As it says on the cover, there are cowboys in Compton, which has been known to resemble the Wild West on occasion. The Compton Junior Posse was founded in 1988, and it has been instrumental in preserving the historical legacy of the black man in the opening of the West during the later part of …
Ready to flatten the curve, everyone? Sure, Netflix is great, but after telling the damnable thing that YES, I’M STILL WATCHING “THE OFFICE” for the 47th time, it may be time to turn to books. If you’ve a bit of schadenfreude in you, or if you’d like to remind yourself that it could always be …
An excerpt from the Dave Eggers piece from McSweeneys.net March 27, 2020 We will lose a lot in these next months. We’ve already lost too much. One thing we don’t need to lose is our independent bookstores. You have watched all the episodes of Norsemen. I’ve watched them twice. Now we need books. For so many, …
I love to learn things from the books I read, and this book taught me so much— not only about the South Korean island Jeju, its matrifocal society of haenyeo (women divers), and its culture and traditions, but also about friendship, the horrors of war, loyalty, and grief. The Island of Sea Women is vividly imagined and …
Wednesday, March 25th at 6pm – Virtual book discussion with Betsy Gaines Quammen and David Quammen on pandemics and misinformation Join us on Facebook Live for a discussion with conservationist and historian Betsy Gaines Quammen and her husband, science journalist David Quammen. The duo will discuss Betsy’s new book American Zion: Cliven Bundy, God and …
If you’re interested in mysteries and secrets, Kate Messner’s Chirp is out now. Mia, a young girl with dreams of being a world-class gymnast, moves to Vermont after she breaks her arm. It’s a fresh start for the whole family, but there’s a plot afoot to drive Grandma’s cricket farm out of business. Mia, needing …
With social distancing guidelines in place, audiobooks, ebooks, and online orders from local bookstores are a way to keep your communities as healthy as possible. Libro.fm, the Seattle audiobook company that partners with many independent bookstores, is offering a new member incentive that is a big help to local, neighborhood shops. If you haven’t tried …
This is a beautiful story about an unlikely friendship between a Taiwanese-American college graduate from the Midwest and a young African-American student dropout from the Mississippi Delta who is convicted of murder. Michelle Kuo details her time with Teach For America in the deep south and her relationship with her prized student with careful observations …
Kirkland, WA was the site of the first reported cases of coronavirus in the US. The governor of WA, Jay Inslee, declared a state of emergency (as have CA and MD). Large tech employers have instructed employees to work from home and one school district has closed for up to two weeks while they transition …
Phinney Books in Seattle has a Resist List of titles. For every title on the list, the store donates 20% of the sales to the American Civil Liberties Union. What to do in the age of Trump? Every week, we’re featuring, here and in our store, a rotating list of a dozen or so books …
