There’s a long trajectory to Andrew Barton’s book design and how he came to run such a lovely small press.
Books
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Book Review: Alyssa Mastromonaco’s So Here’s the Thing… Is a Listicle Book with Some Smart Ideas
Here’s my copy. Every one of those sticky notes represents something I thought was interesting. Alyssa Mastromonaco is a former Obama White House staffer (Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations), a favorite, recurring Pod Save America and Lovett or Leave It podcast guest, and a co-host of Crooked Media’s Hysteria! podcast. Since the Obama White […]
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This Woman’s Work Graphic Novel Review: Julie Delporte Tackles Taboo Women’s Issues and Her Search For a Mentor
Drawn & Quarterly The new graphic novel by French-Canadian cartoonist Julie Delporte opens with colorful illustrations of Brussels, cabbages, and bodies that are nude except for their loose socks. Delporte’s color-penciled cursive reveals, “I tried to get pregnant one summer… but when he came inside me… I panicked.” The couple talks about having a child, […]
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King of Joy Book Review: It’s Full of Flowing Prose, but It’s Also Druggy and Vague
Author photo by Brooks Calison I had just reached the hippos when an e-mail came through declaring King of Joy “a most anticipated book of 2019.” We’ll see, I thought. I was partway through the novel, and the outlook wasn’t good. King of Joy, by Seattle author Richard Chiem, tells the story of a woman […]
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Julie Delporte’s New Graphic Novel This Woman’s Work Tackles Taboo Women’s Issues and Her Search For a Mentor
The newest graphic novel from French-Canadian cartoonist Julie Delporte questions motherhood, women role models, and the legacy of Tove Jansson.
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The Wandering Earth Review: An Okay Chinese Blockbuster, Buoyed by Liu Cixin’s Astonishing Ideas
Unless you just cram The Thee-Body Problem into somebody’s hand and force them to immediately read it, it’s hard to convey just how big Chinese author Liu Cixin’s ideas are. The first in the award-winning “Remembrance of Earth Past” trilogy, Three-Body begins a story that’s about nothing less than the past and future of the […]
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Immigrant, Feminist, Artist: Sophia Shalmiyev’s Debut Memoir Mother Winter
photo by Thomas Teal The release of Portland author Sophia Shalmiyev’s debut memoir, Mother Winter, comes at a time when anti-immigrant sentiment is teetering on the edge of hysteria, funding for birth control and access to abortion is precariously positioned, and eyes are looking to Russia, a looming question mark in our current political saga. […]
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Michelle Obama’s Portland Appearance Has Been Postponed
This just in: Michelle Obama’s appearance tomorrow at the Moda Center has been postponed. Live Nation just sent the following press release: Live Nation and Crown Publishing announce Becoming: An Intimate Conversation with Michelle Obama scheduled for Saturday, February 9 will be postponed to March 19. Acting out of an abundance of caution and concern […]
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What’s Wrong with Thomas Kohnstamm’s Lake City?
The author, smoking a joint in his native habitat. Lester Black If you’re from someplace like “Lake Shitty,” a North Seattle neighborhood most known for its used car dealerships and shadily managed strip clubs, everything in the culture will tell you that life is elsewhere. But if you do end up escaping to get “good” […]
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Wow, There Are A Lot of Drugs in Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore’s New Novel Sketchtasy
Sketchtasy revisits the gay club scene of the ’90s Boston without glamorizing anything—except for good hair and great dancing.
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Pump Your Reading List Up: The 2019 Oregon Book Finalists Are Here
AUTHOR PHOTO BY SOPHIA SHALMIYEV Literary Arts announced the 2019 Oregon Book Awards finalists yesterday and for people like me—for whom book lists are like Xmas—there are some interesting works to look into. There are some of familiar names too. It’s no surprise to see Red Clocks by Leni Zumas included in the fiction category […]
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📖🔥 Hot Book Takes for 2018: Dystopias, Outer Space, and Murder All Sound Pretty On-Brand
“Book Takes,” I said in the editorial meeting. “They’re like hot takes, but about books!” Then I waited to see if I would be allowed to bring my hot, dumb name to fruition. To paraphrase Drake: If you’re reading this, you’re already too late. This year, our favorite books contained some unmistakable similarities. I see […]