Lists
by Kim Tano and Madeline Shier, October 25, 2021 8:11 AM
This Halloween may not quite be back to 2019 “normal,” but we’re looking forward to masked trick-or-treaters at our doors instead of the very cool candy pulley system we hooked up in 2020. Here in Oregon, we have a deep and abiding love of this spookiest of seasons — we go to Sauvie Island to pick pumpkins, visit Spirit of Halloweentown in St. Helens (and of course rewatch the Disney Channel original movies filmed there), and bring our umbrellas trick-or-treating. Our favorite Halloween pastime, however, has always been curling up under the covers with a flashlight and a good, scary read!
We’ve chosen 13 (naturally) of our spookiest favorites to chill your spines and shiver your timbers...
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City of Readers
by Powell's Books, October 21, 2021 9:12 AM
Portland’s Third Eye Books, Accessories & Gifts, owned and operated by Charles Hannah and Michelle Lewis, focuses on African-centered books and gifts, and includes as its mission giving back to and supporting the community through cooperative economics and partnerships with local nonprofits like Self-Enhancement, Inc. and Camp Fire Columbia. Recently settled into a cozy storefront on SE Division Street, Charles and Michelle are warm, welcoming, and knowledgeable booksellers whose decades-long passion for reading and advocacy is evident in everything they do.
We’re excited to dust off our City of Readers series with an interview with Charles Hannah.
Preferred name: Charles Hannah
Occupation: Bookstore co-owner
Where are you from originally? Rock Island, Illinois...
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Lists
by Gigi Little, October 19, 2021 9:27 AM
It’s my favorite time of year! No, not because of Halloween. Well, maybe just a little bit. No, not because of how the leaves turn orange and red and yellow. Well, yes, kind of that too. No, not because of jack-o’-lanterns and leaf piles and hot chocolate and sweaters and pumpkin patches and apple pies and candy and spooky stories and and and…
OK, I’m all excited now.
But the REAL reason I love this time of year is that this is when I get to gather up a list of our favorite kids’ and young adult books of the year! With stories of fantasy, mystery, adventure, diversity...
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Lists
by Keith Mosman, October 15, 2021 9:12 AM
I like to think that a big part of my job is giving people good news. The good news is usually that cool books are on their way. This is especially true this year, with a blockbuster set of fall releases hitting the stores on a weekly basis. But not all of the news is good.
These are uncertain times, and one of the big results, and thereafter causes, of all this uncertainty is the supply chain. Every retailer you have contact with this season will have struggles stemming from the disruptions, blockages, delays, and shortages that are plaguing the flow of goods. And books are both good and goods.
So, here is a moment when you can avoid those disruptions by claiming your piece of the holiday bookscape now...
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Lists
by Jeremy Garber, October 13, 2021 9:18 AM
For baseball fans and worldly readers alike, October is perhaps the holiest of all months, filled with eager anticipation, wild speculation, betting odds, bated breath, contrarian takes, and/or quizzical acceptance. While neither ticker tape nor a Gatorade bath await any literary MVPs this month (alas), the Swedish Academy does award one of the book world’s highest honors: the Nobel Prize in Literature (congrats to 2021 laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah!). So, whether hot stove means to you another long off-season of grumbling disappointment or simply the place where you heat up your favorite beverage, this month’s list of new literature in translation will keep you wiling away the moments until spring...
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Lists
by Powell's Staff, October 12, 2021 9:24 AM
Have a book lover on your gift list, but no idea where to start? Let us help with 40 recommendations that suit all kinds
of readers. These are the books we're gifting, and, well, we have very good taste.
100 Things We've Lost to the Internet
by Pamela Paul
To: My adolescent children who’ve not known a world without the
Internet
From: A loving mother who desires balance between then and now...
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Lists
by Michelle Carroll, October 7, 2021 9:47 AM
We've started to get the big fall rains in Portland recently, which means we’ve started seeing mushrooms pop up everywhere. I’m a bit of a fungi novice — I love eating chanterelles, but haven’t yet embarked on the Pacific Northwest rite of passage of foraging for my own mushrooms. Luckily, there are some fantastic books to guide the next stage of my mushroom appreciation. Whether you’re just beginning to seek out sumptuous spores, looking to identify the new friends sprouting from a tree stump, or just searching for more fungus puns in your life, this list is for you...
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Lists
by Emily B., October 4, 2021 8:51 AM
Is there any combination more Portland than books and craft beverages? The rain that makes this city the green, sometimes gloomy place we love is finally back and when it’s wet outside there’s nothing better than curling up by the window with a book and a good drink. But which book? And what drink? We called in the experts at 12 of our favorite local breweries and cideries to share their perfect pairings. With book + brew combos ranging from the spooky to the psychedelic, your fall reading and drinking are covered.
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Original Essays
by Laura Moulton, October 1, 2021 9:54 AM
The kid in front of me was scuffed-up at the edges, young but weathered. The book he most wanted from the street library was a copy of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, but he hesitated.
"I’m hopping a train tonight to get to the Rainbow Gathering in Washington,” he said. “I probably shouldn’t take this because I just don’t know when I’d be back through to return it."
"But you have to take it,” I told him. “Given everything you’ve just described, I’m pretty sure you’re the reader it’s been waiting for."
In ten years of running a bicycle-powered mobile library in Portland, I met thousands of readers like him. One of them was Ben "Hodge" Hodgson, the co-author of our book...
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Ask Aunt Paige
by Aunt Paige, September 30, 2021 9:40 AM
Ho, ho, ho, my sweet wee wassails, it’s the end of September, so naturally we’re talking about the holidays. It may not be time to select your tree, light the menorah, or dance beneath a solstice moon, but it is time to start thinking about where and when you’re going to buy gifts. Because “supply chain,” darlings, two words I rank only slightly higher this year than “COVID-19,” “caffeine-free,” and “new adult.”
You’ve probably seen the articles explaining supply chain disruptions, but the physical and logistical mechanisms of e-commerce are confusing, and I’ve been getting a lot of questions about how books are being impacted and what a conscientious local shopper is supposed to do when every option points to online shopping.
I hope my answers, below, help alleviate some of the confusion or stress you’re experiencing...
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