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Tag: Pacific Northwest

The Sea Runners: A Novel, by Ivan Doig.

The Sea Runners: A Novel, by Ivan Doig.

The Sea Runners: A Novel. By Ivan Doig. (New York: Atheneum, 1982. 279 pp. Map.) Recommendation submitted by: Will Stuivenga, Cooperative Projects Manager, Washington State Library, Tumwater, WA. There exists an actual letter-to-the-editor published in the Oregon Weekly Times, mentioning three Scandinavians who had managed to travel by canoe from Russian Alaska to Shoalwater (now named Willapa) Bay in 1852/53. Doig’s novel imagines what their trek must have been like, full of trepidations and tribulations, all the way up to and including…

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New Additions in Pacific Northwest Non-Fiction

New Additions in Pacific Northwest Non-Fiction

From the desk of Sean Lanksbury, PNW & Special Collections Librarian It’s a pretty long list, so we’ve placed these quick links that will jump you to the different subject matter areas: 200s: Religion 300s: Social Sciences 500s: Natural Sciences, Math 600s: Applied Sciences, Technology 700s: Arts 900s: Geography, History Multimedia A Still and Quiet Conscience: The Archbishop Who Challenged a Pope, a President, and a Church. By John A. McCoy. (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 2015. 344 pp. Illustrations, bibliographical…

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Portlandtown by Robb De Borde

Portlandtown by Robb De Borde

Portlandtown: A Tale of the Oregon Wyldes. By Robb De Borde. (New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 2012. 375 pp.) Recommendation by Carolyn Petersen, Assistant Program Manager, Library Development What does a reader get when a writer combines gunfights, zombies, circus freaks, and a Portland pioneer family named the Wyldes?  The reader is rewarded with a crackling good read—if the reader’s brain is able to blend westerns, steampunk, sci-fi and historical fiction.  This story begins in 19th century Astoria when Joseph Wylde goes…

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The Impersonator, by Mary Miley

The Impersonator, by Mary Miley

The Impersonator: A Mystery. By Mary Miley. (New York: Minotaur Books, 2014. 320 pp.) (A Roaring Twenties Mystery, Book 1) Recommendation by: Carolyn Petersen, Assistant Program Manager, Library Development, Tumwater, WA. Mary Miley’s Impersonator deserved to win the Minotaur Books/Mystery writers’ of America First Crime Novel competition.  The murder mystery begins with the heroine of the book, vaudevillian Leah Randall approached by a man who greets her as his long lost niece, heiress to a timber fortune. Beckett invites her to impersonate his niece…

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New Arrivals in the NW Collections

New Arrivals in the NW Collections

From the desk of Sean Lanksbury, PNW & Special Collections Librarian A listing of some recent additions to the Pacific Northwest Circulating Collection at Washington State Library’s Central Library.   Last Chapter and Worse: A Far Side Collection. By Gary Larson. (London: Warner Books, 1996. 107 pp. Illustrations.) NW 741.5973 LARSON 1996 http://stlow.iii.com/search~S2?/o43221795 Astoria: John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson’s Lost Pacific Empire: A Story Of Wealth, Ambition, and Survival. By Peter Stark. (New York: Ecco, 2014. 366 pp. Illustrations, map, bibliographical…

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Border Songs, by Jim Lynch

Border Songs, by Jim Lynch

Border Songs. By Jim Lynch (New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2009. 291 pp.) Recommendation submitted by: Will Stuivenga, Cooperative Projects Manager, Washington State Library, Tumwater, WA. Jim Lynch’s second novel, Border Songs (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009), follows his enormously popular debut novel, The Highest Tide. In Border Songs, we follow the adventures of a zany and seemingly dysfunctional cast of characters, of which the foremost is Brandon Vanderkool, a dyslexic, six-foot-eight U.S. Border Control guard who keeps a running daily bird…

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Poetry, anyone?

Poetry, anyone?

The Pacific Northwest has long been renowned for its lyric lineage, from Ella Higginson through celebrity poets, such as Theodore Roethke and Carolyn Kizer, to our current Washington State Poet Laureate Kathleen Flenniken.

Spotlight on Staff: Sean Lanksbury

Spotlight on Staff: Sean Lanksbury

Upon his arrival at the Washington State Library, Sean Lanksbury became a member of the Washington State Heritage Center planning and design team, the Washington State Connecting to Collections project, and acted as historian and presenter on two genealogical educational programs in the state of Washington: The Ruddle Riddle, held at the State Capitol in 2010, and The Road to Spokane, held at Gonzaga University in 2011.  In his spare time he is also the compiler of the Pacific Northwest Quarterly…

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