en Copyright 2009, Powells.com Wed, 7 Jan 2009 19:00:05 PST Wed, 7 Jan 2009 19:00:05 PST webmaster@powells.com http://powells.com/favicon.png Powells.com, yo! Paul Harding's debut is only now arriving in bookstores, from a small publisher affiliated with NYU's School of Medicine. Already Tinkers is the talk of the literary world. Publishers Weekly calls it "an especially gorgeous example of novelistic craftsmanship." In 191 incantatory pages, Harding somehow makes you intimate with three generations of a New England family. Pulitzer Prize winner Marilynne Robinson raves, "It confers on the reader the best privilege fiction can afford, the illusion of ghostly proximity to other human souls." ]]> Mon, 5 Jan 2009 14:51:30 PST The most critically acclaimed novel published in America this year, 2666 is Roberto Bolaño's masterpiece. "Bolaño has proven [literature] can do anything," Jonathan Lethem marveled in the New York Times Book Review. In an extensive conversation with Powell's, Natasha Wimmer discusses the late Chilean author, specifically his latest publication and its bestselling predecessor, The Savage Detectives. Wimmer knows from whence she speaks. She translated both novels into English. ]]> Tue, 9 Dec 2008 16:01:48 PST In case it wasn't enough to photograph Nixon's resignation, Annie Leibovitz covered the story alongside Hunter S. Thompson. And while you may know that many of her celebrity portraits were shot for American Express campaigns, you probably wouldn't have guessed that Amex only gave her a credit card after she left an envelope with thousands of dollars in cash at a pay phone during one of those shoots. Leibovitz recently visited Portland to discuss At Work, a career-spanning retrospective of her photos and the remarkable stories behind them.]]> Sun, 30 Nov 2008 09:24:57 PST The PC in those Mac ads, the Daily Show's "resident expert" — yes, him. After a star turn in our recent State by State film, John Hodgman returns to Powell's with More Information Than You Require, his second volume of complete(ly made-up) world knowledge. At the Burnside Street store, during a break from Wordstock, he talked about mole-men and hobos, of course, but also Battlestar Galactica, Mall of America food stands, and life as a famous minor television personality.]]> Tue, 18 Nov 2008 12:29:02 PST Graphic designer extraordinaire Chip Kidd presents Bat-Manga!, the first collection of Japanese Batman comics anywhere in the world! Originally published in 1966, at the height of the first worldwide Batman craze, and written and illustrated by manga legend Jiro Kuwata, these adventures were never collected in Japan, and had never been translated into English. We spoke with Kidd about his lifelong Batman obsession, the process of hunting down and collecting these incredibly rare issues, and why these 40-year-old comics are some of the most entertaining Batman stories ever made! ]]> Wed, 5 Nov 2008 13:33:50 PST Thirty years after its initial publication, the new edition of Art Spiegelman's Breakdowns is bookended by a brand new, career-spanning, illustrated comic and a prose postscript supplemented by yet more classic drawings. Together, the three sections offer a grand, unifying vision of a master's career. In conversation, Spiegelman covered just as much ground, from the seminal early strips in Breakdowns to Maus (winner of a Pulitzer Prize in 1992) to In the Shadow of No Towers, even his much-loved commercial work. (Remember Wacky Packages and Garbage Pail Kids?)]]> Tue, 21 Oct 2008 12:37:50 PST Iain Banks first published The Crow Road in the UK in 1992, and it is one of his best-loved books. Time Out called it "Riveting...exhilarating...its pace, development, intensity and, above all, its hip and sexy humour never allow it to flag." The Crow Road is a philosophical saga and a romantic coming-of-age story, a mystery and a comedy, and a raucous, moving, and deeply human look at relationships and family. As Publishers Weekly says, "Readers unfamiliar with Banks's prodigious output have a great starting point here." ]]> Tue, 7 Oct 2008 14:10:21 PST Neal Stephenson has been a staple name in science fiction ever since his incandescent opus Snow Crash appeared. What separated Snow Crash from the other cyberpunk novels of the world was, first, Stephenson's knowledge of computers and programming and, second, his wealth of research on topics as obscure as Sumerian mythology. This theme of in-depth research has continued through his other books, especially Cryptonomicon and The Baroque Cycle. Before his reading, Stephenson discussed the mathematical philosophy and quantum mechanics in his newest novel, Anathem, as well as why he still writes by hand.]]> Tue, 23 Sep 2008 15:38:29 PST Wed, 10 Sep 2008 10:03:53 PST Inspired by a WPA state guide series from the 1930s and 40s, State by State will surely rank among 2008's most notable literary achievements. Fifty writers on fifty states: Anthony Bourdain on New Jersey, Susan Orlean on Ohio, Sarah Vowell on Montana, S.E. Hinton on Oklahoma, Dave Eggers on Illinois... the list goes on and on. Weeks before publication, editors Matt Weiland and Sean Wilsey discuss working with the authors, noteworthy contributions, pleasing surprises, and the new Out of the Book film, which stars 19 of the collection's contributors.]]> Tue, 9 Sep 2008 14:21:54 PST Annie Barrows's creative process for co-authoring The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society was, by her own admission, unusual. It's not often that your adored librarian aunt hands you a rough manuscript to finish. And allowing for the fact that we are prejudiced towards the novel's pure expression of love for booksellers, we found it to be absolutely delightful. Barrows takes the time to explain her experience of co-writing Guernsey, what it means to be a community of readers, and why we hunger for charm in these modern times. ]]> Mon, 25 Aug 2008 17:30:38 PST As David Carr tells it, "The dude was addicted to coke, got off the coke, obtained custody of his kids, a single parent, got off welfare, survived cancer, married well. But that's not what is resonating with people. It's much more the pathology." The dude being Carr, himself. Kurt Andersen attests, The Night of the Gun is "a breathtakingly candid, laugh-out-loud funny, heroically rigorous, consistently riveting, and deeply moving account of a nightmarish descent and amazing redemption." Carr discusses coke and cancer, fact and fiction, parenthood, new media, hope, and his new remarkable book.]]> Tue, 12 Aug 2008 15:10:24 PST Why do Americans spend more than $10 billion a year on bottled water? "The facile answer is marketing, marketing and more marketing," supposes the New York Times Book Review, "but Elizabeth Royte goes much deeper into the drink, streaming trends cultural, economic, political and hydrological into an engaging investigation of an unexpectedly murky substance." The Boston Globe calls Bottlemania, "Ingenious. Amiably, without haranguing or hyperventilating, this veteran environmental writer has produced what could be, assuming enough people read it, one of the year's most influential books."]]> Wed, 30 Jul 2008 15:35:29 PST City of Thieves, the newest novel by David Benioff, author of The 25th Hour and When the Nines Roll Over, has been hailed by critics as "a smart crowd-pleaser" (Publishers Weekly, starred review), a "gut-churning thriller [that] will sweep you along" (Kirkus, starred review), and "a funny, sad, and thrilling novel" (Entertainment Weekly). Set during the Germans' brutal siege of Leningrad in World War II, the novel follows the captivating odyssey of two young men trying to survive against desperate odds on an impossible mission through unimaginable depravity. Surprisingly, it's also thrilling, absorbing, and very funny. In this interview, Benioff discusses why it took so long to finish the first chapter, the difficulty of trying to capture the voice of a 17-year-old Russian boy during World War II, and more.]]> Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:03:00 PST Kirkus calls America America, Ethan Canin's first novel in seven years, "[a] novel of character [that] is powerful and haunting, a major work." It is a sweeping, epic story that more fully explores themes Canin has written about previously — class, politics, fatherhood, wealth, and power — in a seamless and beautiful multigenerational American saga. America America is both an important work and a page-turning summer read. Especially in this election year, it is a powerful reminder about what is great, and what is broken, within our country. In this interview, Canin discusses his new book, the politics of generosity, class-jumping, and method acting for writing.]]> Tue, 1 Jul 2008 14:57:57 PST