One Nightstand
The Year We Left Home by Jean Thompson
Though I just started reading Jean Thompson’s novel the other day, I am already enjoying her depiction of Midwestern values and what it meant to be an American during the 70’s.
what's new
Borrowed Copy
Skaguay Awaits You
Let’s list the ways that the North Words Writers Symposium in Skaguay, AK sounds really cool: 1. One of the organizers is named Buckwheat. 2. Keynote speaker is Howard Blum (The Floor of Heaven and American Lightning).
Conversations
Why We Love Poser and Why Claire Dederer is So Not a Dork
Claire Dederer’s memoir, Poser: My Life in Twenty-three Yoga Poses, is like yoga for strugglers or yoga for the non-bendy and non-serene, for people who think too much and consistently wonder—at yoga and in civilian life—”Was that a stupid thing I just did or said?” That is, it’s not really about yoga. It’s a memoir about …
Face Out
Forsythia & Me by Vincent X. Kirsch
“Forsythia is the narrator’s best friend, and she’s rambunctious and creative and brilliant. It opens like this: ‘Forsythia and I are best friends. She does things that amaze me.’ Awh, man! I want my friends to describe me that way. What a lot in one simple sentence. And who hasn’t had someone like that in …
Face Out
The Songlines by Bruce Chatwin
“Aah, spring (well, sort of!). It’s that time of year when some of us feel the pull of wanderlust, while others are content to simply spend more time going on long walks in the sunshine. Whatever your inclination, it’s a time of motion. In this classic and stunningly thoughtful work by a true gentleman of …
Borrowed Copy
Capturing a Lonely Story
Loneliness and cold, hard surfaces. There are a lot of each in Peter Brown Hoffmeister’s memoir, The End of Boys, due to hit shelves June 1. Locally shot in the author’s hometown of Eugene (the very scene of his chronicled youth), and featuring just him and his nephew as his younger self, this new book trailer …
Borrowed Copy
Forget Breakfast in Bed . . .
This Sunday is Mother’s Day, and we can’t speak for all the mama’s, but we would definitely prefer a book to jewelry (unless it’s the kid-made kind) or breakfast in bed (cause we know who’s gonna be cleaning up those crumbs!). Better yet, a book and a couple of free hours to lounge around reading …
Face Out
Started Early, Took My Dog by Kate Atkinson
“Kate Atkinson shares with Dennis Lehane the belief that a mystery is more interesting if it’s the result of fully fleshed out characters. “Started Early” is the fourth book featuring ‘retired’ detective Jackson Brodie, and as per Atkinson’s usual, it’s packed with plot twists and memorable characters. I love Atkinson’s novels because she always manages …
Face Out
Shopclass as Soulcraft by Matthew B. Crawford
“This is a book about work. And when Crawford writes about work, he means gritty, sweaty, coverall-wearing work: the sort of work that makes and fixes all of those things we use unthinkingly every day. Part manifesto for the revival of physical work and its skills, part philosophical inquiry into finding fulfillment in modern life, …
Face Out
An Atlas of Impossible Longing by Anuradha Roy
“The story of how I came to find and read Anuradha Roy’s beautiful novel, An Atlas of Impossible Longing, is not as long as the distance I went to find it. In Delhi en route to a literature festival in Jaipur this past January, I stumbled totally by chance into a reception honoring British publisher …
