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Powell's Books on Hawthorne 3723 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Portland, OR97214
(map/directions)
United States of AmericaWork 503 228 465145.51214382316533,
-122.62604981660843
From appropriately funky beginnings in a slightly funky neighborhood, Powell's on Hawthorne has grown into the largest used and new bookstore on Portland's east side. Located in a vibrant, diverse, and highly desirable neighborhood, Powell's on Hawthorne now covers more than 10,000 square feet of retail space and offers more than 200,000 used and new books. The atmosphere is relaxed, but the store is big enough to warrant a map. Not as extensive as the labyrinth at the City of Books, Powell's on Hawthorne is divided into just three rooms, each named for a neighborhood landmark: Madison, Hawthorne, and Tabor. The latter is named for Mt. Tabor, the world's only extinct volcano residing within city limits. Powell's on Hawthorne hosts lively and interesting author readings several times each week in its Tabor Room. Adjacent to the reading space, readers congregate in The Fresh Pot, an inviting corner of the store serving delicious homemade pastries and other sweet delights, along with some of the best coffee in a town that really knows its coffee. Judy Jewell says, "My favorite thing about working at the Hawthorne store is the lively feeling of community I get from my co-workers and customers. I think next best is the great used books we see here. You just never know what's going to turn up or who's going to turn up to buy it. Like the other day, we got in this copy of Huber the Tuber, a book about tuberculosis. We thought it was goofy and charming so we put it in the front window. That same afternoon, a customer snatched it up, saying it was her first book. Her father had been a lung doctor, and the book had come out when she was a toddler. She was way thrilled and we were all pretty tickled about it." --
From appropriately funky beginnings in a slightly funky neighborhood, Powell's on Hawthorne has grown into the largest used and new bookstore on Portland's east side.
Located in a vibrant, diverse, and highly desirable neighborhood, Powell's on Hawthorne now covers more than 10,000 square feet of retail space and offers more than 200,000 used and new books. The atmosphere is relaxed, but the store is big enough to warrant a map. Not as extensive as the labyrinth at the City of Books, Powell's on Hawthorne is divided into just three rooms, each named for a neighborhood landmark: Madison, Hawthorne, and Tabor. The latter is named for Mt. Tabor, the world's only extinct volcano residing within city limits.
Powell's on Hawthorne hosts lively and interesting author readings several times each week in its Tabor Room. Adjacent to the reading space, readers congregate in The Fresh Pot, an inviting corner of the store serving delicious homemade pastries and other sweet delights, along with some of the best coffee in a town that really knows its coffee.
Judy Jewell says, "My favorite thing about working at the Hawthorne store is the lively feeling of community I get from my co-workers and customers. I think next best is the great used books we see here. You just never know what's going to turn up or who's going to turn up to buy it. Like the other day, we got in this copy of Huber the Tuber, a book about tuberculosis. We thought it was goofy and charming so we put it in the front window. That same afternoon, a customer snatched it up, saying it was her first book. Her father had been a lung doctor, and the book had come out when she was a toddler. She was way thrilled and we were all pretty tickled about it." --
Here are just some of the books we're talking about at Powell's.
The Lies of Locke Lamora
Scads of witty dialogue, a story packed full of twists and turns, and two of the cheekiest thieves you'll ever meet... What more could a reader ask for? The Lies of Locke Lamora is the first book in the Gentleman Bastard series, and the two books that follow are equally entertaining. Scott Lynch weaves an absorbing tale that will whisk you right out of this world and keep you thoroughly entertained.
In the powerful finale to her too-close-for-comfort dystopian/apocalyptic trilogy (following the mind-blowingly awesome Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood), Atwood leaves us with an epic tale filled with survival, humor, and — ultimately — hope. If you haven't read Oryx and Crake yet, go buy it immediately. And save yourself a second trip by grabbing The Year of the Flood and MaddAddam while you're at it. You can thank me later.
It would be reductive to say this is a weight-loss memoir (excuse the pun). Sure, Wendy McClure joins Weight Watchers and starts a diet blog called Poundy, but the memoir is about her life in a broader sense and is extraordinarily entertaining. Bonus: she reproduces lurid photos from 1970s Weight Watchers cookbooks.
Train hopping, diamond heists, safe cracking, jailbreaks, hobo conventions, opium dens, and murder are littered throughout these pages. Jack Black recounts his stories of organized and honorable thievery in the waning years of the Wild West with such a romantic charm that it's hard not to fall in love with the many characters surrounding his journey. Surprisingly insightful, this book makes a good companion to Iceberg Slim's Pimp.
Mostly about the author Eyres and what he gleaned from Horace's poetry and wisdom, this charming book will inspire one to spend several late summer nights savoring Horace's poems over a glass (or two) of sherry.
In Marbles, Ellen Forney explores the relationship between mental illness and creativity. A working cartoonist in Seattle, she is diagnosed with bipolar disorder and must decide whether to accept treatment (and risk sacrificing her art) or continue self-medicating and hope for the best. Marbles is a satisfying read, both as a personal memoir and as a glimpse into the relationship between bipolar disorder and the artistic temperament.
Drinking: A Love Story is about Caroline Knapp's struggle with alcoholism and getting sober after 20 years of hard drinking. This book spoke to me personally and parallels my life closely. Knapp's writing is so stark and honest that anyone in recovery will see themselves in this book.
In this graphic memoir, Nicole Georges shares how she went from believing her father was dead throughout her childhood to visiting a psychic who debunks the family myth to eventually calling "tough love" talk radio host Dr. Laura Schlessinger. Additionally, Georges includes memories from her childhood regarding her mother's marriages and live-in boyfriends as a way to reveal past and present anxieties regarding not only the title situation but George's own relationships. It's beautifully written and hilarious at times, but more often heart-wrenching. Also, I was so excited to read a novel that includes illustrations of Portland cityscapes, cross streets, and bars!
Your childhood wasn't based in "facts," was it? A timeline, something dry and tidy and biographical like that? Nah. You probably remember childhood as a series of vignettes informing you of what it felt like to be alive in a fresh new world. Patti Smith gets that, and she presents her childhood here as a gathering of wool from the clouds and its manifestations in the forms of her songs, poems, and dreams.
While The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls is my favorite memoir, Growing Up Laughing by Marlo Thomas, daughter of comedian Danny Thomas, is my pick for best unconventional memoir because it is like a mini history of comedy, complete with interviews and stories of comedians of the past and modern day. I was laughing out loud through this wonderful book!
I read this during a formative period when I was not a teenager anymore but not quite an adult. It was perfect timing. All of my foibles and insecurities were obliterated with this poignant memoir of a girl who has a rare type of bone cancer in her jaw and undergoes surgery and later reconstructive surgery all through her teens and 20s. Written as fiction but based on Lucy Grealy's real experiences, it destroys all your own personal vanities and superficial anxieties.
Love Is Not Constantly Wondering If You Are Making the Biggest Mistake of Your Life
Everyone has the relationship they look back on and wonder what the hell they were thinking dating and/or staying with this person for so long. This memoir perfectly captures the feelings that come years after that relationship has ended. You knew the relationship was doomed but you went along with it anyway, and now you can't help but shake your head and laugh.
Powell's City of Books is an independent bookstore in Portland, Oregon, that fills a whole city block with more than a million new, used, and out of print books. Shop those shelves — plus literally millions more books, DVDs, and eBooks — here at Powells.com.