The days are getting shorter, Labor Day weekend has brought another spot of warm weather before that last, glorious lap of summer we call September arrives, and we need to talk.

You might hear us talking about how important it is to vote. About how essential it is to try and understand each other. About how we need to stay informed. About how we also need to listen.

We will be selling books at a reading with author Sasha Abramsky, whose new book Chaos Comes Calling details how the turmoil over Covid-19, George Floyd's murder and the 2020 presidential election allowed political extremists to take over political control in two small towns: Shasta, California and our very own Sequim, Washington (where the "good governance" candidates won in the 2021 elections by 2 to 1, booting out the extremists).

Interviewing people from all perspectives to document that "stranger-than-strange political moment," journalist Abramsky investigates the dangers of polarization and misinformation. This author event from the Sequim Good Governance League will take place September 14 at 6pm, at the Dungeness River Nature Center.

Banned Books Week will arrive later in the month and there will unfortunately be far too much to talk about then. Meanwhile, we have been finding that the books included in the New York Times' Best of the Century list displayed in our window are starting conversations and introducing readers to new writers.

Yes, there is plenty to talk about. The occasional hints of fall weather we have had will become more and more overt, and before you know it, it will be "Spooky Season." Come by and say hello!

Look, we are not telling you how to live your life, or that implying that if you choose not to preorder a copy of T.J. Klune's follow-up to his beloved House in the Cerulean See, that you are doing it wrong.

You may not want the long-sought continuation of that award-winning, best-selling, feel-good Port Book and News staff pick from a couple of years ago. We can respect that.

However: someone you know is probably going to need a touch of humor and hope in their reading pile, and Klune's new book is a surefire way to make that happen. Not to mention that House on the Cerulean Sea itself is also about to be re-released as a special edition, with the sprayed edges that all the cool books come with these days.

Getting either of these at 20% off just makes sense. On this point, we are really going to dig in our heels.

If none of that convinces you to preorder one of these Klune books, there is almost certainly something coming out soon that will excite you. Big names on the horizon include Robin Wall Kimmerer, Richard Powers, Rachel Kushner, Yuval Noah Harari, Sally Rooney, Jeff Vandermeer, Louise Erdrich, Matt Haig... and a lot more. You are bound to find a gift to give your future self on the preorders list.

The store's "Vortex of Tiny Things" flanking the cash registers tends to pull in unsuspecting customers with little books, pencils and other diminutive temptations.

If the carved crystal mushrooms, moons, stars and dragons don't catch your eye, then the new fractal mushrooms could cast their spell on you. You have been warned!

Our friend was in the hospital and they asked us his blood type but we couldn’t remember and he didn’t make it.

As he died, he kept insisting for us to "be positive," but it's hard without him.