The violent events that took place near what is now Walla Walla on November 29, 1847 served for at least a century as a creation myth for the state of Washington, a legend of heroic sacrifice to noble ideals. But the traditional story of the Whitman Mission and the attack on its occupants is just …
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 …
If you thought Horowitz’s Magpie Murders (2017) was circuitously plotted, wait till you see the puzzles offered in this closely connected sequel. We return here to the company of Susan Ryeland, the London book editor who solved the slaying of one of her authors, Alan Conway, in the previous mystery. Now living in Crete, where she runs …
Author Pam Stucky is joined by booksellers from Madison Books (James Crossley), Queen Anne Book Company (Tegan Tigani), and Ballast Book Company (Suzanne Droppert) to discuss why and how we can support our local bookstores, especially now in this difficult pandemic season. Local bookstores have been facing growing challenges for several years, but the pandemic …
The gorgeous writing, vivid setting, compelling characters, and engrossing story aren’t even the best parts of this novel. Instead, I just keep marveling at how Jess Walter takes events from history to illuminate our present while keeping them rooted in their own time, from the labor movement to class, race, and gender equality and civil …
A few years ago, Robert Macfarlane, who’s something of a patron saint at Madison Books (see our review of 2019 book of the year Underland, now out in paperback) wrote The Lost Words, an ornate linguistic repository intended to preserve the lexicon of the natural world that’s literally being removed from dictionaries. Lavishly illustrated by Jackie Morris, it became …
Last Friday afternoon, as part of the week’s virtual regional trade show, booksellers from around the Pacific Northwest watched members of the PNBA Book Awards Committee present a selection of books they are excited about for the 2021 Book Awards. This post is the second part of the list of books mentioned during that session. …
Fifty years after publishing his first novel—the wonderful Wobble to Death, about murder during a Victorian race walking competition—British author Lovesey returns to the sports world in this 19th mystery starring Detective Superintendent Peter Diamond. In the run-up to Bath, England’s spring half-marathon, we’re introduced to Maeve Kelly, a usually non-athletic schoolteacher, who’s training for this …
Despite my natural pessimism, this book broke down my defenses and set me up to root for a well-earned, conventional kind of happy ending. But then it took a turn and became an altogether different story, leaving me to sputter along with the characters, “Unfair—this is not what I was expecting.” I was crushed. And …
On most occasions when I’ve read a book and been struck by its uniqueness, it’s because of something unfamiliar about it, something strange I’ve never seen before. This is the first time one has stood out for its relentless and positively brilliant mundanity. The title characters of Irish writer Rónán Hession’s debut novel are two meek, …
