Original Essays
by David K. Randall, May 9, 2019 9:37 AM
A generation after it was eradicated in the United States, measles is once again spreading across the country, where since the start of the year more than 550 cases have been confirmed in 20 states. An outbreak of the disease in New York City prompted Mayor Bill de Blasio to declare a public health emergency on April 9, and call for mandatory vaccinations in two neighborhoods of Brooklyn, where it has become clustered in the Hasidic and Orthodox Jewish communities.
As I’ve followed the course of the outbreak, I keep finding parallels to the country’s often-forgotten fight against the most fearsome disease of them all: bubonic plague. What began as an isolated case in San Francisco soon turned into a national emergency that threatened millions of lives, forcing public health officials into making hard choices they could not easily undo...
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Powell's Picks Spotlight
by Powell's Books, May 7, 2019 10:10 AM
This week we're taking a closer look at Powell's Pick of the Month Furious Hours by Casey Cep.
In the space of eight years, the Reverend Willie Maxwell allegedly murdered two wives, a brother, a nephew, and a stepdaughter for life insurance money. His reign of terror, for which he was repeatedly arrested but never convicted, ended in 1977 at his step-daughter’s funeral, when the girl’s grief-stricken uncle shot the Reverend three times in the head. The uncle, too, was acquitted. Both men were defended by a dynamic, liberal white lawyer who was sure this was a story for the ages.
Harper Lee, the enigmatic author of To Kill a Mockingbird, agreed...
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Q&As
by Ted Chiang, May 7, 2019 9:07 AM
Photo credit: Alan Berner
Describe your latest book.
My new book is titled Exhalation, and it's a collection of short fiction. It contains all the stories I've published since my first collection, as well as two stories appearing for the first time. Some of the stories originally appeared in limited print-run editions, so it's nice to have them widely available now. The stories have pretty varied settings — ranging from medieval Baghdad to the near-future to a universe made only of metal — but the theme of free will recurs in many of them.
What was your favorite book as a child?
I don't know if I would call it my favorite, but I have powerful memories of a volume that contained both The Swiss Family Robinson and Robinson Crusoe bound together back-to-back so each book got its own cover illustration. While I remember very little of the plot of either novel, I know I read that volume until it fell apart...
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Original Essays
by Georgina Reid, May 6, 2019 10:01 AM
Photo credit: Daniel Shipp
I had a phone call the other day from an old acquaintance. We talked for a while about my work before he said, “You know, George, you’re really putting yourself out there. You are way out beyond the breakers.” The phrase — "beyond the breakers" — is an Australian way of saying someone is existing on the edge of things — that they’re in risky territory, beyond the safety of the beach and the predictability of waves crashing on the shore.
"It’s lonely out there," he told me, offering his support. I was grateful and surprised. I’d never really considered what I do, what I’m trying to do, as anything other than what I should, what I can. But I stopped for a while, and thought a little more. Of course, it’s madness, this mission of mine to change the world through gardening...
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Lists
by Powell's Books, May 3, 2019 9:19 AM
In anticipation of Cinco de Mayo, we’ve been talking about our favorite Mexican and Mexican American authors. Yuri Herrera? Check. Juan Rulfo? Check. Sandra Cisneros, Gloria E. Anzaldúa, Laura Esquivel? Check, check, check. But we’ve also got our eyes on some newer writers — members of the upcoming literary generation or those just now being translated into English — whose stylistic audacity and topical themes dazzle us book after book.
Here’s a short list of five such books, new staff favorites by Mexican and Mexican American writers.
Lost Children Archive
by Valeria Luiselli
Mexican author Valeria Luiselli is a perennial Powell’s staff favorite, and her most recent novel, Lost Children Archive, is no exception. This timely and stylistically ambitious novel documents an unnamed family's journey from New York to Arizona, to reach Apacheria, the region formerly inhabited by the Apache people...
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Lists
by Powell's Books, May 2, 2019 8:53 AM
May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, and this year we’re fortunate to be partnering with APANO (Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon) to share an APAHM reading list. APANO is a statewide, grassroots organization, uniting Asians and Pacific Islanders to achieve social justice and find solutions to the disproportionate gaps in education, health, and economic prosperity that Asian and Pacific Islander communities often face.
APANO is led and staffed by a dynamic group of community experts, seasoned advocates, and volunteers and the books they share below are as impassioned, riveting, and diverse as the individuals that comprise APANO and the families and communities the organization is dedicated to serving.
 The Best We Could Do
by Thi Bui
Deeply gripping and poignant, this graphic novel memoir manages to be both epic and intimate in its recounting of one family's journey from Vietnam to America. I'm left in awe of what we do for those we love in the face of the impossible.
— Neil, APANO Arts & Media Project Member...
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Original Essays
by Malaka Gharib, May 1, 2019 2:43 PM
Photo credit: Rebecca Harlan
Until 2016, I didn’t think much about what it meant to be the child of immigrants in America.
In the news, people were saying that immigrants were coming into this country to steal jobs. That they were uneducated, poor, and desperate. Terrorists. Bad hombres.
I thought about my dad, an Egyptian and a devout Muslim. He wears denim shorts and cardigans, and his greatest joy is eating apple fritter donuts. I thought about my Filipino mom, a huge Bill Murray fan who subscribes to magazines like Vanity Fair and The New Yorker.
It just didn’t add up. My immigrant parents didn’t fit the description...
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Lists
by David Borgenicht and Joshua Piven, April 30, 2019 11:43 AM
Just be honest.
Honesty is always the best policy, so bring good snacks and wine, and simply admit that you didn’t finish the book this month but wanted to come anyway because you enjoy everyone’s company so much.
Use one or more of the following lines:
“It just wasn’t my cup of tea.”
“I’m not really into historical fiction/speculative fiction/books that seem lightweight/books that seem too heavy these days.”
“I had such a crazy month.”
“I was busy binge-watching Game of Thrones for the final season.”
“Trump just has me so depressed.”
Read just enough of the book to participate in the discussion.
Read the first 20 pages, the last 20 pages, and the back cover and flap copy...
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Powell's Picks Spotlight
by Powell's Books, April 30, 2019 9:32 AM
This week we're taking a closer look at Powell's Pick of the Month Salt and Straw Ice Cream Cookbook by Tyler Malek and JJ Goode.
Tyler Malek’s infectious enthusiasm for making ice cream infuses the Salt and Straw Ice Cream Cookbook with the perfect amounts of zest and sweetness. Great for ice cream amateurs and professionals alike — plus anyone who’s stood in the epic lines at one of Salt & Straw’s locations and thought, Couldn’t I just eat ice cream at home? — Malek’s cookbook features the company’s best-loved flavors, plus recipes for the extras like marshmallow fluff and gooey chocolate brownies that make Salt & Straw’s ice cream so good...
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The Enthusiast
by Ashleigh Brantingham, April 29, 2019 9:51 AM
Avengers: Endgame came out this weekend and Game of Thrones is halfway through its final season, so spoilers are having a bit of a cultural moment. On one side, we have die-hard fans who have been engaging with these franchises for years and don’t want to learn how they end from an offhand tweet. On the other, a sort of ultra-jaded group of critics who think that caring about spoilers is childish, or missing the point, or a sign that the media being spoiled is bad, actually.
The arguments in favor of spoilers go like this:
Caring about spoilers is childish.
Isn’t caring about anything, then?...
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