PowellsBooks.Blog
Authors, readers, critics, media − and booksellers.

The book buyers at Powell’s — the esteemed team that combs through catalogs and determines what new books to bring in — know all of the upcoming releases we should be placing preorders for now. For your eager, book-anticipating pleasure, they pulled together a wide-ranging list of 30 titles, books that cover everything from quantum computing to a home filled with “subtle weirdnesses,” from a comprehensive history of women’s basketball to a tree-focused time-lapse, from the first comprehensive monograph published on Mina Loy to a bloody and bold novel...

When I was writing my book, Brutes, there came a point where I wanted to be thinking about it even when I was so tired of it I couldn’t bear to look at it anymore. I was also terrified of leaving it alone, like the book would forget me if I stopped reminding it I was there. I was lost, needy, desperate for guidance! The books below all contained the kind of atmosphere I wanted to create in my book; books that hover between simple and strange, that show the derangement of reality...

We are in the thick of winter here in the Pacific Northwest, which means it's dark, damp, and chilly. Rather than escaping to stories with warmer, brighter climates, I personally want nothing more than to dive deep into gothic and uncanny fiction as the wind rattles my windows at night. It's all about the atmosphere and the ambience, perfect for devouring a spooky graphic novel in one sitting. Here is a selection of comics to send chills down the spine or make chests ache with melancholy...

It may be a new year, this may be a list of new books, but our love for literature in translation hasn’t changed at all, and we are so pleased to be enthusiastically recommending these recent releases.

On this list, you’ll find a Spanish novel where controversy swirls around a Coca-Cola billboard; a Brazilian debut that’s “an intimate portrait of a man's love, shame, and grief”; an examination of “deep history and the navigation of its seeming contradictions” from a French writer, playwright, and literary critic; a time-looping, quirky, fun novel ...

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...

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...

If you, like me, already feel like 2023 is coming in a little too hot, maybe you, like me, could use a little hope — which is where this list comes in. I wanted to find the books that Powell’s booksellers consider hopeful, whatever hope might mean to them. But while putting this list together, I realized that hope is a strange vector to triangulate: a book doesn’t have to be happy to be hopeful, but it should offer a path forward for its readers — some ray of light amidst a world that, admittedly...

Hats are pretty amazing. They can keep you warm, make a fashion statement, or even help transform you into someone else entirely! It follows that picture books are just FULL of these terrific toppers. So, when I realized that some of my all-time favorites were hat-centric, I knew I had to share this list with you. Without further ado, here are 5 picture books featuring particularly good hats...