One of the things I get to do at Island Books, a thing which frequently receives less attention in our Book Notes, is choosing some of the picture books for our kid’s section. Initially I wasn’t sure how to decide what would be a good fit. But over the years and with the hundreds of picture books I’ve now read, I’ve learned there is often an instinctual response — to the words, to the artwork — that tells me: yes, this one. …
Many of your favorite booksellers labor on Labor Day, but some stores are closed for the holiday. Please be sure to check your bookstore’s hours for Labor Day and every holiday. Remember that if your bookstore gives booksellers the day off, you can place a web order 24/7 if the store has a website, and …
Like the authors of some of my favorite recent memoirs—Hilary Peach’s Thick Skin, Finn Murphy’s The Long Haul, Charlotte Gill’s Eating Dirt—Paré-Poupart had access to the class-elevating levers of education but found himself in a blue-collar trade and chose to stay for decades. In his case, that’s hauling garbage in Montreal, hurling bags of trash into the …
On Wednesdays, the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Bestseller List is published. Every week, we love to see what books have been most popular in independent bookstores around our region. As we peruse the list, we look for something special to showcase. Then we present this weekly feature: Thursday Themes. This week features many stories that highlight the strength …
This is a superbly brilliant picture book for school-aged kids. Grace is new to her school, but when her teacher asks someone to return a book to Mr. Grimly’s classroom, she can’t help but raise her hand. What follows is a strange, spooky, and hilarious journey through what turns out to be the weirdest school …
An excerpt from Forest Avenue Press publisher and author Laura Stanfill’s August 30, 2026 substack: […] The Sea-Glass Shore by Julie Salmon Kelleher[,] Forest Avenue’s Sept. 1 release[,] is a selkie story that is not about entrapment and escape like the original seal-person myth. It’s a novel about what it takes to stay—in a marriage, in …
My aching aging-millennial heart feels seen after reading this novel by Grant Grinder. Equal parts funny, beautiful and tragic, [this is a book] I couldn’t put […] down. Grinder builds relentless momentum through skillful point-of-view shifts and a plot structured around five parties spanning twenty years of friendship. The protagonists—a group of college friends—support each …
[In] Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Truths, the follow-up to her bestselling Big Little Lies, it’s ten years later, and the kids are all in high school now. The core group from the first book—Madeline, Celeste, Jane, Renata, and Bonnie—are all dealing with midlife complications. Everything from the past is good and buried, except . . . …
Every Wednesday, the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association publishes the regional bestseller list. On Thursdays, we celebrate Thursday Themes to shine a spotlight on some of the books from the list and give our brains a different way of thinking about books. Titles on this week’s list had us humming “You’ll Be Back” from Hamilton. “Oceans rise, empires fall…” …
Cabin by Patrick Hutchison is a funny, heartfelt memoir about trading office life for a crumbling, off-the-grid cabin in the Cascade Mountains of Washington. Armed with little more than determination and a complete lack of carpentry skills, Hutchison chronicles six years of renovations, mishaps, and unexpected lessons, creating a charming story about slowing down, learning …
