underground by Will Hunt

It’s a fact that I hear about once a year, promptly forget, and am then shocked all over again every time I hear it: the deepest tunnel humans have ever drilled only goes one half of one percent (0.5%) to the Earth’s core. That’s a whole lotta mystery down there. Just as mysterious, in my …

Mar

13

2019

Bride and groom at Browsers Bookshop bookstore wedding

The Storefront

Browsers Bookshop Venue for Bookloving Wedding

On March 4, Browsers Bookshop of Olympia, WA posted this on Instagram: “The loveliest couple got married at the store yesterday . Sincerest congratulations to Greg & Julie! One cool thing: the wedding program listed ever participants’ favorite book and flavor of ice cream. It was adorable.” (And I love that Island Books of Mercer Island, …

Mar

12

2019

MITCHELL JACKSON (PHOTO credit: JOHN RICARD)

Borrowed Copy

American Blood: An Interview with
Mitchell S. Jackson from The Paris Review

From The Paris Review 3/8/19: Mitchell S. Jackson’s debut novel The Residue Years was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Fiction, the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, and the Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize, and it was the winner of both the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence and a Whiting Writers’ Award winner. He …

Mar

11

2019

King of Joy

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King of Joy by Richard Chiem

Kittens in vending machines, hippos rising out of dark water, broom handles made of gold: in his first novel, King of Joy, Seattle writer Richard Chiem blends comforting absurdity with the most profound reaches of grief. The result is a strange, unsettling harmony that is typical of his writing. Drawing from themes also present in …

Mar

8

2019

L.E.M.S. Bookstore crowdsourcing campaign

Borrowed Copy

Effort To Resurrect Historic Seattle Bookstore Underway

From patch.com by Neal McNamara SEATTLE, WA — There’s a new effort underway to resurrect the L.E.M.S. Life Enrichment Bookstore, which was once the only black-owned bookstore in Washington. L.E.M.S. owner Vickie Williams died on March 3, 2017, and the store had to sell off its inventory to pay down bills. But the store, located …

Mar

7

2019

Josephine Baker's Last Dance

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Josephine Baker’s Last Dance by Sherry Jones

This engaging biographical novel brings the larger-than-life character of Josephine Baker to the forefront of the reader’s imagination. Although the singer/dancer/activist wrote memoirs of her own, restrictions of the era and a Hollywood agenda prevented them from being honest. This book reveals what the others did not, including her early years of poverty and abuse …

Mar

6

2019

1remark
Solitary by Albert Woodfox

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Solitary by Albert Woodfox

Extremely powerful saga! “Fox” grew up in an environment that led to petty crime, just to survive. While locked up he’s convicted of murder, but is innocent, and spends 40 years in solitary confinement. This is a story about institutionalized racism and inhumane conditions, but also about hope, and his unbreakable spirit and remaining sane, …

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