OREGON BOOKS

The latest book and literary arts news and reviews

Great Northwest and the wrecking ball. Full story »

Oregon picked its first poet laureate 87 years ago. Paulann Petersen, chosen last month, is the sixth person to hold the position. Full story »

Gina Ochsner has all kinds of stories she wants to tell. She thinks in metaphor, and a conversation with her quickly turns into a series of stories that twist and double back on themselves and often end with her shaking in laughter and disbelief. As a child, she thought of her adoption as "a Chinese box that you want to open and get to the bottom." As an adult, writing her first novel was "like pulling a snowball on a skateboard through hell.  Full story »

Dean King's 'Unbound' presents an often-riveting account of 30 women during the Red Army's Long March through snowy mountains and high-altitude swamps. Full story »

Golden Richards is a sweet, bewildered and thoroughly overwhelmed man and the hero in Brady Udall's often hilarious "The Lonely Polygamist," a novel with "but-of-course" plot turns. Full story »

Reviews of two books published by the Libraries of Eastern Oregon. Full story »

In "Gimme Refuge," Matt Love writes about his transformative experiences as a caretaker at the Nestucca Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Full story »

"American Taliban" the book evokes "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh, and every page of the novel about John Jude Parish's astounding change from privileged young American to Islamic warrior mirrors the tragically real young man -- but this book's publicity says it's just "loosely inspired by real events." I Full story »

Enchanted by the bread at a New York restaurant, author William Alexander goes on a 52-week journey to re-create that loaf. His up-and-down journey digresses into the science of baking and bread making.  Full story »

Kai Bird writes with memorable detail and eloquence on the good old days in the Mideast, when opportunities for reconciliation were lost to pride and stupidity, and the Munich Olympics were still two years off.  Full story »

"Spring" appears in Ce Rosenow's fifth poetry collection, "Pacific." She is the publisher of Mountains and Rivers Press.  Full story »

This week's literary happenings in the Portland area. Full story »

A George Fox professor recognizes the prayer book of an emperor.  Full story »

Beyond the smoke and tears ...  Full story »