One More for the People, by Martha Grover. We’ve only read snippets of this book but it’s supposed to be amazing. It’s about the author’s diagnosis at age 18 with a rare, potentially fatal disease, and about her family, and about life. A quote, selected at random: 

“Only in retrospect did we realize that this was the third death in the story: Robin had died, my mother’s fertility had died, but our way of living had died. Our universe had stopped expanding. The mad rush of fertility was over. Our family was now a closed club—no longer accepting new members. And although we never would have admitted it at the time, perhaps Robin was the ballast that kept our crowded little ship afloat.

‘If you had died, our lives would’ve been so different,’ I said to my mother over the phone. 

‘What would we have done if we had lost me?’ she said.”

Drawings from the Gulag, by Danzig Baldaev.

This book is INTENSE and really amazing. It’s a firsthand document by Baldaev, styled like a graphic novel with depictions of the horrors perpetrated to and by prisoners in the Gulag in mid-1900s Russia. 

A quote, from the introduction: “Baldaev’s widow has explained how around a fifth of the drawings are from first-hand experience. The rest of the images are the result of the artist’s meticulous research, speaking to fellow NKVD officers and prisoners about particular incidents, practises, and procedures. He wanted the drawings to be accurate in every detail, from a slogan on a placard, to a collar on a uniform. His father was an ethnographer who had been arrested as an ‘enemy of the people’ and sent to the Gulag, while Baldaev and his sisters were sent to an orphanage for Family Members of Enemies of the People…despite becoming part of the system, he wanted to expose the lie behind it. He soaked up the evidence before him and committed it to paper, spending twenty years working at home, in secret, on these drawings. If he had been discovered he would certainly have suffered the same fate as the Gulag victims he so assidously depicted.” 

Love is Not Constantly Wondering if You’re Making the Biggest Mistake of Your Life.

By Anonymous

This book is so amazing. Recently I sat down and read the whole thing in about two hours. It’s a sit down and devour it kind of book. It’s so, so good. Creative, funny, unusual, touching, nostalgic, and gut-wrenching. So sad and insightful and self-reflective. It’s comprised of dated vignettes over the course of a four-year relationship that’s akin to a drawn-out train wreck. The form, which hearkens to Choose Your Own Adventure Novels (god, I loved those things), keeps this book from being maudlin or self-pitying. The author’s pointed, ascerbic humor keeps you from knowing if you want to laugh or cry. The book only costs $7 and is amazing; I totally recommend picking up a copy, especially because we only have a couple left…

PRESENT IDEA OF THE DAY #2: The Nature Lover

This girl needs to feel at home when she isn’t frolicking amidst the dandelions or dancing in rainbows, and with today’s gift idea she can!

Beautiful letterpress print by local printers extraordinaire Old School Stationers hand mounted on sustainable bamboo block, $42. 

One of our very best sellers: the wonderful, portable flower press that EVERYBODY loves! $5

Pretty butterfly kaleidoscope $7

Gorgeous art book “Living Things” vol. 6-“Wings.” Depictions of various winged creatures by a Portland artist in collaboration with Little Otsu. $6.95

Total cost of gift: $60.95-15% = $51.81

What a steal!!