To steal a name from that vast bookstore in Portland, Eugene is a city of books — and of readers. Our small local bookstores and excellent city library, not to mention free and inexpensive book sources such as Gertie the Bookbus and St. Vincent dePaul, ensure that Lane County’s literary lovers can have a book with their coffee or kombucha to curl up with this winter.

Book Reviews

Libraries and Bookstores Winter Reading Picks!

Metaphor of Loss: Molly Gloss’ Falling from Horses and the American West

Tales of Exploration: 2014’s graphic novels share expeditions sublime and surreal

We Built This City

In the crazy world we live in, sometimes you have to create your own magic. That’s what EW’s resident graphic designers and artists extraordinaire Sarah Decker and Trask Bedortha did with this year’s Winter Reading cover, a favorite issue in our office. Whereas the rest of the year’s cover images are tied to something newsy, Winter Reading is a time for some freewheeling fun. Decker and Bedortha created this cozy cityscape over two days with books from St. Vincent de Paul and miniatures from Eugene Toy and Hobby, meticulously cutting out tiny images with X-Acto knives to create glowing hearths through the windowpanes, all blanketed with a sprinkling of snow (i.e., baby powder). Because let’s face it — a good book is another home for the heart.