Song of the Crow

Song of the Crow
By Layne Maheu

From the moment he first looks down upon the ancient gray head of Noah, who is swinging his stone ax and speaking to the heavens, the narrating crow in this unique and remarkable epic knows that these creatures called Man are trouble.

He senses, too, that the natural order of things is about to change. There is too much death and too much magic in the Songscape for the world to remain as it is for much longer. The people who come to plead with Noah are all angry or frightened.

And why would this lanky old man-beast build this oddly shaped home?this ?ark??so far from the waters if something earth-changing were not coming? At a time when many of us are searching for meaning, Layne Maheu?s extraordinary debut novel asks us to linger in a masterfully rendered ancient world just long enough to ponder the unsettled state of things. Through a truly poetic sense of language, he has created a lyrical meditation on the relationship between humanity and the heavens.

Song of the Crow is a provocative portrait of the reasons for human fear and of the role that free will always plays when we struggle, not just to make sense of things, but to endure. Recalling both the magical imagination of Richard Adams?s Watership Down and the spiritual richness of Anita Diamant?s The Red Tent, Layne Maheu?s Song of the Crow is a soaring debut.

About the Author

Layne Maheu lives with his son in Seattle, where he works as a carpenter. His short stories have appeared in Other Voices, Northwest Review, Ascent, and elsewhere. Song of the Crow is his first novel.

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Northwest Bestsellers - wk ending June 25, 2006

Bestsellers in the Pacific Northwest

The Pacific Northwest Independent Bestseller List based on reporting from the independent booksellers of the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association and Book Sense. Most of these books aren't books from the Pacific Northwest, but are books that are currently selling well in the Pacific Northwest. Week ending June 25, 2006.

HARDCOVER FICTION

1. Twelve Sharp, Janet Evanovich
2. The Whistling Season, Ivan Doig
3. Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen
4. Blue Shoes and Happiness, Alexander McCall Smith
5. Digging to America, Anne Tyler
6. Terrorist, John Updike
7. Suite Francaise, Irene Nemirovsky
8. The Whole World Over, Julia Glass
9. Telegraph Days, Larry McMurtry
10. The Book of the Dead, Douglas J. Preston, Lincoln Child

HARDCOVER NONFICTION

1. Marley & Me, John Grogan
2. A Heckuva Job, Calvin Trillin
3. The Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollan
4. Dispatches From the Edge, Anderson Cooper
5. The One Percent Doctrine, Ron Suskind
6. Godless, Ann H. Coulter
7. The World Is Flat (Updated and Expanded), Thomas L. Friedman
8. Cesar's Way, Cesar Millan, Melissa Jo Peltier
9. Uncommon Carriers, John McPhee
10. Freakonomics, Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner

MASS MARKET

1. 11 on Top, Janet Evanovich
2. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown
3. Angels and Demons, Dan Brown
4. The Devil Wears Prada, Lauren Weisberger
5. Deception Point, Dan Brown
6. Black Wind, Clive Cussler, Dirk Cussler
7. 4th of July, James Patterson, Maxine Paetro
8. Blood From a Stone, Donna Leon
9. 1984, George Orwell
10. With No One as Witness, Elizabeth A. George

CHILDREN'S TITLES

1. Eragon, Christopher Paolini
2. Hoot, Carl Hiaasen
3. The Tale of Despereaux, Kate DiCamillo
4. The Third Summer of the Sisterhood, Ann Brashares
5. Into the Wild (Warriors #1), Erin W. Hunter
6. Goodnight Moon, Margaret Wise Brown, Clement Hurd (Illus.)
7. Peter and the Starcatchers, Dave Barry, Ridley Pearson
8. The Burning Bridge (Ranger's Apprentice, Book Two), John Flanagan
9. Olivia Forms a Band, Ian Falconer
10. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Ann Brashares

Owl Island by Randy Sue Coburn

Owl Island
by Randy Sue Coburn

In this accomplished and dazzlingly written new novel, Randy Sue Coburn brings to life with tremendous heart, humor, and wisdom the Pacific Northwest enclave of Owl Island and its many unforgettable inhabitants. Among the aromatic cedars and lush firs, close to where Chinook salmon maneuver the choppy waters, Phoebe Allen has lived quietly and self-sufficiently for twenty years, raising her daughter, Laurienne, and running a small fishing-net business. But Phoebe?s past suddenly washes up on the shores of Owl Island: Renowned independent film director Whitney Traynor buys a house nearby on Spit in the Wind Road, forcing Phoebe to pry open the lid she?s kept clamped on her secrets and scars, plunging her ordered existence into chaos.

Whit was charismatic enough to "charm the ice off a dog dish" when Phoebe first fell in love with him as a voice on the radio, and he has not lost his touch?or his propensity to stir things up without even trying. Phoebe, Laurienne, and everyone else living on Owl Island are affected by his arrival. And Phoebe?s newfound intimacy with Ivan, a longtime friend and neighbor, far from offering escape, only further complicates matters. Memories of Whit transport Phoebe to a time long ago?one of innocence and awakening, passion and purpose, euphoria and regret?before their intense relationship came to an acrimonious end.

All these years, Phoebe has concealed truths from her daughter and may now be forced to divulge them. As the past rushes toward the present like an inevitable tide, Phoebe must also confront the early loss of her mother, whose own mysteries are at last beginning to surface.

A deeply affecting portrait of mothers and lovers, daughters and forgiveness, Owl Island reveals the damaging power of secrets, the importance of community, and the liberating lessons of love.

About the Author

Randy Sue Coburn is a former newspaper reporter whose articles and essays have been published in numerous national magazines. She is the author of Remembering Jody, a first novel hailed by Booklist as "a wry and compassionate emotional roller coaster from a master storyteller," and her screenplays include Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, the critically acclaimed Cannes Film Festival selection that received five Independent Spirit Award nominations, including Best Screenplay. She lives in Seattle and teaches writing at the University of Washington.

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Northwest Bestsellers - week ending June 18, 2006

Bestsellers in the Pacific Northwest

The Pacific Northwest Independent Bestseller List based on reporting from the independent booksellers of the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association and Book Sense. Most of these books aren't books from the Pacific Northwest, but are books that are currently selling well in the Pacific Northwest. Week ending June 18, 2006.

HARDCOVER FICTION

1. The Whistling Season, Ivan Doig
2. Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen
3. Blue Shoes and Happiness, Alexander McCall Smith
4. Terrorist, John Updike
5. Suite Francaise, Irene Nemirovsky
6. Digging to America, Anne Tyler
7. Telegraph Days, Larry McMurtry
8. The Foreign Correspondent, Alan Furst
9. The Blight Way, Patrick F. McManus
10. The Art of Detection, Laurie R. King

HARDCOVER NONFICTION

1. Wisdom of Our Fathers, Tim Russert
2. Marley & Me, John Grogan
3. The Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollan
4. The World Is Flat (Updated and Expanded), Thomas L. Friedman
5. Mayflower, Nathaniel Philbrick
6. Godless, Ann H. Coulter
7. Freakonomics, Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner
8. Uncommon Carriers, John McPhee
9. The Nasty Bits, Anthony Bourdain
10. Cesar's Way, Cesar Millan, Melissa Jo Peltier

MASS MARKET

1. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown
2. Angels and Demons, Dan Brown
3. The Devil Wears Prada, Lauren Weisberger
4. Blood From a Stone, Donna Leon
5. Deception Point, Dan Brown
6. Black Wind, Clive Cussler, Dirk Cussler
7. The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary, 4th Edition, Merriam-Webster (Eds.)
8. 1984, George Orwell
9. Skeleton Man, Tony Hillerman
10. 4th of July, James Patterson

CHILDREN'S TITLES

1. Oh, the Places You'll Go!, Dr. Seuss
2. Olivia Forms a Band, Ian Falconer
3. Hoot, Carl Hiaasen
4. Junie B., First Grader: Aloha-ha-ha!, Barbara Park, Denise Brunkus (Illus.)
5. Goodnight Moon, Margaret Wise Brown, Clement Hurd (Illus.)
6. The Tale of Despereaux, Kate DiCamillo
7. Eragon, Christopher Paolini
8. The Prophet of Yonwood, Jeanne DuPrau
9. Pirates, John Matthews
10. The Third Summer of the Sisterhood, Ann Brashares

The Unsettling by Peter Rock

The Unsettling
by Peter Rock

A stunning, Poe-esque collection of short fiction about outsiders, lost dogs, romance, and life?s surprising mysteries.

Populated by strangers, ghosts, and other shadowy figures, the thirteen stories in The Unsettling attend to those startling moments when what we have understood as familiar is suddenly revealed as mysterious and foreign.

A lonely man saving library books from an outbreak of mold listens to a coworker?s tale about a blind woman and imbues it with his own sense of romance; a woman drives a Gold Firebird through the desert with a television playing ?Rockford Files? reruns on the passenger seat; and a girl returns to her childhood home to spy on its new inhabitants, not realizing they are aware of her surveillance.

Told through Rock?s imaginative and wholly original voice, these are haunted tales about fascination, transformation, and the relationship between the two.

From the Inside Flap

"This book, which is maybe the best short story collection I?ve ever read, messed up my life. For days I wandered around thinking about the impossible stories and the everyday heartbreak that this collection brings, and everything I looked at seemed utterly and gorgeously rearranged by Peter Rock. Now it?s your turn." ? Daniel Handler, author of the Lemony Snicket series.

"These thirteen stories are moving, funny, haunting and ? what's best ? uncanny in their power to linger, filled with memorable characters and vivid events that will shadow you long after you think you've finished the book. Peter Rock is one of the most talented writers around, and The Unsettling is an experience you don't want to miss." ? Dan Chaon, author of You Remind Me of Me and Among the Missing.

About the Author

Peter Rock grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah. He is the author of the novels The Bewildered, The Ambidextrist, Carnival Wolves, and This Is the Place. A former Wallace Stegner Fellow and recipient of a 2000 NEA Fellowship, he now lives in Portland, Oregon, and teaches at Reed College.

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Northwest Bestsellers - wk ending June 11, 2006

Bestsellers in the Pacific Northwest

The Pacific Northwest Independent Bestseller List based on reporting from the independent booksellers of the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association and Book Sense. Most of these books aren't books from the Pacific Northwest, but are books that are currently selling well in the Pacific Northwest. Week ending June 11, 2006.

HARDCOVER FICTION

1. The Whistling Season, Ivan Doig
2. Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen
3. Digging to America, Anne Tyler
4. Terrorist, John Updike
5. Blue Shoes and Happiness, Alexander McCall Smith
6. Suite Francaise, Irene Nemirovsky
7. The Book of the Dead, Douglas J. Preston, Lincoln Child
8. The Foreign Correspondent, Alan Furst
9. Telegraph Days, Larry McMurtry
10. Everyman, Philip Roth

HARDCOVER NONFICTION

1. Marley & Me, John Grogan
2. Armed Madhouse, Greg Palast
3. Cesar's Way, Cesar Millan, Melissa Jo Peltier
4. Wisdom of Our Fathers, Tim Russert
5. The Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollan
6. The Nasty Bits, Anthony Bourdain
7. The World Is Flat (Updated and Expanded), Thomas L. Friedman
8. Mayflower, Nathaniel Philbrick
9. Godless, Ann H. Coulter
10. Freakonomics, Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner

MASS MARKET

1. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown
2. Angels and Demons, Dan Brown
3. The Devil Wears Prada, Lauren Weisberger
4. Deception Point, Dan Brown
5. Black Wind, Clive Cussler
6. Bookmarked to Die, Jo Dereske
7. Skinny Dip, Carl Hiaasen
8. Blood From a Stone, Donna Leon
9. Black Powder War, Naomi Novik
10. The Innocent, Harlan Coben

CHILDREN'S TITLES

1. Oh, the Places You'll Go!, Dr. Seuss
2. Olivia Forms a Band, Ian Falconer
3. The Tale of Despereaux, Kate DiCamillo
4. Goodnight Moon, Margaret Wise Brown, Clement Hurd (Illus.)
5. Junie B., First Grader: Aloha-ha-ha!, Barbara Park, Denise Brunkus (Illus.)
6. Eragon, Christopher Paolini
7. The Quillan Games (Pendragon), D.J. MacHale
8. Hoot, Carl Hiaasen
9. Peter and the Starcatchers, Dave Barry, Ridley Pearson
10. Skippyjon Jones, Judith Schachner

Northwest Bestsellers - wk ending June 4, 2006

Bestsellers in the Pacific Northwest

The Pacific Northwest Independent Bestseller List based on reporting from the independent booksellers of the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association and Book Sense. Most of these books aren't books from the Pacific Northwest, but are books that are currently selling well in the Pacific Northwest. Week ending June 4, 2006.

HARDCOVER FICTION

1. The Whistling Season, Ivan Doig
2. Blue Shoes and Happiness, Alexander McCall Smith
3. The Foreign Correspondent, Alan Furst
4. Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen
5. Suite Francaise, Irene Nemirovsky
6. Digging to America, Anne Tyler
7. The Book of the Dead, Douglas J. Preston, Lincoln Child
8. The Hard Way, Lee Child
9. The Art of Detection, Laurie R. King
10. The Whole World Over, Julia Glass

HARDCOVER NONFICTION

1. Marley & Me, John Grogan
2. The Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollan
3. My Life in France, Julia Child, Alex Prud'homme
4. Cesar's Way, Cesar Millan, Melissa Jo Peltier
5. Wisdom of Our Fathers, Tim Russert
6. The World Is Flat (Updated and Expanded), Thomas L. Friedman
7. Dispatches From the Edge, Anderson Cooper
8. The Mighty and the Almighty, Madeleine Albright
9. Freakonomics, Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner
10. God Laughs & Plays, David James Duncan

MASS MARKET

1. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown
2. Angels and Demons, Dan Brown
3. Blood From a Stone, Donna Leon
4. Lost Lake, Phillip Margolin
5. Blue Smoke, Nora Roberts
6. Bookmarked to Die, Jo Dereske
7. The Devil Wears Prada, Lauren Weisberger
8. With No One as Witness, Elizabeth A. George
9. Digital Fortress, Dan Brown
10. Strange Affair, Peter Robinson

CHILDREN'S TITLES

1. Oh, the Places You'll Go!, Dr. Seuss
2. The Quillan Games (Pendragon), D.J. MacHale
3. The Tale of Despereaux, Kate DiCamillo
4. Pirates, John Matthews
5. The Prophet of Yonwood, Jeanne DuPrau
6. Peter and the Starcatchers, Dave Barry, Ridley Pearson
7. Rising Storm (Warriors #4), Erin W. Hunter
8. Chew on This, Eric Schlosser, Charles Wilson
9. Junie B., First Grader: Aloha-ha-ha!, Barbara Park, Denise Brunkus (Illus.)
10. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, Kate DiCamillo

The Fisherman's Quilt by Margaret Doyle

The Fisherman's Quilt
by Margaret Doyle

In "The Fisherman's Quilt," young Nora Hunter arrives in Kodiak Alaska with her fisherman husband and new baby. She brings her first, fancy quilt to Alaska, along with an idealistic vision of life on America's last frontier.

Nora struggles with the loneliness, danger, ambition, and mistrust inherent in her life, by making quilts celebrating weddings and births, new homes and fresh starts, and finally, her own strength.

Nora Hunter knows what it is to desire something passionately that the world seems to conspire to prevent her from obtaining. She is fortunate enough to realize that she has the strength and the imagination to adapt. In the face of abandonment and rejection, she finds something to offer her children and her community.

"The Fisherman's Quilt" poignantly describes the longing, questioning, and celebration of this modern-day Everywoman. At once an epic, love story, adventure, and a portrait of late twentieth century America marriage, "The Fisherman's Quilt" shows that Nora's adventure has been in her discovery that courage has an everyday currency.

About the Author

Author Margaret Doyle moved to Alaska as a young mother in 1975, and lived there for several years. While in Alaska, she wrote for the Kodiak Daily Mirror.

Upon returning to the Pacific Northwest, she raised her three children in a Seattle suburb and wrote "The Fisherman's Quilt" from her Alaska journal entries. She was also a "Communities" reporter for the Everett Herald.

Other work included shipping and production for the public television programs "Europe through the Back Door" and "America's Historic Trails;" teaching piano and voice; writing grants for various non-profit organizations; writing and producing a library newsletter; and designing and maintaining a website for a real estate office.

Margaret Doyle moved to Orcas Island in 2001. She is an acitve member of the Orcas Choral Society, the Orcas A Capella Singers, and the Island Friends of the Library.

The author will be a guest lecturer on board the June 17-24 Alaska cruise by the Sun, stopping in Juneau, Ketchakan, Skagway and Prince Rupert.

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The Highest Tide by Jim Lynch

The Highest Tide
by Jim Lynch

Now in paperback!

"A poignant coming-of-age story and an enchanting primer on the life aquatic. The Highest Tide is as crisp and clean as a cool dip into the water, and just about as refreshing." - Entertainment Weekly

One moonlit night, thirteen-year-old Miles O?Malley sneaks out of his house and goes exploring on the tidal flats of Puget Sound. When he discovers a rare giant squid, he instantly becomes a local phenomenon shadowed by people curious as to whether this speed-reading, Rachel Carson obsessed teenager is just an observant boy or an unlikely prophet. But Miles is really just a kid on the verge of growing up, infatuated with the girl next door, worried that his bickering parents will divorce, and fearful that everything, even the bay he loves, is shifting away from him. As the sea continues to offer up discoveries from its mysterious depths, Miles struggles to deal with the difficulties that attend the equally mysterious process of growing up.

A national bestseller and a Book Sense pick in hardcover

About the Author
Jim Lynch spent four years as the Puget Sound reporter for the Oregonian, and has won national journalism awards and published short fiction in literary magazines. A Washington state native, Lynch currently writes and sails from his home in Olympia, where he lives with his wife and daughter. The Highest Tide is his first novel.

Get it now for less than $11.00.

Northwest Bestsellers - wk ending May 28, 2006

Bestsellers - Ivan Doig's new novel, The Whistling Season, jumped to the top of the fiction section on the Northwest Bestsellers list. And, Christopher Paolini's first two books, Eragon and Eldest are both, again, on the children's section of the Northwest Bestseller's list. You can order all three of them here at northwest-books.com.

The Pacific Northwest Independent Bestseller List based on reporting from the independent booksellers of the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association and Book Sense. Most of these books aren't books from the Pacific Northwest, but are books that are currently selling well in the Pacific Northwest. Week ending May 28, 2006

HARDCOVER FICTION

1. The Whistling Season, Ivan Doig
2. Blue Shoes and Happiness, Alexander McCall Smith
3. Digging to America, Anne Tyler
4. Suite Francaise, Irene Nemirovsky
5. Everyman, Philip Roth
6. The Bookwoman's Last Fling, John Dunning
7. The Whole World Over, Julia Glass
8. The Hard Way, Lee Child
9. Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen
10. Telegraph Days, Larry McMurtry

HARDCOVER NONFICTION

1. Marley & Me, John Grogan
2. Cesar's Way, Cesar Millan, Melissa Jo Peltier
3. The Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollan
4. Dispatches from the Edge, Anderson Cooper
5. My Life in France, Julia Child, Alex Prud'homme
6. The Mighty and the Almighty, Madeleine Albright
7. Wisdom of Our Fathers, Tim Russert
8. God Laughs & Plays, David James Duncan
9. Freakonomics, Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner
10. The World Is Flat (Updated and Expanded), Thomas L. Friedman

MASS MARKET

1. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown
2. Angels and Demons, Dan Brown
3. Blood From a Stone, Donna Leon
4. Deception Point, Dan Brown
5. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
6. Locked Rooms, Laurie R. King
7. The Italian Secretary, Caleb Carr
8. Digital Fortress, Dan Brown
9. The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary, 4th Edition, Merriam-Webster (Eds.)
10. Broken Prey, John Sandford

CHILDREN'S (FICTION AND ILLUSTRATED)

1. The Quillan Games (Pendragon), D.J. MacHale
2. Hoot, Carl Hiaasen
3. Oh, the Places You'll Go!, Dr. Seuss
4. Pirates, John Matthews
5. Charlie Bone and the Hidden King (Children of the Red King #5), Jenny Nimmo
6. The Prophet of Yonwood, Jeanne DuPrau
7. Junie B., First Grader: Aloha-ha-ha!, Barbara Park, Denise Brunkus (Illus.)
8. Eldest, Christopher Paolini
9. Magyk (Septimus Heap, Book One), Angie Sage
10. Eragon, Christopher Paolini