Chuckanut Reader – Spring 2018

The

Chuck anut Reader A Village Books Publication • SPRING 2018

FREE!

• take

• enjoy

Children's

Book Week

April 30-May 6

20% OFF

POETRilY! In Apr

VOLUME 25, ISSUE 1

A Magazine for the Northwest’s Most Avid Readers

Join us in welcoming author

Sunil Yapa March 8 - 10, 2018

Whatcom READS is a community-wide reading and discussion program intended to encourage all Whatcom County residents to read the same book and create a county-wide book club experience.

Sunil Yapa's Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of a Fist is the featured book for 2018.

Set amid the 1999 World Trade Organization protests in Seattle, it’s a fast-paced, raw and absorbing story about conflict and compassion. Over the course of one afternoon, the lives of seven people will change forever. Sunil Yapa pairs deep rage with deep humanity. He asks profound questions about the power of empathy in our hyper-connected modern world, and about the limits of compassion, while exploring how far we must go for family, for justice, and for love.

Join us for one or more of these FREE PRESENTATIONS with author Sunil Yapa!

March 8, 1pm - 3pm Book Discussion with Sunil Yapa Ferndale Library 2125 Main St., Ferndale, WA

March 9, 1pm - 3pm An Afternoon with Sunil Yapa Bellingham Cruise Terminal

March 9, 7pm - 9pm An Evening with Sunil Yapa Mount Baker Theatre

355 Harris Ave., Bellingham, WA

104 N. Commercial St., Bellingham, WA

March 8, 7pm - 8:30pm Digging Deeper with Sunil Yapa Deming Library

March 10, 2pm - 3:30pm The Art and Craft of Writing Wilson Library, WWU

5044 Mount Baker Highway, Deming, WA

2125 Main St., Bellingham,WA

Purchase Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of a Fist at Village Books and we will donate 10% of the proceeds to Whatcom READS! The winners of the 9th Annual Whatcom Writes Contest were published in a printed anthology —now available at Village Books.

Art Challenge Exhibit “Resistance!”

Whatcom READS! 2018 joined with Allied Arts of Whatcom County to sponsor an art challenge and March exhibit in the Allied Arts Gallery inspired by Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of a Fist.

The opening reception is on March 2 from 6pm-9pm, during the downtown Bellingham Art Walk. The Resistance! exhibit will feature art submitted for the Art Challenge alongside work by photographer Tore Ofteness and painter Frank Frazee.

The reception will also feature songs of action and compassion with Tracy Spring.

On display through March 31 at 1418 Cornwall Ave, Bellingham.

Visit whatcomreads.org for more information 2

Spring 2018

Building Community One Book at a Time

Dear Reader, Spring is such an evocative time of year—bursting flowers, spring cleaning, and a note of warmth in the air. The store too is bursting with new books and gifts that we are excited to share with you. We are also excited to celebrate National Poetry Month in April (see pages 63-64 for events and details), Independent Bookstore Day on Saturday, April 28th (see page 12), and Children’s Book Week in May (see pages 63-64 for details.) These celebrations speak to the exuberance of books and creativity in our lives. This time of year also lets us reflect on the previous year—we share some of our biggest successes on pages 5 and 7—and put into practice some of the lessons we’ve learned at the Winter Institute for booksellers held this January in Memphis, Tennessee.

We’re always learning and growing and it is with your support and feedback, Dear Reader, that we have such a vibrant community of readers. Our gratitude is bright and blooming like the flowers.

– Paul, Kelly, Sarah

and the Entire Village Books and Paper Dreams Family

VILLAGE BOOKS

& Paper Dreams The Chuckanut Reader • Spring 2018 Publisher: Village Books & Paper Dreams Production Design: Kelly Carbert Contributors: Hana Boxberger, Brendan Clark, Stephanie Douglas, Hannah Emory, Kelly Evert, Alec Foote, Asya Hampton, Paul Hanson, Sarah Hutton, Claire McElroy-Chesson, Autumn Skye Moore, Laura Picco, Abbie Schollmeier, Lauren Sommer, Joan Terselich, Mary Vermillion, Terri Weiner, Cindi Williamson, Hayden Winn Covers: Reading is our Super Power!

Content except art & book covers ©Village Books 2018 Printed by the Lynden Tribune on paper made from 50% post-consumer waste. browse & shop anytime!

villagebooks.com

Village Books & Paper Dreams 1200 11th St., Bellingham, WA 98225 AND 430 Front Street, Lynden, WA 98264

In This Issue...

Whatcom Reads 2018 Author Events – March 8-10 Dear Reader Viillage Books 2017 Top 10 Fun Activities You Do NOT Want to Miss Celebrate Independent Bookstore Day Fiction, Sci-Fi, and Mystery Books & Reviews All Things Writing Essays and Staff Favorites of 2017 Cooking and Gardening PNBA Book Awards All Things Lynden The Chuckanut Radio Hour Upcoming Shows Current Events Biography and History Books & Reviews Book A'Sail - A Book Group on the Sea Get into Nature and Science Mind, Body, and Soul Humor and the Arts Join Our Signed First Editions Club April is National Poetry Month - Celebrate!

Great Reads and Activites for Kids & Teens Literature Live! Author Events at VB

2 3 5&7 8-11 12 13-23 24-27 29 31-33 34 35-40 41 42-45 46-49 50 51-53 54-55 56-57 58 59-60 61-71 73-78

Village Books and Paper Dreams Frequent Buyer Programs

Reader Rewards & Devoted Dreamers Join our frequent buyer clubs and receive store credit when making Village Books and Paper Dreams purchases. A Reader Reward is earned for every 20 books purchased. You'll also receive a birthday discount and free drinks at two adjoining cafes. Become a Devoted Dreamer and receive credit for all non-book items you buy. No membership fees­. You can't go wrong! Stop in and sign up today.

360.671.2626 • 800.392.BOOK • villagebooks.com

Spring 2018

3

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.

Call 360-599-6827 or visit ennw.info for advertising information.

4

Spring 2018

BASKETRY IN AMERICA A traveling exhibition organized by the National Basketry Organization and the University of Missouri that chronicles the history of contemporary American basketry. On exhibit at the Whatcom Museum’s Lightcatcher building.

Through May 6, 2018 More info at whatcommuseum.org Lightcatcher building | 250 Flora St.

Leon Niehues, Bentwood Sphere, 2015.

Fairhaven Store Hours: Monday-Saturday 9am-9pm • Sunday 10am-7pm

The Countdown...

Top Ten Stories for 2017 #10

Stephanie and Lauren Receive Patterson Grants

Village Books employees Stephanie Douglas and Lauren Sommer were both recipients of holiday grants from James Patterson. Patterson himself selects deserving employees of bookstores across the country based on nominations for hard work and going the extra mile.

We couldn’t agree more with his selections—congratulations Lauren and Stephanie! See page 22 to learn more about the honored pair.

Paul, Kelly, and Sarah Celebrate One Year of Ownership

#9 #8

What a year! After assuming the mantle from Chuck and Dee Robinson on January 1st, 2017, the trio celebrated one year of ownership on January 1st this year. They have been busy learning all of the ups and downs of being owners and thank you for your support and encouragement along the way.

Brian Doyle Passes at Age 60

Sadly, we lost some beloved authors in 2017 including Kate Millett, Amy Krouse Rosenthal, John Ashbery, Robert Pirsig, Brian Aldiss,and Derek Walcott. One that hit especially close to home was the passing of Brian Doyle after a battle with brain cancer. He was a frequent author in our Literature Live program, a two-time faculty member of the Chuckanut Writer’s Conference, and his books can be found on many employee pick shelves. He will be missed.

A Year of Big Events

#7 #6

What do John Green, Jewell Parker Rhodes, and Andy Weir have in common? They all came to Bellingham for Village Books events in 2017! We have many big-name authors participate in our Literature Live program but this year was particularly abundant. Each author commented on the great audiences that attended and would love to return to our beautiful corner of the country.

Chuck Completes Cross-Country Bike Ride

After a bit of a dog-sized hiccup in 2015, Village Books Founder Chuck Robinson picked up the bike trail in North Dakota in September, 2017. Thirty-four days later, Bar Harbor, Maine, was the end point of a lifelong goal. In addition to a major personal accomplishment, he helped to raise donation pledges totaling $20,000 for the Whatcom Community Foundation, the Whatcom Community College Foundation, and the Book Industry Charitable Foundation.

Congratulations Chuck (and great job, Dee, driving the support vehicle)!

continued on page 7 Shop 24/7 at villagebooks.com

Spring 2018

5

Feel the“One Power of Live Performance!

Singular Sensation!”

Big League Productions, Inc. Presents

Sun, Apr 8 3pm

SPONSORS

SPONSOR

Sat, Mar 10 • 7:30pm SPONSOR

Classic Chaplin

LIZA GOSSETT

Thur, Mar 29 • 7pm

Music by Marvin Hamlisch

Lyrics by Edward Kleban

Book by James Kirkwood Jr. and Nicholas Dante

With Live Score!

Sat, June 9 2 & 7pm

Sat, April 14 • 3pm

SPONSOR

SPONSOR

SPONSOR

Sat, May 19 • 7:30pm

Mount Baker Theatre is a 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to the performing arts.

360.734.6080 MountBakerTheatre.com

SEASON SPONSOR

Bellingham Theatre Guild 2017—2018 Season

Don’t miss these hilarious comedies to finish our 89th Season!

Tickets 360 360--733 733--1811 | bellinghamtheatreguild.com

6

Spring 2018

Shop 24 hours a day at villagebooks.com

continued from page 5

#5

Joan Celebrates 20 Years of Employment Joan—mystery-lover, taste-maker, book buyer extraordinaire—celebrated 20 years of employment with Village Books. The trip that she selected to commemorate this milestone was a Pacific Northwest tour with her family. We appreciate her hard work and commitment to the store and we’re glad she could celebrate with a tour of local sights and time with loved ones.

Kelly Feted in New York In order to have such a wide variety of items available, we work with a lot of vendors.

This summer, Kikkerland honored Village Books and Paper Dreams as a store and Kelly Evert in particular as a buyer, with a trip to New York to learn about the history of the company and to get a sneak peek at some new offerings. She also learned more about Kikkerland’s philanthropic work that gives to a variety of non-profit organizations such as Write Girl, Center for Biological Diversity, and Help USA.

#4 #3

First Year of Round It Up Programming a Success

Small change has made big change for local nonprofits.

(Couldn’t resist.) By rounding up their purchases to the nearest dollar, over 6,000 customers have donated to Recreation Northwest, Whatcom Dispute Resolution Center, and our holiday Giving Tree program.

Please turn to page 11 to learn more about our newest recipient, the Whatcom Literacy Council. Thank you for your continued generosity!

#2

Tore Ofteness Publishes Book with Chuckanut Editions

You’ve seen his cards and prints in Paper Dreams. Now, to create a retrospective of his career, Tore Ofteness has published A Higher Perspective with our Chuckanut Editions imprint. Over 25 books have been published with our imprint and this beautiful photography collection is a treasure to behold.

#1

Our Superpower Grows Even Stronger We wouldn't be here without you, Dear Reader, but we're also eternally grateful for the wonderful staff who choose to work at Village Books and Paper Dreams. We believe the 50 community members we employ are our superpower. This year, that power grew even stronger with the following news: Bookseller Lauren Sommer succeeded Jonica Todd as a book buyer, Mary Vermillion joined us as our marketing director, bookseller Abbie Schollmeier succeeded Amy Blackwood as our digital marketing coordinator, childrens book buyer Hana Boxberger returned to the store, and Anne Slee and Kristen Morse became manager and assistant manager (respectively) of our Lynden store. If you haven't yet met these wonder women, stop by to say hello!

360.671.2626 • 800.392.BOOK • villagebooks.com

Spring 2018

7

Spring into Action!

Fairhaven Activities

Saturday, March 31, 10am - 3pm

The 30th Annual Fairhaven Neighbors

Plant & Tree Sale in the Hillcrest Chapel Parking Lot

The Fairhaven Plant and Tree Sale is a garden shopping extravaganza featuring local and regional nurseries and other delights for your home and garden. Annuals, perennials, blueberries, raspberries, garden art, ornamental trees and bushes, veggie starts...so much variety and all quality, local plants!

The event is sponsored by Fairhaven Neighbors and a portion of sale proceeds is allocated to help support the neighborhood association and also other local non-profits.

The plant sale will take place on Saturday, March 31st in the Hillcrest Chapel parking lot on the corner of 14th & Old Fairhaven Parkway. There is lots of parking on Larrabee Ave. and on side streets, and volunteers can help load your plant purchases (they'll have boxes, too). One day only, rain or shine!

Sunday, April 22, 10am - 5pm

Dirty Dan Harris Festival Celebrate the unscrubbed community founder of Fairhaven during this annual event-packed day!

This year’s festivities will feature great food, contests, a rowing race, and family-fun activities including a fish toss for adults & kids, a donut eating contest, and Dirty Dan look-a-like and 1800's fashion attire contests. There will be food and street vendors as well as live music on the Fairhaven Village Green. 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—serving wine and beer to those 21 and over.

The Chuckanut Chili Cook-Off will also be back! Tickets to sample the chili will cover a taste of each, and a cup of your favorite with a piece of bread alongside. Tickets also grant an opportunity to vote in the People’s Choice contest for best chili. Come in costume or come as you are!

The Dirty Dan Harris Festival is produced by the Historic Fairhaven Association, a non-profit organization that promotes and preserves the historical character of Fairhaven and also organizes on the district festivals.

8

Spring 2018

Dirty Dan’s amazing feats include traveling by rowboat between Fairhaven and Victoria, B.C. A shrewd business man, he once rolled his piano out of the Fairhaven Hotel in 1890 and straight down Harris Avenue into the bay after the hotel’s new owner wouldn’t pay for it.

Building Community One Book at a Time

Family Fun Here & There

15th Annual

Procession of the Species Parade Saturday, May 5, 2018 Come one, come all, creatures great and small!

This annual non-commercial parade celebrates community, creativity and our natural world.

Want to participate? Lineup is at 3:30pm behind the downtown library. Just follow these three simple rules: 1. No motorized vehicles (exceptions for mobility devices)

2. No words, written or spoken.

3. No live animals.

Enjoy lots of costumes, masks, music, drumming, families and friends. Everyone welcome. Parade route follows Commercial Street to Holly and then down to Maritime Heritage Park where a celebration will ensue.

Sunday, May 27, 2018

Fairhaven Festival and Ski-to-Sea Race

Watch facebook.com/historicfairhaven/ for more!

Don't miss this all-day, multi-street party!

• Live Music on Two Stages • Beer & Wine Garden • Food, Arts, Crafts, Exhibits • Children's Activities

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 28, 2018 At Village Books & on the Fairhaven Village Green Mark your calendar so you don't miss this day of music, vendors, author readings, food, and fun!

FH: 360.671.2626 • LY: 360.526.2133 • villagebooks.com

Spring 2018

9

SPOTLIGHT

on Local Libro.fm Listener...

WHO: Raina Clark, Bellingham WHERE SHE LISTENS: In her car as she commutes to her job in Redmond WHY SHE LISTENS: I knew I wanted a digital audiobook subscription so I could listen to books during my commute. There are other options out there but they don't need my support. I found a Libro.fm brochure at Village Books and was happy to know I could support my local bookstore instead.

Raina recommends these Libro.fm titles: • A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles • All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr • A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman • When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing

by Daniel H. Pink

Discover digital audiobooks for yourself and support Village Books! Learn more at libro.fm/villagebooks.

SAVE KMRE! After over a decade at SPARK Museum, KMRE must find a new space and they need your donations to make it possible.

KMRE 102.3 FM is an independent, non-commercial, volunteer-powered community radio station in Whatcom County that produces over 40 local radio programs in entertainment, arts, and public affairs. They need help to ensure that local news, information, music, and voices, including the Chuckanut Radio Hour, stay on the air and online.

All money raised will go toward a new home and operating costs. To donate, go to

savekmre.org If local media is important to you, now is the time to take a stand. Donate now!

10

Spring 2018

Building Community One Book at a Time

ROUND IT UP

for Literacy

Last year, Village Books and Paper Dreams introduced Round It Up—our amazingly simple giving program for local nonprofits. Each season we feature a different partner that benefits when you choose to Round It Up, increasing your purchase to the nearest dollar allowing us to donate the difference for you. This spring, the beneficiary of your donations is the Whatcom Literacy Council.

Since 1978, the Whatcom Literacy Council has been helping adults in Whatcom County improve their literacy skills and learn English. Through customized, individual tutoring and focused small group classes, adult learners acquire critical skills needed to become more self-sufficient.

Check out these upcoming events and support local literacy!

Friday, May 4, 2018

Literacy Trivia Bee ? ?

??

and Silent Auction

Have you heard the buzz?

?

?

?

?

The Whatcom Literacy Council’s 22nd Annual Trivia Bee will be Friday, May 4th.

Taking place in Bellingham Technical College's Settlemyer Hall, the Trivia Bee & Silent Auction 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––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. Wine and beer will be available at a cash bar; snack on pizza, cookies and coffee. Miss Whatcom County will be on hand again this year selling raffle tickets to benefit the Literacy Council services.

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. Teams are forming now!

Contact events@whatcomliteracy.org for more information.

?

Tickets are $15/person, $5/kids 12 and under and are available at Village Books and at the door.

Change a Life

Become a Tutor!

There is currently a waiting list of learners who would like to work with a tutor.

Give just three hours a week and change a life. Training and support is provided.

Call 360-752-8678 or visit whatcomliteracy.org for information.

Now in Settlemyer Hall at BTC!

Free Info Sessions on Becoming a U.S. Citizen Do you want to learn more about the process of becoming a U.S. citizen? Are you a provider who works with clients who may want to get their citizenship? The WLC offers free sessions with local immigration attorneys who will cover the general eligibility requirements for naturalization, explain the rights and responsibilities of U.S. citizenship,​​and be available to answer questions. You'll also learn how you can sign up for citizenship classes​or work with a tutor to prepare for the citizenship test! · Tuesday, March 20, 6pm at the Blaine United Church of Christ · Tuesday, April 17, 6pm at the Deming Library · Tuesday, May 15, 6pm at the Point Roberts Library

360.671.2626 • 800.392.BOOK • villagebooks.com

Spring 2018

11

Join us in celebrating

INDEPENDENT

BOOKSTORE DAY Saturday, April 28, 2018 Fairhaven & Lynden

F

rom Bellingham to Brooklyn, booksellers and book lovers will celebrate Saturday, April 28th as Independent Bookstore Day.

For the fourth year in a row, Village Books is throwing a party to celebrate the things that make independent bookstores special, and you're invited to stop by! Join us at 10am in Lynden or 9am in Fairhaven to be first in line for exclusive, limitededition Independent Bookstore Day items like the adorable Dragons Love Tacos-inspired onesie for your favoriate bookish baby; the Book Club Journal which offers methods to track your reading life as well as reading lists from greats such as David Sedaris, Stephen King, and John Waters; and a cotton canvas zippered pouch that features a quote from Colson Whitehead’s inspirational National Book Award speech: “Be Kind to Everybody. Make Art. Fight the Power.”

Check out the live “writers in the window” scene featuring local authors in the front window of our Fairhaven store and stick around for more fun throughout the day. Enjoy a treat and every half hour, take your chance with the always-popular BOOK WALK. Jump on a number for your chance to win a prize!

Finishing off the day will be presentations by local authors at both stores: At 4pm in Lynden, Lou McKee will be our featured author as she presents her beautiful book, The Klee Wyck Journal. At 7pm in Fairhaven, we will round out the day with a special event featuring celebrated local authors J.L.Oakley and Mike Impero in the Readings Gallery. We can't wait to celebrate Independent Bookstore Day with you!

Exclusive Independent Bookstore Day Items Limited quantities - don't miss out!

Never Miss Out! Follow Village Books on Twitter.

Each day we tweet about book events, new books, and book-related topics. We are @VillageBksBham.

Like us on Facebook! Make sure to select Get Notifications so you'll always see our posts about local events and other book-related topics. Go to Facebook.com/VillageBooks.

Find and follow Village Books and Paper Dreams on Instagram (village_books). #Tag your favorite VB/PD photos! We post beautiful, behind-the-scenes images of staff book and gift favorites, new arrivals, author events, specials, and even an occasional fun contest or two.

12

Spring 2018

Fairhaven Store Hours: Monday-Saturday 9am-9pm • Sunday 10am-7pm

FICTION New & Upcoming Hardcover FICTION Pick up or pre-order your copies today!

The Bookworm

by Mitch Silver

available now, hardcover, Pegasus Books

Europe, 1940: Posing as a friar, a British operative talks his way into a monastery just before Nazi art thieves plan to sweep through the area. But the ersatz man of the cloth is no thief. Instead, that night he adds an old leather Bible to the monastery’s library and then escapes. London, 2017: A construction worker operating a backhoe makes a grisly discovery—a skeletal arm-bone with a rusty handcuff attached to the wrist. The woman who will put these two disparate events together—and understand the looming tragedy she must hurry to prevent—is Russian historian and former Soviet chess champion Larissa Mendelovg Klimt, “Lara the Bookworm” to her friends.

The Overstory

by Richard Powers available in April, hardcover, W.W. Norton

The stories of individuals, humans and trees, and their wider communities, branch and intertwine in a complex vision of nature...life. The Overstory urges its readers to see, listen, and be still. Powers, in my opinion, is the most powerful living writer in America and this masterpiece is breathtakingly, heartbreakingly gorgeous. "Listen. There's something you need to hear." –Trees in The Overstory –Joan

Only Killers and Thieves

by Paul Howarth

available now, hardcover, Harper

Howarth skillfully uses the fraying relationship between the two brothers—Billy embraces vigilantism with vengeful zeal, while Tommy is revolted by both the carnage and its effect on his brother—to illustrate the moral issues at the heart of this story.

His searing descriptions of the outback provide a backdrop as bleak and merciless as the characters who move against it.” –Publishers Weekly

Shop 24/7 at villagebooks.com

FICTION

The Pisces

by Melissa Broder available in May, hardcover, Hogarth

The author of the essay collection So Sad Today doesn’t hold herself back in novel form—in fact this book might be even more bonkers (in a good way). Packed with extremely flawed, undignified, realistic, anxious, unladylike female characters, you will either love it, be extremely uncomfortable, or (like me) both. Avoid spoilers and go in blind for best results. –Stephanie

White Houses

by Amy Bloom

available now, hardcover, Random House

This novel is inspired by Lorena Hickok’s life and by her relationship with beloved Eleanor Roosevelt, the “First Lady of the World.” Hickok was the AP reporter who became “First Friend” and the love of Eleanor’s life. White Houses takes us behind the scenes in the Roosevelt White House, where Lorena lived, and follows Hickok’s life and the ups and downs of being “First Friend.”

The Lost Girls of Camp Forevermore

by Kim Fu

available now, hardcover, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

A group of young girls descend on Camp Forevermore, a sleepaway camp in the Pacific Northwest. Filled with excitement and nervous energy, they set off on an overnight kayaking trip to a nearby island. But before the night is over, they find themselves stranded, with no adults to help them survive or guide them home. The Lost Girls of Camp Forevermore traces these five girls through and beyond this fateful trip. We see them through successes and failures, loving relationships and heartbreaks; we see what it means to find, and define, oneself, and the ways in which the same experience is refracted through different people.

Listings with this symbol are INDIES INTRODUCE DEBUT AUTHORS titles. These outstanding books by first-time authors were chosen by independent booksellers to share with readers everywhere. Discover fresh new talent!

Spring 2018

13

VB Reads...

Book Groups

Village Books Groups are Open to Everyone Join us!

Afternoon Book Chat

Bring your tea or latte and come discuss contemporary literature with Sittrea the 2nd Wednesday of each month at 1pm in the Readings Gallery—open to all!

Living With Meaning This book group aims to learn and share perspectives on what makes a meaningful life. Join us in the Readings Gallery the 1st Wednesday of the month at 2:00pm

General Lit

Discuss books from a variety of genres with Cindi at 7pm the 1st Monday of each month in the VB Readings Gallery.

This group is open to anyone and everyone who enjoys reading and discussing books.

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.

Bellingham Mysterians

Mystery Book Group

Speculative Fiction

Meets at 4pm the 3rd Tuesday of each month in the Writers' Corner on the mezzanine level of Village Books. Do you love a mystery? So do we! This is a book group for adults who are fans of the genre in all its sub-categories and micro-niches.

This group meets the 3rd Monday of the month at 7pm to discuss thought-provoking speculative fiction in a group that welcomes diversity.

Meetings take place in the Writers' Corner on the mezzanine level of Village Books.

Armchair Historians Chat about, discuss, and dissect the most current and interesting history being written the 2nd Monday of every month at 7pm in the Writers' Corner at Village Books.

Y.A. for Adults This is a book group for adults who are tired of always acting like an adult. We will be reading everything and anything Young Adult. Join us on the 2nd Tuesday of the month at 6:30pm in the Writers' Corner on the mezzanine level of Village Books.

Engaged Citizens Book Group Meets the 3rd Wednesday of each month at noon in the Readings Gallery. Join Mary Dumas for a thought-provoking lunch hour discussing books that ask us to consider how we, as community members, can more skillfully contribute to the creation of a civilly engaged community.

VB Reads book groups are open to anyone in the community.

There is no group membership. However, those who attend are eligible for a 15% discount on that group's selections. All groups with the exception of the Lynden Front Streeters meet at Village Books in Fairhaven.

Each month, VB's Book Group Coordinator sends out a fantastic enewsletter, specifically geared for book groups Sign up for this newsletter at villagebooks.com or by emailing bookgroups@villagebooks.com.

Groups are open to everyone Authors do not attend VB Reads

Lynden Front Streeters We're happy to introduce our first Lynden book group! Join Cherie and Hannah at 6pm on the last Thursday of each month in the Waples Room in the Inn at Lynden. Good books, good people, good times! Join us.

New!

Go to villagebooks.com to see the monthly book selections for these groups!

Contact bookgroups@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 e-newsletter.

14

Spring 2018

Shop 24 hours a day at villagebooks.com

FICTION New & Upcoming Hardcover FICTION

FICTION

Varina

Song of the Captive Bird

available in April, hardcover, Ecco

available now, hardcover, Ballantine Books

In his powerful fourth novel, Charles Frazier returns to the time and place of Cold Mountain, vividly bringing to life the chaos and devastation of the Civil War. Intimate in its detailed observations of one woman’s tragic life and epic in its scope and power, Varina is a novel of an American war and its aftermath. Village Books co-owner Kelly Evert LOVES this book!

Forugh’s poetry was banned in Iran, the presses that printed her work burned to the ground, and citizens forced to hide away their treasured collections of her verses. To this day, Forugh Farrokhzad represents the birth of feminism in Iran, and Jasmin Darznik uses the lens of fiction to capture the tenacity, spirit, and ecstatic turmoil of this iconic woman’s story.

by Charles Frazier

by Jasmin Darznik

Where the Dead Sit Talking

Macbeth

available now, hardcover, Soho Press

available in April, hardcover, Hogarth Shakespeare

by Brandom Hobson

With his single mother in jail, Sequoyah, a 15-year-old Cherokee boy, is placed in foster care with the Troutt family when he meets 17-year-old Rosemary, another youth staying with the Troutts. Sequoyah and Rosemary bond over their shared Native American background and tumultuous paths through the foster care system, but as Sequoyah’s feelings towards Rosemary deepen, the precariousness of their lives and the scars of their pasts threaten to undo them both.

The Hellfire Club

by Jake Tapper available in May, hardcover, Little, Brown and Co. Tapper's novel is set in 1954 Washington, D.C. amid McCarthy hearings and the rise of the Kennedy brothers. As only a Washington insider can—Tapper is CNN's chief Washington correspondent—this book exposes conspiracies that are better explained through fiction. This is a pageturning political thriller that holds a mirror up to our current government and society.

The Woman in the Window

by A. J. Finn

available now, hardcover, William Morrow & Co.

Loved Gone Girl, Girl on the Train, In A Dark, Dark Wood? This is the book for you! What a crafty, suspenseful ride!

And as a Hitchcock fan myself, I loved all the tid-bits of old thrillers and film noir references that are mixed into the story.

This book is sure to keep you guessing and on the edge of your seat the whole time. –Lauren S.

360.671.2626 • 800.392.BOOK • villagebooks.com

by Jo Nesbo

Oh, how I love the Hogarth Shakespeare series! And who else could take on Macbeth better than Nesbo? Set in an un-named Vegas-like European city in the 1970s, we see all the key players. Macbeth is the head of SWAT, the corrupt police squad tasked with taking down a drug lord. Macbeth and Lady's descent into addiction, madness, and moral decay is gritty and complex.

So, so satisfying. –Claire

The City Where We Once Lived

by Eric Barnes

available in March, hardcover, Arcade Publishing

The City Where We Once Lived is a haunting novel of the near future that combines a prescient look at how climate change and industrial flight will shape our world. With glowing prose, Eric Barnes brings into sharp focus questions of how we come to call a place home and what is our capacity for violence when that home becomes threatened.

Big Guns

by Steve Israel available in April, hardcover, Simon and Schuster When Chicago’s Mayor Michael Rodriguez starts a national campaign to ban handguns from America’s cities, towns, and villages, Otis Cogsworth, the wealthy chairman and CEO of Cogsworth International Arms, worries about the effects on his company. In response he and lobbyist Sunny McCarthy convince an Arkansas congressman to introduce federal legislation mandating that every American must own a firearm. Events soon escalate.

Spring 2018

15

Laura & Emma

by Kate Greathead available in March, hardcover, Simon and Schuster Told in vignettes with meditations on everything from sex and death to insomnia and the catharsis of crying on the subway, a textured portrait emerges of a woman struggling to understand herself, her daughter, and the changing landscape of New York City in the eighties and nineties. Greathead is a new author whose offbeat sensibility, understated wit, and stylish prose celebrate the comedy and pathos that make us human.

The Night Child

by Anna Quinn

available now, hardcover, Blackstone Publishing

Nora Brown is a teacher in Seattle whose reality is becoming splintered.

Recently, she has been having visions of a little girl and as she delves into the origin of these sightings, she uncovers memories long buried. This is a compelling book about healing and coming to terms with our pasts. –Claire Join us for a FREE EVENT with author

Anna Quinn Saturday, March 3, 7pm At Village Books in Fairhaven

Traitor

By Jonathan de Shalit available now, hardcover, Atria/Emily Bestler Books

Jonathan de Shalit is the pen name of a former top officer for the Mossad, Israel's acclaimed and feared secret service. He knows what he's writing about and the novel absolutely rings with authenticity and experience. Anyone who knows his real name has had to sign a non-disclosure agreement. This novel was also read and cleared for publication by the Mossad.

The Eight Mountains

by Paolo Cognetti available in March, hardcover, Atria

A modern Italian masterpiece, The Eight Mountains is a lyrical coming-of-age story about the power of male friendships and the enduring bond between fathers and sons. “There are no more universal themes than those of the landscape, friendship, and becoming adults, and Cognetti’s writing becomes classical (and elegant) to best tell this story…a true novel by a great writer."

–Rolling Stone Italia

16

Spring 2018

hardcover

FICTION

Anatomy of a Scandal

By Sarah Vaughan available now, hardcover, Atria/Emily Bestler Books

Anatomy of a Scandal gets inside the heads of its main characters and explores their moral choices with impressive skill.

Nobody gets off scott-free in this novel; life is complicated and humans are flawed, and despite the fact that sometimes we'd like to think things are black and white, they very rarely are.

The Italian Teacher

by Tom Rachman available in March, hardcover, Viking Conceived while his father, Bear, cavorted around Rome in the 1950s, Pinch learns quickly that Bear’s genius trumps all. After Bear abandons his family, Pinch strives to make himself worthy of his father’s attention, eventually settling, disillusioned, into a job as an Italian teacher in London.

But when Bear dies, Pinch hatches a scheme to secure his father’s legacy—and make his own mark on the world.

Tangerine

by Christine Mangan available in March, hardcover, Harper Collins

A noir-like suspenseful read set in Tangier, North Africa. It is a story of two females tangled in a psychological friendship that finds them in a romantic passion that turns into an obsession. It is as if Daphne Du Maurier and Hitchcock have teamed up once more for a dark and steamy story. This is a debut novel

by Christine Mangan though it reads like she has been writing a lifetime. Rumor has it movie rights are being discussed.

So read it first! –Kelly E.

The Soul of a Thief

by Steven Hartov available in April, hardcover, Hanover Square

“The Soul of a Thief is a war drama, a catand-mouse thriller and a coming-of-age love story, all wrapped into a terrific and compulsive read. Hartov offers a novel and human perspective of the German side of the Second World War through the eyes of one young reluctant recruit and the enigmatic colonel whom he admires, fears and, ultimately, plots to outwit.” —Daniel Kalla, author of Nightfall Over Shanghai

Building Community One Book at a Time

hardcover

FICTION

Sometimes I Lie

by Alice Feeney

available in March, hardcover, Flatiron

“Tightly plotted, superbly written, this is a thriller that grabs you and holds you in its thrall. This story of a woman in a coma recalling the violence in her life gave me just enough information to remain entirely gripped yet sufficiently little that I didn’t know where I’d find the answers.”

–Nicholas Searle, author of The Good Liar

Promise

by Minrose Gwin available now, hardcover, William Morrow

“The story of the Civil Rights movement has been written large in literature and painted across movie screens, but in this, at times poetical, always exquisitely written novel, the story becomes that of a million small injuries that make up the story of hatred and prejudice. I cannot remember when last I was as mesmerized by a book, or as moved by its message.” –Cape Town Times

The Female Persuasion

Asymmetry

by Lisa Halliday available now, hardcover, Simon and Schuster

"Lisa Halliday's debut novel starts like a story you've heard, only to become a book unlike any you've read. The initial mystery is how its pieces fit together; the lasting one is how she pulled the whole thing off.

Deft, funny, and humane, Asymmetry is a profoundly necessary political novel about the place for art in an unjust world." –Chad Harbach, author of The Art of Fielding

The House of Impossible Beauties

by Joseph Cassara available now, hardcover, Ecco

Based on the historic House of Extravaganza, this novel is about young gay and transgender kids coming of age in the ball scene of New York in the eighties. Of course it's tragic, but what made me weep, more than any book I've read as an adult, is the almost unbearable sweetness between the characters and Cassara's loving and beautiful writing. –Joan

The House of Broken Angels

by Meg Wolitzer available in April, hardcover, Riverhead

Charming and wise, knowing and witty, Wolitzer delivers a novel about power and influence, ego and loyalty, womanhood and ambition. It is about the flame we all believe is flickering inside of us. It’s a story about the people who guide and the people who follow, and the desire within all of us to be pulled into the light.

by Luis Alberto Urrea available in March, hardcover, Little, Brown and Co.

"Luis Alberto Urrea's House of Broken Angels is a poignant, amusing look at Big Angel, a man who has guided his family across two lives and one border.

This book is an instant classic and its universal themes of death, family, and cultural identity will make it one of the most discussed, beloved books of 2018."

–Tom McIntyre, HBG sales representative

Census

The Brightest Sun

by Jesse Ball available now, hardcover, Ecco

"I have read a lot of very good books lately but this book really stands out. It really moved me. There is a power to this story and he writes so many great scenes. I was blown away. I had to go back and re-read parts. It's an amazing telling." –Gabrielle Barillas, Harper sales representative

by Adrienne Benson available in March, hardcover, Park Row

Set in sub-Saharan Africa in the 1990s, The Brightest Sun brings to life the striking Kenyan landscape as three women search for home and family in places they never thought they could. As their lives intertwine in unexpected ways, each must face their own challenges and in doing so, they find there is strength traversing the arid landscapes of tenuous human connection.

Receive our weekly eNewsletter for all the latest event information. Sign up through villagebooks.com today!

FH: 360.671.2626 • LY: 360.526.2133 • villagebooks.com

Spring 2018

17

FICTION FICTIONhardcover

FICTION

Liar's Candle

by August Thomas available now, hardcover, Scribner

"Tightly-plotted, well-written, and astute, Thomas delivers an atmospheric and twisty spy thriller that manages to be both assured and fresh. With a colorful, authentic sense of place, a rocket-paced plot full of deception and betrayal, and a young, naive heroine at its center, this is both an exciting story of espionage and a compelling coming of age tale."—Lisa Unger, author of The Red Hunter

My Dear Hamilton :

FICTION ANTHOLOGY

by Molly McCloskey available now, hardcover, Scribner

Molly McCloskey has created the story of a marriage, a nation, an affair that is so specific in its geography but has the capacity to connect to anyone who has felt displaced in a life of their own choosing and mistaken in their understanding of themselves.

Straying is full of small moments that kaleidoscope into huge movements of the heart; its story is simple like a poem and its prose is like a saga. I was pulled in completely. –Hannah

available in March, hardcover, Arcade Publishing

Based on a historical rebellion, awardwinning writer Jane Harris peoples her daring novel with unforgettable characters. Recounted by Lucien, he and his older brother are forced on a doomed mission to steal slaves from the British.

This is a story of courage, disaster, and love, and also a testament to the tenacity of the human spirit under the crush of unspeakable cruelty.

I pledge to buy one more book from an Indie and one less from online sellers & chain stores.

SHORT STORIES

It Occurs to Me That I Am America :

Awayland : Stories

edited by Richard Russo, Joyce Carol Oates, Neil Gaiman, Lee Child, Mary Higgins Clark, Jonathan Santlofer available now, hardcover, Touchstone When Donald Trump claimed victory last November, the U.S. literary world erupted in indignation. In this book, more than 30 of the most acclaimed modern writers and artists consider the fundamental ideals of a free, just, and compassionate democracy. This fiction anthology is a beautiful collection that will resonate with anyone concerned with the contest for our American soul.

Spring 2018

Straying

by Jane Harris

by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie available in April, hardcover, William Morrow

The women who wrote America’s First Daughter have given us another well-researched, fascinating look at American history, this time from the point of view of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton, daughter of General Philip Schuyler, wife of Alexander Hamilton, and an important historical figure in her own right. She participated in the Revolutionary War effort, helped her husband with his writings and saved and organized these works after his death. She helped found the first orphanage in New York and served as its director. Eliza Schuyler Hamilton lived through fascinating and tumultuous times, which Dray and Kamoie narrate brilliantly. -Terri

18

FICTION

Sugar Money

A Novel of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton

New Stories and Art

upcoming

by Ramona Ausubel

available in March, hardcover, Riverhead

Addressing both the mythical and the ordinary, Awayland is a study in the confluence of opposite forces. Death and pregnancy, gods and people, themes that seem like they should be far apart coexist and even complement each other. Ausubel’s writing is contemplative, internal, occasionally fantastical and funny. To call this collection quirky is accurate but reductive, as this is a sophisticated book I will return to many times. –Stephanie

Fairhaven Store Hours: Monday-Saturday 9am-9pm • Sunday 10am-7pm

FICTION FICTIONupcoming

FICTION

hardcover

FICTION

Lawn Boy

by Jonathan Evison available in April, hardcover, Algonquin

&

Don't Skip Out On Me

by Willy Vlautin

available now, hardcover, Harper Perennial

We couldn't think of a better combination than these two authors to appear together on the Chuckanut Radio Hour. And as it happens their books are a perfect complement to each other. The lead characters of each of these novels could easily be friends were they to appear in the same story. Mike Munoz of Evison's Lawn Boy, and Horace Hopper of Vlautin's Don't Skip Out On Me, are both young men trying to find their place in the world. Munoz is half-Mexican and Hopper is halfPaiute and this dichotomy is something each struggles with throughout the novels.

One is a landscape gardener/would-be writer, and the other aspires to be a pro boxer. And each young man is good at heart and giving to anyone that needs help. I can't wait to hear Everson & Vlautin have a conversation about these endearing characters at the April 11 Chuckanut Radio Hour. It's sure to be a hoot! –Claire

Join us for

The Chuckanut Radio Hour featuring authors

Willy Vlautin & Jonathan Evison Thursday, April 11, 6:30pm in the Heiner Theater at WCC TICKETS $5: available at Village Books and brownpapertickets.com. Receive one free ticket with each purchase of Don't Skip Out on Me and Lawn Boy.

This Could Hurt

by Jillian Medoff

available now, hardcover, Harper

Jillian Medoff explores the inner workings of an American company in all its brilliant, insane, comforting, and terrifying glory.

Authentic, razor-sharp, and achingly funny, This Could Hurt is a novel about work, loneliness, love, and loyalty; about sudden reversals and unexpected windfalls—a novel about life.

Check out our

Literature Live event schedule on pages 73-78 and mark your calendar so you don't miss out!

Lawn Boy

by Jonathan Evison Mike Munoz is a young, smart man who has a flair for landscape design, but life is tough for Mike. He lives just off Bainbridge Island in a world of trying to make it. He has to look after his disabled brother, and his car and lawn mower keep breaking down and his mother is always away working as many shifts at the local motel as she can. The writing is comical, raunchy—in an Evison way—and expertly written. It's even more funny as I lived in that part of the state and Evison doesn't sugar coat anything, I can assure you. So fun I'm looking forward to reading it again. –Kelly E.

Pre-order your book and we'll call you as soon as it's in!

The Wolves of Winter

by Tyrell Johnson

available now, hardcover, Scribner

From a native son of Bellingham comes a compelling novel of survival postepidemic. A super flu has decimated much of the population of North America and Lynn McBride and her family have fled to the remote reaches of Canada to survive on their own. Lynn is on par with Katniss of the Hunger Games, so be ready to fall in love with this strong, young woman. –Claire Join us for a FREE EVENT with author

Tyrell Johnson Friday, March 16, 7pm At Village Books in Fairhaven

Shop 24/7 at villagebooks.com

Spring 2018

19

FICTION FICTIONpaperback White Tears

The Idiot

available now, paperback, Vintage

available now, paperback, Penguin

While walking through the park one day recording ambient noise, audiophile Seth catches a deeply affecting blues song sung by a mysterious man. When his best friend and business partner Carter stumbles across it, they set into motion a dark and violent mystery that might be impossible to escape.

Kunzru deftly weaves themes of race, white privilege, and cultural appropriation into this original and highly compelling novel. –Stephanie

If you thought the world didn’t need one more book about a sheltered young woman finding herself through college, falling in love, and traveling the world, The Idiot might just prove you wrong. Selin, our narrator, describes the ridiculousness of her Ivy League education and worldly experiences with the detachment of an alien describing a new and strange world. Her fierce intelligence and total lack of pretension make for a relatable and surprisingly hilarious book. –Stephanie

by Elif Batuman

by Hari Kunzru

Shop 24/7 at villagebooks.com!

Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions

March MYSTERY FICTION

by Mario Giordano

available in March, hardcover, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

On her 60th birthday, Auntie Poldi retires to Sicily, intending to while away the rest of her days with good wine, a view of the sea, and few visitors. But Sicily isn’t quite the tranquil island she thought it would be.

When her handsome young handyman goes missing and is discovered murdered, she can’t help but ask questions. Soon there’s an investigation, a smoldering police inspector, a romantic entanglement, one false lead after another, a rooftop showdown, and finally, of course, Poldi herself, slightly tousled but still perfectly poised.

The Temptation of Forgiveness : A Commissario

by Donna Leon

Earthly Remains :

available in March, hardcover, Atlantic Monthly Press

The memorable characters and Venetian drama that have long captivated Donna Leon’s many readers are on full display in The Temptation of Forgiveness. In the 27th novel of this bestselling mystery series, a suspicious accident leads Commissario Guido Brunetti to uncover a longstanding scam with disturbing unintended consequences. Fans of the series, don’t miss this one!

Spring 2018

A Maisie Dobbs Novel

by Jacqueline Winspear available in March, hardcover, Harper

Maisie Dobbs is asked to investigate the disappearance of a local lad, a young apprentice craftsman working on a “hush-hush” government contract. As Maisie’s inquiry reveals a possible link to the London underworld, another mother is worried about a missing son—but this time the boy in question is one beloved by Maisie.

Now in Paperback!

Guido Brunetti Mystery

20

To Die but Once :

A Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery

by Donna Leon

available in March, paperback, Grove Press

This novel in the New York Times bestselling series by Donna Leon sees Commissario Brunetti retreat to a quiet island in the laguna, but his break is interrupted by a case of guilt and grief.

Fairhaven Store Hours: Monday-Saturday 9am-9pm • Sunday 10am-7pm

FICTION FICTIONpaperback

FICTION

The Scooter Chronicles :

paperback

FICTION

The Changeling

A Southern California Modyssey

by Victor Lavalle

available in March, paperback, IDW Publishing

Apollo Kagwa's wife Emma is acting strange. Uninterested in their new baby, she seems at first to have post-partum depression, but it quickly becomes clear that her troubles go far beyond that.

Before Apollo can do anything to help, Emma commits a horrific act and vanishes, seemingly into thin air. Thus begins Apollo’s odyssey through a world he only thought he understood to find a wife and child who are nothing like he’d imagined.

by Shahriar Fouladi

That Tommy Daniels is Mod-obsessed is no understatement: buying a scooter is the ultimate goal of his young life. When he hits the road on his search, it will be the strangest, most shocking three days imaginable, and he’ll encounter a host of colorful characters, including a jerk cop and the Mod girl of his dreams, but nothing’s going to stand in his way.

available in March, paperback, Spiegel & Grau

Miss Burma

The Heart's Invisible Furies

available in March, paperback, Grove Press

available in March, paperback, Hogarth

A beautiful and poignant story of one family during the most violent and turbulent years of world history, Miss Burma is a powerful novel of love and war, colonialism and ethnicity, and the ties of blood. "(It) left me satisfied, enlightened, and yearning to learn more." –Paul Charmaine Craig is on the faculty of the Chuckanut Writers Conference in June! (see page )

My number one favorite book of 2017 is now available in paperback! Besides the beautiful way Boyne crafted this tale, Cyril Avery's story made me ache for him, sometimes with sadness but often with laughter. His life of heartbreak and reconciliation made this story remarkable and unforgettable. A true masterpiece, and I don't say that very often! –Lauren S.

by Charmaine Craig

Winner of 2017 Nancy Pearl Book Award

by John Boyne

My Lady's Choosing : An Interactive Romance Novel

by Kitty Curran and Larissa Zageris available in April, paperback, Quirk Books

by Ashley E. Sweeney

You are the plucky but penniless heroine in the center of 18th-century society, courtship season has begun, and your future is at hand. Will you flip forward fetchingly to find love with the bantering baronet Sir Benedict Granville? Or turn the page to true love with the hardworking, horse-loving highlander Captain Angus McTaggart? Make choices, turn pages, and discover all the daring delights of the multiple (and intertwining!) storylines.

Spoils

by Brian Van Reet available in April, paperback, Back Bay Books

A young widow leaves her stagnant life in the San Juan Islands to join the tumultuous Klondike Gold Rush.

She Writes Press ISBN (13) 978-1-63152-058-7 Shop 24/7 at villagebooks.com

"Former army tank-gunner Brian Van Reet has written an intense anti-war novel set during the Iraqi War at the precise instant when victory and defeat hung in the balance for the American forces. Like Yellow Birds, Van Reet's prose possesses a rare musicality, while telling this compelling story from three perspectives, including a lifelong Jihadist who begins to question his own motivations."

– Tom McIntyre, HBG sales representative

Spring 2018

21

Lauren and Stephanie receive

HOLIDAY BONUSES from author James Patterson

B

ooksellers believe in Santa Claus. His name is James Patterson. Since 2015, the bestselling author has awarded holiday bonuses to select booksellers. This year, our own Stephanie Douglas and Lauren Sommer were among the more than 300 bookstore employees to be awarded grants totaling $350,000.

Originally from Anacortes where she worked in the public library, bookseller Stephanie will mark seven years at Village Books in April. You may see her performing at local venues with her band The Shows. A Western Washington University graduate, book buyer Lauren has worked at the store for nearly four years. When she’s not at the bookstore, she may be at a local barn where she rides a horse named Fonzie. She also likes to hike local trails with her new puppy, Denali, and to cook with her fiancé.

Bookstore employees nominate co-workers for the honor. “Of all the great people who work here, it’s meaningful to get singled out,” Stephanie says. Both women acknowledge and thank Patterson for creating the program. “It’s nice to have someone say what you do is important,” Stephanie adds.

The bonus was a welcome help with year-end expenses, but Stephanie and Lauren say they’re also grateful for the daily perks of working at an independent bookstore—namely, access to a never-ending stream of books and the opportunity to put great titles into the hands of customers. “We are extremely fortunate to have Stephanie and Lauren in our Village,” says co-owner Sarah Hutton. “They exemplify why Village Books and Paper Dreams continues to thrive—inquisitive, bright minds; a love of reading and community; a respect and genuine concern for their coworkers; and a commitment to creating a store and an experience that customers cherish.”

Graphic Novels FICTION

The Best We Could Do : An Illustrated Memoir

Out in the Open

by Thi Bui

by Jesús Carrasco, adapted by Javi Rey

available in April, paperback, Abrams ComicArts

available in April, hardcover, SelfMadeHero/Abrams

This beautifully illustrated and emotional story is an evocative memoir about the search for a better future and a longing for the past. Exploring the anguish of immigration and the lasting effects that displacement has on a child and her family, Bui documents the story of her family’s daring escape after the fall of South Vietnam in the 1970s, and the difficulties they faced building new lives for themselves. A national bestseller and an ABA Indies Introduce selection in 2017, now in paperback!

After suffering violence and betrayal at home, a young boy flees into an uncompromising landscape ravaged by drought. Without food or water, exposed to the heat of the sun and the violence of his pursuers, the boy sets out across the Spanish plains. Based on the award-winning novel by Jesús Carrasco, Javi Rey’s Out in the Open is a cinematic graphic novel about escaping abuse and finding humanity in a world torn apart by the violence of men.

Enjoy Speculative Fiction? Check out the VB Reads Speculative Fiction Book Group Meetings are the 3rd Monday of each month at 7pm in the Writers' Corner on the mezzanine level of Village Books in Fairhaven.

Go to villagebooks.com for a full list of VB Book Groups and what they're all reading!

22

Spring 2018

Fairhaven Store Hours: Monday-Saturday 9am-9pm • One Sunday Building Community Book10am-7pm at a Time

Science Fiction

Embers of War

by Gareth L. Powell

available now, paperback, Titan Books

For fans of Ann Leckie and Becky Chambers. This is a fun, fast paced space opera with a great mystery and superb characters! After many years of being a weapon in galactic war, the sentient ship Trouble Dog has reversed course and become a rescue vessel; assuaging its guilt for the part it played in genocide. On the way to help a downed cruise ship stranded on an alien artifact called the Brain, it becomes increasingly obvious to Trouble Dog and its crew that unseen forces are trying desperately to prevent the rescue from happening. –Laura P.

Daughters of the Storm

by Kim Wilkins

available in March, hardcover, Del Rey

The King, near death, lies in a magically induced coma. To save their father, and prevent chaos across the kingdom, five daughters set out on a journey to find a cure—even as their conniving step-brother seeks to gather power to himself. The sisters are in search of a lost relative in the wilds of the north who may hold the key to their father’s survival, but their journey will not be an easy one.

The Oracle Year

by Charles Soule

available in April, hardcover, Harper Perenial

The Feed

by Nick Clark Windo available in March, hardcover, William Morrow

The Feed is accessible everywhere, by everyone, at any time. It instantaneously links us to all information and global events as they break. Every interaction, every emotion, every image can be shared through it, it is the essential tool everyone relies on to know and understand the thoughts and feelings of anyone and everyone else in the world. But when it collapses?

When an unassuming Manhattan bassist named Will Dando awakens from a dream one morning with 108 predictions about the future in his head, he rapidly finds himself the most powerful man in the world. Protecting his anonymity, he sets up a heavily guarded website to selectively announce his revelations. The Oracle Year takes readers on a rollicking ride where it’s impossible to predict what will happen next.

Circe

by Madeline Miller

Blackfish City

by Sam J. Miller available in April, hardcover, Harper

“Miller gives us an incisive and beautifully written story of love, revenge, and the power (and failure) of family in a scarily plausible future. Blackfish City simmers with menace and heartache, suspense and wonder. Plus, it has lots of action and a great cast of characters. Not to mention an orca and a polar bear!” –Ann Leckie, author of Ancillary Justice

available in April, hardcover, Little, Brown and Co.

The author of The Song of Achilles delves again into the realm of Greek mythology with her new novel. Circe is a minor immortal, the daughter of Helios and a nymph. As a goddess, Circe doesn’t gain much traction, but she finds her strength and her exile in sorcery, and in that, her place in Homer’s Odyssey. Miller gives Circe her own beautiful, detailed story. Gods, magic, epic travels and the ability to turn annoying men into pigs (!) are all carefully woven into a coherent and page-turning whole. I loved it. –Terri

Dreadful Young Ladies & Other Stories

by Kelly Barnhill

Short Stories

available now, hardcover, Algonquin

From the author of The Girl Who Drank the Moon comes this stunning first collection of acclaimed short fictions, teeming with uncanny characters whose stories unfold in worlds at once strikingly human and eerily original. By an author hailed as “a fantasist on the order of Neil Gaiman” (Minneapolis Star Tribune), the stories in Dreadful Young Ladies feature bold, reality-bending fantasy underscored by rich universal themes of love, death, jealousy, and hope.

Shop 24/7 at villagebooks.com

Spring 2018

23

Inspiration into Action

FACULTY

Friday and Saturday June 22 - 23, 2018

Kathleen Alcalá Daemond Arrindell Paula Becker Kate Carroll de Gutes Claudia Castro Luna Janie Chang Charmaine Craig William Dietrich Jonathan Evison Natalie Goldberg Clelia Gore Iris Graville Jourdan Imani Keith Gary Luke Frances McCue Kevin Murphy Kate Troll Elizabeth Wales Ian Weir Robert Wilder Jane Wong

Whatcom Community College, Bellingham, WA • Study with some of the best writing faculty anywhere.

• Practice your craft in a supportive, collegiate setting.

• Learn valuable writing techniques and gain new insights.

• Interact in person with dynamic authors, literary agents, marketing experts, and fellow writers.

Registration NOW OPEN!

• Enhance your knowledge of the business of writing.

Early Bird pricing through May 22!

• Return home energized, inspired and ready to write.

We invite you to take part in this unique event, one we hope you’ll remember for years to come.

Details and registration at chuckanutwritersconference.com / 360.383.3200

VB Writes... Village Books Groups meet in the Writers' Corner

on the mezzanine level of VB unless otherwise noted

Writing Groups

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.

Poetry I 1st & 3rd Thursdays, 5:30-7pm

Poetry II 1st & 3rd Wednesdays, 10:15-12:15am

f Nontiction & Memoir 1st & 3rd Sundays, 3-5pm

Fiction

2nd & 4th Thursdays, 6-8pm

Prompts 2nd & 4th Mondays, 4-6pm

The Nooksack River Writing Group - In Lynden 2nd & 4th Saturdays, 10-11am - group meets in the Waples Room at the Inn at Lynden.

Read more about each group at villagebooks.com. Please note that meeting times may vary on occasion. Check our events calendar to confirm meeting times. Contact Paul@villagebooks.com for more information.

24

Spring 2018

Fairhaven Store Hours: Monday-Saturday 9am-9pm • Sunday 10am-7pm

Village Books Publishing Begins a New Chapter

V

illage Books not only sells books, we also publish them. Our publishing program brings together project management and high-quality ondemand book production to help local writers get their books in print and in the hands of local readers.

Since 2009, we’ve helped more than 400 authors independently publish their work and followed that up by offering shelf space and author readings to sell the final product. We also design and produce our own local interest non-fiction titles under our Chuckanut Editions imprint; Village Books’ Chuckanut Editions has published more than 30 books since fall 2009. Past titles include Nooksack Wanderings by Bob Kandiko; Big Ole by Todd Warger, Ellen Clark and Ruth Tabrah; Haunted Fairhaven by Taimi Dunn Gorman; It Takes a Village Books by Chuck Robinson; Koma Kulshan: the Story of Mt. Baker by John C. Miles, and most recently, A Higher Perspective by Tore Ofteness.

Publishing Director Brendan Clark has been instrumental in the growth of our publishing program.

Now, he is moving on to new endeavors. After a college internship in the Village Books office, he moved to the bookstore floor in 2011. You may also recognize him as a used book buyer, our order fulfillment team lead, and the floor manager for the Chuckanut Radio Hour. “We are going to miss Brendan’s stellar project management, editing and design skills,” co-owner Paul Hanson says. “He is tremendously Chuckanut talented. We are grateful for the amazing contributions he made during his years at Village Books. I Editions know all of us have appreciated his easy-going style, smile and good humor.” Planning to leave the store in April, Brendan has been busy preparing booksellers Kelli Terpsma and Candee Blanc to take over the publishing program. “Kelli and Candee have filled in for Brendan in the past,” Paul says. “We know they’ll continue Brendan’s legacy of service and encouragement for local writers.”

For more information about Village Books publishing program or Chuckanut Editions, visit publishing services under the Writers’ Corner tab on our website (villagebooks.com) or email publishing@villagebooks.com.

Village Books Receives Inaugural

IngramSpark Ignite Award Best Practices in Community Engagement These awards honor bookstores, publishers, and libraries that exhibited outstanding indie publishing best practices in 2017.

We are very proud to be included among the recipients.

Shop 24/7 at villagebooks.com

“As the publishing landscape changes, we’ve seen non-traditional publishers make strides in the quality and success of their content across the world. We’re inspired by their contribution to influence the publishing industry and knew it was time to recognize these individuals and organizations for their achievements.”

– Robin Cutler, Director of IngramSpark.

Spring 2018

25

SUNDAY, APRIL 22, 2018 AN INTIMATE LITERARY GATHERING APRIL 13 TO 15, 2018

promo code CHUCKANUT for $5 off

Pulitzer Prize-winning and critically-acclaimed authors, poets and workshops at Orcas Center

www.OILF.org

Bellingham

City Club

Join us for lively, non-partisan programs each month with interesting speakers on important issues in our community.

Everyone welcome Doors open: 11:30 a.m. Lunch program: 12 - 1:30 p.m. the 4th Wednesday of each month at Northwood Hall FOR PROGRAM INFORMATION AND PRICING

www.bellinghamcityclub.org 26

Spring 2018

Building Community One Book at a Time

Chuckanut Writers Conferences, classes, and retreats for your writing life

COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Village Books and WCC Community & Continuing Education are offering 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. Check out these upcoming classes: • Turning Real Life into Fiction with Roby Blecker Thursdays, April 12 - April 26, 9:30am -4:30pm at WCC (3 sessions) $259

• Writing to Inspire with Roby Blecker Wednesdays, March 7 - March 21, 6:30-8:30pm at WCC (3 sessions) $95 • The Creative Article: Quickest Way To Publication with Brenda Wilbee Thursdays, March 15 - 29, 6-8:30pm at WCC (3 sessions) $95

• Writing Children's Books with Rebecca Van Slyke Tuesdays, April 17 - May 8, 6:30-8pm at Village Books & Paper Dreams in Lynden (4 sessions) $89

• Warm Up with Writing! with Jay S. Nahani Saturday, March 17, 10am-4pm at WCC (1 session) $79 • Poetry Workshop: Cinnamon Poetry Words with J.R. Lara Month!

Wednesday, April 4,6-8pm at WCC (1 session) $35 • Putting Pen to Page: Writing no Matter What with Jennifer Wilhoit Thursday, April 5, 5pm-6:45pm at Village Books in Fairhaven (1 session) $35 Stay and join Wilhoit for a reading at VB in Fairhaven at 7pm

• Writing as a Path to Awakening Join DeSilver with Albert Flynn DeSilver for a reading at Wednesday, April 18, 1-5pm Village Books in at WCC (1 session) $69 Fairhaven at 7pm

Poetry Month!

• Life Lines: Writing Poetry from Life Experience with Ryler Dustin Monday, April 30, 1-5pm at Village Books in Fairhaven (1 session) $59 • The Gentle Art of Critiquing with Roby Blecker Thursdays, May 3 & May 10, 6-8pm at WCC (2 sessions) $59

• Hybrid Forms: The Lyric Essay with J.R. Lara Mondays & Wednesdays, April 9 - May 2, 5:30-7pm at WCC (8 sessions) $169

• Wild Mind Writing II: Practice and Form with Nancy Lou Canyon Tuesdays, May 8 - 22, 6-8:30pm at WCC (3 sessions) $115

• Creating and Sustaining a Writing Practice with Joel Gillman Tuesdays, April 10 - May 8, 6:30am-8:30pm at WCC (5 sessions) $139

• A Writer's Guide to Wildly Successful Public Readings with Jes Stone Sunday, May 20, 10am-2pm at Village Books in Fairhaven (1 session) $59

Register Now!

Read class descriptions and reserve your space today at

whatcomcommunityed.com

You can also register by calling 360-383-3200.

Note: additions and changes may occur.

FH: 360.671.2626 • LY: 360.526.2133 • villagebooks.com

Spring 2018

27

Quench

your thirst!

Bed & Brew

Package (just $30 with any room reservation)

for

ur

us ss H . - F n n Joi pine Mo p Ha pm 6 3-

ri.

28

Spring 2018

o

804 10th St. 360.756.1005 thechrysalisinn.com

Join us for

Happiness Hour

Fairhaven Store Hours: Monday-Saturday 9am-9pm • Sunday 10am-7pm

Essays

See What Can Be Done : Essays, Criticism, and Commentary

by Lorrie Moore

Feel Free : Essays

available in April, hardcover, Knopf

More than 50 prose pieces, gathered together for the first time, by one of America’s most revered and admired novelists and short-story writers, whose articles, essays, and cultural commentary—appearing in The New York Review of Books, The New York Times Book Review, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Guardian, Harper’s Magazine, and elsewhere—have been parsing the political, artistic, and media idiom for the last three decades.

Black Ink : Literary Legends on the Peril, Power, and Pleasure of Reading and Writing edited by Stephanie Stokes Oliver available now, hardcover, Atria/37 Ink

Spanning 250 years, this carefully curated collection of 25 essays features the earliest black authors who wrote as means of resistance in a time when their literacy was illegal and the brilliant writers who have continued their legacyutilizing the power of the written word to create change, insert a diversity of experience into the "mainstream," and make a profound impact on our communities and the world.

Looking for your next favorite read? We've got you covered.

Check out our blog at villagebooks.com for an inspiring list of staff favorites from 2017. Here are a few from that list:

Moxie

by Zadie Smith

available now, hardcover, Penguin

Zadie Smith’s mind amazes me, especially because she is so self-effacing in person.

Her essays in Feel Free run the gamut of race and class, politics and history, music and literature, life and love, and what holds them all together is her ability to see beyond the surface of things and to capture what so many of us are feeling, yet are afraid to say. This collection of essays bears deep reading and many readings.

Feel free to dive in. –Hannah Zadie Smith is much more than a novelist, she is an insightful chronicler and critic of every subject she tackles. This essay collection covers music, art, travel, book reviews, politics and more, all with equal skill and passion. Some pieces are previously published and some are new, so there is much to satisfy even those who think they’ve already read everything Smith has to offer. —Stephanie

Best of 2017

Village Books Staff Favorites

The History of Bees

by Jennifer Mathieu

by Maja Lunde

"Riot Grrl makes my heart thump and sing and Mathieu captures a moment when the lessons of the '90s movement come to the rescue for a modern day young woman. Perfect for anyone who has been crafting and marching lately." –Sarah

"A wonderful telling of possibility across three generations of bee keepers.

Across time, Lunde weaves a story of loss and complexity that paints a picture of a reality we may soon see unfold. What would happen if the bees disappeared?

Delving into a series of intertwining stories, Lunde plays out this fear in a beautifully written novel that is a must read from 2017!" –Autumn Skye

Lincoln in the Bardo

by George Saunders "I loved this book for its utter originality and dark humor—what a masterpiece of writing!"

–Laura P.

A Gentleman in Moscow

by Amor Towles "A beautifully written book about a gentleman living in a hotel under house arrest during the revelation.

Truly War and Peace meets Eloise! Towles describes scenes with humor and magical prose." –Kelly E.

Shop 24/7 at villagebooks.com

Spring 2018

29

30

Spring 2018

Building Community One Book at a Time

Eat a Little Better : Great Flavor, Good Heath, Better World

by Sam Kass

available in March, hardcover, Clarkson Potter

Sam Kass, former chef to the Obamas and White House food policy advisor, makes it easier to do a little better for your diet—and the environment—every day, through smart ways to think about shopping, setting up your kitchen so the healthy stuff comes to hand most naturally, and through 90 delicious, simple recipes.

Platters and Boards : Beautiful, Casual Spreads for Every Occasion

by Shelly Westerhausen with Wyatt Worcel

available in March, hardcover, Chronicle Books

This visual cornucopia of a cookbook is THE guide to entertaining with effortless style. Celebrated author and food blogger Shelly Westerhausen shares the secrets to creating casually chic spreads anyone can make and everyone will enjoy. Organized by time of day, 40 contemporary arrangements are presented with gorgeous photography, easy to prepare recipes, suggested meat and drink pairings, and notes on preparation and presentation.

Helpful advice includes tips on portioning, picking surfaces and vessels, pairing complementary textures and flavors, plus a handy chart featuring board suggestions for a variety of occasions.

COOKING Find the cookbooks along with fun food and cooking items in Paper Dreams!

Pepper : From Around the World, Stories & Recipes

by Erwann de Kerros, Bénédicte Bortoli, photography by Guillaume Czerw available in March, hardcover, Abrams

Pepper is an essential seasoning, but one that is easy to take for granted.

Here, Erwann de Kerros, a professional spice hunter, and food writer Bénédicte Bortoli introduce the vast varieties of pepper, showing how the origins and quality of the pepper we use directly affect the enjoyment of our food. Featuring more than 50 flavorful varieties, the book depicts the unique colors and shapes of different berries and peppercorns in beautiful detail, alongside flavor profiles, suggestions for uses, and botanical analysis, making it a definitive guide to one of the most significant spices.

Save the Date!

Saturday, May 12, 7pm SUSAN SOKOL BLOSSER Wine Tasting & Book Event!

The Vineyard Years

Linen

Tea Towels High quality, hand-printed, and cute!

Northwest Cooking By the Shore : Explore the Pacific Northwest Coast Like a Local

by Nancy Blakey

available in May, paperback, Sasquatch Books

Celebrate the wild beauty of the Northwest Coast as you learn how to catch and cook seasonal seafood, including recipes that can be prepared over a driftwood fire, enjoy beach activities for adults and kids, learn the basics of water sports including kayaking and paddleboarding, and get ideas for outdoor adventure opportunities and travel itineraries from paddle camping to beach hikes to road trips.

FH: 360.671.2626 • LY: 360.526.2133 • villagebooks.com

A Memoir with Recipes

Join us as we welcome wine industry pioneer, community activist, environmental advocate, and author Susan Sokol Blosser to Bellingham for a special evening. *ticketed event, see villagebooks.com or call 360-671-2626 for details*

First We Eat : Good Food for Simple Gatherings from My Pacific Northwest Kitchen

by Eva Kosmas Flores

available in March, hardcover, Abrams

Eva Kosmas Flores finds inspiration in her Greek heritage and the bountiful produce of her garden in Oregon. The bounty of fresh, vibrant produce overflowing from her garden comes through on every page, and Flores undertakes rigorous recipe testing to share her most creative, delicious ways to make use of these foods. First We Eat is a gorgeous reference on seasonal cooking that celebrates the beauty of the Pacific Northwest, Mediterranean influences, effortless and stylish presentations, and simple preparations, all designed to share with friends and family.

Spring 2018

31

©DianePadysPhotography.com

Available April 7th

2018

food & farm finder

©DianePadysPhotography.com

Available at the Bellingham Farmers Market and at local merchants such as Village Books.

Pick up a FREE copy and plan your next foodie getaway right here in Whatcom County.

www.eatlocalfirst.org Top: Free Range Flowers are consciously grown and harvested with heart by Jay and Celeste. Learn more at freerangeflowershop.com.

Bottom: Nourish Craft Farm’s fresh veggies are picked for farmer Andy’s pop up micro eatery, Paradigm Pizza. Visit nourishcraftfarm.weebly.com

32

Spring 2018

Fairhaven Store Hours: Monday-Saturday 9am-9pm • Sunday 10am-7pm

Cooking Lit! A Really Big Lunch : The Roving Gourmand on Food and Life

by Jim Harrison

available in March, paperback, Grove Press

Really Big Lunch collects many of New York Times author Jim Harrison’s essays on food for the first time—and taps into his larger-than-life appetite with wit and verve. In these pieces, Harrison muses on the relationship between hunter and prey, interrogates the obscure language of wine reviews, and delivers a manifesto against the bland, mass-produced food of our time, proposing instead what he calls the Vivid Diet. And between the lines, the pieces give glimpses of Harrison’s life over the last 15 years.

The Best Cook in the World : Tales from My Momma's Table

by Rick Bragg

available in April, hardcover, Knopf

Rick Bragg is a Pulitzer-winning journalist and memoirist, best known for his book, All Over But the Shoutin'. This memoir is a love story to his Momma, Margaret, age 81, and about the Deep South with its heritage of sweet and smooth workin' class food. Bragg lives in Calhoun County, Alabama,and regales the reader with his humorous accounts of family history and recipes such as Redeye Gravy, Poke Salad, Turtle Soup and Baked Possum. Yes these are real recipes from the 19th century.

I reckon ya'll will enjoy this book as much as I did. –Cindi

Chefs, Drugs and Rock & Roll : How Food Lovers, Free Spirits, Misfits and Wanderers Created a New American Profession

by Andrew Friedman

available now, hardcover, Ecco

k k

A (mostly) oral history told primarily in the words of the people who lived it, Chefs, Drugs and Rock & Roll treats readers to an unparalleled 360-degree re-creation of the industry and the times through the perspectives not only of the pioneering chefs but also of line cooks, front-of-house personnel, investors, and critics who had front-row seats to this extraordinary transformation.

Planting for Honeybees : The Grower's Guide to Creating a Buzz

by Sarah Wyndham-Lewis

available in March, hardcover, Quadrille Publishing

A contemporary guide to growing plants for honey bees. Bees and plants have co-existed for more than 80 million years, developing a sophisticated and delicate synergy. Recently, the honeybee has struggled to survive with limited forage and the shrinking of green spaces. Planting for Honeybees will show you how to help these pollinators and create a thriving garden. No matter how big your space, from a window ledge to a country garden, discover this collection of simple yet practical tips on what, where, and when to plant.

Design-Your-Garden Toolkit : Visualize the Perfect Plant Combinations for Your Yard; Step-by-Step Guide with Profiles of 128 Popular Plants, Reusable Cling Stickers, and Fold-Out Design Board

by Michelle Gervais

available in March, paperback, Storey

Before picking up the trowel, pick up the stickers. The durable cling stickers, with beautiful botanically accurate illustrations, can be layered, arranged, and rearranged to try out every variation before making any plant purchases. This book-and-kit combination makes it possible to create your dream border, bed, or backyard oasis without leaving your kitchen table!

Grow. Food. Anywhere.

The New Guide to Small Space Gardening Mat Pember and Dillon Seitchik-Reardon available in March, paperback, Hardie Grant Books

Gardening

Whether you've got a balcony, a tiny courtyard, or a patch of reclaimed dirt in a shared neighborhood space, this book offers inspiration—and instruction—for growing good things to eat. The book has three sections: What Plants Need; Fruit and Veg to Grow; and Pests and Diseases to Know. These chapters cover everything you need including: why soil matters; composting; how to make a wicking bed; how to select the right growing style; what to plant and when; harvesting; troubleshooting; pruning and more. Grow. Food.

Anywhere. is presented with a vibrant combination of photographs, illustrations, and a playful, engaging design that mirrors the refreshing no-nonsense approach of the book's two accomplished and articulate authors.

Shop 24/7 at villagebooks.com

Spring 2018

33

PNBA BOOK AWARDS 2018 PACIFIC NORTHWEST BOOKSELLERS ASSOCIATION AWARD WINNERS

Each year since 1965, the PNBA Awards have celebrated exceptional books written by Northwest authors.

Congratulations to this year’s winners!

You Don't Have to Say You Love Me: A Memoir

by Sherman Alexie

(Seattle, WA)

Using both poetry and prose, Alexie lays bare his complicated feelings about his "wildly intelligent, arrogant, opinionated, intimidating" mother's life and death, weaving a tapestry of memories both harrowing and hilarious. His complex exploration of grief and reconciliation leaves no question unasked, no cruelty unexposed, and no pain hidden. Readers will be grateful for the opportunity to understand a conflicted son mourning an imperfect mother.

American War

by Omar El Akkad

(Portland, OR)

This is the story of America at war with itself, and Omar El Akkad has some news for you: it's more frightening than you could ever imagine. Using years as a professional journalist as his catalyst, El Akkad imagines an America fighting over fossil fuel, where the sides fall via familiar divisions: North and South, blue and red. American War is a beautifully written but brutal wake-up call for all of us who think it can't happen here.

The Book of Mistakes

by Corinna Luyken

(Olympia, WA)

As with so many of the best stories, this one begins with a mistake: specifically, an errant splotch on an otherwise perfect illustration. The mistakes just keep coming. And they keep turning into wonderfully charming good ideas until a whole and beautiful little world is created, mistakes and all. The ever-encouraging message about turning mistakes upside down or right side up makes this the perfect book for a budding (or well-entrenched) perfectionist!

Indie Spirit Honor - B ​ rian Doyle Imagine all of these ideas lined up inside him—mutterings, musings, minutia, magic—so tightly packed that by absolute necessity they escape in giant gorgeous bursts of words and laughter and knowing. Once released, there is no stopping them.

34

Spring 2018

Dead Feminists: Historic Heroines in Living Color

by Chandler O'Leary and Jessica Spring (Tacoma, WA) In 2008, artists Chandler O’Leary and Jessica Spring made a letterpress broadside featuring a quote by suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton. This began a years-long project, printing broadsides inspired by feminists throughout history and donating a portion of the proceeds to appropriate causes. This book collects all twenty-four broadsides in luscious color.

While O’Leary and Spring’s definition of “feminist” is broad at times, they dig deep to feature lesser-known and under-lauded women.

Idaho

by Emily Ruskovich

(Idaho City, ID)

Wade and Jenny divorced after that horrific day on the mountain years before. Ann, Wade’s new wife, wishes to unravel the mystery of that day yet, fearing his pain, she can't bring herself to confront him. As the years pass and he slips into early dementia, Ann sees her last chance for answers disappearing along with Wade's compromised mind. Lush with details of Ann's detailed excavation of the imagined inner lives of Wade, Jenny, and their children—the complex web of their actions, motivations, repercussions—Idaho is a devastating and utterly gorgeous tale of marriage, mistakes, guilt, and redemption.

Tides:

The Science and Spirit of the Ocean

by Jonathan White (Orcas Island, WA) Surfer, sailor and conservationist Jonathan White has an obvious love for the sea, but this lyrical tribute of science, history and travel tales is much bigger than the author himself. Tides elucidates how the cycle of life on Earth maintains a steady beat with the ebb and flow of the tide and what’s at stake when the rhythm of the ocean is disrupted by climate change. The book is peppered with detailed interviews and is rich with photographs, illustrations, and diagrams that further enhance this captivating read.

Fairhaven Store Hours: Monday-Saturday 9am-9pm • Sunday 10am-7pm

Village Books & Paper Dreams

LYNDEN 20% OFTF RY POE

Story Times, Author Visits, Book & Writing Groups

il!

ALL Apr

VISIT US

Monday-Saturday 10am-7pm

Sundays

11am-5pm

Join our Lynden Focus GroupS! If you regularly shop our Lynden location, we'd love to hear your ideas.

Email digital@villagebooks.com.

We'll follow up with more information.

The Waples Mercantile Building, 430 Front St., Lynden • villagebooks.com

Shop 24/7 at villagebooks.com

Spring 2018

35

Lots to do in Lynden There's Always Something Going on!

• March 2-4 Whatcom County Home & Garden Show

• March 15-17 Spring Craft & Antique Show

• April 6 & 7 Whatcom County Youth Fair

• May 8-21 Mt. Baker Kennel Club Dog Show

• June 2: Lynden Farmers Day Parade For over 100 years, agriculture in Whatcom County has been celebrated with a parade in downtown Lynden as a way for the community to express both pride and appreciation in our local farming community.

• July 20-21: Northwest Raspberry Festival

• August 13-18: Northwest Washington Fair Mark your calendar!

- A Division of The Lynden Tribune -

In-House Professional Design Services Digital • Commercial • Web Automated Direct Mail Services Call today for a FREE quote!

113 6th Street, Lynden • 360.354.4444 www.LyndenPrintCo.com

36

Spring 2018

Lynden Store Hours: Mon.-Sat. Sun. 11am-5pm Building10am-7pm Community•One Book at a Time

Neighborhood Spotlight...

The Inn at Lynden!

Congratulations to our neighbors at the Inn at Lynden for being voted Bellingham / Whatcom County Tourism Business of the year!

The Inn at Lynden is located in the Waples Mercantile Building in the heart of downtown Lynden. Built in 1914, fire destroyed much of the building in 2008 and it sat vacant until 2013 when a group of civic-minded entrepreneurs decided to preserve the building. After an extensive remodel, The Inn at Lynden opened, maintaining the historic feel but with all new interiors and amenities.

Co-owner Teri Treat explains, “We want to embrace hospitality and be known for taking care of our guests by going above and beyond the norm.” The Inn offers a mix of old and new. While paying a tribute to the past, all 35 stylish rooms are brand new so they have all the amenities you’d want in a hotel. It’s upscale but friendly, sophisticated yet relaxed. While the Inn at Lynden occupies the mezzanine and 2nd floor of the building, much of the ground floor and lower level are home to a diverse mix of shops and merchants—including Village Books and Paper Dreams—all offering distinctive goods and services.

A great meal, a nice beer, a good book, a beautiful comfortable bed, everything is here. Come see for yourself!

Visit our store & cafe in

client: Drizzle Ross and Dana Driscoll

project description: Drizzle Color Ad

downtow n

Lynden !

05-01-14

Historic Hospitality

Historic Hospitality Historic Hospitality

35 Luxury Rooms / Meeting Room / Shopping & Dining

Open Daily

360-746-8597 • innatlynden.com • 100 5th Street

3.325” x 4.5”

FH: 360.671.2626 • LY: 360.526.2133 • villagebooks.com

Spring 2018

37

April 30 Children's Book -May 6th & Screen Free Week

Lynden Events!

Wednesday, May 2, 11am

Story Time featuring The Forever Tree Join us as we read this sweet story about love and community. When a beloved tree gets sick, neighbors new and old will have to join forces if they have any chance of saving their treetop home. A touching tale based on the true story of one special tree, and the community that brought it back to life. Author not attending.

Saturday, May 5, 11am

Story Time featuring Elmore Join us as we round out Childrens Book Week with a story time featuring Elmore by Holly Hobbie. Elmore is a warmhearted porcupine who’s desperate to make friends. But it is hard to seek closeness with others while covered with spikes. The goodness of his forest community ultimately shines through as the animals find a way to connect with this prickly bundle of love. Author not attending.

Love

Lynden

AND WIN

♥

Love Lynden is a chance to win fabulous prizes to share with ones you love. Throughout the year, the Lynden Chamber of Commerce teams up with local merchants to offer drawings for fantastic prize packages full of unique offerings from Lynden businesses! There are four drawings thoughout the year. Stop in and register at Village Books and Paper Dreams and any of the other participating Lynden merchants in the weeks prior to each drawing. Look for the buckets on counters and Love Lynden!

Weekly Story Times in Lynden!

Join us at Village Books in Lynden

Wednesday at 11am and every

Saturday at 2pm for a half hour of stories, songs, and movement as we read and get silly about books!

The remaining 2018 drawings are: Lynden Loves Moms – May 10 Lynden Loves Dads – June 15 Lynden Loves Grandparents - September 6 Limit one entry per business per day. No purchase necessary.

♥ 38

Spring 2018

Fairhaven StoreLynden Hours:Store Monday-Saturday Hours: Mon.-Sat. 9am-9pm 10am-7pm • Sunday • Sun. 10am-7pm 11am-5pm

Literature LIVE!

LYNDEN

VB’s Literary Events Program IN

LYNDEN

Additions & changes 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!

Saturday, March 3, 2pm Kids event in Lynden!

Read Across America Story Time featuring The Cat in the Hat!

KIDS!

Join us as we celebrate 21 years of the NEA’s Read Across America and Dr. Seuss’ birthday. Be ready to hear stories and bring a camera so you can take a picture with none other than the Cat in the Hat himself!

March 8-10 Whatcom READS Author Events Whatcom READS is a community-wide reading and discussion program intended to encourage all Whatcom County residents to read the same book and create a county-wide book club experience. The 2018 featured book is Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of Your Fist by Sunil Yapa. See page two for a list of free author events taking place throughout the county.

Saturday, March 24, 4pm Historical Fiction GAIL NOBLE-SANDERSON The Passage Home to Meuse The year is 1923 and the world continues its recovery from the ravages of World War I. In this second historical novel in the Meuse Trilogy, Marie Durant Chagall, now 27 years old, continues her own journey toward recovery, planning a return to nursing with a grand scheme of opening a rural health clinic, La Clinique Meuse. People from diverse and intriguing backgrounds and familiar characters from book one, The Lavender House in Meuse, journey alongside Marie, their own search for new beginnings often intersecting her own.

VB Writes….Nooksack River Writing Group in Lynden!

This multi-genre group is open to anyone looking for a supportive space to share their work, receive and provide feedback, or connect with other local writers.

All varieties of experience and expertise are welcome—just bring something to write with. This group meets in the conference room of the Inn at Lynden the 2nd & 4th Saturdays of the month at 10am.

Shop 24/7 at villagebooks.com

Chuckanut Writers Class Tuesdays, April 17 - May 8, 6:30-8pm WRITING CHILDREN'S BOOKS with Rebecca Van Slyke

At Village Books & Paper Dreams in Lynden (4 sessions) $89 Village Books is proud to partner with the WCC Community & Continuing Education program to offer a series of writing classes and workshops for all levels of expereince.

If you’ve ever wanted to write a children’s book, but weren’t sure where to start, this is the class for you. We'll look at requirements for children's books, the process of publication, share our work in a friendly critique-group style, and talk about revision. Come find out what it takes to be a successful children’s writer. Feel free to bring a current manuscript. Register at whatcomcommunityed.com or call 360.383.3200. See page 27 for more Chuckanut Writers classes.

Saturday, April 28 Independent Bookstore Day Come join the party!

We're throwing a party to celebrate the things that make independent bookstores special and you’re invited to join us! Be first in line for exclusive, limitededition Independent Bookstore Day items, grab a treat, and look out for our always popular bookwalk with prizes throughout the day.

Saturday, April 28, 4pm LOU McKEE –Klee Wyck Journal Slideshow!

After years of paddling the waterways of the Pacific Northwest, author and artist Lou McKee planned a short kayaking trip near Vancouver Island with friends and family that unexpectedly became a yearly tradition. Thus, the Klee Wyck Cabin was borne from found cedar beach logs and other reclaimed wood to shield the travelers from summer storms.

Lou took her journal and sketchbook with her to the cabin, documenting the construction and rendering local flora and fauna in colored ink and pencil drawings. Collected together in print for the first time, Klee Wyck Journal showcases the cabin and Lou’s remarkable lifetime on and near the water in exquisite, full-color sketches.

NEW! VB Book Group - Open to All!

Lynden Front Streeters We're excited about our first Lynden book group! Join Cherie and Hannah at 6pm (note new time) on the last Thursday of each month in the Waples Room in the Inn at Lynden.

Good books, good people, good times! Join us.

There is no group membership.

However, those who attend are eligible for a 15% discount It's the tale of a town on the on that group's wet coast of Oregon—a rich selections. and magical read!

Our Next Meeting: March 29, 6pm Mink River: A Novel

by Brian Doyle

See pages 73 - 78 for LitLive!

Events taking place in Bellingham.

Spring 2018

39

EXPERIENCE THE

CLASSES AND OPEN STUDIOS

Ceramics • Dance • Fine Art & Painting • Jewelry • Music • Textiles

PERFORMANCES • EXHIBITS • FIREHALL CAFE • GALLERY SHOP 321 Front Street, Lynden, WA 98264 360-354-3600 • www.jansenartcenter.org 40

Spring 2018

Lynden Store Hours: Mon.-Sat.9am-9pm 9am-8pm• •Sunday Sun. 11am-5pm Fairhaven Store Hours: Monday-Saturday 10am-7pm

Chuckanut Radio Hour

The

The Chuckanut Radio Hour is a radio variety show recorded live and played on KMRE 102.3FM and KAVZ-LP 102.5. Each Radio Hour features guest authors and musicians, performance poetry, a comedy skit, and some groaner jokes. It's a lot of fun, so check out our upcoming line-up and join us!

In the Heiner Theater at Whatcom Community College, Bellingham Receive one FREE TICKET with each purchase of The Radium Girls

Thursday, March 8, 6:30pm

Kate Moore

– The Radium Girls

The Dark Story of America's Shining Women

A bestselling account of the young women who were slowly poisoned in America’s dial factories starting in WWI and their courageous battle for justice that still reverberates today. The Radium Girls is a piece of forgotten history that will haunt, outrage and, ultimately, inspire you. Enjoy live music by Sarah Goodin.

Tickets $5.00 Tickets are available at Village Books and BrownPaperTickets.com

Thursday, April 11, 6:30pm

TWO AUTHORS!!

Join us for this very special dual-guest Radio Hour! We are thrilled to welcome these two talented PNW writers. These two novels are great complements to one another, and these two authors (who also happen to be long-time friends) are such great entertainers in their own right, we can’t wait to listen in on their conversation!

– Lawn Boy

Jonathan Evison

Lawn Boy is an important, entertaining, and completely winning novel about social class distinctions, about overcoming cultural discrimination, and about standing up for oneself. Evison's previous novels are All About Lulu, West of Here, The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving and This is Your Life Harriet Chance. Read staff reviews of Lawn Boy on page 19.

Willy Vlautin will also be our musical guest for the evening, performing pieces from the soundtrack that he composed to accompany his novel. It just keeps getting better.

Willy Vlautin – Don't Skip Out on Me A beautiful, wrenching portrait of a downtrodden man, Don’t Skip Out on Me narrates the struggle to find one's place in a vast and lonely world with profound tenderness, and will make you consider those around you—and yourself—differently. Vlautin has published four previous novels: The Motel Life, Northline, Lean on Pete, and The Free.

A HUGE thanks to our amazing sponsors!

The Chuckanut Radio Hour airs every Friday morning at 7am, Saturday evening at 7pm, and Sunday at 9pm on KMRE 102.3FM and every Monday & Friday at 8pm on KAVZ-LP 102.5

Shop 24/7 at villagebooks.com

Spring 2018

41

CONTEMPORARY

CULTURAL CRITICISM

The Road to Unfreedom :

Who Lost Russia? : How the World Entered a New Cold War

by Peter Conradi

available now, paperback, Oneworld Publications

The Cold War ended twenty-five years ago, but tensions between Russia and the West are as bad as ever. What happened?

In this provocative work, Peter Conradi argues that we have consistently failed to understand Russia and its motives and, in doing so, have made a powerful enemy.

Russia, Europe, America

by Timothy Snyder

available in April, hardcover, Tim Duggan Books

With the end of the Cold War, the victory of liberal democracy was thought to be absolute. Observers declared the end of history, confident in a peaceful, globalized future. But we now know this to be premature. From the author of On Tyranny comes a stunning new chronicle of the rise of authoritarianism from Russia to Europe and America.

The Seventh Sense : Power, Fortune, and Survival in the Age of Networks

by Joshua Cooper Ramo

available in April, paperback, Back Bay Books

The secret to power now is in understanding our new age of networks—not merely the Internet but also networks of trade and DNA and finance. Ramo takes us into the opaque heart of our world's rapidly connected systems and teaches us what the victors of this age know—and what the losers are not yet seeing.

The Fourth Age : Smart Robots, Conscious Computers, and the Future of Humanity

The Line Becomes a River : Dispatches from the Border

by Francisco Cantú available now, hardcover, Riverhead

Talk about an insider's view of a subject the author comes from a border crossing family, then becomes a member of the border patrol. The Line Becomes a River makes urgent and personal one of the most divisive issues we face, bringing home to us the violence wrought in the name of "protection" on countless migrants' lives, and on the humanity of us all.

God Save Texas : A Journey Into the Soul of the Lone Star State

by Lawrence Wright

available in March, hardcover, Knopf

The Texas economic model of low taxes and minimal regulation has produced extraordinary growth but also striking income disparities. Texas looks a lot like the America that Donald Trump wants to create. And Wright’s profound portrait of the state not only reflects our country back as it is, but as it was and as it might be.

by Byron Reese

available in April, hardcover, Atria Books

This is the kind of book that forever alters the way you look at the world. It is timely, urgent, and full of memorable, provocative content that addresses head-on the sense many of us have that the world we live in is on the cusp of a great and irreversible change. It is a synthesis of technology, sociology, neurobiology, history, economics, and a half-dozen other disciplines.

Thank you for your continued support. We wouldn't be here without you!

42

Spring 2018

The New Human Rights Movement : Reinventing the Economy to End Oppression

by Peter Joseph

available in April, paperback, BenBella Books

Arguing against the long-standing narrative of universal scarcity and other pervasive myths that defend the current state of affairs, The New Human Rights Movement illuminates the structural causes of poverty, social oppression, and the ongoing degradation of public health, and ultimately presents the case for an updated economic approach. This book warns against what is in store if we continue to ignore the flaws of our current socio-economic approach, while also revealing the bright and expansive future if we succeed.

Building Community One Book at a Time

Fascism : A Warning

by Madeleine Albright available in April, hardcover, Harper

When the Cold War ended, many believed that democracy had triumphed politically once and for all. Yet nearly 30 years later, the direction of history no longer seems certain. A repressive and destructive force has begun to re-emerge on the global stage—sweeping across Europe, parts of Asia, and the United States—that to Albright, looks very much like fascism.

A Higher Loyalty : Truth, Lies, and Leadership

by James Comey

available in May, hardcover, Flatiron

Former FBI director James Comey shares his never-before-told experiences from some of the highest-stakes situations of his career in the past two decades of American government, exploring what good, ethical leadership looks like, and how it drives sound decisions. His journey provides an unprecedented entry into the corridors of power, and a remarkable lesson in what makes an effective leader.

Strangers in Their Own Land : Anger and Mourning on the American Right

by Arlie Russell Hochschild available now, paperback, The New Press

The National Book Award Finalist and New York Times bestseller that became a guide and balm for a country struggling to understand the election of Donald Trump is now available in paperback! Featuring a new introduction by the author reflecting on the election and other events that have unfolded both in Louisiana and around the country since the hardcover edition was published, it will also include a readers’ group guide in the back. Perfect for book groups!

CONTEMPORARY

CULTURAL CRITICISM

Age of Anger : A History of the Present

by Pankaj Mishra

available in March, paperback, Picador

“Mishra may well be the ideal writer to diagnose our current moment . . . In Age of Anger, Mishra has produced an urgent analysis of a moment in which the forgotten and dispossessed are rising up to challenge everything we thought we knew about the state of the world.”

—The Los Angeles Review of Books

Fire and Fury : Inside the Trump White House

by Michael Wolff

available now, hardcover, Henry Holt and Co.

As an avid bookseller, I am proud to say that I sell banned books. The subject of Michael Wolff's book tried to stop the publication, so I am passionately selling it. It is as disturbing as it is necessary to keep oneself informed, to consider free and open information, and to act on that information as an informed citizen. This book is also available as an audiobook and eBook. Find all formats available on our website, villagebooks.com. –Cindi

Identity Crisis : The 2016 Presidential Campaign and the Battle for the Meaning of America

by John Sides, Michael Tesler, and Lynn Vavreck

available now, hardcover, Princeton University Press

A Perilous Path : Talking Race, Inequality, and the Law

by Sherrily Ifill, Loretta Lynch, Bryan Stevenson, and Anthony C. Thompson available in March, hardcover, The New Press

This blisteringly candid discussion of the American dilemma in the age of Trump brings together the head of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the former attorney general of the United States, a bestselling author and death penalty lawyer, and a star professor for an honest conversation the country desperately needs to hear.

FH: 360.671.2626 • LY: 360.526.2133 • villagebooks.com

Identity Crisis takes readers from the primaries to an election night whose outcome defied the predictions of the pollsters and pundits. The book shows how fundamental characteristics of the nation and its politics combined with the candidates’ personalities and rhetoric to produce one of the most unexpected presidencies in history. Early on, the fundamental characteristics predicted an extremely close election. Identity Crisis reveals how Trump’s victory was foreshadowed by changes in the Democratic and Republican coalitions that were driven by people’s racial and ethnic identities. The campaign then reinforced and exacerbated those cleavages and the result was an epic battle not just for the White House but about what America is and should be.

Spring 2018

43

Making

Tomorrow Will Be Different : Love, Loss, & the Fight for Trans Equality

A Positive Change

by Sarah McBride

available in March, hardcover, Crown Archetype

Art Photography Female

photography by Pilar Vergaram available in May, hardcover, Daylight Books

While transgender people are of ten sensationalized in the media, Pilar Vergara set out to quietly capture their individuality through intimate portraits. Originally from Chile, Vergara has a long background in human rights photography and in Female, she strives to illustrate these women without artificial studio lighting or the irrelevance of color. They are truly beautiful photos.

In April 2012, Sarah McBride made headlines— and history—when she came out publicly as a transgender woman while serving as American University’s student body president. She suddenly found herself on the forefront of a movement, fighting for positive change. Since that day Sarah has continued to make history, eventually becoming the first openly transgender person to address a major party convention. Here, along with a foreword from former vice president Joe Biden, she delivers a powerful and emotional story that serves as an entry point for understanding the issues that the trans community faces and fights each day.

Join us in welcoming LGBTQ Activist

Sarah McBride Wednesday, March 14, 7pm a free event at Village Books in Fairhaven

Whatcom Dispute Resolution Center whatcomdrc.org | 13 Prospect St. Suite 201 Bellingham, WA 98225 | 360.676.0122

PEACEFUL POETRY YOUTH CONTEST SPRING WORKSHOPS 4/18 5/3 5/9 6/5

Understanding Conflict Workshop Exploring Equity & Cultural Humility Professional Mediation Training Managing Conflict As a Co-Parent

Who When Prizes How

K-12 Whatcom County students Submit poems now through September Gifts, Public readings, filming and more!

Submit or print forms at whatcomdrc.org

Mission: to provide and promote constructive and collaborative approaches to conflict through mediation, training, facilitation and community education.

Learn more, sign up for workshops & events, or contribute at whatcomdrc.org

Go to villagebooks.com and click on Get Digital Audiobooks Here to read more, browse selections, and to start your membership today.

44

Spring 2018

Fairhaven Store Hours: Monday-Saturday 9am-9pm • Sunday 10am-7pm

Make Trouble : Standing Up, Speaking Out, and Finding the Courage to Lead—My Life Story

by Cecile Richards

available in April, hardcover, Touchstone

From Cecile Richards—the president of Planned Parenthood for over a decade, daughter of the late Governor Ann Richards, featured speaker at the Women’s March on Washington, and “the heroine of the resistance” (Vogue)—comes a story about learning to lead and make change based on a lifetime of fighting for women’s rights and social justice.

This Will Be My Undoing : Living at the Intersection of Black, Female, and Feminist in (White) America

by Morgan Jerkins

available now, paperback, Harper Perennial

From one of the fiercest critics writing today, Morgan Jerkins’ highly-anticipated collection of linked essays interweaves her incisive commentary on pop culture, feminism, black history, misogyny, and racism with her own experiences to confront the very real challenges of being a black woman today. This is a book about black women, but it’s necessary reading for all Americans.

This Messy Magnificent Life : A Field Guide

by Geneen Roth

available in March, hardcover, Scribner

This Messy Magnificent Life explores the personal beliefs, hidden traumas, and social pressures that shape not just women's feelings about their bodies, but also their confidence, choices, and relationships. This provocative and sometimes laugh-out-loud look at the imperfect path women take to step into their own power is based on Geneen Roth's personal journey and her decades of work with thousands of women around the country.

Inspiring Voices Fierce Resisters

In Praise of Difficult Women : Life Lessons From 29 Heroines Who Dared to Break the Rules

by Karen Karbo

available now, hardcover, National Geographic

Karbo spotlights the spirited rule breakers who charted their way with little regard for expectations. Their lives—imperfect, elegant, messy, glorious—provide inspiration and instruction for the new age of feminism we have entered. Karbo distills these lessons with wit and humor, examining the universal themes that connect us to each of these mesmerizing personalities today.

The Trials of Nina McCall: Sex, Surveillance, and the Decades-Long Government Plan to Imprison "Promiscuous" Women

by Scott W. Stern

available in May, hardcover, Beacon Press

Nina McCall was one of many women unfairly imprisoned by the United States government throughout the 20th century.

The government imprisoned tens, probably hundreds, of thousands of women and girls—usually without due process— simply because officials suspected these women were prostitutes, infected with STIs, or simply “promiscuous.” This discriminatory program, dubbed the “American Plan,” lasted from the 1910s into the 1950s.

The Myth of the Nice Girl : Achieving a Career You Love Without Becoming a Person You Hate

BUSINESS

by Fran Hauser

available in April, hardcover, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Hauser proves that women don’t have to sacrifice their values or hide their authentic personalities to be successful. Sharing a wealth of personal anecdotes and time-tested strategies, she shows women how to reclaim “nice” and sidestep regressive stereotypes about what a strong leader looks like. Her accessible advice and hard-won wisdom detail how to balance being empathetic with being decisive, how to rise above the double standards that can box you in, how to cultivate authentic confidence that projects throughout a room, and much more.

Shop 24/7 at villagebooks.com

Spring 2018

45

History On Grand Strategy

by John Lewis Gaddis

The Square and the Tower :

available in April, hardcover, Penguin Press

Networks and Power, from the Freemasons to Facebook

Distilled from the legendary master class in strategic thinking at Yale, this is a succinct, sharp, and potentially transformational book, surveying statecraft from the ancient Greeks to Franklin D. Roosevelt and beyond. An unforgettable guide to the art of leadership, On Grand Strategy is, in every way, its own master class.

by Niall Ferguson

available now, hardcover, Penguin Press

Throughout history, hierarchies housed in high towers have claimed to rule, but often real power has resided in the networks in the town square below. For it is networks that tend to innovate. And it is through networks that revolutionary ideas can contagiously spread. Just because conspiracy theorists like to fantasize about such networks doesn’t mean they are not real.

Never Caught : The Washingtons' Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge

Atlas of a Lost World :

by Erica Armstrong Dunbar

Travels in Ice Age America

available now, paperback, Atria/37 Ink

"Totally engrossing and absolutely necessary for understanding the birth of the American Republic, Never Caught is richly human history from the vantage point of the enslaved fifth of the early American population. Here is Ona Judge's quest for freedom and George and Martha Washington's use of federal power to try to keep her enslaved." –Nell Irvin Painter, author of Sojourner Truth, A Life, A Symbol

Armchair Historians Book Group Discuss and dissect the most current and interesting history being written.

Join us the 2nd Monday of the month at 7pm in the Writers' Corner on the mezzanine level of Village Books in Fairhaven. All welcome!

by Brian Castner

Scientists squabble over the locations and dates for human arrival in the New World.

The first explorers were few, encampments fleeting. At some point in time, between 20,000 and 40,000 years ago, sea levels were low enough that a vast land bridge was exposed between Asia and North America. But the land bridge was not the only way across.

This book upends our notions of where these people came from and who they were.

available in March, hardcover, Doubleday

Disappointment River transports readers back to the age of North American exploration and places them in the rugged but increasingly fragile Arctic wilderness in the process of alteration by climate change. Fourteen years before Lewis and Clark, Mackenzie set off to cross the continent with a team of voyageurs and Chipewyan guides, to find a trade route to the riches of the East. What he found was a river that he named “Disappointment.”

Local History

The Cordata Neighborhood Association

Join us for a FREE

by Ralph Myers

EVENT

available now, paperback

A must for all local history buffs, this collaborative effort chronicles the catalyst, birth, growth, and development of the Cordata Neighborhood Association in north Bellingham. The book narrates the changes brought to the Cordata Neighborhood and memorializes the efforts of the association's visionary founders as they advocated for their neighborhood.

Spring 2018

available in May, hardcover, Pantheon

Disappointment River : Finding and Losing the Northwest Passage

A Beacon of Community Development :

46

by Craig Childs

Ralph Myers & Julianna Royal Guy Thursday, March 29, 7pm At Village Books in Fairhaven

Fairhaven Store Hours: Monday-Saturday 9am-9pm • Sunday 10am-7pm

Historical Women The Woman's Hour : The Great Fight to Win the Vote

by Elaine Weiss

available in March, hardcover, Viking

It all comes down to Tennessee, the moment of truth for the suffragists, after a seven-decade crusade. The opposing forces include politicians with careers at stake, liquor companies, railroad magnates, and a lot of racists who don’t want black women voting. They all converge in a boiling hot summer for a vicious face-off replete with dirty tricks, betrayals and bribes, bigotry, Jack Daniel’s, and the Bible.

Bygone Badass Broads : 52 Forgotten Women Who Changed the World

by Mackenzie Lee, illustrated by Petra Eriksson

available now, hardcover, Abrams Image

Meet history’s most fascinating forgotten women. Featuring 52 remarkable trailblazing women from all over the world, Bygone Badass Broads gives new life to these historic female pioneers. Starting in the fifth century BC and continuing to the present, the book takes a closer look at bold and inspiring women who dared to step outside the traditional gender roles of their time. Coupled with riveting illustrations and Lee’s humorous and conversational storytelling style, this book is an outright celebration of the badass women who paved the way for the rest of us.

Pictorial & Art Photgraphy Legendary Ladies : 50 Goddesses to Empower and Inspire You

by Ann Shen

available in April, hardcover, Chronicle Books

From the beloved author and artist behind Bad Girls Throughout History comes this lushly illustrated book of goddesses from around the world.

Aphrodite, the Greek goddess whose love overcame mortality. Mazu, the Chinese deity who safely guides travelers home. Lakshmi, the Hindu provider of fortune and prosperity. These powerful deities and many more are celebrated in gorgeous artwork and enlightening essays that explore the feminine divine and encourage readers to empower themselves. Ann Shen's signature watercolors make Legendary Ladies a unique, gift-worthy homage to the mighty women within.

Shop 24/7 at villagebooks.com

The Little Book of Feminist Saints

by Julie Pierpont, illustrated by Manjitt Thapp available in March, hardcover, Random House

Featuring a woman from 8th century BC and women fighting for social justice in 2017, women who lived in midtown Manhattan and a woman who lives in rural Uganda, this will be a book to offer as a gift to the girls and women in your life, but also one you’ll want for yourself—because it’s beautiful, because it’s smart and edifying, and because it’s a companion of sorts, a daily inspiration and delight.

Lighting the Fires of Freedom : African American Women in the Civil Rights Movement

by Janet Dewart Bell

available in May, hardcover, The New Press

In Lighting the Fires of Freedom Janet Dewart Bell shines a light on women’s all-too-often overlooked achievements in the Civil Rights Movement. Through wide-ranging conversations with nine women, several now in their nineties with decades of untold stories, we hear what ignited and fueled their activism, as Bell vividly captures their inspiring voices. Lighting the Fires of Freedom offers these deeply personal and intimate accounts of extraordinary struggles for justice that resulted in profound social change, stories that remain important and relevant today.

Dress Like a Woman : Working Women and What They Wore

by Abrams Books, forward by Roxane Gay available in March, hardcover, Abrams Image

This book includes 300 incredible photographs that illustrate how women’s roles have changed over the last century.

The women pictured in this book inhabit a fascinating intersection of gender, fashion, politics, culture, class, nationality, and race. There are some familiar faces, including trailblazers Amelia Earhart, Angela Davis, and Michelle Obama, but the majority of photographs are of ordinary working women from many backgrounds and professions. With essays by renowned fashion writer Vanessa Friedman and feminist writer Roxane Gay, Dress Like a Woman offers a comprehensive look at the role of gender and dress in the workplace.

Spring 2018

47

Life Stories Secrets We Kept: Tears of Salt : A Doctor's Story

by Pietro Bartolo and Lidia Tilotta available now, hardcover, Norton

Accounts from a physician, Pietro Bartolo, on the island Lampedusa. While helping refugees, he delves into the crisis they face and endure. Bartolo paints a vivid picture of the war that refugees face and continue to face. Given the relevancy of refugee lives in the time we live in and the political turmoil surrounding this current social climate, all there is to say is this will be, and is, the must read of 2018. –Autumn Skye

A Hope More Powerful than the Sea : One Refugee's Incredible Story of Love, Loss, and Survival

by Melissa Fleming

available now, paperback, Flatiron

Adrift in a frigid sea, no land in sight, Doaa Zamel floats with an inflatable ring around her waist while two children cling to her neck. The babies had been thrust into her arms by their drowning parents, all refugees from Syria who boarded a dangerously overcrowded ship from Egypt bound for Sweden and a new life. "Urgently required reading." –People

Heart Berries : A Memoir

by Terese Marie Mailhot

available now, hardcover, Counterpoint

Heart Berries skillfully blends raw memories and traditional stories to create a compelling and complex memoir. A member of the Sea Bird Island First Nations Band, author Terese Mailhot provides insights to the strength and resilience of Native women. Heart Berries introduces us to an important writer with an uncommon, lyrical voice who bravely speaks—and lives—her truth. –Mary

Write Your Own Story!

48

Spring 2018

Three Women of Trinidad

by Krystal Sital

available now, hardcover, W.W. Norton

There, in a lush landscape of immortelle trees and vast plantations of coffee and cocoa, where the three hills along the southern coast act as guardians against hurricanes, Krystal A. Sital grew up idolizing her grandfather, a wealthy Hindu landowner. Years later, to escape crime and economic stagnation on the island, the family resettled in New Jersey, where Krystal’s mother works as a nanny, and the warmth of Trinidad seems a pretty yet distant memory. But when her grandfather lapses into a coma after a fall at home, the women he has terrorized for decades begin to speak, and a brutal past comes to light.

Two Sisters : A Father, His Daughters, and Their Journey into the Syrian Jihad by Åsne Seierstad, Translated by Seán Kinsella

available in April, hardcover, Farrar, Straus, Giroux

Sadiq and Sara, Somali immigrants raising a family in Norway, one day discover that their teenage daughters Leila and Ayan have vanished—and are en route to Syria to aid the Islamic State.

Seierstad’s riveting account traces the sisters’ journey from secular, social democratic Norway to the front lines of the war in Syria, and follows Sadiq’s harrowing attempt to find them.

The Displaced : Refugee Writers on Refugee Lives

edited by Viet Thanh Nguyen

available in April, hardcover, Abrams Press

In The Displaced, Pulitzer Prize–winning writer Viet Thanh Nguyen, himself a refugee, brings together a host of prominent refugee writers to explore and illuminate the refugee experience.

Featuring original essays by a collection of writers from around the world, The Displaced is an indictment of closing our doors, and a powerful look at what it means to be forced to leave home and find a place of refuge.

Find a fun array of JOURNALS and PENS at Village Books and Paper Dreams.

Building Community One Book at a Time

True Tales

by Matt Young

Dadland

available now, hardcover, Bloomsbury USA

by Keggie Carew available in March, paperback, Grove Press

A poignant and engaging family memoir about a daughter who is racing to assemble her father’s story—one that includes parachuting into France and Burma for British special forces during World War II—as his mind dissolves into dementia. Part detective story, part history, and part biography, woven together with Carew's personal experience of growing up with her dazzling yet challenging father, Dadland is an epic story of success, failure, grief, jealousy, madness, mischief, memory, and most of all, fierce love.

Here is Real Magic :

With its kaleidoscopic array of literary forms, from interior dialogues to infographics to prose passages that read like poetry, Young’s narrative powerfully mirrors the multifaceted nature of his experience. Young’s story drops us unarmed into Marine Corps culture and lays bare the absurdism of 21st-century war and the manned-up vulnerability of those on the front lines.

Join us for a FREE EVENT with author

Matt Young Saturday, April 7, 7pm at Village Books in Fairhaven

A Magician's Search for Wonder in the Modern World

Hiding Out :

by Nate Staniforth

available now, hardcover, Bloomsbury USA

After years on the road as a young professional magician, Nate was disillusioned, burned out, and ready to quit. Instead, he went to India in search of magic and infiltrated a 3000-year-old clan of street magicians. Here Is Real Magic is a call to all of us—to welcome awe back into our lives, to marvel in the everyday, and to seek magic all around us.

The Monk of Mokha

by Dave Eggers

A Memoir of Drugs, Deception, and Double Lives

by Tina Alexis Allen

available now, hardcover, Dey Street Books

“This story is a trip. Gay daughter comes out to dad and instead of freaking out he lets her know he's actually gay and they proceed to live their lives and work together. Their lives were very intertwined. She finds evidence that dad may be laundering money for the Vatican. Lots of intrigue and complications." –Gabriel Barillas, Harper sales representative

Educated : A Memoir

available now, hardcover, Knopf

This tale of triumph over adversity is a must-read for coffee nerds. Young, smart, and motivated but directionless, Mokhtar Alkhanshali discovered a passion for coffee and found that its origins were rooted in his home country of Yemen. His journey to restore Yemen as a top-quality coffee exporter took him from San Francisco to rural Middle Eastern farms to political imprisonment, but his ingenuity and persistence are what turned him into a success. –Stephanie

Engaged Citizen Book Group

Eat the Apple

by Tara Westover

available now, hardcover, Random House

Tara Westover's survivalist family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children received an education, and no one to intervene when one of Tara’s older brothers became violent. As a way out, Tara began to educate herself, learning enough mathematics and grammar to be admitted to Brigham Young University, and ultimately, to Harvard and to Cambridge.

Read and discuss a variety of books exploring how to create a more civil and engaged community. Join us on the third Wednesday of the month from noon to 1:30pm.

Anyone interested in exploring their role as an engaged citizen is welcome.

FH: 360.671.2626 • LY: 360.526.2133 • villagebooks.com

Spring 2018

49

Join us for

September 11-13, 2018

Books A'Sail A Book Group at Sea with Paul, Kelly and biologist Thor Hanson, author of Feathers All hands on deck! Book your cabin and join Village Books co-owners Paul Hanson and Kelly Evert, with special guest author and biologist Thor Hanson on a seabound book-club adventure of a lifetime with the Schooner Zodiac Books A'Sail Cruise.

We'll sail during the day through the San Juan Islands, where passengers will have an opportunity to navigate and sail this classic ship.

We’ll take advantage of the late-summer days to get in three full days of sailing and book discussion amid the gorgeous San Juan Islands, accompanied by a variety of marine life from bald eagles to porpoises and maybe even whales! In between we’ll dip into all that the Schooner Zodiac has to offer, from kayaking to hiking to top-notch meals to cocktails on deck at sunset.

Then the anchor drops and the books come out! The reading list includes Feathers by our guest author Thor Hanson, Mink River by Brian Doyle, and Wind by Jan Deblieu. Thor was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, and now works as an independent conservation biologist based in the San Juan Islands. His research and conservation activities have taken him around the globe and his depth of knowledge and work exploring the interface between natural and human systems make him the ideal cruise mate.

Read about the trip and find more photos on 2017 passenger Nancy'Adair's blog: nancyadair.com

CRUISE HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE: • Navigational and sail training aboard a classic tall ship • Delicious and hearty meals and snacks served from the ship’s galley • Visit amazing islands and explore by hiking or kayaking • Plenty of wildlife sightings including bald eagles, porpoises, seals and whales

Space is limited so register today!

Reader Reward Members can get the Village Books Discount of

10% OFF

their booking using the code "VBSAILS" at the Schooner Zodiac’s checkout.

Buy the selected books with Village Books and receive a 15% discount by entering the coupon code VBSAILS when you submit your online order, or just tell us it's for the Books A'Sail cruise in-store or with phone orders!

See schoonerzodiac.com or call 206.719.7622 for more information and to book your cruise today!

50

Spring 2018

Building Community One Book at a Time

Get Out There Walk : The Path to a Slower, More Mindful Life

by Sholto Radford

available in May, hardcover, Quadrille Publishing

Walk invites you to explore the benefits that the simple act of walking can bring to our sense of well-being. Simple, free, and one of the easiest ways to get active, lose weight, and be healthier, walking is a great natural activity that boosts your mind, body, and soul. Through the chapters of this book learn how to change your speed, embrace the silence, and unearth the joy of walking without a destination. Offering guidance and practical exercises or mindfulness and reconnecting to the world around us. Walk aims to inspire you to move beyond the pages, step outside, and awaken your senses. Pre-order your copy today!

Best Hikes with Kids: Western Washington

by Susan Elderkin

The Art of the Wasted Day

by Patricia Hampl

available in April, hardcover, Viking

Written out of a lifelong fascination with contemplation, solitude, and silence, this is a picturesque travelogue of leisure. The job of being human, Hampl suggests, is getting lost in thought, and only leisure can safeguard reflection. The Art of the Wasted Day is a timely, compelling, beautifully written celebration of the purpose and appeal of letting go.

NORTHWEST FAMILY

available in April, paperback, Mountaineers Books

This is a fresh guide for families looking for quality time together away from distracting devices. Whether you’re looking for the best hikes to hug a really big tree, take a fun and refreshing dip, see birds, animals, or waterfalls, or stuff yourself with berries, Best Hikes with Kids: Western Washington has you covered.

Advertise in

ADVENTURES NW >>>

Join us for a free event

Lauren Danner

NCI Nature of Writing Series

Thursday, March 22, 7pm At Village Books in Fairhaven

Crown Jewel Wilderness : Creating North Cascades National Park by Lauren Danner available now, paperback, Washington State University Press

· 60,000 Readers · Affordable Rates · 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

The North Cascades National Park celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2018 and this new book offers the first comprehensive account of its creation—a narrative that involves more than a decade of grassroots activism and political maneuvering. Widely considered the first wilderness national park in the United States, its most scenic and undisturbed areas were preserved without roads or other accommodations, adding to its crown jewel image. The story includes the unprecedented turn of events that left the National Park Service and United States Forest Service, agencies that often had adversarial viewpoints and objectives, working side by side.

Spring 2018

51

Science & Nature

The Truth About Animals : Stoned Sloths, Lovelorn Hippos, and Other Tales from the Wild Side of Wildlife

Wild Moms : Motherhood in the Animal Kingdom

by Lucy Cooke available in April, hardcover, Basic Books

You've probably never considered if moose get drunk, penguins cheat on their mates, or worker ants lay about. They do—and that's just for starters. Cooke takes us on a worldwide journey to meet everyone from a Colombian hippo castrator to a Chinese panda porn peddler, all to lay bare the secret—and often hilarious— habits of the animal kingdom.

Minibeasts with Jess French : Masses of Mindblowing Minibeast Facts!

by Jess French

In Minibeasts, Jess French looks at amazing invertebrates found all over the world, from bird-eating tarantulas to glow-in-the-dark scorpions, and from meter-long stick insects to bat-eating centipedes. Jess uses her vast knowledge and unparalleled zeal for insects to dive headfirst into the breathtaking world of invertebrates and explore some of their unbelievable adaptations and evolution.

Nature, Love, Medicine : Essays on Wildness & Wellness edited by Thomas Lowe Fleischner

available now, paperback, Torrey House Press

A diverse array of authors—psychologists and poets, biologists and artists, a Buddhist teacher—share personal stories that reveal a common theme: when we pay conscious, careful attention to our wider world, we strengthen our core humanity.

This book declares that nurturing a love for our planet is essential in this time of turbulence and change.

Join us in welcoming the editor, Thomas Lowe Fleischner, and contributors Saul Weisberg and Edie Dillon to the Readings Gallery. Co-sponsored by the North Cascades Institute and the Natural History Institute.

An NCI Nature of Writing Series Event

Tom Fleischner, Saul Weisberg, and Edie Dillon

Friday, April 27, 7pm

A Free Event at Village Books in Fairhaven

Spring 2018

available in April, hardcover, Pegasus Books

A journey through motherhood for the animal kingdom—from the initial phases of gestation and pregnancy through breastfeeding and toddler-rearing and trying to parent a teenager through empty nest syndrome (literally!) to being a grandmother. In Wild Moms, Dr. Bondar answers a host of questions: How do moms in the animal kingdom cope with crying babies and potty training?

How does breastfeeding work in the wild—particularly when a mother is nursing not one baby at a time, but a whole litter?

Wild Moms is a celebration of moms everywhere and a book guaranteed to make readers think about motherhood in an entirely new way.

Visit us 24/7 at villagebooks.com

available in May, paperback, Bloomsbury Natural History

52

by Dr. Carin Bondar

What the Future Looks Like : Scientists Predict the Next Great Discoveries—and Those that Are Already Shaping Our World

edited by Jim Al-Khalili

available April, Trade Paperback, The Experiment

Taking in genomics, robotics, AI, the “Internet of Things,” synthetic biology, interstellar travel, colonization of the solar system, and much more, What the Future Looks Like explores big-picture questions like: Will we find a cure to all diseases? The answer to climate change? And will bionics one day turn us into superheroes? Neither celebratory nor alarmist, here is entirely reality-based insight on the sciencefueled future that is helping to solve intractable problems.

The Future of Humanity : Terraforming Mars, Interstellar Travel, Immortality, and Our Destiny Beyond Earth

by Michio Kaku

available now, hardcover, Doubleday

Whether in the near future due to climate change and the depletion of finite resources, or in the distant future due to catastrophic cosmological events, we must face the reality that humans will one day need to leave planet Earth to survive as a species. Worldrenowned physicist Michio Kaku explores in rich, intimate detail the process by which humanity may gradually move away from the planet and develop a sustainable civilization in outer space.

Fairhaven Store Hours: Monday-Saturday 9am-9pm • Sunday 10am-7pm

Explore • Survive Living It The Wisdom of Wolves: Lessons From the Sawtooth Pack

The Plant Messiah : Adventures in Search of the World's Rarest Species

by Carlos Magdalena

by Jim Dutcher and Jamie Dutcher

available in April, hardcover, Doubleday

available in March, hardcover, National Geographic

Carlos Magdalena is not your average horticulturist. He’s a man on a mission to save the world’s most endangered plants.

First captivated by the flora of his native Spain, he has travelled to the remotest parts of the world in search of exotic species. Globally recognized for his pioneering work, he has committed his life to protecting plants from man-made ecological destruction and thieves hunting for wealthy collectors.

For six years Jim and Jamie Dutcher lived intimately with a pack of wolves, gaining their trust as no one has before.

In this book the Dutchers reflect on the virtues they observed in wolf society and behavior. Each chapter exemplifies a principle, such as kindness, teamwork, playfulness, respect, curiosity, and compassion.

The Stranger in the Woods : The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit

Village Books & Paper Dreams

Gift Cards

by Michael Finkel

available now, paperback, Vintage

Many people dream of escaping modern life. Most will never act on it—but in 1986, 20-year-old Christopher Knight did just that when he left his home in Massachusetts, drove to Maine, and disappeared into the woods. He would not have a conversation with another person for the next 27 years. Drawing on extensive interviews with Knight himself, journalist Michael Finkel shows how Knight lived in a tent in a secluded encampment, developing ingenious ways to store provisions and stave off frostbite during the winters. By turns riveting and thought-provoking, The Stranger in the Woods gives us a deeply moving portrait of a man determined to live his own way. Michael Finkel is the author of True Story: Murder, Memoir, Mea Culpa, which was adapted into a 2015 major motion picture.

Join us for a FREE EVENT with author

Michael Finkel

For All Ages

and

Any Occasion

Kings of the Yukon : One Summer Paddling Across the Far North

by Adam Weymouth

available in May, hardcover, Little, Brown, and Co.

Every summer, millions of salmon migrate thousands of miles to their spawning ground where they go to breed and then die. In the summer of 2016, Adam Weymouth travelled the length of the Yukon by canoe to learn the story of the salmon, their remarkable and even poetic journey, and the communities and people whose lives depend on them.

Tuesday, April 10, 7pm At Village Books in Fairhaven

Here Comes the Sun!

They are UPF 50+ sun rating and crafted for everything you do outdoors!

Check out our huge variety of Sun Day Afternoon Hats!

Shop 24/7 at villagebooks.com

Spring 2018

53

Wellness and the Mind How to Fix a Broken Heart

by Guy Winch

available now, hardcover, TED Books/Simon & Schuster

This book delights me because it deals with heartbreak, one of the more marginalized human experiences, in an artistic, compassionate, and holistic fashion. Dr. Winch comes at heartbreak specifically from the lens of losing a furry friend or a significant romantic relationship, two losses which are not provided sanctioned care in our culture, yet affect us all deeply. Finding this book was like kismet for me, exactly what I needed, and I would recommend it to anyone who has wrestled with significant emotional bereavement. –Hannah

The Kevin Show : An Olympic Athlete’s Battle with Mental Illness

by Mary Pilon

available March, hardcover, Bloomsbury USA

Meet Kevin Hall, brother, son, husband, father, and Olympic and America's Cup sailor. Kevin has an Ivy League degree, a winning smile, and throughout his adult life, he has been engaged in an ongoing battle with a person that doesn't exist to anyone but him: the Director. Kevin suffers from what doctors are beginning to call the "Truman Show" delusion.

The Art of Vanishing :

Natural Causes : An Epidemic of Wellness, the Certainty of Dying, and Killing Ourselves to Live Longer

by Barbara Ehrenreich

available in April, hardcover, Twelve

Drawing on varied sources, from personal experience and sociological trends to pop culture and current scientific literature, Natural Causes examines the ways in which we obsess over death, our bodies, and our health. Both funny and caustic, Ehrenreich then tackles the seemingly unsolvable problem of how we might better prepare ourselves for the end—while still reveling in the lives that remain to us.

First, We Make the Beast Beautiful : A New Story About Anxiety

by Sarah Wilson

available in April, hardcover, Dey Street

Sarah’s writing struck me right in the heart—her book offers some wonderful answers for anxious living but, more than that, hers is a heart that understands life-altering anxiety.

Her story is a ray of light for anyone who is searching for someone who understands the struggle. She offers humor, wisdom, vulnerability, and joy to those of us who live on the edges and in the turbulence of life. We are not alone and it’s people like Sarah who remind us of that. I cheer for this book and hope it will cheer you. –Hannah

A Memoir of Wanderlust

by Laura Smith available now, hardcover, Viking

The Art of Vanishing is a riveting mystery and a piercing exploration of marriage and convention that asks deep and uncomfortable questions: Why do we give up on our childhood dreams? Is marriage a golden noose? Searingly honest and written with a raw intensity, it will challenge you to rethink your most intimate decisions and may just upend your life.

Living With Meaning Book Group This group meets in the Village Books Readings Gallery in Fairhaven on the 1st Wednesday of most months at 2:00pm. Open to all! You can find all VB Reads book group reading selections at villagebooks.com.

54

Spring 2018

The Neuroscientist Who Lost Her Mind : My Tale of Madness and Recovery

by Barbara Lipska

available in April, hardcover, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

In January 2015, Barbara Lipska—a leading expert on the neuroscience of mental illness—was diagnosed with melanoma that had spread to her brain.

Within months, her frontal lobe began shutting down. She descended into madness, exhibiting dementiaand schizophrenia-like symptoms that terrified her family and coworkers. But miraculously, just as her doctors figured out what was happening, the immunotherapy they had prescribed began to work. Just eight weeks after her nightmare began, Lipska returned to normal, remembering her brush with madness with exquisite clarity.

Shop 24 hours a day at villagebooks.com

Body & Soul Plant-Powered Beauty : The Essential Guide to Using Natural Ingredients for Health, Wellness, and Personal Skincare

Mind Over Meds :

available in March, paperback, BenBella Books

by Andrew Weil, MD

Two aromatherapists offer plant-based alternatives to mass-produced beauty products, with recipes that enable readers to create their own makeup.

With tips and guidance, they show readers how to deconstruct beauty labels, parse ingredient lists, make informed decisions about the products they use, and better understand how their skin works. Plant-Powered Beauty unlocks sought-after wisdom for all aspects of plant-based personal skincare and celebrates the shift in beauty trends, bringing us back to natural beauty and reconnecting us with plants and healthy choices.

available in March, paperback, Little, Brown, and Co.

by Amy Galper and Christina Daigneault

You Can Stop Humming Now : A Doctor's Stories of Life, Death, and in Between

by Daniela Lamas

available in March, hardcover, Little, Brown and Co.

"Daniela Lamas is the real thing. Her voice is wry, compassionate, sometimes doctorly, and sometimes not. And she's written a gripping, soaring, inspiring book about the sickest people on the planet. It's an important story too—about not only death, but also survival. Read it. You'll see things you've never seen. You'll be moved. And you'll discover a voice you want to hear more from." –Atul Gawande

Advice Not Given : A Guide to Getting Over Yourself

by Mark Epstein

available now, hardcover, Penguin Press

“There are psychologists influenced by Buddhism and Buddhists influenced by psychology, and then there is Mark Epstein, whose deep and humane reflections on healing and self-understanding weave these two great disciplines into a lovely and nuanced whole. As in his other books, only this time more personally and more passionately, Epstein offers the reader a rare intelligence and honesty.” –Norman Fischer, author of What is Zen?

Know When Drugs Are Necessary, When Alternatives Are Better, and When to Let Your Body Heal on Its Own

Dr. Weil examines how we came to be so drastically overmedicated, presents science that proves drugs aren't always the best option, and provides reliable integrative medicine approaches to treating common ailments like high blood pressure, allergies, depression, and even the common cold. With case histories, healthy alternative treatments, and input from other leading physicians, Weil presents an invaluable resource for health care consumers.

The Recovering : Intoxication and Its Aftermath

by Leslie Jamison available in April, hardcover, Little, Brown and Co.

"Jamison's prose is so sharp and evocative that the reader feels the thrilling trickle of alcohol down the back of the throat, and breathes the struggle for health and freedom. Jamison demonstrates great wit, penetrating intellect, and an enormous heart. This strangely exhilarating book is about recovery, but it is more resonantly a book about desire, consciousness, kindness, self-control, and love."

–Andrew Solomon

Moan : Anonymous Essays on Female Orgasm

by Emma Koenig

available in May, paperback, Grand Central

The ways through which women achieve sexual pleasure are often ignored, devalued, or misunderstood. Moan tackles the ideas surrounding the sometimes elusive orgasm. Emma Koenig started a Tumblr so that women could write in anonymously about their sexual experiences, and the disconnect between what men think their partners should do, and what women's experiences actually are. Here, she collects select essays.

Find and follow Village Books and Paper Dreams on Instagram (village_books). #Tag your favorite VB/PD photos! Watch for fun contests, awesome events, and great reads!

360.671.2626 • 800.392.BOOK • villagebooks.com

Spring 2018

55

Booked at the Baker Fantastic Entertainment in a Majestic Setting Village Books and the Mount Baker Theatre are excited to present two upcoming Booked at the Baker shows!

Tickets are available at Village Books, the Mount Baker Theatre Box Office, and online at mountbakertheatre.com.

Seven Things I’ve Learned: An Evening with

An Evening with

David Sedaris

Ira Glass

Friday, May 4, 7pm Encounter the sardonic wit and incisive social critiques that have made David Sedaris one of America’s preeminent humor writers.

Calypso

Saturday, June 23, 7:30pm Dig deep into everyday joy with this Peabody Award-winning storyteller.

Pre-order Your Copy Today!

Humor

by David Sedaris available late May, hardcover, Little, Brown, and Co.

David Sedaris's first collection of essays since Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls!

Topics covered include: a house in the Carolinas where his family meets in the summer; dealing with his 90-year-old dad's aging; getting competitive with his FitBit; proposing to Hugh (for the tax break) and Hugh saying no; and adopting a fox who becomes obese from over-eating.

Justin Trudeau Scented Candle You know you want one.

My Canadian Boyfriend, Justin Trudeau

by Carrie Parker

available now, hardcover, Universe

This laugh-out-loud tribute to the head (and heart) of the Canadian government is filled with photos of Trudeau. Delivering speeches in finely tailored suits to boxing shirtless, from looking dashing while running the government to looking sexy while running in short shorts, and charming everyone from constituents to royalty with his sparkling eyes, wit, and smile. This book collects all the photos that prove he puts the “prime” in prime minister.

The Encyclopedia of Misinformation :

♥

A Compendium of Imitations, Spoofs, Delusions, Simulations, Counterfeits, Impostors, Illusions, Confabulations, Skullduggery, Frauds, Pseudoscience, Propaganda, Hoaxes, Flimflam, Pranks, Hornswoggle, Conspiracies & Miscellaneous Fakery

by Rex Sorgatz, illustrations by Lorenzo Petrantoni available in March, hardcover, Abrams Image

The Encyclopedia of Fakery runs the gamut, including conspiracy theories, internet and popular culture, and unbelievable phenomena throughout history. With 50 illustrations and designed to mimic a traditional encyclopedia, this book will add new depth to how readers engage with the world around them—both real and fake.

56

Spring 2018

Building Community One Book at a Time

The Arts... and Crafts Hoop Dreams :

Craft the Rainbow : 40 Colorful Paper Projects from The House That Lars Built

Modern Hand Embroidery

available in April, hardcover, Abrams

Vibrant color and rich textures abound in Hoop Dreams, a stylish embroidery guide for the modern maker. New and experienced embroiderers alike will be delighted by the fresh motifs and bold color palettes and feel empowered by the easy step-by-step instructions and templates. As an added bonus, the book includes an envelope with 10 carbon transfer papers for quickly transferring patterns to fabric.

by Brittany Watson Jepsen

Sought-after designer Brittany Watson Jepsen is known for the imaginative and amazingly beautiful designs she creates for her website and host of clients (including Anthropologie). In Craft the Rainbow, Jepsen walks readers through the easy basics of transforming simple paper—including tissue, crepe, cardstock, leaves of books, and vintage and recycled paper—into vibrant, fanciful, handmade projects suitable for every occasion.

by Cristin Morgan

available in April, hardcover, Abrams

Flowersmith :

The Curse of the Boyfriend Sweater : Essays on Crafting

How to Handcraft and Arrange Enchanting Paper Flowers

by Alanna Okun

by Jennifer Tran

available now, paperback, Hardie Grant Books

This is the definitive guide to handcrafting and arranging true-to-life paper flowers.

Through craftsmanship, expert styling, and beautiful photography, Flowersmith elevates paper flowers to an art form.

Inside, you'll find everything you need to know to do it yourself, from basic skills, through to crafting realistic flower arrangements for every season. With more than 30 flower and foliage projects included, you'll also find practical step-by-step instructions and photos, and templates you can cut out and use again and again.

available in March, hardcover, Flatiron

In a world that shows itself impervious to our need for order and logic, crafting allows Okun to feel a sense of control– even if it’s simply by making a piece of felt do what she wants it to. The art and physicality of making things, whether it's nerdy embroidery or warm mittens, has helped her cope with life's internal trauma.

D C-T!

by Joana Avillez and Molly Young available in May, hardcover, Penguin

Check out our fun variety of

ART & CRAFT KITS and SUPPLIES

Using a playful phonetic language first invented by William Steig in his now classic 1968 book CDB!—but which in today’s world of text message and internet shorthand feels uncannily contemporary—Young and Avillez tell a different story on each page of this collection of illustrations stuffed to brim with humor and cleverness.

Performing Arts

Rolling Stone 50 Years of Covers : A History of the Most Influential Magazine in Pop Culture

by Jann S. Wenner

available in April, paperback, Abrams

This fantastic collection is newly revised and updated to include the covers from all 50 years of Rolling Stone history.

With an updated introduction as well as new excerpts from the magazine and quotes from photographers and their celebrity subjects, this nostalgic journey down the memory lane of music, entertainment, and politics is irresistible.

FH: 360.671.2626 • LY: 360.526.2133 • villagebooks.com

Spring 2018

57

Signed FIRST EDITIONS

the Village Books JoinSigned First Editions Club!

CLUB

Whether you love reading, collecting books, both, or simply the idea of a surprise in novel form, consider joining our Signed First Editions Club.

As a member, you’ll receive six newly published first edition fiction books signed by the authors (and an occasional nonfiction title) over the course of one year. Our qualified buyers work together to select books based on literary quality and potential collectability. Each selection also comes with a protective dust jacket cover. Many past selections have gone on to receive critical acclaim, win major awards, and become book group favorites.

When you’re ready to join Village Books’ Signed First Edition Club, we can help you register at the store or you can go to villagebooks.com and click the Book Recommendations tab to find everything you need to get started. After paying the one-time enrollment fee of $1, you will be charged as each book is shipped and may cancel your membership at any time. The price of each book will vary but will never exceed $30.

If you have questions, please read our Signed First Editions Club FAQ at villagebooks.com. If you have further questions, please email us at firsteditions@villagebooks.com.

Be ahead of the reading curve and be the first to discover the next great book!

Here are a few examples of past Signed Do you love picture books or want to First Edition get a gift for a child who does? selections.

Learn about our new picture book subscription program on page 62.

YOU DON’T READ BORING BOOKS. DON’T SETTLE FOR BORING FURNITURE.

We Offer

99¢

Shipping USPS Media Mail

Hand-crafted furnishings from reclaimed materials.

–books & dvds–

a program of

available online AND in-store domestic shipping only

REVISION

DI V ISIO N

2309 Meridian St. | (360) 647-5921 | re-store.org/vbooks

58

Spring 2018

Fairhaven Store Hours: Monday-Saturday 9am-9pm • Sunday 10am-7pm

Celebrate

April

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, libraries, schools, and poets around the country banding together to celebrate poetry and its vital place in our culture.

Village Books is participating through readings, book displays, and other events. See our LitLive! calendar on pages 73-78 and watch villagebooks.com and our social media for additional poetry events and activities.

Sign up to receive a poem-a-day by email by going to Poets.org and clicking on the Poem-a-day link.

All poetry books at Village Books will once again be 20% off for the entire month of April!

OFF 20% POETRY !

ALL April

Receive a POEM-A-DAY go to Poets.org

A Good Cry : What We Learn from Tears and Laughter

by Nikki Giovanni

available now, hardcover, William Morrow & Company

At Village Books in Fairhaven

Maya Jewell Zeller, Jennifer Bullis, and Kathryn Smith

Sunday, April 15th, 4pm

Alchemous Resistance

Join authors Jennifer Bullis, Kathryn Smith, and Maya Jewell Zeller for an afternoon of poetry exploring themes of resistance, solitude, and ecofeminism. Butler's poems are rich with earth tones and riotous cadences; Smith explores isolation via spare lyrics; and Zeller's work uses a range of caesura to interrogate human-animal relationships and the anxiety of parenting in the Anthropocene.

One of America's most celebrated poets looks inward in this powerful collection, a rumination on her life and the people who have shaped her. I was fortunate to see Giovanni read from her latest book at a Seattle Arts and Lectures event in January.

Like the book itself, she was fierce, funny and reflective in an unscripted, unforgettable evening of poetry and storytelling.

Wise and courageous, she is a national treasure. If you've resolved to read more poetry this year, include Giovanni's A Good Cry on your list. –Mary Also available as a digital audiobook narrated by the author. Visit Libro.fm/villagebooks

2018 Sue C. Boynton POETRY CONTEST Entries due by March 31 The Sue C. Boynton Poetry Contest is a free annual event held each spring and open to Whatcom County residents of all ages and all levels of experience. From each year’s submissions, 25 winning poems are selected. These poems will be published in a chapbook collection, as well as displayed on the Sue C. Boynton Poetry Walk outside the Bellingham Public Library and/or inside Whatcom Transportation Authority buses. Winning poets are invited to read at a public awards ceremony in May. For submission guidelines and additional information, see:

thepoetrydepartment.wordpress.com Shop 24/7 at villagebooks.com

Spring 2018

59

POETRY Whatcom Dispute Resolution Center

PEACEFUL POETRY YOUTH CONTEST

Resting in the Familiar

by Christine Kendall available now, paperback

Resting in the Familiar’s title is from the comfort of recalling family stories. As it says in the first poem, Kendall writes about what she sees outside her windows. Formerly from Bellingham, she now looks out from her home in the Methow Valley.

Young people are key to putting the pieces together for creative conflict resolution.

At Village Books in Fairhaven

Christine Kendall Sunday, April 29th, 4pm

The Wilderness : New & Selected Poems, 1980-2016

by Maurya Simon

available in April, hardcover, Red Hen Press

Maurya Simon’s new volume, The Wilderness, spans 30 years of poetry writing and explores the most vital aspects of our lives: the power of language, the mysteries of the natural world, and how we may endure and transcend the losses that besiege us as we live fully in the world. Simon has authored 10 acclaimed volumes of poetry.

The Peaceful Poetry Youth Contest encourages kids to write a poem or song about a peaceful theme (listening, respect, anti-bullying, etc).

Selected poets receive gift cards, public recognition at our Peace Builder Awards Gala AND will be filmed by BTV! Who: K-12 students in Whatcom County When: Submit poems now through September 2018 Prizes: Gift cards, a public reading at Village Books and the Peace Builder Awards Gala, and much more!

Cairn : New & Selected

by Peggy Shumaker

available in May, hardcover, Red Hen Press

Drawn from 40 years of writing, the poems and prose in Peggy Shumaker's Cairn trace journeys in this world and in the inner life. Matters of life and death, these poems embody exuberance and struggle and generosity. Shumaker is the author of eight books of poetry.

Join us in welcoming poets

Peggy Shumaker & Maurya Simon Tuesday, May 1st, 7pm A free event at Village Books in Fairhaven

TEACHERS! Interested in submitting poems from your students? A 30-minute curriculum is available! This short lesson includes an overview of three poetry styles, a vocabulary brainstorm, and time for students to construct their own poem on submission forms.

All you do is mail them in! Contact youth@whatcomdrc.org for the free lesson plan.

Don't Forget... Village Books also offers a wide variety of used and bargain books.

60

Spring 2018

Fairhaven Store Hours: Monday-Saturday 9am-9pm • Sunday 10am-7pm

YOUNG READERS Their Families & Educators

PICTURE BOOKS Islandborn

Can I Be Your Dog?

by Junot Diaz, illustrated by Leo Espinosa

by Troy Cummings

available in March, hardcover, Dial Books

available in March, hardcover, Random House

From Pulitzer-prize-winner Junot Diaz comes a gloriously illustrated and lyrically written celebration of creativity, diversity, and our imagination’s boundless ability to connect us all.

Arfy doesn’t have a family, poor guy!

Via mail, he explains why he should be adopted—housebroken! cats ok!—but it seems like no one has room to let Arfy in. Until someone steps up who is very familiar with Arfy’s plight…and it’s a perfect match.

What an adorable book for dog lovers everywhere. –Sarah

Backyard Fairies

by Phoebe Wahl

available in March, hardcover, Alfred A. Knopf Books

A Bellingham local, Wahl hit the picture book scene in 2015 with Sonya's Chickens. Her newest is a vibrant, enchanting piece of whimsy that celebrates imagination and the magic that surrounds us all, even when it's only just out of sight.

Gorgeous. –Hana

Author Visit! Saturday, March 10, 4pm See page 65 for more!

A meditation on life and the big and small moments that shape our worlds, All the Animals Where I Live is a tour of the country home. Coyotes, chipmunks, cranes, and frogs all come and go, but what happens when winter comes?

available now, hardcover, Abrams

available in April, hardcover, POW!

Franny's father is a feminist. It's simple, really! He knows that girls can do anything boys can do, and raises Franny to believe that she deserves all the same rights, freedoms, and opportunities to fulfill her dreams that he had. Sweet and straightforward, Leet shows us what it means for a man to be a feminist, and how feminism plays a vital role in the empowerment of young women.

Shop 24/7 at villagebooks.com

available in March, hardcover, Roaring Brook Press

by Galia Bernstein

by Rhonda Leet, illustrated by Megan Walker

in the Kids Section on the main floor

by Philip C. Stead

I Am a Cat

Franny's Father is a Feminist

IN FAIRHAVEN Every Tuesday & Saturday at 10:30am

All the Animals Where I Live

When a small cat called Simon encounters Lion, Puma, Panther, Tiger, and Cheetah, they all tell him he's not truly a cat. He's way too small and fuzzy for that! But Simon is out to prove they are more alike than the big cats think in this adorable, empowering, gorgeously illustrated story. –Hana

IN LYNDEN Every Wednesday at 11am & Saturdays at 2pm in the Kids Section

STORY TIME

for Kids Spring 2018

61

KIDS!

EARLY READERS

KIDS NATURE

Peanut Butter and Jelly A Narwhal and Jelly Book

by Ben Clanton

Explore the Salish Sea: A Nature Guide for Kids

available in March, hardcover, Tundra Books

Narwhal and Jelly are back! And Narwhal has discovered...peanut butter? In the third installment of the celebrated Narwhal and Jelly books, the underwater pair tries new things, thinks positive, and learns what it means to love yourself.

by Joseph K. Gaydos and Audrey DeLella Benedict

available in April, hardcover, Little Bigfoot

Discover the Salish Sea and learn about its wondrous ecosystem in this engaging narrative covering Pacific Northwest sea life, wildlife habitats, and what makes our corner of the world so unique.

2018 AWARD WINNERS John Newbery Medal Hello, Universe

by Erin Entrada Kelly

Michael L. Printz Award

Randolph Caldecott Medal

We Are Okay

by Nina LaCour

Wolf in the Snow Story and illustrations by Matthew Cordel

Join the new Village Books

PICTURE BOOK Subscription Program

Paige's Picks - Delivering Smiles Monthly Paige the Penguin!

There's not much that is more exciting for a child than getting a package delivery. Especially if that package contains a picture book!

Paige's Picture Book Picks is a new Village Books subscription program that celebrates the best in picture books. You can now have a beautifully illustrated book, hand-selected by our Children's Book Team, delivered directly to yourself or to that special child in your life once every month. Let us do the all work for you! Selections include the finest of the new with a few past favorites peppered in­—something for every budding book lover.

Visit the book recommendations tab at villagebooks.com for more information and to sign up today! Let the smiles begin!

Hey grown ups! Don't forget we also offer our Signed First Editions Club just for you! Turn to page 58 for more information.

62

Spring 2018

Building Community One Book at a Time

National

Children’s Book & Screen-Free Week

April 30 -May 6, 2018

Celebrate!

Established in 1919, Children's Book Week 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. Village Books donates 10% of all kids' book purchases made during Children's Book Week to the children's departments of the city and county libraries! And for the second time, National Screen Free Week coincides with CBW to create the perfect pairing. Check out the variety of free events we have planned to keep kids engaged and having fun with books.

NEW this year—we're hosting a week-long scavenger hunt through the store!

Complete the hunt and be entered to win a prize. Contact the store for details or check our website.

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!

Tuesday, May 1, 10:30am

Story Time featuring May Day Story Time Let's ring in May Day with stories and songs that celebrate flowers and springtime!

We'll meet at our usual spot in the Kids section of the bookstore. Author not attending.

Thursday, May 3, 2pm

After School Pom-Pom Pets mini-workshop!

Parents, here's a great screen-free activity that your kids will love. Come to the bookstore for this free workshop where you will make your OWN Pom-Pom Pet out of yarn. Author not attending.

Turn for more Children's Books Week events...

See page 38 for Children's Book Week Story Times in Lynden!

One World, Many Stories FH: 360.671.2626 • LY: 360.526.2133 • villagebooks.com

Spring 2018

63

Children's Book Week Saturday, May 5, 10:30am

Author Visits!

Story Time featuring Toni Yuly Thank You, Bees This gentle message of gratitude and connection, enhanced by beautifully simple collage illustrations, makes for a charming gift. Join author/illutrator Toni Yuly in the Readings Gallery for this special story time. She will read her book and lead the children in a craft.

These events are also part of the NCI Nature of Writing Series!

Saturday, May 5, 4pm

Nina Laden will present Yellow Kayak You just never know what a new day will hold if you are brave enough to find out. On one quiet afternoon, a boy and his special friend’s unexpected adventure bring joy and excitement and sights never imagined. And the best part of any adventure is returning home with stories to tell and your best friend at your side. We're thrilled to welcome local children's author, Nina Laden back to the Readings Gallery!

Fun for KIDS

A Mother's Day Treat!

Sunday, May 13, 2pm in the Book Fare Café

TEA with Mom or Grandma In celebration of Mother's Day, we will be hosting a tea-time in Book Fare Café on the mezzanine level of Village Books in Fairhaven. Bring your children and enjoy some tasty treats, a few stories, a craft, and good company. Ideal for children ages 3-9. Tickets are $6 per person and can be purchased at the main counter at Village Books in Fairhaven or by calling 360-671-2626. Join us for a fun celebration of moms and grandmas and all they do for us! Seating is limited so buy your tickets today.

Don't miss the 4th Annual

Bham Fam Fair Saturday, March 24, 10am-3pm at the Bellingham Sportsplex Don't miss this day of fun at Bellingham's only Indoor Family Expo! Over 40 businesses—including Village Books— will be on hand with games and giveaways while sharing information on products, services and activities for local families.

Enjoy live music with Caspar Babypants, FREE Sportsplex ice skating and rentals, live performing arts, free photos at the photo booth, a climbing wall, a jump castle, craft corner, food trucks and much more! The Bham Fam Fair is a can't miss event for you and your family! Watch bhamfamfair.com for ticket information.

64

Spring 2018

Building Community One Book at a Time

KIDS Friday, March 2, 4pm Visit and Story Time with

THE CAT IN THE HAT Join us in the Readings Gallery as we celebrate 20 years of NEA's Read Across America and Dr. Seuss' birthday. Be ready to hear stories and have fun. Don't forget a camera so you can take your picture with none other than the Cat in the Hat himself!

Can't make it? No worries! The Cat will also visit our Lynden store at 2pm on Saturday, March 3.

SIgn up for our weekly eNewsletter so you never miss out!

Saturday, March 10, 4pm

PHOEBE WAHL

will introduce her latest picture book,

Backyard Fairies Fairies are real, and they're all around us! Join us in welcoming local award-winning authorillustrator Phoebe Wahl as she offers this fanciful and beautifully illustrated peek into the hidden world of fairies, sprites, and other magical creatures. Discover the magic that is all around, hidden in plain sight.

FH: 360.671.2626 • LY: 360.526.2133 • villagebooks.com

School's Out - Story Times in Fairhaven

Purple Friday Series Need something to do when school is out?

We've got you covered!

Friday, March 9, 10:30am Purple Friday Story Time There's a Monster in Your Book Come on down to the Readings Gallery as we have fun with this interactive story about a little monster who has lodged himself inside a book. We'll read other stories too, have a snack and do a small craft. Author does not attend.

Friday, April 27, 10:30am Purple Friday Story Time featuring the book

Don't Blink!

Join us as we read this interactive book that's really a bedtime book in disguise!

Here's how it works: if you can avoid getting to the end of this book, you can avoid bedtime, simple as that. But each time you blink, you have to turn a page. Those are just the rules.

So whatever you do, DON'T BLINK! We'll read stories, do a small craft and enjoy a snack. Author does not attend.

Friday, June 8, 10:30am Purple Friday Story Time featuring the book

If You Had a Jetpack Come on down to the Readings Gallery and share with us what YOU would do if you had a jetpack! We'll read stories, do a small craft, and enjoy a snack. Author does not attend.

See pages 73-78 for more events and watch villagebooks.com for additions and updates.

Spring 2018

65

Middle Readers New & Upcoming

PAPERBACK Releases

Rebel Genius

by Michael Dante DiMartino

Rain Reign

by Ann M. Martin available now, paperback, Square Fish

Rose Howard shares a strong bond with her dog, but when Rain goes missing, Rose is forced to confront the limits of her comfort levels to search for her pet.

available now, paperback, Square Fish

Magic, mystery, and mayhem come together in the acclaimed first title of a page-turning series from the co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra.

The Girl of Ink & Stars

by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

available in April, paperback, Yearling Books

Hargrave draws on the cultural folklore of the Canary Islands in this richly told story of a girl’s quest to map her own place in a world that legends alone have shaped.

Gertie's Leap to Greatness

Towers Falling

available in April, paperback, Square Fish

available in April, paperback, Little, Brown Books

This endearing tale spins together sparkling humor, sizzle - pop writing, and a main character with Ramona Quimby's sass and smarts.

Award-winning author Jewell Parker Rhodes tells a powerful story about young people who weren't alive to witness a defining moment in history, but begin to realize how much it colors their every day.

by Jewell Parker Rhodes

by Kate Beasley

Graphic Novel

Ghost Boys

by Jewell Parker Rhodes

Sparks!

available in April, hardcover, Little, Brown Books

by Ian Boothby available now, hardcover, Graphix

Two cats solve crime from inside a dog suit—what could be a better premise than that? One cat is brave, the other is a genius, and together with their sentient litter box they must save the world from an evil baby. This is an exuberant and totally adorable book that has enough self-awareness for adults to get a kick out of it as well. –Stephanie

Take Me Home!

It takes a bold author to tackle such difficult subjects as 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and the Deep Water Horizon tragedy, and write about them for middle grade readers. But Jewell Parker Rhodes is certainly that bold and her latest book, Ghost Boys, is no exception as she takes on the murder of black males by police officers. Jerome is 11 and on his way home from school, he is shot and killed because he has a toy gun. Now as a ghost he is navigating this strange, new existence with the help of Emmett Till. No one can see Jerome except Sarah, the daughter of the police officer who killed Jerome. An important book for our time, I encourage any adult to read this with their child and discuss it. –Claire

A legendary creature who spreads joy and light, the Super Pusheenicorn lights up and plays whimsical sounds at the touch of her horn or mane.

66

Spring 2018

Fairhaven Store Hours: Monday-Saturday 9am-9pm • Sunday 10am-7pm

The Wild Robot Escapes

by Peter Brown

available in March, hardcover, Little, Brown Books

Robot Roz returns in this exciting and heartwarming sequel to The Wild Robot.

No longer on her island, Roz must learn to navigate the civilized world and adapt to her new environment if she wants to find her way home.

The Beginning Woods

by Malcolm McNeill

available now, hardcover, Skypony Press

The Vanishings started without warning.

People disappeared into thin air, just piles of clothes left behind each day.

Abandoned in a bookshop, Max has grown up haunted by memories of his parents. To find the answers, Max must leave this world and enter the Beginning Woods, a realm of magic and terror where stories are all too real.

The Ostrich and Other Lost Things

by Ben Hautala

available now, hardcover, Philomel Books

Eleven-year-old Olivia Grant has a knack for finding lost things. There’s only one thing Olivia has never been able to find: her brother Jacob’s toy ostrich. Jacob is autistic, and though she’s his little sister, Olivia often feels like the older of the pair, his caretaker. Apart from being Jacob’s sister, Olivia’s not really sure who she is. In time, and with the help of some unlikely alliances, she must learn what it means to be separate from her brother and still love him, how to love herself in spite of her own flaws, and that not all lost things are meant to be found.

Aru Shah and the End of Time

by Roshani Chokshi

available in March, hardcover, Rick Riordan Presents

Fans of Percy Jackson, meet Aru Shah.

Renowned author Roshani Chokshi introduces us to the world of Indian mythology in this addicting new read, the inaugural book in Rick Riordan's new line of myth-driven tales. Aru is every bit the hero that Percy and Magnus are, and she carries with her the fun, the heart, and of course, the myths, that Riordan fans will love. Have at it! –Hana

Shop 24/7 at villagebooks.com

Middle Readers The Lifters

by Dave Eggers available in April, hardcover, Alfred A. Knopf Books

What if nothing was as it seemed?

What if the ground beneath your feet was not made of solid earth and stone but had been hollowed into hundreds of tunnels and passageways? What if there were mysterious forces in these tunnels, mere inches below you? What if it were up to just two kids to stop these forces? Twelve-year-old Gran Flowerpetal is about to find out.

Elementals : Ice Wolves

by Amie Kaufman

available in March, hardcover, HarperCollins

Ice wolves and scorch dragons are sworn enemies. This is the universal truth that Anders and his twin sister, Rayna, unquestionably know. So what happens when Anders takes the form of an ice wolf, and Rayna a scorch dragon? This first installment in Kaufman's new Elementals series is an exciting exploration of love, obedience, and the unquestioned loyalties that can divide us all. –Hana

The Night Diary

by Veera Hiranandani

available in March, hardcover, Dial Books

Shy 12-year-old Nisha, forced to flee her home with her Hindu family during the 1947 partition of India, tries to find her voice and make sense of the world falling apart around her by writing to her deceased Muslim mother in the pages of her diary.

The Creatures of the Pines Unicorn Rescue Society #01

by Adam Gidwitz, illustrated by Hatem Aly available in April, hardcover, Dutton Books

From celebrated author Adam Gidwitz (teamed up with Hatem Aly, illustrator of Gidwitz's Newbery Honor book The Inquisitor's Tale) comes a fast-paced, hilarious new series about friendship, adventure, and loyalty. Join Elliot Eisner as he follows Professor Fauna and new friend Uchenna in protecting mythical creatures from those who would use them for ill.

Spring 2018

67

Save the Dates!

LIT

July 16-20, 1-5pm

Calling all young readers and writers from ages 8-11, this exciting camp is just for you!

CAMP 0 Ages 7-1

Ages 8-11

Each day of the week has a specific beloved book as its focus and all of that day's activities will be inspired by its respective book.

August 6-10, 1-5pm

CAMP

VILLAGE BOOKS

A Village Books staffer will lead each day of themed activities with hands-on projects, book-related topics, and field trips around Bellingham. Snack included.

Both camps will take place at our Fairhaven store. Registration opens March 15.

See villagebooks.com or call 360.671.2626 for details.

Young Adult Speculative Fiction!

Tess of the Road

Rachel Hartman

by Rachel Hartman

available now, hardcover, Random House Books for Young Readers

Thursday, March 1, 7pm

The author of the beloved Seraphina duology is back! Here we meet Tess, Seraphina's step-sibling, who tries her best, despite her disgraced past, to be a dutiful daughter and sister, though she chooses to cope with her own self-pity by drinking. Soon her parents decide that Tess should be sent to a nunnery, but Tess sneaks out of the house, dresses as a boy, and makes her own way. This is the first of a new duology, and I can't wait for more! Rachel Hartman has once again crafted an amazing character journey of self discovery, redemption, and adventure. –Lauren S.

68

Spring 2018

At Village Books in Fairhaven

Village Books is thrilled to welcome the author of the bestsellers, Seraphina and Shadow Scale, to the Readings Gallery as she presents her latest, Tess of the Road!

“Surprising, rewarding, and enlightening, both a fantasy adventure and a meta discourse on consent, shame, and female empowerment.”

–Kirkus Reviews, starred review

Fairhaven Store Hours: Monday-Saturday 9am-9pm • Sunday 10am-7pm

YA RC .

.

.

Reading . Recommendations

VB's Young Adult Review Committee

Enjoy these reviews of the latest and greatest Young Adult books to hit the streets in recent and upcoming months. Don't miss our in-store Y.A.R.C. display, which is always up-to-date and evolving with reviews by teens, for teens! What better way to find out what teens are reading than to go straight to the source?

Honor Among Thieves (Honors #1)

by Rachel Caine & Ann Aguirre available now, hardcover, Harper

This book is filled with SciFi goodness, planets, amazing technology, adventure, action, romance and SPACE! There's two incredible and strong female characters and a sentient spaceship that loves the main character. Sure it's a little strange at times, but it works so well in the book. Zara is a multi-layered character who drew me in from the very beginning, everything about her fascinated me despite her ‘profession.’

The way her mind works, her thinking, behavior, smartness, kickassery. This is a book that will grab your attention and evoke your thoughts, and I highly recommend adding this to your “must read” list. –Rosie T. age 18

Blood Water Paint

by Joy McCullough

available in March, hardcover, Dutton

Born into a world where she is allowed no agency, Artemisia Gentileschi's story of her struggle to overpower a patriarchal society rocked me to my core. This is the most outstandingly feminist, holistic, and mindblowing smoothie of verse and prose and passion that I have EVER had the pleasure of reading. Joy McCullough's firecracker of a historical fiction is a novel I'd recommend to anyone with a passion for justice, poetry, and the floaty feeling you get when you read a fabulous book. –Abby D. age 18

Heart of Iron

by Ashley Poston

available now, hardcover, Harper Teen

From Ashley Poston, author of Geekerella, comes Heart of Iron, a wonderful new novel inspired by Anastasia but set in space.

While some of the elements of the story are predictable because it is inspired by a tale many know, there are also new surprises and elements which I adored. I found myself loving each one of the point-of-view characters.

Fans of the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer will love this new science-fiction retelling and yearn for the sequel. –Gretal M. age 18

Given to the Earth (Given duet #2)

by Mindy McGinnis available in April, hardcover, G.P. Putman's Sons

Picking up where the great novel Given to the Sea left off, Given to the Earth follows Dara, Witt, Khosa, Vincent, and Donil as they attempt to deal with pride, love, and escaping the rising tide. A well-done sequel that ties up loose ends readers never thought about, as well as continuing the brilliant world of Stille and Pietra, I loved reading every event from rising action to conclusion and enjoyed the espionage and well-written emotion the author created in her characters. –Brayden W. age 17

The Midnights

by Sarah Nicole Smetana available in March, hardcover, Harper Teen

For Teens, By Teens Established in 2014, this program offers teenagers 13-18 the opportunity to read yet-to-be-published books, also known as ARCs (Advanced Reader Copies). In exchange for this privilege, they write reviews for Village Books to use in print and on social media, as well as for recommendations to our customers.

Shop 24/7 at villagebooks.com

Sarah Nicole Smetana's The Midnights is the most refreshingly honest and profoundly moving book I have read in a long, long time. After her father dies, Susannah battles one of the hardest battles of all--growing up.

It is moving, poignant, and heartbreaking.

It depicts something real, relatable, and tangible. I left this book feeling grateful for the good things in my life--just the way a great book should make you feel. –Abby D. age 18

Spring 2018

69

Y A RC .

.

.

.

More

Young Adult Review Committee

Suitors & Sabotage

Reviews

To Kill a Kingdom

by Cindy Anstey

available in April, hardcover, Swoon Reads

Imogene is basically engaged to Ernest, yet she’s falling in love with his brother, Ben, and Imogene’s friend, Emily, has a crush on Ben. They now have a crazy love triangle mess… Now I know you’re thinking ”darn, another cliche,” but let me turn you around there. The romance may be the main story, but there’s a mystery: Ben is constantly involved in “accidents” that could have perilous results.

Travel along the summer countryside with Imogene and her friends to find out who’s causing them. This is not just another YA love story. It’s a classic romance with a dribble of adventure and mystery. –Stephanie K. age 17

Suitors & Sabotage

Imogene Chivalry is a young lady in the Middle Ages. She is being courted by a man named Earnest, but Earnest's younger brother, Ben, has really caught her eye. To complicate matters, Imogene's best friend Emily has also become smitten with Ben. As the four spend more and more time together, a series of unexplained accidents begin to occur. After the accidents become increasingly deadly, they are forced to realize that someone means Ben harm. The style of writing truly makes you feel like you're in the Middle Ages and the story itself has a lot of depth. –Kamden I. age 13

by Alexandra Christo available in March, hardcover, MacMillan

If you are a lover of dark interpretations of fairy tales, look no further than Alexandra Christo’s To Kill a Kingdom. This little mermaid is a bloodthirsty siren princess named Lira who collects the hearts of human princes. And Prince Elian would rather spend his days on his pirate ship hunting down and killing sirens. Enthralling and stabby with the perfect number of nods to the original, To Kill a Kingdom is the best The Little Mermaid retelling out there. –Gretal M. age 18

Y A RC .

.

.

.

Young Adult

American Panda

by Gloria Chao

available in March, hardcover, Simon Pulse

A young Taiwanese-American teenager must deal with the plans her parents have set for her, which include becoming a doctor and marrying a fellow Taiwanese Ivy Leaguer. Too bad Mei is a germaphobe and has her eyes set on a Japanese classmate instead. Filled with the trials and tribulations of teen love, growing up, and family dynamics, American Panda will simultaneously leave you in stitches and tears.

YOUNG ADULT NONFICTION

For Every One

by Jason Reynolds

available in April, hardcover, Atheneum Books

Originally performed at the Kennedy Center for the unveiling of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, this stirring and inspirational poem is National Book Award finalist Jason Reynolds’s rallying cry to the dreamers of the world. For Every One is just that: for every one. For every one person. For every one dream. But especially for every one kid.

70

Spring 2018

The Astonishing Color of After

by Emily X.R. Pan available in March, hardcover, Little Brown

My love for this book knows no bounds! This is a magical realist story interweaving musical and colorful imagery, poetry, and very real insights about love, grief, and the tragedy of suicide. The more I read, the more I saw myself in the main character, Leigh, and her journey toward understanding her family dynamics, friendships, relationship to two powerful cultures, and the astounding healing impact grief can have on the human heart. The ending to the story was so satisfying yet left me wanting ever more from this new author. –Hannah

Y.A. for Adults This is a book group for adults who are tired of always acting like an adult. We will be reading everything and anything Young Adult. Join us the 2nd Tuesday of the month at 6:30pm in the Writers' Corner on the mezzanine level of Village Books.

Fairhaven Store Hours: Monday-Saturday 9am-9pm • One Sunday Building Community Book10am-7pm at a Time

Young Adult Children of Blood and Bone

by Tomi Adeyemi

available in March, hardcover, Henry Holt & Company

In a world where magic has disappeared and magis are targeted by a ruthless king, Zélie has always feared she would share the fate of her mother, killed at the hands of the king’s guards. Now Zélie has a chance to bring magic back to the land of Orïsha and in order to succeed, she and her brother will have to outwit Prince Inan, who is hell-bent on ridding the world of magic.

Tempests and Slaughter : The Numair Chronicles Book 1

by Tamora Pierce

available now, hardcover, Random House

In the Numair Chronicles, fans of Pierce will be rewarded with the never-beforetold story of how Numair Salmalín came to Tortall. In this first volume, readers will discover an unforgettable fantasy adventure where a kingdom’s future rests on the shoulders of a talented young man with a knack for making vicious enemies.

Furyborn : The Empirium Trilogy Book 1

by Claire Legrand

available in May, hardcover, Sourcebooks Fire

Legrand has long been a favorite author of mine, and when I learned that she calls this new work "the book of [her] heart," I knew it had to be something special. And oh, Legrand does not disappoint. There are two queens, one of blood, one of sun, and they carry the fate of the world between them. To say anymore would be to do Furyborn an injustice. You must experience it for yourself. –Hana

The Beauty That Remains

by Ashley Woodfolk

available in March, hardcover, Delacorte Press

Autumn always knew exactly who she was: a talented artist and a loyal friend.

Shay was defined by two things: her bond with her twin sister, Sasha, and her love of music. And Logan has always turned to writing love songs when his real love life was a little less than perfect. But when tragedy strikes each of them, somehow music is no longer enough. Despite the odds, one band’s music will reunite them and prove that after grief, beauty thrives in the people left behind.

FH: 360.671.2626 • LY: 360.526.2133 • villagebooks.com

The Hazel Wood

by Melissa Albert

available now, hardcover, Flatiron Books

Yo u k n o w t h e feeling you get when you read something really special? A spitfire of a story that just makes you breathe ”Wow” even as you’re reading? Well, welcome to your next something special! The Hazel Wood takes inspiration from some of the darkest elements of fairy tales and creates newly morbid and chilling ones. In this dark and deliciously twisty tale, there is always a daunting, fantastical surprise around the corner. –Hana

Down and Across

by Arvin Ahmadi

available now, hardcover, Viking

Scott Ferdowsi has a track record of quitting. His best friends know exactly what they want to do with the rest of their lives, but Scott can’t commit to a breakfast cereal. With college applications looming, Scott’s parents pressure him to get serious about a career path. Desperate for help, he sneaks off to Washington, DC, to seek guidance from a famous professor who specializes in grit, the psychology of success.

The Wicked Deep

by Shea Ernshaw

available in March, hardcover, Simon Pulse

Hocus Pocus and Practical Magic meet the Salem witch trials in this haunting story about three sisters on a quest for revenge. The Swan Sisters are beautiful and alluring, and every summer they return to the rocky beaches of Oregon to exact revenge on the town that killed them for witchcraft more than 200 years ago.

The Cruel Prince

by Holly Black

available now, hardcover, Little, Brown Books

As a child, Jude and her two sisters were whisked away to Faerie. Being a human amongst the fey is not easy, especially when they look upon humans with such contempt. As Jude tries to win herself a place in the High Court of Faerie, each twist and gasp-worthy turn will have you flipping the pages faster than you can read them. –Hana

Spring 2018

71

Your local online information source

community, arts & entertainment

Sharing the stories that remind us why we love to live, work and play in Whatcom County

(360) 527-1035 | bellinghambells.com

all northwest, all the time www.cascadiaweekly.com

OPENING DAY IS JUNE 4th, 2018!

SEASON TICKETS, GROUP OUTINGS, AND SPONSORSHIPS STILL AVAILABLE!

72

Spring 2018

Literature LIVE!

VB’s Literary Events Program

EVENTS VillageBooks.com

to stay updated–or even better, let us come to you!

Register online for the Village Books eNewsletter!

at WCC's Heiner Theater featuring

KATE MOORE –The Radium Girls:

Young Adult Speculative Fiction!

The Dark Story of America's Shining Women

Village Books is thrilled to welcome the author of the bestsellers Seraphina and Shadow Scale to the Readings Gallery! Rachel Hartman once again pushes the boundaries of genre, addressing issues that are rarely dealt with in epic fantasy and balancing them perfectly with adventure and light humor. Read a review of this new book on page 68.

KIDS!

Come on down to the Readings Gallery as we have fun with this interactive story about a little monster who has lodged himself inside a book. We'll read other stories too, have a snack and do a small craft. *author does NOT attend*

Fiction!

Join us in the Readings Gallery for a presentation of this spooky, atmospheric novel. The Night Child is the story of a teacher’s unremembered past coming back to threaten her sanity in the form of a child named Margaret. As the story progresses, a terrible secret is discovered—a secret that pushes Nora toward an even deeper psychological breakdown. Anna Quinn is a writer, teacher, and the owner of The Writers’ Workshoppe and Imprint Bookstore in Port Townsend.

Read a review of this book on page16.

STORY TIMES

Join us as we celebrate the paperback release of this bestselling book!

The Radium Girls tells the story of the young women who were slowly poisoned in America’s dial factories starting in WWI and their courageous battle for justice that still reverberates today. As featured on NPR, The New York Times and Buzzfeed, The Radium Girls is a piece of forgotten history that will haunt, outrage and, ultimately, inspire you. This live radio variety show will also include music by Sarah Goodin, fun skits, and much more. Tickets $5 available at Village Books and brownpapertickets.com. Receive a free ticket with pre-purchase of The Radium Girls.

Friday, March 9, 10:30am KIDS! PURPLE FRIDAY STORY TIME featuring There's a Monster in Your Book!

Join us as we celebrate 21 years of NEA's Read Across America and Dr. Seuss' birthday. Be ready to hear stories and have your picture taken with none other than the Cat in the Hat himself!

Saturday, March 3, 7pm ANNA QUINN –The Night Child

Join us in welcoming featured author Sunil Yapa to various locations in Bellingham and throughout Whatcom County as he discusses his book, Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of a Fist. See page two and whatcomreads.org for a complete list of events including his keynote presentation at 7pm, March 9 at Mount Baker Theatre. All events are free and open to the public.

Thursday, March 8, 6:30pm The Chuckanut Radio Hour

MARCH

Friday, March 2, 4pm In Fairhaven Saturday, March 3, 2pm in Lynden Read Across America Story Time with a VISIT FROM the Cat in the Hat!

After many years of paddling the waterways and outer coasts of the Pacific Northwest, author and artist Lou McKee planned a short kayaking trip near Vancouver Island with friends and family that unexpectedly became a yearly tradition. Collected together in print for the first time, Klee Wyck Journal showcases the cabin and Lou's remarkable lifetime on and near the water in exquisite, full color sketches. Lou McKee is a professional artist, a kayaker and, now, an author.

March 8- 10 Whatcom Reads 2018

Additions & changes to this schedule will occur so check out

Thursday, March 1, 7pm RACHEL HARTMAN –Tess of the Road

Tuesday, March 6, 7pm Slideshow!

LOU MCKEE NCI Nature of –Klee Wyck Journal Writing Series

KIDS!

Fairhaven: Tuesdays & Saturdays at 10:30am Lynden: Wednesdays at 11am and Saturdays at 2pm

Saturday, March 10, 4pm PHOEBE WAHL KIDS! –Backyard Fairies We are thrilled to announce Phoebe Wahl’s return to the Readings Gallery! She packed the house for her debut, Sonya’s Chickens, and now she’s back with her latest children’s book in which a determined girl searches tirelessly for the magical creatures she’s sure live in the woods beyond her garden. But they always seem to be fluttering just out of sight! Backyard Fairies offers a fanciful and beautifully illustrated peek into the hidden world of fairies, sprites, and other magical creatures that might be hiding in your backyard, too. See page 61 for a staff review!

Unless otherwise noted, events take place in the Readings Gallery of Village Books in Fairhaven and are FREE.

See page 39 for LitLive! Events in Lynden

Join us in the kids section for a half hour of stories, songs, and movement as we read and get silly about books!

If you can’t make it to an event, just call us to arrange for autographed copies!

Keep turning for more events!

Spring 2018

73

Literature

LIVE!

Sunday, March 11, 4pm Fiction!

BRUCE FRASER –Noah's Raven: A Chilcotin Saga Noah’s Raven, a political thriller by retired Vancouver criminal lawyer Bruce Fraser, imagines the intersection of the American electoral process with First Nations’ land rights. It pits an American Trump-like billionaire presidential hopeful against a Chilcotin Shaman and a novice reporter from Atlanta. It also explores the mysteries of the vast canvas of the rugged Chilcotin region of BC.

Tuesday, March 13, 7pm Excellence NW Workshop Featuring Monique Stefens "Communication"

Free Workshop!

Why don't people understand!? Explore communication, what gets in our way and how to navigate the "big ones." This interactive workshop draws from the book Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When the Stakes are High.

Wednesday, March 14, 7pm SARAH MCBRIDE –Tomorrow Will Be Different: Love, Loss, & the Fight For Trans Equality

In April 2012, when transgender issues had yet to break onto the national scene, Sarah McBride made headlines—and history—when she came out publicly as a transgender woman while serving as American University’s student body president. Now with Tomorrow Will Be Different, along with a foreword from former Vice President Joe Biden, she delivers a powerful and emotional story that serves as an entry point for understanding the issues that the trans community faces and fights each day.

Sarah McBride is the national press secretary at the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ civil rights organization.

Friday, March 16, 7pm TYRELL JOHNSON –The Wolves of Winter

Fiction!

A captivating tale of humanity pushed beyond its breaking point, of family and bonds of love forged when everything is lost, and of a heroic young woman who crosses a frozen landscape to find her destiny. This debut novel is written in a post-apocalyptic tradition that spans The Hunger Games and Station Eleven but blazes its own distinctive path. Tyrell Johnson is a 29-year-old writer and editor who grew up in Bellingham. Read a staff review on page 19.

Are YOU Receiving VB's e-newsletter?

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!

74

Spring 2018

Follow us on Twitter and Facebook to receive LitLive! Event reminders and updates.

Check out our Instagram for even more!

Sunday, March 18, 4pm Underground Writing Pre-Publication Group Reading –What No One Ever Tells You In the spring of 2018, What No One Ever Tells You will be published and we can't wait. This is the first anthology of student writings from Underground Writing. Underground Writing is a literature-based creative writing program serving migrant, incarcerated, recovery, and other at-risk communities in northern Washington through literary engagement and personal restoration.

Tuesday, March 20, 12pm TIM BURNETT Mindfulness Workshop

Free Workshop!

Join local mindfulness practitioner Tim Burnett, executive director of Mindfulness Northwest, for an exploration of mindfulness practices that promote awareness and well-being. Mindfulness teacher Tim Burnett has been practicing meditation for 30 years.

Tuesday, March 20, 7pm RICHARD LITTLE –Jakey's Fork: A River's Journey

Short Fiction!

From high in the Rockies, so begins Richard Little's latest collection of stories from the road. Rivers, blue traceries on a map, are pathways of history. What are their legacies? Hang out with Butch Cassidy, Sitting Bull, Teddy Roosevelt, and others to find out … and consider legacies we might leave to others. A retired attorney and lobbyist, Little has lived in the Pacific Northwest for over 35 years.

Wednesday, March 21, 7pm BRUCE HOLBERT –Whiskey

Fiction!

Whiskey is the story of two brothers, their parents, three wrecked marriages, and a dark and hard-earned grace.

With the gruff humor of Cormac McCarthy, a dash of madcap irony, and an authentic literary voice all his own, Bruce Holbert, author of The Hour of Lead and Lonesome Aninals, traverses the harsh landscape of America’s northwestern border and finds a family unlike any you’ve met before.

Thursday, March 22, 7pm NCI Nature of LAUREN DANNER Writing Series –Crown Jewel Wilderness: Creating North Cascades National Park

The North Cascades National Park celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2018, and this new book offers the first comprehensive account of its creation—a narrative that involves more than a decade of grassroots activism and political maneuvering. Widely considered the first wilderness national park in the United States, its most scenic and undisturbed areas were preserved without roads or other accommodations, adding to its crown jewel image. The story includes the unprecedented turn of events that left the National Park Service and United States Forest Service, agencies that often had adversarial viewpoints and objectives, working side by side. *Part of the North Cascades Institute Nature of Writing Series*

Friday, March 23, 5-8pm Fairhaven Fourth Friday Art Walk A monthly tradition of community and art in Fairhaven! Stop by Village Books early and check out the exhibit in our Readings Gallery then come back for an event with author Katrina Shawver at 7pm!

Literature

Friday, March 23, 7pm KATRINA SHAWVER Henry: A Polish Swimmer's True Story of

LIVE!

Friendship from Auschwitz to America

Told in an interview format, Henry relates a life as a champion swimmer and coach, interrupted by three years imprisoned in Auschwitz and Buchenwald as a Catholic Polish political prisoner. This bridge to history is told with a pragmatic gallows humor and is supported by extensive research and more than 80 original documents and rare photos.

Ultimately, Henry is the story of a resilient young man who survives by his wits, humor, friends, and luck.

Saturday, March 24, 7pm SPENCER ELLSWORTH –Starfire: Memory's Blade (Starfire Trilogy #3)

Speculative Fiction!

At last, the arrival of the third installment in this super trilogy!

At the heart of the Dark Zone, a duel for the universe rages. If Jaqi and Araskar can fight their way out, they can use a secret at the heart of the Dark Zone to free the galaxy, and end John Starfire's new tyranny. They lose, and every star in the sky will go dark. Spencer Ellsworth’s debut novel A Red Peace was inspired by the idea of a “Russian Revolution in space.” He teaches at Northwest Indian College in Bellingham.

Monday, March 26, 7pm Open Mic Village Books invites everyone to enjoy local talents as they share their own stories, poems and essays! Published and unpublished writers are encouraged to attend and enjoy a welcoming audience. Open mic is held the last Monday of most months at 7pm in the Readings Gallery. Sign up at our main counter on the first floor or call (360) 671-2626. Andrew McBride, local writer and editor, will be hosting!

Thursday, March 29, 7pm RALPH MYERS & JULIANNA ROYAL GUY –A Beacon of Community Development: The Cordata Neighborhood Association

This collaborative effort chronicles the catalyst, birth, growth, and development of the Cordata Neighborhood Association. The book narrates the changes brought to the Cordata Neighborhood and memorializes the efforts of the association's visionary founders as they advocated for their neighborhood.

Friday, March 30, 7pm ROBIN OLIVEIRA –Winter Sisters

Fiction!

New York, 1879: After an epic snowstorm ravages Albany, Dr. Mary Sutter, a former Civil War surgeon, searches for two little girls—the daughters of close friends killed by the storm who have vanished without a trace. When what happened to them is revealed, the ensuing uproar tears apart families, reputations, and the city, exposing dark secrets and putting fragile lives and loves at great risk.

Robin Oliveira is the New York Times bestselling author of My Name Is Mary Sutter and I Always Loved You.

Unless otherwise noted, events take place in the Readings Gallery of Village Books in Fairhaven and are FREE.

Saturday, March 31, 7pm RICHARD MARTINEZ –Grunts Don’t Cry

Memoir

For 34 years Richard Charles Martinez kept a journal dealing with his experiences as an infantryman in the Vietnam War. Martinez writes in a style that conveys awe regarding what he saw and did. At times, he also projects an air of innocence that lifts him above the moment. A 20-year-old college dropout draftee, 5 feet 10 inches and 125 lbs, Martinez found infantry duty difficult, but he performed as demanded.

Martinez served with the 1st Battalion/26th Regiment of the Army’s 1st Infantry Division stationed at Quan Loi and Lai Khe in 1968-69. The shock of combat and its aftermath “stays with you forever,” he says, “in memories and nightmares.”

so far in

APRIL

April is National Poetry Month! Watch for more events through villagebooks.com and our social media.

Thursday, April 5, 7pm NCI Nature of Writing Series JENNIFER WILHOIT Writing on the Landscape: Essays & Practices to Write, Roam, Renew

Jennifer Wilhoit narrates a journey, demonstrating how vital balance is in our pursuit of writing, as well as in our pursuit of life. She observes simply that the principal point of this book is the pairing of nature and writing toward being complete. “The voices of the earth speak deeply and clearly to a writer.” Jennifer J. Wilhoit, PhD is a published author, spiritual ecologist, editor, mentor, consultant, researcher, educator, and peacemaker. Take a writing workshop with her! Check out the full listing of spring Chuckanut Writers classes on page 27.

Saturday, April 7, 7pm MATT YOUNG –Eat the Apple: A Memoir At age 18, Matt Young signed up for the Marine Corps. Eat the Apple is a memoir that doesn’t read like a memoir—it is dark, dirty, morally ambiguous, and completely immersive. At various moments it feels like fiction, an irreverent poem, or a long joke, but it’s all true, and it all happened to Matt Young in the course of his three deployments to Iraq. Matt Young is a Marine Corps infantry veteran, a teacher, and writer.

Book & Writing Groups • VB Reads Book Groups (see page 14) • VB Writes Writing Groups (see page 24)

Village Books hosts multiple book and writing groups. These groups are open to anyone in the community and are free to attend. Find details at villagebooks.com.

• Chuckanut Writers Workshops & Classes

Presented in partnership with WCC Community & Continuing Education, these programs are designed to inspire and encourage writers at all stages of their writing journey. See page 27 for information on upcoming classes!

Keep turning for more events!

If you can’t make it to an event, just call us to arrange for autographed copies!

Spring 2018

75

Literature

LIVE!

Tuesday, April 10, 7pm MICHAEL FINKEL Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit

On tour for the paperback release of this New York Times bestselling true tale, Michael Finkel will share the riveting, thought-provoking, and deeply moving portrait of a man determined to live his own way. In 1986, 20-year-old Christopher Knight left his home and disappeared into the Maine woods. He would not have a conversation with another person for the next 27 years. Drawing on extensive interviews with Knight himself, journalist Michael Finkel shows how Knight lived in a tent in a secluded encampment, developing ingenious ways to survive the winters.

Michael Finkel is also the author of True Story: Murder, Memoir, Mea Culpa, which was adapted into a 2015 major motion picture.

Thursday, April 11, 6:30pm THE CHUCKANUT RADIO HOUR in the Heiner Theater at Whatcom Community College

Double-Header featuring WILLY VLAUTIN –Don't Skip Out on Me & JONATHAN EVISON –Lawn Boy Join us for this very special dual-guest Radio Hour! We are thrilled to welcome these two talented PNW writers to the stage of the Heiner Theater. Each has a brand-new novel and they will discuss them in an "in conversation" style interview. Tickets $5: available at Village Books and brownpapertickets.com. Receive a free ticket with purchase of Don’t Skip Out on Me or Lawn Boy. Co-sponsored by Whatcom Community College Community and Continuing Education, 12th Street Shoes, and Westside Pizza. Read more on page 19.

Saturday, April 14, 4pm CLAIRE SWEDBERG –In the Valley of Mystic Light Ten years ago Claire Swedberg and Rita Hupy pondered how a small farming town could become an established, artistic community over the course of a few decades.

Hundreds of interviews later, In the Valley of Mystic Light was the result—a story of art, community, and mysticism covering the early "Big Four Artists," dropout artists of Fishtown, and beyond. Claire Swedberg is an award-winning journalist and author of four non-fiction books.

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!

Thank you for supporting Literature Live! Events by attending and purchasing featured authors' books at Village Books.

Saturday, April 14, 7pm Celebrate MARY LOU SANELLI Poetry –The Immigrant's Table: Month!

Poems & Heirloom Recipes

Now in its third printing, The Immigrant’s Table is a fun, upbeat story that dramatically and poetically tells a story of immigration, cultural adjustment and weaving Old and New Worlds together into a rich fabric of memoir. Sanelli’s staged reading from her book includes storytelling, and Italian food & wine: all the elements she so enthusiastically writes about in her story of coming of age as a first-generation American, born to parents from Italy.

Sunday, April 15, 4pm MAYA JEWELL ZELLER, JENNIFER BULLIS, KATHRYN SMITH Alchemous Resistance Poetry Month!

Group Reading Join authors Jennifer Bullis, Kathryn Smith, and Maya Jewell Zeller for an afternoon of poetry exploring themes of resistance, solitude, and ecofeminism.

Jennifer's poems are rich with earth tones and riotous cadences; Smith explores isolation via spare lyrics; and Maya's work uses a range of caesura to interrogate human-animal relationships and the anxiety of parenting in the Anthropocene.

Tuesday, April 17, 7pm Excellence NW Workshop featuring Monique Stefens "Forgiveness"

Free Workshop!

Been hurt? Hurt others? Join us as we explore techniques for forgiveness and reasons why it just might help. This interactive workshop draws from the book by world-renowned Desmond & Mpho Tutu, The Book of Forgiving.

Wednesday, April 18, 7pm ALBERT FLYNN DESILVER –Writing As a Path to Awakening: A Year to Becoming an Excellent Writer & Living an Awakened Life

"The practice of writing is an exploration of consciousness, a practice toward deeper self-awareness that moves us along the path of awakening to our true nature," writes Albert Flynn DeSilver. In Writing as a Path to Awakening, this renowned poet, writer, and teacher shows you how to use meditation to cultivate true depth in your own writing—while using the creative process to accelerate your spiritual evolution. Albert Flynn DeSilver is an internationally published poet, memoirist, novelist, speaker, and workshop leader and YOU can take a writing workshop with him! Check out the full listing of spring Chuckanut Writers on page 27.

Thursday, April 19, 7pm SCOTT FREEMAN & SUSAN LEOPOLD FREEMAN –Saving Tarboo Creek: One Family’s Quest to Heal the Land

NCI Nature of Writing Series

Together with his wife, Susan Leopold Freeman, and sons, the Freemans purchased 17 acres of clear-cut land on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula.

Through the center of the property runs a small creek, an ancient salmon stream badly damaged by a century’s worth of ditching, clearcutting, and channeling. Saving Tarboo Creek follows the Freemans as they work to rehabilitate the land back to a natural state. Scott Freeman teaches biology at the University of Washington. Susan Leopold Freeman paints, teaches piano, and creates mosaics and fabric art.

Thank you for supporting Literature Live Events!

76

Spring 2018

Friday, April 20, 7pm JULIE CHRISTINE JOHNSON –The Crows of Beara

Literature

Fiction!

Along the windswept coast of Ireland, a woman discovers the landscape of her own heart. When Annie Crowe travels from Seattle to a small Irish village to promote a new copper mine, her public relations career is hanging in the balance. When she arrives on the remote Beara Peninsula, Annie learns that the mine would encroach on the nesting ground of an endangered bird, the Red-billed Chough, and many in the community are fiercely protective of this wild place. Beautifully crafted with environmental themes, a lyrical Irish setting, and a touch of magical realism, The Crows of Beara is a breathtaking novel of how the nature of place encompasses everything that we are.

Friday, April 27, 10:30am PURPLE FRIDAY STORY TIME featuring Don't Blink!

KIDS!

Come on down to the Readings Gallery as we have fun with this bedtime book in disguise! We'll read other stories too, have a snack and do a small craft. *author does NOT attend*

Friday, April 27, 5-8pm Fairhaven Fourth Friday Art Walk A monthly tradition of community and art in Fairhaven! Stop by Village Books early and check out the exhibit in our Readings Gallery then come back for an author event at 7pm!

Friday, April 27, 7pm TOM FLEISCHNER, SAUL WEISBERG, and EDIE DILLON –Nature, Love, Medicine: Essays on Wildness & Wellness

NCI Nature of Writing Series

A diverse array of authors—psychologists and poets, biologists and artists, a Buddhist teacher—share personal stories that reveal a common theme: when we pay conscious, careful attention to our wider world, we strengthen our core humanity. This book declares that nurturing a love for our planet is essential in this time of turbulence and change. Thomas Lowe Fleischner, editor of Nature, Love, Medicine, is a naturalist and conservation biologist, and founding director of the Natural History Institute at Prescott College, where he has taught interdisciplinary environmental studies for almost three decades. Saul Weisberg is a poet, naturalist, educator and executive director of North Cascades Institute. He has worked throughout the Northwest as a wilderness climbing ranger, field biologist, commercial fisherman and fire lookout. Saul is author of North Cascades: The Story Behind the Scenery, From the Mountains to the Sea: A Guide to the Skagit River Watershed and Headwaters: Poems 7 Field Notes. Edie Dillon is a nationally exhibited sculptor, painter and environmental artist whose work seeks to honor the beauty and mystery of the world. She has also worked as an educator, environmental advocate, and national park ranger. *Co-sponsored by the North Cascades Institute and the Natural History Institute.*

Saturday, April 28 Independent Bookstore Day Come join the party!

LIVE!

book, The Klee Wyck Journal. See page 12 for more Lynden events! At 7pm in Fairhaven, we will round out the day with a special event featuring celebrated local authors J.L.Oakley, and Mike Impero down in the Readings Gallery.

Saturday, April 28, 7pm JANEY OAKLEY & MIKE IMPERO Celebration of Statue Honoring Civilian Conservation Corps, 1933-1940 Have you ever driven up to Mount Baker National Forest and checked in at the Glacier Public Service Center? Or maybe you camped at Douglas Fir Campground or hiked around the Warming Hut up at Austin Pass. All those places and many more projects were made by the young men of Civilian Conservation Corps from 1933 to 1940—men, like the young men featured in Oakley's novel, Tree Soldier and Impero's non-fiction book, Boys of Glacier.

Local historians Janet Oakley and Mike Impero have worked hard to celebrate their work by securing a CCC worker statue from the national CCC Legacy organization. They will talk about CCC and the importance of the statue at the Glacier Ranger Station.

Sunday, April 29, 4pm CHRISTINE KENDALL – Resting in the Familiar

Celebrate Poetry Month!

Resting in the Familiar’s title is from the comfort of recalling family stories. A few events were uncomfortable, a drill of being loaded onto school buses in case our country came under nuclear attack, and her experience in the 2014 Carlton Complex fires. As it says in the first poem, she writes about what she sees outside her windows: the bay view from her Bellingham residence offered up boats and birds, from her rural home in Central Washington she sees black angus, wildlife and the unexpected. Christine Kendall was a familiar face at Bellingham open mics and a member of Independent Writers’ Studio until she moved to Twisp, WA, in 2012.

Monday, April 30, 7pm OPEN MIC Village Books invites everyone to enjoy local talents as they share their own stories, poems and essays! Open mic is held the last Monday of the month at 7pm in the Readings Gallery. Sign up at our main counter on the first floor or call (360) 671-2626. Andrew McBride, local writer and editor, will be hosting!

TUNE IN to hear selected

Literature Live! events on your RADIO

Every Monday at noon and Sunday at 2pm on KMRE 102.3FM

From Bellingham to Brooklyn, booksellers and book lovers will celebrate Saturday, April 28th as Independent Bookstore Day. Be first in line for exclusive, limited-edition Independent Bookstore Day items and check out the live “writers in the window” scene in the front window of the store. Stick around for more fun throughout the day. Enjoy a treat and jump on a number during one of our many book walks to win a prize! Finishing off the day will be presentations by local authors at both stores: At 4pm in Lynden, Lou McKee will be our featured author as she presents her beautiful

If you can’t make it to an event, just call us to arrange for autographed copies!

Enjoy episodes of

The Chuckanut Radio Hour

Every Friday morning at 7am, Saturday evening at 7pm, and Sunday at 9pm on KMRE 102.3FM AND every Monday and Friday at 8pm on KAVZ-LP 102.5.

Keep turning for even MORE events!

Spring 2018

77

Mark Your Calendars

May

Literature

Tuesday, May 1, 7pm Poetry! NCI of PEGGY SHUMAKER –Cairn Nature Writing and MAURYA SIMON Series –The Wilderness: New & Selected Poems, 1980-2016

LIVE!

Drawn from 40 years of writing, the poems and prose in Peggy Shumaker's Cairn trace journeys in this world and in the inner life. Landscape becomes a major force, especially the subarctic desert of interior Alaska and the Sonoran desert of southern Arizona. Shumaker is the daughter of two deserts—the Sonoran desert where she grew up and the subarctic desert of interior Alaska where she lives now. Shumaker is the author of eight books of poetry.

Poetry Month!

Maurya Simon’s new volume, The Wilderness, spans 30 years of poetry writing and explores the most vital aspects of our lives: the power of language, the mysteries of the natural world, and how we may endure and transcend the losses that besiege us as we live fully in the world.

Simon has authored 10 acclaimed volumes of poetry and lives with her husband in the Angeles National Forest in the San Gabriel Mountains.

CHILDREN'S BOOK & SCREEN FREE WEEK April 30 – May 6

Check out the variety of free events we have planned to keep kids engaged and having fun with books:

KIDS!

Tuesday, May 1, 10:30am May Day Story Time Thursday, May 3, 2pm After School Mini Pom-Pom Pet Workshop Parents, here's a great screen-free activity that your kids will love. Author not attending.

Saturday, May 5, 10:30am Story Time with author TONI YULY –Thank You, Bees This gentle message of gratitude and connection, enhanced by beautifully simple collage illustrations, makes for a charming gift. Join Toni Yuly in the Readings Gallery for this special story time. She will read her book and lead the children in a craft.

Saturday, May 5, 4pm NINA LADEN –Yellow Kayak

KIDS!

We are so thrilled to round out the events of Childrens’ Book Week with a visit from author Nina Laden!

Read more about these fun events on pagess 63 & 64 and find Children's Books Week events in Lynden on page 38!

Sunday, May 6, 4pm Fiction!

JENNIFER HAUPT –In the Shadow of 10,000 Hills Set amongst the gaping wounds of a healing country, follow the intertwining stories of three women who discover something unexpected: grace when there can be no forgiveness. In the Shadow of 10,000 Hills combines the force of literature with the allure of women's fiction in a family saga that spans from Atlanta during the Civil Rights Movement to postgenocide Rwanda. At the heart of this novel that crosses racial and cultural boundaries is the search for family on a personal and global level. Jennifer Haupt has been a journalist for more than 25 years. She lives in Seattle.

78

Spring 2018

EVENTS

Events take place in the Readings Gallery of Village Books in Fairhaven and are FREE unless otherwise noted.

Friday, May 11, 7pm Fiction!

CHRISTINE WALLACE –Sea of a Thousand Words On a remote island in the Pacific Northwest, a young woman discovers a shipwrecked scientist. With help from her friends, she rescues him—only to learn that he is a fugitive with a deadly secret. Pursued by dangerous agents, they set out to expose the governments’ plot and destroy the enzyme before it can be used against innocent people. A story for our times, Sea of a Thousand Words begs the question, “Who deserves to inherit our earth?” Christine Wallace is a Pacific Northwest author. She currently lives aboard an ex-British Columbia forestry boat with her husband and routinely explores the Salish Sea and Inside Passage.

Saturday, May 12, 7pm SUSAN SOKOL BLOSSER Wine Tasting and Book Event!

–The Vineyard Years: A Memoir with Recipes Join us as we share wine and memories of this celebrated vintner.

A memoir by the highly successful founder of Sokol Blosser Winery, one of the first wineries in the Willamette Valley of Oregon and the first in the area to be run by a woman. Renowned for her progressive and pioneering approach to farming, running a business, and raising a family, the author tells a touching story through the lens of food and wine and offers iconic recipes that evoke special memories from each phase of her life among the vines. *ticketed event, see website or call the store for details*

Sunday, May 13, 2pm A Mother's Day Treat!

Tea with Mom or Grandma KIDS! in the Book Fare Cafe In celebration of Mother's Day, we will be hosting a tea-time in Book Fare Café on the mezzanine level of Village Books in Fairhaven. Bring your children and enjoy some tasty treats, a few stories, a craft, and good company. Ideal for children ages 3-9. Tickets are $6 per person and can be purchased at the main counter at Village Books in Fairhaven or by calling 360-671-2626. Join us for a fun celebration of moms and grandmas and all they do for us! Seating is limited so buy your tickets today.

Friday, May 25, 5-8pm Fairhaven Fourth Friday Art Walk A monthly tradition of community and art in Fairhaven! Stop by Village Books and check out the exhibit in our Readings Gallery.

Tuesday, May 29, 7pm NICOLA GRIFFITH –So Lucky So Lucky is a profoundly personal and emphatically political story of a confident woman forced to confront an unnerving new reality when in a single week her wife leaves her and she is diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Nicola Griffith is the award-winning author of six novels, including the bestseller, Hild. A native of Yorkshire, England—now a dual U.S./U.K. citizen—she is a onetime self-defense instructor who turned to writing fulltime upon being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1993. She lives with her wife, the writer Kelley Eskridge, in Seattle.

Building Community One Book at a Time

FH: 360.671.2626 • LY: 360.526.2133 • villagebooks.com

Spring 2018

79

VB’s Top Sellers

READING -2017-

11. The Book of Joy by The Dalai Lama 12. Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of a Fist

by Sunil Yapa 13. Geology of the San Juan Islands by Ned Brown 14. You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero 15. My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman 16. The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware 17. Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance 18. The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben 19. On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder 20. The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery 21. A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles 22. Astrophysics for People in a Hurry

by Neil DeGrasse Tyson 23. The Sun and Her Flowers by Rupi Kaur 24. I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson 25. Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly 26. Bellingham Impressions by Mark Turner 27. Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

PRSRT STD US POSTAGE PAID PERMIT NO. 20 LYNDEN, WA

1. Turtles All the Way Down by John Green 2. Urban Trails Bellingham by Craig Romano 3. Hiking Whatcom County 6th Edition by Ken Wilcox 4. Artemis by Andy Weir 5. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr 6. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood 7. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman 8. Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur 9. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi 10. You Don't Have to Say You Love Me

by Sherman Alexie

1200 11th St. Bellingham, WA 98225 360.671.2626 villagebooks.com

WAS

Whatcom County’s Favorite Bookstore since 1980 In Historic Fairhaven & Downtown Lynden

WHAT WHATCOM

28. Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys 29. The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving

by Jonathan Evison 30. The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill 31. Tides by Jonathan White 32. The Nordic Theory of Everything by Anu Partanen 33. Commonwealth by Ann Patchett 34. Astoria by Peter Stark 35. The Wizards of Once by Cressida Cowell 36. The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen 37. The Genius of Birds by Jennifer Ackerman 38. Wonder by R.J. Palacio 39. No is Not Enough by Naomi Klein 40. The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah