Saturday, November 10, 2007

Speaking of books...

Not only is Portland a knitter's nirvana; it's heaven for bibliophiles. Not only do we have Powells, the largest independent bookstore in the country, but we also have Wordstock, an annual festival of books. It's awesome!




There are several stages where you can listen to authors read from their work, or talk about writing. And of course there are booths for bookstores and publishers. I discovered (much in the way that Columbus discovered America) a cool cartoon called "Too Much Coffee Man", and listened to Steven Almond talk about meeting Kurt Vonnegut and recount a hillarious story of young love at summer camp.




It was fun, and you know I didn't get out of there empty handed. I really wanted to get Almond's book "Not that you asked", but the line was too long, so I'll pick that up next time I go to Powells. But I did get the sequel to "The Dangerous Book for Boys" (which I gave to my nephew last year).








Andrea Buchanan & Miriam Peskowitz's "The Daring Book for Girls" will make a great gift for my niece... after I read it of course. ;)



I also picked up Bill Bryson's "A Walk in the Woods", and Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma". I kinda feel like I should have picked up a book or two from the local authors represented there. But I don't know. There are just so many books out there, and those were a couple I've been meaning to read for a while now. Plus I like to read books that other peole have likely read so I can talk to them about it. So yeah... Wordstock, pretty awesome. Have I mentioned how much I love Portland.



8 comments:

Batty said...

Lucky you! I love good used bookstores. It's what I liked about living in a town with two or more colleges in it. It's dangerous for your shelf and knitting space, though! Books just multiply. It's a mystery.

Chicklit said...

Man, I'd move to Portland for Powell's alone. You are so lucky!

I'm reading the Omnivore's Dilemma now. It's fascinating and I think it's really going to change the way I eat.

And finally, I love Steve Almond. Definitely read his new book if you get the chance. I heard him read from "How to Write a Sex Scene" at 2005's AWP. It's hilarious.

Stacey said...

Oh I miss Wordstock - I worked it last year.

Enjoy A Walk in The Woods - I thought it was really fun...I was planning on listening to the audio book soon! :D

Rebel said...

Stacey - I thought of you while I was there!

Chicklit - Almond was hillarious... but I don't know which book he was reading from.

Batty - yeah, I know... my books keep multiplying when I'm not looking... a lot like my yarn!!

Bezzie said...

And my sister's in Portland right now...

I'll be honest, I'm a little miffed it's not called "dangerous" for girls. Why can't we be dangerous? Does having a penis mean you're dangerous? I can be dangerous!!!

Mag said...

No, but having a penis means you crave dangerous or at least you think you should. There's nothing wrong with wanting to be daring and not dangerous. It's more intelligent for one thing.
Oh well, this is what comes from a 'separate but equal' philosophy. It's open to all sorts of prejudicial interpretations.

I have great envy for your book fair adventure Zuma. I wish I could have gone too. :(

Rebel said...

Well, I think the reason it's not the 'dangerous' book for girls is because the authors are different. In either case, I think you'd approve of the content. They have directions for building a scooter, doing a backflip, creating a spy code, climbing a rope or a tree, some foreign language phrases, all kinds of fun things.

Michael5000 said...

I am a big loser and never think about Wordstock until it's over. Same with the film festival, except I HEREBY VOW to do the film festival this year.