Several Portland bookstores booked events this summer featuring some unusual contributors—high school students. The kids are staffers of Roosevelt High School’s Unique Ink Publishing, a student-led writing and publishing center that operates under the guidance of PSU’s Master’s Program in Publishing, more commonly known by its publishing imprint, Ooligan Press, and they’re currently leading a mini-tour for …
Because I’m constantly thinking about how to attract more customers through the front door, I was intrigued by a recent story on NPR that described how the Walgreen’s chain is experimenting with a wider range of products as a way to attract shoppers away from department stores. The online version of the story includes a photo …
We at nwbooklovers.org are excited to announce a live show by our very own Shelf Talker columnist, Jeffrey Shaffer! His one-man show, “Night of the Living Humorist,” will be at O’Connor’s Annex next door to Annie Bloom’s in Multnomah Village in Portland on Wednesday, June 5 from 7:00- 8:30. Shaffer is the author of I’m Right …
My copy of The Best and the Brightest by David Halberstam is filled with notations I’ve scrawled in the margins during repeated readings, and one of my favorite lines is the opening sentence of Chapter Eight: “The essence of good foreign policy is constant re-examination.” In fact, this concept holds true at all levels of …
“This is a very fun, sometimes hilarious, rigorously skeptical look at the current Paleo craze—the attempt by many to live as people did in the Paleolithic Age. The theory goes that (almost all) things were better then and that 'modern' developments such as agriculture and drinking milk are causing us all sorts of problems. Marlene …
Every day there are customers making their first visit to Annie Bloom’s Books and I’m always interested in finding out why they haven’t been in previously. “I’m from out of state” is a common reason along with “I don’t get over to this side of town very often.” And sometimes a person will pause and …
“I picked up this lovely paperback, drawn by its evocative cover, but with trepidation (first novel, small press). Fortunately, I was rewarded with a fabulous, well written, gripping tale. I can’t wait for more Detective Toussaint. He is a character with a back story worthy of Henning Mankel or Michael Connelly, and one feels the development …
There’s no official list of standards and practices for customer behavior at Annie Bloom’s. We do have a small note posted on the front door that says “Please leave all large bags and packs at counter” but it’s more of a guideline than a rule. I can pretty much guarantee that none of my co-workers …
What’s a good chapter book for a young reader in elementary school? The suggestion I’m giving to parents these days is Homer Price by Robert McCloskey. The Puffin Modern Classics edition contains six stories about life in and around Centerburg, a little town that shouldn’t be forgotten. To be honest, I had almost forgotten about …
“When Bobby [Tichenor, store owner, Annie Bloom’s Books], Will [Peters, store manager] and I [Mary Fellows] all love a novel, you know something unusual is going on. In this case it’s a funny, edgy, good-hearted send-up of all things Seattle, in particular a badly-located, upper-crust private school. But behind all the cleverness is a really touching, …
