Ekahni Books

We hope everyone is getting out and enjoying this incredible weather!  And what better way to take in some sunshine than sitting outside reading a good book?  We have a few new books to tell you about as well as a reminder to pre-order a copy of Stieg Larsson’s third book “The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest” due out on May 25th.  Let’s get to that list!

Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades by Steve Solomon – The complete guide to organic vegetable gardening in the Pacific Northwest. This is the 6th edition of this incredibly popular guide.

Compost, By Any Other Name, Makes Good Dirt by Leo D. Mock – Leo is from Scappoose and writes about how and what to compost as well as how to build a compost bin. (I asked him, and no, he isn’t any relation to Tom Mock – but wouldn’t it be neat if he was??)

Heat:  An Amateur’s Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany by Bill Buford – Bill is a highly acclaimed writer and editor for The New Yorker and this is the story of his experiences after deciding to go work for Mario Batali in his kitchen at “Babbo”.  If you enjoy reality cooking shows like “Hell’s Kitchen,” you will love this book. (One word of caution.. this book is a little more real than “reality television”.  And is even more fascinating!)

Look Me In the Eye: My Life with Asperger’s by John Elder Robison – John is the older brother of Augusten Burroughs (of Running with Scissors fame) who was labelled a “social deviant” as a child. It wasn’t until he was forty that he was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome.  This is a darkly funny memoir of his life.  (This was a “must read” recommendation from our good friend at Moxie, Angelina.

Elephants of the Tsunami by Jana Laiz – The true story of elephants rescuing humans from the tsunami in Indonesia and their subsequent survival told in children’s book form with wonderful illustrations.  (This was one of the books presented by James Roddy at the tsunami lectures at the Pine Grove. We also have Oregon’s Greatest Natural Disasters and Unthinkable from that same presentation.)

Lastly, don’t forget to get those pre-orders in for Stieg Larsson’s third book The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest.  The book will be released on May 25th, and is the last book in the series which began with The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and was followed by The Girl Who Played With Fire.  As many of you know, we are huge fans of this series and we highly recommend it to anyone who loves excellently tight writing, seamlessly crafted complex plots, or intriguingly intense thrillers.  You won’t be disappointed! Call us at 503-368-6881 or email us at: sales@ekahnibooks.com and we will get you set up!

As always, thank you for supporting independent booksellers in your community!

Franz & Sherry Hasslacher

Join the world wide book club!

Just when you thought Twitter was only good for finding out what your favorite celebrity had for lunch today, here comes a great idea from @crowdsourcing!  Could we create a place where everyone in the world could read the same book at the same time?  Could we really create a worldwide frame of reference for millions of people? Just with the power of Twitter and a good book?  As it turns out, the answer to all of these questions is “yes”!

So, after a few weeks of good natured arguing back and forth and tons of voting from folks all over the world, the book has finally been decided upon.  And it is Neil Gaiman’s incredible bestseller “American Gods”.  Neil beat out such classics as Fahrenheit 451 and Slaughterhouse-Five to be the first ever “one book, one tweet” worldwide book club reader’s choice.  Here is a brief teaser about the book:

“Shadow is a man with a past. But now he wants nothing more than to live a quiet life with his wife and stay out of trouble.  Until he learns she’s been killed in a terrible accident.  Flying home for the funeral, as a violent storm rocks the plane, a strange man in the seat next to him introduces himself.  The man calls himself Mr. Wednesday, and he knows more about Shadow than is possible.  He warns Shadow that a far bigger storm is coming.  And from that moment on, nothing will ever be the same…”

If you read Gaiman’s “Neverwhere” and “Stardust” you will understand what a serious statement I am making when I agree with others that this is Gaiman’s most ambitious book to date.  We have four copies here at the shop, so come and get’em while supplies last.

The “schedule” starts today, but you can read at your own pace.  If you want to join the discussion, which is the fun part of a book club after all, all you need is a Twitter account and the ability to follow “@1B1T2010”.  Folks will start tweeting their reactions and opinions about each chapter according to a schedule found here:

http://www.crowdsourcing.com/cs/2010/05/ready-set-read-the-one-book-one-twitter-discussion-schedule.html

I am really excited about this!  I have seen large scale book groups like this work for city-wide reads, in places like Seattle and Chicago.  But this the first time that people from all over the world have come together to read and discuss one book.  I can’t wait to see what my fellow Manza-Whee-Lems (gosh, I hope I spelled that right!) think of Neil Gaiman’s book. And if anyone needs any help signing up for Twitter, I would be happy to show them how.  It’s easy, it’s free, and it’s fun!

Alright, everybody, get ready – get set – READ!