THURSDAY 1/10 William Stafford Birthday Celebration Stafford was a wonderful poet and a man who radiated kindness. Portland misses his presence and is grateful for his work. Six poets will read their favorite Stafford poems and afterward, members of the audience are invited to read their favorite Stafford works, too. Bring a poem if you […]
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William Stafford Birthday Celebration
William Stafford Birthday Celebration Central Library 801 SW 10th Ave, 248-5234 7pm In a poem titled, “Thinking About Being Called Simple by a Critic,” William Stafford wrote, “…Who but a friend/could give so sternly what the sky/feels for everyone but few learn to/cherish? In the dark with the truth/I began the sentence of my life/and […]
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Readings Listings
THURSDAY 1/3 Judith Kitchen Essays are about an effort to understand the world, and to articulate this understanding, consider the questions raised in the Flannery O’Connor dynamic: “I never know what I think until I see what I write.” Now Judith Kitchen is meditating on the world through dense, poetic essays. Remember, the unexamined life […]
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The Banvard’s Folly
Book Review
The Banvard’s Folly Paul Collins (Picador) Paul Collins is one of those guys you always see at the library. He’s the normal-looking guy with the armful of old books, sneezing his way to an empty table. I can also imagine him at a dinner party, confounding people with factoids about unheard-of losers and scientists. Collins’ […]
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THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS
Seven Local Authors, Seven Sinful Essays
ANGER Sleight of Hand by Suzy Vitello SLOTH The Demon of Noontide by Kassten Alonso PRIDE Order NOW by Wm. Steven Humphrey ENVY True Friends Aren’t Better than You by Kevin Sampsell LUST My Favorite Sin by Joelle Fraser GREED Oregon Blue by Monica Drake GLUTTONY A Cuckoo Tale by Kate Bernheimer
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Readings Listings
THURSDAY 12/20 Flat Mountain Girls & friends Poets sign up at 6:30. Bring “poems, weird e-mails, funny letters” for this open mic. Red and Black Cafe, 2138 SE Division St, 231-3899, 9 pm Original Book Group Inn At Lake Devine, by Elinor Lipman. Borders-Beaverton, 2605 SW Cedar Hills, 644-1498, 7 pm FRIDAY 12/21 Samusson & […]
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The Yellow Sailor
The Yellow Sailor Steve Weiner (Overlook Press) Four men meet on a merchant ship in 1914. The ship is rammed by a passenger liner. Each man falls from the sinking wreck into war-confused Prussia, wandering. Some of the men meet again. One of them meets the wealthy owner of the ship, a dandy. This, more […]
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Readings Listings
THURSDAY 12/13 New User Orientation Learn to use the equipment, the center, and the publishing possibilities are infinite. Independent Publishing Resource Center, 917 SW Oak Street, #218, 827-0249, 7 pm, Free Pacific Poetry Reading William Stafford was such a vital force in Portland’s poetry world, a wonderful man and a wonderful writer. Insightful, generous, and […]
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Reagan In His Own Hand
Book Review
Reagan In His Own Hand: The Writings of Ronald Reagan That Reveal His Revolutionary Vision For America Ronald Reagan, Kiron Skinner, Martin Anderson, Annelise Andersib (Free Press) “Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards, if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book.”–Ronald Reagan, (who employed ghost writers […]
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Super Transgressions
The New Pathologies
Super-Cannes J.C. Ballard (Picador USA) Ballard is probably best known for the novels he wrote nearly 30 years ago, such as Crash and The Atrocity Exhibition. These insanely, beautifully repetitious books explore the pathologies of late industrial society. They present desolate, post-apocalyptic landscapes, filled with burning automobiles, crashed airplanes, and the detritus of abandoned factories […]
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Readings Listings
THURSDAY 11/29 Avid Reader Book Group Happy Bottom Riding Club, by Lauren Kessler. Barnes & Noble/Clackamas, 9078 SE Sunnyside Rd, 794-9262, 7 pm Jim Brown and Carolyn Rose 24/7 Reality TV, money, and mortality. Consulted to Death, by Rose is exactly what it seems–the story of a TV news consultant murdered. Murder by the Book, […]
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The Complete Tales of Ketzia Gold
Book Review
The Complete Tales of Ketzia Gold Kate Bernheimer (FCZ Publishing) “…He gave me some leather pants to wear. The pants were so heavy on my legs that I understood how we are all animals.” This is the voice of Ketzia Gold, a protagonist who can say anything, gliding between surreal dreamscape and nightmare, the natural […]