Books & Talks

Gimme Five

The 5 Ursula K. Le Guin Books You Need to Read, According to Her Son

While curating an exhibition of her life and work, Theo Downes-Le Guin shares his favorite books by Portland’s greatest author, a.k.a. his mom.

10/14/2025 By Matthew Trueherz

Interview

Portland’s New Yorker Cartoonist on the Important Kind of Jokes

In a new book, Tom Toro collects 15 years of work for the magazine. Here, he talks about the role of cartoons in the present.

10/08/2025 By Matthew Trueherz

bookshelf

The Ursula K. Le Guin Cat Book You’ve Been Waiting For

A new collection gathers the late author’s poetry, sketches, and correspondence about her beloved feline companions.

10/08/2025 By Alex Frane

Bookshelf

A Novel of an Anarchist Nursing Home Run by 1970s Punks

Leni Zumas’s Wolf Bells is a spirited, hilarious, and tender study of intergenerational living.

09/15/2025 By Matthew Trueherz

Long Story Short

A Tiny Travel Bookstore That Takes You Places

Tucked inside Cargo, Patrick Leonard’s Postcard Bookshop is an argument for armchair travel.

08/20/2025 By Rebecca Jacobson

Book Club

The Bike Library Connecting Portland’s Housed and Unhoused Residents

Street Books has made a lot of friends in its 15 years—and divined a uniquely effective form of mutual aid.

08/12/2025 By Jaydra Johnson Photography by Michael Novak

Bookshelf

Sex, Books, and New Age Spiritualism

Portland novelist and screenwriter Jon Raymond’s funky Ashland twist on a classic, God and Sex, pushes faith and reality to climax.

07/21/2025 By Matthew Trueherz Illustrations by Derek Abella

reading ahead

Book Launches and Author Events in Portland This Summer

A fresh crop of summer reads from Portlanders Jon Raymond, Leni Zumas, and more.

07/17/2025 By Matthew Trueherz

Interview

Melissa Febos on Her Year Without Sex

‘How do you forge and define a healthy, conscious relationship to something in a society that has a sick relationship to it?’

06/03/2025 By Matthew Trueherz

Bookshelf

A Heady Ode to Freewheeling Hippie Food Fit for 2025

Portlander Andrew Barton’s memoir-slash-cookbook, Free Food, revisits the Back to the Land ethos.

05/07/2025 By Matthew Trueherz

onstage

5 Standouts from the TEDxPortland 2025 Lineup

Soccer star Christine Sinclair, a psychedelic psychotherapist, and a Laika animator are billed for the local TED offshoot.

04/21/2025 By Matthew Trueherz

Q&A

Nostrana Chef Cathy Whims (Finally) Has a Cookbook

The Italian Summer Kitchen is the throwback, illustrated cookbook of simple recipes she never wrote.

04/10/2025 By Alex Frane

reading ahead

Portland’s Spring Book Calendar Is Wonderfully Overbooked

With readings from Maggie Nelson and Viet Thanh Nguyen, and local authors Jonathan Hill, Ling Ling Huang, and Cathy Whims.

04/03/2025 By Matthew Trueherz

Bookshelf

Karen Russell on Her Witchy Dust Bowl Epic, The Antidote

The Portland author and Pulitzer finalist follows Swamplandia! with a magical realist test of wills.

03/11/2025 By Matthew Trueherz

Book Review

Omar El Akkad Returns to Nonfiction to Undress American Mythology

Spurred by the war in Gaza, the celebrated American War novelist tests propaganda against the sanctity of human life.

02/19/2025 By Diana Abu-Jaber

Long Story Short

Lidia Yuknavitch, Kristen Stewart, and an Ocean Outside of Time

As The Chronology of Water becomes a movie, its author revisits her past in a new memoir, Reading the Waves.

02/04/2025 By Matthew Trueherz

reading ahead

The Most Anticipated Book Events in Portland This Winter

The season promises new books from local stars Karen Russell and Lidia Yuknavitch and visits from Masha Gessen and Neko Case, among many others.

01/06/2025 By Matthew Trueherz

Books

A Guide to Loving Trash

A new memoir collects trash—as a class, artistic medium, and societal nuisance—into a manual for empathy.

11/08/2024 By Matthew Trueherz

Reading Ahead

The Most Anticipated Book Events in Portland Fall 2024

Ta-Nehisi Coates is coming, the Portland Book Festival is almost here, and the city’s small presses are printing the next generation’s debuts.

10/15/2024 By Matthew Trueherz

Photobook

Protest City Photographer Rian Dundon’s Next Project Is a Quieter Ride

Post-divorce and post-COVID, the intimate photos in Dundon’s Passenger distill Portland’s normalized strife.

09/25/2024 By Matthew Trueherz Photography by Rian Dundon

Portland Monthly

Books & Talks

The 5 Ursula K. Le Guin Books You Need to Read, According to Her Son

Portland’s New Yorker Cartoonist on the Important Kind of Jokes

The Ursula K. Le Guin Cat Book You’ve Been Waiting For

A Novel of an Anarchist Nursing Home Run by 1970s Punks

A Tiny Travel Bookstore That Takes You Places

The Bike Library Connecting Portland’s Housed and Unhoused Residents

Sex, Books, and New Age Spiritualism

Book Launches and Author Events in Portland This Summer

Melissa Febos on Her Year Without Sex

A Heady Ode to Freewheeling Hippie Food Fit for 2025

Popular Content

The 5 Ursula K. Le Guin Books You Need to Read, According to Her Son

The Ursula K. Le Guin Cat Book You’ve Been Waiting For

Portland’s New Yorker Cartoonist on the Important Kind of Jokes

What We Talk About When We Talk About Hanya

A Novel of an Anarchist Nursing Home Run by 1970s Punks

Oregonians Pay Tribute to Ursula K. Le Guin

5 Standouts from the TEDxPortland 2025 Lineup

Nostrana Chef Cathy Whims (Finally) Has a Cookbook

Portland’s Spring Book Calendar Is Wonderfully Overbooked

Karen Russell on Her Witchy Dust Bowl Epic, The Antidote

Omar El Akkad Returns to Nonfiction to Undress American Mythology

Lidia Yuknavitch, Kristen Stewart, and an Ocean Outside of Time

The Most Anticipated Book Events in Portland This Winter

A Guide to Loving Trash

The Most Anticipated Book Events in Portland Fall 2024

Protest City Photographer Rian Dundon’s Next Project Is a Quieter Ride

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The New Willamette Valley