I Never Dreamed You’d Leave in Summer by Robert Lashley I have read and heard Robert Lashley’s work for more than 15 years. He has published three books of poetry and has presented his work in venues across the country. In 2021, at the peak of the pandemic, Lashley gave a live 10-poem performance via … Read more
Phoebe’s Diary by Phoebe Wahl Welcome to Bellingham. The year is 2006. Teenagers smoke weed, play pool at Kendrick’s and rent movies from Trek Video. Flirting happens via flip phone and Myspace. Irony and ballet flats are in. Phoebe is a sophomore who wears DIY skinny jeans, listens to the best indie bands and attends … Read more
Yellowface by R.F. Kuang “Bad Art Friend” meets psychological thriller in this pacy, satirical page-turner. June Hayward is a struggling author whose debut novel flopped. Her college friend, Athena Liu, is a bestselling author who just landed a Netflix deal. When Athena dies in an accident, June finds herself in possession of the secret manuscript … Read more
American Mermaid by Julia Langbein This splashy debut novel is part Hollywood satire, part girl-power eco-thriller. High school English teacher Penny moves to LA for the summer to adapt her bestselling novel into a movie. In Penny’s book, also called American Mermaid, protagonist Sylvia is an asexual engineer who discovers that her disability—she has chronic … Read more
No Two Persons by Erica Bauermeister Some people mark summer by road trips and barbecues. Book lovers track the season by the pages we’ve read. Like Jenga pieces, we pull hardbacks from our teetering “to be read” piles, scan media for trending titles, and turn to library and bookstore staff for the next great book … Read more
Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club by J. Ryan Stradal It seems natural that Ned and Mariel would end up together. After all, they were both raised in the Midwest by families with deep ties to the restaurant community. But the similarities end there. While Ned’s family helms the chain restaurant empire Jorby’s, Mariel … Read more
No Two Persons by Erica Bauermeister At first glance, you might not understand the connection between the theme of this novel – the magic and power of story – and its title — No Two Persons. Inspired by the familiar adage “no two persons ever read the same book,” Bauermeister plays with structure to create … Read more
The Least of Us: True Tales of America and Hope in the Time of Fentanyl and Meth by Sam Quinones The Least of Us takes us into the lives of people involved with and impacted by fentanyl and super-meth. Sam Quinones, a former award-winning investigative reporter and now author, has extensive contacts in Mexico and … Read more
Cascadia Field Guide: Art, Ecology, Poetry edited by Elizabeth Bradfield, CMarie Fuhrman and Dereky Sheffield The collection Cascadia Field Guide: Art, Ecology, Poetry is a love story masquerading as a field guide. In the book, 14 artists and more than 100 poets and writers express their devotion to the bioregion through black-and-white illustrations, place-inspired poetry … Read more
Making of A Rescuer: An Otto-biography of the Life of Otto T. Trott, MD by Nicholas Campbell Corff If you’ve ever taken a run down the Ottobahn between Chair 8 and Chair 7 at the Mt. Baker Ski Area, you may have wondered how it got its punny moniker. It’s named for Dr. Otto Trott, … Read more