A Book of Local Interest

Working the Woods, Working the Sea, a new anthology of poems and prose from the Pacific Northwest, has a connection to Northown Books above and beyond the fact that work by longtime local authors Jim Dodge, Jerry Martien and Freeman House are prominently featured.

It's co-edited by Jerry Gorsline, who founded Northtown Books (originally just called "The Bookstore") in 1965 before selling it to Jack Hitt a year later (the store was actually located in the north part of town back then).

As with many of the publications from Empty Bowl Press, a sense of place is integral to the pieces included here, and as the title might suggest, it favors writing about lived experience and a physical connection to the landscape over heady abstraction.

The book also includes work by Gary Snyder, Philip Whalen, and numerous others, and is available now here at Northtown Books.

Northtown Books Reading Group

Northtown Books reading group is for anyone who is interested in reading and discussing our monthly selections. The group will choose books and they’ll be available behind the counter at a 10% discount. The meetings take place the second Sunday of each month from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. at the store. Please come prepared to participate in a lively, friendly and respectful discussion. We would like all members of the community to feel welcome.

Our next meeting will take place Sunday, June 8th. Check here at our blog for future book group selections. Our next selection is Radical Hope by Jonathan Lear. It discusses Plenty Coups, the last great chief of the Crow Nation, and his response to a complete change of life for his people. Seems very timely to discuss how to cope when the conditions of life are radically altered. Not just how to adapt, how to remain hopeful.

An alternate selection is A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle. This book would be interesting to discuss in tandem with our main selection. Absolutely optional, but so many people are reading this, so it would be interesting to see what it's all about.

Sold by Patricia McCormick

Thirteen year old Lakshmi has grown up in poverty. When the monsoons wipe out her family's crops she must work to ensure their survival. Tricked by a glamorous stranger, she finds herself in India, sold into prostitution. This is a very painful topic, but Patricia McCormick manages to infuse her verse novel with grace and flickering hope.

A Bottle in the Gaza Sea

From Valerie Zenatti, winner of the Batchelder Honor for When I was a Soldier, a modern story of love from across a hostile divide: Tal is a seventeen year old girl living in Jerusalem who throws a bottle into the Gaza Sea, hoping to connect with a Palestinian girl of her own age. Instead, she receives an email from someone calling himself Gazaman who angrily denounces her naive hope, yet continues to reply to her emails. Gradually their correspondence deepens their understanding of each other.

The book itself deepens the reader's understanding of what it might be like to live under such violent and repressive circumstances. Very well written and engaging, could snag a reluctant reader or two.

Here's a clip from a French play based on A Bottle in the Gaza Sea:

Some Literary Links

Below are links to a few of the better online literary sites we can recommend (besides the local ones on our blogroll to the right).

Galleycat

Bookslut

The Literary Saloon

Arts & Letters Daily

Bookforum

If you know of any others, please leave them in the comments.

Wholphin Screening this Friday

This Friday May 16th, Northtown Books will be hosting another screening of films from McSweeney's DVD Journal Wholphin, this time from the recently released fifth issue.

Among the films to be screened is an except from American Outrage, a documentary about two elderly Shoshone sisters who have been battling the U.S. government for 35 years over rights to their land.

Please join us for this event Friday, May 16th at 7:30.

YETI FIVE

One of the more interesting journals I've come across in the last year or so is Yeti, an irregularly published magazine out of Portland.

Though it comes with a CD, it's not just another music mag - there's a piece on traveling in the Western Sahara, short photo inspired pieces by Luc Sante, and art by various artists including Saul Chernick, who provided the arresting cover image.

But music is indeed its main focus, and the wide ranging articles include an exploration of metal music and myth by Scott Seward, a quirky interview with Will Oldham, Mike McGonigal on Blind Willie Johnson, and Erik Davis on P.G. Six.

The CD included is just as eclectic, with live cuts from Deerhoof and Akron/Family, an annotated selection by Jeff (Neutral Milk Hotel) Mangum of his favorite 78s, and snippets from Radio Sumatra.

Yeti Five is a available now at Northtown Books, along with the previous issue.