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Browse: Home / Essays

Essays

Jan

5

2021

Five PNW Booksellers Featured in LitHub’s “Booksellers Recommend: The Best Under-the-Radar Books of 2020”

Be sure to read the full list, with recommendations from booksellers around the country, but why not start here, with favorites from Portland and Seattle booksellers? John Rember, A Hundred Little Pieces on the End of the World (University of New Mexico Press) Jeremy Garber, Powell’s, Portland: John Rember’s A Hundred Little Pieces on the End of the World collects …

Dec

8

2020

In Memory of William Kittredge, Author and PNW Legend

“One of the great figures in Western literature has passed on to the last best place. He will be sorely missed.” –Pamela Lehman Meyer From the obituary in the Missoulian by Cory Walsh December 5: “What we find in these stories, over and over again, is talk of home, lost or sought after, or in …

Aug

17

2020

Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed

Before she was known for her memoir Wild, Cheryl Strayed was writing advice columns under the pseudonym Dear Sugar. The essays collected in this book are unlike any other advice pieces I’ve ever read; they’re filled with empathy and gut-wrenching honesty and are the perfect thing for someone who might be feeling a little (or a …

Jun

8

2020

James Baldwin: Collected Essays: Notes of a Native Son / Nobody Knows My Name / The Fire Next Time / No Name in the Street / The Devil Finds Work
by James Baldwin, edited by Toni Morrison

No better $35 can be spent for a book in this country than this collection of James Baldwin’s collected non-fiction— what were published as five books, from Notes of a Native Son through The Devil Finds Work, with a selection of essays not previously collected included. Timely in their day, this writing feels prophetically and astoundingly true …

Apr

21

2020

Seattle Independent Bookstore Day Gathers Some Delights

Last month, Seattle Independent Bookstore Day and the national celebration of Independent Bookstore Day were officially postponed. Both were originally scheduled for Saturday, April 25, 2020, but are tentatively rescheduled for Saturday, August 29, 2020. Although we have to wait for the in-person festivities (and exclusive merchandise) until a safer time in public health, participating …

Jan

23

2020

Bury My Heart at Chuck E. Cheese’s by Tiffany Midge

Read. This. Book. It is laugh-out-loud funny and is a heartfelt tribute to grandmothers everywhere. For all you lit nerds out there: Midge’s sense of rhythm and pacing as a storyteller is impeccable. This book makes an excellent gift (pro tip: buy it for a friend and then borrow it from them). –Christina, King’s Books, …

Jan

2

2020

Little Weirds by Jenny Slate

I read the back of this book and laughed out loud. OMG! SOLD!!! Then I dove in, feet first. What I hadn’t expected was one of the most thought-provoking pieces of self exploration and BECOMING, I’ve read in the last decade. Slate writes with the lyrical intensity of Kahlil Gibran and narrative storytelling of Joan …

Dec

4

2019

1

remark

One Long River of Song by Brian Doyle

Every essay made me miss him being in the world all over again. An excellent collection and one of the best introductions I have read, by David James Duncan. –Cindy Heidemann, Ingram Publisher Services NW book rep One Long River of Song is a career-spanning retrospective of the work of legendary Northwest writer Brian Doyle; …

Mar

25

2019

The Book of Delights by Ross Gay

The Book of Delights by Ross Gay

In this anxious and contentious time, when you are looking for a gift of uplift for a graduate or for a parent on Mother’s or Father’s Day, look no further than The Book of Delights by Ross Gay. Here’s a man who made a deliberate decision to seek out each day something to delight in. …

Jun

7

2018

The Little Virtues

The Little Virtues by Natalia Ginzburg

This is a little book, written in a modest style, but its claims are large. Despite her title, Ginzburg wants us to set aside the “little virtues” of frugality, caution, and tact for the greater ones of love, courage, and generosity. The essays were written between 1944 and 1962 in the wake of personal and …

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