Powells Books Events Calendar

03.10: David Corbett

From acclaimed author David Corbett comes Do They Know I'm Running? (Ballantine), a stunning and suspenseful novel of a life without loyalties and the borders inside ourselves.

03.10: Historic Photos of Oregon

Containing nearly 200 images, all published in vivid black-and-white with captions and introductions, William Stack's Historic Photos of Oregon (Turner Publishing) is a compelling look at the remarkable history of our intriguing and picturesque state.

03.11: Deadly Diversions Mystery Book Group

This month we meet to discuss The Foreigner by Francie Lin. Join us!

03.11: What's Wrong with My Plant?

Whether your garden consists of herbs on a kitchen windowsill, a vegetable garden, an elaborate backyard border, or a container on a patio, David Deardorff and Kathryn Wadsworth's What's Wrong with My Plant? (Timber Press) is an indispensable resource. If you can see it, you can fix it. Curing a sick plant just doesn't get any easier.

03.11: Kathleen Dean Moore

In an effort to make sense of the deaths in quick succession of several loved ones, Kathleen Dean Moore turns to nature in Wild Comfort (Trumpeter), making a series of solitary excursions into forests, deserts, and islands to learn what the environment could teach her in her time of pain.

03.11: Artist Camille Rose Garcia

Since its publication in 1865, Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Collins Design) has delighted the world with a wildly imaginative and unforgettable journey. Released just in time for the new Tim Burton film, this gift edition presents Carroll's tale fully unabridged with a unique visual interpretation by renowned artist Camille Rose Garcia.

03.12: Warship under Sail

Lorraine McConaghy's Warship under Sail (University of Washington Press) shows life on a battleship on the eve of the Civil War. It traces the USS Decatur's five-year tour in the mid-1850s, which included stops in Honolulu, San Francisco, and Central America, as well as in Puget Sound.

03.12: Annabelle Gurwitch and Jeff Kahn

A hilarious and ultimately moving memoir, Annabelle Gurwitch and Jeff Kahn's You Say Tomato, I Say Shut Up (Crown) tells about one couple's reliance on complaining, co-dependence, and a healthy supply of pinot noir to keep their marriage and sanity intact.

03.14: It's Raining Cupcakes

Lisa Schroeder, the popular author of I Heart You, You Haunt Me, delivers a sweet treat for tweens in It's Raining Cupcakes (Aladdin), a novel that's baked to perfection.

03.14: Poets Brandon Downing and Macgregor Card

Local poet Rodney Koeneke introduces Brandon Downing, whose new book Lake Antiquity (Fence) is a collection of text-collages that is the culmination of more than a decade of visionary irreverance, and Macgregor Card, whose Duties of an English Foreign Secretary won the 2009 Fence Modern Poets Series with its offering of sublime nonsensical balladry.

03.15: Smallpressapalooza

Powell's hosts the third annual Smallpressapalooza, a five-hour marathon of readings from some of the best small-press writers of the Northwest and beyond. This year's line-up includes Alex Wrekk (Brainscan zine), Shawn Granton (editor of The Zinester's Guide to Portland), Matthew Stadler (Publication Studio), Jeff Burk (Shatnerquake), and many others.

Here's how the evening will go:

5:00: Justin Hocking (IPRC head, Beach 90th)
5:15: Shawn Granton (Zinester's Guide to Portland, comic artist)
5:30: Corbin Lewars
5:45: Break

6:00: Becca Yenser
6:15: Matthew Simmons (Seattle writer, A Jello Horse)
6:30: Sam Lohmann
6:45: Break

7:00: Tommy Gaffney (good local poet, Whiskey Days)
7:15: Paul Nelson
7:30: Matty Byloos (LA writer, Don't Smell the Floss)
7:45: Break

8:00: Emily Kendal Frey
8:15: Matthew Stadler (small press maverick, ex-Clear Cut Press)
8:30: Stacey Levine (Seattle writer, Girl With Brown Fur)
8:45: Break

9:00: Alex Wrekk (Brainscan, Stolen Sharpie Revolution)
9:15: Sarah Royal (Beer, Bikes, and Bridges zine)
9:30: Jeff Burk (Shatnerquake)
9:45: The End

03.16: Macintosh Users Group

Join us every other Tuesday for a fun and informal meeting with like-minded Mac geeks. Bring your questions and tips to share with the group.

03.16: Chang-rae Lee

Combining the complex themes of identity in his novels Native Speaker and A Gesture Life with the broad range, energy, and pure storytelling of Aloft, Chang-rae Lee has delivered his most ambitious work yet with The Surrendered (Riverhead). "A harrowing tale: bleak, haunting, often heartbreaking — and not to be missed," proclaims Publishers Weekly (starred review).

03.17: Wisdom: From Philosophy to Neuroscience

A compelling investigation into one of the most coveted and cherished ideals, Stephen S. Hall's Wisdom (Knopf) also chronicles the efforts of modern science to penetrate the mysterious nature of this timeless virtue. This event co-sponsored by the OHSU Brain Institute.

03.18: Jimmy McDonough

In Tammy Wynette: Tragic Country Queen (Viking), the first full-scale biography of the enduring first lady of country music, bestselling biographer Jimmy McDonough tells the story of the small-town girl whose meteoric rise led to a decades-long career full of tragedy and triumph.

03.18: James Greer and Mark Gluth

James Greer's The Failure (Akashic Books) is a picaresque novel, set in Los Angeles, about two guys who conceive and badly execute a plan to rob a Korean check-cashing store in order to finance the prototype for an impossibly ridiculous Internet application. Mark Gluth's The Late Work of Margaret Kroftis (Akashic Books) is a groundbreaking debut that creates a world in which a woman's life is refracted through dreamlike logic.

03.19: Chelsea Handler Booksigning

In the hilarious new book from Chelsea Handler, author of Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea, the comedian mines the wealth of material that is her family, her sex life, and her distinctively outrageous worldview. Life doesn't get more hilarious than when Handler takes aim with her irreverent wit. With Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang (Grand Central), Handler delivers one laugh-out-loud moment after another as she sets her sights on the ridiculous side of childhood, adulthood, and daughterhood. Please note: This is a booksigning only. The author will not read from her work.

03.19: Cheeky Pages Romance Book Group

19 Cheeky Pages Romance Book Group This month we meet to discuss Lessons in French by Laura Kinsale. Join us!

03.19: The Butcher and the Vegetarian

In The Butcher and the Vegetarian (Rodale), Tara Austen Weaver puts a chick-lit spin on Michael Pollan as she chronicles her transformation from lifelong vegetarian to cautious meat-eater. Weaver explores whether it's possible to be an ethical meat eater, which lifestyle is better for the environment, and whether there's any chance of going back once you've tried bacon.

03.20: Jeff Garlin

My Footprint (Simon Spotlight) documents Curb Your Enthusiasm star Jeff Garlin's hysterical, year-long journey to reduce both his physical footprint (by losing 75 pounds) and carbon footprint (by going green).

03.21: The Man Who Ate His Boots

In The Man Who Ate His Boots (Knopf), Anthony Brandt tells the fascinating whole story of the search for the Northwest Passage, from its beginnings early in the age of exploration, through its development into a British national obsession, and on to the final sordid descent into scurvy, starvation, and cannibalism.

03.22: Frances Mayes

In Every Day in Tuscany (Broadway Books), the sequel to her New York Times bestsellers Under the Tuscan Sun and Bella Tuscany, Frances Mayes lyrically chronicles her continuing, two-decades-long love affair with the region's people, art, cuisine, and lifestyle. Kirkus Reviews calls Mayes a "sensualist in full bloom."

03.22: Culture Is Our Weapon

Damian Platt's Culture Is Our Weapon (Penguin) tells the story of Grupo Cultural AfroReggae, a Rio-based organization employing music and an appreciation for black culture to inspire residents of the "favelas," or shantytowns, to resist the drugs that are ruining their neighborhoods.

03.22: The Story of Stuff

In The Story of Stuff (Free Press), Annie Leonard expands on her Internet film phenomenon with a powerful and inspiring book that tracks the life of the "stuff" we use every day, from extraction through production, distribution, consumption, and disposal.

03.23: Diane Hammond

From Diane Hammond, the author of Hannah's Dream, comes Seeing Stars (HarperCollins), a new novel of hope, dreams, love, and ambition — set this time in Hollywood, where every child wants to be a star and every grown-up wants a piece of the action.

03.23: Mark Spragg and Laura Bell

In Bone Fire (Knopf), Mark Spragg's gripping novel about life in the modern West, harsh truths and difficult consolation exist alongside moments of hilarity, surprise, and beauty. By turns cattle rancher, forest ranger, wife, and mother, Laura Bell vividly recounts her struggle to find solid earth in which to put down roots. Brimming with careful insight, Claiming Ground (Knopf) is a heartwrenching ode to the rough, enormous beauty of the western landscape.

03.24: City of Dragons

In San Francisco's Chinatown, private investigator Miranda Corbie stumbles upon the fatally shot body of Eddie Takahashi. The Chamber of Commerce wants it covered up, and the cops acquiesce. All Miranda wants is justice — whatever it costs. Kelli Stanley's debut novel City of Dragons (Minotaur Books) is an "impressive new mystery [that] takes readers back to the San Francisco of 1940" (Booklist, starred review).

03.25: Kim Harrison

Rachel Morgan has fought vampires, werewolves, demons, and other supernatural dangers as both witch and bounty hunter — and lived to tell the tale. But she's never faced off against her own kind — until Black Magic Sanction (Eos), the latest from New York Times bestselling author Kim Harrison.

03.25: Jo Nesbo

In The Devil's Star (Harper), the latest from Jo Nesbo, detective Harry Hole is assigned to investigate a series of bizarre murders — and partnered with Tom Waaler, a colleague he neither likes nor trusts. Determined to find the killer and expose the crooked Waaler, Harry discovers the two investigations melding in unexpected ways.

03.25: Malena Watrous

If You Follow Me (Harper Perennial) is at once a fish-out-of-water tale, a dark comedy of manners, and a strange kind of love story. Alive with vibrant and unforgettable characters, it guides readers over cultural bridges even as it celebrates the awkward, unlikely triumph of the human spirit.

03.26: Cherie Priest

Cherie Priest's award-winning novel Boneshaker (Tor) is an extremely entertaining extrapolation of the increasingly popular steampunk and zombie genres. "A steampunk-zombie-airship adventure of rollicking pace and sweeping proportions, full of wonderfully gnarly details," declares Scott Westerfeld, author of Leviathan.

03.26: Christopher Moore

The undead rise again in Bite Me (William Morrow), the third farcical vampire love story from the wonderfully twisted imagination of New York Times-bestselling author Christopher Moore.

Please note: This ticketed event takes place at the Bagdad Theater, 3702 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Tickets, $24, include admission and a copy of Bite Me, and are available at the Bagdad Theater, the Crystal Ballroom, and Ticketmaster.

03.26: Sam Lipsyte

Grasping after odd jobs to support his wife and child, university fundraiser Milo Burke is offered one last chance by his former employer: he must reel in a potential donor — a major ask — who turns out to be Milo's sinister college classmate. And the give won't come cheap. The Ask (Farrar Straus Giroux) is "a brilliant and scabrously entertaining riff on contemporary America" (Kirkus, starred review).

03.27: Moby

In Gristle (New Press), multi-platinum musician Moby, one of the world's most famous vegans, brings together 10 of the country's leading foodies, doctors, policy makers, business leaders, and activists to create a smart, concise guide for Americans who are questioning the meat in their diets. Moby will be joined by editor Miyun Park.

03.29: Angry Fat Girls

Angry Fat Girls (Berkley) is Frances Kuffel's funny, painfully honest memoir that follows five women — including the author — as they diet and eat, lose and gain weight, and struggle to find their individual definition of freedom along the way.

03.29: Run Like a Mother

A book for today's multitasking wife/mother/working woman, Run Like a Mother (Andrews McMeel) offers an insider's advice on how a woman can strengthen her inner athlete. Drawing on personal experience, Sarah Bowen Shea informs women about shoes, training, racing, marathoning, nutrition, injuries, life beyond running (husband, kids, job), and a host of practical topics.

03.29: Indu Sundaresan

From internationally bestselling author Indu Sundaresan comes Shadow Princess (Atria), an epic novel based on actual events about princesses fighting for power and respect in India's 17th-century royal court.

03.30: Macintosh Users Group

Join us every other Tuesday for a fun and informal meeting with like-minded Mac geeks. Bring your questions and tips to share with the group.

03.30: Mark Henry and Jaye Wells

Irreverent and nasty, sexy and hilarious, Mark Henry's Battle of the Network Zombies (Kensington) treats readers to more outrageously campy urban fantasy courtesy of Amanda Feral, Seattle's most glamorous zombie. In Jaye Wells's The Mage in Black (Orbit), Sabina Kane — whose grandmother, the leader of the vampire race, just tried to kill her — arrives in New York to meet the mage side of her family, a reunion that takes the "fun" out of dysfunctional.

03.31: Patricia Briggs

In Silver Borne (Ace), the latest installment in Patricia Briggs's New York Times-bestselling urban fantasy series, shapeshifter Mercy Thompson attempts to return a powerful Fae book. But it seems the book contains secret knowledge — and the Fae will do just about anything to keep it out of the wrong hands.

03.31: Classics Book Group

This month we meet to discuss both On the Road by Jack Kerouac and Howl and Other Poems by Allen Ginsberg. Join us!

03.31: Peter Nathaniel Malae

A blazing and authentic new literary voice, Peter Nathaniel Malae — a finalist for the New York Public Library's Young Lions Literary Award — has written a bold debut novel. What We Are (Grove) tells a raw, powerful, and bullet-fast story that looks at contemporary America through the eyes of one disillusioned son.