This was bonkers in the best way possible. After not getting accepted to her dream college, “perfect Perla Perez” devises a plan to change their mind before her parents find out. Of course, it involves lying to them and everyone else she knows that she did get accepted, that she is living in the dorms, …
This has become one of my favorite books! The characters are so vivid and compelling, it’s impossible not to cheer for e and year from their succcess and happiness. The narrative surprised me in delightful ways, and I was swept along through the nuanced exploration of tradition and what it means to be strong. –Mikah, …
Here is Oliva Matthews’s Against the Currant, a Spice Island Bakery Mystery. It’s got a West Indian bakery, an earnest baker who has everything she’s ever wanted, and a disgruntled rival who seems likely end up in some sort of romantic entanglement—except he turns up dead before any smooching can happen. Well, that’s awkward. We …
Justina Ireland caught my attention with a duology set in an alternate history where the Civil War ended early… due to the dead rising from their graves after Gettysburg. It shouldn’t have worked. Hell, I’ve been tired of zombies (and their myriad knockoffs) for years and I went in with a jaundiced eye. But Ireland …
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. This week, we’re featuring Black authors as a reminder that supporting Black authors is another …
Powell’s bookseller and writer Katherine D. Morgan (@blktinabelcher) shared her Black History Month display on twitter earlier this month: My Black History Month display is up @Powells A classic with a new favorite based on themes and subject matter? Sign me up! Authors featured include Denise Williams (The Fastest Way to Fall), Jessica Pryde (Black …
A world record holder and gold medalist at the 1963 Olympics, Smith and a teammate took to the awards podium and made history with their protest. Her is a long-overdue look at this moment. –Holly, Elliott Bay Book Company, Seattle, WA Take long-overdue looks with books from Elliott Bay Book Company and other independent bookstores. …
Black Leopard, Red Wolf (Book 1) One of my favorite books in the last decade. This book is like nothing I’ve read before. Set in an Africa-like fantasy world, Tracker is called on to find a missing child. Unforgettable characters and richly imagined worlds and customs move this book into a category of its own. …
My mother sat in the very last row of chairs in the author event space at Powell’s City of Books in Portland, Oregon, the day my memoir, Ma and Me, was officially released. She smiled with pride as her gaze skipped across the room, surely taking in the improbability of the moment: her daughter, a …
Okorafor is a master of brevity who portrays rich, immersive worlds and characters with spare, head-spinning strokes. In a future Nigeria populated by tribes – many bearing animosities, suspicions, and resentments, as well as advanced technical and digital technologies – lives a woman named AO (for Artificial Organism) who is physically half cyborg. Forced to …
