Mary Gaitskill

Heavy Hardcover (2 to 4 lbs)

Oregon

From the author of the National Book Award–nominated Veronica: Mary Gaitskill's most poignant and powerful work yet—the story of a Dominican girl, the white woman who introduces her to riding, and the horse who changes everything for her Velveteen Vargas is eleven years old, a Fresh Air Fund kid from Brooklyn. Her host family is a couple in upstate New York: Ginger, a failed artist on the fringe of Alcoholics Anonymous, and Paul, an academic who wonders what it will mean to “make a difference” in such a contrived situation. The Mare illuminates the couple's changing relationship with Velvet over the course of several years, as well as Velvet's powerful encounter with the horses at the stable down the road, as Gaitskill weaves together Velvet's vital inner-city community and the privileged country world of Ginger and Paul. The timeless story of a girl and a horse is joined with the timeless story of people from different races and socioeconomic backgrounds trying to meet one another honestly in a novel that is raw, striking, and completely original.

The Mare

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Donna Everhart

Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

For readers of Days Without End by Sebastian Barry, Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain and Enemy Women by Paulette Jiles, an evocative, morally-complex novel set in North Carolina during the Civil War, as one woman fights to keep her family united and neutral during the most devastating and divisive period in American history. From one of the most powerful and authentic voices in Southern fiction comes a historical novel with an unforgettable heroine--the extraordinary Joetta McBride, who defiantly opens her North Carolina home and farm to soldiers from both sides during the Civil War. Talk of impending war is a steady drumbeat throughout North Carolina, though Joetta McBride pays it little heed. The small farm she tends with her husband, Ennis, and their two sons provides all they need. Those who want to fight can fight, but Joetta considers her family to be neutral. That opinion isn't shared by Joetta's father-in-law, Rudean. A staunch Confederate supporter, he fills his grandsons' heads with stories about the glories of soldiering, and insists that owning land and slaves is the only measure of success. When fifteen-year-old Henry, impressed by his grandfather's stories, runs off to volunteer, Joetta insists Ennis go and search for him. Weeks pass without word from either father or son, though other soldiers pass the farm, parched and growing ever wearier. Joetta offers water to all, regardless of which uniform they wear. Her actions are deemed treasonous by townsfolk and the Home Guard, but Joetta won't be swayed. After all, the wealthy find ways to stay away from battle. Why should poor men suffer and die on their behalf? Though shunned and struggling, Joetta remains committed to her principles, and to her belief that her family will survive. But the greatest tests are still to come, for a fractured nation and for Joetta and those she loves . . .

When the Jessamine Grows

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Barack. Obama

A Story of Race and Inheritance

The son of an African father and white American mother discusses his childhood in Hawaii, his struggle to find his identity as an African American, and his life accomplishments.

Dreams from My Father

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Emily St. John Mandel

Excellent shape. Minor rubbing on the top and bottom corners of spine 

A National Book Award Finalist A PEN/Faulkner Award Finalist Kirsten Raymonde will never forget the night Arthur Leander, the famous Hollywood actor, had a heart attack on stage during a production of King Lear. That was the night when a devastating flu pandemic arrived in the city, and within weeks, civilization as we know it came to an end. Twenty years later, Kirsten moves between the settlements of the altered world with a small troupe of actors and musicians. They call themselves The Traveling Symphony, and they have dedicated themselves to keeping the remnants of art and humanity alive. But when they arrive in St. Deborah by the Water, they encounter a violent prophet who will threaten the tiny band's existence. And as the story takes off, moving back and forth in time, and vividly depicting life before and after the pandemic, the strange twist of fate that connects them all will be revealed.

Station Eleven

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Kiran Millwood Hargrave

After the men in an Arctic Norwegian town are wiped out, the women must survive a sinister threat in this "perfectly told" 1600s parable of "a world gone mad" (Adriana Trigiani). Finnmark, Norway, 1617. Twenty-year-old Maren Magnusdatter stands on the craggy coast, watching the sea break into a sudden and reckless storm. Forty fishermen, including her brother and father, are drowned and left broken on the rocks below. With the menfolk wiped out, the women of the tiny Arctic town of Vardø must fend for themselves. Three years later, a stranger arrives on their shore. Absalom Cornet comes from Scotland, where he burned witches in the northern isles. He brings with him his young Norwegian wife, Ursa, who is both heady with her husband's authority and terrified by it. In Vardø, and in Maren, Ursa sees something she has never seen before: independent women. But Absalom sees only a place untouched by God, and flooded with a mighty evil. As Maren and Ursa are drawn to one another in ways that surprise them both, the island begins to close in on them, with Absalom's iron rule threatening Vardø's very existence. Inspired by the real events of the Vardø storm and the 1621 witch trials, The Mercies is a story of love, evil, and obsession, set at the edge of civilization. One of the Best Books of the Year USA Today Good Housekeeping

The Mercies

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John Irving

As we grow older - most of all, in what we remember and what we dream - we live in the past. Sometimes, we live more vividly in the past than in the present. As an older man, Juan Diego will take a trip to the Philippines, but his dreams and memories will travel with him; he is most alive in his childhood and early adolescence in Mexico. 'An aura of fate had marked him,' John Irving writes. 'The chain of events, the links in our lives - what leads us where we're going, the courses we follow to our ends, what we don't see coming, and what we do - all this can be mysterious, or simply unseen, or even obvious.'

Avenue of Mysteries

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Alice Hoffman

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

A Novel

This instant New York Times bestseller and longlist recipient for the 2020 Andrew Carnegie Medal takes place in 1941, during humanity’s darkest hour, and follows three unforgettable young women who must act with courage and love to survive. “[A] hymn to the power of resistance, perseverance, and enduring love in dark times…gravely beautiful…Hoffman the storyteller continues to dazzle.” —THE NEW YORK TIMES “Oh, what a book this is! Hoffman’s exploration of the world of good and evil, and the constant contest between them, is unflinching; and the humanity she brings to us—it is a glorious experience.” —ELIZABETH STROUT, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Olive Kitteridge “Alice Hoffman’s new novel will break your heart, and then stitch it back together piece by piece. It’s my new favorite Hoffman book.” —JODI PICOULT, New York Times bestselling author of Small Great Things and A Spark of Light In Berlin, at the time when the world changed, Hanni Kohn knows she must send her twelve-year-old daughter away to save her from the Nazi regime. She finds her way to a renowned rabbi, but it’s his daughter, Ettie, who offers hope of salvation when she creates a mystical Jewish creature, a rare and unusual golem, who is sworn to protect Lea. Once Ava is brought to life, she and Lea and Ettie become eternally entwined, their paths fated to cross, their fortunes linked. Lea and Ava travel from Paris, where Lea meets her soulmate, to a convent in western France known for its silver roses; from a school in a mountaintop village where three thousand Jews were saved. Meanwhile, Ettie is in hiding, waiting to become the fighter she’s destined to be. What does it mean to lose your mother? How much can one person sacrifice for love? In a world where evil can be found at every turn, we meet remarkable characters that take us on a stunning journey of loss and resistance, the fantastical and the mortal, in a place where all roads lead past the Angel of Death and love is never ending.

The World That We Knew

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William J. Hawkins

William F. Willingham

Heavy Paperback (2 to 4 lbs)

History

Portland's great residential architecture is presented in the context of the history and growth of the city as well as the broader, international architectural trends.

Classic Houses of Portland, Oregon, 1850-1950

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Christiane Northrup

Philosophy

How the Divine Inside Can Heal Your Body and Your Life

You know Dr. Christiane Northrup as the best-selling author of books such as Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom and The Wisdom of Menopause—a beloved and trusted expert on everything that can go right with the female body. Now she brings her wisdom and insight to illuminate the mind, soul, and spirit as well. In this joyfully encouraging new book—as useful for men as it is for women—Dr. Northrup explores the essential truth that has guided her ever since medical school: our bodies, minds, and souls are profoundly intertwined. Making life flow with ease, and truly feeling your best, is about far more than physical health; it’s also about having a healthy emotional life and a robust spiritual life. When you view your physical well-being in isolation, life can become a constant battle to make your body “behave.” When you acknowledge the deep connection between your beliefs and your biology and start to tune in to the Divine part of yourself, it’s a whole new ballgame—and the first step in truly making your life easy. Take your well-being into your own hands as you learn to: • Untie the knots of blame and guilt that harm your health • Use sexual energy consciously to increase vitality • Balance your microbiome through healthy eating • Cultivate a healthy ego that serves you (not vice versa) • Communicate directly with the Divine • And much more Drawing on fields from epigenetics to past-life regression to standard Western medicine, Dr. Northrup distills a brilliant career’s worth of wisdom into one comprehensive user’s guide to a healthy, happy, radiant life.

Bridie Q

@bridie619433

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Mary Gaitskill

The Mare

Donna Everhart

When the Jessamine Grows

Barack. Obama

Dreams from My Father

Emily St. John Mandel

Station Eleven

Kiran Millwood Hargrave

The Mercies

John Irving

Avenue of Mysteries

Alice Hoffman

The World That We Knew

William J. Hawkins; William F. Willingham

Classic Houses of Portland, Oregon, 1850-1950

Christiane Northrup

Making Life Easy

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Mary Gaitskill

The Mare

Donna Everhart

When the Jessamine Grows

Barack. Obama

Dreams from My Father

Emily St. John Mandel

Station Eleven

Kiran Millwood Hargrave

The Mercies

John Irving

Avenue of Mysteries

Alice Hoffman

The World That We Knew

William J. Hawkins; William F. Willingham

Classic Houses of Portland, Oregon, 1850-1950

Christiane Northrup

Making Life Easy

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