Powell's Picks Spotlight
by Keith M., May 12, 2022 8:52 AM
This week we’re taking a closer look at Powell’s Pick of the Month The World Belonged to Us by Jacqueline Woodson and Leo Espinosa.
I’m a nostalgia skeptic. I say that as someone in the final days of his thirties, an age when all the normal human inclinations — pushed along by Big Culture — are driving many of us elder millennials to remember just how good things — especially products — used to be. (Exhibit A: The Garbage Pail Kids Tarot Deck, coming in August!)
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Original Essays
by Ayun Halliday, May 10, 2022 8:51 AM
There was a used bookstore in my hometown my father liked to frequent, but its odor of furniture polish and musty cloth covers was a turn off. As a child, I was desperate to align myself with the Honeycomb Kids generation. The glossy best sellers and Playgirls at B. Dalton’s in the Glendale Mall seemed more sophisticated, and thus more my style.
It wasn’t ‘til I was a teenager, passing through Madison, Wisconsin on a family trip, that I realized the error of my ways. I was, by then, interested in theater and art and any taste of the counterculture I could truffle up amid the Preppy Handbook craze. Paul’s Bookstore on State Street seemed like the sort of place where that itch could be scratched...
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Lists
by Kelsey Ford, May 5, 2022 8:43 AM
Short stories are enticing and prickly — so satisfying when done well, but so difficult to get right. In honor of May being Short Story Month, I thought I'd pull together a selection of craft books that speak to writing short stories in particular, as well as writing practices in general. Whether you’ve been looking to scratch that writerly itch, or just looking for some inspiration for your current works in progress, these books will help you find the words you’re looking for.
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Q&As
by Shelby Van Pelt, May 3, 2022 8:06 AM
Shelby Van Pelt’s debut novel, Remarkably Bright Creatures, is so fun and sweet and just the right amount of surreal. There’s a smart, wily octopus named Marcellus; a woman looking for connection after the recent loss of her husband; a grocery store owner with a crush; and an adult “lost boy” just looking for somewhere to belong. And they’re all connected by a mystery that only the octopus has been able to solve. An added bonus? It’s set in our beloved Puget Sound. Van Pelt was kind enough to answer our questions about her delightful book.
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Lists
by Powell's Books, May 2, 2022 9:09 AM
May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and this year we’re fortunate to be partnering again with our friends at APANO (Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon) to share a curated 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.
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Lists
by Powell's Staff, April 29, 2022 8:59 AM
There are so many great books coming out and so little time to keep track of them. Luckily, we’re here to do that for you! Below, our booksellers have highlighted the titles they’re most excited to see hit the shelves. Good luck not adding every single one of these to your cart...
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Powell's Picks Spotlight
by Kelsey Ford, April 28, 2022 9:00 AM
This week we’re taking a closer look at Powell’s Pick of the Month The Candy House by Jennifer Egan.
I spend a lot of time thinking about books as houses — containers for stories within stories living alongside other stories, physical spaces where the story can change depending on the angle you look at it from. A love story looks different when it’s moved from a softly lit, cluttered kitchen into a study, surrounded by mahogany bookshelves, light slanting in through wide, dormer windows...
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Lists
by Kelsey Ford, April 26, 2022 8:46 AM
If you find the world overwhelming, if sometimes you feel compelled to make the wrong decision on purpose, if you can't stop yourself from spending hours doomscrolling — have we got some recommendations for you. Please enjoy the first-ever Powell's superlatives; the characters in these books truly deserve an award for doing the most.
On this list, you'll find women swapping out personas like outfits, getting into cars with strangers, pursuing disastrous affairs, starting questionable friendships with their lovers' partners (both former and current), performing poorly at work, lying to their loved ones, drunk texting, stalking social media, and getting into any number of inadvisable messes.
This list is filled with fiction for the disenchanted and the disaffected; sometimes it's nice to know we're not alone.
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Lists
by Emily B., April 22, 2022 8:35 AM
Spring in Portland has brought sunny 70 degree days, but also record-setting snow, hail, and thunderstorms. Combine that with last year's "heat-dome" and 2020's forest fires and it's pretty clear that our years of CO2 emissions, pollution, disregard for our planet, and general hubris have caught up to us. Good ol' mother earth is out for revenge.
There are scientists doing incredible work to find new technologies that will help us cut carbon emissions and there are brilliant, dedicated activists pushing for climate action around the world. I highly recommend that you read about those efforts and get involved if you can. There are great lists of books for educating yourself on the latest in climate science out there. This however...
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Q&As
by Peter Rock, April 21, 2022 8:56 AM
Peter Rock’s newest book, Passersthrough, is an unnerving mystery that dissects the way secrets can fester when left in the dark for too long. The book follows a father as he does his best to reconnect with his estranged daughter; at the heart of their disconnect is the mystery behind the week, nearly 25 years prior, she disappeared in Mount Rainier National Park. Where did she go during that time, and what did she bring back? This eerie novel contains so much: a lake filled with bones, a murder house, bodily possession, ghosts, audio transcripts, and a fax machine.
Passersthrough is a haunting, lovely book, made even lovelier by its familiar, mossy setting. I feel so lucky that I was ...
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