The
Spring 2015
r e d a e R t u n a k c u h C on oks Publicati A Village Bo e1 Vol. 22 Issu
CHILDREN'S
BOOK WEEK
Spring Reading Recommendations
POETRY MONTH Author Events and much more!
A Magazine for the Northwest’s Most Avid Readers
Visit www.thecrossingguide.com/nw-tours or call 360-224-2387
LOCAL TOURS
Discover the best eateries and breweries that only the locals know about. View some of the scenic natural beauty only our little corner of the state can offer. Find hidden treasures shopping at local boutiques. Enjoy a customized tour of the county with 7 other friendly people.
2
Spring 2015
• Shopping • History • Breweries • Food • Parks
Building Community One Book at a Time
Dear Reader, What an exciting year! Village Books turns 35 soon (page 6), Chuck is riding his bike to Illinois for his 50th high school class reunion (page 11), the Chuckanut Writers Conference is convening for the 5th year (page 27), we'll celebrate Independent Bookstore Day on May 2nd (page 28), and there's news about Dave Barry coming to town (page 66). And, that's only the beginning. In addition to stories about those big happenings you'll find the top 10 stories of last year, What Whatcom Was Reading in 2014, and a long list of events in and outside of the store. Indie bookstores are living in exciting times. In spite of what you may hear in the popular press, we're not going away. There has been a net gain in indie stores each of the past four years, several older stores have sold to new owners, and quite a number of mature stores have opened additional locations. Why? Because you, Dear Reader, have decided that local is important. All of us in the independent bookstore world know that we owe it all to you. We're grateful for 35 years of your patronage and friendship. Here's to the next 35.
–Chuck, Dee,
and the entire Village Books/Paper Dreams Family Village Books & Paper Dreams Store Hours Mon-Thurs 10am-8:30pm Sat-Sun 10am-10pm • Sundays 10am-7pm
VILLAGE BOOKS
The Chuckanut Reader
In This Issue... Dear Reader Seasonal Fun in Fairhaven & Beyond The Top Ten Stories of 2014 The Chuckanut Radio Hour Upcoming Shows Biking for a Cause—Chuck to Ride 2400 Miles Fiction, Mystery, Sci Fi (highlights & reviews) Changing People, Changing Roles The Chuckanut Writers Conference 2015 The Path to Being Published Celebrate Independent Bookstore Day Chuckanut Writers—writing classes! Food & Drink (book reviews and highlights) Nature, Northwest, and Science (book highlights) Art, Crafts, Psychology (book highlights) Celebrate National Poetry Month - April History, Bios, Current Events - books and events PNBA Book Award Winners eBooks and the Signed First Editions Club Children's Book Week and Other Fun Activities Great Books for Kids and Teens Dave Barry at the Mount Baker Theatre Literature Live! Author Events at VB
360-671-2626 • 800-392-BOOK • villagebooks.com
Spring 2015
3 4-6 7-9 10 11 12-22 23 24 25-26 27 28 29-35 37-40 41-42 43-45 46-51 52 53 55-56 57-65 66 67-70
Publishers: Chuck and Dee Robinson Production Design: Kelly Carbert
Contributors: Amy Blackwood, Jenny Blenk, Hana Boxberger, Rebecca Brown, Kelly Carbert, Charles Claassen, Brendan Clark, Stephanie Douglas, Kelly Evert, Robert Gruen, Anna Halleen, Paul Hanson, Alex Hatch, Sarah Hutton, Sam Kaas, Claire McElroy-Chesson, Laura Picco, Chuck Robinson, Dee Robinson, Rem Ryals, Chris Sanders, Lauren Sommer, Joan Terselich, Jonica Todd, Cindi Williamson, Hayden Winn Cover: Celebrate Children's Book Week May 4-10 Content except art & book covers ©Village Books 2015 Printed by the Lynden Tribune on paper made from 50% post-consumer waste
360.671.2626 800.392.BOOK (US & Canada) fax: 360.734.2573
browse & shop anytime!
VillageBooks.com
Village Books in Historic Fairhaven 1200 11th St., Bellingham, WA 98225
visit us 24/7 at villagebooks.com Spring 2015 3
Spring into Action!
Fairhaven Activities...
Saturday, March 28, 10am - 3pm
The 27th Annual Fairhaven Neighbors
Plant & Tree Sale
Now celebrating its 27th anniversary, the plant sale that the Fairhaven Neighbors stage each year has become a real community tradition. With more than two dozen vendors, the sale provides a wide variety of plant material from bedding plants to trees. But beyond the gardening aspects, the event also gives folks a chance to get together and raise money for the neighborhood association. The plant sale will take place on Saturday, March 28th, in the Hillcrest Chapel parking lot on the corner of 14th & Old Fairhaven Parkway. For a list of vendors and additional information, check out their Facebook page FairhavenPlantAndTreeSale.
Sunday, April 26, 10am - 6pm
Dirty Dan Harris Festival
This year’s festivities will feature great food, contests, and other family-fun activities including a salmon toss for adults & kids, a donut eating contest, and Dirty Dan look-a-like & 1800's dress contests. There will be food and street vendors as well as live music on the Fairhaven Village Green between 10am and 6pm. At "high noon," you won't want to miss the always exciting uphill piano race! After the race, swagger over to the Dirty Dan Sidewalk Saloon—open from noon to 6pm next to the Green on 10th St. The new Chuckanut Chili Cook-Off takes place from 2-4pm. Tickets to sample the chili ($10) will cover a taste of each on hand, and a bowl of your favorite with a piece of bread alongside. Tickets also allow for an opportunity to vote in the People’s Choice contest for best chili. Come in costume or come as you are!
John Servais - fairhaven.com
Celebrate the unscrubbed community founder of Fairhaven during this annual event-packed day!
For a schedule and detail updates visit fairhaven.com/events/detail/6387/
Fairhaven
Pooch Scoot 5k
Fairhaven
Pooch Scoot 5k Walk/Run
Sunday, April 26, 9am
This fun-run/walk will feature a 5k loop starting (and ending) at Fairhaven Fitness/ Bellingham Tennis Club, leading you (and your pooch if you bring one) through nearby neighborhoods and trails. Prizes including best dressed dog (human & dog duo). There will be two “Pooch Treat” aid stations along the way and goodies at the end. See bellinghamtennis.com for more information including how to register!. 50% of the net proceeds will be donated to Animals as Natural Therapy.
4 Spring 2015
Store Hours: Mon-Thurs 10am-8:30pm • Fri & Sat 10am-10pm • Sun 10am-7pm
Literacy Trivia Bee ?
? ? ?
Friday, April 24
?
??
and Silent Auction
Have you heard the buzz?
?
The Whatcom Literacy Council’s 19th Annual Trivia Bee will be Friday, April 24th. The Trivia Bee is the Literacy Council’s annual spring fundraiser for know-it-alls, know-a-little-bits, and fun lovers of every stripe. Dozens of teams sponsored by local businesses––including Village Books’ team, The Village Idiots––converge at Bellingham High School and compete against each other while the witty remarks of co-hosts Scotty VanDryver of KAFE Radio and Jeopardy! champion Ken Jennings provoke laughter and competitive spirit. The evening begins with a Silent Auction offering tables full of great items. Bidding in the Silent Auction begins at 6pm and the Trivia Bee starts promptly at 7pm. You’ll have a great night of fun and you’ll help the WLC help others. All proceeds go to support the Whatcom Literacy Council’s efforts to provide literacy tutoring to adults in Whatcom County. Tickets are $10—or $25 for a family—and will be available at Village Books, at the WLC office (3028 Lindbergh Ave., on the BTC campus), or at the door. If you would like to donate an item or service to the auction, or register a team (three people on a team), contact events@whatcomliteracy.org, or call 752-8678 for more information. To learn more about other ways you can promote literacy visit www.whatcomliteracy.org.
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FAIRHAVEN
STEAMPUNK FESTIVAL
The Fantastical Mr. Flip's Carnival of Wonders and Curiosities
Save the Date !
Keep an eye on VillageBooks.com for details.
Saturday, July 25th At Village Books & on the Fairhaven Village Green Join the Bellingham Steampunk Society and Village Books for a day of music, vendors, author readings, food and fun!
360-671-2626 • 800-392-BOOK • villagebooks.com
Spring 2015 5
35th Anniversary CELEBRATION! Thirty-five years? Really? It's hard to believe, but easy enough if you started when you were twelve—Chuck and Dee wish they had. So we're all gearing up for a big celebration. First up, on Friday evening, June 12th, Chuck will give a presentation of the 35th Anniversary Edition of his book, It Takes a Village Books. Originally written for the 30th anniversary, this edition updates not only what has happened at Village Books over the past five years, but what has been occurring in the book selling and publishing industry all over the world. Our annual anniversary sale will take place on Saturday and Sunday, with 20% off virtually everything on both sides of the store—that's right, it's not just the books. And, there will be some extra special bargains to boot. On Saturday evening the store will close to the public at
6
Spring 2015
June 12-14
Save the Dates
7pm for a special party, with wine and snacks, for all of our Reader Rewards members. We'll also be inviting VB alumni—folks who've worked in the store over the past three decades. The culmination of our celebration will take place on Sunday evening with the ever popular author David Suzuki, who is recognized in his native Canada as a national treasure. A few years ago Suzuki said he was done writing books. Thankfully, with the publication of Letters to My Grandchildren, he's broken that promise. Tickets for the event will be available April 1st. Keep an eye on villagebooks.com for details. Please join us for our 35th Anniversary Celebration, and mark your calendars for June of 2030 for the 50th, and June of 2055 for the 75th.
Shop 24 hours a day at villagebooks.com
Top Ten Stories for 2014 VB Begins Buying Used Textbooks
#10
Anyone who has been a student has faced the high cost of textbooks, and most try to recoup some of that cost by selling back used books. Until this past year Village Books was unable to help, but now the store buys used textbooks at competitive prices–year round, not just during a short "buy-back" period. Though the supply of textbooks through our source is still limited, the store can also order used copies of required textbooks.
#9 #8
New Book Groups Launched
Bellingham is a hotbed of book discussion groups. The store has more than 150 private groups registered, with similar numbers registered at the public libraries, and we've long facilitated several groups here at the store. Two new groups were added in 2014 (bringing the sponsored groups number to nine)—Sharpen Your Saw, a business book group facilitated by author and business consultant Michael Cook; and the Pacific Northwest Book Group which discusses books about the Northwest and by Northwest authors. Details about book groups are on page 22.
New Partnerships Forged In 2014 we added a few notable new partnerships. Among them are the Bellingham Bells baseball team and The Bureau of Historical Investigation. In an attempt to bring more attention to wholesome family entertainment and encourage kids to read, we partnered with the Bells in a Seventh Inning Stretch relay and book giveaway, and we're planning to do even more in 2015. The Bureau of Historical Investigation and its proprietors, The Good Time Girls, in partnership with the store feature books at their downtown location related to local history.
#7 #6
YARC Hits the Ground Running Reviewing Among the programs Claire has begun since becoming the Kids' Programming Director is the Young Adult Review Committee, known as YARC. She's compiled a group of sixteen local teens who regularly read and review advanced copies of books being published for young adults. Those reviews are then published in each Chuckanut Reader (see pages 64-65). There is also a display at the end of the YA section in the store with books and reviews.
Signed First Editions Debuts
Signed
After years of kicking the idea around, Village Books launched its own Signed FIRST EDITIONS First Editions Club, and what a success it has been. Every two months the store's book CLUB buyers put their heads together and pick a promising book for the club–long before the book is published. Of the six books picked in 2014, two were among the five finalists for the National Book Award– All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr and Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. 2014's other books were Tom Robbins' Tibetan Peach Pie, The Word Exchange by Alena Graedon, Nancy Horan's Under the Wide and Starry Sky, and Falling From Horses by Molly Gloss. See details of how the club works on page 53.
Countdown Continued... 360-671-2626 • 800-392-BOOK • villagebooks.com
Spring 2015
7
Mount Baker Theatre
EVENTS
Season Sponsor
Visions from Cape Breton and Beyond
LIVE
ORGANIST!
The General (1927) Sponsor
MAR
22
The Joint Will Be Jumpin’! Exclusive Sponsor
MAR
27
Celebrate Cinco de Mayo! MAY
5
A Celtic Family Celebration MAY
9
Sponsor
Wonderheads: Grim & Fischer (WT) ..... March 19-29 Mamma Mia! ................................. March 30 Blues Hall of Fame ........................... April 4
Meet the Biscottis - Mafia Musical (WT) April 8-12 Dave Barry .................................... April 11 Menopause the Musical..................... April 19
Mount Baker Theatre | 360-734-6080 |www.MountBakerTheatre.com
WT = Walton Theatre
The premier guide to arts & entertainment happenings in the region! Click on the cover of the magazine at ennw.info to download or read online.
Pick up a copy at one of nearly 200 locations in Whatcom & Skagit Counties.
Visit ennw.info for reviews, updates and advertising info. 8 Spring 2015
Building Community One Book at a Time
continued from page 7
#5
Chuckanut Writers Program Begins
Chuckanut Writers
Conferences, classes, and retreats for your writing life
After partnering for nearly five years with Whatcom Community College in producing the Chuckanut Writers Conference, Village Books entered into an agreement with WCC to co-produce writing programs, and Chuckanut Writers was launched in the fall of 2014. Building on the many years of the college's programming experience, and taking advantage of Village Books' close contact with writers, the program will present conferences, classes, and retreats for writers. See the current line-up of classes on page 27.
#4
Kids' Programming Position Added
Bestselling author James Patterson announced last year that he would give away one million dollars to independent book stores, the survival of which he considers crucial to our culture. Village Books was fortunate to receive a grant of $7500 from him to help launch the new position of Kids' Programming Director, a role that has been filled quite capably by Claire McElroy-Chesson. Claire was already coordinating story hours and our kids' summer camps, and has now created many new kids' activities, including YARC (see top story # 7). Check out some of the other activities on pages 55-56.
#3
Staff Changes Each year staff members graduate from college, or move away, have a baby, or decide it's time for a career move. All of those things happened in 2014 and we welcomed several new faces, seen in our Holiday Reader. We also bid some emotional goodbyes to three veterans who have taken new positions in the community. Dave, who has been with the store off and on since 1988, is now with WECU; eight-year veteran Lindsey has taken a marketing position at Jansen Art Center; and Christina, who has been our Events Coordinator for several years, has joined the Whatcom Museum in a new marketing position. Amy Blackwood has joined us, filling Lindsey's position as Digital Marketing Coordinator and Sam Kaas, who has been with the store for several years, has become our Events Coordinator.
#2
Dee Retires
Nearly five years ago Dee announced her intention to retire from the day-to-day operations of Village Books and Paper Dreams. An economic downturn and the retirement of our 28 ½ year Paper Dreams manager, JoAnn Hanesworth, intervened and she shifted to become the lead gift buyer for the store. Fast forward to the end of August 2014: with three years here and a wealth of previous experience, Kelly Evert, in addition to being floor manager, takes over Dee's buying role and Dee retires. Dee's normal book-a-week reading habit triples.
#1
35th Year Begins For years Chuck and Dee have joked that they founded the store when they were twelve. On June 20th last year the store celebrated its thirty-fourth anniversary and began its thirty-fifth year, which would make them forty-seven–a bit of a stretch when you consider they celebrated their forty-seventh wedding anniversary last December. Age aside, the number one story for 2014 is that the store is still here after nearly three and a half decades. Mark your calendars for Saturday, June 13, when we'll have a big blowout party to celebrate.
360-671-2626 • 800-392-BOOK • villagebooks.com
Spring 2015
9
Chuckanut Radio Hour
The
The Chuckanut Radio Hour, a recipient of Bellingham’s prestigious Mayor’s Arts Award, is a radio variety show recorded live and played on KMRE 102.3FM. Each Radio Hour features guest authors and musicians, performance poetry, comedy skits, and some groaner jokes. It's a lot of fun so check out our upcoming line-up and join us! The following shows take place in the Heiner Theater at Whatcom Community College.
Friday, April 17th, 6:30pm
Brian Doyle –Martin Marten: A Novel
We’re thrilled to welcome Brian Doyle back to Bellingham for his new novel Martin Marten. Doyle, the author of Mink River and The Plover, delivers a rollicking, whimsical coming-of-age story with his distinct blend of humor and reverence. Brian Doyle is the author of thirteen books of essays, fiction, poems, and nonfiction. Honors for his work include the American Academy of Arts & Letters Award in Literature. Receive ONE FREE TICKET with each pre-event purchase of Martin Marten.
Thursday, May 21st, 6:30pm
Christopher McDougall –Natural Born Heroes: How a Daring Band of Misfits Mastered the Lost Secrets of Strength and Endurance Just in time for Ski to Sea, Christopher McDougall (the bestselling author of Born to Run) will take the mic to discuss his new book Natural Born Heroes. McDougall now travels to the Mediterranean where he discovers that the secrets of ancient Greek heroes are still alive and well and ready to be unleashed in the muscles and minds of casual athletes and aspiring heroes everywhere. Just as Born to Run inspired readers to get off the treadmill, out of their shoes, and into the natural world, Natural Born Heroes will inspire them to leave the gym and take their fitness routine to nature—to climb, swim, skip, throw, and jump their way to their own heroic feats. Receive ONE FREE TICKET with each pre-event purchase of Natural Born Heroes.
Tickets $5.00 Tickets for all shows are available at Village Books & BrownPaperTickets.com
Thursday, June 25th, 6:30pm
A Plethora of Poets with Samuel Green & Other Northwest Poets Join us for the kick-off event for the Fifth Annual Chuckanut Writers Conference. The evening will feature Washinton State's First Poet Laureate, Sam Green, along with his wife Sally, also a well-known poet. They'll be joined by other poets from the conference as well as the Chuckanut Radio Hour's own Poet in Residence, Kevin Murphy. Music will be by Bay Area favorites The Lady Crooners.
A HUGE thanks to our amazing sponsors!
KMRE FM 102.3
The Chuckanut Radio Hour airs every Saturday evening at 6pm, and Sunday at 9pm on KMRE 102.3FM. 10
Spring 2015
Building Community One Book at a Time
BIKING for Good Causes
Chuck to Ride 2400 Miles
W
hen Chuck is asked what inspired him to plan a 2400-mile ride to Illinois for his 50th high school reunion he says "the same thing that inspired me to get into the book business, a moment of insanity." But there's more to it than that. With his jogging days a ways behind him and his middle getting thicker, Chuck hopped on a bike nearly seven years ago and road biking got in his blood. With a few Seattle to Vancouver and Seattle to Portland rides, a Gran Fondo Whistler, and a ride up Mount Ventoux (a 6500-foot elevation-gain day) behind him, he's ready for a really big challenge. On June 15, the day after the Village Books 35th Anniversary celebration, he will mount the bike and head for his hometown. He also figured if he was going to ride that far and for that long he should do something worthwhile with the ride. So he decided to create a fundraiser in which many folks should be happy to participate. There will be three beneficiaries: The Whatcom Community Foundation that benefits so many causes in our area; the Book Industry Charitable (Binc) Foundation that helps bookstore employees in need; and a scholarship program for Galva High School, from which Chuck graduated.
To kick off the funds, Chuck will contribute $1 to each of the organizations for every mile he rides. A website will be set up soon, through the Whatcom Community Foundation, to collect pledges from anyone who wants to help one or more of these worthy causes. Folks will be able to contribute as little as 1¢ per mile—a mere $24, or about a week's worth of lattes—up to as much as one wants to donate. Chuck's hoping some people will be inspired to match his $1 per mile for one or more of the recipients. Companion riders are welcome on any of the legs of the journey. Chuck says "I'm planning to ride an average of about 60 miles a day, some days more, some days less. I've built in rest days every four to five days to give me some flexibility on the ride. It's pretty well planned out so folks could meet me at points along the ride." Dee will be driving their Rialta, providing a place for Chuck and Dee to sleep and a support vehicle for carrying gear for companion riders. Anyone who is interested in learning more about the ride, making contributions to one or more of the causes, getting a link to Chuck's riding blog, or riding part of the distance, can email ride2400@villagebooks.com.
Chuck's ride is sponsored in part by Fairhaven Bicycle.
360-671-2626 • 800-392-BOOK • villagebooks.com
Spring 2015 11
FICTIONFICTION brand new
FICTION
A Reunion of Ghosts
hardcover
FICTION
The Well
by Judith Claire Mitchell
by Catherine Chanter
available in March, hardcover, HarperCollins
available in May, hardcover, Atria Books
A compulsively readable literar y masterpiece, A Reunion of Ghosts is the shared confessional of three sisters who have decided to kill themselves, honoring the dark legacy that has haunted their extraordinary family for decades. Despite their pain they love each other fiercely, and share a darkly brilliant sense of humor.
Ruth and Mark are looking for a refuge, an escape from the city and a place to start anew. The Well seems to be just that. It's an oasis in the English countryside that seems to be forever lush and green while the rest of the country battles a drought that reaches catastrophinc proportions. As the couple tries to piece together a new beginning with their grandson, outside forces encroach in the form of angry neighbors and religious fanatics until a devastating crime occurs. This novel is about family, place, and what makes a home. –Claire
Soil
by Jamie Kornegay available in March, hardcover, Simon & Schuster
"Let us stand, brothers and sisters, to applaud the arrival of an exquisitely deranged new voice to American fiction. Dig your hands into this Soil to find gutty and peppery writing, an almost recklessly bold imagination, audacious empathy, and a story so twisty and volatile that nearly every turn feels electrifyingly unexpected." –Jonathan Miles
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RISK FREE READS
GU
ck
y Money B Da a 0-
A R A N TEE
God Help the Child by Toni Morrison
available in April, hardcover, Knopf
The World Before Us by Aislinn Hunter
available in March, hardcover, Hogarth
Haunting, mysterious, beautiful, melancholic, and unexpected… In an English woodland, a hundred years apart, two different girls inexplicably disappear. Are these events connected? After twenty years, the babysitter of one of the girls cannot escape her feelings of guilt and regret. Thus begins an exploration into a natural history museum on the verge of closing, a colonial botanist in a love triangle, a Victorian mental asylum, and… ghosts? Hunter’s keen eye for minutiae, both physical and emotional, both intrigues and compels in this intricate novel. –Paul
We Are Pirates by Daniel Handler
available now, hardcover, Macmillan
A boat has gone missing. Goods have been stolen. There is blood in the water. It is the twenty-first century and a crew of pirates is terrorizing the San Francisco Bay. "Honest and funny, dark and painful...It's the strangest, most brilliant offering yet from the mind behind Lemony Snicket." –Neil Gaiman
12 Spring 2015
A searing tale about the way childhood trauma shapes and misshapes the life of the adult. At the center: a woman who calls herself Bride, whose stunning blueblack skin is only one element of her beauty, her boldness and confidence, her success in life; but which caused her light-skinned mother to deny her even the simplest forms of love until she told a lie that ruined the life of an innocent woman.
The First Bad Man by Miranda July
available now, hardcover, Scribner Book Company
In her first novel, July delivers just as brilliantly as she did in her 2007 collection of short stories. She presents a plot that defies both explanation and expectations, while commenting on universal ideas of loneliness, love, and human connection. I never expected to finish this book feeling such a strong emotional connection, especially as July pushed the boundaries of acceptable human behavior over and over again. But in our strangeness and uncertainty lies our humanity, and ultimately our ability to find happiness. –Stephanie
Store Hours: Mon-Thurs 10am-8:30pm • Fri & Sat 10am-10pm • Sun 10am-7pm
FICTION FICTION brand new
FICTION
The Travels of Daniel Ascher
hardcover
Of Things Gone Astray
by Déborah Lévy-Bertherat, translated by Adriana Hunter
by Janina Matthewson
available in May, hardcover, Other Press
On a seemingly normal morning in London, a group of people all lose something dear to them, something dear but peculiar: the front of their house, their piano keys, their sense of direction, their place of work. Of Things Gone Astray is a magical fable about modern life and values.
Who is the real author of The Black Insignia? Is it H.R. Sanders, whose name is printed on the cover of every installment of the wildly successful young adult adventure series? Or is it Daniel Roche, the enigmatic world traveler who disappears for months at a time? When Daniel's great-niece, Hélène, moves to Paris to study archeology, she does not expect to be searching for answers to these questions.
The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion
available now, hardcover, Simon and Schuster
Don and Rosie are back! If you enjoyed the hilarity of their unconventional romance in The Rosie Project, get ready for more of their antics in The Rosie Effect. The couple has moved to New York City, where they face numerous challenges, which Don solves in his inimitable style. Such an unusual character, but so sincere—I was pulling for him all the way! Great fun! –Chris
The Gracekeepers
FICTION
available now, hardcover, HarperCollins
Orhan's Inheritance by Aline Ohanesian
available in April, hardcover, Algonquin
When Orhan’s brilliant and eccentric grandfather Kemal—a man who built a dynasty out of making kilim rugs—is found dead, submerged in a vat of dye, Orhan inherits the decades-old business. But Kemal’s will raises more questions than it answers. He has left the family estate to a stranger thousands of miles away, an aging woman in an Armenian retirement home in Los Angeles. In this extraordinary debut, Ohanesian has created two remarkable characters—a young man ignorant of his family’s and his country’s past, and an old woman haunted by the toll the past has taken on her life.
by Kirsty Logan
available in May, hardcover, Crown Publishing
In a world divided between those inhabiting the mainland ("landlockers") and those who float on the sea ("damplings"), loneliness has become a way of life for North and Callanish, until a sudden storm offshore brings change to both their lives—offering them a new understanding of the world they live in and the consequences of the past, while restoring hope in an unexpected future.
A Little Life
by Hanya Yanagihara available in March, hardcover, Doubleday
Brace yourself for the most astonishing, challenging, upsetting, and profoundly moving book in many a season. An epic about love and friendship in the twenty-first century that goes into some of the darkest places fiction has ever traveled and yet somehow improbably breaks through into the light. A tragic and transcendent hymn to brotherly love and a masterful depiction of heartbreak.
360-671-2626 • 800-392-BOOK • villagebooks.com
First Frost
by Sarah Addison Allen available now, hardcover, St. Martin’s Press
In her latest novel, First Frost, Sarah Addison Allen takes us back to the characters we first fell in love with in Garden Spells. It’s ten years later and everyone is doing well—Claire’s business has taken off and Sydney’s hair salon is flourishing. But with the first frost of the year approaching the sisters feel anxious and uneasy. Change is upon them, how will they handle it? –Anna
We sell e-books! Spring 2015 13
The Great Zoo of China by Matthew Reilly
available now, hardcover, Gallery Books
Matthew Reilly takes the reader on a thrilling and dangerous journey, blending both fantasy and reality. The protagonist, C.J. Cameron, is an expert on reptiles and she has been invited to experience the wonder of the Great Zoo of China. However, nothing here is normal, especially not the creatures being contained. With heart-pounding action and surprises at every corner, you won't be able to put this book down. –Rebecca
Don't Mean Nuthin' by Ron Lealos
available now, hardcover, Skyhorse Publishing
Frank Morgan, a young college grad raised on Army discipline, started his military career as a Phoenix Program assassin in Vietnam with nothing but faith, confidence, and belief in his country. In 1969, he boards the Freedom Bird and takes a seat next to a grizzled grunt. This is Morgan's first hint of what may be coming his way, and what he, as a soldier, may become. The author is a Western Washington University graduate.
Aquarium
FICTION
hardcover
FICTION
Pioneer Girl
by Bich Minh Nguyen available now, hardcover, Penguin
Jobless with a PhD, Lee Lien returns home. When her brother disappears, he leaves behind a gold-leaf brooch, abandoned by an American reporter in Saigon back in 1965, that might be an heirloom belonging to Laura Ingalls Wilder. Lee explores a trail of clues that lead her from the dusty stacks of library archives to hilarious prairie life reenactments.
Welcome to Braggsville by T. Geronimo Johnson
available now, hardcover, HarperCollins
"Welcome to Braggsville is a radical book in every sense of the word— thoroughgoing and extreme, ghastly and funny and gloriously provocative . . . Johnson's prose is by turns scathing dark humor, soaring lyricism, and a quietly devastating analysis of every species of injustice." —Karen Russell, New York Times bestselling author of Swamplandia!
The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi
by David Vann
available in May, hardcover, Knopf
available in March, hardcover, Grove/Atlantic
In the American Southwest, Nevada, Arizona, and California skirmish for dwindling shares of the Colorado River. Into the fray steps Angel Velasquez, detective, leg-breaker, assassin, and spy. A Las Vegas water knife, Angel "cuts" water for his boss, Catherine Case, ensuring that her lush, luxurious arcology developments can bloom in the desert, so the rich can stay wet, while the poor get nothing but dust.
"Like Melville, Faulkner, and McCarthy, Vann is already one of the great ones of American literature."—ABC(Spain) Join us in welcoming him to Village Books for a free event as he introduces Aquarium.
David Vann Monday, March 16th, 7pm
I Take You
Amherst
by William Nicholson
by Eliza Kennedy
available now, hardcover, Simon & Schuster
available in May, hardcover, Crown Publishing
As 19th century Emily Dickinson is observing and responding to her brother's scandalous affair with Mabel Todd, Alice, a 21st century author, is writing a screenplay of that love affair, while having her own parallel tryst in Amherst, Massachusetts. Both stories are woven together with Emily Dickinson's poetry and the marginalia of her reclusive life. Meticulously researched, her poetry comes alive with new insights in this delightful historical novel. –Cindi
Six days before her wedding, Lily's nights of booze, laughter, and questionable decisions are an in-her-face reminder that she needs to sit down and ask herself: will walking down the aisle really make me happy? Joyous, wickedly clever, and endlessly funny, I Take You introduces a self-assured protagonist whose choices raise fresh questions about gender politics, monogamy, and the true meaning of fidelity.
14
FICTION FICTION brand new
Spring 2015
Shop 24 hours a day at villagebooks.com
FICTION FICTION brand new
FICTION
A Pleasure and a Calling by Phil Hogan
available now, hardcover, Picador
This literary thriller is narrated by William Heming, a real estate agent who secretly owns the keys to every house he's ever sold. When the owners are away, he lets himself into their homes and learns everything there is to know about them, leaving almost no trace of his presence. Don't let the creep-out factor deter you; Phil Hogan has crafted one of the most compelling, uniquely twisted psychological portraits I've ever encountered. Cunning, resourceful, and unsettlingly charismatic, William Heming will certainly join Humbert Humbert and Patrick Bateman in the canon of literature's most sinister narrators. –Brendan
Miss Hazel and the Rosa Parks League by Jonathan Odell
available now, hardcover, Maiden Lane Press
Set in pre-Civil Rights Mississippi, this is a story of two young mothers, Hazel and Vida—one wealthy and white, the other poor and black—who have only two things in common: the devastating loss of their children, and a deep and abiding loathing for one another. Forced to spend time together with no one else to rely on, the two women find they have more in common than they thought, and together they turn the town on its head.
The Book of Aron by Jim Shepard
available in May, hardcover, Knopf
Aron lives in the Warsaw Ghetto, a space which becomes smaller, darker and more desperate with each passing week. As he goes through his days, he becomes a pawn in the schemes of those around him, until all those around him, including his family and friends, disappear. Passive and unhappy, he falls in with the children's rights advocate Janusz Korczak and his band of orphans, where he is driven toward a tragically futile purpose. He constantly dodges sticky situations and shifting loyalties in an effort to keep himself alive – but will he be able to bring himself to speak up, finally, for the lives of others? —Sam
360-671-2626 • 800-392-BOOK • villagebooks.com
hardcover
FICTION
The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro
available in March, hardcover, Knopf
The Buried Giant begins as a couple sets off across a troubled land of mist and rain in the hope of finding a son they have not seen in years. Sometimes savage, often intensely moving, Kazuo Ishiguro's first novel in nearly a decade is about lost memories, love, revenge, and war.
All Involved: A Novel of the 1992 L.A. Riots by Ryan Gattis
available in April, hardcover, HarperCollins
The only book to tell the story of this pivotal event from the perspective of the city's gangs. "All Involved is a symphonic, pitch-perfect, superlative novel. It is visceral and adrenalin-fueled, yet tender and even darkly comic. It is audacious, unflinching and subversive. It doesn't judge. It swallowed me whole." —David Mitchell, author of The Bone Clocks and Cloud Atlas
The Prisoner
by Omar Shahid Hamid available in March, hardcover, Perseus
"To make the imaginative leap necessary to understand . . . Pakistan in general—the best book to read is not an academic or policy work, but a thriller......I hope that this book will be published soon in the U.S. I strongly suggest that Western policymakers read The Prisoner before they next call for a military 'crackdown' on Islamist militancy in Pakistan." –Anatol Lieven, New York Review of Books
The Last Word by Hanif Kureishi
available in March, hardcover, Scribner
Hanif Kureishi's latest novel follows hotshot British biographer Harry Johnson, who has been hired to write an exposé on formerly legendary Indian author Mamoon Azam, now driven nearly to bankruptcy by the excesses of his extravagant Italian wife, Liana. Harry's optimistic enthusiasm is put to the test when Mamoon turns out to be a washed-up, vain, bigoted, infuriatingly reticent curmudgeon who seems more interested in bemoaning his decline than recounting his past. The verbal fencing that results along the course of Harry's mad pursuit of the truth is exceptionally nuanced and hilarious.
Spring 2015
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FICTION hardcover
Emma: A Modern Retelling by Alexander McCall Smith
available in April, hardcover, Pantheon
The Big Seven by Jim Harrison
available now, hardcover, Grove Press
Detective Sunderson has fled troubles on the home front and bought himself a hunting cabin in a remote area of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. No sooner has he settled in than he realizes his new neighbors are creating even more havoc than the Great Leader did. In a story shot through with wit, bedlam, and Sunderson's attempts to master the seven deadly sins, this is a superb reminder of why Jim Harrison is one of America's most irrepressible writers.
The summer after university, Emma Woodhouse returns home to the village of Highbury, where she will live with her health-conscious father until she is ready to launch her interior-design business and strike out on her own. In the meantime, she will do what she does best: offer guidance to those less wise in the ways of the world than herself.
Me and My Daddy Listen to Bob Marley: Novellas and Stories
by Ann Pancake
Hausfrau
available now, hardcover, Counterpoint
by Jill Alexander Essbaum available in March, hardcover, Random House
Though she leads a comfortable, wellappointed life, Anna is falling apart inside. Adrift and increasingly unable to connect with the emotionally unavailable Bruno or even with her own thoughts and feelings, Anna tries to rouse herself with new experiences: German language classes, Jungian analysis, and a series of sexual affairs she enters with an ease that surprises even her.
A collection of eleven astonishing novellas and short stories, Ann Pancake again features characters who are intensely connected to their land—sometimes through love, sometimes through hate— and who experience brokenness and loss, redemption and revelation, often through their relationships to places under siege. The author's ear for the Appalachian dialect is both pitch-perfect and respectful, that of one who writes from the heart of this world.
Everlasting Lane by Andrew Lovett
available now, hardcover, Melville House Publishing
The relaxed freedom of childhood and the unsettling realities of the adult world are locked in an odd, shaky, and utterly compelling dance throughout Everlasting Lane, a novel which will feel familiar to anyone who has ever tried to grow up too soon, and maybe to anyone who has ever grown up at all. In exploring the daily minutiae of young lives in contrast with the vast impact of the secrets we all keep and the mysteries that surround them, Andrew Lovett has given us a truly unique addition to the well-worn 'coming of age' canon. It's at once a darkly contemplative novel and a buoyantly lighthearted one, much like the 'real world' its characters are approaching. Do we create our truths, or do they create us? That's a hard, perhaps impossible question to answer, but it's a question that Everlasting Lane asks again and again in graceful, unexpected ways. Don't let the cover fool you— this is a hauntingly beautiful story of staggering depth. —Sam
Impasse
by Royce Scott Buckingham available in March, hardcover, St. Martin's Press
Join us in the Book Fare Café as we celebrate the release of Impasse
At first, Stu Stark welcomes the week-long “adventure vacation” his best friend sends him on in the Alaskan wilderness. Then he realizes that nobody is coming back for him. Unprepared and near death, he’s rescued by a hunter just as winter sets in. As the months drag on, Stu finds himself training to be the man he never was before—and to get revenge on those who betrayed him. This modern-day take on The Count of Monte Cristo is the first adult novel from Royce Scott Buckingham, bestselling author of Demonkeeper and The Terminals.
16 Spring 2015
Royce Scott Buckingham Friday, March 20th, 7pm
Building Community One Book at a Time
FICTION paperback
FICTION
Eat My Heart Out
FICTION
Summer House With Swimming Pool
by Zoe Pilger
available in May, paperback, The Feminist Press at CUNY
by Herman Koch
available in April, paperback, Hogarth
Anne-Marie is twenty-three and spiraling when she meets Stephanie, a supremely serious, second wave feminist who becomes her mentor. Hilarious and unapologetic, this novel is a satirical look at the state of the post-post-feminist world and illuminates how, no matter what young women do, they are condemned for their choices.
A twisting, turning, morally ambiguous ride that explores just how far a father will go to protect his family. Koch’s compelling book has all the earmarks of a guilty pleasure thriller, but goes a few steps further, complicating notions of good and evil. Koch gives us a main character who is undeniably selfish and rather unlikeable, but who risks his reputation and livelihood to do what he thinks is right. There’s no one major twist ending here, just a series of unforeseeable events that add up to an avoidable but somehow inevitable conclusion. –Stephanie
Blood Brothers
by Ernst Haffner translated by Michael Hofmann available in March, paperback, Other Press
Told in stark, unsparing detail, Haffner's story delves into the illicit underworld of Berlin on the eve of Hitler's rise to power, describing how these blood brothers move from one petty crime to the next, spending their nights in underground bars and makeshift hostels, struggling together to survive the harsh realities of gang life, and finding in one another the legitimacy denied them by society.
The Boatmaker by John Benditt
available now, paperback, Tin House Books
This stunning debut novel has been described by countless other reviewers as a parable, and the label fits. But it's also so much more—an investigation of the differences between yearning and greed, a testament to the lengths we'll travel for love, and a compelling, sparse, salt-soaked epic. —Sam
I Regret Everything: A Love Story
by Seth Greenland available now, paperback, Europa Editions
A skilled satirist with a talent for biting humor, Greenland creates fully realized characters that quickly reveal themselves as complex renderings of the human condition. I Regret Everything explores happiness and heartache with a healthy dose of skepticism, and an understanding that the reality of love encompasses life, death, iambic pentameter, regret, trusts, and estates.
The Distant Marvels by Chantel Acevedo
available in April, paperback, Europa Editions
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RISK FREE READS
GU
Set in Cuba, 1963, during Hurricane Flora, The Distant Marvels is an epic adventure tale, a family saga, a love story, a stunning historical account of armed struggle against oppressors, a long tender plea for forgiveness, and a life-affirming novel about the kind of love that lasts a lifetime and the art of storytelling itself.
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Euphoria
paperback
A R A N TEE
by Lily King
available in April, paperback, Grove Press
This is a meticulously researched homage to Margaret Mead’s restless mind and a considered portrait of Western anthropology in its primitivist heyday, on location in New Guinea. It’s also a taut, witty, fiercely intelligent historical tale of competing egos and desires in a landscape of exotic menace—a love triangle in extremis. Voted as one of the best books in 2014 by almost every review group.
360-671-2626 • 800-392-BOOK • villagebooks.com
Spring 2015
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FICTION paperback
FICTION
paperback
The Fine Art of Fucking Up
Boy, Snow, Bird
available in April, paperback, The Unnamed Press
available in March, paperback, Penguin
by Cate Dicharry
FICTION
by Helen Oyeyemi
Oyeyemi's widely acclaimed novel brilliantly recasts the Snow White fairy tale as a story of family secrets, race, beauty, and vanity. "Gloriously unsettling… the greatest joy of reading Oyeyemi will always be style: jagged and capricious at moments, lush and rippled at others, always singular, like the voice-over of a fever dream." —The New York Times Book Review
Redeployment by Phil Klay
RISK FREE READS
GU
available now, paperback, Penguin Books
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It's war at the School of Visual Arts, and nobody's art is safe, not even Jackson Pollock's! Your archenemy taunts you with clandestine bacon frying. Your boss feverishly cyberstalks an aging romance novel cover model. Your husband unexpectedly takes in a wayward foreign national. Your best friend reveals a secret relationship with your longstanding workplace crush. Welcome to the life of Nina Lanning, lone and floundering administrator of a prestigious Midwestern art school.
A R A N TEE
Winner of the 2014 National Book Award! Phil Klay's Redeployment takes readers to the frontlines of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, asking us to understand what happened there, and what happened to the soldiers who returned. Interwoven with themes of brutality and faith, guilt and fear, helplessness and survival, the characters in these stories struggle to make meaning out of chaos.
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18 Spring 2015
Store Hours: Mon-Thurs 10am-8:30pm • Fri & Sat 10am-10pm • Sun 10am-7pm
SHORT STORIES
City Beasts: Fourteen Stories of Uninvited Wildlife
Lucky Alan: And Other Stories
by Mark Kurlansky
available now, hardcover, Doubleday
From baseball players in the Dominican Republic to Basque separatists in Spain to a restaurant owner in Cuba, from urban coyotes to a murder of crows, Kurlansky travels the worlds of animals and their human counterparts, revealing moving and hilarious truths about our connected existence. In the end, he illuminates how closely our worlds are aligned.
by Jonathan Lethem
One of the stories in Jonathan Lethem’s latest is called "The King of Sentences." It follows a young couple obsessed with the sentences of a particular author, so taken with his writing that they track him down to profess their devotion. "King of Sentences" may be an apt description for Lethem, as many of his stories in Lucky Alan exude a sort of jubilance in the writing process. You can feel his delight in his craft, and the result is a collection of slightly absurd, often experimental pieces whose daring you can’t help but admire. –Stephanie
Crow Fair: Stories by Thomas McGuane
available in March, hardcover, Knopf
Set in Thomas McGuane's customary Big Sky country, with its mesmeric powers, these stories attest to the generous compass of his fellow feeling, as well as to his unique way with words and the comic genius that has inspired comparison with Twain and Gogol. From one of our most deeply admired storytellers, author of the richly acclaimed Gallatin Canyon, this is his first collection in nine years.
available now, paperback, Penguin
Problems With People: Stories by David Guterson
available in March, paperback, Vintage
Guterson’s latest, a collection of melancholy short stories, is a lovely addition to his oeuvre. His characters are people struggling with the simple tragedies of everyday life: sickness, old age, estrangement. It’s sad in the way that all lives are sad—sometimes quietly so, with an underlying mournfulness that doesn’t exclude the possibility of happiness or contentment, but that has to learn to exist simultaneously to those feelings. –Stephanie
Barefoot Dogs: Stories by Antonio Ruiz-Camacho
available in March, hardcover, Simon & Schuster
Can’t and Won’t: Stories by Lydia Davis
available in March, paperback, Picador
If the idea of a 15+ page story about a narrator observing cows in a field sounds like the most boring premise ever imagined, well I’m with you on that. Such is the power of Lydia Davis, because "The Cows" is probably my favorite in this, her latest collection of short stories. Her writing is very close to poetic, some pieces being only a single sentence or two, but has the readability of regular prose. The brevity of her style is a major strength, and she able to stuff layers of meaning into deceptively simple pieces. –Stephanie
360-671-2626 • 800-392-BOOK • villagebooks.com
"Antonio Ruiz-Camacho has written a marvelous and moving story collection: Barefoot Dogs is a brilliant and devastating portrait of a scattered, entitled, and traumatized Mexican upper-class, waking up in horror to the reality of the country they once owned. A tour de force." —Daniel Alarcón, author of At Night We Walk in Circles
Single, Carefree, Mellow: Stories by Katherine Heiny
available now, hardcover, Penguin
Single, Carefree, Mellow is that rare and wonderful thing: a debut that is superbly accomplished, endlessly entertaining, and laugh-out-loud funny. Actress & writer Lena Dunham agrees: “Katherine Heiny's work does something magical: elevates the mundane so that it has the stakes of a mystery novel, gives women's interior lives the gravity they so richly deserve—and makes you laugh along the way.”
Spring 2015 19
WWAS READING 2014 HAT WHATCOM VB’s Top Sellers
1. The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown 2. Wild by Cheryl Strayed 3. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr 4. Murder in the Fourth Corner by Todd Warger 5. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green 6. Bellingham Impressions by Mark Turner 7. Orphan Train by Christine Baker Kline 8. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn 9. Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein 10. Mink River by Brian Doyle 11. Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand 12. Drive-Ins, Drive-Ups, and Drive-Thrus by Wes Gannaway & Kent Holsather 13. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt 14. Divergent by Veronica Roth 15. A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki 16. Quiet by Susan Cain 17. Looking for Alaska by John Green 18. Where'd You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple 19. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak 20. Haunted Fairhaven by Taimi Gorman
21. Tibetan Peach Pie by Tom Robbins 22. Paper Towns by John Green 23. The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion 24. The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin 25. Mount Baker by John D'Onofrio and Todd Warger 26. The Giver by Lois Lowry 27. Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher by Timothy Egan 28. Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter 29. Minecraft Essential Handbook by Scholastic 30. The Maze Runner by James Dashner
20 Spring 2015
It's a testament to Whatcom Reads that the top two books on the list are, respectively, this year's and last year's program choices and #15 is next year's book! In third, Anthony Doerr's National Book Award finalist novel was a book we were solidly behind when we read the pre-pub galleys. Our buyers even chose it as one of our Signed First Editions program books. Local and regional authors once again accounted for nearly 40% of the list, including #4 by Todd Warger and #20 by Taimi Dunn Gorman, two of our own Chuckanut Editions publications. Following a huge national trend, kids and young adult books make up almost one third of the list, up from one fifth last year. If you haven't finished making your 2015 reading list, this would be a great place to start.
31. Mind of the Raven by Bernd Heinrich 32. Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo 33. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 34. Minecraft Redstone Handbook by Scholastic 35. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman 36. Everything I Need to Know I Learned From a Little Golden Book by Diane Muldrow 37. If I Stay by Gayle Forman 38. Insurgent by Veronica Roth 39. Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed 40. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul by Jeff Kinney
Store Hours: Mon-Thurs 10am-8:30pm • Fri & Sat 10am-10pm • Sun 10am-7pm
SCIENCE FICTION The Grace of Kings
The Vorrh
by Ken Liu
by Brian Catling
available in April, hardcover, Simon & Schuster
available in May, paperback, Vintage
The Vorrh is endless, eternal; a place of demons and angels. Sentient, oppressive, and magical, the Vorrh can bend time and wipe a person's memory. Between the hunter and the hunted are Ishmael, a curious Cyclops raised by Bakelite robots; the evil Dr. Hoffman, who punishes the son of a servant by surgically inverting his hands; and the slave owner MacLeish, who drives his workers to insanity, only to pay the ultimate price.
A wily, charming bandit and a stern, fearless warrior, seem like polar opposites. Yet, in the uprising against the emperor, the two quickly become the best of friends. Once the emperor has been overthrown, however, they each find themselves the leader of separate factions—two sides with very different ideas about how the world should be run.
A Blink of the Screen: Collected Shorter Fiction
The Mermaid's Child
by Terry Pratchett
by Jo Baker
available in March, paperback, Vintage
Malin has always felt different. The fact that, according to her father, her absent mother was actually a mermaid only makes matters worse. When Malin's father dies, leaving her alone in the world, her choice is clear: stay, and never feel at home, or leave and go in search of the fantastical inheritance she is certain awaits her.
available in March, hardcover, Doubleday
If you are anything like me, you pick up a book as soon as you see Terry Pratchett's name on it without even looking at what it is first. Well, here is your brilliant new find! A collection of Pratchett's short stories written throughout his entire writing career that most certainly does not disappoint. Let the brilliant hilarity ensue! –Hana
The Country of Ice Cream Star by Sandra Newman
available now, hardcover, HarperCollins
I read a lot of sci-fi, postapocalyptic novels but I've never seen anything quite like this before. It's truly a work of art! The epic story unfolds at just the right pace, with a flawless balance of side themes and a main plot goal that challenges protagonist Ice Cream Star to her limits as a leader and as a human being. With an intense, imaginative back story and absolutely unforgettable characters, this book had me hooked from the first chapter. Newman hasn't just written a story; she's created an entirely new culture between the covers of this book and I fell completely in love with it. –Jenny
UNDEAD The Last American Vampire by Seth Grahame-Smith
available now, hardcover, Grand Central
Seth Grahame-Smith goes all Howard Zinn on vampires in The Last American Vampire—the incredibly ambitious, century-spanning, vampire alterna-history. This is a "Vampire Forrest Gump," if you will. For the first time, it tells the real story of Zinn's People's History of the United States, at last including the excluded vampires' stories.
360-671-2626 • 800-392-BOOK • villagebooks.com
GRAPHIC NOVEL Just So Happens by Fumio Obata
available in March, paperback, Abrams
A young Japanese woman who has made a good life in London, returns home after her father passes away. There she finds herself immersed in the rituals of death while also plunged into the rituals of life—fish bars, bullet trains, pagodas. This is a powerful book about dealing with grief, identity, and the pressure not to disappoint one’s parents, even after they’re gone.
Spring 2015 21
MYSTERY The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
Lamentation
by C.J. Sansom
available in March, hardcover, Hachette
available now, hardcover, Penguin
Are you a fan of Gone Girl? Have you been looking to fill the void with a new book that is just as gritty, suspenseful, and riddled with despicable characters? Here it is. The Girl on the Train isn't just a murder mystery, it's a commentary on what happens to us when we cease being watchers on the train, and get involved in the panorama that we pass day after day. Read it, I dare you. –Claire
VB Reads...
"Everything works in Sansom's superb sixth Matthew Shardlake novel: the murder mystery with grave political ramifications, the depiction of Tudor England, and the further development of a lead who's both courageous and flawed... Rich period details burnish Sansom's status as one of today's top historical writers." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Groups meet in the VB Readings Gallery (unless otherwise noted)
Village Books Book Groups Sharpen Your Saw
Business Book Group Meet with Mike Cook the 3rd Tuesday of every month from 11am-1pm to discuss an alternative approach to keeping your mind sharp and life balanced while being part of a continuous learning community.
Pacific Northwest Book Group Meet with Maren the 4th Monday of every month at 7pm to discuss books set in the Northwest, books about the Northwest, and books from local authors. Meetings take place in the Writers' Corner on the mezzanine level of Village Books.
Engaged Citizens Book Group
Speculative Fiction Book Group
Meets the 3rd Wednesdays of the month at noon. Join Mary Dumas for a thought-provoking lunch hour discussing books that ask us to consider how we, as community members, can more skillfully Meet with Rachel the 3rd Monday of every month at 7pm to contribute to the creation of a civilly engaged community. discuss thought-provoking speculative fiction in a group that welcomes diversity. Meetings take place in the Writers' Corner General Lit on the mezzanine level of Village Books. Discuss books from a variety of genres with Cindi at 7pm the 1st Monday of each month. This group is open to anyone and everyone who enjoys reading and discussing books. Afternoon Book Chat Bring your tea or latte and come discuss contemporary literature with Sittrea the 2nd Wednesday of each month at 1pm—open to all!
Motherhood by the Book Meet with Claire the 2nd Sunday of every month at 2pm for an hour of spirited discussion of books that celebrate the trials, tribulations, and rewards of motherhood. Meetings take place in the Writers' Corner on the mezzanine level of Village Books.
Natural Concerns Book Group Join us the 2nd Monday of each month from 5-6pm as we discuss contemporary and classic writings that explore the issues, insights, and inspirations of our relationship with the natural world.
Cover to Cover Adventure For ages 8-12. Enjoy a book chat & activities with Hana at 4pm the 2nd Tuesday of each month.
Go to villagebooks.com to see the monthly book selections for these groups! Contact hana@villagebooks.com to:
Register YOUR book group with us and receive 15% off your book selections or to sign up for our monthly book group eNewsletter. 22 Spring 2015
Building Community One Book at a Time
Changing People, Changing Roles
I
n the waning months of 2014 two veteran staffers accepted marketing positions with arts organizations in the community. Lindsey McGuirk is now with the Jansen Art Center in Lynden, and Christina Claassen has joined the Whatcom Museum. In desks facing one another, Amy Blackwood and Sam Kaas have stepped into those vacated positions––Amy as Digital Marketing Coordinator, producing our eNewsletters, and overseeing Twitter, Facebook, and all other digital marketing efforts; and Sam as our Events Coordinator, booking and marketing the more than 300 events the store presents each year. Amy, who grew up in St. Louis, brings a wealth of experience in writing and editing in the retail world, including time with a retail trade publication. She was most recently Community Relations Director for Launching Success Learning Store. She's an avid reader and writer—a member of Paul's writing group, in fact—and has immediately fit into the family here. Sam has been with the store four and a half years as a bookseller, eTeam Leader, and Community Outreach Coordinator. Like Amy, Sam is an avid and eclectic reader. He's one of the few members of our staff who grew up here and likely first entered the store in his mother's arms. If you've met a guy in the store who was enthusiastic about…well, almost everything…you've met Sam. Though often sequestered in the office working on the computer or on the phone, you'll sometimes see both of these great folks around the store. Please say hi and welcome them to their new roles here.
In Fairhaven! 1050 Larrabee Ave, Suite 102 360-752-2956
Weekdays by appointment: 8am - 5pm Weekend walk in clinic: 9:30am - 4:30pm
Mitchell Kahn, MD
Sarah Heggie ARNP
Julie Kahnamoui, ARNP
Comprehensive Primary Care - Adolescents to Seniors
360-671-2626 • 800-392-BOOK • villagebooks.com
Spring 2015 23
VB Writes... Village Books hosts multiple writing groups. Choose which group most reflects your writing genre then come and share your work in a supportive environment. Groups are free and open to everyone. They meet on the mezzanine level of Village Books in our Writers' Corner.
SpecFic/SciFi Writing Group
This group meets 2nd & 4th Tuesdays from 6-8pm.
Fiction Writing Group
Read more about each group at villagebooks.com.
Poetry Writing Group
This group meets the 1st & 3rd Thursdays of each month from 5:30 to 7pm.
This group meets 2nd & 4th Thursdays from 6-8pm.
NonFiction/Memoir Writing Group
This group meets the 1st & 3rd Sundays of each month from 3:15-5:15pm.
Faculty:
“The faculty were so approachable, accessible, and willing to share wonderful insights about their craft!” Rayma Haas Seattle, WA 2014 Conference Attendee
Inspiration into Action Friday and Saturday June 26 & 27, 2015 Whatcom Community College Bellingham, Washington www.chuckanutwritersconference.com
Betsy Amster Philip Athans Carol Cassella Kerry Colburn Anne Depue Brian Doyle Steven Galloway Elizabeth George Sam Green Lee Gulyas Denise Jolly Stephanie Kallos William Kenower Elizabeth Kracht Erik Larson Robert Lashley Kate Lebo Brenda Miller Elissa Washuta Molly Wizenberg Jennifer Worick
presented by
COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Left: Original serigraph titled “Along Chuckanut Drive” by Nancy McDonnell Spaulding, commissioned by Chuckanut Bay Gallery, www.chuckanutbaygallery.com
CWC Early Bird Registration through May 28 The fifth annual Chuckanut Writers Conference is an intensive craft-focused, cross-genre symposium designed to inspire and edify writers of all experience levels. Co-presented by Village Books and the Whatcom Community College Community and Continuing Education program, the Chuckanut Writers Conference spotlights both talented authors who are distinguished writing teachers and respected agents who will share industry insights and hear pitches. Register by May 28 for the early bird rate of $229. After May 28, the rate will be $269. Note: After registering, please contact comed@whatcom.ctc.edu or 360-383-3200 with your preferred writing genre. Visit www.chuckanutwritersconference.com periodically and follow us on Facebook for updates and news! 24 Spring 2015
Store Hours: Mon-Thurs 10am-8:30pm • Fri & Sat 10am-10pm • Sun 10am-7pm
The Five Hurdles on the
Path to Publishing by Brendan Clark, Village Books Publishing Director
I
f you're writing a book, you've probably heard that it's never been easier to publish a book independently. It's true! Anyone with an idea and the tenacity to develop it into a manuscript now has unprecedented access to digital printers and book retailers who are eager to print and sell books of the homegrown variety. That said, consider that when a publishing house prepares to release a new title, they assign specialized professionals to oversee the polishing, manufacture, and marketing of that title. Without a publishing house, all those responsibilities fall upon the shoulders of the author. Fear not! That doesn't mean you have to perform every task yourself. When publishing, do as the publishers do—delegate tasks to professionals with the skills to get the job done right. The following are 5 major steps on the path to releasing a new book, along with the types of professionals who can help you with them.
1) EDITING Like a sculpture, a manuscript takes a great deal of polishing before it can be considered finished. In writing as in life, errors happen to everyone. And while feedback from family, friends, and neighbors can be a vital aspect of your manuscript's development, professional editors root out persistent global errors and hard-to-spot line errors that most folks miss. Don't underestimate the value of a trained outside perspective.
2) DESIGN Before your book is ready to be printed, its pages must be sized according to the printer's specifications and formatted for readability. Also, your book needs a cover! Bear in mind that folks browsing in bookstores are far more likely to pick something up off the shelf if it catches their eyes with an engaging cover, while an unattractive cover can immediately deter potential readers. Freelance graphic designers possess the skill and experience to shape your manuscript into a format that is both attractive and functional.
3) PRODUCTION Where you have your book printed and bound is a huge decision; the materials and services offered at your bindery
determine the visual appearance of your book, the quality of the paper used for your printrun, how quickly you can fulfill orders, and the means by which you deliver your book to readers. Here at Village Books, we work with two offsite binderies to print books for the authors in our Publishing Program, in order to maximize the customization options available to us.
4) DISTRIBUTION Remember those folks browsing in bookstores I mentioned earlier? Before they even have a chance to see your book on a shelf, it has to get there first. Publishing houses accomplish this using a nationwide distribution network. The good news is, that same network is accessible to independent authors too! Books uploaded to our distributor, Ingram Content Group, can be ordered print-on-demand and shipped to readers all over the country, dramatically expanding their potential audience.
5) PUBLICITY Now that your book has made the journey from infancy to completion, your greatest task as an independent author is to get the word out. Publishing houses invest heavily in marketing to generate buzz and momentum for their new titles; continued...
360-671-2626 • 800-392-BOOK • villagebooks.com
Spring 2015 25
continued from previous page....
likewise, if you want your book to attract attention outside of your circle of acquaintances, you must devote time, energy, and funds into publicizing it. Be creative! There are so many ways to get a book noticed—hang up posters around town, have an article written about your book in your local newspaper, raise funds through an online crowd funding campaign, offer signed copies to folks who preorder the book, make noise on social media, suggest your book to local book groups, and schedule reading events at local/ regional bookstores. Of course, the most surefire strategy is to hire a professional publicist or marketing consultant, who can teach you the tricks of catching people’s attention and maximizing your readership.
Feeling overwhelmed yet? Fortunately, we here at Village Books have the tools and connections to help you shepherd your book through all five of these steps. If you're not sure how to get in touch with freelance editors, designers, and publicists, we can refer you to them. If you need support or advice along this path, don’t hesitate to get in touch with me. Ultimately, the success of your book is in your hands, so equip yourself with professionals who can share the burden and take your next step to becoming a proudly indie-published author.
Brendan Clark is the Publishing Director at Village Books, where he oversees the production of Chuckanut Editions books and books independently published by local authors. To set up an appointment for a consultation, email brendan@villagebooks.com.
Chuckanut Editions
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Publishing & Marketing Strategies for Writers and Authors
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Our monthly newsletter gives tips for every stage of writing—from craft to publication to presentation. Hear from local and national writing gurus and keep abreast of VB events, workshops, classes, and conferences for writers. How? Go to Villagebooks.com and click on the "Sign Up for our Weekly eNewsletter" icon. When you receive the confirmation email, follow the link to update your profile and check the box next to "Just Write!"
Tuesday, March 10, 5:30 p.m. Village Books, Fairhaven
Wednesday, April 1, 5:30 p.m. Bellingham Public Library (downtown)
wwu.edu/Enrich
• (360) 650-3308
Open to the community. Active Minds Changing Lives AA/EO
26 Spring 2015
Building Community One Book at a Time
Chuckanut Writers
Conferences, classes, and retreats for your writing life
Continuing this spring, Village Books and WCC Community & Continuing Education will offer a variety of classes and seminars as part of our collaborative writing program, Chuckanut Writers. These programs are designed to inspire and encourage writers at all stages of their writing journey.
Wild Mind Writing with Nancy Canyon Discover the power of "wild mind writing!" Based on Natalie Goldberg's book Writing Down the Bones, this intriguing class frees the mind with exercises that teach the writer to give up conscious control, eliminating writer's block. Instructor Nancy Canyon leads new and experienced students through writing sprints—rewarding participants with a daily practice-style, fundamentally changing one's writing forever. Ms. Canyon holds an MFA in Creative Writing and has studied with Natalie Goldberg. She invites all curious minds to enroll! 4 sessions $95 (S8642) Tuesdays, 4/14 - 5/5, 6:30-8:30 PM in the Fairhaven Village Inn Conference Room
The World of Independent Publishing with Susan Colleen Browne Once known as "self-publishing," independent publishing is now a viable and often lucrative path to a satisfying writing career! In this empowering class, author Susan Colleen Browne covers the essentials of print publishing: marketing strategies, pricing your book, selling your book in stores and online, and real-world sales figures and profits. We'll also explore the basics of eBook independent publishing: creating your eBook, eBook pricing, selling, royalties, and more. Browne is the author of six independently published books. Her latest is a novel, Mother Love. 2 sessions $69 (S8591) Wednesdays, 4/22 & 4/29, 6:00-8:30 PM in the Village Books Readings Gallery
Choosing the Focus for Your Memoir with Claire Dederer Memoir isn't the story of your whole life. If you tell your whole story, you're writing an autobiography, and autobiographies are for famous people. We are, well, the ordinary, and we must choose how to narrow the focus of our story. New York Times bestselling memoirist Claire Dederer, author of Poser: My Life in Twenty-Three Yoga Poses, offers a handson, fun, rigorous class that will help you develop a focus for your memoir. 1 session $39 (S8081) Thursday, April 23, 4:00-6:30 PM in the Village Books Readings Gallery
Capturing the Nonfiction Scene with Bruce Barcott Great nonfiction relies on characters and dialogue in scene. Sometimes those scenes are ten-page epics. Sometimes they're captured in three lines. In any event, things must happen to people. Author Bruce Barcott, a contributor to Outside and The New York Times Magazine, looks at observational strategies and writing techniques designed to bring nonfiction stories alive in the reader's mind. 1 session $39 (S8072) Friday, April 24, 12:00-2:30 PM in the Village Books Readings Gallery
Join us for a FREE EVENT at Village Books with BRUCE BARCOTT!
Thursday, April 23rd, 7pm Weed the People: The Future of Legal Marijuana in America
Class registration is now open. Visit whatcomcommunityed.com or call 360-383-3200 to reserve your space today. 360-671-2626 • 800-392-BOOK • villagebooks.com
COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Spring 2015
27
Join us in celebrating
INDEPENDENT
BOOKSTORE DAY Saturday, May 2, 2015
Independent bookstores are not just stores, they’re community centers and local anchors run by passionate readers. They are entire universes of ideas that contain the possibility of real serendipity. They are lively performance spaces and quiet places where aimless perusal is a day well spent. Indie bookstores, whether dusty and labyrinthine or clean and well-lighted, are not just stores, they are solutions. They hold the key to your love life, your career, and your passions. Walking the aisles of a good bookstore means stumbling upon a novel from India that expands your heart. It’s encountering an art book that changes the direction of your life. It’s the joy of having a perfect stranger steer you toward the perfect book. In a world of tweets and algorithms and pageless digital downloads, bookstores are not a dying anachronism. They are living, breathing organisms that continue to grow and expand. In fact, there are more of them this year than there
were last year. And they are at your service. That's why we're joining a great nation-wide celebration on May 2nd called Independent Bookstore Day. In addition to spinning for prizes and great deals, you'll find more than a dozen items that have been specially created for Independent Bookstore Day, from a signed Roxane Gay chapbook, to a literary map of the seas, to a "Salty" literary tea towel set, to a great deal on a boxed set of books about books. And much more. These items are limited in quantity and will go on sale on May 2nd. So, join us all day on Saturday, May 2, and Celebrate Your Independents!
Happy Hour 3-6pm Mon-Fri
360-647-0092 28 Spring 2015
Store Hours: Mon-Thurs 10am-8:30pm • Fri & Sat 10am-10pm • Sun 10am-7pm
Gluten-Free Flour Power: by Aki Kamozawa, H. Alexander Talbot available in March, hardcover, Norton
Gluten free but stacked with taste! Simply sensational! The gluten free book we have been waiting for—"my God why haven't I been eating like this all my life?" There are 250 color photos with an emphasis on process photos that illustrate tips, techniques, and finished dishes Gluten free meets Modernist Cuisine.
The World's Best Brunches: Where to Find Them and How to Make Them
k
Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table
Cooking k
At Village Books
A Free Event!
Ashley Rodriguez Thursday, April 30th, 7pm
by Lonely Planet Editors
available in April, paperback, Lonely Planet
Date Night In:
Brunch has evolved into a sunny, social meal beloved the world over. Here are recipes for such goodies as Huevos Rancheros, Whitebait Fritters (New Zealand fish cakes), Khanom Krok (coconut cakes), and good old scones. The 100 plus recipes include the origin of each dish, the best place to sample a bite, and alternative ingredients for preparing the dish in this country.
More than 120 Recipes to Nourish Your Relationship
Back in the Day Bakery Made with Love: More than 100 Recipes and Make-It-Yourself Projects to Create and Share
by Cheryl Day and Griffith Day
by Ashley Rodriguez
available now, hardcover, Running Press Books
When Ashley Rodriguez and her husband found themselves deep into marriage and child-rearing, they were determined not to let their relationship deteriorate into that of “roommates with children.” Their solution was to sit down, once a week, to a “date night” dinner at home. This book tells their story and features dozens of “date-worthy” occasions and more than 120 recipes. Ashley Rodriguez grew up in Bellingham, and is a Seattle-based food blogger and the creator of NotWithoutSalt.com
available in March, hardcover, Artisan
Fika: The Art of the
Who needs store-bought when baking things at home is so gratifying? In this follow-up to their smash-hit first book, the Days share ways to lovingly craft not only desserts, but also breakfast pastries, breads, pizza, and condiments. The book features more than 100 new recipes, including some of the bakery’s most requested treats, such as Star Brownies and the Cakette Party Cake, as well as savories like Chive ParmigianoReggiano Popovers and Rosemary Focaccia.
Swedish Coffee Break, with Recipes for Pastries, Breads, and Other Treats
FIND ME AT PAPER DREAMS!
Picnic baskets and blanket totes
Anna Brones & Johanna Kindvall available in April, hardcover, Ten Speed Press
I like coffee. A lot. And, as an unrepentant creature of habit, the idea of a twice-daily coffee ritual is something I can't help but love. It's really no wonder that such a tradition can be found in Sweden, a country to which I can trace many of my familial roots. In this beautifully illustrated little volume, Brones and Kindvall explain the fine art of slowing down, enjoying a strong coffee and a pastry, and sharing a little time with each other in the course of each busy day. This is a book worth perusing, and not just for the recipes. —Sam
Find the Cookbooks along with fun food and cooking items in Paper Dreams! 360-671-2626 • 800-392-BOOK • villagebooks.com
Spring 2015 29
30 Spring 2015
Building Community One Book at a Time
Mr. Wilkinson's Well-Dressed Salad: A Cookbook to Celebrate the Seasons by Matt Wilkinson
available in May, hardcover, Black Dog & Leventhal
FOOD
k
Guided by the seasons, award-winning chef Matt Wilkinson has always designed his recipes with vegetables as the foundation of the plate. In his latest cookbook, Matt takes this a step further by showing us how versatile salads can be in both form and flavor. He pairs produce with grains, beans, cheeses, fish, and meat to create enticing, adaptable dishes. You'll find a recipe to match each season's bounty, from spring salads featuring early sprouting vegetables and herbs, and summer produce mixed with garden-fresh greens, to autumn roots tossed with hearty grains, and earthy winter noodle salads.
& Drinks
k
Wine in Words: Some Notes for Better Drinking by Lettie Teague
available in April, hardcover, Rizzoli Ex Libris
There are wine encyclopedias, bibles, and guides, but this is not one of those books. It doesn't contain everything, just the really important stuff: the key wines, grapes, regions; tips about wine buying, aging, and storage; and useful explanations about tasting notes and whether or not vintages really matter. In short, this book covers the real absolutes that you need to know about wine.
FIND ME IN PAPER DREAMS! Gurgle Pots in a variety of fun colors. Yes, they really gurgle! Army Man Bottle Openers
A Bone to Pick: The Good and Bad News About Food, Along with Wisdom, Insights, and Advice on Diets, Food Safety, GMOs, Policy, Farming, and More
by Mark Bittman
available in May, hardcover, Clarkson Potter
For years, Mark Bittman has taught us to cook better and more simply. As a New York Times opinion columnist, he has helped us cut through the rhetoric of food politics to become better consumers and citizens, joining a pantheon of food influencers that include Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser who shape the way we talk about food.
360-671-2626 • 800-392-BOOK • villagebooks.com
Food Literature My Organic Life: How a Pioneering Chef Helped Shape the Way We Eat Today by Nora Pouillon with Laura Fraser available in April, hardcover, Knopf
Determined to make a difference, first as a teacher and then as the country's premiere organic restaurateur, Nora Pouillon charted a path that forever changed our relationship with what we eat. Spanning the last forty years of our culinary history, My Organic Life gives us the remarkable life of a little-known hero of the organic revolution.
Spring 2015
31
Enjoy Great Meals at These Fairhaven Restaurants!
book fare café in village books
now catering
seasonal local organic allergy-friendly come see what’s new on the mezzanine level upstairs in village books
EVERYDAY 8 AM – 2 PM 1101 HARRIS AVENUE IN FAIRHAVEN
www.bookfarecafe.com 360.734.3434
CLASSIC FAVORITES
AW Asian Bistro A.W. Asian Bistro
SUSHI BAR ASIAN GRILL
Fairhaven Garden 1138 Finnegan Way Bellingham, WA 360.715.3028 Fax 360.715.1803
HAPPY HOUR
Gluten-free WE options! DELIVER! –No MSG–
DAILY from 3-5pm
awasianbistro.com
open daily for Lunch & Dinner 12th & Mill in Historic Fairhaven • 715.3028
Go to VillageBooks.com to see this issue, as well as past issues, of The Chuckanut Reader online!
32 Spring 2015
Breakfast and Lunch Served Daily Homemade Soups and Pastries Wheat Free Pastries Available BEST MIMOSAS IN TOWN PLAN, HOST, AND CATER YOUR PRIVATE PARTIES OR COMPANY GATHERINGS AT HARRIS AVENUE CAFÉ!
E-MAIL KELLY FOR MORE INFORMATION KB.PALADINRESTINC@GMAIL.COM
WWW.HARRISAVECAFE.COM
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Store Hours: Mon-Thurs 10am-8:30pm • Fri & Sat 10am-10pm • Sun 10am-7pm
n e h c t i K E H T IN
k
Book recommendations from one of our favorite chefs. Bon Appétit!
L
ast night I opened my last jar of spicy pickled dilly beans. It was a sad, but hopeful moment. Spring is coming, and those beans will grow again, morels will pop up, and the days will grow longer and drier. Until then, I guess I will go read a cookbook somewhere out of the rain.
Kinfolk Volume 14: Discovering New Things to Cook, Make and Do
Various Contributors available now, an independent slow lifestyle magazine, Ouur Regrettably, the height of spring is still on the horizon. While we're still hunkered down through the dark, wet days, you should revel in the light-filled photos, stories, and recipes of Kinfolk #14. Style and food, all for us kinfolk living in the northern latitudes. A reminder that spring, and Kinfolk Issue #15, are on the way! (Kinfolk is a quarterly publication that explores ways for readers to simplify their lives, cultivate community, and spend more time with friends and family. Find it in the General Cooking section in Paper Dreams.)
The Deerholme Foraging Book:
Wild Foods and Recipes from the Pacific Northwest by Bill Jones available in April, paperback, Greystone Books I love being out in the forest on the cusp of spring. There is such delight in the new growth, the first stirrings after winter, and of course the beginnings of foraging for wild edibles. From miner's lettuce and nettles to fiddlehead ferns and fir tips, Bill Jones has assembled an inspiring cookbook to implement these wonderful natural foods. Based at Deerholme Farm on Vancouver Island, the author is intimately familiar with wildcrafted foods from the seashore and the landscape.
Where Chefs Eat: A Guide to Chefs' Favorite Restaurants (2015) by Joe Warwick
available now, hardcover, Phaidon Press
Spring is often a time when we travel. Tired of flipping through conventional guidebooks to try to find somewhere truly outstanding to eat when you are out in the world? Where Chefs Eat is a huge but compact compendium with recommendations from dozens of professional chefs from all over the world. Organized geographically, this newly updated guide will help you find the real hole-in-the-wall places that you may normally walk on past.
Charles Claassen is the chef/owner of the Book Fare Café on the mezzanine of Village Books. Through the seasonal menus at the café, teaching cooking and food classes in the community, and continuing to develop relationships with farmers and food artisans, he provides thoughtful, conscientious food that's quite tasty, too.
book fare café 360-671-2626 • 800-392-BOOK • villagebooks.com
Spring 2015 33
3.325” x 4.5”
34 Spring 2015
Store Hours: Mon-Thurs 10am-8:30pm • Fri & Sat 10am-10pm • Sun 10am-7pm
The Illustrated Guide to Chickens: How to Choose Them, How to Keep Them
by Celia Lewis, foreward by HRH Prince Charles, The Prince of Wales available in March, paperback, Skyhorse Publishing
Offering practical advice and all the information you need to choose the best chicken from the hundred most familiar breeds in North America and Europe. Each breed’s profile is written in engaging text that covers its history and main characteristics, including advice about poultry rearing and husbandry, and pros and cons of pure breeds, hybrids, bantams, and game fowl.
The Perfect Egg: A Fresh Take on Recipes for Morning, Noon, and Night
All About CHICKENS Chickens
by Ernest Goh available in March, hardcover, Abrams
Flaunting their high-fashion plumage, chickens strut and pose like runway models for photographer Ernest Goh. These birds, with their all-too-human expressions, are both funny and poignant, as if they are commenting on our own foibles. Shot on location throughout the world, these portraits convey the beauty and diversity of various breeds, as well as capturing the personality of each fowl. Find me in Art Photography!
by Teri Lyn Fisher
available in March, hardcover, Ten Speed Press
Did you know that a single ostrich egg can feed fifteen people? Neither did I! It's just one of the many egg facts and tidbits that you'll find in this cookbook that specializes in one of our most takenfor-granted recipe staples: eggs! Many of the recipes here feature eggs as the main focus of a given dish, but there are also sauce and side recipes included that require eggs but also highlight other flavors. Try their recipe for hollandaise sauce. It's amazing! –Jenny
FIND ME IN PAPER DREAMS!
Ceramic Egg/Toast Salt & Pepper Shaker
GARDENING The Postage Stamp Vegetable Garden: Grow Tons of Organic Vegetables in Tiny Spaces and Containers
by Karen Newcomb
available now, paperback, Ten Speed Press
When first published 40 years ago, the postage stamp techniques, including closely planted beds rather than rows, vines and trailing plants grown vertically to free up space, and intercropping, were groundbreaking. Now, in an ever busier world, the postage stamp intensive gardening method continues to be invaluable for gardeners who wish to weed, water, and work a whole lot less yet produce so much more.
360-671-2626 • 800-392-BOOK • villagebooks.com
The Allergy-Fighting Garden: Stop Asthma and Allergies with Smart Landscaping by Thomas Leo Ogren
available now, paperback, Ten Speed Press
Thomas Ogren's innovative system is based on the fact that only male plants, which are over-planted in gardens and civic landscapes, produce pollen. By raising public awareness and by removing or replacing troublesome plants in your yard with pollen-blocking females and other pollen screens, allergy-sufferers can reduce or eliminate their symptoms.
Spring 2015 35
Want to move with more freedom? Try our fitness programs designed by our Functional Aging Specialists!
Call us today!
Call now for a FREE Consultation.
360-733-5050
800 McKenzie Ave. Bellingham, WA 98225 360.733.5050
www.bellinghamtennis.com
KMRE 102.3 FM A non-commercial, community-based radio station licensed to and operated by the Spark Museum of Electrical Invention since 2005. KMRE is a powerful and entertaining extension of the Spark Museum’s world-class media collection. Underwriting a show here at KMRE supports independent local radio and connects your business, group or event to one of Bellingham’s best independent media outlets.
thousands of local listeners. Listen and learn more online at:
KMRE.ORG
36 Spring 2015
Building Community One Book at a Time
Nature A Free Event!
Join us at Village Books
Thor Hanson Saturday, April 11th, 7pm Part of the Nature of Writing Series, in partnership with North Cascades Institute.
The Triumph of Seeds: How Grains, Nuts, Kernels, Pulses, and Pips Conquered the Plant Kingdom and Shaped Human History
The Jane Effect: Celebrating Jane Goodall edited by Dale Peterson and Marc Bekoff
available now, paperback, Trinity University Press
In her nearly 60-year career as a groundbreaking primatologist and a passionate conservationist, Jane Goodall has touched the hearts of millions of people. The more than 100 original pieces included in this inspirational collection give us a sense of her amazing reach, honoring her as a scientific pioneer, an inspiring teacher, and a devoted friend.
by Thor Hanson
available in March, hardcover, Basic Books
What makes this new book by the author of Feathers so remarkable is not just that it is informative, humane, hilarious, and even moving, but that seeds are so amazing in their fundamental importance to life. It is their sheer vitality, and the delight that we can take in their existence, that gives us the opportunity to experience “the simple joy of seeing something beautiful, doing what it is meant to do.”
On the Edge of the Wild: Passions and Pleasures of a Naturalist by Stephen Bodio
available now, paperback, Skyhorse Publishing
Four Fields by Tim Dee
available now, hardcover, Counterpoint Press
Tim Dee tells the story of four green fields spread around the world: their grasses, their hedges, their birds, their skies, and both their natural and human histories. These four fields—walkable, mappable, man-made, knowable, but also secretive, mysterious, wild, contested, and changing—play central roles in the panorama of world history as well as the lives of individuals. A field is the oldest, simplest, and truest measure of what a person needs in life.
Welcome To Subirdia: Sharing Our Neighborhoods with Wrens, Robins, Woodpeckers, and Other Wildlife
by John Marzluff, illustrated by Jack DeLap
These thought-provoking essays share Bodio's love for the country, wilderness, literature, and his feelings about life and the outdoors. From dogs to falcons, moving to Montana, treasured shotguns, and his absolute love of cooking, the incredible array of stories shows the deep appreciation and respect that he has for nature.
Slide Show at Village Books
A Free Event!
John Marzluff Friday, April 3rd, 7pm Part of the Nature of Writing Series, in partnership with North Cascades Institute.
available now, hardcover, Yale University Press
We know that human development is threatening our environment. Runoff pollutes our streams. Energy use warms the planet. Too many species are in decline. And yet, for some of our most charismatic wild creatures, suburban and urban habitats offer surprising opportunities to thrive. In Welcome to Subirdia, John Marzluff reveals that our suburbs and city parks are remarkably rich in bird diversity—holding more species than either wilderness areas or urban centers. In fact, suburbs may play a key role in preventing loss of species in the face of the dramatic disruptions of climate change and other human impacts.
360-671-2626 • 800-392-BOOK • villagebooks.com
Spring 2015
37
Nature
DAVID SUZUKI
SAVE the DATE!
Sunday, June 14th
David is coming back to Bellingham! Additional information coming soon. Tickets will be available April 1st.
Letters to My Grandchildren by David Suzuki
available in June, hardcover, Greystone Books
David Suzuki's Letters To My Grandchildren offers grandfatherly advice combined with remarkable autobiographical stories. Drawing on his own experiences, he explores life's deep questions and offers up a lifetime of wisdom, inspiring us all to live with courage, conviction, and passion as we learn from the past and look confidently into the future. David Suzuki is an award-winning scientist, environmentalist and broadcaster. He is renowned for his radio and television programs that explain the complexities of the natural sciences in a compelling, easily understood way. Dr. Suzuki has written 52 books, including 19 for children.
Community
Connections
All The Wild That Remains: Edward Abbey, Wallace Stegner, and the American West
by David Gessner
available in April, hardcover, W.W. Norton & Co.
Going West. Is there another p h ra s e t h a t s o p e r f e c t l y encapsulates the American spirit? In All The Wild That Remains, acclaimed nature writer David Gessner takes to the road in pursuit of two very different men—Wallace Stegner and Edward Abbey—who called the place their home. “Two extraordinary men and one remarkable book. To understand how we understand the natural world, you need to read this book.” –Bill McKibben A Free Event
at Village Books
David Gessner Wednesday, May 20th, 7pm
COMMUNITY Connections
New Series with the
Whatcom Community Foundation
H
ave you ever wanted to give something back to the community, but you weren't sure exactly how? Maybe you know there are lots of great organizations doing wonderful things, but don't know how to connect to these groups. We have had that same feeling, which is why Village Books is partnering with the Whatcom Community Foundation to invite several local nonprofit organizations into our store to share their stories and highlight how you can help them make our community better. The series kicked off in January with the Whatcom Community Foundation, sharing more about their work to build community by connecting people who care with causes that matter. The Bellingham Food Bank presented in February. The next program will be on March 19th, featuring Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association, followed on April 16 by the Whatcom Literacy Program. Future programs will be announced in the Village Books weekly email updates and on villagebooks.com. These free programs will be held in the Village Books Readings Gallery on the third Thursday of each month, beginning at noon, and a different community organization will be featured each month. We invite you to bring your lunch.
38 Spring 2015
Store Hours: Mon-Thurs 10am-8:30pm • Fri & Sat 10am-10pm • Sun 10am-7pm
Northwest Join us at Village Books
The Salish Sea: Jewel of the Pacific Northwest
by Audrey DeLella Benedict, Joseph K. Gaydos available in March, paperback, Sasquatch Books
The Salish Sea: fashioned by the violent volcanism of the Pacific Rim of Fire, plate tectonics, and the sculptural magic wrought by Ice Age glaciers. This fascinating visual journey through the area combines a scientist's inquiring mind, beautiful photographs, and a lively narrative of fascinating stories, all of which impart a sense of connection with this intricate marine ecosystem and the life that it sustains.
At Village Books
Audrey Delella Benedict & Joe Gaydos A Free Event!
Thursday, April 16th, 7pm
A Free Event!
Ned Brown
Saturday, April 25th, 7pm
Geology of the San Juan Islands by Ned Brown
available now, paperback, Chuckanut Editions
Nestled in the heart of the Salish Sea lie the picturesque San Juan Islands, an archipelago molded by eons of tectonic and glacial activity. Over the course of his nearly five-decade career, Ned Brown has led countless research teams to decode this complex terrestrial heritage. In Geology of the San Juan Islands, Brown provides detailed, approachable, full color photos and diagrams to illuminate the complexities of these iconic islands. Ned Brown is an Emeritus Professor of geology at Western Washington University.
A Free Event at Village Books
Jack Nisbet
Advertise in
ADVENTURES NW >>>
Save the Date!
Wednesday, June 10th, 7pm Part of the Nature of Writing Series, in partnership with North Cascades Institute.
Ancient Places: People and Landscape in the Emerging Northwest
by Jack Nisbet
available in May, hardcover, Sasquatch Books
· 60,000 Readers · Affordable Rates
Jack Nisbet uncovers touchstones across the Pacific Northwest that reveal the symbiotic relationship of people and place in this corner of the world. From rural Oregon, where a controversy brewed over the provenance and ownership of a meteor, to the great floods 15,000 years ago that shaped what is now Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, this is a compelling collection of stories about the natural and human history of our region.
· Beautiful, World-Class Content · A Perfect Fit for Our Community Contact John @ 360.319.1614 or john@AdventuresNW.com 360-671-2626 • 800-392-BOOK • villagebooks.com
Pacific Northwest Book Group Meet the 4th Monday of every month at 7pm to discuss books set in the Northwest, books about the Northwest, and books from local authors. Meetings take place in the Writers' Corner on the mezzanine level of Village Books.
Spring 2015 39
How to Clone a Mammoth:
Science
The Science of De-Extinction by Beth Shapiro
available in April, hardcover, Princeton University Press
Could extinct species, like mammoths and passenger pigeons, be brought back to life? The science says yes. Would deextinction change the way we live? Is this really cloning? What are the costs and risks? And what is the ultimate goal? Looking at the very real and compelling science behind an idea once seen as science fiction, Shapiro demonstrates how de-extinction will redefine conservation's future.
Rain: A Natural and Cultural History
This Idea Must Die: Scientific Theories That Are Blocking Progress by John Brockman
available now, paperback, HarperCollins
Each year, John Brockman challenges some of the world's greatest scientists, artists, and philosophers to answer a provocative question crucial to our time. In 2014 he asked 175 brilliant minds to ponder: What scientific idea needs to be put aside in order to make room for new ideas to advance? The answers are as surprising as they are illuminating.
Sapiens:
by Cynthia Barnett
available in April, hardcover, Crown Publishing
A Brief History of Humankind
by Yuval Noah Harari
As climate change upends rainfall patterns and unleashes increasingly severe storms and drought, Barnett shows rain to be a unifying force in a fractured world. Too much and not nearly enough, rain is a conversation we all share, and this is a book for everyone who has ever experienced it.
available now, hardcover, HarperCollins
Harari begins about 70,000 years ago with the appearance of modern cognition. From examining the role evolving humans have played in the global ecosystem to charting the rise of empires, Sapiens integrates history and science to reconsider accepted narratives, connect past developments with contemporary concerns, and examine specific events within the context of larger ideas.
Offshore Sea Life ID Guide: West Coast
by Steve N. G. Howell and Brian Sullivan available in March, paperback, Princeton
The Offshore Sea Life ID Guide, designed for quick use on day trips off the West Coast, helps you put a name to what you see, from whales and dolphins to albatrosses, turtles, and even flying fish. Carefully crafted color plates show species as they typically appear at sea, and expert text highlights identification features. This userfriendly field guide is essential for anyone going out on a whale-watching or birding trip, and provides a handy gateway to the wonders of the ocean.
AsapSCIENCE: Answers to the World's Weirdest Questions, Most Persistent Rumors, and Unexplained Phenomena by Mitchell Moffit and Greg Brown
available in March, hardcover, Simon & Schuster
With topics ranging from brain freeze to hiccups to the science of the snooze button, AsapSCIENCE takes the underpinnings of biology, chemistry, physics, and other hard sciences and applies them to everyday life through quirky and relatable examples that will appeal to both science nerds and those who didn't ace chemistry.
40 Spring 2015
Store Hours: Mon-Thurs 10am-8:30pm • Fri & Sat 10am-10pm • Sun 10am-7pm
Psychology Listful Thinking: Using Lists to Be More Productive, Successful and Less Stressed by Paula Rizzo
available now, paperback, Cleis Press
What do Madonna, Martha Stewart, John Lennon, Ben Franklin, Leonardo da Vinci, and Johnny Cash have in common? Each is (or was) a list maker. Finding enough hours in the day to get everything accomplished and allow for some downtime can be a struggle. For those of us who feel like we're chasing our own tails, Paula Rizzo proves that it doesn't have to be that way.
Are You Fully Charged? The 3 Keys to Energizing Your Work and Life by Tom Rath
available in May, hardcover, Missionday, LLC
The latest from the best-selling author of StrengthsFinder 2.0, this short, easy read draws on the latest and most practical research from psychology, health, and economics, revealing the three keys that matter most to our daily well-being.
The Crossroads of Should and Must: Find and Follow Your Passion by Elle Luna
available in April, hardcover, Workman
Who hasn’t asked the question “How can I find and follow my true calling?” Elle Luna frames this moment as “standing at the crossroads of Should and Must.” “Should” is what we feel we ought to be doing, or what is expected of us. “Must” is the thing we dream of doing, our heart’s desire. This beautifully illustrated hardcover gift book —combining the author's own story and art with the power of myth—enables readers to find their calling, whatever path they are on. It's like a Shel Silverstein poem for grown-ups.
Philosophy The World Beyond Your Head:
On Becoming an Individual In An Age of Distraction by Matthew B. Crawford
available in March, hardcover, Macmillan
The World Beyond Your Head makes sense of an astonishing array of common experiences, from the frustrations of airport security to the rise of the hipster. With implications for the way we raise our children, the design of public spaces, and democracy itself, this is a book of urgent relevance to contemporary life.
Village Books & Paper Dreams
Gift Cards For All Ages
& Any Occasion
360-671-2626 • 800-392-BOOK • villagebooks.com
Spring 2015 41
Create Guerilla Furniture Design: How to Build Lean, Modern Furniture with Salvaged Materials by Will Holman
available in March, paperback, Storey Publishing
This innovative collection of home building projects features inexpensive, simple ways to make chairs, tables, lights, and other furnishings from salvaged materials (cardboard, metal, plastic, and wood; from a leader in the Maker community. Perfect for apartment dwellers, design-savvy folks on limited budgets, DIY enthusiasts, inventive types who turn to Make and Instructables.com for creative tinkering ideas, and environmentally conscious people who want to recycle instead of purchase… in other words, RE Store devotees.
The Jewelry Recipe Book: Transforming Ordinary Materials into Stylish and Distinctive Earrings, Bracelets, Necklaces, and Pins by Nancy Soriano
available in April, hardcover, Artisan
Using materials available at large craft stores as well as specialty and artisan shops—beads, shrink plastic, leather, lace, pearls, sequins, polymer clay, yarn, and pinecones, to name a few—you can transform them into one-of-a-kind pieces of jewelry. Full of beautiful photographs, how-to steps, and easy-to-follow recipe-like information. The book also includes an overview of simple jewelry-making techniques and tips, with best practices for how to work with various materials and design elements including color, scale, and shape.
Brand new is so overrated.
A World of Artist Journal Pages: 1000+ Artworks by Dawn DeVries Sokol
available in April, paperback, Abrams
In this much-anticipated follow-up to 1000 Artist Journal Pages, Sokol features more than 1,000 new, captivating pages, this time from artists across the globe. Lists of techniques and materials used for each page, plus behind-the-scenes interviews, give readers a glimpse inside the minds of new and established artists.
Couture Wedding Gowns by Marie Bariller
available in May, hardcover, Abrams
Home furnishings hand-built from upcycled materials by our RE Vision Division. THE
RESTORE 2309 Meridian Street in the Fountain District 360.647.5921 re-store.org
The couture wedding gown marks the pinnacle of a designer's creativity for the season, consequently, these dresses offer particular insight into the designer's creative process. This book lifts the veil on some of the most beautiful gowns ever made, profiling designers from Alexander McQueen to Zuhair Murad. Includes interviews with the designers, construction, and detailed descriptions with lavish photography and hand-drawn illustrations.
April 3rd & 4th, 2015 With sustainability and recycling being the heart and foundation of Bellingham, the second annual Recycled Art and Resource Expo (RARE) will take place on April 3rd & 4th around downtown Bellingham. RARE is a two-day festival that celebrates creative reuse in the arts and other industries. Watch alliedarts.org/rare/ for updates. 42 Spring 2015
Building Community One Book at a Time
NATIONAL
P O E T RY
MONTH APRIL t
www.poets.org
I
naugurated by the Academy of American Poets in 1996, National Poetry Month, held every April, is the largest literary celebration in the world with publishers, booksellers, literary organizations, libraries, schools, and poets around the country banding together to celebrate poetry and its vital place in American culture. Thousands of businesses and non-profit organizations, including Village Books, participate through readings, book displays, and other events. Keep an eye on villagebooks.com for April poetry events at Village Books.
Receive a You can celebrate in a variety of ways. Sign up to receive a poem-a-day by email POEM-A-DAY by going to Poets.org and clicking on the Poem-a-day link. go to Poets.org
Celebrate Poem-in-Your-Pocket Day on Thursday, April 30th by selecting your favorite poem, carrying it around all day, and sharing it with friends, family, and co-workers.
FF 20% O TRY
All poetry books will once again be 20% off for the entire month of April!
POE ! ALL April
At Village Books
Headwaters: Poems and Field Notes
A Free Event!
Saul Weisberg Saturday, April 18th, 7pm This event is part of the Nature of Writing Series in partnership with the North Cascades Institute.
OPEN MIC
by Saul Weisberg
available in April, paperback, Pleasure Boat Studios
Weisberg’s poetry grows out of specific images and distinct moments gathered from the natural world. It celebrates green and misty landscapes and the wilderness they hold. In the tradition of poets like Basho, Buson, Robert Sund, Gary Snyder, Tim McNulty, and Sam Green, the poems are an invitation to walk alongside a perceptive observer on rambles in the mountains, runs down the river, and ruminations in desert canyons, investigating the ties that bind people and place.
April 27, 7pm
Read YOUR Poetry!
Village Books invites you to bring your poems and flash fiction and celebrate National Poetry Month! Published and unpublished writers alike are encouraged to attend and enjoy a welcoming audience. Share your own work or favorite poem or just sit back and enjoy local talent. To participate, sign up at our main counter on the first floor or call (360) 671-2626. Laurel Leigh, local writer and teacher, will emcee. 360-671-2626 • 800-392-BOOK • villagebooks.com
Spring 2015
43
Celebrate Poetry Month Crow-Work: Poems
20% OFF POETRY ALL April!
by Eric Pankey
available now, paperback, Milkweed Editions
"What is a song but a snare to capture the moment?" Eric Pankey asks in his new collection. This central question drives Pankey’s ekphrastic exploration of the moment where emotion and energy flood a work of art.
Pictograph: Poems by Melissa Kwasny
available in March, paperback, Milkweed Editions
Not only do we give meaning to nature, Kwasny suggests, but nature gives meaning to us.
O, What a Luxury:
The Crossing by Jonathan Fink
available in April, paperback, Dzanc Books
This book debut includes formal and free-verse poems on the relationship of the physical body to labor and desire, the nature of suffering that is paradoxically overpowering and instructive, and the struggle and definition of the individual will within the larger social world. Foreword by Mary Karr.
Verses Lyrical, Vulgar, Pathetic & Profound
by Garrison Keillor
available now, paperback, Grove Press
Although he has edited several anthologies of his favorite poems, this collection of Garrison's very own poems astounds us with its breadth and variety, its wit and wisdom.
This Present Moment:
Vessel: Poems
New Poems
by Parneshia Jones available in April, paperback, Milkweed Editions
The imagination of a girl, the retelling of family stories, and the unfolding of a rich and often painful history, this debut collection explores these elements of experience with refreshing candor and metaphorical purpose.
Tijuana Book of the Dead by Luis Alberto Urrea
by Gary Snyder available in April, hardcover, Counterpoint Press
This collection of new poems, the first in ten years, ranges the planet, from the Dolomites to the north shore of Lake Tahoe, from Paris to Tuscany, and from Santa Fe to Sella Pass. Placed side-byside, they become a path of complexity, a lyrical regard of the poet’s eighth decade. Included are some of the most beautiful domestic poems of his great career, about his work as a homesteader and householder, as a father and husband, as a friend and neighbor.
available in March, paperback, Soft Skull Press
Luis Urrea brings us an exquisitely composed collection of poetry of life on the border, weaving English and Spanish languages as fluidly as he blends cultures of the Southwest.
Uyghurland: The Furthest Exile
by Ahmatjan Osman, translation by Jeffrey Yang available in March, paperback, Phoneme Media
Ahmatjan Osman is among the foremost Uyghur poets of his generation. He grew up in Urumchi, the capital and the largest city of East Turkistan (Xinjian Autonomous Region, China). He is recognized as one of the founders and leading lights of the New Poetry movement that emerged in Uyghur literary circles in the 1980s.
44 Spring 2015
Store Hours: Mon-Thurs 10am-8:30pm • Fri & Sat 10am-10pm • Sun 10am-7pm
Poetry A Sense of the Whole: War of the Foxes by Richard Silken
available in April, paperback, Copper Canyon Press
Siken's debut, Crush, won the Yale Younger Poets' Prize and earned him a devoted fan base. In this much-anticipated second book, he seeks definite answers to indefinite questions: what it means to be called to make something—whether it is a self, love, war, or art—and what it means to answer that call. In poems equal parts logic and dream, he weaves an unforgettable fable about the modern world.
Reading Gary Snyder's Mountains and Rivers Without End
by Mark Gonnerman
available in May, hardcover, Counterpoint
In 1997, Mark Gonnerman organized a year long research workshop on Gary Snyder's Mountains and Rivers Without End at Stanford. The Workshop invited writers, teachers, and scholars from Northern California and Japan to speak on various aspects of this great poetic accomplishment. This book collects essays and talks by David Abram, Wendell Berry, Carl Bielefeldt, Robert Hass, Nanao Sakaki, and Katsunori Yamazato (among others), as well as an interview with Gary Snyder.
LITERATURE Ten Windows: How Great Poems Transform the World
by Jane Hirshfield
available in March, hardcover, Knopf
"Poetry," Jane Hirshfield has said, "is language that foments revolutions of being." Closely reading poems by Dickinson, Basho, Szymborska, Cavafy, Heaney, Bishop, and Komunyakaa, among many others, Hirshfield reveals how poetry's world-making takes place: word by charged word. By expanding what is imaginable and sayable, Hirshfield proposes, poems expand what is possible.
Main: Adult $30, Student $17 Reception: $50 Reception/Main: $75 Celebration locations in Mt. Vernon. Reception at Trumpeter Public House. Main Event at Lincoln Theatre.
The World Is Waiting for You: Graduation Speeches to Live By from Activists, Writers, and Visionaries edited by Tara Grove and Isabel Ostrer
available in April, hardcover, The New Press
That’s Not English: Britishisms, Americanisms, and What Our English Says About Us
Inspirational messages culled from contemporary graduation speeches given by some of the most interesting minds around. Includes Howard Zinn, Toni Morrison, Anna Quindlen, Gloria Steinem, Ursula Le Guin, and Bryan Stevenson, among others.
by Erin Moore
available in April, hardcover, Penguin
Whether you enjoy analyzing language or you’re just curious why American English is often picked on, That’s Not English will keep you entertained. Erin Moore offers a clear perspective on the differences between British and American English and the effect it’s had on our cultures. She keeps you turning the pages with many funny, personal examples and stories. –Anna
360-671-2626 • 800-392-BOOK • villagebooks.com
Spring 2015 45
Celebrating
WOMEN
WITH THE BUREAU OF HISTORICAL INVESTIGATION
A
book about what it is like to be a woman today that gives you advice on how to have a healthy relationship with yourself, your creativity and your career? A book by the incomparable, funny and sophisticated Amy Poehler? Yes, please! I am so excited about this book. I cannot stop talking about it to my friends. Yes Please is filled with themes of fearlessness and regret, anger and humility, starry-eyed wonder and gut-grinding reality. It is like having Amy Poehler write down for you everything you ever needed to hear from a woman who is making it work in a huge way. She doesn’t make it sound easy, she doesn’t try to boil things down to oversimplified ideas. Despite the lack of catchy jargon that can be easily bulletpointed into truisms, when you are done with Yes Please, you feel like you have got this. As researchers of local history, we at The Bureau of Historical Investigation are constantly being reminded of how many bossy women there have been in our community over the years.
These ladies got stuff done. Some women rattle cages and agitate to make change, and some smile and speak softly, convincing you to do their bidding with their niceness. Francis Larrabee, who helped make the YWCA building possible, and Sister Teresa Moran, who worked tirelessly to build Bellingham’s first hospital, come to mind when I think of local women who made things happen. They helped others by organizing, plotting, and evangelizing for change. This Women’s History Month we encourage you to search out and celebrate a bossy woman author, and to think about all the bossy women in the past who have made our present possible. - Marissa McGrath, Co-Founder and Co-Boss of The Bureau of Historical Investigation
Visit The Bureau of Historical Investigation downtown for a truly unique Bellingham experience. It is a gift and souvenir shop, as well as a home-base for Good Time Tours and special events. They take pride in offering handpicked, handcrafted goods from all over the country—with special emphasis on local finds. While you're there, check out a variety of hand-selected books for sale through a partnership with Village Books. They offer private tours of Fairhaven and Downtown Bellingham all year long. For more information go to TheBureauBellingham.com.
Drinks
k
217 W. Holly, Downtown Bellingham • 360.305.3172 • thebureaubellingham.com
Enjoy these reads about interesting women at Village Books today! Book of Ages: The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin by Jill Lepore
46 Spring 2015
The Astronaut Wives Club: A True Story by Lily Koppel
Sally Ride: America's First Woman in Space by Lynn Sherr
Store Hours: Mon-Thurs 10am-8:30pm • Fri & Sat 10am-10pm • Sun 10am-7pm
History Children of the Days:
The Quartet: Orchestrating
A Calendar of Human History
the Second American Revolution, 1783-1789
available in March, paperback, Nation Books
available in May, hardcover, Knopf
Now in paperback! Unfurling like a medieval book of days, each page includes an illuminating story that takes inspiration from that date of the calendar year, resurrecting little-known heroes of our world to celebrate the intellectual, linguistic, and emotional treasures that we have all but forgotten.
The triumph of the American Revolution was neither an ideological nor political guarantee that the colonies would relinquish their independence and accept the creation of a federal government with power over their individual autonomy. The prize-winning author of Founding Brothers now gives us the unexpected story of why the thirteen colonies, having just fought off the imposition of a distant centralized governing power, would decide to subordinate themselves anew.
by Eduardo Galeano
The China Mirage: The Hidden History of American Disaster in Asia by James Bradley
available in April, hardcover, Hachette
In his most engrossing work yet, Bradley begins in the 1850s. He introduces us to the prominent Americans who made their fortunes in the China opium trade. As they—good Christians all—profitably addicted millions, American missionaries arrived, promising salvation for those who adopted Western ways. And that was just the beginning.
Beyond the Call: The True Story of One World War II Pilot's Covert Mission to Rescue POWs on the Eastern Front
by Lee Trimble with Jeremy Dronfield
by Joseph J. Ellis
A Kim Jong-Il Production: The Extraordinary True Story of a Kidnapped Filmmaker, His Star Actress, and a Young Dictator's Rise to Power by Paul Fischer
available now, hardcover, Macmillan
A nonfiction thriller packed with tension, passion, and politics, A Kim Jong-Il Production offers a rare glimpse into a secretive world, illuminating a fascinating chapter of North Korea's history that helps explain how it became the hermetically sealed, intensely stage-managed country it remains today. "Simply flabbergasting!" —Paul French, author of Midnight in Peking
Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania
available now, paperback, Penguin
by Erik Larson
"Beyond the Call is the brilliantly told, fast-paced true story of a remarkable young man. Deceived by his superior officers he found himself in a place where danger abounded and life was cheap. Nerve-wracking, informative, yet profoundly moving, Beyond the Call is a truly inspiring book." —Susan Ottaway, author of Sisters, Secrets, and Sacrifice
available in March, hardcover, Crown Publishing
Foragers, Farmers, and Fossil Fuels: How Human Values Evolve by Ian Morris
I have been a forever fan of Erik Larson and his books. Isaac's Storm and Devil in the White City are two favorites of mine. This new book is about the 1915 sinking of The Lusitania. The story shifts from the ship itself to the German U-boat that would destroy it, to London's admiralty offices, to Wilson's White House. We all know how the story ends but Larson is so good at keeping a reader in suspense that I had a hard time doing much more than reading this book. —Kelly E.
available in March, hardcover, Princeton University Press
Most people in the world today think democracy and gender equality are good, and that violence and wealth inequality are bad. But most people who lived during the 10,000 years before the nineteenth century thought just the opposite. Drawing on archaeology, anthropology, biology, and history, Ian Morris explains why. The result is a compelling new argument about the evolution of human values, one that has far-reaching implications for how we understand the past—and for what might happen next.
360-671-2626 • 800-392-BOOK • villagebooks.com
Spring 2015 47
TIMOTHY EGAN Monday, April 27, 7pm
A Free Event at the Mount Baker Theatre Village Books is honored to be partnering with Bellingham Public Library and Whatcom Museum in sponsoring a speaking engagement with Timothy Egan as the signature event of the museum's exhibition "Mingled Visions, Images from the North American Indian" by Edward S. Curtis. Egan, a Pulitzer Prizewinning reporter, New York Times columnist, and National Book Award-winning author, most recently penned Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher: The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward S. Curtis, which has been both a local and national best seller. His presentation will be at 7pm on Monday, April 27, at Mount Baker Theatre, and is free to the public.
The exhibition, which opened on February 7 and will continue until May 10, features 40 original photogravures from Curtis' epic work, The North American Indian. Supported by President Theodore Roosevelt and financially backed by J.P. Morgan, Curtis spent three decades documenting more than 80 tribes west of the Mississippi. He produced more than 40,000 images, 2500 of which, along with thousands of pages of text, were published in 20 volumes between 1907 and 1930. Volume #9, The Salishan Tribes of the Coast: The Chimakum and the Quilliute. The Willapa, is included in the exhibition, which also includes one of Curtis' earliest images, an 1895 photo of Princess Angeline, the elderly daughter of Chief Sealth, for whom the city of Seattle was named.
Since 1993, stimulating presentations about topics of importance to our community.
Real people.
Real issues.
Meetings are from 12 to 1:30 p.m. on the 4th Wednesday of each month at Northwood Hall 3240 Northwest Avenue, Bellingham
For more information, information, visit visit
www.bellinghamcityclub.org
We Look Forward to Seeing You 48 Spring 2015
shop 24/7 at villagebooks.com Building Community One Book at a Time
The Barefoot Lawyer:
REAL PEOPLE TRUE TALES
A Blind Man's Fight for Justice and Freedom in China
by Chen Guangcheng
available in March, hardcover, Macmillan
Blind since infancy, illiterate until his late teens, Guangcheng nonetheless taught himself law and became a fiery advocate for tens of thousands of Chinese who had no voice. His escape from brutal house arrest in China made headlines around the world, and he remains uncompromising in his commitment to democracy and human rights.
Blood Will Out:
Children of the Stone: The
The True Story of a Murder, a Mystery, and a Masquerade
Power of Music in a Hard Land
by Walter Kirn
by Sandy Tolan
available in March, paperback, Norton
available in April, hardcover, Macmillan
This will be one of the most talked about books of the year. How does it feel to be inside of one of the great cons of our times and to be duped/deceived/made a fool of by one of the most memorable con-artists of recent times? Combining confessional memoir, true crime reporting, and cultural speculation, Blood Will Out is a Dreiser-esque tale of self-invention, upward mobility, and intellectual arrogance. It exposes the layers of longing and corruption, ambition and self-delusion beneath the Great American con.
This is a story about music, first, but also about freedom and conflict, determination and vision. It's a vivid portrait of life amid checkpoints and military occupation, a growing movement of nonviolent resistance, the prospects of collaboration across the Israeli-Palestinian divide, and the potential of music to help children everywhere see new possibilities for their lives.
A Broken Hallelujah: Rock and Roll, Redemption, and the Life of Leonard Cohen
The Year My Mother Came Back
available in March, paperback, Norton
available in March, hardcover, Algonquin
By Liel Liebovtiz
More than just an account of Cohen's life, A Broken Hallelujah is an intimate look at the artist that is as emotionally astute as it is philosophically observant. Delving into the sources and meaning of Cohen's work, Leibovitz beautifully illuminates what Cohen is telling us and why we listen so intensely.
by Alice Eve Cohen
In a memoir that's funny, revealing, and disarmingly tender, Cohen explores the intense bonds between mothers and daughters—especially in those moments when they need each other most—and captures the struggles and joys of every woman who ever wanted to be a better mother or daughter.
Unabrow: Misadventures
Between You and Me:
by Una LaMarche
by Mary Norris
available in March, hardcover, Plume
available in April, hardcover, Norton
of a Late Bloomer
Just like its awesome cover, this fun memoir is self-depreciating, wry, embarrisingly honest, and downright hillarious. Through a series of short essays, author Una LaMarche chats about her experiences with everything from pop culture to child-rearing—in cringe-inducing fashion. I immediately found myself reading excerpts to friends. LaMarche writes the humor blog The Sassy Curmudgeon. —Kelly C.
360-671-2626 • 800-392-BOOK • villagebooks.com
Confessions of a Comma Queen
A practical book about language bursting with personality, useful advice, and good humor, all brought brilliantly to life with details from Mary's nearly 35 years in the celebrated copy department of The New Yorker. She brings us right inside the hallowed halls of The New Yorker, with colorful details from her work with grandees like John Updike and Ian Frazier and superstars like Karen Russell and George Saunders.
Spring 2015
49
REAL PEOPLE TRUE TALES Spinster: Making a Life of One's Own
Bookmarked: Reading My Way from Hollywood to Brooklyn
by Kate Bolick
by Wendy Fairey
available in April, hardcover, Crown Publishing
available in March, hardcover, Arcade Publishing
"Whom to marry, and when will it happen—these two questions define every woman's existence, regardless of where she was raised or what religion she does or doesn't practice." So begins Spinster, a revelatory book about the unbridled life of one unmarried woman. From the first pages of this thoughtprovoking memoir, journalist and cultural critic Kate Bolick draws us into the vibrant world she has made for herself.
The shy daughter of famed Hollywood columnist Sheilah Graham (F. Scott Fitzgerald’s lover), Wendy started reading her way through the library Fitzgerald had assembled for her mother. Blending personal memoir and literary criticism, we follow Wendy through her reading as her favorite characters help her through life as student, wife, professor, mother, grandmother, and happily remarried writer.
Bo Bu
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Bo
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We buy between 12pm & 7pm every day, but you can drop your books off any time.
ad
Bring in your previously read books—including textbooks— and we'll give you up to 30% of the list price in store credit (15% for cash). You can use that to buy more books or other items in both Village Books and Paper Dreams.
Re
USED BOOKS
ok
Don't Forget, We Buy
Sell the Book
Get on the Read-cycle train!
Travel
Paris: Les Boulevards
illustrations by Charles Franck, text by Pamela Golbin available in March, hardcover, Rizzoli
Pa r is's ro m a n t i c architecture and vibrant street culture make it one of the most enjoyable cities in the world to stroll through. This little illustrated volume by Charles Franck captures just that through delicately rendered Victorian-era illustrations of panoramic cityscapes of the most gorgeous Parisian boulevards. Complete with horse buggies in the streets, women in society hats, and men in coattails, Paris: Les Boulevards highlights a nostalgic era in both fashion and architecture.
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Spring 2015
The Italians by John Hooper
available now, hardcover, Penguin
"A sophisticated portrait of the Italians at their best and their worst: charming, imaginative, generous, full of life but also unreliable, more or less corrupt and often downright infuriating. I found myself laughing out loud at some of the humorous twists Mr. Hooper has put to his very perceptive analyses." —Andrea Di Robilant, author of A Venetian Affair
Building Community One Book at a Time
Current Events The American Health Care Paradox: Why Spending More is Getting Us Less by Elizabeth H. Bradley and Lauren A. Taylor
available in March, paperback, PublicAffairs
For decades, experts have puzzled over why the U.S. spends more on health care but suffers poorer outcomes than other industrialized nations. The authors have pulled together extensive research and a comparison of health care data from thirty countries, to offer a unique and clarifying perspective on the problems the Affordable Care Act won't solve, and to point a new way forward.
A Free Event at Village Books
Bruce Barcott Thursday, April 23rd, 7pm
Weed the People: The Future of Legal Marijuana in America
by Bruce Barcott
available in April, hardcover, Time Publishing
The legalization of marijuana is the next great reversal of history. Perhaps the most demonized substance in America, scientifically known as Cannabis sativa, thrived underground as the nation's most popular illegal drug. Now the tide has shifted, and the economic and social ramifications of that shift are deep and complex. Bruce Barcott, a former Guggenheim Fellow in nonfiction, explores the future of Marijuana in the United States in this new book.
Friday, April 24th,12-2:30pm
Join Bruce Barcott for the Chuckanut Writers workshop, “Capturing the Nonfiction Scene.” See page 27 for details on the class and how to register.
Our Only World: Eleven Essays
by Wendell Berry
The Internet Is Not the Answer by Andrew Keen
available now, hardcover, Grove/Atlantic
A quarter century after the launch of the World Wide Web, Andrew Keen argues that the Internet has morphed into the exact opposite of the decentralized, utopian equalizer that its creators envisioned. Balancing passionate rhetoric with insightful evidence, Keen explores how the winner-take-all digital economy throttles job-creating industries and centralizes immense wealth into a handful of entrepreneurs, while creating a selfie-obsessed culture that sacrifices our privacy and reduces us to unpaid content factories with ad-revenuegenerating eyeballs. For Luddites and tech-enthusiasts alike, this book brings much-needed perspective to the discussion of the most disruptive invention of the modern age. –Brendan
Conscious Evolution: Awakening the Power of Our Social Potential by Barbara Marx Hubbard
available now, paperback, New World Library
An update to Barbara Marx Hubbard's 1998 groundbreaking call to action confronting the state of affairs at the turn of the twenty-first century, because the times are more ripe than ever for radical reimagining, using newfound scientific knowledge and technological advances. Consistently "ahead of her time," Hubbard speaks to contemporary change-makers with the wisdom of past experience and a passion for new possibility.
Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis by Robert D. Putnam
available in March, hardcover, Simon & Schuster
"Robert D. Putnam vividly captures a dynamic change in American society—the widening class-based opportunity gap among young people. The diminishing life chances of lower-class families and the expanding resources of the upperclass are contrasted in sharp relief in Our Kids, which also includes compelling suggestions of what we as a nation should do about this trend." -- Harvard University
available now, hardcover, Counterpoint Press
In this new collection of eleven essays, Berry confronts head-on the necessity of clear thinking and direct action in our present world. Never one to ignore a challenge, he understands that only clearly stated questions support the understanding their answers require. For more than fifty years we've had no better spokesman and no more eloquent advocate for the planet, for our families, and for the future of our children and ourselves.
360-671-2626 • 800-392-BOOK • villagebooks.com
Spring 2015 51
PNBA BOOK AWARDS 2015 PACIFIC NORTHWEST BOOKSELLERS ASSOCIATION AWARD WINNERS
2015
Each year since 1965, the PNBA Awards have celebrated exceptional books written by Northwest authors. Congratulations to this year’s winners!
All the Light We Cannot See
Falling from Horses
A story of beauty in dark places and courage in the midst of horror. Doerr's tale circles in on itself like the intricate snail shells Marie Laure runs her fingers over again and again. Beautiful sentence after beautiful sentence, this is a book you will remember and recommend, again and again. (published by Scribner Book Co.)
Bud is a 19-year-old who's tired of the rodeo circuit and out of options since his parents lost the family ranch. He sets out from his southeastern Oregon home to become a stunt rider in 1930s Hollywood, but it's a friendship he strikes up with an aspiring screenwriter along the way that proves to be his life's greatest ride. (published by Houghton
by Anthony Doerr (Boise, ID)
by Molly Gloss
(Portland, OR)
Mifflin Harcourt)
A Boat, A Whale & A Walrus:
Menus and Stories by Renee Erickson (Seattle, WA)
Please do judge this book by its cover! The lovely artisan feel is sustained throughout Erickson's celebration of food, the places we eat it and the people with whom we enjoy it. A unique gift for anyone who loves cooking, community, and the simple pleasure of doing things well. (published by Sasquatch Books)
(Missoula, MT)
Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis just as her adult life begins, Maddy faces life and family challenges and milestones with an ever deteriorating body and a fierce sense of humor. Through her distinct—and very stubborn—voice, Fromm tells a story of the things that weigh us down and the drive to lift those things, even when we know it's not possible. (Red Hen Press)
52 Spring 2015
by William Ritter (Springfield, OR) Fiddleham, New England, 1892. The first week on the job for fresh off the boat Abigail Rook as assistant to the charismatic, eccentric, and incredibly endearing paranormal detective R.F. Jackaby throws her into a world of myth, mystery, intrigue and excitement. Ritter has imagined characters that appeal to both boys and girls and a story to be adored by all. (published by Algonquin Young Readers)
The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender
If Not for This by Pete Fromm
Jackaby
by Leslye Walton
(Seattle, WA)
A heartbroken woman turns into a canary. A kiss on the neck leaves a mark that only slowly fades through the years. A child is born with the wings of a bird. Walton puts us under a dreamlike spell, balancing a rich magic with the stark reality that we all sometimes take the fall in life and love. (published by Candlewick Press)
Store Hours: Mon-Thurs 10am-8:30pm • Fri & Sat 10am-10pm • Sun 10am-7pm
eRead Local
e-Books available through VB by Sam Kaas, Village Books Events Coordintor You might have noticed that you're not hearing quite so much about e-books these days. Several years after the advent of the e-reader, digital reading is no longer in the news all the time, and, to paraphrase Mark Twain, the death of the paper book turned out to be greatly exaggerated. But, much like telephones, indoor plumbing, sliced bread, and other things which were very exciting when they first were introduced, e-books have stuck around, and travelers, students, devourers of series, and many, many others are using them every day. Here at Village Books, we sell e-books through Kobo from a catalog of over three million titles, for a variety of devices. We also continue to provide personalized service from real, live booksellers with the Village Books E-Team. If you have questions about e-books, come ask for a member of the E-Team, or email eteam@villagebooks.com. Who needs algorithms, anyway? We'd love to answer your questions, and help you read in any format you choose. Contact alex@villagebooks.com to sign up for the Village Books eBook ePistle newsletter and receive monthly updates and e-book deals.
Books Signed Join theFirstVillage Editions Club!
Signed FIRST EDITIONS CLUB
As a member, you’ll receive a newly published signed first edition novel six times a year. Our qualified buyers work together to select books based on literary quality and potential collectability. In fact, two of the five National Book Award finalists were selections this year.
What does it cost to join? - Nothing! You pay for the books, but not for the membership. The list prices of the books vary around an average $25-$35 range, but members only pay a flat $25 for each book. Each selection also comes with a protective dust jacket cover. $150 covers full membership for a year including shipping. Can I give a membership as a gift? - Absolutely! This would be an ideal gift for the bibliophiles in your life, especially the book collecting kind, and maybe even for someone who isn’t obsessed with books…yet. Memberships last for a year and you, as the gift giver, will be charged $150 for that year. After that, the gift receiver can decide whether or not to continue the membership on his or her own...or you can renew the membership.
Happy Reading!
How do I sign up? - You can register by phone, in-store, or online at villagebooks.com/signed-first-editions-club.
You can follow Village Books on Twitter. Each day we tweet about book events, new books, and book-related topics. We are @VillageBksBham.
360-671-2626 • 800-392-BOOK • villagebooks.com
Visit us on Facebook! You’ll find our events listed there, and there are discussions of books and other book-related topics as well. Go to Facebook.com/VillageBooks.
Spring 2015 53
United Way of Whatcom County UnitedWayWhatcom.org
INCREASING CAPS & GOWNS
Our focus on Education helped to increase literacy for Whatcom kindergartners by 4% last year, a sure sign of future grads. United Way is about more than short-term charity for a few; we’re about building opportunity for everyone.
United Way of Whatcom County UnitedWayWhatcom.org
Your online local information source
Sharing the stories that remind us why we love to live, work and play in Whatcom County
Reserve your seat for all of the fun in 2015! Thank You,Starting Whatcom County Full Season at $170/seat for all of your support in 2014!
Exclusive Season Ticket Holder Benefits
All Season Tickets include 2015 WCL All Star Game
54
Spring 2015
Shop 24 hours a day at villagebooks.com
National National
Children’s Book Week
Keep an eye on VillageBooks.com for more Children's Book Week events!
May 4th-10th, 2015
Cover to Cover, Coast to Coast - Celebrating Children's Books! Join us at Village Books as we celebrate Children’s Book Week (CBW) through a variety of kids’ events. Established in 1919, CBW is the longest-running national literacy initiative in the country. Every year, commemorative events are held nationwide at schools, libraries, bookstores, homes—wherever young readers and books connect! It is a truly national celebration, with events taking place from coast to coast. Following are some of the fun events we have planned for the week. More activities are in the works so keep an eye on villagebooks.com or sign up for our weekly eNewsletter so you don't miss a thing!
VB donates 10% of all kids’ book purchases made during Children's Book Week to the children’s departments of the city and county libraries!
Wednesday, May 6, 11am -12pm
Miss Brooks Story Time & Activity Let's inspire some creativity in the readings gallery where pre-schoolers will create stories around prompts provided by Claire. The books Miss Brooks Story Nook and Miss Brooks Loves Books by Barbara Bottner will be featured. Participants will receive a one-day-only discount on select titles. Author not attending.
Friday, May 8, 4-5pm
Wollstonecraft Detective Agency Event Attention middle grade readers! Join us for an event featuring The Wollstonecraft Detective Agency Book 1, The Case of the Missing Moonstone by Jordan Stratford. We have several fun activities lined up to celebrate this story of Mary Shelley and Ada Byron as they try to solve their first mystery together. Participants will receive a one-day-only discount on the book. Author not attending.
Saturday, May 9, 10:30am
Sheryl Hershey
Meet the Author!
Join us in the readings gallery as we welcome Sheryl Hershey, author of Lila and the Dandelion. This delightful story of a little girl who"listens with her heart and speaks with her hands" teaches children to celebrate our differences and realize that the world is better just because we are in it. 360-671-2626 • 800-392-BOOK • villagebooks.com
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More
Fun Children's Book Week Events! Saturday, May 9, 1pm
Rebecca Van Slyke
Meet the Author!
—Mom School Our Saturday celebration of Kids Book Week continues with an event featuring local author Rebecca Van Slyke, who will read her brand new book, Mom School. This unique story gets us to imagine what it would be like if moms went to school to learn how to be, well....moms!
Sunday, May 10, 2pm
TEA WITH MOM in the Book Fare Café In celebration of Mother's Day, we will be hosting a tea-time in Book Fare Café on the mezzanine level of the bookstore. Bring your children and enjoy some tasty treats, a few stories, a craft, and good company. Tickets are $6 per person and can be purchased at the main counter at Village Books, or by calling 360-671-2626. Seating is limited so buy your tickets today!
Friday, March 13, 10:30am
My Pet Book Story Time Join Claire in the Readings Gallery for a celebration of our favorite books! Please bring YOUR very favorite book from home and we will make something very special just for that book for you to keep. Participants will receive a oneday-only discount on My Pet Book by Bob Staake. Author not attending.
Friday, April 10, 10:30am
How to Grow A Friend Let's celebrate friendship with stories and a craft, featuring How to Grow a Friend by Sara Gillingham. Join us in the readings gallery for this special Spring Break event. Participants will receive a one-day-only discount on How to Grow a Friend. Author not attending. 56 Spring 2015
MORE
FUN for KIDS
Saturday, April 4, 10:30am
Poetry Month Story Time Celebration Join us for some poetry and laughs as we read favorite classics by Shel Silverstein! Participants will receive a one-day-only discount on Falling Up and Runny Babbit. Author not attending.
Saturday, May 2, 10:30am
Celebrate Mom Join us for a story time celebrating moms! Mother's Day is coming up so join us in the Readings Gallery for stories featuring mothers and all they do for us. We will read from Anna Dewdney's Llama Llama series, as well as other tales featuring Mom. Author not attending. Building Community One Book at a Time
YOUNG READERS Their Families & Educators
PICTURE BOOKS Meet the Dullards
by Sara Pennypacker, illustrated by Daniel Salmieri available now, hardcover, Balzer & Bray
The most fun you can have reading about being boring! The Dullard children—Blanda, Borely, and Little Dud—long for excitement and adventure but their parents would rather have them read blank pages and, yes, literally watch paint dry. Pay attention to the illustrations for some extra jokes too! –Sarah
Yeti and the Bird by Nadia Shireen
available now, hardcover, Atheneum
Deep in the forest lives the biggest, hairiest, scariest, loneliest yeti anyone has ever seen. Then one day, someone lands on Yeti’s head. And that someone isn’t scared of Yeti at all. Could that someone be a friend? This fun story of fur, feathers, and friendship delights and inspires—a welcome reminder that friends can be found in even the most improbable places.
Monkey and Duck Quack Up!
by Jennifer Hamburg, illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham
Sleeping Cinderella and Other Princess Mix-Ups by Stephanie Clarkson, illustrated by Brigette Barrager available now, hardcover, Orchard
A clever twist on the fairy tale genre! What happens when Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and Rapunzel get so fed up with their fairy tales that they decide to switch places with one another? Hilarity ensues in this rhyming story about whether the grass really is greener at someone else's castle.
Last Stop on Market Street written by Matt De La Peña, illustrated by Christian Robinson available now, hardcover, Putnam
Christian Robinson (of Gaston fame!) is one of my favorite illustrators and he does beautiful work with this new book. A boy and his grandma go for a bus ride and, when he begins wondering why they don’t have a car, she begins to point out beautiful things in their own neighborhood. A family story and a gratitude story, all delivered in a gorgeous book. –Sarah
Small Elephant’s Bathtime by Tatyana Feeney
available now, hardcover, Scholastic
available in March, hardcover, Knopf
When I first saw this book, it looked like a fun little story. Then, I opened it up and started reading and about fell on the floor because I was laughing so hard! Monkey sees a sign for a rhyming contest and enlists Duck to help him. One catch—Duck only says “quack!” which is problematic for winning the contest. Be sure to read all the way to the end when you pick up this charming book with a Dr. Seuss feel! –Sarah
Small elephant loves water, unless it is bathtime. He will be too busy playing to take a bath, too busy hiding to get in the tub. What will Mommy do? Feeney’s illustrations always highlight the range of emotions a kid can feel yet seem effortless in the best way. Another winner! –Sarah
Thank you for your continued support. We wouldn't be here without you! 360-671-2626 • 800-392-BOOK • villagebooks.com
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PICTURE BOOKS
Miss Hazeltine’s Home for Shy and Fearful Cats
Click, Clack, Peep!
written by Alicia Potter, illustrated by Birgitta Sif
written by Doreen Cronin illustrated by Betsy Lewin
available in May, hardcover, Knopf
Miss Hazeltine is opening a very special school for shy and fearful cats. They come from all over, and Miss Hazeltine gives them lessons in everything, from "Bird Basics" to "How Not to Fear the Broom." The most timid of all is Crumb. He cowers in a corner. Miss Hazeltine doesn't mind. But when she gets in trouble and only Crumb knows where she is, will he find his inner courage and lead a daring rescue?
Whatcom READS!
KIDS & TEENS
available now, hardcover, Atheneum
Farmer Brown receives an egg and, finally, it hatches with a CRACK! followed by a “peep!” And another… and another. Baby Duck won’t sleep of course. All the animals try everything they can until one of them comes up with the perfect solution. A great gift for new parents! –Sarah
Join students, families, and schools around the county as we read one book together. FREE Author Event and Book Signing
Monday, March 9th, 6:30pm
Sharing books by Newbery Honor-winning author
EUGENE YELCHIN
Whatcom Middle School Breaking Stalin's Nose Arcady's Goal
A prolific illustrator, designer, and filmmaker, Eugene Yelchin won a Newbery Honor in 2012 for his middle-grade novel, Breaking Stalin’s Nose, inspired by his childhood in communist Russia. Arcady's Goal looks at the Red Army Soccer Club of 1945, of which his father was a member.
Family Parenting with Presence: Practices for Raising Conscious, Confident, Caring Kids by Susan Stiffelman, foreward by Eckhart Tolle available in April, paperback, New World Library
Can one live peacefully and in the moment in the midst of homework meltdowns, sibling squabbles, and digital media battles? Marriage and family therapist Susan Stiffelman does more than say "yes," she shows how, helping parents identify the triggers that take them out of rational and into bribes or threats and recognize when their own marriage, health, or job issues are hurting their relationship with their kids.
58 Spring 2015
Store Hours: Mon-Thurs 10am-8:30pm • Fri & Sat 10am-10pm • Sun 10am-7pm
Middle Readers
Nightbird
by Alice Hoffman available in March, hardcover, Random House
This is a delightful book by well-known author Alice Hoffman. Nightbird is a story set in a small New England town and is about Twig, a young lady whose family has had a curse placed on them for hundreds of years, but magic is about to happen again when the red moon rises. This story is full of magic and tenderness, and teaches a lesson about acceptance and forgiveness. –Kelly E.
Fish in a Tree
by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
The Wollstonecraft Detective Agency:
The Case of the Missing Moonstone by Jordan Stratford available now, hardcover, Knopf
Imagine an alternate 1826, where Ada Lovelace and Mary Shelley meet as girls and form a secret detective agency! Lady Ada Byron, age eleven, is a genius. Isolated, awkward and a bit rude—but a genius. Mary Godwin, age fourteen, is a romantic. Adventurous, astute, and kind, Mary is to become Ada’s first true friend. And together, the girls conspire to form the Wollstonecraft Detective Agency—a secret constabulary for the apprehension of clever criminals.
A Fun Event For Kids!
available now, hardcover, Nancy Paulsen Books
Ally is really great at hiding her big secret—she can’t read. All the other kids call her dumb and, sadly, she’s starting to believe them. But then comes a teacher who figures out her tricks and, together, they get her on the path to learning the greatest skill. A sweet, heart-tugging, and ultimately uplifting story. –Sarah
Friday, May 8th, 4pm We have several fun activities lined up to celebrate this story of Mary Shelley and Ada Byron as they try to solve their first mystery together.
The War That Saved My Life
by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley available now, hardcover, Dial Press
Ms. Rapscott's Girls by Elise Primavera
available in March, hardcover, Dial Press
Ms. Rapscott's Girls is a rollicking book about a boarding school named The Great Rapscott School for the Daughters of Busy Parents. The school sits far away, in a lighthouse, and is cared for by two dogs named Lewis and Clark. Just like Mary Poppins, Ms. Rapscott teaches important life lessons like adventure, how to never wear plaids with stripes, and the importance of birthday cake! Of course as the girls learn to work together they learn the importance of friendship, and bravery and how to stand up for yourself. The pencil drawings in the book are a great bonus! –Kelly E.
This is technically a middle reader however I really enjoyed this book and have been telling kids and adults about it. It is a story about Ada who was born with a twisted foot. She lives in London with her mother and brother just before the start of WWII. Ada's mother is embarrassed by Ada's foot and has never let her step outside. So when her little brother is about to be sent to live in the country during the war, Ada decides it is time for her to leave. And so starts a great adventure. Fortunately for the sister and brother they find themselves with Susan Smith, a woman who is forced to take the kids in. But she has a pony and the pony gives Ada the strength, self confidence, and speed to grow in ways she never thought possible. Skillfully written, this book is great for readers of all ages. –Kelly E.
Are you between the ages of 8 & 12? Do you LOVE Reading? Check Out VB’s BOOK GROUP for Middle Readers!
We meet the second Tuesday of most months from 4-5pm in the Readings Gallery. When we get together, we examine and explore the story we have read through discussions, crafts, activities, and games. Don't miss out on the fun!
Cover to Cover
ADVENTURE Youth Book Group
See our book group selections on Villagebooks.com Questions? Contact hana@villagebooks.com
360-671-2626 • 800-392-BOOK • villagebooks.com
Spring 2015 59
Firstborn
Middle Readers
by Tor Seidler available in March, hardcover, Atheneum Books
Blue Boy is the alpha male of his wolf pack. The largest, strongest wolf anyone has seen. When Blue Boy has his firstborn son, he expects him to follow in his footsteps. But Lamar is a little different. Interested in watching the insects and the birds, in hanging back to take care of his younger siblings, Lamar does not have the wolfish instinct that Blue Boy expects. The final straw is when Lamar falls in love with a beautiful coyote. Told through the eyes of the magpie who befriends this wolf pack, Lamar and Blue Boy's story is a beautiful look at stereotypes and acceptance, and how being true to yourself is the key to true happiness. –Hana
The Honest Truth by Dan Gemeinhart
The Girl with the Glass Bird: A Knight's Haddon Boarding School Mystery
by Esme Kerr
available in April, hardcover, Chicken House
Two girls becoming friends at Knight's Haddon boarding school, one wealthy, the other poor, one a spy, the other seemingly going mad, these are the central figures of this mysterious tale. Edie is sent by a Russian prince to investigate the strange and paranoid behavior of his daughter, Anastasia, and uncovers much more than she ever anticipated. A great story of friendship and mystery. –Claire
available now, hardcover, Scholastic
Mark is a normal kid. He's got a dog and a best friend. He likes to take photos and write haiku. He dreams of climbing a mountain one day. But in one important way, Mark is not like other kids at all. Mark is sick. The kind of sick that means hospitals and treatments. The kind of sick some people never get better from. So Mark runs away. He leaves home with his camera, his notebook, his dog, and a plan to reach the top of Mount Rainier—even if it's the last thing he ever does.
Monstrous
by MarcyKate Connolly available now, hardcover, HarperCollins
Far off in the city of Bryre, the kingdom lives in fear of an evil wizard. A wizard who is responsible for their young girls going missing. Kymera's mission is to rescue those girls, one a a time, secretly every night. After all, what would the people of Bryre think if they saw a young girl with wings and a tail that is barbed with poison? Monstrous is an awesome combination of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein meeting the Brothers Grimm. For the younger readers, of course! –Hana
Jack: The True Story of Jack and the Beanstalk by Liesl Shurtliff
available in April, hardcover, Knopf
I absolutely love when an author takes a story everybody knows and puts their own spin on it. When it is done well, it makes for some of the best stories and is all the more impressive for still being an original. With Jack, Shurtliff puts her own take on the beloved "Jack and the Beanstalk." What I love about this book is that "Jack and the Beanstalk" is not a story which gets adapted as often as tales like "Snow White" and "Cinderella." Liesl Shurtliff tells a story of adventure and humor, of giants and venomous pixies, of love and of loyalty absolutely beautifully. –Hana
60 Spring 2015
The Thickety:
The Whispering Trees
by J.A. White
available in March, hardcover, Katherine Tegen Books
It is rare to find a sequel that meets the expectations placed on it by the original. In The Thickety: A Path Begins we met Kara, a young witch just discovering the dangerous allure of magic in a village populated by none-too tolerant, witchburning folk. In this stunning sequel, Kara has ventured into the Thickety itself for protection, and it is on this path that she learns more about magic, more about darkness, and more about herself. Bring on number three! –Hana
Store Hours: Mon-Thurs 10am-8:30pm • Fri & Sat 10am-10pm • Sun 10am-7pm
Sci Fi Fantasy
Young Adult
The Glass Arrow
The Glass Arrow
by Kristen Simmons
available now, hardcover, Tor Books
Aya lives in a world where men have taken complete control and own women like cattle. Her mother, however, managed to escape into the mountains while still pregnant and so Aya spent the first 15 years of her life in the wild. But one day she is captured and taken to The Garden, an institute designed to prepare girls for auction. Her struggle to survive and return to her family in the mountains, as well as her unsteady friendships with fellow Garden flower Daphne, and a mute driver she calls Kiran make this story a captivating quest to find home and safety from start to finish. Simmons has created a dark world that could potentially be our future and it will leave you unable to look away. A must read for any fan of strong, well-developed characters and twisted dystopian worlds. –Hayden
The Orphan Queen
Firefight:
by Jodi Meadows
The Reckoners Book Two
available in March, hardcover, Katherine Tegen Books
by Brandon Sanderson
available now, hardcover, Delacorte Press
This second installment of the Reckoners Series is just as explosive as the first! If you haven't read Steelheart yet, pick it up right away so you can move on to Firefight! Sanderson brings back some of our best-loved characters from the first book and introduces some endearing new ones too, all while the Reckoners continue to pursue the secret of the Epics and their powers. David still has his little (okay, not-so-little) problem with metaphors, but he's also got some new tricks up his sleeve for dealing with powerful new enemies outside the familiar territory of Newcago. –Jenny
Princess Wilhelmina is living in the outskirts of her former home. Ten years prior, the Indigo Kingdom stormed the castle doors and conquered, slaughtering the royal family in the process. Now, Wil has trained in the arts of stealth and theft, intent on taking back her throne. To do so, she infiltrates the palace to gather insider information, but finds there is more to the story than first meets the eye. This breathtaking new fantasy from Jodi Meadows will have you glued to your seat and will stay with you long after that last page turns. –Hana
Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley
available in April, hardcover, HarperCollins
Aza Ray is drowning in air. Her lungs can't process oxygen and she's been an anomaly her whole life, and to make matters worse the medication keeping her (barely) alive makes her see things. But the ships in storm clouds and strange whistles calling out for her feel more real than a hallucination, and when she wakes up on a ship sailing through the sky, finally able to breath for the first time, she discovers there is more to the world than what meets the human eye. The more she discovers of this new world called Magonia and her own strange power, the more she is forced to decide where her loyalties lie: to this new world to which she was always meant to belong or her family and possibly more-than-best-friend Jason. Filled with magic, a new world, and peculiar beings, this book is a witty, heartfelt, and captivating work out for the imagination. –Hayden
360-671-2626 • 800-392-BOOK • villagebooks.com
Think of this as a crossover between The Handmaid's Tale and The Hunger Games. It's unapologetically feminist, full of desperate situations and featuring a main character who will do whatever it takes not to topple the patriarchy, but to just get out and back to the life she was ripped away from when she was caught and sold to a rich city man. This story is completely over-the-top, because that's the way it was meant to be. The more I read it, the more I liked it! The title doesn't make sense at first, but stick with it; the story comes out at exactly the right moment. –Jenny
A Wicked Thing by Rhiannon Thomas available now, hardcover, HarperTeen
Do you ever wonder what happens after happily ever after? Princess Aurora has been asleep for one hundred years. When she went to sleep, she had a family. Their kingdom was happy and prosperous. Now, she has woken to the kiss of a complete stranger, to his family who claims her awakening means she will be marrying him (After all, he IS her true love, right?), and a kingdom on the brink of a civil war. –Hana
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2015 AWARD WINNERS Newbery Medal The Newbery Medal for children’s literature was awarded to Kwame Alexander for his middlegrade verse novel, The Crossover, which tells the story of a seventhgrade basketball star.
Michael L. Printz Award
Randolph Caldecott Medal
Ja n d y Ne l s o n has won the 2015 Michael L. Printz Award f o r I ’ l l Gi v e You the Sun. It is told through the alternating perspectives of twins, which thread their way to the event that drove the once-close siblings apart. A VB Staff Pick!
The 2015 Caldecott Medal, which recognizes picture books, was awarded to author-illustrator Dan Santat for The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend which follows an imaginary friend who gets tired of waiting to be picked by a child and goes off in search of him or her.
Ready, Set, Vote! Voting for the 8th annual Children’s & Teen Choice Book Awards (CCBA) opens March 17th at ccbookawards.com! Unlike other national children’s book awards, the CCBAs let kids and teens choose the winning book of the year in four categories. How cool is that?
62 Spring 2015
Building Community One Book at a Time
Young Adult I Was Here
We Are All Made of Molecules
by Gayle Forman available now, hardcover, Viking
When her best friend Meg drinks a bottle of industrial-strength cleaner alone in a motel room, Cody is understandably shocked and devastated. Then Cody uncovers mysteriously encoded emails on Meg's computer, leading her to find an online “support” group that encouraged Meg to take her own life. Determined to find a reason for Meg's death—and someone to blame—Cody infiltrates this community, posing as someone just like Meg. But as Cody follows in Meg's footsteps how can she know when she's gone too far?
Hold Me Closer: The Tiny Cooper Story
available in April, hardcover, Hyperion
Tiny Cooper (“the world’s largest person who is also really, really gay”) finally gets to tell his story—from his fabulous birth and childhood to his quest for true love and his infamous parade of ex-boyfriends—the way he always intended: as a musical! Filled with honesty, humor, and “big, lively, belty” musical numbers, the novel is told through the full script of the musical first introduced in Will Grayson, Will Grayson.
Hold Tight, Don't Let Go by Laura Rose Wagner
available now, hardcover, Amulet Books
Imagine what it would have been like to be in Haiti during the huge 2010 earthquake, a scene of destruction and chaos. This novel follows two teenage girls who survive the quake, and have to build new lives in its aftermath. It is a story of a much-loved homeland, despite its many difficulties; a story of friendship, family, and courage. –Chris
NOW IN PAPERBACK! by Rick Yancey The Passage meets Ender's Game.
I have loved everything that Susin Nielsen has written and this one might just be my favorite of all! Stewart’s mom died a few years ago and his dad is now ready to move in with a new girlfriend, who happens to be the mom of super-popular Ashley. Ashley’s dad is still sort of in the picture so this newly blended family has a lot to figure out. This story has a ton of heart and really human, relatable characters. –Sarah
by Elizabeth Wein
available in March, hardcover, Dutton
Book #1
available in May, hardcover, Wendy Lamb Books
Black Dove, White Raven
by David Levithan
The 5th Wave:
by Susin Nielsen
Seraphina
by Rachel Hartman
Emilia and Teo's lives changed in an instant when a bird strike brought down the plane their stunt pilot mothers were flying. Teo's mother died immediately, but Em's survived, determined to raise Teo according to his late mother's wishes. Seeking a home where her children won't be held back by ethnicity or gender, Rhoda brings Em and Teo to Ethiopia, and all three fall in love with the country. But that peace is shattered by the threat of war with Italy, and teenage Em and Teo are drawn into the conflict. Will their devotion to their country, its culture and people, and each other be their downfall or their salvation?
99¢ Shipping USPS Media Mail –books & dvds–
available online AND in-store domestic shipping only
Grasshopper Jungle
by Andrew Smith
"Raunchy, Lyrical, imaginative, bizarre, smart and wholly and compelling." original. –Rolling Stone
360-671-2626 • 800-392-BOOK • villagebooks.com
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YA RC .
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Young Adult
Review Committee Recommendations
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by Claire McElroy-Chesson, Village Books Kids' Programming Director
n the Winter Chuckanut Reader, I announced the creation of our Young Adult Review Committee, or Y.A.R.C. Since then, these teens have been reading like crazy and providing us with quality reviews of the latest and greatest young adult books to hit the streets in recent and upcoming months. Their insight into what is appealing (and often, not so appealing) to teens today has been invaluable. So check out the collection of reviews here, but also come into the store and find the brand new YARC display that is always up to date and evolving with the best reviews by teens, for teens!
Woven
Anastasia and Her Sisters
by Michael Jensen and David Powers King
by Carolyn Meyer
available now, hardcover, Scholastic, Inc.
I enjoyed this book immensely. Woven is a well-written fantasy novel. Michael Jensen and David Powers King have created a very imaginative novel with a unique storyline. It is mostly from the point of view of a teenage boy named Nels. Unfortunately, Nels was recently murdered. And has returned as a ghost. A ghost that can only be seen by a princess who hates his ghostly face. He must find out why he has not gone to rest, and perhaps correct what was wronged... –Oliver M. age 14
Wish Girl
available in April, hardcover, Simon & Schuster
Anastasia was an amazing book. It was funny, and knowing that the book can't possibly have a good ending. I feel like the book had a lot of fact, but some is definitely fiction. I enjoyed learning about Anastasia and her family. This book is incredibly good and all people who have been wondering about her should read it. –Stephanie K. age 14
The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley
Middle Reader
by Shaun David Hutchinson
by Nikki Loftin
available now, hardcover, Simon Pulse
available now, hardcover, Razorbill
Peter was born into the wrong family. They're loud, yelling extroverts while Peter wishes the world would be as quiet and still as he is. Annie is a wish girl, as in “Make-a-Wish”, finding art in everything while she battles cancer. Peter and Annie meet in the valley, a secluded place where they can be themselves and maybe find a touch of magic. With the backdrop of Texas Hill Country, Nikki Loftin paints a moving story about dealing with both physical and mental illness. Wish Girl is magical and deep, perfect for fans of The Fault in Our Stars. –Emma W. Age 18
I really liked this book because it was realistic, and suspenseful. Drew is living in the hospital after a accident. He has recently lost his family. When a classmate, Rusty, is admitted to the emergency room with severe burns [a hate crime], Drew sees himself reflected in the tragic events. This book made me tear up in a few spots, and overall was a nice book. I’ve recently lost my grandfather, and this book was great for healing quotes. It probably isn’t the best self-help book for grief, but still a start. –Fiona P. age 13
More Y.A.R.C. recommendations on the the next page! 64 Spring 2015
Building Community One Book at a Time
YA RC More
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Recommendations
Solitaire
by Alice Oseman available in March, hardcover, Harper Teen
Alice Oseman’s Solitaire is the unflinchingly honest story of self-described pessimist Tori Spring. It is a story about the difficulty of making and holding onto friends. It’s funny, heartbreaking, and touching. Tori has a habit of saying things she wishes she hadn’t. She is generally sarcastic and always cynical, going through life quite sure she will hate it, along with the people in it. The real beauty of Solitaire is how incredibly real its characters are. Their lives, struggles, and many flaws, are all spectacularly well written. Solitaire is everything I love about YA books. –Henry W. age 15
The Sin Eater's Daughter by Melinda Salisbury
available now, hardcover, Scholastic
I fully expected The Sin Eater’s Daughter to contain your standard fantasy love triangle. Oooh, the prince! Oooh, my dashing bodyguard! Whom do I love? Instead, Twylla is a demigod executioner oppressed by a lineage-obsessed queen, forced to marry the reformist Prince (whom she does not love), and torn between what's best for her country and her love of the (admittedly very dashing) bodyguard. And this is all before the plot twists start coming. If you’re looking for a unique, intriguing fantasy world, definitely read this. –Haleh M. age 16
Young AdultS Recommend...
Dove Arising by Karen Bao
available now, hardcover, Penguin
Fans of Divergent—here is your next read! Phaet Theta’s life on the Moon isn’t necessarily easy, but with her best friend Umbriel there to speak for her, things go pretty smoothly. She is devoted to her studies and a future as a Bioengineer. But when her mother gets taken away for medical treatment, everything changes. Phaet must do what has never been done before in order to care for her struggling family. Karen Bao has mixed science fiction and dystopia to create a novel that will leave readers wanting more. –Brynna K. age 14
Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver
available in March, hardcover, HarperCollins
Lauren Oliver's latest book, Vanishing Girls, is the story of sisters Dara and Nick who for the longest time were super close, but the aftermath of a car accident and their parents' divorce made it so they weren't even talking to each other. After plans for Dara’s 17th birthday are put into action, Dara mysteriously disappears, vanishes similarly to a local girl who went missing earlier. It is up to Nick to track down her sister before something bad happens. This is a quick read that has great character development and is very relatable. –Kirsten Nielsen age 14
Positively Beautiful by Wendy Mills
available in March, hardcover, Bloomsbury USA
Positively Beautiful explores what it's like to live with cancer in the home. The book really gives a feel for what cancer does to a family or an individual, and for what someone in the heroine's position might honestly do to cope. There is no absence of trials on her journey, though. The book is a superbly written story of one girl's battle with breast cancer; it's a good read for both those who are dealing with the disease and those who are not. –Maddie M. age 16
Silent Alarm by Jennifer Banash available in March, hardcover, Penguin
Silent Alarm is a very insightful story, especially after the Marysville Pilchuck High School shooting. It is told from the perspective of seventeen-year-old Alys Aronson, a violin prodigy, living the average life of the American teenager. But everything changes when Alys’ older brother Luke brings a gun to school, killing fifteen people before taking his own life. Suddenly, the tragedy is all over the news, and Luke is remembered as a monstrosity. Throughout the story, Alys struggles to continue living without her brother and understand why he made such a horrible choice. This story is a bit slow-paced, but beautiful. –Aislinn K. age 13
360-671-2626 • 800-392-BOOK • villagebooks.com
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BOOKED at the BAKER
Saturday, April 11th
A New Partnership with the Mount Baker Theatre We're thrilled to join the Mount Baker Theatre in welcoming Dave Barry! "The funniest man in America" (according to the New York Times) will be at the Theatre on Saturday, April 11, at 8pm. Barry has been a professional humorist ever since he discovered that professional humor was a lot easier than working. For many years he wrote a column that appeared in more than 500 newspapers, including the Bellingham Herald, and generated thousands of letters from readers who thought he should be fired. Despite this, Barry won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary, although he misplaced it for several years, which is why his wife now keeps it in a secure location that
he does not know about. One of Barry's columns was largely responsible for the movement to observe International Talk Like a Pirate Day every year on September 19. This is probably his most enduring achievement. He has written more than 30 books, including the novels Big Trouble, Lunatics, Tricky Business, and, most recently, Insane City. He has also written a number of books with titles like I' ll Mature When I'm Dead, which are technically classified as nonfiction, although they contain numerous lies. Two of Barry's books were the basis for the CBS sitcom Dave's World, which can probably still be seen on cable TV in certain underdeveloped nations. Barry lives in Miami with his family and a dog that is determined to urinate on every square inch of North America.
Tickets to see Dave Barry can be purchased for $49, $45, $39, and $30 plus applicable fees. Students can purchase half-price tickets starting one hour prior to the performance. Group discounts are also available. Call 360-734-6068 or buy tickets online at mountbakertheatre.com.
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Store Hours: Mon-Thurs 10am-8:30pm • Fri & Sat 10am-10pm • Sun 10am-7pm
Literature LIVE!
EVENTS
VB’s Literary Events Program
Sat., March 7, 4pm DAVE ATCHESON –Dead Reckoning Dead Reckoning is not only an intimate look at life at sea, but also an insider's view into one of Alaska's small communities and the myriad of upstarts, dropouts, and rogues that color its landscape. From the author of Hidden Alaska: Bristol Bay and Beyond and the guidebook Fishing Alaska's Kenai Peninsula.
Sat., March 7, 7pm Memoir RYAN PEMBERTON –Called: My Journey to C.S. Lewis's House & Back Again
Additions & changes to this schedule will occur so check out
VillageBooks.com
to stay updated–or even better, let us come to you! Register online for the Village Books eNewsletter!
MARCH Tues., March 3, 7pm BARRY GOUGH –The Elusive Mr. Pond: The Soldier, Fur Trader and Explorer Who Opened the Northwest
While most North Americans won't recognize his name, Peter Pond was a precursor to Lewis and Clark whose legendary exploits in the fur trade, including opening up the far distant Arctic watershed, elevated him to become a founding partner of the North West Company.
Wed., March 4, 7pm LIZ CARLISLE –Lentil Underground:
Renegade Farmers and the Future of Food in America
A protégé of Michael Pollan shares the story of a little known group of renegade farmers who defied corporate agribusiness by launching a unique sustainable farm-to-table food movement.
Thurs., March 5, 7pm RANDY HENDERSON –Finn Fancy Necromancy Finn Gramaraye was framed for the crime of dark necromancy at the age of fifteen, and exiled to the Other Realm for twenty-five years. Now he’s come back to clear his name (sort of), protect his family, and catch up on two decades of pop culture.
Fri., March 6, 7pm Slide show! MARIE-LAURE VALANDRO –Nutrition for Enlightened Parenting We all want to be healthy in body and soul, and gaining increased awareness of what we prepare and put into our body can become a powerful path toward heightened consciousness. In this book, Marie-Laure Valandro brings greater consciousness to one of life’s most common and vital activities—eating.
Events take place in the Readings Gallery of Village Books and are FREE unless otherwise noted.
At the age of twenty-five, Ryan Pemberton packed up his family, quit his lucrative job, and moved to England to study theology at Oxford and work as caretaker at C.S. Lewis’s house. Called is the story of his unexpected spiritual journey.
Sun., March 8, 4pm TRACY WEBER –A Killer Retreat
Mystery
Yoga instructor and accidental sleuth Kate Davidson is pretty happy to spend a week teaching classes at a scenic retreat. Then one of the guests turns up dead and Kate becomes the number one suspect. Now Kate must find the real killer—with the help of her German Shepherd, Bella—before she ends up behind bars.
Mon., March 9, 7pm TREVIS GLEASON –Chef Interrupted: Discovering Life's Second Course in Ireland with Multiple Sclerosis
Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, Seattle chef Trevis Gleason lost everything, including his job and marriage. Surveying the ruins of his life, he decided to follow his dreams to Ireland for the winter. There he rented a cottage, got a puppy, and discovered there is life after the fall. Recipes included.
Fri., March 13, 10:30am My Pet Book Story Time
KIDS!
Join Claire in the Readings Gallery for a celebration of our favorite books! Please bring YOUR very favorite book from home and we will make something very special just for that book for you to keep. Participants will receive a one-day-only discount on My Pet Book by Bob Staake. Author not attending.
Sun., March 15, 4pm Multi-Author Reading –Clover: A Literary Rag, Vol. 8 Clover, A Literary Rag is a semiannual magazine featuring stories, poems, memoir, and an occasional review. Based in Bellingham, Washington; the rag hosts writers from the region and the world. Join the Independent Writer’s Studio for a reading from the latest edition!
Mon., March 16, 7pm DAVID VANN –Aquarium
Fiction
When a young girl befriends an elderly man at the aquarium she frequents, she sets in motion a series of events that will lead her to unravel a dark family secret. David Vann, whose bestselling novels include Legend of a Suicide, delivers a powerful tale of heartbreak and redemption. Keep turning for more events!
If you can’t make it to an event, just call us to arrange for autographed copies!
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Literature LIVE!
EVENTS Fri., March 20, 7pm Fiction ROYCE SCOTT BUCKINGHAM –Impasse Join us at the Book Fare Cafe as we celebrate the release of local author Royce Scott Buckingham’s new novel Impasse! This modern-day take on The Count of Monte Cristo is the first adult novel from Royce Scott Buckingham, bestselling author of Demonkeeper and The Terminals. Read more on page 16.
Sat., March 21, 7pm Poetry DEE DEE CHAPMAN, –Collovium and ELIZABETH VIGNALI, –Object Permanence Come hear two local poets read from their latest collections! Heavily informed by her childhood moving around the mountains of the Southwest, Dee Dee Chapman’s poetry addresses issues of family, religion, boundaries and personal identity. Elizabeth Vignali’s new collection is an honest, tender investigation of the lives of three generations of women.
Sun., March 22, 4pm Poetry CAROL MCMILLAN –White Water, Red Walls In June 2014, Carol McMillan joined a group of adventurers who rafted 224 miles down the Colorado River. She documented her trip with poetry, paintings and photographs, which she uses in this book to tell the story of her journey.
Mon., Mar. 23, 7pm OPEN MIC with Laurel Leigh Village Books invites everyone to enjoy local talents as they share their own stories, poems and essays. Sign up at our main counter on the first floor or call (360) 671-2626. Laurel Leigh, local writer and teacher, will emcee.
Sat., March 28, 4pm JULIE TITONE –Boocoo Dinky Dow: My Short, Crazy Vietnam War Grady Myers was an artistic but aimless teenager in 1968, when, desperate for troops, the U.S. Army overlooked his extreme nearsightedness and transformed him into Hoss, an M-60 machine gunner. Co-author Julie Titone will read from the late Myers’ illustrated memoir.
Sun., March 29, 4pm J.A. JANCE –Cold Betrayal
Mystery
Ali Reynolds's longtime friend and Taser-carrying nun, Sister Anselm, rushes to the bedside of a young pregnant woman hospitalized after she was hit by a car. The girl had been running away from a polygamous cult with no patience for those who try to leave its ranks. Something about her strikes a chord in Sister Anselm, reminding her of a case she worked years before when another young girl wasn't so lucky.
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APRIL
Fri., April 3, 7pm Slideshow! JOHN MARZLUFF –Welcome To Subirdia Suburbs and City parks are remarkably rich in bird diversity – and may play a key role in preventing loss of species in the face of climate change. John Marzluff is a Professor of Wildlife Science at the University of Washington. Part of the Nature of Writing series, in partnership with North Cascades Institute.
Sat., April 4, 10:30am Poetry Month Story Time Celebration!
KIDS!
Featuring Falling Up, Runny Babbit, and other classics by Shel Silverstein. Join us in the readings gallery for some poetry and laughs! Participants will receive a one-day-only discount on Falling Up and Runny Babbit.
Fri., April 10, 10:30am How to Grow a Friend Story Time
KIDS!
Let's celebrate friendship with stories and a craft, featuring How to Grow a Friend, by Sara Gillingham. Join us in the readings gallery for this special Spring Break event. Participants will receive a one-day-only discount on How to Grow a Friend.
Fiction, Fri., April 10, 7pm Local Author! SARA STAMEY –The Ariadne Connection In the near future, a young Greek scientist discovers that a deadly pandemic is related to electromagnetic pollution, and that she’s somehow channeling mythic powers to heal the victims. Assisted by a jaded sailor and pursued by violent foes, she must race through the Greek islands to ancient Delphi before it’s too late.
Sat., April 11, 7pm Slide Show! THOR HANSON –The Triumph of Seeds Thor Hanson, a Guggenheim Fellow and the author of Feathers, explores the fascinating world of seeds and their vital role in human history. Part of the Nature of Writing series, in partnership with North Cascades Institute. Read more on page 37.
Wed., April 15, 7pm WOODY WHEELER –Look Up! You don’t have to travel around the world or spend a ton of money to enjoy the wonders of nature. Woody Wheeler presents a series of nature essays that will inspire readers to experience the outdoors in an affordable, accessible and joyful way.
Thurs., April 16, 7pm AUDREY DELELLA BENEDICT and JOE GAYDOS –The Salish Sea: Jewel of the Pacific Northwest This stunning visual journey through the Salish Sea combines a scientist's inquiring mind, beautiful photographs, and a lively narrative of fascinating stories, all of which impart a sense of connection with this intricate marine ecosystem and the life that it sustains.
Read more about these and other LitLive events at VillageBooks.com!
Literature
LIVE!
Fri., April 17, doors & music at 6:30pm Heiner Theater at Whatcom Community College
Thurs., April 30, 7pm ASHLEY RODRIGUEZ –Date Night In When Ashley Rodriguez and her husband found themselves deep into marriage and child-rearing, they were determined not to let their relationship deteriorate into that of “roommates with children.” This book tells their story and features dozens of “date-worthy” occasions and more than 120 recipes. Ashley Rodriguez is a Seattle-based food blogger and the creator of NotWithoutSalt.com.
The Chuckanut Radio Hour with special guest BRIAN DOYLE –Martin Marten Fiction
so far in
We’re thrilled to be welcoming Brian Doyle back to Bellingham for his new novel Martin Marten. Doyle, the author of Mink River and The Plover, delivers a rollicking, whimsical coming-of-age story with his distinct blend of humor and reverence. Brian Doyle is the editor of Portland Magazine at the University of Portland, and the author of thirteen books of essays, fiction, poems, and nonfiction. Honors for his work include the American Academy of Arts & Letters Award in Literature.
Sat., April 18, 7pm Poetry SAUL WEISBERG –Headwaters: Poems and Field Notes Join Saul Weisberg as he reads from his new poetry collection. Saul Weisberg is an ecologist, naturalist and writer who has explored the mountains and rivers of the Pacific Northwest for more than 30 years. He worked throughout the Northwest as a field biologist, fire lookout, commercial fisherman and National Park Service climbing ranger before starting the North Cascades Institute in 1986.
Thurs., April 23, 7pm BRUCE BARCOTT –Weed the People: The Future of Legal Marijuana in America
In this insightful and often funny dive into the booming pot industry, author, journalist and cannabis industry expert Bruce Barcott— a Guggenheim Fellow in nonfiction—examines the legal, social, cultural, and personal changes brought about by the changing status of the world’s most controversial plant.
Sat., April 25, 7pm Slide Show! NED BROWN –Geology of the San Juan Islands Nestled in the heart of the Salish Sea lie the picturesque San Juan Islands, an archipelago molded by eons of tectonic and glacial activity. Over the course of his nearly five-decade career, Ned Brown has led countless research teams to decode this complex terrestrial heritage. Ned Brown is an Emeritus Professor of geology at Western Washington University.
Mon., April 27, 7pm OPEN MIC with Laurel Leigh Village Books invites everyone to enjoy local talents as they share their own stories, poems and essays. Sign up at our main counter on the first floor or call (360) 671-2626. Laurel Leigh, local writer and teacher, will emcee.
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MAY
Sat., May 2 Celebrate Independent Bookstore Day! Stop by the store for first dibs on cool and unique book items, to spin the wheel for prizes, and to celebrate your favorite bookstore! See page 6 for more information.
Sat., May 2, 10:30am Story Time Celebrating Moms
KIDS!
Mother's Day is coming up so join us in the readings gallery for stories featuring mothers and all they do for us. We will read from Anna Dewdney's Llama Llama series, as well as other tales featuring Mom.
Join us in Celebrating Children's Book Week! May 4-10, 2015 Wed., May 6, 11am Miss Brooks' Story Time
KIDS!
Story time and activity featuring Miss Brooks Story Nook and Miss Brooks Loves Books by Barbara Bottner. Let's inspire some creativity in the readings gallery where pre-schoolers will create stories around prompts provided by Claire. Participants will receive a one-day-only discount on select titles.
Wed., May 6, 7pm JEREMY PATAKY –Overwinter
Poetry
A debut collection from an exciting new voice in Alaska poetry, Overwinter reconciles the natural quiet of wilderness with the clamor of built environments. Jeremy Pataky earned an MFA in poetry from the University of Montana and a BA at Western Washington University. His work has appeared in Colorado Review, Black Warrior Review, Cirque, and many others.
Fri., May 8, 4pm Middle Graders Wollstonecraft Detective Agency Event Attention middle grade readers! Join us for an event featuring The Wollstonecraft Detective Agency Book 1, The Case of the Missing Moonstone by Jordan Stratford. We have several fun activities lined up to celebrate this story of Mary Shellry and Ada Byron as they try to solve their first mystery together. Participants will receive a one-day-only discount on the book.
Once a week, Village Books sends out an email newsletter packed full of store and book information including our latest LitLive! events, sale dates, and on occasion, store coupons! Twice each week, we provide Shelf Awareness for Readers book reviews. If you’re not currently receiving these updates and would like to, you may sign up in the store or, even easier, do it at VillageBooks.com today!
If you can’t make it to an event, just call us to arrange for autographed copies!
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Sat., May 9, 10:30am SHERYL HERSHEY –Lila and the Dandelion
KIDS!
Join us in the readings gallery as we welcome Sheryl Hershey, author of Lila and the Dandelion. This delightful story of a little girl who"listens with her heart and speaks with her hands" teaches children to celebrate our differences and realize that the world is better just because we are in it.
Sat., May 9, 1pm REBECCA VAN SLYKE –Mom School
KIDS!
Our Saturday celebration of Kids Book Week continues with an event featuring local author Rebecca Van Slyke who will read her brand new book, Mom School. This unique story gets us to imagine what it would be like if moms went to school to learn how to be, well....moms!
Sat., May 9, 7pm Poetry DAVID MASON –Sea Salt: Poems of a Decade, 2004-2014 A former Fulbright Fellow to Greece, David Mason served as Poet Laureate of Colorado from 2010 to 2014, and teaches at Colorado College. His previous collections include The Buried Houses, The Country I Remember, and Arrivals.
KIDS! Sun., May 10, 11am TEA WITH MOM in the Book Fare Café In celebration of Mother's Day, we will be hosting a tea-time in Book Fare Café on the mezzanine level of the bookstore. Bring your children and enjoy some tasty treats, a few stories, a craft, and good company. Related titles will be offered at a 15% discount to participants, one-day only. Join us for a fun celebration of moms and all they do for us. Tickets are $6 per person and can be purchased at the main counter at Village Books, or by calling 360-671-2626. Seating is limited.
Tues., May 12, 7pm Slideshow at the Whatcom Museum DAVID TUCKER –Geology Underfoot in Western Washington In this beautifully-illustrated new book author and geoscientist David Tucker narrates western Washington's geologic tales, covering sites from its low-lying shorelines to its rugged mountaintops. This free event will be held in the Rotunda Room at the Whatcom Museum. Part of the Nature of Writing Series, in partnership with North Cascades Institute.
Wed., May 13, 7pm MATTHEW BROUWER –The Last Time I Prayed
Poetry
Bellingham poet Matthew Brouwer’s work bridges the worlds of spoken word and literary poetry to create a style that can be both evocative and subtle, enlivening and profound. He has been featured in regional literary, performance, and visual arts showcases, including Cirque, Phrasings, and Strands.
Thurs., May 14, 7pm KATE GRAY –Carry The Sky
Fiction
Narrated alternately by a rowing coach and a physics teacher at an elite boarding school, Carry the Sky sings a brave anthem about what it means to be different in a world of uniformity. A rower for years, Kate Gray began her teaching career in an East Coast boarding school and now has taught English for more than twenty years at a community college in Oregon.
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There is no charge for most Village Books Literature Live events. Event costs are offset by customer book purchases; in order to maintain our robust program, we urge you to purchase those event books that interest you.
Thank you for supporting Literature Live Events!
Mon., May 18, 7pm STEVE MARTINI –The Enemy Inside Defending an innocent young man, defense attorney Paul Madriani uncovers a morass of corruption and greed that leads to the highest levels of political power in this electrifying tale of suspense from New York Times bestselling author Steve Martini.
Wed., May 20 7pm DAVID GESSNER –All The Wild That Remains Going West. Is there another phrase that so perfectly encapsulates the American spirit? In All The Wild That Remains, acclaimed nature writer David Gessner takes to the road in pursuit of two very different men—Wallace Stegner and Edward Abbey—who called the place their home.
Thurs., May 21, doors & music at 6:30pm Heiner Theater at Whatcom Community College
The Chuckanut Radio Hour with special guest CHRISTOPHER MCDOUGALL –Natural Born Heroes Just in time for Ski to Sea, Christopher McDougall (the bestselling author of Born to Run) will take the mic at the Chuckanut Radio Hour to discuss his new book Natural Born Heroes: How a Daring Band of Misfits Mastered the Lost Secrets of Strength and Endurance. McDougall has written for Esquire, The New York Times Magazine, Outside, Men's Journal, and New York Magazine. Read more on page 10.
Mon., May 25, 7pm OPEN MIC with Laurel Leigh Village Books invites everyone to enjoy local talents as they share their own stories, poems and essays. Sign up at our main counter on the first floor or call (360) 671-2626. Laurel Leigh, local writer and teacher, will emcee.
Additions & changes to this schedule will occur so check out
VillageBooks.com
to stay updated–or even better, let us come to you! Register online for the Village Books eNewsletter!
Building Community One Book at a Time
360-671-2626 • 800-392-BOOK • villagebooks.com
Spring 2015
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