en Copyright 2009, Powells.com Sat, 7 Nov 2009 03:00:18 PST Sat, 7 Nov 2009 03:00:18 PST webmaster@powells.com http://powells.com/favicon.png Powells.com, yo! The Cry of the Sloth, Savage's second novel, is the story of Andrew Whittaker, a slumlord, writer, editor of the barely-surviving literary magazine Soap, and ex-husband, told entirely through Whittaker's own writing. Letters, grocery lists, rental ads, and fragments of fiction make up this "scathingly funny epistolary pastiche" (Publishers Weekly, starred review). The Cry of the Sloth is an arch, hilarious, disturbingly existential novel; Andrew Whittaker is an unforgettable character, and Sam Savage is an extraordinary writer. ]]> Wed, 21 Oct 2009 12:12:42 PST The Year of the Flood masterfully depicts a very different side of the dystopia Margaret Atwood first wrote about in Oryx and Crake. In a starred review, Booklist raves, "Atwood's mischievous, suspenseful, and sagacious dystopian novel follows the trajectory of current environmental debacles to a shattering possible conclusion with passionate concern and arch humor." Darkly funny, incredibly believable, and surprisingly hopeful, Atwood's new novel is one of her very best. ]]> Wed, 7 Oct 2009 13:20:53 PST In his new work, which was eight years in the making, David Sibley focuses his authoritative eye on trees. Gorgeously illustrated and full of fascinating information, The Sibley Guide to Trees will dramatically change the way you look at your backyard, your neighborhood, and the larger botanical world. Edward O. Wilson raves, "A beautiful, masterful, and much-needed work that will henceforth be our guide to the North American trees." ]]> Tue, 22 Sep 2009 15:04:23 PST Chelsea Cain's debut novel, Heartsick, was a New York Times bestseller that garnered enthusiastic praise from...basically everyone. Stephen King placed the thriller on his ten best books of 2008 list, along with its follow-up, Sweetheart. Booklist gave a starred review to the recently released third book in the series, Evil at Heart, saying, "Popular entertainment...just doesn't get much better than this." Chelsea Cain took some time during her book release mayhem to talk about the role of Larry King as muse, Heartsick the movie, and why disembowelment is sometimes funny. (Or at least, why it should be.)]]> Tue, 8 Sep 2009 13:10:15 PST Kidder's incredibly moving and vivid new book, Strength in What Remains, follows and accompanies Deo, survivor of the genocide in Burundi who came to America in the '90s to make a new life for himself. Though Deo had little money and no English language when he landed in New York, he eventually found his way to Columbia University and medical school. Through his account of Deo's remarkable journey, Kidder makes the abstract achingly personal and showcases a genuine hero. Beautiful, heartbreaking, and inspiring, Strength in What Remains is some of Kidder's finest work yet. ]]> Wed, 26 Aug 2009 13:17:07 PST Winner of a Caldecott Medal, a Newbery Medal, and two Christopher Awards, David Small is one of the most acclaimed graphic artists in his field. After illustrating more than forty books for children, now he has turned his attention to his own childhood, creating one of the most visceral and arresting (not to mention gorgeous) memoirs of the decade. In the apt words of Jules Feiffer, Stitches is "a profound and moving gift of graphic literature that has the look of a movie and reads like a poem."]]> Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:48:45 PST We've been swooning over Karen Solomon's Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It: And Other Cooking Projects since it arrived on our shelves a couple months ago. The book is plump with dozens of creative kitchen projects, which range from jams and pickles to crackers and candy to smoked trout and home-cured bacon. It also doesn't hurt that the recipes are accompanied with luscious photos that make the book a feast for the eyes as well as the belly.]]> Mon, 27 Jul 2009 16:18:09 PST The New York Times calls Shop Class as Soulcraft "a beautiful little book about human excellence and the way it is undervalued in contemporary America." Kyle here at Powell's calls it "an accessible, carefully reasoned examination of work and America's evolving ideas about it." The author, himself, explains, "I want to suggest we can take a broader view of what a good job might consist of, and therefore what kind of education is important." Crawford's debut has been riding our bestseller list for weeks, and rightly so. It's one of our favorite books of the year.]]> Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:43:18 PST Luis Alberto Urrea is a poet, novelist, journalist, and essayist who has been writing about the relationship between the United States and Mexico, amongst other things, for 30 years. His 2004 nonfiction work, The Devil's Highway, was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. His novel The Hummingbird's Daughter was an epic work of shimmering prose which imagined the life of Teresita, the real-life "Saint of Cabora," who was in fact a relative of Urrea. In this interview, Urrea discusses his new novel, Into the Beautiful North, his family history, mythic quests, and Rush Limbaugh's relatives. ]]> Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:43:36 PST If Carl Hiaasen set one of his novels on a residential stretch of boundary line between British Columbia and Washington, or if Richard Russo's characters had relatives in the Pacific Northwest, the result might be something like Border Songs. Jim Lynch earned a legion of fans with his bestselling debut, The Highest Tide. Border Songs is the rare sophomore effort that lives up to — arguably even exceeds — its lofty expectations. "I'd always been interested in the Canadian border," Lynch explained. "I knew where Border Songs was going to be set before I knew what it was going to be." ]]> Wed, 17 Jun 2009 09:43:27 PST China Miéville is one of the bright lights in the new breed of fantasy/science fiction writers. His works often take place in cities, where the cities are characters as much as their inhabitants. Miéville's latest The City and the City, is a crime noir set in Eastern Europe, in two cities separated by a very unusual border. "An excellent police procedural and a fascinating urban fantasy," lauds Booklist in a starred review.]]> Wed, 3 Jun 2009 12:49:39 PST At the age of 83, Elmore Leonard has just published his 43rd novel. Road Dogs reunites two of Leonard's most distinctive characters — Jack Foley, the bank robber from Out of Sight, and Cundo Rey from LaBrava — as prison inmates who develop an unlikely friendship. When Foley gets out of prison and meets Rey's wife, the psychic Dawn Navarro (last seen in Riding the Rap), it's an understatement to suggest that complications ensue. In the New York Times, Janet Maslin called Road Dogs "one of Mr. Leonard's most enjoyably sneaky stories," but perhaps Booklist put it best: "Reading isn't supposed to be this much fun."]]> Thu, 14 May 2009 14:04:50 PST Twelve-year-old T.S. Spivet draws maps of train routes and water tables, maps of loneliness, the resilience of memory, even a map of his sister shucking corn. When his work is honored by the Smithsonian — the institute naturally assumes that he's an adult — T.S. runs away from home in Divide, Montana, and hoboes his way to Washington, D.C. An adventure story, a family saga, and a format-busting beauty (T.S.'s drawings sit side-by-side with the text), The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet is a revelation. "Read it and marvel," Bookpage recommends.]]> Tue, 5 May 2009 17:08:00 PST When Laila Lalami published Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits in 2005, the debut earned praise far and wide, from acclaimed literary authors such as Junot Díaz and even popular weeklies including People magazine. Four years later, the former Portland resident, a native of Morocco, has returned with a remarkable novel of contemporary Casablanca. Secret Son is an utterly timeless story — of identity, kin, and class — that's, paradoxically, very much of our time.]]> Tue, 21 Apr 2009 12:01:40 PST In Coop: A Year of Poultry, Pigs, and Parenting, Michael Perry finds himself transplanted onto 37 overgrown acres of farmland with his wife and daughter and a new baby en route. Perry takes on fowl, firewood, and pigs (regular and guinea) while reflecting on his unorthodox childhood — being raised in an obscure fundamentalist faith by dairy-farmer parents who took in dozens of foster children — for clues to how as proceed as a farmer, a husband, and a father. Kirkus raves, "Dryly humorous, mildly neurotic and just plain soulful — a book that might even make you want to buy a few chickens."]]> Tue, 7 Apr 2009 13:44:44 PST