Read this aloud to my husband as we drove from Yakima to Gearhart and back this weekend. (more…)
NW Interest
National
Industry
Kids' Books
Library Lovers
Archive for June, 2011
“In a recent interview Danzy Senna explained that she wrote half of the stories in You Are Free when single and living in New York City and the others in LA during and after her pregnancy; this time of transistion, conflict and reflection has given her a lot to say about how it is to be a woman in all of her various and changing roles. I adored Senna’s novel Caucasia and, once a couple stories deep, it was hard to put this one down. Race is less a central theme here than in Caucasia (relationships taking center stage) but when it does come up (still, gladly, much more often than in most fiction) Senna’s insights are always sharp and illuminating. Among other things this book seems to ask: What is freedom and how much do we really want?”—Shana, Ravenna Third Place, Seattle
Green Bean Books, in Northeast Portland, is a tiny store. So maybe it’s no surprise that they have a penchant for tiny things—and we don’t just mean your kids. Recently, the store hosted Portland artist Maggie Rudy, who not only shared her adorable book, The House That Mouse Built, but also left a miniature diorama in one of the store’s two whimsical shadow boxes that owner Jennifer Green uses to promote particular books or themes. 
The store is also hosting a Fairy Day on July 16, complete with Found Object Fairy House Building in the garden behind the store. To top off all of this miniature madness, Green handed us this site (check out the blog, too) on a sticky note during our awestruck visit. Postmaster Lea Redmond recently visited the store with her wares too!
Good luck finding a bookstore that has more fun per square foot, make that square inch, than Green Bean Books.
Tonight, at Eagle Harbor Book Company on Bainbridge Island, nine authors will try on their bookselling hats for the evening. The authors—Kathleen Alcala, Carol Cassella, David Guterson, Jonathan Evison, Suzanne Selfors, Kristin von Kreisler, Susan Wiggs, Barbara Winther and George Shannon—will recommend their favorite books on writing and otherwise from 5-7 pm. Shannon will share stories for kids, giving the event a family friendly feel. It’s all a benefit for Field’s End, a lecture and writing workshop series based on Bainbridge, with a percentage of book sales going to the group.
We know that most authors are great at recommending books, but can they shelve or type in a 13-digit ISBN with one hand while directing an antsy five-year-old to the bathroom with the other? Good luck guys!
If you’ve seen the book trailers for Wicked Plants and Wicked Bugs, you know that Amy Stewart is not just a diligent researcher but that she’s wicked quirky and fun. She knows how to make anything (earthworms, weeds, bedbugs) a topic you want to read. That’s why her books continue to end up on The New York Times bestseller lists.
In her latest book, Wicked Bugs: The Louse That Conquered Napoleon’s Army & Other Diabolical Insects, Stewart offers play-by-plays on the behaviors of some of the most devious, destructive and downright terrifying bugs in the world. As with her other books, she mixes the perfect amount of fact and whimsy to make for a highly entertaining and educational read. Like Wicked Plants, Wicked Bugs includes beautiful illustrations by artist Briony Morrow-Cribbs. They’re so realistic, they give you goosebumps. Leave this book out on a table and anyone within eyeshot will be enticed to read it.
Stewart, who also happens to own a bookstore in Eureka, CA, is currently on tour for Wicked Bugs and took some time to answer questions from Lindsey McGuirk, of Village Books in Bellingham. (more…)
“One of my favorite things as a bookseller is The Discovery: finding a book in the pile of advance reading copies that speaks to me in a way that is utterly unique and compelling, a story that sings directly to my heart and stuns me with its voice. So far, Dean Bakopoulos’s latest novel is The Discovery for me this year.
Something about the honesty, awkwardness, and absurdity of the narrator, Zeke Pappas, struck me right away. He is the young director of the Great Midwestern Humanities Initiative, simultaneously idealistic and pessimistic. Zeke has a full heart but a lonely life; even his mother is concerned enough about his lack of relationships that she clips advice from magazines about finding love. Zeke creates a project called “An Inventory of American Unhappiness,” inviting Americans to share their experiences. These snapshots of woe (major and minor) are hilarious, but Zeke’s obsession with the project is funny and heartbreaking. As America reveals itself to Zeke, he explores his own unhappiness and tries to do something about it. Poor Zeke works hard to connect with the world in hopes of happiness: a romantic prospects list, frequent visits to Starbucks to spend time with his favorite barista, caring for his mother, taking in his young nieces. Is happiness (or unhappiness) something that can be controlled? I laughed out loud. I read bits to random seatmates on a plane, and yes, I even cried before I was done. If you liked Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris and The Financial Lives of the Poets or Citizen Vince by Jess Walter, I think my latest Discovery is for you, too.”—Tegan Tigani, Queen Anne Books, Seattle
There’s no real news hook to this post—just a link to a cool new website from one of our favorite NW authors. If you’re a Sherman Alexie fan, you’ll want to go here to learn what Alexie is reading (Wendy Videlock, Lydia Davis, Zachary Schomburg) and thinking (about gay marriage in New York, his forthcoming book and about being on the bestseller list for 99 weeks—in short, blog-style posts) and listening to (Destroyer, The Mountain Goats) and how he responded to the recent ban of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian in Richland, WA (with humor and a song). There are 11 questions—and, not surprisingly, not the usual sorts of questions— from Jess Walter, another NW favorite, and a very funny Q-and-A. And there’s a nice prominent plug for indies and “your local free range bookseller.” Would it be too much to ask other authors for this kind of treatment?
“I was happy to read Peter Hoffmeister’s memoir shortly after having read Townie: A Memoir by Andre Dubus III. Both men began as boys who were thoughtful, introverted and reluctant to fight, but, for both, conflicted emotions about their parents drove them to transform themselves physically and mentally for self-protection—and to inflict pain on others. For Dubus it was street fighting/boxing; for Hoffmeister it was wrestling.
I dare you to open up this book anywhere and not be intrigued. Mom encouraging young Pete to smoke on the cover was enough to get me to pick it up (later, the parents would force both sons to smoke until they vomited in aversion therapy). Throughout the story, one notes that Hoffmeister often took time to read, and redemption comes eventually from a native intelligence not worn away by violence and drug abuse. Thousands of less naturally talented boys are still abusing, with no intellectual boot straps to recover. Even with three high school expulsions, Hoffmeister finds himself rising again from circumstances that would drag most people down forever . . . How often does the gift of a book—or, in this case, a stack of books—completely change a life? Blessings on Mrs. Stahlberg, Hoffmeister’s senior-year English teacher, who offers Siddhartha and The Painted Bird, among others.
Hoffmeister’s memoir is one of the most powerful I have ever read. All the way through the Acknowledgements. I took this book on a camping trip with my 10-year-old son. As I read my book and he read his, I would sometimes glance at him and think about Peter’s father, his harsh expectations, his brute physical abuse and twisted good intentions. I think that this book will make me a better father. Thanks for sharing it with us, Peter.”—Kurtis Lowe, sales rep for Book Travelers West, from a Good Reads review
“For those of you who like to explore other cultures and other places, this story of a 12-year-old girl whose family struggles to survive in a Nigerian village that has been colonized by Western oilfields is a MUST READ. Blessing, the child narrator, has been torn from her father and her modern life in Lagos and forced to learn village life with her mother’s family. The lessons she learns, both bitter and sweet— as her brother gets swept up in violence and her grandmother takes her on as an apprentice midwife —are valuable to the reader as well as to the book’s characters. This should make a wonderful book club selection!” – Andy, University of Oregon Duck Store, Eugene
“While shelving in the Fiction section (ah, the sweet rewards of shelving!), I came upon a used copy of Nabokov’s stories and began leafing through its pages. Years ago, I’d read his charming and much anthologized “Mademoiselle O,” but all the others here were new to me, each luminous in its own way. They range from tender to devilish, whimsical to darkly funny, wry to deeply heartening. And now I’ve happily added Nabokov’s to my bedside stack of favorite short story writers, like Graham Greene, Elizabeth Bowen, D.H. Lawrence, Mavis Gallant, and William Maxwell . . . “—Nancy, University Book Store, Seattle, excerpted from this post at The Shelf Life
