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We don't want to make our new squirrel mascot, Morrison, green with envy (we like his brown coat), but we've been keeping a keen eye on a certain groundhog in a certain town in Pennsylvania. Between sudden blizzards and bursts of freezing-cold sunshine, this has been a deeply strange winter, and we're sure hoping that little critter doesn't see his shadow on February 2. If we end up with six more weeks of winter, at least we have a new season of Lost to watch on TV — and J. Wood's fantastically insightful blog posts to guide us! Or perhaps we'll savor our signed first editions of Calvin Trillin's Deciding the Next Decider and Walter Mosley's The Right Mistake. If it gets too cold again, we can wrap ourselves in original essays by Lauren Groff ( Delicate Edible Birds), Dacher Keltner ( Born to Be Good), and Jonathan Barnes ( The Domino Men) — after we've read them, of course — and warm our feet over toasty Q&As from Erica Bauermeister ( The School of Essential Ingredients) and Neil deGrasse Tyson ( The Pluto Files). If things get too dark and gloomy, we have guest bloggers Jonah Lehrer ( How We Decide) and Matt Love ( Citadel of the Spirit) to light our way. Then again, if we get an early groundhog reprieve, we'll do exactly the same things — only in shorts and T-shirts, sitting out in the sun, with huge smiles on our faces.
SIGNED EDITIONS
 The perfect gift for a political junkie, poetry lover, or anyone who's grateful to see the end of the Bush years! Returning to the form (and forum) that made bestsellers of Obliviously On He Sails and A Heckuva Job, Calvin Trillin, the putative Bard of the Bush presidency, recreates in verse all the lowlights of this year's endless campaign slog. Get your signed first editions while you can! (And, enter for a chance to win tickets to see Trillin's reading in Portland! Visit our blog for details.)
 Ten years after Walkin' the Dog, the street philosopher Socrates Fortlow returns in The Right Mistake, a major new novel by bestselling author Walter Mosley. A 60-year-old ex-convict, now freed after serving 27 years in prison, Socrates is disheartened by the chaos of the streets — and determined to make a difference. "[P]owerful and moving," raves Publishers Weekly (starred review).
 more signed editions
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POWELLSBOOKS.BLOG
 The fifth season of ABC's hit TV series Lost premiered last week — and it just wouldn't be a season of Lost without our companion posts by Living Lost author J. Wood! Each week Wood unravels the intricate drama, finding answers to countless puzzles and unearthing vast reserves of literary influences. If you have trouble following the show, Wood's posts will be indispensable — but even if you can keep up, they provide a richer, more satisfying experience. Start here for a preseason summary, then begin to explore the island with Wood's response to the season premiere.
more Lost posts on our blog |
HARDCOVER
 Nothing to Fear: FDR's Inner Circle and the Hundred Days That Created Modern America by Adam Cohen
"In Nothing to Fear, a fascinating book that explores the first 100 days of Roosevelt's presidency, Adam Cohen offers critical insight into Roosevelt's sweeping New Deal and the five members of FDR's inner circle who helped advocate for change." —Recommended by Ted, Powells.com
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Sale $20.96 | Hardcover
List Price: $29.95 (You Save: $8.99) |
 The Associate by John Grisham
If you thought Mitch McDeere was in trouble in The Firm, wait until you meet Kyle McAvoy in The Associate, the newest legal thriller from bestselling author John Grisham. Three months after leaving Yale Law School, McAvoy becomes an associate at the largest law firm in the world, where, in addition to practicing law, he is expected to lie, steal, and take part in a scheme that could send him to prison, if not get him killed.
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Sale $19.56 | Hardcover
List Price: $27.95 (You Save: $8.39) |
 The Dark Knight
The year's biggest blockbuster, The Dark Knight pits Batman (Christian Bale) against his lunatic, anarchist nemesis the Joker (Heath Ledger). Roger Ebert calls it "a haunted film that leaps beyond its origins and becomes an engrossing tragedy," while USA Today asks, "When was the last time you saw a blockbuster that was impeccably executed and simultaneously thought-provoking, audacious and unnerving while consistently being fun and entertaining?" As always, all DVDs ship free from Powells.com!
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Sale $25.92 | DVD
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PAPERBACK
 Beauty of the City: A. E. Doyle, Portland's Architect by Philip Niles
Beauty of the City is the first biography of A. E. Doyle, the celebrated Portland, Oregon, architect whose designs include the Benson Hotel, Central Library, Reed College, the Meier & Frank building, and the U.S. National Bank.
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Sale $20.96 | Trade Paper
List Price: $29.95 (You Save: $8.99) |
 Don't Get Caught with Your Skirt Down: A Practical Girl's Recession Guide by Jill Keto
Offering fearless, funny, and practical solutions to surviving and even profiting from the recession, this financial guide for women explains where the economy is headed, the advantage of self-sufficiency, how to create a back-up income, and more.
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Sale $10.50 | Trade Paper
List Price: $15.00 (You Save: $4.50) |
 The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks
Is there really such thing as a lucky charm? The hero of Nicholas Sparks's new novel believes he's found one in the form of a photograph of a smiling woman he's never met, but who he comes to believe holds the key to his destiny. The chain of events that leads to him possessing the photograph and finding the woman pictured in it is the stuff of love stories only a master such as Sparks can write.
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 Recently Jennie Nash, author of The Only True Genius in the Family, wrote on our blog about the creative necessity of writing memoir versus writing fiction.
January 22, 2009:
The Dangers of Writing Fiction
One of the things a writer is supposed to do is to strip away the surface of our everyday selves and get underneath what's polished and pretty to the more essential stuff of life. After writing three books about my own life — about getting married, teaching my kids to read, and surviving breast cancer — I considered myself something of an expert at self-revelation. I prided myself on how honest and brave I had been to write about my in-laws, my body, my mother, and the tendency I have to treat parenting as if it were a competitive sport. Oh, I thought, how I had bared my soul! And then I wrote a novel and realized how little, in fact, I had revealed.
I may have bared my soul when I wrote nonfiction, but I bared it in small doses, through little windows, and I felt completely in control the entire time. Here, look, I was saying, let me show you how very human I am. With my second novel just now hitting the marketplace and my first one still on the shelves, I feel as if all my skin has been stripped off and my soul laid absolutely bare. It feels frightening and exhilarating, and it's taken me awhile to understand what's going on. Why should publishing a sex scene that I dreamed up out of the clear blue sky be any more difficult than publishing a sex scene that I am purporting actually occurred? Why should it be more satisfying? The answer, I believe, lies in the nature of creativity....
Read the rest of Nash's post on our blog. Plus, check out our daily guest blogger, Book News and Read It Before They Screen It features, the return of J. Wood's popular Lost posts, and more!
| From the Authors |
SAVE 30% |
DACHER KELTNER: ORIGINAL ESSAY
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In Born to Be Good, Dacher Keltner investigates an old mystery of human evolution: Why have people evolved positive emotions like gratitude, awe, and compassion that promote ethical action and are the fabric of cooperative societies? Keltner illustrates his discussions with more than 50 photographs of human emotions. "A landmark book in the science of emotion and its implications for ethics and human universals," proclaims Library Journal (starred review). Read Keltner's original essay for Powells.com and save 30% on Born to Be Good. |
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Born to Be Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life
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Sale $18.16
Hardcover
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JONATHAN BARNES: ORIGINAL ESSAY
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In this sequel to the crazed Victoriana of The Somnambulist (hailed as the "best fantasy novel of the year" by the Rocky Mountain News), the imaginative and brilliant Jonathan Barnes brings his invention, satire, and curiosities up to date. In an earlier century, Queen Victoria made a Faustian bargain, signing London and all its souls away to a nefarious, inhuman entity. Now, generations later, the bill has finally come due. "Those who enjoy the grafting of fantasy elements onto contemporary urban landscapes will be more than satisfied," cheers Publishers Weekly (starred review). Read Barnes's original essay for Powells.com and save 30% on The Domino Men. |
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The Domino Men
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Sale $17.49
Hardcover
List Price: $24.99
You Save: $7.50
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JONAH LEHRER: GUEST BLOGGER
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From the acclaimed author of Proust Was a Neuroscientist comes How We Decide, a fascinating look at the new science of decision-making. Jonah Lehrer explores two questions: How does the human mind make decisions, and how can those decisions be made better? "Lehrer is a delight to read," raves Publishers Weekly (starred review), "and this is a fascinating book." This week we're pleased to feature Jonah Lehrer as our guest blogger! Check out his daily posts and save 30% on How We Decide. |
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How We Decide
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Sale $17.50
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in our stores
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Darkly funny and at times heartbreaking, The Brief Wondrous Life is about Díaz's unlikely hero (an obese Dominican Trekkie terrified of dying a virgin) with a rich narrative voice that compels sympathy over pity as the inner workings of both Oscar and his native Dominican Republic are laid bare.
Recommended by Ann J., Powells.com (read more) |
8. Blink by Malcolm Gladwell (Business)
9. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell (Psychology)
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JANUARY 29:
Stephanie Kallos
 With her bestselling debut novel Broken for You, Stephanie Kallos established herself as a writer of uncommon "wisdom and soulfulness" (Sue Monk Kidd). Sing Them Home is a magnificent tapestry of lives connected and undone by tragedy, lives poised — unbeknownst to the characters — for redemption. "[A] fresh, invigorating novel," cheers Library Journal (starred review). |
FEBRUARY 2:
Temple Grandin
 With the groundbreaking Animals in Translation, Temple Grandin drew on her own experience with autism as well as her distinguished career as an animal scientist to deliver extraordinary insights into how animals think. Now, in Animals Make Us Human, she builds on those insights to show how to give animals the best and happiest life. Please note: This ticketed event takes place at the Bagdad Theater, 3702 SE Hawthorne Blvd. See calendar for more details. |
view all events
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IN OUR NEXT EDITION:
Our signed first editions contest
Bagheera asked no one in particular, "Since when does Bear speak Italian?"
Zooey didn't wait for an answer. "So let me get this straight," he interjected, "the circus is made up entirely of squirrels?" Many in the crowd seemed to share his confusion on this point.
"Sì," Morrison confirmed. "In the village where Scoiattolo's Circus was born, people consider squirrels to be most sacred."
"Statues of squirrels in the public square," Bear chimed in.
"Sì."
"Blow my mind," Oreo mumbled. "Holy rodents."
The brief lull gave Morrison a chance to reflect on his surroundings. Years he'd been away.
The girl on her dad's shoulders cut to the chase: "But how did you know Fup?"
"Through Bear," Morrison replied. "A long time ago, just a block or two from here, I picked a fight with him. A bad idea. In fact, he nearly killed me."
Send questions, comments, suggestions, and Groundhog Day carols to newsletter@powells.com.
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