what's new

Oct

5

2015

Martha Brockenbrough, author of The Game of Love and Death

Awards and Honors

Martha Brockenbrough Finalist for 2015 Kirkus Prize

Seattle author Martha Brockenbrough is a finalist for the 2015 Kirkus Prize for Young Readers’ Literature for her YA novel, The Game of Love and Death.  The Kirkus Prize, which comes with $50,000, is awarded annually in three categories: fiction, nonfiction, and young readers’ literature. Kirkus Reviews is a publication of literary criticism, and every book published between November 1, 2014 and October 31, 2015 receiving a starred review from Kirkus was nominated for the prize. In the Young Reader’s …

Oct

2

2015

Murdstone Trilogy

Face Out

Ten Bookish People Walk Into a Room…

If some usual faces are missing from behind the counter at your local bookstore today and this weekend, it may be that they’re attending the annual trade show and education conference of the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association, happening now in Portland. I took the train down from Seattle yesterday for the board meeting. (I found …

Oct

1

2015

Everybody Rise

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Everybody Rise by Stephanie Clifford

In her debut novel, Clifford deftly updates The House of Mirth to show that belonging to the social elite is still not for the faint of heart. Evelyn Beegan has grown up on the fringes of high society, but now a new job at an exclusive social networking website may be her ticket to the …

Sep

29

2015

2remarks

Turning Pages

PNBA Book Award Buzz

As I write this, we are two days away from the deadline for nominations for the PNBA Book Awards and five days out from our Committee meeting at the Fall Show to start the process of winnowing down the list. Well, winnowing it down further. We’ve already eliminated nearly seventy titles, which leaves us with …

Sep

28

2015

Morning Light

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Morning Light: Wildflowers, Night Skies and Other Ordinary Joys of Oregon Country Life
by Barbara Drake

I read Barbara Drake’s first book, Peace at Heart: An Oregon Country Life, an Oregon Book Award finalist back in 1999, a number of years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. I was most excited to see that she had a new book about her life in the Willamette Valley and I dove right in. I …

Sep

25

2015

Face Out

Space Dumplins
by Craig Thompson

When Craig Thompson won a 2012 Pacific Northwest Book Award for the graphic novel Habibi, the awards committee declared that the book “should take its place alongside groundbreaking classics, such as Maus and Persepolis.” Praise doesn’t get any higher in the graphic book arena. I’m not certain a middle grade (and up!) cosmic adventure featuring …

Sep

24

2015

Joy of Zentangle

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Joy of Zentangle
from Fox Chapel Publishing

Joy of Zentangle is for those of us who never thought we had an artistic bone in our bodies. This artistic style is so natural, it pours out of you within minutes of opening the book. There is no meticulous erasing as all of your work is done in ink, causing you to change your …

Sep

23

2015

Girl from the Garden

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The Girl from the Garden
by Parnaz Foroutan

In her accomplished, arresting debut, Foroutan tells a story almost biblical in its basics. People in a mixed, but very religious, clan-determined society in Iran have their lives and roles set out in firmly dictated ways. Conflict ensues when what is prescribed doesn’t happen as it should and when basic human longings for autonomy and …

Sep

22

2015

Borrowed Copy

Cheryl Strayed named Official Spokesperson for Indies First

Cheryl Strayed, the bestselling Portland author (Wild, Tiny Beautiful Things, Torch and the Brave Enough [on sale October 27]), has been named the 2015 official spokesperson for IndiesFirst by the American Booksellers Association. The first Indies First, in 2013, was launched by Sherman Alexie. The day is a national campaign on Small Business Saturday (the Saturday after Thanksgiving: November 28 this year) …

Sep

21

2015

Rock 'n' Roll Soccer

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Rock ‘n’ Roll Soccer
by Ian Plenderleith

This is a far more substantive book than you’d expect from something called Rock ‘n’ Roll Soccer: The Short Life and Fast Times of the North American Soccer League, but then the NASL was a far more substantive operation than history has acknowledged. If it’s remembered at all these days, it’s for garish disco-era uniforms, …

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