Winter Reading Book Reviews
= Oregon author or Oregon-centric book fiction Continue reading
Books: Page 13
In Living Color
Coloring books for adults are on the rise
(clockwise from left) Splendid Cities, Secret Tokyo, Secret Paris Continue reading
The Birth of Wild Man
An author’s ride from misery to manuscript
Once upon a time, and not all that terribly far back, Jeff Geiger was undergoing what he now describes as “a dark night of the soul.” The Eugene writer had arrived at the artistic crossroads. “I’d been working for, I’d say, at least a decade as what I’d consider to be a serious writer,” he says. Deciding that he was most passionate about young adult fiction, Geiger wrote two such novels that came up bust. They had heart, but “they weren’t selling. It was an incredibly frustrating experience,” he recalls. Continue reading
Self-Published Round Up
Every once in a while something crazy happens: Someone self-publishes a book and it takes off. The Celestine Prophecy started that way as did Still Alice, and 50 Shades of Grey started off as internet-published Twilight fan fiction. Lane County has a whole host of writers publishing themselves or getting published by a “vanity” press (Hey, it’s not vanity if it’s good!). They, and we, hope one of these books takes off. Here’s just a smidge of what got dropped off at EW this year. Continue reading
Winter Reading Top Ten
J. Michaels Staff Picks 160 East Broadway # A (541) 342-2002 Of local interest is Megan Kruse’s Call Me Home. Oregon writer, an uncommonly powerful debut novel. Also in fiction, A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. Astonishing, challenging, upsetting and profoundly moving. Continue reading
Paper Tutus
Writer Lauren Kessler’s Nutcracker journey
Raising the Barre: Big Dreams, False Starts, & My Midlife Quest to Dance the Nutcracker (Da Capo Press) by local author Lauren Kessler begins with the moment, a little over a year ago, when — in the midst of her middle-aged working-mom life — Kessler gets a bee in her bonnet to dance The Nutcracker with the Eugene Ballet Company. Continue reading
Punk’s Not Dead
Author Bob Suren reads from his punk-rock memoir
Bob Suren’s new book, Crate Digger: An Obsession with Punk Records — out now from Portland publishing house Microcosm Publishing — tells the story of the author’s love affair with punk music. The journey takes Suren from band member to record storeowner, fanzine editor, radio show host and record label founder. “For many years I was self-employed,” Suren tells EW, “but for many years punk rock was my boss.” Continue reading
Minor Manor Manners
Catching up with author Patrick deWitt on the eve of his latest novel release
Portland author Patrick deWitt is a pig for romance. “I’m an old softy, you know,” deWitt tells EW, “a fool for love and all that; a pig for it.” Continue reading
Down and Out in Seattle
Beautiful losers walk the wild side in Danny Bland’s In Case We Die
Entering into the gloriously tattered tradition of strung-out criminal lit ranging from Hubert Selby’s Last Exit to Brooklyn to Denis Johnson’s Jesus’ Son, Seattle rocker turned author Danny Bland has written a novel that reads like a beastly scream into the dark mythology of ‘90s Seattle — a gilded wasteland where junkies reared on Iggy and Sabbath turned filthy power chords into gold and cosmonauts of the apocalypse pimped hip to the culture vultures. Continue reading
Rape and a College Town
Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town
Jon Krakauer doesn’t start Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town (Doubleday, $28.95) with one of the worst scenes in the book; he eases into it with the police pulling up to tell a young woman named Allison Huguet that her rapist has confessed. Only a couple pages later does Krakauer tell of the assault and of Beth Huguet’s horror when her daughter calls her at 4 am gasping with panicked sounds into the phone before screaming, “He’s chasing me! Help me! Save me! Mom!” Continue reading