Jim Gavin, Middle Men

Major, you better have a look at this…

Books Midway through this ticking time bomb of a short-story collection about the attempted middle class, a young screenwriter receives advice from a pal of his rich, lubricated uncle: “Get in good    More

 

Wednesday, June 19, 2013 MARK CHRISTENSEN

Jon Mooallem, Wild Ones

Even more dead polar bears.

Books The conservation of American wildlife is not a happy story. Well, not one Jon Mooallem would read his 2-year-old daughter before bedtime. His debut book, Wild Ones: A Sometimes Dismaying, Weirdl   More

 

Wednesday, June 5, 2013 BRANDON WIDDER

Larry Colton, Southern League

Jackie Robinson played for the Dodgers in 1947. Meanwhile, in Alabama...

Books By all accounts, Birmingham, Ala., was the epicenter of the civil-rights movement of the ’60s. It was there that two of the most important moments in the fight surrounding segregation occurred:    More

 

Wednesday, May 29, 2013 ROBERT HAM

Laurie Notaro, The Potty Mouth at the Table

Concerning all those hobos and foodies.

Books What do you do about the hobos sleeping in the alley behind your house? It’s a very Portland problem, and one Eugene-based essayist Laurie Notaro tackles along with other uncomfortable moments o   More

 

Wednesday, May 22, 2013 KAITIE TODD

Gary Greenberg, The Book of Woe

Crazy for claims forms.

Books As a defense mechanism, the third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders was equal parts identification and repression. Having weathered a decade of attacks from the    More

 

Wednesday, May 15, 2013 MATTHEW KORFHAGE

C.B. Bernard, Chasing Alaska

Dead polar bears everywhere.

Books Anyone who has lost a weekend pursuing their heritage through the waggling leaves of Ancestry.com understands the dynamic driving C.B. Bernard’s Chasing Alaska: A Portrait of the Last Frontier T   More

 

Wednesday, May 8, 2013 MARTIN CIZMAR

Becky Ohlsen Walking Portland

Wheezing, drinking, learning.

Books Becky Ohlsen’s Walking Portland keeps up a blistering pace through Portland’s gridded streets while stopping at every worthy watering hole and potential Instagram selfie backdrop along the way   More

 

Wednesday, May 1, 2013 BRANDON WIDDER

Augusten Burroughs, This Is How

He ran with scissors and lived to tell the tale.

Books “Wipe that fucking smile off your face.” So begins the new book by Augusten Burroughs, a darkly comedic and sincere self-help book titled This Is How: Surviving What You Think You Can’t (Picad   More

 

Wednesday, April 24, 2013 KAITIE TODD

Matt Bors, Life Begins at Incorporation

Books Few cartoonists could pull off Matt Bors’ new book, Life Begins at Incorporation (230 pages, $20). Not because of the cartoons—in shape and tone, the Portland-based artist’s style is so simi   More

 

Wednesday, April 17, 2013 MARTIN CIZMAR

Rebecca Lerner, Dandelion Hunter

Book Review: Rebecca Lerner, Dandelion Hunter

Books Like any Portlander, you’ve no doubt already planned your survival tactics for the impending zombie apocalypse—weapons, allies, a practical yet fashionable ensemble. But how long would canne   More

 

Wednesday, April 17, 2013 PENELOPE BASS