Broadway Books - Independently owned and supporting the NE Portland community since 1992.

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Did you know?

That you can order books 24/7 on our website? Select "pay in store/pick up in store," and we'll notify you when they're ready for you to pick up!


That we sell Kobo eReaders and eBooks that you can read on any device (including your iPad) except Kindle devices?

That we happily gift wrap any of your purchases from us at no additional charge?

That our gift certificates never expire? If we don't expire, they don't expire!

That more than almost anything else we love helping you choose just the right gift? So don't hesitate to ask for ideas if you're stuck.

That we are long-time supporters of local literary and educational activities?



 


Our Hours:


Monday - Saturday
10 am to 7 pm;
Sunday
Noon to 5 pm
Open 24/7 on our website!


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Read this year's Multnomah County Library's Everybody Reads book
: The Residue Years, by former Portlander Mitchell Jackson


Learn more

New in Paperback


  Is your book club looking for ideas for new books? We're always glad to brainstorm with you. And we're happy to let you know if books are readily available, and when they'll be out in paperback.

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See you next month!
Broadway Books
A Great Little Store with Great Big Service
February 2015 Newsletter
 
  

Is it February or is it June? Based on recent weather, it's hard to tell. Sunny and warm one day, rainy and warm another, sunny and cold the next. The good news? They all make for lovely days to read a great book, and we can help on that score!

We also have you covered for Valentine's Day -- cards that are funny or sweet, loved-themed books, and chocolate of all kinds (including very yummy Alma chocolate hearts). Don't wait much longer, though, so you can choose from the best selection.


And speaking of love and hearts, we would like to send out a big ol' bunch of Valentine love to all of you. We believe strongly in the importance of local, independent businesses, and we try to demonstrate that through our own shopping. We appreciate so much that you do too.

FYI: The store will close early (5 pm) on Wednesday, February 25th, for a staff function.

Sally McPherson and Kim Bissell
Broadway Books, 1714 NE Broadway, Portland, OR 97232
(503) 284-1726
bookbroads@qwestoffice.net
February Readings
Thursday, February 5th, 7 pm:  Windfall Fall Issue
Windfall, A Journal of Poetry of Place, features poetry which captures the spirit of place as part of the essence of the poem.  

 

We will join in celebrating the Fall issue with a reading by several spectacular poets: Ursula K. Le Guin, Paulann Petersen, Carlos Reyes, Penelope Scambly Schott, and David Filer, as well as the two editors of the journal, Bill Siverly and Michael McDowell.

 

Ms. Le Guin has published more than twenty novels, eleven volumes of short stories, four collections of essays, twelve books for children, six volumes of poetry and four of translation, and has received many honors and awards including the Hugo, Nebula, National Book awards. Her most recent publications are Finding My Elegy (New and Selected Poems, 1960-2010) and The Unreal and the Real (Selected Short Stories), which won last year's Oregon Book Award for Fiction.  

 

Penelope Scambly Schott received an Oregon Book Award for Poetry for A is for Anne: Mistress Hutchinson Disturbs the Commonwealth. Her most recent book is How I Became an Historian.


Paulann Petersen is the former Oregon Poet Laureate.  Her most recent book, Understory, was published by Lost Horse Press in 2013.  

 

Carlos Reyes' most recently published book, Poems of Love and Madness/Poemas de Amor y Locura: Selected Translations, was published by Lynx House Press in 2013.  His newest book, Keys to the Cottage: Stories from the West of Ireland, will be released later this spring.   

 

David Filer is the author of five collections of poetry, including The Fear of Love and Housekeeping - Sonnets of the Pacific Northwest.     

 

Tuesday, February 10th, 7 pm: George Wright, In the Wake of Our Misdeed

We happily welcome back our good friend George Wright, who will read from and discuss the genesis of his sixth novel, In the Wake of Our Misdeed (C3 Publications). As with Wright's previous work, the novel was inspired by an actual event in Oregon history. (Come to the reading to hear what it is!) As the novel opens, an SUV is forced off the road and into the dark waters of Hood Canal. Naomi Barrus cannot escape, and she drowns. But her husband Carson frees himself and crawls out of the canal -- an experience he views as an opportunity to re-invent himself and right a wrong from his past.


George Wright was born in The Dalles, and he grew up in small towns throughout the state of Oregon. His experience in these small towns has greatly influenced his writing. After a long career in the non-profit sector as a writer, he returned to his love of fiction, producing an historical trilogy: Baker City 1948, Tillamook 1952, and Roseburg 1959. This series was followed by Driving to Vernonia and Newport Blues: A Salesman's Lament.

 

Tuesday, February 24th, 7 pm: Peter Stark, Astoria: Astor and Jefferson's Lost Pacific Empire -- A Tale of Ambition and Survival on the Early American Frontier  

One of our bestsellers of 2014 was the hardcover edition of Astoria, by Peter Stark. We're thrilled to announce that the book is coming out in paperback in February and -- best of all -- Peter Stark will be coming to Broadway Books for a signing and to talk about his book

 

In 1810, John Jacob Astor was determined to establish an American colony in the Pacific Northwest.  He commissioned two advance parties: one overland, across the Rockies, and one by sea around Cape Horn. Both parties faced incredible challenges and hardship, and many of the men perished before reaching the Pacific Northwest.  

 

Stark  presents a fast-paced, riveting accounting of both journeys, and of what took place after the colony of Astoria was established.

 

This will be ticketed event. Tickets are $15.99 and can be cashed in for either the paperback edition of Astoria or toward any other purchase made the night of the reading. Tickets will go on sale Monday, February 9th, and can be purchased online or in the store.

 

Thursday, February 25th, 7pm: Mark Pomeroy, The Brightwood Stillness

Mark Pomeroy will join us to read from his compelling debut novel, The Brightwood Stillness. With its vivid look at friendship and the challenges of cross-cultural communication, and its poignant take on the legacy of Vietnam, The Brightwood Stillness will take readers through a maze of love, betrayal, and -- finally -- redemption.

Pomeroy has received an Oregon Literary Fellowship for fiction and a residency at Caldera Arts. His short stories, poems, and essays have appeared in Open Spaces, The Wordstock 10, Portland Magazine, The Oregonian, the Waco Tribune-Herald, and What Teaching Means: Stories from America's Classrooms. A former classroom teacher, he holds an MA in English Education from Teachers College, Columbia University, where he was a Fellow in Teaching.  

Jacqueline Winspear at Broadway Books!
Woohoo! Jacqueline Winspear is back with a new installment in her wildly popular Maisie Dobbs series. Best of all, she is returning to Broadway Books to tell us all about it.

A Dangerous Place will be published in mid-March. Jacqueline will read at the store on Monday, March 23rd, at 7 pm. This reading will be a ticketed event. The tickets will cost $26.99 (the cost of the new book), and will include a copy of the book. Tickets will go on sale on Monday, February, February 9th, at 10 am. The easiest way to purchase tickets will be online (you will find a link to the tickets on our home page starting on the 9th). You are also welcome to come to the store and purchase your ticket here.

We're expecting this event to sell out quickly -- as all of Jacqueline's previous events at the store have -- so don't wait long to get your tickets!
Poetry Downtown
We are thrilled that in conjunction with its 30th anniversary, Literary Arts is relaunching Poetry Downtown, a three-part subscription series featuring three distinguished poets reading and discussing their work at the intimate Winningstad Theater. Each reading will be followed by a question-and-answer session and book signing (guess who's bringing the books?!). The events take place from 7:30 to 9 pm.

This year's poets are Terrance Hayes (February 17th), Mark Doty (April 27th), and Anne Carson (May 16th). You can read more about this series and about each of these poets here. And while we're on the subject of Literary Arts, please circle this date on your calendars: Monday, April 13th, the night of the Oregon Book Awards.
Pacific Northwest Booksellers Awards
Each year the independent bookstores that make up the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association honor six books written by authors living in the pacific northwest states that are included in the PNBA. Each author who wins selects a bookstore for his or her own award ceremony.

We are honored and excited that Molly Gloss, one of this year's winners for her novel Falling from Horses, has chosen to receive her award at Broadway Books! The award will be presented to her at 6 pm on Friday, March 6th, and you are all invited!

Here are all of the winners of this year's PNBA Awards:

We have all of these winning titles on display at our store. 

Nous Sommes Tous Charlie Hebdo
The American Booksellers Association has made it possible for independent bookstores to get a small quantity of the January 14th French language commemorative edition of Charlie Hebdo, which we have available for $8.50. We are selling these editions not necessarily because we agree with everything expressed in the magazine nor because we think it is always in good taste, but because we believe at our very core that freedom of speech demands at the very least that people not have to risk their lives merely because someone disagrees with what they say in print or how they express it. Quantities are limited.
New Cards!
The winter sun has brought a new supply of cards, cards, cards!  From the whimsical yet profound "Sacred Bee," to the finely produced local letterpress "Waterknot," to the archivist quality "Natural History Museum," to the only greeting cards guaranteed to make everyone laugh: "Frank and Funny." We are fully stocked up and ready to meet your every need. We even have what everyone needs in this weather, a "tag-along camper."  Of course our offering is of the "cut, fold and glue" variety, but it can get you thinking about your summer travels.  Our real message here, however, is "Don't forget your Valentine!"
Website Upgrade
We will be making some changes to our website in mid- to late February. This change will necessitate closing down the ordering function for a few days during this time. If you come to our site and are unable to order books, fear not; it will be up and running again shortly. We hope any inconvenience caused by the upgrade will be minimal and will be compensated for by the shiny new look of our site!
New in Hardcover
Alexandra Fuller, born in England but living her life in Africa until she moved to Wyoming after her marriage, has entertained us with her previous memoirs about growing up in Africa: Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight, Scribbling the Cat, and Cocktail Hour under the Tree of Forgetfulness.

A child of the Rhodesian wars and two complicated parents, she is no stranger to pain. Yet her disintegrating marriage leaves her shattered. Looking to pick up the pieces of her life, she finally confronts the tough questions about her past, about the American man she married, and about the family she left behind in Africa.
From the author of The Brain that Changes Itself, a consistent bestseller here, comes a new book explaining how the amazing process of neuroplastic healing really works. The book describes natural, non-invasive avenues into the brain provided by the forms of energy around us -- light, sound, vibration, movement -- which pass through our senses and our bodies to awaken the brain's own healing capacities without producing unpleasant side effects.

As with his previous book, Doidge uses stories to present cutting-edge science with practical real-world applications, and principles that everyone can apply to improve their brain's performance and health.
Funny Girl, Nick Hornby
Nick Hornby (High Fidelity, About a Boy, Ten Years in a Tub, and more) is finally back with a new novel. What has he been doing in the interim, you ask? Among other things he wrote the screenplay adaptation for the movie based on Cheryl Strayed's Wild.

In his new novel he takes us back to the swinging '60s in London. Funny Girl tells the story of Barbara Parker (soon to become "Sophie Straw"), a beauty queen from Blackpool in the north of England who makes her way to London to pursue her dream of becoming a sitcom star along the lines of her heroine, Lucille Ball. But sexism and classism hinder her progress. Using a cast of characters who are funny if flawed, Hornby "beautifully captures the thrill of youthful success and of discovering your own talent."
The Girl on the Train is a debut psychological thriller that will forever change the way you look at other people's lives.

Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning. Every day she rattles down the track, flashing past a stretch of cozy suburban homes, and stops at the signal that allows her to watch the same couple breakfasting on their deck. She's even started to feel like she knows them, going so far as to give them names. It seems to her that their life is perfect. And then she sees something shocking. It's only a minute until the train moves on, but it's enough. Now everything's changed. Unable to keep it to herself, Rachel offers what she knows to the police, and becomes inextricably entwined in what happens next, as well as in the lives of everyone involved. Has she done more harm than good?

Compulsively readable, The Girl on the Train is an emotionally immersive, Hitchcockian thriller that is sure to keep you riveted -- and guessing.

 Save the date! 
National Independent Bookstore Day 
Saturday, May 2, 2015 
We will offer special items created just for this celebration. Please join us!

Contact Information
Sally McPherson or Kim Bissell
Broadway Books
(503) 284-1726
bookbroads@qwestoffice.net