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Powell's City of Books 1005 W Burnside St. Portland, OR97209
(map/directions)
United States of AmericaWork 503 228 465145.52306687976776,
-122.68125772476196
[a href="http://www.powells.com/bookmachine"][img src="http://www.powells.com/images/bookmachine.jpg" alt="Espresso Book Machine" border=0][/a] The Espresso Book Machine® has arrived! Visit the Purple Room in the City of Books to publish your own book or print hard-to-find titles, all in the time it takes to make a cup of coffee. [a href="http://www.powells.com/bookmachine"]Learn more.[/a] [div align="center"]÷÷÷[/div] Get turn-by-turn directions to books — on your phone! Download the free Meridian app for iPhone and Android. [a href="http://www.powells.com/app"]Click here[/a] to learn more. Powell's City of Books is a book lover's paradise, the largest used and new bookstore in the world. Located in downtown Portland, Oregon, and occupying an entire city block, the City stocks more than a million new and used books. Nine color coded rooms house over 3,500 different sections, offering something for every interest, including an incredible selection of out-of-print and hard-to-find titles. Each month, the Basil Hallward Gallery (located upstairs in the Pearl Room) hosts a new art exhibit, as well as dozens of author events featuring acclaimed writers, artists, and thinkers such as Roddy Doyle, Joyce Carol Oates, Michael Chabon, Annie Leibovitz, and President Jimmy Carter. The City's Rare Book Room gathers autographed first editions and other collectible volumes for readers in search of a one-of-a-kind treasure. And the City's newest addition (October 2010) is Powell's Books Bldg. 2, a relocation of Powell's Technical Books, brings mathematics, sciences, computing, engineering, construction, and transportation sections closer to visitors at the flagship store. Bldg. 2 is located across the street from the City of Books on the corner of NW 10th and Couch. Every day at our buyers' counter in the Orange Room we purchase thousands of used books from the public. Powell's purchases special collections, libraries, and bookstore inventories as well. A few facts about the City of Books: • 68,000 square feet packed with books. • We buy 3,000 used books over the counter every day. • Approximately 3,000 people walk in and buy something every day. • Another 3,000 people just browse and drink coffee. • We stock 122 major subject areas and more than 3,500 subsections. • You'll find more than 1,000,000 volumes on our shelves. • Approximately 80,000 book lovers browse the City's shelves every day in Portland and via the Internet. So is our mother ship the world's largest bookstore? Heck, it may be bigger than your whole town. The Washington Post called Powell's "perhaps the best bookstore in the world." You can also browse our store map online in .PDF format. If you've already placed an order for a book via our website and would like to check on its status, please email the internet office at help@powells.com.
The Espresso Book Machine® has arrived! Visit the Purple Room in the City of Books to publish your own book or print hard-to-find titles, all in the time it takes to make a cup of coffee. Learn more.
÷÷÷
Get turn-by-turn directions to books — on your phone! Download the free Meridian app for iPhone and Android. Click here to learn more.
Powell's City of Books is a book lover's paradise, the largest used and new bookstore in the world. Located in downtown Portland, Oregon, and occupying an entire city block, the City stocks more than a million new and used books. Nine color coded rooms house over 3,500 different sections, offering something for every interest, including an incredible selection of out-of-print and hard-to-find titles.
Each month, the Basil Hallward Gallery (located upstairs in the Pearl Room) hosts a new art exhibit, as well as dozens of author events featuring acclaimed writers, artists, and thinkers such as Roddy Doyle, Joyce Carol Oates, Michael Chabon, Annie Leibovitz, and President Jimmy Carter.
The City's Rare Book Room gathers autographed first editions and other collectible volumes for readers in search of a one-of-a-kind treasure.
And the City's newest addition (October 2010) is Powell's Books Bldg. 2, a relocation of Powell's Technical Books, brings mathematics, sciences, computing, engineering, construction, and transportation sections closer to visitors at the flagship store. Bldg. 2 is located across the street from the City of Books on the corner of NW 10th and Couch.
Every day at our buyers' counter in the Orange Room we purchase thousands of used books from the public. Powell's purchases special collections, libraries, and bookstore inventories as well.
A few facts about the City of Books:
• 68,000 square feet packed with books.
• We buy 3,000 used books over the counter every day.
• Approximately 3,000 people walk in and buy something every day.
• Another 3,000 people just browse and drink coffee.
• We stock 122 major subject areas and more than 3,500 subsections.
• You'll find more than 1,000,000 volumes on our shelves.
• Approximately 80,000 book lovers browse the City's shelves every day in Portland and via the Internet.
So is our mother ship the world's largest bookstore? Heck, it may be bigger than your whole town.
The Washington Post called Powell's "perhaps the best bookstore in the world." You can also browse our store map online in .PDF format.
If you've already placed an order for a book via our website and would like to check on its status, please email the internet office at help@powells.com.
Here are just some of the books we're talking about at Powell's.
Shantytown (staff pick)
César Aira : Literature :: Coen brothers : Cinema
You may never quite know what to expect going into it, but you can always be sure of a singular, engaging, imaginative, quirky, inimitable, and worthwhile experience.
Aira's Shantytown, while a bit unlike his previous works already available in English translation, feels just like any other Aira outing. Although Shantytown is without the genre-shifting that characterizes so many of his novel(la)s, there'd be no mistaking it for the work of another author.
It was so unexpected, and at the same time so horrifyingly opportune, that her whole being was seized by a spasm of terror, and she saw him as a bloodthirsty Stegosaurus hoisting his rocky neck from a lake of oil, on the night of the end of the world.
Set in the Flores district slums of Buenos Aires, Shantytown follows Maxi, a kind yet lubberly fellow who splits his time between working out at the gym and helping the neighborhood scavengers load their collected bounties. As an enigmatic drug, Proxidine, proliferates, Maxi soon finds himself (and his sister) entangled in the squalid district's violence. Add in a few other shady characters, a wayward cop, and a labyrinth of message-laden lighting, and you have yet another impressive work from the prolific Argentine master.
Had he been able to use his gifts for good, he would have achieved great things, but he chose the infernal path of artificial contiguity.
Shantytown is the ninth of Aira's works to be rendered from the Spanish — with five or six dozen more to go. As his renown continues to grow stateside, presumably (and hopefully!) the estimable folks at New Directions will see to it that another two or three titles are forthcoming each year. Aira is undoubtedly one of the most original and refreshing voices coming out of South America, and reading his books provides for a level of sheer enjoyment that may well parallel the fun he seems to have in writing them.
In an old interview with The Quarterly Conversation, translator Chris Andrews described Aira thus:
I think Aira is just as exciting [as Bolaño], and quite different. Aira's style, in most of his books (How I Became a Nun is exceptional) is limpid and simple. The sentences don't have surprising shapes. But the stories take extremely surprising turns, sometimes jumping from one genre into another, leaving just about everyone wondering why...Once you're addicted to Aira, you can be disappointed by a swerve like that, but somehow you prefer being disappointed by him to being satisfied by many other writers.
The Plover is not exactly a sequel to Mink River — more of a companion piece — but fans of the latter will be thrilled to find out what happened to one of the most beloved characters. After sailing his little boat off the final pages of Mink River, the story of Declan O'Donnell continues in The Plover. Declan is a man of serious solitude, and he is pleased to be starting a journey of peace and quiet. But there is no quiet in Brian Doyle's head — it is full of magic, mutterings, and musings, and once these things are in motion, there is no stopping them.
Before Declan knows what has hit him, he has a boat full of bodies — both human and otherwise — along for the ride, "...ranging in size from [enormous] to an infinitesimal acorn barnacle, just born as this sentence began, and no bigger than the period which is about to arrive, here." No, there will be no solitude for Declan — and how lucky for us. The Plover is a rambling, charming sea voyage, full of thrills, danger, and narrow escapes.
It's also an excellent observation on the nature of things unseen: on what may be, on ideas, on imaginings, aspirations, and dreams. There is so much substance underneath Doyle's dazzling, rich language, I just wanted to read each sentence over and over until every whisper of nuance was absorbed, recognized, and experienced. Reading Doyle's writing is an enchanting discovery of how shattering and awe-inspiring language can be, and his literary contortions are both improbable and captivating at the same time.
Remember the first book you loved as a child? Remember how you wished so hard you lived in that book? That feeling is Doyle's "normal," and we should all be so lucky to live in his world.
The latest stand-alone novel by Alexander McCall Smith is a slight departure from his usual fare. It lacks the charm and lightness of his other offerings but gives, instead, a truly heartfelt dissertation on love.
Melancholy, poignant, and bittersweet, Trains and Lovers has four tales of romance — warts and all. Four strangers take a long train ride, sharing their personal stories along the way. Andrew tells his own love story, Kay tells the love story of her parents, Hugh tells a story of his slightly sinister entanglement, and David tells his story of a lifetime of longing for an unrequited love.
McCall Smith takes a ride on the serious side this time around; he paints a picture that is just a little more substantial than his usual "comfort food of literature" fare, and it is definitely worth a read.
This is Charlie's moving journal detailing both the extreme enhancement of his intellect by an experimental drug and his subsequent loss of intelligence. As I get older, I appreciate it even more for its insights into loss of abilities, because I see an analogy to aging.
I remember the first time I read this funny, amazing book. I remember thinking: What is this? Is it poetry? Is it prose? Is there going to be a plot? Is the entire book going to be statements that begin with the same two words? I remember, a couple of pages later, not caring about my questions anymore. I remember turning the final page, and then immediately starting over because I couldn't bear for it to end. I remember buying every copy I came across, so I could hand it out to friends and still make sure I had one left for me.
The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo
The Black Count is the story of Alex Dumas, the father of Alexandre Dumas and inspiration for some of the best adventure fiction ever written. Alex Dumas's life is stranger than fiction in a time when hope for the common man, equality, and emancipation are vying to be the ideals of a revolution.
Fun Home is a memoir told in the form of a graphic novel, a collage of comic artist Alison Bechdel's impressions of her life — from her childhood spent growing up in a funeral home to her college years discovering women and burying her closeted father. Bechdel layers her methodical drawings with precise, searching prose, allowing her readers to live beside her as she tries to make sense of herself in light of her father's secrets and possible suicide.
Most celebrity musician memoirs amount to not much more than an inevitable litany of the excesses that come with the dubious position of rock star. Sting, however, makes the interesting (and refreshing) choice to stop his memoir right before The Police hit it big. While the opening recollection of his first experience with the entheogen ayahuasca is worth the price of admission alone, Broken Music unfolds itself into a wonderfully written memoir. Melancholic and beautiful, the story of the people, places, and events that carried Sting to the world stage is a rewarding experience no matter how one feels about his musical output.
This book is for any woman who has been frustrated at the world but doesn't know why. Muscio is unforgiving and blunt in her delivery of her fantastically liberating experiences that make her a woman. Relatable, funny, and completely shocking at times, this headfirst dive into feminism will leave you empowered to take on the inequalities that people face every day.
"When you live your life through records, the records are a record of your life."
Drummer, DJ, producer, and cofounder of the legendary Roots crew, Ahmir "Questlove" (a.k.a. "?uestlove" and "Questo") Thompson is one of the music world's most virtuosic individuals. Possessing talent in spades, Questlove's accomplishments are many, but it is his encyclopedic knowledge and abiding passion for music past and present that set him in another realm. Mo' Meta Blues is indeed a music memoir, but it's the story of a life shaped by song most of all.
Quest begins his bio with the obligatory childhood recollections, albeit ones perhaps far more fascinating than the average musical superstar. Lee Andrews, his father, helmed a Philly-based doo-wop group, surrounding and immersing him in the music industry from a very young age. Questo revisits his formative years in West Philly — recalling an early (and still enduring) obsession with Rolling Stone and record reviews in general, the first time he heard The Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight," as well as the artists and albums that defined this era of his life (his love for Prince is likely unrivaled). Questlove goes on to detail his career chronologically, from meeting Roots MC and cofounder Tariq Trotter ("Black Thought") while at Philly's High School for the Creative and Performing Arts (and paying their dues as a drum/voice duet on South Street) through to the Roots' work as the house band on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and the group's most recent (and remarkable) album, 2012's Undun.
Surely, Quest's memoir will appeal most of all to fans of the Roots and hip hop in general. While a knowledge of rap isn't necessary, a passable understanding of the genre ought to enliven the myriad stories (especially as he elaborates on early hip hop pioneers and luminaries, as well as his later work with the likes of D'Angelo, Dilla, the Soulquarians, and others). Ardent Roots fan or not, Mo' Meta Blues is a candid, thoughtful, well-written work full of humility, humor, and anti-hubris. In writing about records, race, success, creativity, self-doubt, hardship, and heartbreak, Questlove stands raw and unadorned, without the familiarity and comfort of his drum set or turntables to deflect attention. Erudite and entertaining, Mo' Meta Blues is much more than the mere record of Questo's career — it's a sensitive, observant take on a life lived in, with, through, and surrounded by meaningful music.
And so that's how it goes. I keep moving through time and time keeps moving through me. And through that process, life takes shape. The question is what shape it is. I'm not the first person to ask this question, or to see how absurd it is to think there's a real answer. Maybe life's a circle. Maybe what goes around comes around. Maybe there's karma and an account ledger that balances off all debts and credits. Part of me believes that: the part of me that remembers that my drums are circles, that turntables are circles. But drumsticks are straight, and there are times when life seems like an arrow that goes in one direction and one direction only, toward a final target that might not be a final reward... Music has the power to stop time. But music also keeps time. Drummers are timekeepers. Music conserves time and serves time, just as time conserves and serves music. I think I have to believe in circularity, even if I know that the arrow's coming in on the wing... Will the circle be unbroken? That's not the only circle that's a question. Every circle is. Lines are statements. Arrows are especially emphatic statements. They divide and they define. They count up and count down. Circles are more careful. They come around again. They overthink. They analyze. They go back to the scene of the crime. They retrace their steps. That's where I end up, definitely maybe, always circumspect, always circumscribed by questions, by curiosity, by a certainty that I need a certain amount of uncertainty.
If you're a true Roots fan, Questlove's acknowledgements will undoubtedly be as gratifying as the past 20 years of liner notes.
Mystery is not a genre I dive into very often, but I always make an exception for the well-written characters of Walter Mosley: Socrates Fortlow, Fearless Jones, Leonid McGill, and — my favorite — Ezekiel "Easy" Rawlins. Over the course of 10 novels, spanning from 1948 to 1967, the L.A.-based black detective and World War II vet has solved murders while confronting the racial inequities that are sadly still a part of the African American experience.
When the author appeared to kill off Rawlins in 2007's Blonde Faith, I mourned the end of a great series. But Mosley delighted his fans with Easy's return this past summer. In Little Green, Easy is cruising the Sunset Strip during the Summer of Love, recovering from his injuries as he investigates the disappearance of a young black man on a bad acid trip and his reappearance with over $200,000 he can't explain.
If you're an Easy fan, reading Little Green is like slipping on a comfortable pair of shoes. All your favorite supporting players are back (plus a surprise return). And if you've never read the series, I urge you to start at the beginning with Devil in a Blue Dress. You won't be sorry.
What would you give up for someone you love? For George and Margaret Blackledge, the answer is: everything.
Set in North Dakota in 1951, Let Him Go begins with the Blackledges leaving their home, security, and safety behind in order to retrieve their grandson from a situation which Margaret deems untenable. George and Margaret's son, James, has died in an accident, leaving his widow to find another husband and then move away with her small son. Margaret has meticulously planned this trip, and George can either stay or go, but Margaret intends to bring her grandson home. Unfortunately, she hasn't counted on the family of her daughter-in-law's new husband, the Weboys.
The Blackledges are first faced with rudeness and resistance from the Weboy clan, which shortly devolves into threats, hostility, and violence. It isn't too long before the situation explodes, and George and Margaret realize they are no match for the Weboys, and they are in way, way too deep. After retreating to lick their wounds, George and Margaret concede their defeat and prepare to return home.
Watson writes a masterful tale so heartbreaking and so sorrowful, it hurts to read it. Yet, at the same time, it is a gorgeous story about family, unconditional love, and sacrifice. My favorite book so far this year, Let Him Go is absolutely perfect.
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.
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