A Tale of Revenge
Revenge is always a good topic, and the National Book Award winner The Round House does a sly job of convincing readers that vigilante justice is both necessary and inevitable. Joe is only thirteen, but when his mother is brutally raped, he’s forced to grow up fast. The local priest preaches that out of every evil comes good, but Joe fails to see the good in his mother’s overwhelming depression and his father’s helplessness. The jurisdiction issues that surround his North Dakota Indian reservation will protect his mother’s attacker. So what’s a kid to do when his family has been broken and justice isn’t forthcoming? The way the story unfolds makes it easy to understand why he’d want to take matters into his own hands....Read more
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The Analog Kid
It’s not easy, being a 19-year-old bookseller. I can’t remember a time when the book industry wasn’t on the brink of a potentially catastrophic restructuring, nor can I recall an era before the rise of the internet and ubiquitous cell-phone usage. I am constantly fighting to reconcile my generational ties to the digital age with my deep affection for the old-fashioned brick-and-mortar world of bookselling. While I am very much aware of my contradictory position, I rarely consider the effects that the last twenty years or so have had on the content of the very books I care about so much.
Until now, I’ve taken for granted the fact that cutting-edge digital technology and stories about storytelling rarely co-exist. I’d always found that there was an unspoken rule against combining high-tech plots with stories about the power of books. Even the most forward-looking sci-fi novels exist in the same media as our oldest written narratives, something which their authors seem loath to acknowledge....Read more
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Classic YA: The Witch of Blackbird Pond
As I tried to reclaim a reading life leading up to and right after the birth of my twins, a friend recommended I stick to reading young adult fiction. Perhaps in an attempt to regress to my own childhood, I picked up a book I remembered fondly: The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare.
The New England witch hunts endure as a fascinating piece of history, and before I graduated to The Crucible, The Witch of Blackbird Pond whet my appetite for fiction about the era. Set in the late 1800s, this coming-of-age story follows the orphan Kit from her home in Barbados to a Puritan community in Connecticut. The death of her beloved father and a distasteful suitor have forced her to go to America, and Kit is grudgingly taken into her aunt’s family as something of a Cinderella. Although her aunt and one of the sisters are kind to Kit, her fiery uncle and other competitive cousin make her life particularly difficult. Kit’s loneliness prompts her into a friendship with an older widow, Hannah Tupper, who the community believes to be a witch....Read more
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RISE UP Seattle
Island Books is supporting an important event this Valentine's Day.
Womens' Network for a Sustainable
Future, Business Ending Slavery and Trafficking, and Bainbridge Graduate
Institute will join with activists around the world for ONE BILLION RISING, the
largest day of action in the history of V-Day, the global activist movement to
end violence against women and girls.
During a special event, producer Jane Charles will introduce her new film,
SOLD, to be released this spring. Also on the agenda will be a variety of art forms that celebrate the women and men who resist violence:
- University of Washington Dancers
- Claire Hosterman singing
- Amazing dancer Chris Daigre of Ewajo Center, leading participants in a dance of solidarity
And informational presentations about non-profit organizations that benefit women worldwide.
February 14th, 2013 5:30-7:30
@ HUB Seattle 220 2nd Ave South, Seattle, WA 98104
http://wnsf-pacificnw.org/
A Dance to the Music of Time: A Question of Upbringing
We're launching our new online book discussion group with A Question of Upbringing, the first installment of Anthony Powell's epic A Dance to the Music of Time. Even if you haven't started reading yet, it's not too late to get on board.
The book introduces us to narrator Nicholas Jenkins and a handful of his friends and relations. We meet Stringham and Templer, his roommates at school, and then their officious headmaster Le Bas, who becomes the subject of a prank orchestrated by Stringham. As the young men leave school and head into adulthood, they start to move in different directions, with the cynical Templer taking a finance job in the City. Jenkins summers in France, where he dabbles in unrequited romance and re-encounters another fellow student, the dogged but inelegant Widmerpool....Read more
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Books and YouTube Can Lead to Carnegie Hall
Whether you’re a fan of John Green or not, I suggest you peruse this New York Times piece from January 16th. It’s startling to discover that authors are taking over more than just the internet. They’re taking over Carnegie Hall. As in, the Carnegie Hall that serves as legendary concert venue to artists such as Yo-Yo Ma and Joshua Bell. A new era for writers has arrived, and I’m not talking about the age of ebooks....Read more
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American Stories
The twentieth century will be American. American thought will dominate it. American progress will give it color and direction. American deeds will make it illustrious.
—Senator Albert Beveridge (1862-1927)
The quotation above comes from a toast made to ring in the then-new century. Strong stuff—patriotism shading over into jingoism. And prescient, as history shows. John Dos Passos cites the remark in the opening pages of his epic U.S.A. trilogy, probably the greatest literature produced by the Lost Generation. Yes, better than Hemingway, Fitzgerald, et al., though that’s a subject for another time...Read more
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Short Short Story Contest
In honor of our impending 40th anniversary, we're having a contest. Send us your best short story of 1000 words or fewer, and you could be a winner! All ages are welcome to participate. For all the details, click here.
Heavy Hitters Returning in May
Even if you’re not much of a reader, chances are you’ve heard of The Da Vinci Code and The Kite Runner. They were movies too, after all. But it's been a few years. No one’s been talking about Dan Brown or Khaled Hosseini
in a long time, despite the fact that Brown has sold over two hundred
million copies of his six novels and Hosseini has sold thirty-eight
million copies of his two books. Well, let the whispering and
speculation begin, because these guys are back with new novels in 2013.....Read more
(Our store journal keeps you posted on books we're excited about, our literary musings, and other reading-related rambles. Remember, you can sign up to receive our posts by email.)
