June 30, 2024

Port Book and Newsletter June 2024

If you have not seen our updated window displays, you really should come by the store to see the Children's, YA, PNW and upcoming books we are promoting.

From our side of the pane, it is clear that summer is unmistakably in full swing.

Window

The downtown fountain is babbling pleasantly again. There has been beautification work on the streets (new trees and improved pedestrian crossings). There has even been a new cruise ship depositing new adventurous souls downtown.

After a busy June, when we brought in a lot of books and curated some special lists to celebrate Pride month, the upcoming calendar looks chock full: Independence Day, the Sequim Lavender Festival, and the start of the Summer Olympics. Oh, and Shark Week, we're told. It is also National Culinary Arts Month, so keep your eye out for some special cookbooks and maybe even some recipes from us next month.

The other thing that happens this time of year is that we overcome our habitual reluctance to toot our own horn, and humbly ask that you consider voting for us in the contest Best of the Peninsula.

Best of Olympic Peninsula

If there were a category for "Best Customers" you would be a shoe-in. Thank you for making our little bookstore a part of this community. We hope to see you soon!

 

New Books
Cover of Midnight Feat
Cover of On Call
Cover of Paddling the Salish Sea
Cover of Deep Dark

 

Books we are excited about

Cover of Lies and Weddings
Lies and Weddings
by Kevin Kwan

It seems I’ve slipped into the easy peasy not serious reads lately.

This new novel by Kevin Kwan is one I will easily recommend. It made me laugh out loud at times, which, is why I read this type of novel— for the fun of it.

Don’t get me wrong, I still have a pile of serious reads next to the bed lamp, but… the garden has been calling this year, and since gardening is only an every other year endeavor, it is winning over everything.

I enjoyed Crazy Rich Asians, (more so after watching the movie to better relate), but I enjoyed this book even more. No movie required.

-Cindy
Cover of Treaty Justice
Treaty Justice
by Charles Wilkinson

I was searching for an up-to-date account of the events and issues surrounding Boldt decision on the 50th anniversary of that momentous court case and Treaty Justice was just the ticket. While I learned what I had hoped to about the so-called "fish wars," I found the book to offer an outstanding overall account of the campaigns for tribal recognition in the Pacific Northwest.

This book begins with the treaties themselves, followed by a thorough account of the intervening century plus of misunderstanding and violation of said treaties before the legal and grassroots action that set the stage for the confrontations in the courts during the 1970s.

Judge George Boldt explicitly asked the lawyers to "put together the most extensive factual record on Indian culture ever produced" and saw that this was (rather incredibly) accomplished, while forging a far-sighted legal and regulatory framework to alter forever the interactions of the tribal, state and federal governments.

I learned a ton about the history of this place, about land management, and about the civil rights struggle of the tribes. Fascinating and essential.

-Steven

Ilona Andrews

I have read an abundance of books. Some are bad, some are amazing, and most fall somewhere in between.
Cover of Clean Sweep
Cover of Magic Bites

Once in a blue moon an author proves themselves and the quality of their work so thoroughly that I will purchase any new works they produce sight unseen. Ilona Andrews is one of five authors on my auto-buy list. I am a proud member of their Book Devouring Hoard!

Ilona Andrews is a pseudonym for a husband and wife author team with an extensive backlist of books to choose from. I would recommend beginning with either Magic Bites (book one in their Kate Daniels series) or Clean Sweep (book one in their Innkeeper Chronicles). These books are wonderfully entertaining. Please consider giving them a try!

-Helena

 

Get organized with Moleskine Notebooks

Moleskine Notebooks

Is there anything more hopeful than a new planner or notebook? If you are like us, it is always a good time to get more organized. We are starting to get 2025 calendars in, and just got dozens of new styles of Moleskine notebooks and planners. Some are for 2025, and some start in July or August of this year.

Fresh start, anyone?
 

Preorder Alert: Robin Wall Kimmerer's 'The Serviceberry'
Cover of The Serviceberry
The Serviceberry
by Robin Wall Kimmerer

As Indigenous scientist and author of Braiding Sweetgrass Robin Wall Kimmerer harvests serviceberries alongside the birds, she considers the ethic of reciprocity that lies at the heart of the gift economy.

How, she asks, can we learn from Indigenous wisdom and the plant world to reimagine what we value most?

Our economy is rooted in scarcity, competition, and the hoarding of resources, and we have surrendered our values to a system that actively harms what we love. Meanwhile, the serviceberry’s relationship with the natural world is an embodiment of reciprocity, interconnectedness, and gratitude.

 

Bestsellers
Cover of Backyard Bird Chronicles
Cover of Demon of Unrest
Cover of The Women
Cover of Comfort of Crows

 

Joke of the newsletter

A man dies and is sent down to Hell.

The Devil greets him when he gets there and says "You see that right there? That's the lake of lava. What we do is just throw you right into the lake of lava."

The man says "We're underground. Technically speaking, it's a pool of magma."

The Devil says "You do realize, that's why you were sent down here in the first place?"