what's new

Apr

17

2025

Thursday Themes

Bestseller Spotlight: Prepare for the Worst, Hope for the Best

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 ponder patterns. Then we present this weekly feature: Thursday Themes. Would you consider yourself an optimistic or pessimistic reader? Do you read to prepare yourself or to escape? Maybe both? This time five years ago, most of our bookstores were figuring out how to sell books remotely. We …

Apr

16

2025

Face Out

Imagine a Door by Laura Stanfill

Imagine a Door is the writing book you need: a step-by-step guide for writers to navigate the world of publishing, told with bravery and honesty by a true maverick of independent publishing. Stanfill spares no detail in describing her journey as the founder and publisher of Forest Avenue Press. This book contains vital information, especially if …

Apr

15

2025

Face Out

Tilt by Emma Pattee

Tilt plunges into the catastrophic aftermath of a megathrust earthquake, as revealed through the eyes of nine-month pregnant Annie. Physically and mentally exhausted, barely mobile, she is injured and stranded miles from home after the quake. Annie quickly grasps the brutal reality that no one is coming to save her. Walking among the dead and …

Apr

14

2025

One Nightstand

Yours Cheerfully by AJ Pearce

Yours Cheerfully: the best possible antidote for the blahs, the doldrums, all slumps, but also effective against letdowns and general malaise. Loved. Every. Word. —Bonnie Garmus, author of Lessons in Chemistry This book, the sequel to Dear Mrs. Bird, can be read as a stand-alone or in sequence. It is also a staff pick of Karen …

Apr

11

2025

Face Out

When You Find The Right Rock written by Mary Lyn Ray, illustrated by Felicita Sala

An ode to the power of stumbling across the perfect rock. Poetic and stunningly illustrated, this picture book asks its reader to seek and recognize the inner and hidden beauty of our natural world and within ourselves. A sweet reminder to stop and take notice. – Claire, Browsers Bookshop, Olympia, WA Take your time to …

Apr

10

2025

Thursday Themes

Bestseller Spotlight: Song Lyrics in Titles

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. Here’s a pairing of bestsellers and songs that have their titles in their lyrics. Go ahead, sing …

Apr

9

2025

Face Out

Dogeaters by Jessica Hagedorn

A polyphonic requiem of voices singing a dissonant fugue. Reading Dogeaters is like approaching the monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey. For when the world seems incomprehensible and history is playing out like a twisted farce. From Marcos to Trump, the Philippines to America, reading this book is like looking in a funhouse mirror. And the reflection isn’t …

Apr

8

2025

Conversations

From Breaking News to Enduring Stories: A Conversation between Nancy Townsley and Laura Stanfill

In the early 2000s, Laura Stanfill (Forest Avenue Press) and Nancy Townsley (author of the new debut novel Sunshine Girl) were colleagues at a community newspaper chain in Portland, Oregon. Nancy’s new novel follows Eliza Donovan, the daughter of a journalist, as she pursues her own reporting career amid turbulent industry changes and, in the …

Apr

7

2025

Face Out

There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak

If you like Cloud Cuckoo Land this is similar… connected lives [Mesopotamia, London and Turkey] told through time… I loved the characters! — Michelle, Edmonds Bookshop, Edmonds, WA Spanning from ancient Mesopotamia to the 1800s in England to the 2000s, this story begins with a single drop of rain. The book is simply stunning! — …

Apr

4

2025

Book cover of "The Small and Mighty" by Sharon McMahon; ivory background, woman's head profile in the American flag

Face Out

The Small and the Mighty: Twelve Unsung Americans Who Changed the Course of History, from the Founding to the Civil Rights Movement by Sharon McMahon

In this patriotic, inspiring, and untampered compilation, McMahon chronicles the extraordinary lives of ordinary Americans. We learn about teachers like Virginia Randolph, who created schools for children in the rural south. We learn about Inez Milholland, Maria De Lopez, and Rebecca Brown Mitchell and their decades’ long fight for women’s suffrage. We learn about Senator …

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