Book Buzz

Murder at the Mission: A Frontier Killing, Its Legacy of Lies, and the Taking of the American West by Blaine Harden Whether you’re a “Whittie,” know someone who attended Whitman ...
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Of Blood and Sweat: Black Lives and the Making of White Power and Wealth by Clyde W. Ford Over his distinguished writing career, Bellingham author Clyde Ford has entertained and ...
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Writer in a Life Vest: Essays from the Salish Sea by Iris Graville As the first-ever writer-in-residence for the Washington State Ferries System, Iris Graville’s office was a booth on ...
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Red Paint: The Ancestral Autobiography of A Coast Salish Punk by Sasha taqwšeblu LaPointe An Indigenous artist from the Nooksack and Upper Skagit Indian tribes, Sasha taqʷšəblu LaPointe, shares her ...
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Little Witch Hazel: A Year in the Forest by Phoebe Wahl Move over llamas, foxes and rainbow unicorns — this is the year of the gnome. The fuzzy, pointy-hatted fellows ...
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Hiking Washington's History by Judy Bentley and Craig Romano A few sunny days are all it takes to start getting excited about hiking season. One way to add variety to ...
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Shoal Water by Kip Robinson Greenthal Meeting in 1971 at a Vietnam anti-war rally, Kate and Andy’s beliefs about U.S. involvement in Vietnam inspire them to leave New York City ...
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This Land of Snow: A Journey Across the North in Winter by Anders Morley When setting off on a solo cross-country ski journey during the coldest months of a Canadian ...
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Astra by Cedar Bowers Canadian writers Cedar Bowers and Michael Christie may be the latest literary power couple. Christie’s book “Greenwood” — which was reviewed last week in the Cascadia Daily News ...
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The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson This year’s Whatcom READS title, “Greenwood” by Michael Christie, imagines the near future, where eco-tourists pay top dollar to experience one ...
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Small World by Jonathan Evison Screeching brakes, shattering glass, passenger names on a manifest, a retirement party that never happens. Jonathan Evison shows his hand on the first page of ...
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Mud, Rocks, Blazes: Letting Go on the Appalachian Trail by Heather "Anish" Anderson In summer 2013, Bellingham-based Heather “Anish” Anderson set the fastest, unsupported time on the Pacific Crest Trail ...
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Cascadia Revealed: A Guide to the Plants, Animals & Geology of the Pacific Northwest Mountains by Daniel MathewsOld Barns of Whatcom County: Photos and Poems by Jeff BarclayInside My Sea ...
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The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave Sometimes when the world is heavy, a book that’s not too complicated and not too dark can be just the thing ...
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At the Edge of the Haight by Katherine Seligman One night several years ago while driving through Golden Gate Park, journalist Katherine Seligman and her husband were stopped by a ...
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Damnation Spring by Ash Davidson Set in the redwood forests of Northern California near the Oregon border, Ash Davidson’s impressive debut novel, Damnation Spring, tells the story of a logging ...
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Yellow Bird: Oil, Murder, and A Woman's Search for Justice in Indian Country by Sierra Crane Murdoch The recent media frenzy over the murder of 22-year-old Gabby Petito is drawing ...
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The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw It’s not surprising that Deesha Philyaw’s story collection The Secret Lives of Church Ladies was a National Book Award finalist. Her ...
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The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-centered Planet by John Green What do Canada Geese, Diet Dr. Pepper, and the song “Auld Lang Syne” have in common? In the mind ...
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Hippie Food: How Back-to-the-landers, Longhairs, and Revolutionaries Changed the Way We Eat by Jonathan Kauffman There is no shortage of “hippie food” in Bellingham. Between the Wednesday and Saturday Farmers ...
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Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead Author Maggie Shipstead was not on my radar until picking up her latest novel, Great Circle, and now I’m wondering how I missed her previous ...
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Under the Wave at Waimea by Paul Theroux Known primarily as a travel writer, Paul Theroux’s latest novel definitely incorporates his skill for deeply observing and writing about different locales ...
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The Exiles by Christina Baker Kline Scorching summer days call for some escape reading—engrossing books that transport you to another time and place so you can ignore the heat at ...
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The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel Sometimes a novel comes along that is atmospheric and beautiful and so enigmatic it begs discussion. The Glass Hotel by Emily St ...
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Crying in H Mart: A Memoir by Michelle Zauner Michelle Zauner, the indie rock sensation who records as Japanese Breakfast, was only 25 years old when she lost her mother ...
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Bury My Heart at Chuck E. Cheese's by Tiffany Midge Tiffany Midge may be the snarkiest, funniest writer to pass through Whatcom County in recent memory. Bury My Heart at ...
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The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together by Heather McGhee As the former president of the progressive think tank, Demos, Heather McGhee spent ...
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Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu Charles Yu’s book Interior Chinatown is a swift kick to the gut—an unexpected, powerful jab at stereotypes and anti-Asian racism that manages to be hilarious as well ...
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The results of a Google keyword search for “watch Academy Award movies” are full of invitations to stream and watch online using various paid-subscription platforms. In past years, the Oscars—a ...
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Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano On the surface, the storyline of Dear Edward is simple: a flight from Newark to LAX crashes, killing all passengers save a 12-year-old boy who ...
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A Honeybee Heart Has Five Openings by Helen Jukes and Honey and Venom: Confessions of an Urban Beekeeper by Andrew Coté While the first hints of spring arouse anticipation in ...
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Who Gets In and Why: a Year Inside College Admissions by Jeffrey Selingo First, a warning: If you are a high school senior or parent of a high school senior currently ...
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Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman by Yvon Chouinard Everywhere you look in Whatcom County, Patagonia clothing is ubiquitous. Maybe it’s because so many of ...
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The Cold Millions by Jess Walter Among the many excellent fiction writers in Washington state putting out great work these days—Jonathan Evison and Jim Lynch among them—Jess Walter (pictured) stands ...
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Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May Life is full of times when events may cause us to drop out of the flow for ...
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Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts Before the ubiquity of DVDs and Netflix, families wishing to share a little movie magic by watching the annual rebroadcast of MGM’s The Wizard of ...
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It’s been a long and challenging year, and many of us are having trouble concentrating enough to read or just want feel-good reading. To that end, this year’s suggestions for ...
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The Most Dangerous Man in America: Timothy Leary, Richard Nixon and the Hunt for the Fugitive King of LSD by Bill Minutaglio For those who think the past four years ...
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Uncharted: A Couple's Epic Empty-nest Adventure Sailing From One Life to Another by Kim Brown Seely As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, the prospect of chucking it all and sailing off ...
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The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue In an overcrowded hospital in the heart of Dublin during the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918, Nurse Julia Power works long hours ...
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Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi While Yaa Gyasi’s debut novel, Homegoing, was epic in scope, weaving together generations of voices covering 300 years of life in both Ghana and America, ...
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Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy Although author Charlotte McConaghy has published eight young adult books in Australia, she makes her U.S. debut with her first adult title Migrations, a haunting meditation ...
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Warlight by Michael Ondaatje The minute you scan the first line of Michael Ondaatje’s graceful novel Warlight you are aware that you’re in the hands of a master storyteller. His ...
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The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett When writing her new novel, The Vanishing Half, Brit Bennett never dreamed its subject matter would be so timely at publication. The book opens ...
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The Seven and a Half Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton Escapism seems to be in order these days, and sometimes a twisty mystery is just the ticket for ...
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The Dutch House by Ann Patchett Bel Canto, the exquisite novel about an opera singer and a dozen guests held hostage at a South American embassy, came out in 2001 ...
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What It’s Like to Be a Bird: From Flying to Nesting, Eating to Singing: What Birds are Doing, and Why by David Allen Sibley One of the things I’ve enjoyed ...
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Seveneves by Neal Stephenson For a brief moment on Sat., May 30, the world’s attention soared beyond the earth, following the launch of the SpaceX Crew Dragon on its first ...
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As the shock wave created by the video of George Floyd’s murder continues to reverberate, people—especially white people—are asking “What can I do? How can I be an ally?” and ...
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The Truffle Underground: A Tale of Mystery, Mayhem, and Manipulation in the Shadowy Market of the World's Most Expensive Fungus by Ryan McMahon Jacobs Authors and publishers have learned that ...
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Greenwood by Michael Christie Like the rings of a mighty tree, Michael Christie’s recent novel Greenwood spans generations, telling the story of a family whose lives are inextricably connected with trees and ...
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Playing the board game Pandemic recently, it was oddly comforting to have a role in eradicating the virus and fighting the good fight with our team of scientists, researchers and ...
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The Ghost Map: The Story of London’s Most Terrifying Epidemic—and How it Changed Science, Cities and the Modern World With reports of COVID-19 dominating the news cycle and the worldwide ...
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Highway of Tears: A True Story of Racism, Indifference and the Pursuit of Justice for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls by Jessica McDiarmid Ramona Wilson, a bright, bubbly ...
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The Woman's Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote by Elaine F. Weiss This year is a big one for democracy: Not only is it a presidential election year, ...
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The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz Chances are, you’ve read one of British author Anthony Horowitz’s novels or seen one of his television shows. With more than 40 books ...
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To the Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey If you’re looking for an engrossing novel to carry you beyond any holiday chaos and onward through the dark days ...
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A basic philosophy shared by librarians and booksellers alike is that there is a book for every reader. Books make great gifts for this reason, and the book experts at ...
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In the Valleys of the Noble Beyond: In Search of the Sasquatch by John Zada Standing between six and 10 feet tall, long-armed, stooped posture, giving off a strong bad ...
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Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Caroline Fraser Anyone who remembers reading the “Little House” books as a kid or watching Melissa Gilbert play Laura and ...
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After the Flood by Kassandra Montag Climate fiction, also known as “cli-fi” (referential to sci-fi), explores what life on earth will be like if climate change and global warming continue ...
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Book Buzz: If you Liked My Old Man and the Mountain by Leif Whittaker You may have heard that it’s Whatcom County Library System’s 75th anniversary year, and to celebrate ...
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Deep River by Karl Marlantes In his debut novel, Matterhorn, based on his experiences as a Marine in Vietnam, Pacific Northwest author Karl Marlantes established himself as a master of ...
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Before the Wind by Jim Lynch Several years ago, Whatcom READS featured Jim Lynch’s excellent novel Border Songs, about a dutiful, extremely tall, bird-loving rookie Border Patrol officer and his ...
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The History of Living Forever by Jake Wolff Precocious, brilliant Conrad Aybinder just spent summer vacation working with his favorite teacher to develop a winning science fair competition entry for ...
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The Way Home: Tales from a Life without Technology by Mark Boyle Mark Boyle is no stranger to remaking himself. In the fall of 2008, he embarked on an experiment ...
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Paddling With Spirits: A Solo Kayak Journey by Irene Skyriver Some people throw themselves a dance party for their 40th birthday. Irene Skyriver chose to celebrate hers with a solo ...
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The Great Pretenders by Laura Kalpakian Just in time for hammock season comes local author Laura Kalpakian’s latest novel (her 16th), The Great Pretenders.  Set in Hollywood in the 1950s, ...
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Beauty is a Wound by Eka Kurniawan There are times when you happen upon a book and are completely blown away by its scope, craft and story. Eka Kurniawan’s Beauty ...
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A Fire Story by Brian Fies A recent report by the U.S. Climate Prediction Center and the National Interagency Fire Center calling for this year’s wildfire potential to be “above ...
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Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead by Sara Gran There’s something really fun and escapist about hard-boiled detective novels, and Sara Gran’s first Claire DeWitt mystery, Claire DeWitt ...
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Golden Child by Claire Adam You might expect a celebrity like Sarah Jessica Parker to have her own fragrances (she does) or line of shoes (she has that too). But ...
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Fox 8 by George Saunders Back in 1995, there was a fabulous movie about a little pig who learns to herd sheep; maybe you remember it? My husband and I ...
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It can be challenging to find your next great read, but the Whatcom County Library System (WCLS) has stacked the deck in your favor. To celebrate our 75th anniversary and ...
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Deep Creek: Finding Hope in the High Country by Pam Houston Pam Houston was 31 years old when her first book, a collection of short stories titled Cowboys are My ...
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Things That Make White People Uncomfortable by Michael Bennett The Super Bowl may be over and the New England Patriots’ sixth championship win noted in the record books, but there’s ...
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Vox by Christina Dalcher It’s the near future, and all women and girls across the United States are required to wear word counters that limit them to 100 words per ...
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A Home on the South Fork: An Early History of Acme by Margaret A. Hellyer After reading A Home on the South Fork: An Early History of Acme by Margaret ...
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Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver With trademark style, Barbara Kingsolver’s new novel, Unsheltered, tackles political and social justice issues through the story of two families inhabiting the same house, separated by ...
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Virgil Wander by Leif Enger Leif Enger’s first book in a decade (So Brave, Young, and Handsome was published in 2008) is a gentle, charming antidote to all that ails ...
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What We Keep: 150 People Share the One Object that Brings Them Joy, Magic, and Meaning by Bill Shapiro and Naomi Wax1,000 Books to Read Before You Die: A Life-changing ...
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The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater At Whatcom County Library System (WCLS), we believe that the act of reading offers readers a window into other people’s lives, and that reading ...
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See What I Have Done by Sarah Schmidt As the days get shorter and chillier and the specter of Halloween looms, creepy thrillers have seasonal reading appeal. In See What ...
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The Library Book by Susan Orlean Susan Orlean loves libraries, but she didn’t set out to write a book about them. In fact, the bestselling nonfiction author and staff writer ...
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The Golden State by Lydia Kiesling After the forest fires that raged across California recently, it’s hard to imagine the scenery of the high desert as brown and grassy but ...
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Hope Never Dies by Andrew Shaffer Joe Biden in retirement is not a pretty picture: grouting bathroom tile, napping and watching Barack’s globetrotting adventures with the likes of Bradley Cooper ...
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Jar of Hearts by Jennifer Hillier Twenty-five years ago, Canadian serial killer Karla Homolka struck a plea deal with prosecutors in return for her testimony that her husband, Paul Bernardo, ...
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The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai Rebecca Makkai’s The Great Believers is a spot-on portrayal of the devastation and heartbreak of the AIDS crisis and the lasting legacy of those ...
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There There by Tommy Orange Tommy Orange did not grow up around books or aspire to be a writer. A recent graduate from the MFA program at the Institute of ...
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Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison When Bainbridge Island author Jonathan Evison visited Whatcom County in 2017 as part of the Whatcom READS program, we met a gregarious, intelligent, self-destructive and ...
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The Ensemble by Aja Gabel I If you need a little extra inspiration before shelling out for tickets to one or more of the many performances taking place at the ...
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Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover In her time studying at Harvard and Cambridge, Tara Westover often discovered profound gaps in her knowledge. Teachers would refer to specific events or ...
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Crazy, Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan In library school (yes, there’s such a thing, it’s a master’s program in Library and Information Science that trains professional librarians) students learn Rosenberg’s ...
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The Abu Dhabi Bar Mitzvah: Fear and Love in the Modern Middle East by Adam Valen Levinson With the recent news that Saudi Arabia will soon be offering tourist visas, ...
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Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman by Lindy West The word “shrill,” evocative and onomatopoetic, conjures high-pitched, grating voices. It’s used derogatorily, and it’s often aimed at women. Author Lindy ...
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The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin It’s halfway through a humid summer in 1969 on New York City’s Lower East Side, and the four Gold siblings are restless. There is no ...
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The Turtle of Oman by Naomi Shihab Nye When news headlines emphasize violence and strife, it can be comforting to engross oneself in a “gentle read,” and Naomi Shihab Nye’s ...
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Read, Then Watch: The Power of Protests(DVDs related to this year's Whatcom READS selection, Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of a Fist) If you haven’t yet picked up ...
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The Newcomers: Finding Refuge, Friendship, and Hope in an American Classroom by Helen Thorpe The refugees arrive with nothing, not even the language, having escaped violence, poverty, unspeakable loss. Their ...
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The Water will Come: Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, and the Remaking of the Civilized World by Jeff Goodell Flash forward to 2050. Most of Blaine and Birch Bay are underwater, ...
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Every January, buzz about the Academy Awards starts to build in anticipation of the big event in March. And every year, I make a resolution to see more of the ...
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My Old Man and the Mountain by Leif Whittaker Tales of climbing Mt. Everest are filled with legendary figures: George Mallory, Sir Edmund Hillary, Tenzing Norgay, Reinhold Messner, Scott Fischer, ...
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Dear Fahrenheit 451: Love and Heartbreak in the Stacks by Annie Spence My Life with Bob: Flawed Heroine Keeps Book of Books, Plot Ensues by Pamela Paul The Futilitarians: Our ...
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The Unsettlers: In Search of the Good Life in Today's America by Mark Sundeen Journalist Mark Sundeen’s previous book was about a man who has successfully lived without money for ...
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The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving by Jonathan Evison Sometimes a book’s title really draws in readers, but the 2017 Whatcom READS! selection, The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving, sounds more like ...
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The Deepest Roots: Finding Food and Community on a Pacific Northwest Island by Kathleen Alcalá  Sustainability. Buy local. Support local farmers. All are mantras of the Pacific Northwest. But how ...
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