Books

The best thing about social distancing? You have a valid excuse to stay home and read. Of course, some establishments are reopening, and that includes bookstores. Patronize them when you can and remember to wear a mask when you do. You’ll want to be safe and courteous as you check out July’s bumper crop of new titles.

“Her name was Magda,” Ottessa Moshfegh’s latest novel, “Death in Her Hands,” begins. “Nobody will ever know who killed her.” With this, the reader is dropped into a careening search for a possible murder victim led by the elderly Vesta Gul.

Spokane Falls Community College professor Irv Broughton’s latest poetry collections, “Feilding the Cap Cod Past” and “The Fires of Tangerine,” are filled with memories from his east coast childhood. “Harvesting the past,” Broughton looks back on the many adventures of his idyllic adolescence and the writers he met along the way. 

Author, essayist, comedian, radio commentator, (deep breath) musician and performance artist Sandra Tsing Loh just published her sixth book of edgy, modern-woman essays — seven, if you count her 1996 novel. Here’s a look at her unusual and remarkable career:

The latest installment of author and radio personality Sandra Tsing Loh’s autobiographical book series, “The Madwoman and the Roomba” covers its author’s 55th year, a time in women's lives she has always found to be underrepresented in popular culture.

In solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, the Spokane Poetry Slam will be hosting their monthly virtual slam on June 18 with a few vital changes. Though the performances will be open to all for viewing, the sign-up sheet will only be open to Black poets and creators.

Is your teenager looking for some great new reading? Here are five standout choices. “Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You,” by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi: Reynolds, the current National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, distills Kendi’s National Book Award-winning adult book, “Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America,” for teen readers. But this isn’t just a rewrite. Instead, Reynolds uses his considerable literary skills to create a book that will deeply resonate with teens who will find lots to think about and discuss.

If you know Suzanne Collins’ dystopian Hunger Games trilogy, you know Coriolanus Snow. He’s Katniss Everdeen’s nemesis and the tyrannical president of Panem, where every year 24 kids from the districts are selected to fight to a televised death.

Just about everyone has the travel bug right now, and the upcoming nice weather won’t make it any easier. Help scratch that itch by picking up a book about travel and allow your imagination to sweep you away. Here are some suggestions to get you started.

Amy Knapton Vega, executive director of the Vanessa Behan Crisis Nursery, reads "Thomas' Snowsuit."

Washington State Representative Marcus Riccelli reads "Giraffes Can't Dance."

Auntie’s Bookstore is hosting a virtual event Saturday night promoting Aaron Bobrow-Strain’s “The Death and Life of Aida Hernandez: A Border Story.” The work earned Bobrow-Strain a 2020 Pacific Northwest Book Award.

“Which way are we even headed?” “Straight on through the trees there. I’ll let you know if you’re going the wrong direction.”

Molly Lou Melon listens to her grandmother, and as a grandmother herself, Carla Cicero from Numerica Credit Union chose the book "Stand Tall. Molly Lou Melon" by Patty Lovell.

Sharing when everyone contributes is a wonderful message delivered in "Stone Soup" by Jon J Muth (Scholastic, 2003) read by Gonzaga University President Thayne McCulloh.

Playwright, chicken farmer and children’s book author L. Frank Baum published “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” 120 years ago Sunday. The book would sell out its first run of 10,000 copies in eight months and go on to sell a total of 3 million copies before it fell into the public domain in 1956.

Imagine you are out in the world – taking care of horses – with the lilting tones of the multi-talented Abbey Crawford reading “The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses” by Paul Goble.