Northwest Books

It's October 1989, and Dallas engineer Kelly McLendon learns his ex-girlfriend has disappeared while she is visiting LA. He discovers that he has a clue as to her last whereabouts: a collect call. Instead of divulging everything to the police, he decides to embark on a quest to solve the mystery of her disappearance. Does he still love her, or just need some excitement in his life? The missing ex-girlfriend provides the thread of plot which grows more complex as Kelly becomes - rather ineptly - an undercover amateur detective, getting involved with an interesting array of characters who all seem to have some hidden motivation as well.

This is very real, very moving poetry from the heart of some oftoday's youth. While reading it I was reminded of the power andvolatility of teen emotions and found myself imagining how different my life would be had I faced such challenges when I was their age. Their words go right to the gut. As a poet and writer, I know how emancipating words can be and the words of these teens hold promise that through their poetry they can release their pain and confusion, dare to hope for a better future and transform their energy into positive creativity. It is an insightful and beautiful book.

I really enjoyed the poetry in this collection. The author expresses himself very effectively while mixing in some dry humour and edgey sarcasm. The tales of some arctic adventures helps to mix it up a bit. Yet, his pain of being in foster homes in the 40's eerily haunts some of his work. There also many inspirational poems with uncanny ways of describing life, such as the poem titlted "Old Age". Highly recommended for anyone that enjoys poetry that actually says something.

Here is a booklet that captures the history and very interesting growth of a busy American Fire Department in the upper NorthWest of our country. Real treasures await the reader regarding the unique apparatus, and brave men and powerful horses from the early days of firefighting. Get a copy for your bookshelf!

I gave this to my Grandson who lives in Portland OR and is interested in architecture. He loved the book.

Claire Rudolf Murphy's The Prince And The Salmon People is an entertaining rendition of the legend of the Salmon People, an ancient tale told among many tribes of Northwest Coast Indians. Based upon accounts and interviews with Tsimshian elders and craftsman, and enhanced with black-and-white drawings, by Duane Pasco, this classic Native American legend comes to life for young readers in a particularly vibrant story about the interdependence between humans and animals.

If you're looking for a seriously in-depth work on the nature and evolution of court culture in medieval Europe, this is the book. Though it focuses on a specific region (English, French, Flemish and Dutch courts) and period (13th-14th centuries), the topics covered relate to the broader court culture of Europe in general. The books shows how the court evolved around the household of the prince (king, duke, count, etc), how the various major court offices (chamberlain, chancellor, seneschal, steward) originated based on their roles in the household, how the households were organized and run, resulting in other offices (pantler, butler, almoner) evolving to meet other needs. It also deals with the transport needs that had to be met when the court would move from once place to the next as few courts at the time tended to stay in any one place but often moved about during the year.

Much detail is devoted to both the daily routine of the court, in particular to how records were kept to track expenses and food consumed, and to the key events in court life over the course of a year, such as the times when liveries were distributed to the members of the court, showing that what each person received depended on their role/status within the court. The descriptions of how provisions were arranged for, acquired and tracked are fascinating in that they reflect the complexity of the systems created to meet the daily needs of the court. You don't generally think of court officials concerning themselves with matters like the cost and availability of different colors of cloth and who was entitled to an allotment of candles and who wasn't, who was entitled to have squirrel fur in their robes (only the highest members) and who wasn't, but these were matters of importance to them. The nobility of this period were no strangers to the concepts of budgets and accounting; nor were they unfamiliar with the consequences that came from living beyond one's means.

In addition to the more mundane aspects of court life, the book also covers topics of courtly pursuits, manners, pleasures and pasttimes, patronage of various arts, rituals, ceremonies and such with equal depth. It also shows how the various courts of the region were connected culturally and socially, so that changes in style or attitude could spread from one court to the next, so that even with differences in language and culture between the various peoples represented, there was a remarkable similarity in the court cultures from one place to the next and the nobility could feel quite at home no matter which court they happened to be visiting.

All in all, there isn't much that one could ask for on the general subject of court culture that can't be found somewhere in this remarkable book. It may not have everything, but I feel it comes as close to it as any single book possibly could and would serve as an excellent reference and springboard for anyone looking to get into serious depth on the subject.

Probasco's Favorite Northwest Flies: Tying And Fishing by fly tying expert Steve Probasco (who brings forty years of experience fishing the Northwest's waters to this "how to" book) is a superbly presented, thoroughly "user friendly" guide which is ideal for avid fly fishers aspiring to craft dozens upon dozens of different fly types. Step-by-step instructions, enhanced with color photography (often eight or more to illustrate the various stages of creating a specific fly lure) make Probasco's Favorite Northwest Flies a very highly recommended resource which all truly dedicated anglers should add to their personal fly-tying reference collections.

This book grew out of my work as a guide for school groups at Tryon Creek State Park, a 600 acre wilderness park in Portland. In an effort to make the nature walks more meaningful, I began to gather anecdotes and odd bits of information about the plants in the park to incorporate into the guided walks. As information accumulated, the need arose for a systematic way to share this material with other guides at the park, with visiting teachers, and finally with anyone interested in plants and wilderness.

The ninety native plants included in the book were chosen because they are common plants in the Nortwest - we come across them often in our backyards and parks - and because interesting information is available about them!....

This new edition also includes much additional interesting information which we have come across about the original list of plants since publication of the first edition two years ago[1977]....

Actually this book is intended to provide a summary of how our plants have been used in the past rather than to be a guidebook for using them today, and I do hope that the knowledge about the usefulness of our native plants contained in this book will not cause depletion of the plants....

As to the myths and legends, which represent literature rather than scientific fact, it is extremely difficult for scholars (and certainly beyond the scope of this book) to trace them down to their original sources. Those who are worried about their authenticity can treat them as interested fiction, rather than anthropological fact.

This book is intended to be an introduction to the subject of ethnobotany for the layman. To pursue any aspect of the subject in greater depth, the reader is urged to consult the excellent sources described in the bibliography at the end of the book.
--- excerpts from book's Foreword