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NW Book Lovers
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 Annie Bloom's own Jeff Shaffer has a great new essay up at NW Book Lovers. Click that link to read why we like noisy kids.
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Shadow of Night Drawing
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 Drop by Annie Bloom's anytime before 9pm on Sunday, July 22, and enter to win one of two autographed "advance uncorrected proof" paperback copies of Deborah Harness's new novel, Shadow of Night, the sequel to A Discovery of Witches.
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July 2012: Staff Reviews & More
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Greetings!
We
have a trio of new staff reviews for you! Also, we have two author
readings this week! Plus, check out what's new in Psychology. Check out
the changes in Multnomah Village, too.
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Staff Reviews
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Our staff brings you four new favorites:
To Be Sung Underwater
by Tom McNeal
reviewed by Edie
Yes, yes, this is a great love story. Everyone has said so and done it
eloquently (Packer, Ford, etc.), but my favorite part of this really
well written story is the relationship between father and daughter in a
small town in Nebraska. It feels real, sounds real, and leaves a very
nice feeling in one's heart. Do not miss the opportunity to enjoy every
word in this book.
A Brilliant Novel in the Works
by Yuvi Zalkow
reviewed by Matt
Yuvi's life is an open book. He is smart and neurotic and witty and
has lots of baggage and a lovely memory and fascinating parents and an
ailing brother-in-law and a wife who tolerates his eccentricities. And
his editor is hounding him for a novel which he can't seem to get off
the ground. Welcome to the headspace of Yuvi as he grants us an
intimate peek into his unique problematic self. I can't wait until Yuvi
Zalkow comes to the bookstore to do a reading [on Sept. 20] and I can
ask him more about the Yuvi in his book.
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
by Rachel Joyce
reviewed by Bobby
This funny, poignant, wise book is gracefully written. Though there
is a savage twist, it never feels manipulative or cloying. Recent
retiree Harold Fry receives a note from Queenie Hennessy, a woman he
hasn't seen in twenty years. She is in hospice, six hundred miles to the
north of Harold's small English village, and she has written to say
goodbye. To his wife's distress (just another annoying thing Harold is
up to, like buttering his toast wrong), he sets out to post a reply. As
he walks, he keeps going to more remote mailboxes. After a chance
encounter with a young woman at a garage, he comes to believe that, if
he walks to Queenie, his pilgrimage will save her life. He
meets many other people with hearts as battered as his own, and the
reader is drawn in as if on his remarkable journey with him. I could
not stop reading; I had to know what would happen to this hapless
gentle soul.
A Hologram for the King
by Dave Eggers
review by Michael
Day after day, middle-aged American consultant Alan Clay and his young
IT team sit in a tent in the Saudi Arabian desert, waiting for King
Abdullah to show. Their company has prepared a holographic presentation
in hopes of winning the bid to supply technological infrastructure to
the King's un-built city. This is the backdrop for Dave Eggers's novel
about a man undergoing a midlife crisis. Alan is deeply in debt, can't
pay his daughter's college tuition, and he has discovered a growth
perilously near his spine. Alan wants, once again, to be an impressive
businessman: to close the deal. But an elusive King, strange customs,
and his pent-up emotions all conspire to derail his plans. A Hologram for the King is a meditation on one's usefulness in life.
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Readings
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Michael Houck & M. J. Cody
Wild in the City
Wednesday, July 18, 7pm
 Co-editors Michael Houck and M.J. Cody present the second edition of the highly acclaimed Wild in the City,
which brings more than one hundred of the best parks, trails and
natural areas to your fingertips. This comprehensive "must-have"
reference will be the go-to field guide for hikers, cyclists, paddlers,
bird watchers, and nature enthusiasts.
Mark Ellis
Ladder Memory
Thursday, July 19, 7pm
 In Ladder Memory, Stories from the Painting Trade,
freelance journalist and writer Mark Ellis recalls his 30 year journey
from apprentice painter to successful painting contractor. These
stories scrape the knuckles and get under the fingernails. Ellis brings
authenticity and discovery to his exploration of the experiences of a
housepainter, and the entrapments, frailties, and indomitable spirits of
those living and working in the structures he paints.
August Readings at Annie Bloom's:
Barbara Roberts
Up the Capitol Steps
Tuesday, August 7, 7pm
 Up the Capitol Steps
is a personal and political memoir by Oregon's first (and only) woman
governor, one of only thirty-four women who have served as state chief
executives in the history of the United States. Barbara Roberts offers a
behind-the-scenes glimpse of a woman's life in politics and aims to
"demystify" leadership by telling the story of her own unlikely rise to
power.
Lewel Lansing & Fred Leeson
Multnomah
Monday, August 13, 7pm
Covering people and events from 1854 to the present day, this
definitive reference on the history, politics, and policy of Multnomah
County provides compelling details about public works undertakings and
political scandals. Historian Jewel Lansing and journalist Fred Leeson
make effective use of archival sources, oral histories, newspaper
articles, and personal interviews. History buffs and informed Portland
citizens will be particularly engaged by the regional trivia and
narrative details.
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New in Psychology
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The Tools
by Phil Stutz and Barry Michels
 The Tools
offers a solution to the biggest complaint patients have about
therapy: the interminable wait for change to begin. The traditional
therapeutic model sets its sights on the past, but Stutz and Michels
employ an arsenal of techniques--"the tools"--that allow patients to
use their problems as levers that access the power of the unconscious
and propel them into action. Suddenly, through this transformative
approach, obstacles become opportunities--to find courage, embrace
discipline, develop self-expression, deepen creativity.
Rethinking Depression
by Eric Maisel
 In recent decades, much of the unhappiness inherent in the human condition has been monetized into the disease of depression and related "disorders."
In this provocative and path-breaking distillation of a career spent
working with individuals seeking help with mood and motivation, Maisel
persuasively critiques this sickness model and prescribes a potent new
approach that updates the best ideas of modern psychology. The result
is a revolutionary reimagining of life's difficulties and a liberating
model of self-care that optimizes our innate human ability to create
meaning and seize opportunity--in any circumstance.
The Creativity Cure
by Carrie and Alton Barron
Wife-and-husband physicians Carrie and Alton Barron present an
innovative, highly achievable five-part plan to unleash happiness and
alleviate depression and anxiety by tapping into creative potential. The
perfect self-help book for our handmade, homemade, crafting culture, The Creativity Cure
has a simple yet profoundly inspirational message: that you can find
the authentic, contented life you crave by taking happiness into your
own two hands.
Rainy Brain, Sunny Brain
by Elaine Fox
Fox describes a range of techniques--from traditional cognitive
behavioral therapy to innovative cognitive-retraining exercises--that
can actually alter our brains' circuitry, strengthening specific
thought processes by exercising the neural systems that control them.
The implications are enormous: lifelong pessimists can train
themselves to think positively and find happiness, while
pleasure-seekers inclined toward risky or destructive behavior can take
control of their lives.
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Changes in the Village
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We're sorry to say goodbye to Birdie's, Knack, and Post-Hip, all of which shut up shop in June. Along with the 2012 closures of Pagenwood and Fibers in Motion, that's a lot of change in our little neighborhood! We'll all miss what they brought to Multnomah Village over the years.
Fortunately, we have new business to welcome, too. Zoom Care recently opened at the corner of Capitol and 36th. And Medley Tea House started serving on July 1.
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