It’s time for a Thursday Theme, when we shine a spotlight on some of the titles featured in this week’s Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association regional bestseller list. I’m having company over tonight for the first time in almost two years, and that meant I had to pare down the stacks of fiction, nonfiction, middle grade, and YA …
Historian Timothy Snyder has succinctly yet vigorously broken down in twenty short lessons the detailed steps we must take to resist the abuse of power by those claiming to be the majority voice. This is not merely in regard to the current political tone, but historically includes the misuse of authority to keep and marginalize …
Martha Jones is a giant in the field of African American history and this book is her best yet. Beautiful storytelling, which incorporates Jones’s own family history, makes this the perfect book for any armchair historian. Jones brings to light the stories of dozens of black women who are often ignored in history books, proving that …
Andrew Shaffer is back with Hope Rides Again, starring your favorite detective duo Barack Obama and Joseph R. Biden. Obama loses his cell phone, Biden tries to do some sleuthing. There is an attempted kidnapping (or two), and Biden comes off as trying to work out lines for his campaign speeches, which is probably done …
What happens when you put people with contempt for government in charge of the government? Lewis takes his eye for the untold story into the unglamorous—but, as he demonstrates, desperately necessary—reaches of the federal Energy, Agriculture, and Commerce departments to show just how indifferent the Trump administration has been to the everyday tasks of governing: …
Few historians are as well-positioned to elucidate the timeless qualities of our greatest presidents than Goodwin, and she does so here with aplomb. In an era when politics is reduced to tribal posturing and a disturbing willingness to cut off the nose to spite the face, this book is a much-needed reminder of how great …
This may not sound like summer reading material but it’s certainly very timely and is actually a pretty quick read. The author was a correspondent for the Economist and this is taken from a column called “Ask a North Korean.” His goal is to humanize North Korea and show that there are real people living …
Most of the time, a sticker proclaiming a title is a “NEW BOOK” is sort of self-evident, but in the case of Shel Silverstein, an actual new book is worth getting out of bed, rushing through your morning oat bran, and heading on down to the bookstore early. Runny Babbit Returns is a collection of tongue-twisting poems …
The fall of the Soviet Union left a power vacuum in which organized crime and former KGB agents coalesced in the newly capitalist state. The 2006 London assassination by poison of dissident Alexander Litivinenko served as a lethal threat to Russians who would defy the kleptocratic state and also displayed the willingness of some Western …
With politics still on our minds, I am moved to recommend two books that shed light on the current situation. Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis tells his story of being raised in Frank McCourt-style poverty in Appalachia. He makes his way to Yale Law School without ever losing his …
