Lynette has been saving for three years for a down payment to buy the North Portland house she lives in with her mother and developmentally disabled brother. The owner is giving them a good deal, but Lynette has lousy credit, so her mother has to take out the loan. However, at the last minute they …
Each year since 1965, the Pacific Northwest Book Awards have celebrated exceptional books written by Northwest authors. PNBA is proud to announce the 2022 Book Awards Shortlist, selected by a committee of independent booksellers from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Alaska. This year’s committee chose the following 12 finalists, crafted by Northwest authors, from a list …
In 2011, Laura Moulton founded Street Books, a mobile library serving people living outside in Portland, Oregon. That summer, Ben Hodgson became one of her most dedicated regulars, setting the still-unbroken single-season record for borrowing. Then Ben’s routine’s changed, and he didn’t cross paths again with Laura for almost two years. Loaners is the story they began to tell when they reconnected, …
By Amy Wang for The Oregonian/ Oregonlive.com September 18, 2021: “It’s happening! It’s really happening!” That was Portland author and musician Colin Meloy‘s delighted tweet on Wednesday. “I’m super excited to see what these guys do with Wildwood,” Meloy added. That would be “Wildwood” as in the 2011 children’s fantasy novel set in Portland’s Forest Park that put …
From OregonLive/ The Oregonian September 4, 2021: The start of the new school year makes it a fitting time to pick up Portlander Margot Wood’s debut young adult novel, Fresh, a queer retelling of Jane Austen’s Emma that spans its protagonist’s freshman year of college. Quick recap for those who haven’t encountered Emma in a while: …
It’s time for a Thursday Theme, where we shine a spotlight on some of the titles featured in this week’s Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association regional bestseller list. While big, national preorder campaigns for much-anticipated fall titles served up some fresh titles (like this and this) for the bestseller list, we also noticed that books with local connections …
From Oregonlive.com July 31, 2021: The Ursula K. Le Guin stamp, the 33rd in the U.S. Postal Service’s Literary Arts series, was released Tuesday in a ceremony at the Portland Art Museum. Among those who spoke at the event was Portland arts critic Martha Ullman West, a longtime friend of Le Guin’s; Oregon Arts Watch published her remarks. Other …
From Oregon Live July 10, 2021 Portland-raised author Renée Watson is the inspiration for a campaign that Portland bookstore Green Bean Books is running on behalf of Vernon Elementary School this summer. The campaign’s goal: To sell 275 copies of Watson’s delightful chapter book Ways to Make Sunshine, which follows a Black girl growing up …
I first read Brian Doyle’s The Grail (Oregon State University Press, $18.95) while serving on the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Awards Committee years ago. I fell in love with his abundant affection for people and place and his exquisite prose. Over the years, I had the pleasure of meeting him several times. I was just discovering his poetry/poetic essays and …
Today’s spotlight title: The Night Always Comes by Portland Author Willy Vlautin. Rene Denfeld writes on twitter: Book to put in your gotta-read this queue: this brilliant, realistic story of disenfranchisement, poverty and hope by the amazing Willy Vlautin. Sarah-Jane Roberts shares on twitter: *Dream Book Post Alert* Gracias @joshsm_th @FaberBooks for bringing me the …
