en Copyright 2012, Powells.com Thu, 23 Feb 2012 04:00:07 PST Thu, 23 Feb 2012 04:00:07 PST webmaster@powells.com http://powells.com/favicon.png Powells.com, yo! Joshua Ferris's new novel, The Unnamed, is a very different (and much darker) book than his acclaimed debut, Then We Came to the End, but his clarity of voice, urgency of purpose, fascinating characters, and even hints of humor remain. "[A] remarkable second novel," proclaims Publishers Weekly in a starred review. "Ferris manages to inject a bizarre whimsy into a devastatingly sad story." We interviewed Ferris with his editor, Reagan Arthur, who debuts her new imprint with this novel.]]> Wed, 13 Jan 2010 14:39:02 PST Lost Lore is a dream for anyone interested in practicing nostalgia. Drawing on superstition, folklore, ancient texts, and maybe even an anecdote from your great-grandmother, it's an eclectic collection of wisdom and timeless tips that includes methods to cure drunkenness, forecast the weather through your pet's behavior, predict the sex of a baby, and tell time by the stars. We caught up with Lost Lore coauthor Paul Jenner, and talked about how he conducted his research, why he feels books like this are important, and whether or not you should trust a dowser. (Do you feel lucky?)]]> Wed, 6 Jan 2010 17:05:35 PST Best known for his bestselling Artemis Fowl series, Eoin Colfer was selected by the estate of the late Douglas Adams to write And Another Thing..., the sixth and final volume in the beloved Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. Whether you've enjoyed Colfer's previous work, are a fan of Douglas Adams, or just love irreverent science fiction, And Another Thing... is a perfectly absurd, hilarious, and delightful read.]]> Wed, 6 Jan 2010 16:54:51 PST Julie Powell charmed readers with Julie and Julia, in which she chronicled her quest to cook, in one year, every recipe out of Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. After its huge success and that of the subsequent blockbuster movie, she's back with a new memoir: Cleaving: A Book of Marriage, Meat, and Obsession. Far from a fluffy follow-up, she writes about learning to cut up animals at a butcher shop in upstate New York, while trying to make sense of her marriage after having an obsessive, two year affair.]]> Wed, 2 Dec 2009 11:26:13 PST When Donald Miller agreed to adapt his bestselling Christian memoir Blue Like Jazz into a feature film, he discovered that even the life of a bestselling author is...pretty boring. This revelation sent Miller on a two-fold journey to learn how to craft a meaningful story for his script and for his life. The result? Blue Like Jazz the movie (coming out in late 2010) and A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, an inspiring, funny, heartbreaking new memoir that will appeal to anyone looking to craft a more meaningful life story.]]> Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:18:18 PST The Cry of the Sloth, Savage's second novel, is the story of Andrew Whittaker, a slumlord, writer, editor of the barely-surviving literary magazine Soap, and ex-husband, told entirely through Whittaker's own writing. Letters, grocery lists, rental ads, and fragments of fiction make up this "scathingly funny epistolary pastiche" (Publishers Weekly, starred review). The Cry of the Sloth is an arch, hilarious, disturbingly existential novel; Andrew Whittaker is an unforgettable character, and Sam Savage is an extraordinary writer. ]]> Wed, 21 Oct 2009 12:12:42 PST The Year of the Flood masterfully depicts a very different side of the dystopia Margaret Atwood first wrote about in Oryx and Crake. In a starred review, Booklist raves, "Atwood's mischievous, suspenseful, and sagacious dystopian novel follows the trajectory of current environmental debacles to a shattering possible conclusion with passionate concern and arch humor." Darkly funny, incredibly believable, and surprisingly hopeful, Atwood's new novel is one of her very best. ]]> Wed, 7 Oct 2009 13:20:53 PST In his new work, which was eight years in the making, David Sibley focuses his authoritative eye on trees. Gorgeously illustrated and full of fascinating information, The Sibley Guide to Trees will dramatically change the way you look at your backyard, your neighborhood, and the larger botanical world. Edward O. Wilson raves, "A beautiful, masterful, and much-needed work that will henceforth be our guide to the North American trees." ]]> Tue, 22 Sep 2009 15:04:23 PST Chelsea Cain's debut novel, Heartsick, was a New York Times bestseller that garnered enthusiastic praise from...basically everyone. Stephen King placed the thriller on his ten best books of 2008 list, along with its follow-up, Sweetheart. Booklist gave a starred review to the recently released third book in the series, Evil at Heart, saying, "Popular entertainment...just doesn't get much better than this." Chelsea Cain took some time during her book release mayhem to talk about the role of Larry King as muse, Heartsick the movie, and why disembowelment is sometimes funny. (Or at least, why it should be.)]]> Tue, 8 Sep 2009 13:10:15 PST Kidder's incredibly moving and vivid new book, Strength in What Remains, follows and accompanies Deo, survivor of the genocide in Burundi who came to America in the '90s to make a new life for himself. Though Deo had little money and no English language when he landed in New York, he eventually found his way to Columbia University and medical school. Through his account of Deo's remarkable journey, Kidder makes the abstract achingly personal and showcases a genuine hero. Beautiful, heartbreaking, and inspiring, Strength in What Remains is some of Kidder's finest work yet. ]]> Wed, 26 Aug 2009 13:17:07 PST Winner of a Caldecott Medal, a Newbery Medal, and two Christopher Awards, David Small is one of the most acclaimed graphic artists in his field. After illustrating more than forty books for children, now he has turned his attention to his own childhood, creating one of the most visceral and arresting (not to mention gorgeous) memoirs of the decade. In the apt words of Jules Feiffer, Stitches is "a profound and moving gift of graphic literature that has the look of a movie and reads like a poem."]]> Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:48:45 PST We've been swooning over Karen Solomon's Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It: And Other Cooking Projects since it arrived on our shelves a couple months ago. The book is plump with dozens of creative kitchen projects, which range from jams and pickles to crackers and candy to smoked trout and home-cured bacon. It also doesn't hurt that the recipes are accompanied with luscious photos that make the book a feast for the eyes as well as the belly.]]> Mon, 27 Jul 2009 16:18:09 PST The New York Times calls Shop Class as Soulcraft "a beautiful little book about human excellence and the way it is undervalued in contemporary America." Kyle here at Powell's calls it "an accessible, carefully reasoned examination of work and America's evolving ideas about it." The author, himself, explains, "I want to suggest we can take a broader view of what a good job might consist of, and therefore what kind of education is important." Crawford's debut has been riding our bestseller list for weeks, and rightly so. It's one of our favorite books of the year.]]> Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:43:18 PST 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