Part autobiography and part writing manual, Francesca Lia Block’s The Thorn Necklace: Healing Through Writing and the Creative Process – aptly named after a Frida Kahlo’s self-portrait – discusses growing up in 1980s LA, where [...]
Within the opening sentence, Lorrie Moore explains that the title of this book – See What Can Be Done – is not a boast but an instruction she received with almost every note from the editor of The New York Review of Books. “It was a [...]
While this is a book reporting and exposing the effort on the part of the Mormon Church to “destroy” The Salt Lake Tribune, Utah’s largest newspaper, it is more. Being “more” is especially true for those individuals who know nothing or have read [...]
Are you a traveler, writer, or arm-chair explorer interested in other cultures and peoples beyond the bounds of your neighborhood, town, or country? This book will whet your appetite and give you new vistas and modes of expression. It is [...]
Fulford does not mince words – English words are difficult to spell. He contends that spelling is tied to reading and if a child does not spell well their reading proficiency is impacted. Fulford also dismisses how spelling is currently [...]
From the beginning, Barrie Gauthier sets forward that his new book, The Black Cat Guide to Grammar Through Light Verse, is intended to provide entertainment as well as education. Many of his verses in its pages do bring out a smile. From the [...]
Who was the first Chinese-American woman to fly for the American military? Where did the Portland street names Terwilliger and Lovejoy originate? When did Oregon women gain the right to vote? These answers and more were uncovered by Portland [...]
“Ted Conover has ridden the rails with Hoboes, crossed the border with Mexican immigrants, guarded prisoners in Sing Sing, and inspected meat for the USDA” reads the book’s cover blurb. It’s all about going deep and spending time getting the [...]
Effective communication is a skill that everyone wants but can be hard to develop. In a collection of short, humorous essays, Rebecca M. Lyles carefully articulates the do’s and don’ts of effective communication in her work From the Errors of [...]
What a perfect book to have read during the close of the 2016 Presidential election! Sorry About That: The Language of Public Apology, by Edwin L Battistella, is a review and discussion about the nature of apology. In this work Battistella uses [...]
“Do you dance, Mr. Darcy?” asked Elizabeth Bennett, “Not if I can help it.” replied Mr. Darcy in the movie adaptation of the book Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. If you have had the opportunity to watch this Victorian era story did you [...]
The Wipe-Clean Workbook is an innovative way to engage your first grader with wipe-clean pages and practice with important topics. Letters in the alphabet are the first focus in the book and children are asked to trace and write the upper case [...]
Portlandness is a different kind of book. Its maps are experimental by design, and the feel of its writing ranges from textbook chapter to pop-culture article to newspaper column. It covers the history of Portland’s geography, social justice [...]
Las Vegas Insider’s Guide: Save Money, Keep Safe, Operate and Survive in Sin City is an excellent guide to Sin City. It is published both as eBook and trade paperback but Titus Nelson targeted the book to the digital readers. We find over [...]
“Welcome to life without fossil fuels.” Afterburn is a collection of fifteen essays in a trade paperback by Richard Heinberg, a Senior Fellow of the Vancouver-based Post Carbon Institute. His topic is clear: what happens to society after fossil [...]
“What matters most is how well you walk through the fire.” Henry Charles Bukowski, Jr (‘Hank’ to friends and family) was a noted German-born American poet, novelist, and short story writer of the mid- to late 20th century. Bukowski (b.1926) was [...]
The GPAMaxx Guide to Acing the Public University by Jeff Gimpel is, at least in this reviewer’s opinion, one of the most valuable tools to come along for university students since Starbucks. This book outlines a strategic approach to planning a [...]
Today’s Date To be a source of good in the world today, read Be a Good in the World: 365 Days of Good Deeds, Inspired Ideas and Acts of Kindness by Brenda Knight. The book is broken into 365 sections, each topped with the month and day. [...]
Survivalist and sustainable living books are incredibly popular in our culture right now, which perhaps is tied to the ongoing fascination with dystopian and Armageddon themed films, and other media. People are stocking up on books that will [...]
Videogames are incredibly popular in our culture. Currently one of the most popular games is Minecraft, a game that lets you build almost anything in the world you desire. The game is particularly quirky due to its highly pixilated and blocky [...]
