en Copyright 2009, Powells.com Fri, 3 Jul 2009 16:00:06 PST Fri, 3 Jul 2009 16:00:06 PST webmaster@powells.com http://powells.com/favicon.png Powells.com, yo! Luis Alberto Urrea is a poet, novelist, journalist, and essayist who has been writing about the relationship between the United States and Mexico, amongst other things, for 30 years. His 2004 nonfiction work, The Devil's Highway, was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. His novel The Hummingbird's Daughter was an epic work of shimmering prose which imagined the life of Teresita, the real-life "Saint of Cabora," who was in fact a relative of Urrea. In this interview, Urrea discusses his new novel, Into the Beautiful North, his family history, mythic quests, and Rush Limbaugh's relatives. ]]> Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:43:36 PST If Carl Hiaasen set one of his novels on a residential stretch of boundary line between British Columbia and Washington, or if Richard Russo's characters had relatives in the Pacific Northwest, the result might be something like Border Songs. Jim Lynch earned a legion of fans with his bestselling debut, The Highest Tide. Border Songs is the rare sophomore effort that lives up to — arguably even exceeds — its lofty expectations. "I'd always been interested in the Canadian border," Lynch explained. "I knew where Border Songs was going to be set before I knew what it was going to be." ]]> Wed, 17 Jun 2009 09:43:27 PST China Miéville is one of the bright lights in the new breed of fantasy/science fiction writers. His works often take place in cities, where the cities are characters as much as their inhabitants. Miéville's latest The City and the City, is a crime noir set in Eastern Europe, in two cities separated by a very unusual border. "An excellent police procedural and a fascinating urban fantasy," lauds Booklist in a starred review.]]> Wed, 3 Jun 2009 12:49:39 PST At the age of 83, Elmore Leonard has just published his 43rd novel. Road Dogs reunites two of Leonard's most distinctive characters — Jack Foley, the bank robber from Out of Sight, and Cundo Rey from LaBrava — as prison inmates who develop an unlikely friendship. When Foley gets out of prison and meets Rey's wife, the psychic Dawn Navarro (last seen in Riding the Rap), it's an understatement to suggest that complications ensue. In the New York Times, Janet Maslin called Road Dogs "one of Mr. Leonard's most enjoyably sneaky stories," but perhaps Booklist put it best: "Reading isn't supposed to be this much fun."]]> Thu, 14 May 2009 14:04:50 PST Twelve-year-old T.S. Spivet draws maps of train routes and water tables, maps of loneliness, the resilience of memory, even a map of his sister shucking corn. When his work is honored by the Smithsonian — the institute naturally assumes that he's an adult — T.S. runs away from home in Divide, Montana, and hoboes his way to Washington, D.C. An adventure story, a family saga, and a format-busting beauty (T.S.'s drawings sit side-by-side with the text), The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet is a revelation. "Read it and marvel," Bookpage recommends.]]> Tue, 5 May 2009 17:08:00 PST When Laila Lalami published Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits in 2005, the debut earned praise far and wide, from acclaimed literary authors such as Junot Díaz and even popular weeklies including People magazine. Four years later, the former Portland resident, a native of Morocco, has returned with a remarkable novel of contemporary Casablanca. Secret Son is an utterly timeless story — of identity, kin, and class — that's, paradoxically, very much of our time.]]> Tue, 21 Apr 2009 12:01:40 PST In Coop: A Year of Poultry, Pigs, and Parenting, Michael Perry finds himself transplanted onto 37 overgrown acres of farmland with his wife and daughter and a new baby en route. Perry takes on fowl, firewood, and pigs (regular and guinea) while reflecting on his unorthodox childhood — being raised in an obscure fundamentalist faith by dairy-farmer parents who took in dozens of foster children — for clues to how as proceed as a farmer, a husband, and a father. Kirkus raves, "Dryly humorous, mildly neurotic and just plain soulful — a book that might even make you want to buy a few chickens."]]> Tue, 7 Apr 2009 13:44:44 PST Catherine Land arrives in Wisconsin on a snowy day in 1907. Receiving her on the train platform, Ralph Truitt knows that Catherine isn't the woman that she claimed to be when she answered his newspaper ad for "a reliable wife." But what else does he know? And how far will Catherine go to fulfill her dreams? Seduction, marriage, money, sex, and drugs... A Reliable Wife has it all. Booklist raves, "Few have permeated their narratives with gothic elements and suspense to such great effect." ]]> Tue, 24 Mar 2009 12:07:32 PST In 1975, Australian ethicist and philosopher Peter Singer published Animal Liberation, which became a seminal text for the animal rights movement and inspired a generation of vegetarians. His textbook, Practical Ethics, is a classic in the field. He has written eloquently about globalization, euthanasia, abortion, and a host of other moral concerns. In The Life You Can Save, Singer makes a clear, decisive case that the citizens of wealthier nations can and should be doing more to combat global poverty in order to lead truly moral lives. In a starred review, Publishers Weekly raves, "[C]ompelling....[Singer's] solution can be found in the middle, and it is reasonable and rewarding for all." ]]> Tue, 10 Mar 2009 14:13:50 PST The Lost City of Z is 2009's first can't-miss nonfiction. New Yorker staff writer David Grann travels through the Amazon in the footsteps of explorer Percy Fawcett, who captured the world's imagination (and redefined the borders of South America) before disappearing in the jungle without a trace. Nathaniel Philbrick calls The Lost City "a riveting, totally absorbing real-life adventure story" — and early readers at Powell's couldn't agree more. ]]> Tue, 24 Feb 2009 10:17:06 PST In a front page feature, the New York Times Book Review called The Mercy Papers "a furious blaze of a book." The Oregon native explains, "There are so many measured books out there about loss. This one wasn't to be part of that." Maybe that's why Romm's first nonfiction is holding readers in thrall. Did the author really just compare the hospice nurse to a cockroach? Is it okay that I'm laughing? Yes, and yes. The San Francisco Chronicle proposed, "The raw honesty of this book may be as healing to read as it must have been to write." ]]> Tue, 10 Feb 2009 14:27:33 PST Temple Grandin may be more single-handedly responsible for humane treatment of animals, especially livestock, than any other individual in the last few decades. She's also given the world much greater insight into the way autistic minds work. In a starred review, Publishers Weekly describes her new book, Animals Make Us Human, as "packed with fascinating insights, unexpected observations and a wealth of how-to tips." In this interview, Grandin discusses Animals Make Us Human, core emotional systems in animals, the differences between cats and dogs, the new HBO project based on her life, and more.]]> Wed, 14 Jan 2009 10:23:04 PST Paul Harding's debut is only now arriving in bookstores, from a small publisher affiliated with NYU's School of Medicine. Already Tinkers is the talk of the literary world. Publishers Weekly calls it "an especially gorgeous example of novelistic craftsmanship." In 191 incantatory pages, Harding somehow makes you intimate with three generations of a New England family. Pulitzer Prize winner Marilynne Robinson raves, "It confers on the reader the best privilege fiction can afford, the illusion of ghostly proximity to other human souls." ]]> Mon, 5 Jan 2009 14:51:30 PST The most critically acclaimed novel published in America this year, 2666 is Roberto Bolaño's masterpiece. "Bolaño has proven [literature] can do anything," Jonathan Lethem marveled in the New York Times Book Review. In an extensive conversation with Powell's, Natasha Wimmer discusses the late Chilean author, specifically his latest publication and its bestselling predecessor, The Savage Detectives. Wimmer knows from whence she speaks. She translated both novels into English. ]]> Tue, 9 Dec 2008 16:01:48 PST In case it wasn't enough to photograph Nixon's resignation, Annie Leibovitz covered the story alongside Hunter S. Thompson. And while you may know that many of her celebrity portraits were shot for American Express campaigns, you probably wouldn't have guessed that Amex only gave her a credit card after she left an envelope with thousands of dollars in cash at a pay phone during one of those shoots. Leibovitz recently visited Portland to discuss At Work, a career-spanning retrospective of her photos and the remarkable stories behind them.]]> Sun, 30 Nov 2008 09:24:57 PST