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Power, Faith, and Fantasy

In the beginning, for America, was the Middle East.

Books If the name Israel means "wrestles with God," then America must be Hebrew for "wrestles with the Middle East." American-Israeli historian Michael B. Oren's new book, Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America ... More

Wednesday, February 14, 2007 MATT BUCKINGHAM

About Alice

Calvin Trillin says goodbye to our national den mother.

Books Everyone who's ever had more than a passing encounter with the writing of essayist and glutton Calvin Trillin knows Alice, his wife and comic foil. We know her as a generous and sensible woman with a ... More

Wednesday, January 31, 2007 WW Editorial Staff

Sacred Games

Indian novelist Vikram Chandra shows the West how to write a crime thriller.

Books If there is any justice in the book-publishing world, Vikram Chandra's Sacred Games (HarperCollins, 916 pages, $27.95) deserves to become a million-copy bestseller, alongside the next Harry Potter nov ... More

Wednesday, January 24, 2007 MATT BUCKINGHAM

Cartoon Workshop/Pig Tales

Too bad for Beck, Paper Rad saves its finest head trips for print.

Books Here's an idea of what you're getting into with Paper Rad: the first characters you're introduced to in the Massachusetts minimalist art collective's second book, Cartoon Workshop/Pig Tales (Paper Rad ... More

Wednesday, January 17, 2007 Michael Byrne

Zoli

Colum McCann captures a wanderer's song pitch-perfectly.

Books Lacking a concrete sense of place while rendering the life of a nomadic culture, in which "the only thing that seemed right was change," is a supremely daunting task for any novelist. But bringing to ... More

Wednesday, January 10, 2007 Karla Starr

Split Creek

V.O. Blum's latest work is weird, and not in a good way.

Books There is nothing wrong with weird fiction. Thomas Pynchon's novels (and personal life) are weird, but Gravity's Rainbow won the National Book Award. Local writer Peter Rock's weird collection of short ... More

Wednesday, January 10, 2007 Paige Richmond

Bottomfeeder

Darkhorse proves that being a vampire can really, well, suck.

Books The acclaimed graphic novelist B.H. Fingerman's first all-prose novel, Bottomfeeder (M Press, 272 pages, $12.95), follows a young bloodsucker named Philip Merman who has spent the last 27 years trying ... More

Wednesday, December 27, 2006 Steven Pascal-joiner

Proof Positive

Local author Phillip Margolin dispatches a legal thriller with a criminal twist.

Books Appearing on the bestseller lists next to John Grisham and James Patterson, Portlander Phillip Margolin is one of the most popular authors of his genre—the legal thriller. A longtime criminal de ... More

Wednesday, December 20, 2006 Lisa Hoashi

Oregon Book Awards, Friday, Dec. 1

The state's top writing talents honored while the rest of us snoozed.

Books Tickets for Literary Arts' Oregon Book Awards sold out early, and there was an expectant air as people filed into Portland Art Museum's Fields Ballroom last Friday evening. Not only is great writing h ... More

Wednesday, December 6, 2006 Lisa Hoashi

Burning Fence

Heartfelt memoir inexplicably passed over for Oregon Book Award nomination.

Books In last month's announcement of Literary Arts' 2006 Oregon Book Award nominations, several authors were noticeably missing. One is acclaimed novelist Craig Lesley, a winner in 2002 for his novel Storm ... More

Wednesday, November 29, 2006 Lisa Hoashi