Washington Books

Used 2 different versions of Moon Handbooks for trip to NW and both were invaluable. This series gives far more detail then a Lonely Planet or Rough Guide which I normally buy. We used it to plan trips, select accommodations that were NOT chains and found reviews to be spot on. Since the book focuses on just one place in Oregon, it is able to go into far greater detail then the more generalized travel books do.
Because of this and the Oregon Coast version, I buy the Moon Handbooks now over the others.
Well worth the price.

MOON HANDBOOKS COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE: INCLUDING COMPLETE COVERAGE OF PORTLAND is a wonderful book about northern Oregon and southern Washington, including complete coverage of the Portland-Vancouver metro area. Thus, you get information on both rural pleasures, such as hiking and white-water rafting, and urban ones, including shopping, dining, and museums. This is a book that anyone with an interest in geography must own.

I am making a long journey next year that will include the Columbia Gorge and this book really helps define the areas I wish to see. It has been really helpful in the lodging as well as the parks and hiking. I am a photographer and plan on taking numerous images on this trip, so I like to know well ahead of time what I will be seeing. I highly recommend this guidebook to those that visit this area.

We had never been to the northwest before and wanted to get the most out of our first trip. This guide was like having a local with us on the trip. We were able to get to the numerous falls, rapids, windsurfing areas and hikes without wandering around. We stayed in a great hotel that was reported on and picked from the recommended restaurants. The book was well worn when we got home. I highly recommend it.

Mother Knows presents a rich collection of emotionally meaningful short stories-some by writers I hadn't heard of before, but will be looking for now-about motherhood from all directions.

The opening piece, "What's Left Behind," is a deeply moving (but not sappy) story of a pregnant woman who loses her husband and children in a flash flood. Here are the first two lines: "He sweeps by me. My husband, Dizzy, rushes past me with his arms outstretched like a preacher at altar call."

There's the woman who's trying to take care of her small "determined" son and her equally stubborn father who, after a stroke, can only speak gibberish. The realism of this story is striking: the intertwining of love and dedication with exhaustion and a powerful, though passing, desire to flee from the obligations of family.

A remarkable range of authors and perspectives are included. There are at least five immigrants in this collection-wonderful writers with backgrounds and challenges very different from my own or my children's. (One author was born in China, another in Turkey, one in Puerto Rico, and one in Zimbabwe. I mean, wow.)

For me, the best fiction gives me a larger view of the world and yet reminds me that I am a part of it. And, although it sounds sentimental, these stories reminded me that it is the urge to love and be loved that keeps us moving through this world. This powerful collection of 24 (!) stories-by big names and soon-to-be-big names-has earned a permanent spot in my library.

All of our lives are inextricably bound with our mothers' lives. What I especially appreciated about these stories was that they told the truth--from all directions--about the complicated, but love-infused bond between mothers and their children. It's a meaningful, affecting, and hopeful collection. (And I've got some great new authors to follow now, too.)

I loved reading this anthology of stories about Motherhood! Very touching. A fascinating and heartwarming read, for sure.

I got this for my wife for Mother's Day and I think I'll actually read it when she's done! Unless she lets our daughter read it first.

The eruption of Mt. St. Helens is captured in photographic glory for any who would learn about the explosion of the volcano and the subsequent recovery of its surrounding environment. Black and white and some color photos accompany extensive descriptions of the eruption, its short- and long-term effects, and environmental changes.

i love this book and the doofus who thought this book wasnt that great(the one below me) needs to read it again he says it moved quickly to the recovery of the mountain: look at the title! thats what it is about retard.you should recognize a great writer when you see one. humph

I went to visit Mount St. Helens just a few weeks before she started rumbling and spitting again. I got this book because it is so much better than the superficial descriptions given at the visitors centers. The book also has a much better story. It talks more about the details of what happened. Drawing show the inside of the volcano and what happened to make the eruption occur the way it did. All in all, a much better understanding of the mountain than I got visiting it.

The mountain is not exactly unique, but the lateral blast came as a real surprise to the volcanologists. Only in retrospect did what happened make good sense. The previous eruptions created a solid rock cap on the top of the mountain. The cap was strong enough and heavy enough that it successfully held the pressure. Like the proverbial irresistible force the side of the mountain swelled up and eventually fell away. When that happened the plug at the top of the mountain fell down opening up the channel to the top. Now they know how those previously discovered horseshoe shaped craters are made.

What you don't get from the book is the sense of magnitude that you get from visiting the site. You really can't imagine the blown over trees that go on for literally miles. The answer is simple. First, read the book. Second, go visit the mountain. Third, read the book again and you'll pick up a lot more.

An excellent book, completely readable and very informative. I visited the devastated area by chopper within a year after the big one, and Carson's book told me that a lot of the interpretations I heard in 1981 are no longer considered valid. I particularly enjoyed the appraisal of Weyerhauser's tree farms vs natural reforestation. There are favorable points for both, and it's essentially a matter of choosing the scientific or the industrial benefits. I bought the book at the Monument (Forest Service, not Park Service) and reading it while I was there made it all the more exciting. My only complaint: the page layouts. Too many tall, narrow pictures are printed across the binding. Photos of these dimensions would easily fit on a single page, and their impact and beauty are diminished when so much of them is buried in the binding. Possibly this flaw would be less objectionable in a sewn hardcover edition. Also, pictures are often printed as insets in larger photos -- which suggests to me that the book design was considered more important than the photographs. The illustrations are great complements to a splendid text, and they deserve kinder treatment.

I read Nina Killham's first book, HOW TO COOK A TART and loved it. This second book, MOUNTING DESIRE, is hysterical. Killham creates characters that seem so real and puts them into situations that seem so absurd. Even though she introduces many characters throughout the book (actually caricatures in many cases, such as the male cover model) the reader is able to follow along easliy. That is until you start laughing so hard you drop the book and lose your place. I can't wait to read her next book and see what she sends up next.

A satire on the romance genre, Mounting Desire is hilarious. It's an obvious reversal of gender stereotypes, but it works. If you're looking for a bitingly funny read that isn't afraid to poke fun at America's biggest selling genre--whether you're a fan or not--Mounting Desire is a book to pick up.

This paraody of romance novels, romance writers and romance itself is a really fun romp! Simultaneously profound and silly, Mounting Desire is particularly appreciated at a time when the U.S. seems to be embracing its puritan past with reckless abandon. Jack, the born- again- virgin- romance- novel author, doesn't date. Instead, he says: "I fantasize about ideal women. I dress them up in whatever I want, the more corsets the better. I put them through excruciating psychological trauma before having fifteen-second sex with them , and then I delete them." Expect to laugh a lot with this one. So, don't balance your mohito on your tummy while you're poolside.

I got into it straight away. I had to keep sneaking off so I could read in peace. The two main characters are believable, and I couldn't wait to find out if they finally got together. I also liked the amusing dramas that came their way, and the supporting characters rounded it out perfectly. A perfect beach read and a lot of fun!

By most outward appearances Antigone Clark has the kind of life dreams are made of, but appearances don't always reflect truth. As MOURNING BECOMES HER opens, Antigone has returned to her apartment after her mother's funeral, only to discover that her live-in boyfriend arranged for movers to pack and remove all of her belongings during the service. Homeless, motherless, yet full of pride, Antigone must figure out how to move on with her life and continue to portray the image she has carefully crafted as a carefree Broadway actress. Her current run in a highly successful production has resulted in her being billed as the top black actress on Broadway, but that run is about to end. With her financial security uncertain, Antigone relies on her pride and independent nature to get her through each day, despite the snickers of her peers who are well aware of her untimely break-up. She is struggling with the death of her mother, a woman whom she has spent most of her life resenting.

Enter Baldwin Dahl, one of the hottest black actors in the business. He is on such a popularity high, he can pick and choose his next acting gig from a stack of offers. But aside from his role in a Shakespeare production, he only seems interested in building a relationship with Antigone and saving her from herself. Baldwin has a history of being the martyr in relationships, often sacrificing his needs for the needs of the woman he loves. But will his love be enough to save her and will his willingness to put her needs before his own persist?

MOURNING BECOMES HER is a complex, literary-style tale about one woman's journey toward accepting love despite a lifetime of disappointments and rejection. K. C. Washington carefully creates a character, who despite being self-destructive, readers can understand and relate to. The tension between her need to reach out to love and the need to build a wall of defense around her heart carries throughout the book and kept me invested until the very end. There were times when the story stalled, but overall, MOURNING BECOMES HER is a well-written, intelligent, and enjoyable story.

Reviewed by Stacey Seay
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

I read this book on a long flight to LA and it was such a page turner it really made the flight go by fast! I'm sure the people around me thought I was crazy the way I was giggling and laughing out loud. I loved Washington's crafty use of words and references of NY Theater and NY city life. Take the smartness and fashion of "Sex in the City" mixed with a complicated heroine of Antigone and you have one of the freshes debuts. Can't wait to see what author, KC Washington, writes next! (I found her website -> http://[...].com/)

Washington brings us a fresh take on a classic heroine. Ego-bruised Broadway actress Antigone Clark, the female protagonist of Mourning Becomes Her, brings to mind the 1940s silver screen leading ladies, but in a thoroughly modern setting. Our protagonist is leery of the advances of the almost too perfect Baldwin Dahl, and understandably so (for reasons you'll just have to read the book to find out). Antigone's hilariously sharp-edged repartee with Baldwin is truly cutting! It's heartbreakingly comical to see angst-ridden Antigone guard herself from the prospect of this romance, only to realize she and Baldwin have an undeniable bond. BONUS ALERT--Not only do we get this great love story, but also a beautiful exploration of a father-daughter relationship. This book is wonderfully engaging, soaring miles above your usual chick-lit fare; I could barely put it down. Kudos to the writer of this superb novella!!

Washington introduces a new love-to-hate heroine in Antigone Clark, an up-and-coming African-American actress who doesn't stop playing the part when the stage lights go off. For more reasons than one, the lights never go off in Antigone's world - even when they do - just as the lights never go off in this witty cover-to-cover read.

Indulge in this book when you're having a lazy, selfish day and don't want to feel guilty about it!

The story of an immigrant seeking the American dream and also the story of an American striving to meld her conservative heritage with Western freedom, Ms. Sultan's tome is a modern day reckoning of the experiences of all peoples who sought bridgehead on the shores of the United States -- set against the backdrop of a war in the backyards of both her past and future, a war where the casualties she experienced were family members, freedom, and in many senses identity. From the embarassment wearing home-made clothes to public school as a child of an illiterate mother, to breaking out of the strangulation of an arranged marriage in her teenage years - to the triumph of influencing the Afghan Constitution in the name of women's rights as an international leader, Ms. Sultan's story reverberates with both common humanness and hums with the timbres of early greatness. Ms. Sultan's book pushes envelopes most other authors don't even know exist. Her story is uniquely American and Americanly unique. At not yet 30, she has already begun to change the world, and this relevant, engaging, provocative, fun, sad, and sometimes disturbing tome are easily a first volume of a life meant to meaningfully impact the planet we inhabit. "My War At Home" is a book for the present and the future.

I was astounded from the first page of this amazing account and was not able to put the book down until I'd finished it and the issues she raises in her book now have me tied in knots and puzzled as to the solutions. Masuda herself told us she is confused and who in her shoes would not be? How many people would risk even their most precious thing...the relationship with her family in this case, to tell a story that needs to be told? It is even more amazing because Masuda is only 28 years old. Such wisdom is seldom found in people twice Masuda's age; her courage and honesty are exceedingly rare and should be applauded rather than scorned and mislabeled as pandering for attention. Masuda blames noone for what happens to her. In fact that is her point...we have people living in the same country but on completely different planets and people stuck within their own cultures and unable to transcend it even when they themselves are hurt by their beliefs or actions. Afghanistan has impoverished itself with its own denial of education to its people and especially women. At the same time this does not make it right for the United States to impose its culture and kill innocent people in the name of moral superiority or freedom. A messy and complicated story told in a very eloquent and moving way. My head is spinning and I am wondering what I personally can do to help Masuda in her cause. Bravo!!! This book is a must-read for almost everyone and I am sending it to all my friends this year for their birthday.

Masuda's story is incredible. I couldn't put it down and have already recommended it to dozens of people. Masuda for President!!

If you've ever seen an American Muslim woman walking down the streets of New York or anywhere else in the US and wondered about the many Americas in which we live, this book is for you. How do these people live and think in a USA that is as much theirs as it is ours? My direct experiences of my own country couldn't be more different than Masuda's. I grew up in the mid-west and most of my friends were white mid-westerners. Growing up, I knew on an intellectual level that there are a lot of different ethnicities that make up our country but every time I passed a Hassidic Jew, an American Hindu wearing a turban or an American Muslim woman covering her hair I wondered what their lives were like and how they experienced America. This book offers amazing insight into how this specific minority lives and thinks. What's more, upon meeting Masuda (disclaimer - I have) you could also come to the conclusion that no one is more quintessentially American. She seems to completely bridge the gap and can relate to me as much as I imagine her being able to relate to a shop keeper in Kabul.

The more people like her that we have helping us understand our interlocutors in the Middle East the better off America will be. Masuda shows us that we're all human and that understanding the perspective of the other side is key to reaching any long-lasting mutually beneficial relationship with their countries of origin.

Almost anyone familiar with publishing will enjoy this book. It may be a little too painful if you are still a midlist author.

This group of 104 cartoons features works by Charles Barsotti, Roz Chast, J.B. Handelsman, Ed Koren, Victoria Roberts, and Jack Ziegler. The cartoons capture the wittiest New Yorker views, and leave you with a wry taste in your mouth. Selected by Bob Mankoff (cartoon editor of The New Yorker since 1997), this collection is one of the best that has been produced recently from the past offerings of that venerable publication. If you like authors, books, and reading, you'll love this book!

I graded down the book because of the inexplicable lack of an introduction. What better subject for one than literary cartoons? The books in the series which featured such introductions are clearly more interesting than the ones that don't.

It was hard for me to pick a few cartoons to feature for you. I was tempted to include all but a few.

Author humor

(1) Man leaving home wearing suit and carrying a brief case: 'Wait a minute. Where am I going? I'm a writer.'

(2) James Joyce's refrigerator to-do list: 'Forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race.'

(3) Raven says to Poe: 'Nevermore. And you can quote me.'

Publisher humor

(1) Editor to Dickens: 'I wish you would make up your mind, Mr. Dickens. Was it the best of times or the worst of times? It could scarecely have been both.'

(2) 'It doesn't work as a novel. But we're willing to publish it as a desk calendar.'

(3) 'Chicken Vindaloo for the Hindu Soul is but the tip of the iceberg in our initial strategy of global expansion.'

Book Seller Humor

(1) 'Let me get you another copy. Someone left a slice of salami in this one.'

(2) Book shelves organized by length of attention span.

(3) Book shelves organized by size of author advance.

Reader humor

(1) 'I do want to solve all my problems, but I'll wait till it comes out in soft cover.'

(2) 'Lately, I've been reading Jane Austen -- just to clear my palate.'

(3) Fan to author: 'I really enjoyed your hype.'

Media humor

(1) Talk show host holding enormous tome, addressing author: 'If you were to boil your book down to a few words, what would be its message?'

(2) 'Oprah is definite, Barnes and Noble is giving you front windows and Norman Mailer has agreed to a feud.'

The others are just as good or better. These are just samples to whet your appetite.

After you have read, chuckled, and enjoyed these wonderful cartoons, consider why we find these cartoons to be funny. Is it because books have become a commodity, rather than works of important ideas and art? Is that really so funny? What should we do about that? If you find these questions provocative, read The Business of Books.

I purchased this book for my favorite english professor in college and took a glance in it myself and fell in love with it! You do not have to be a professor to get this--the humor is for all!

No matter how jaded, how cynical, how hard-boiled you may think yourself to be, at least one of these cartoons from the archives of The New Yorker will make you smile! Mr. Bob Mankoff, cartoon editor of The New Yorker since 1997, has put together a classic assortment of 104 drawings from the archives. "The New Yorker Book of Literary Cartoons" captures the cachet of the City, while poking fun at writers, editors, publishers, booksellers, and, most of all, at books, and those who read them. From the bookstore browsing Bibliophile Bikers Club to Mme Sartre's empty mailbox ("Sacré bleu! Again with the nothingness, and on my birthday yet!") to the hilarious note magnetized on "James Joyce's Refrigerator," one will find sterling examples of the wonderful satirical wit which has graced the pages of this magazine for 75 years. Buy this book for yourself! (Highly recommended for writer's block.) Better yet, buy this book for your editor or for your bookworm friends!

I read this book when I was in third grade. Some thirty years later I remember this experience as being my introduction to the world of literature. The inspiring story of a family working together for a common goal pulled me in and kept me there. Now I am giving it as a gift to another young reader.

This is a great story!! It is a story about the Kimball kids. They work all year long to buy a stove for their Mother. Hester has to work all summer at her Aunt's terrible hotel. So she can earn enough money for the stove that costs $27.00. Big surprises happened when I least expected them. I loved the story the whole time I read it. I felt like I was there. But can they get all the money before christmas? Read and find out.It is neat how she bases her characters on real people. Lots of the stuff that happens in the book really happened! And the book also shows what you can do if you work together. If you like this book, try Beatty's Melinda Takes a Hand,and Turn Homeward Hannalee. They are all great books.

The "Nickel-Plated Beauty" is one of three companion books by Patricia Beatty set on the Pacific coast of southwest Washington State at the turn of the 20th century. The other titles are "O the Red-Rose Tree," and "Sarah and Me and the Lady from the Sea." When recommending them to students in our elementary school library (in Washington State), I compare them "The Little House on the Prairie" series, by Laura Ingalls Wilder. In my opinion they are written as well.

After reading these books years ago, I took my family on a vacation to the Long Beach (Washington) penninsula where the stories are set and we were able to locate many of the landmarks mentioned in the books. There is the ring of historical accuracy, as well as the cold wet climate of this region.

For any students looking for historical fiction from a locale not usually written about, these books are to be recommended. They should appeal to fourth grade students and above.

All three of these titles were recommended reading by the Washington State Centennial committee in 1989. I still think they're wonderful and so do the students willing to give them a try!

I was a child when I read this book.Just a little while ago, I wanted to recommend it to one of my nieces, so I checked it out of the library to see whether it was as good as I remembered.It was!

Beatty's tale of seven spirited pioneer kids who hatch a plan to earn money for a brand-new stove has suspense, humor and affection. You're turning the pages eagerly until the very end, wondering whether they'll be able to come up with the money for the stove before the hard-headed general store manager sells it to somebody else.

Young readers will love the spectacle of kids taking charge and making things happen -- while keeping everything a surprise for their parents.

As for the big payoff scene when Mom and Dad are presented with the stove on Christmas morning, well, it doesn't get much better than that. Worth seeking out, for sure.

there are some passages in here that made me well up, and ya know, boys don't cry, and some passages kept me all red hot and angry for the rest of my week. very much like omar rodriguez' compositions. which is why i bought the book. i can't wait to see the movie... should probably check to see if it's out yet...

The Night Buffalo might be described as an exploration of what it means to face oneself - to be forced to shed pretentions, excuses, etc. In the end, it succeeds. However, as "psychological thriller" it is a bit of a failure. The story revolves around three characters: Manuel, the narrator; Gregorio, who commits suicide early in the book; Tania, who has been the girl-friend of both. Gregorio is motivated by mental illness; Tania remains a bit of a mystery; Manuel is just plain nasty - picking fights for the fun of it, stealing, cheating, lying and otherwise being an unpleasant character. The book's failure is in providing a background that "explains" his nastiness.

As a positive or a negative depending upon your taste, the author has a very visual, cinematic style. Character and mood are evoked as in a filmscript.

Did I enjoy reading the book? There were several times that I was tempted to set the book down and walk away. Am I glad I read the book? Yes, because the author's skill in bring the novel to its end makes it well worth the reading time.

Note: reading club questions are included.

Very amazing book, a lot of unanswered questions....which i like and dislike at the same time.

This is one of the best books I have read. I can not wait for Arriaga's other novels to be translated, his creativity and unique style have definately stuck a cord with me. The deception and emotion that surround the novel develop it into a story that will keep you thinking long after you finish it.

"No more cherry blossoms" is a brutal dive into the tangled hearts of a select but varied group of Asian American characters, from sisters returning home after the internment to a 1919-Hawaiian potter's apprentice to a Hollywood-obsessed mother-daughter team of actors.

This collection of plays crosses decades & perspectives--each one exploring a specific Asian American experience/theme (post-internment, the civil rights movement, asian fetishism/objectification)--but in each play Gotanda tunnels through overarching broad, political climates to unearth the most intimate and beating core of the character and her individual challenges and questions.

Each of these plays has been and should be staged again and again, as their relevance lies in the human themes and not within any specific timeframe or ethnic affiliation (I know that's probably obvious to most). But these plays are also plays to be read on the page; reading the book cover-to-cover is an absorbing experience, and you feel almost pummeled by the end (or at least I did). In experiencing this particular book, I was reminded that reading a play is an entirely different experience from watching one. In reading a play, you are able to imagine the setting and the possibilities, to see these plays and the intent of the playwright, before they are shaped and changed by a director's eye and an actor's interpretation.

"What I try to do," says Gotanda in the book's preface, "is get up each day and give my body the chance to speak. In whatever format, language, medium it chooses." The plays of "no more cherry blossoms" live out this approach: each play speaks in its own unique voice and moves to its own distinct rhythm. The reader can hear the everpresent musical clamor in The Wind Cries Mary, see the cinematics of Ballad of Yachiyo-it's clear from the varied composition and structure of each piece that the playwright's professional/creative background encompasses film, music, and poetry as well as theater.

At times, you might find yourself yearning for more self-determination in the women characters in particular, but the complex relationships and dynamics throughout generate an insistent energy that makes these plays resonate regardless. "No more cherry blossoms" is an arresting and powerful volume, one that, after reading, will work its way into your consciousness, and whose themes and questions will surface again and again. These stories stay with you.

As an Asian American man, I've been familiar with Philip Kan Gotanda's work that centers primarily around the Asian American male in plays such as "Yankee Dog You Die." Knowing his work in this way made me curious to see how a man, who writes so well about men, would choose to write about women. And not just any women, Asian American women.
"No More Cherry Blossoms" spans decades from 1919 Hawaii in the aching "Ballad of Yachiyo," to the post World War II release of Japanese American internees in the beautiful "Sisters Matsumoto," and even to 1968 in the play "Wind Cries Mary."
The breadth is evident but what is truly exciting is the voice that Mr. Gotanda gives to each of his female characters. Each has something specific to say and no matter how different their actions or their attitudes, they are always honest, uncompromising and because of this, surprising.
The title itself, "No More Cherry Blossoms," breaks the long perpetuated stereotypes of Asian women as submissive, demure, and delicate. Each play successfully presents Asian women that are far more complex than any cherry blossom stereotype. It is an interesting choice that Mr. Gotanda chooses to end this collection of plays, about Asian American women, with a modern white male's "how-to" discourse on getting them into bed in the final play, "Got Rice?" It seems Mr. Gotanda is saying that as far as things may have come, we still have a long way to go.

There is remarkable breadth to this collection. Not only do the four plays span the 20th century of Japanese-American experience, but they range widely in style and tone as well. From the quiet, bittersweet beauty of "Ballad of Yachiyo" to the rock n' roll defiance of "The Wind Cries Mary," Gotanda's plays showcase heroines who search for identity in vastly different social climates, and with vastly different voices. The collection will move you at times with its lyricism, surprise you at times with its wit, but always engage you because of the unapologetic honesty of the author. Avoiding melodrama at every turn, Gotanda crafts characters who lust for something more than they are prescribed. In doing so, this truly gifted playwright at once honors a culture's experience while creating works that are universal in appeal.

This rich collection of works by one of our country's foremost playwrights reveals an incredibe breadth of vision. From the achingly poignant, exquisitely lyrical "Ballad of Yachiyo"; to the elegant, Chekhovian "Sisters Matsumoto"; to the ruthless honesty of "The Wind Cries Mary;" to the boldly political diatribe of "White Manifesto;" Gotanda continually surprises us with his uncanny ability to paint the truth of human experience with candor, wit and grace. His compact language, solid command of form, and daring willingness to articulate the uncomfortable realities of social engagement -across the lines of gender, race and class-- truly set him apart among contemporary playwrights. This is a must-have collection for any serious theater person, and one that will surely lead to many more productions for this already widely-produced playwright.