From family of friends of Chandler O’Leary, through her website: “Our dear friend Chandler passed away on April 2 from sudden and severe pneumonia. She was just 41 years old, and leaves behind an astonishing body of work as an author and artist[. . . ] “In her short life, she filled countless sketchbooks and …
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 …
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 …
However many books German writer and editor/publisher Jo Lendle has written, this evocative novel of the life and work of Alfred Wegener, known ultimately for helping develop theories of continental drift, is the first to be given to us in English (and done in masterful manner by Katy Derbyshire). To arrive at that juncture there …
Heart Berries achieves that most elusive and sacred goal of literature, to make us feel less alone in the world. With a beautiful and original voice, Mailhot applies the precision of the poet to her prose. Each sentence feels necessary, each paragraph vital, as she grapples with daughterhood, motherhood, sisterhood, wifehood, and finally, selfhood. Mailhot has …
In a time when the necessity and urgency of certain books feels more apparent and vital than ever, it’s imperative to know the ground we are literally standing upon–its past, its real past, what has led to these present moments, the state of this time. I know of few single books that have invoked this ground as …
To ring in the holidays and celebrate This is Your Life, Harriet Chance! being selected for Pacific Northwest Book Award shortlist, author Jonathan Evison and his regional Algonquin sales rep, Kurtis Lowe of Book Travelers West, made the rounds of Seattle-area bookstores on December 1. Kurtis prepped the stores and planned the itinerary; Johnny signed …
In her accomplished, arresting debut, Foroutan tells a story almost biblical in its basics. People in a mixed, but very religious, clan-determined society in Iran have their lives and roles set out in firmly dictated ways. Conflict ensues when what is prescribed doesn’t happen as it should and when basic human longings for autonomy and …
Author Ryan Boudinot (Blueprints of the Afterlife, The Littlest Hitler) delivered the following speech at the reading celebrating Elliott Bay Book Company’s 40th Anniversary on June 30, 2013. Before I address the subject of Elliott Bay Book Company’s future, I’d like to acknowledge a few people. First, the extraordinarily well-read, friendly, tireless, generous, and in one particular …
At the American Library Association meeting in Chicago this week, ForeWord Reviews presented its Editor’s Choice Prize for Nonfiction to Greystone Books for Eating Dirt by B.C. author Charlotte Gill. The 15th annual Book of the Year Awards celebrate independently published titles. We Northwest Booklovers have been great fans of the book, so we’re particularly …
