Babb is the one of the greatest American writers you’ve never heard of, and her novel, Whose Names Are Unknown, is (until recently) an unsung masterpiece. Babb turned in this manuscript to her publisher at the same time John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath hit the shelves, and as a result, it went unpublished until …
Juneteenth, June 19, is now an official US holiday. To celebrate (and perhaps learn more about the history behind it), we recommend the following books: Juneteenth for Mazie by Floyd Cooper This wonderful picture book contextualizes the struggle and the celebration and is available in hardcover, paperback, and board book versions. Although at the time …
Every Thursday, we shine a spotlight on some of the titles featured in this week’s Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association regional bestseller list. This week, a sense of place came up in quite a few titles. Some you can find on a map. Tokyo Ever After Emiko Jean (#5 Young adult) Hidden Valley Road Robert Kolker (#13 paperback …
The American Book Award-winning poet and member of the Lhaq’temish (Lummi) Nation is the first Indigenous poet to assume the role. Humanities Washington and ArtsWA/The Washington State Arts Commission is excited to announce that poet Rena Priest has been appointed the sixth Washington State Poet Laureate by Governor Jay Inslee. Priest’s literary debut, Patriarchy Blues, was honored …
Green Bean Books of Portland expressed what a lot of us are feeling after the passing of beloved Oregon author Beverly Cleary: It is with both sadness and immense gratitude that we reflect on the incredible life of children’s author, Beverly Cleary. So beloved by so many, she brought us a treasure trove of children’s …
Danielle of Third Place Books (Lake Forest Park, WA) shared a stack of books she recommends for Women’s History Month. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith Love Lettering by Kate Clayborn Slut! Growing Up Female with a Bad …
From Island Books’ blog: A month or so ago two young women came up to the counter, copies of A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas in hand, and I asked, “Oh, are you reading the same book?” “Yes,” one of them answered. “We heard this is really good. A book club …
Enjoy Women’s History Month with some great recommendations from Country Bookshelf in Bozeman, MT. Kathy recommends Maud’s Line by Margaret Verble. A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, this insightful historical narrative, provides a glimpse into the life of Maude, a Cherokee woman in Depression-era Oklahoma. A great coming-of-age story, Maud is strong and wise beyond her years. …
Published originally in 1932, and said to be the first detective novel by an African-American author, this witty, shrewdly plotted whodunit (recently reissued) was penned by Rudolph Fisher, a New York City radiographer, short-story writer, and musician, active in the Harlem Renaissance. It tosses us onto the hectic scene of a nighttime slaying, the victim …
As I scrambled this year to relearn old gardening skills to plant a serious pandemic garden, it was so easy to follow the month by month guide for a wide variety of vegetables; it had all of the vegetables I was interested in growing and a lot of cultivation information– everything from seed orders through …
