Lists
by Kelsey Ford, March 20, 2023 8:40 AM
Sure, women’s rights have come a long way over the last century, but for every step forward, it feels like we take a few back, and when that feeling is so consistent, so insidious? Man, it makes me want to support women’s wrongs.
On this list, you’ll find books about women’s rights — Gloria Steinem, Barbara Ehrenreich, Mary Beard, all writing about the historical challenges women have faced and the hard work it’s taken to push forward, toward equality and justice. These books are equal parts informative and infuriating, and pair perfectly with the books on this list about women’s wrongs...
|
Lists
by Kelsey Ford, March 6, 2023 9:37 AM
The year is 2023 and still, women find their rights under attack and their voices silenced. We wanted to celebrate Women’s History Month by pulling together this list of recent releases that shine a light on the rich complexity of women’s stories, and inspire us to continue the fight for equality and representation. On this list, you'll find congresswomen and witches, clown adversaries and feminist philosophers, as well as deep looks at misogyny, capitalism, colonialism, racism, violence against women, activism...
|
Powell's Picks Spotlight
by Kelsey Ford, February 16, 2023 9:10 AM
This week we’re taking a closer look at Powell’s Pick of the Month Brutes by Dizz Tate.
Truly: is there anything more terrifying than a group of young girls, roaming together, expanding and contracting like an anemone? Sixteen, eighteen, twenty-eight limbs between them, all ready to lash out if the world requires them to turn feral.
Dizz Tate’s debut, Brutes, released last week, gets to the quick of this. Brutes takes place in Falls Landing, Florida and is told in the collective “we” of a handful of 13-year-old girls. Their parents (those out-of-focus, off-screen characters) call these...
|
Original Essays
by Kelsey Ford, January 25, 2023 9:21 AM
Our blog feature, "From the Stacks," features our booksellers’ favorite older books: those fortuitous used finds, underrated masterpieces, and lesser known treasures. Basically: the books that we’re the most passionate about handselling. This week, we’re featuring Kelsey F.’s pick, Submergence by J. M. Ledgard.
Like most good things in my life, Submergence by J. M. Ledgard came into my orbit because of Moby-Dick. A friend knew how much I loved Melville’s epic — its discursiveness, beautiful language, surprising sensuality...
|
Five Book Friday
by Kelsey Ford, January 20, 2023 9:08 AM
This coming Sunday is the Lunar New Year (timed to match with the second full moon after the winter solstice), when the Year of the Tiger will become the Year of the Rabbit. According to the Chinese zodiac, those born in the Year of the Rabbit are earnest and forthright, generous and cautious, rash and loyal, tender and easily irritated. To celebrate, I thought I’d pull together a list of “rabbit” books with similar, often-contradictory characteristics...
|
Powell's Picks Spotlight
by Kelsey Ford, January 19, 2023 9:24 AM
This week we’re taking a closer look at Powell’s Pick of the Month How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix.
A couple months ago, I finally got the haunted house tattoo I'd been wanting for a while — a line-drawing of a Victorian home vaguely modeled after the house in Hausu with two windows that glow red. I booked my appointment with an artist that I knew loved horror movies, so we spent that hour talking through our recent favorites ( Barbarian, Pearl, etc)...
|
Original Essays
by Kelsey Ford, January 11, 2023 9:24 AM
While pulling together our first Book Preview of 2023, I started to notice a number of commonalities — themes that seemed to echo throughout the list. I love these synchronicities and the idea of a collective stew that we're all pulling out of — a stew filled with our shared anxieties and obsessions, intersecting vibes and interests. It’s endlessly fascinating to see the seed of something similar sprout into multiple complementary but wildly divergent projects. So I thought I'd pull a few together, for your perusing pleasure...
|
Lists
by Kelsey Ford, December 20, 2022 8:56 AM
We tried to hire Nicole Kidman to record an intro video for this post — something along the lines of: “We come to this bookstore for magic. We come to Powell’s Books to laugh, to cry, to care." You get it. Unfortunately, and completely surprisingly, she was all booked up.
Just like Harry Styles, we love when a movie feels like a movie (and even more when a movie feels like a book). If you’re like us (and like Harry Styles!), then we’ve got the list for you: a book to pair with your favorite movie from this last year. Go ahead, pop a bag of popcorn, put your favorite soundtrack on, and settle in...
|
Lists
by Kelsey Ford, December 7, 2022 9:15 AM
So I know the holidays are all cozy and cute, and there are presents, and we tell the people who we love that we love them. And that’s nice! Sure! But also — the holidays can be pretty creepy too. For one, Santa Claus sees you when you’re sleeping? Creepy! All You Want For Christmas Is Me? Kidnappy! Why are there so many birds being gifted during the 12 days of Christmas? Birds are weird. And I don’t think I need to get into “Baby, It’s Cold Outside.”...
|
Lists
by Kelsey Ford, November 15, 2022 9:43 AM
Personally, I think October gets too much credit during spooky season. November is (in my opinion) just as spooky, and since November is also Native American Heritage Month, I wanted to pull together a (by-no-means-exhaustive) list of horror titles from Native American authors. On this list, you’ll find entities and shapeshifters, cosmology and mythology, social commentary and superstition, doomsday preppers and imposters. We know the days are getting shorter, but that just means you’ll have more hours to read these spooky books by candlelight...
|