Oregon Books

This book is quite an eye opener. As a long time choice supporter, this book takes an objective and insightful look at the inner workings of an abortion clinic. This book doesn't sugar coat anything, it lays it all out there, from the doctors, patients, clinic employees and the procedures that are performed there and the counseling that also occurs. I work for the nation's largest provider of abortions, but as an administrative worker I have never seen this side of the business. This book really underscores whatever position you have on this issue. It truly did reinforce my beliefs despite the details and sometimes uncomfortably descriptive language. It made me realize what abortion truly is and how I am proud that I live in a country where women are free to chose, and to control their reproductive rights. This book is a great read, wonderfully written, and very informative. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to be informed and to gain knowledge about freedom of choice and abortion in this country. This microcosm of a story, truly illustrates the national debate in full light. A great book.

It's nuts that this book isn't reviewed or better known. Shame on Atlantic Press for not marketing it better. Peter Korn has written a page-turner about the people who worked at Lovejoy Surgicenter in Portland, and the protesters outside the doors, in the mid-1990s. That was a time when clinics were being blown up and doctors shot. So there's tension - you come to care about the people inside the clinic, and don't want to see them hurt. Even more compelling are the stories of the girls and women who come in. People who don't believe that abortion should be legal seem to think that abortion providers work to convince women to have abortions. In fact, at Lovejoy, in any case, the staff worked to help women make the choice that would be best for them. A third of the patients chose to give their babies up for adoption or to keep their babies.
For all those who think they know better than those women, this book might shake that certainty. Between the schizophrenics, the drug addicts, the high school girl with an abusive boyfriend and a mother and grandmother who had their own first babies at her age, 17 - Lovejoy gives a glimpse into the realities behind the rhetoric. Great book.

I ordered this book for my daughter who lives in Oregon and is living in an older house with an existing lawn with trees and shrubs. She tells me now that she knows exactly what do to as the months goes by to care for her plants and the lawn. She is especially happy about the information on lawn care. I am very happy that I ordered this book for her and she is too!

I would strongly suggest Mary Robson's two books on gardening for Oregon and Washington, both Month-By-Month Gardening in Washington & Oregon: What To Do Each Month To Have A Beautiful Garden All Year (Month-By-Month Gardening in Washington & Oregon)Washington & Oregon Gardener's Guide
In her books she considers the inputs that will be required by the gardener, easy of growing, water use, design considerations, they are both good guides for beginning and advanced gardeners.

has majority of trails in the area; gives detailed instructions

A tad dated (hint for a revisied edition!), this is the most authoratative description of Bend's mountain biking trail system. After four years of living and mountain biking in the Bend area, I still have a couple trails that Scott has written about that I haven't completed. This book along with the Bend area Adventure map (available at any local bike shop) are indispensible when enjoying the amazing and endless mountain bike trails of central Oregon.

In Russell County, Oregon, forty-two years old grandma Jane Serrano lived a fairy tale life until her beloved spouse of over twenty years died. Her three daughters worry about Jane, but the older two reside out of state and the nineteen year old youngest Bianca has frustrated Jane who studies the book Making Peace with Your Adult Child. Jane works at Thornton Books and hosts the Murder of the Month Book Club.

Bianca, a club member, insists that Russell County DA Gil Fortune killed his wife Vanessa though the police insist it was an unfortunate accident when she fell into the Crooked River Gorge. Bianca bases her belief on her Wendell, a club member who is a dog more interested in the food than the books. He barked at Gil just like that classic mystery novel Prove It, Puppy!. The teen sells the idea to the other members (Minnie the senior citizen, Ty the teen and Alex the female cynic) that they need to investigate the crime while Jane ponders how to escape from these lunatics. As the amateur sleuths make inquiries the culprit plans to kill anyone who learns the truth.

MURDER OF THE MONTH is a terrific amateur sleuth that lightly satirizes the sub-genre and animal detective tales. The story line blends the right amount of serious family conflict with an engaging investigation by a group who follow the book (albeit a puppy detective fiction). Jane is the wonderful center that keeps the main plot together as she considers murdering her youngest offspring and trying to stop the club members from behaving stupidly. Hopefully the audience will have more inquiries by this snoop of the month club.

Harriet Klausner

Murder of the Month is the kind of book you think about at work and then can't wait to get home so that you can read just a little bit more. (Or maybe you've tucked it into your purse hoping for heavy traffic on the way home..prime reading time).

The book's protagonist, Jane, unravels the clues of a crime while at the same time sharing her everyday life frustrations regarding the colorful characters in her mystery book group. Each character in the book group is well-developed enough for us as readers to get exasperated with them, as Jane does. But our preconceived notions about each character are challenged right along with Jane's as the plot unfolds piece by piece.

Elizabeth Main writes in a warm and inviting style. Her undeniable wit and excellent writing ability clearly come through the pages of this book; she somehow manages to write in a way and combines humor, suspense, and a sense of irony (dogs that solve crimes in their spare time???) while allowing the reader to completely sympathize with her main character. The premise is so clever (a book group that solves a mystery, each with their own favorite type of mystery novel) is so clever that it begs for more...a series perhaps??? Yes please!!!

This is a must-read, but be forewarned. If you are the kind of reader who reads the last few minutes of your day before going to sleep, this one will keep you up....maybe just a few more pages....

This is a well-written book. Izzy shares deep personal experiences of her life, that tell of very deep lows as well as exhilarating highs. It is very easy to relate her experiences to similarities in your own life. Some of the depths she reached were different circumstances than mine, but the feelings were similar and they led to destructive results. The intriguing story has you feeling that you personally know her family and friends, and they become your family.

Izzy has always been a loving, caring, warm, helpful, overly busy person. When these qualities are not reciprocated they can, and often do, lead to a depression of one form or another. Hers came out in alcoholism. One does not have to be an alcoholic to appreciate and receive help from this book. It does help to be open and seeking whatever it takes to better one's own life. She made it through all these hard experiences; so why can't I do the same?

The author, Isabel Covalt, grew up on a hardscrabble farm during the great depression. She entered nursing school, but was booted out for the sin of getting married.

She and her husband established a successful chain of restaurants. When he died suddenly, she became captain of the ship.

She then successfully fought the billionaire Hunt brothers, when they tried to put her out of business with a groundless lawsuit.

Meanwhile, she was struggling with alcoholism, a disease which nearly brought her down.

The story of her life is an inspiration for us all. And before you're done, you'll be calling her Izzy.

Unlike any other food and wine book, NORTHWEST Food and Wine, is the most current book on the foods and wines of Washington State and Oregon. It is an easy-to-read interesting compilation of the latest in food and wine trends from the great Pacific Northwest.

I've been looking for a cookbook that has wine pairings with food that won't break my budget and yet complement my choice of wines. The recipes are simple and tasty. Many cookbooks in the market today tend to be needlessly complicated or just plain out of reach to the average consumer. The Taggerts did a wonderful job of making this subject accessible but not condescending. It is just right for the budding wine enthusiast who love to cook. I've liked it so much that I'm giving a copy to a friend.

I was deeply inspired and moved by Ana Maria Spagna's essays set in or around Stehekin and the North Cascades National Park in Washington State. I've had a cabin in this area for over 30 years, but even if that weren't so, I'd still love this book! It is honest, witty, succint, insightful and of course, well written. Think Pam Houston (Cowboys are My Weakness, or, in this case, cowgirls) meets Anne Lamott (Travelling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith) with a little Whitman, Thoreau, and Emerson thrown in. Each essay kept me moving on to the next one, there are 17 in all. Some are really personal, others lighthearted. It is also great reading for anyone who loves the outdoors and nature. The references to Walden are to many to mention.

I was assigned this book as part of a nature literature course. I did not care for the other books we had already read, so I thought I would dislike this one as well. But the opposite is true. The book is poignant, honest, evocative, funny. Unlike so many other nature novels out there, it is entirely unpretentious. Spagna does not pretend to be "better" than people with different viewpoints (as she holds a few herself), she is not afraid to laugh at herself and reveal her innermost thoughts. Really, this is not a nature novel per se. It is a book about finding oneself, about belonging, and about how wilderness was a catalyst for her own soul-searching quests. It can be taken at face value, but there are also many opportunities to explore deeper themes and symbolism. Highly recommended.

I am very impressed with this new release of Mary Walker's Diary. I am a direct decendant of Mary and Elkanah Walker and am very proud that there is such a wonderful book with her's and Myra Eells' diary entries. It gives us a view of how women's lives were, how people's views about the Native Americans were at that time, and shows us the hardships of pioneer life. I want to thank the authors for keeping this piece of history alive.

Carrie Walker

These diaries of Mary Walker and Myra Eells bring to life the early day pioneer struggles to maintain survival and sanity during the years 1838-1848. Being recently married wives of missionaries, both Walker and Eells maintained excellent daily diaries of their arduous overland journey from Missouri to Washington. In company with two other missionary wives (Gray and Smith), they were the second group of women to cross the continent. These overland diaries are an entrancement to read, depicting day to day life along the Oregon Trail while riding side-saddle for 1900 miles. Mrs. Walker was oftentimes dismayed over both the long journey and the uncertain and questionable love of her husband (she was also pregnant during this journey).
Once in Washington, they all spent the winter of 1838-39 at the Whitman mission. Conditions were somewhat crowded that first winter, therefore human feelings and emotions ran rampant (even amongst missionaries).
Mary Walker then continues her diaries for the next ten years. They had their own mission to build and manage at Tshimakain whilst bringing salvation (attempting to) to the Spokane Indians. Mary had six children while living at their mission. With so many children to look after, along with cooking, cleaning, making clothes, tending livestock and the garden, etc., it was a full life. So full in fact, she oftentimes was despondent of her purpose in life regarding the mission and raising her children. The book ends shortly after the tragic Whitman massacre of 1847 when they then moved to the Williamette valley of Oregon.
At times the book can become somewhat overbearing due to the multitude of footnotes, but still a truthful look at pioneering so long ago.

"...gritty, marvelous portrait of life in mid-19th century America. I like the mix of the detail of everyday life and the tense and hair-raising moments."loisb@efn.org

The intriguing story of a woman who came to Oregon in a covered wagon in 1851 and lived long enough to see hundreds of automobiles passing by her home in the last year of her life. Here we have the West as it truly was, from the primitive era of the Oregon Trail to modern times of World War I. Dr. Richard M. Brown, History Dept. University of Oregon

For a book published over 40 years ago, this read is still relevant and engaging. With snippets of history, humor, science and just plain common sense, it is a good introduction to life in the high desert from a native's perspective. This book was the one that got me hooked on Central Oregon over 25 years ago, enough to live here. People tend to think of the desert as dry and drab, but it is brightly colored by its people and history. A must read for anyone traveling through or moving to the Oregon Outback.

This is an amazing book for anyone who knows, or wants to know anything about Oregon's high desert and the high desert way of life back in the mid 1900's. Many pictures add to the mental pictures your mind conjures up as you read the most amusing stories of old. After reading this book, I even bought the DVD entitled "Indian Fighter" (Kurt Douglas and his then wife both star!), because the author provided the stock for the movie and talks about it a bit in the book. The DVD is a great way to see the high country the book talks about!