An Embarrassment of Riches alternate_realities rachael's_picks series | Read | Wednesday January 25, 2012 | By rshort

Recently I was digging around for something to satisfy me in the same way that Connie Willis ' Oxford Time Travel series does and I dragged up the Small Change Series by Jo Walton . I am deep into book two, and I love it. Book One, Farthing , is a...

An Embarrassment of Riches 12_by_12_in_2012 alison's_picks matthew_dickman poems poetry poets | Read | Friday January 20, 2012 | By alisonk

If you're like me you're always meaning to read more poetry. And not just because of that vague, niggling sense that poetry is good for you, but because the experience of reading a poem is immersive. I find that reading and then re-reading a good poem puts me...

An Embarrassment of Riches fantasy heidi's_picks horror | Read | Wednesday January 18, 2012 | By alisonk

When Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey came out I read the review and decided it wasn't really going to be to my tastes. Too violent, too scary, too gory... not my thing at all. Then I picked it up on a whim. I needed something new to read and was in the...

An Embarrassment of Riches music punk punk_rock sara_b's_picks | Listen | Saturday January 14, 2012 | By alisonk

Is your iPod at capacity? Mine is. And when I download songs to my computer, I never do anything with them. Add to that a shed crammed with CDs I can’t bear to part with, and it’s too much music to handle. Library CDs broke my cycle of pointless...

An Embarrassment of Riches katie's_picks music musicals | Watch | Wednesday January 11, 2012 | By alisonk

Do you have a case of the winter blahs? The sparkle of the holidays has passed, but the winter weather remains. Spring and summer seem a long way off, know what I mean? Well, never fear. Cue Fred Astaire! You can't go wrong with his singing and dancing ...

An Embarrassment of Riches enji's_picks historical_fiction teen teen_books teen_fiction ya young_adult | Read | Saturday January 07, 2012 | By rshort

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An Embarrassment of Riches amish memoir memoirs ruth's_picks | Read | Wednesday January 04, 2012 | By alisonk

A few summers ago, I went to visit some cousins who live in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania which is essentially THE place to be if you're Amish. I tried not to stare, but ultimately failed because everything about the Amish was so different from my experience...

An Embarrassment of Riches fantasy haiku haiku_review rachael's_picks sci_fi science_fiction | Read | Saturday December 31, 2011 | By rshort

One City prospers One City falters and fades Chosen perceptions The City and the City by China Miéville

An Embarrassment of Riches e-book e-books fantasy heidi's_picks self-published | Read | Wednesday December 28, 2011 | By alisonk

I just finished Theft of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan. He self-published his series as e-books and they did well enough that Orbit books picked it up to reprint in three omnibus volumes. This just doesn't happen very often so I was intrigued. Generally...

An Embarrassment of Riches andrea's_picks dysfunction dysfunctional_families families humor | Read | Friday December 23, 2011 | By alisonk

You know how sometimes a book crosses your path and you know absolutely nothing about it, but the cover just makes you want to pick it up? This is exactly what happened to me with The Family Fang . I was instantly intrigued by the edgy cover design, which...

An Embarrassment of Riches christmas_music music sara_b's_picks | Listen | Wednesday December 21, 2011 | By rshort

I love Christmas music, and I am not embarrassed. I love to sing Christmas songs and I love to play the Christmas records my Mom played when I was growing up, especially Johnny Mathis’ Merry Christmas .   But years of retail work spoiled too many...

An Embarrassment of Riches sara_b's_picks | Read | Friday December 16, 2011 | By rshort

Today, as I sit to write this, it’s the day after Black Friday (Grey Saturday?). The Oregonian and The Wall Street Journal both have front-page photos of crazed shoppers in queues, loading carts with deeply discounted merchandise; yesterday’s USA Today had a...

An Embarrassment of Riches dogs england historical_fiction katie's_picks | Read | Wednesday December 14, 2011 | By alisonk

If you judged the book Mr. Chartwell by its cover, you might think “Oh, a charming dog story.” Well, not exactly. The central character of Rebecca Hunt’s debut novel is indeed a dog named Mr. Chartwell.  However, he is not a happy, loving creature. No,...

An Embarrassment of Riches rachael's_picks | Read | Friday December 09, 2011 | By rshort

All of us have times when no book satisfies. An empty space screams for a good read, but one after another disappoints. You want something that is just like X, but also completely different. Something intelligent but not too cute about it. Something...

An Embarrassment of Riches christmas dana's_picks music | Listen | Friday December 02, 2011 | By rshort

This post is a follow up to Dana's previous post on Christmas albums. Below Dana heps us to some of the choice singles in our Christmas Music collection. Elvis Presley, "Merry Christmas Baby" . Like most of his albums, Elvis' many Christmas...

An Embarrassment of Riches broadway broadway_musicals documentaries documentary dvd dvds joanna's_picks music | Watch | Tuesday November 29, 2011 | By alisonk

While I love watching a good stage musical, I have always been more fascinated by the view behind-the-scenes. From the initial writing and composing to the auditions, rehearsals, staging, set and lighting design, and costuming, a Broadway production involves a...

An Embarrassment of Riches music sara_b's_picks | Listen | Friday November 25, 2011 | By rshort

Please welcome our newest blogger, Sara B.! She has this to say about herself: I’m a former arts and entertainment reporter who loves to root out common threads running through the books and media I happily stumble across daily. At the library, I feel...

An Embarrassment of Riches debut_authors fantasy heidi's_picks sci_fi science_fiction series sf steampunk trilogies | Read | Tuesday November 22, 2011 | By alisonk

I do so love a good debut or two. Farlander by Col Buchanan , the first in a new series, introduces a steampunk world with basic pistols, dirigibles and acid rain pollution along with the standard fantasy trappings. There's a corrupt and evil empire and...

An Embarrassment of Riches christmas dana's_picks music | Listen | Friday November 18, 2011 | By rshort

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An Embarrassment of Riches behavior human_behavior human_interest humor katie's_picks music non-fiction nonfiction pulitzer_prize sociology | Listen | Wednesday November 16, 2011 | By alisonk

Welcome to our new blogger Katie, who has lived in Portland most of her life and never thought her high school library job would evolve into a lifelong (hopefully!) career. She worked as a news writer and reporter in a previous life and especially appreciates...

An Embarrassment of Riches humor joanna's_picks mysteries mystery super_heroes villains | Read | Friday November 11, 2011 | By alisonk

Welcome to Joanna, a new blogger for EOR. She has this to say about herself: After a tropical childhood, I stumbled upon Portland and decided to sit for a spell; nearly twenty years later, it appears that I'm here to stay. I am an enthusiastically geeky...

An Embarrassment of Riches cd cds music punk punk_rock sarah's_picks | Listen | Wednesday November 09, 2011 | By alisonk

Welcome to our new guest blogger Sarah, who says this about her interests:  I read a boatload of non-fiction, mostly about ancient science/archeoastronomy, physics, and human social behavior/culture. I love bizarro and cult fiction, live for Fridays when...

An Embarrassment of Riches enji's_picks | Read | Friday November 04, 2011 | By rshort

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An Embarrassment of Riches africa helen's_picks kenya nairobi no._1_ladies_detective romance | Read | Tuesday November 01, 2011 | By alisonk

Read a ll the books in No 1 Ladies Detective Agency series and looking for another good read? Check out A Guide to the Birds of East Africa by Nicholas Drayson .  Mr. Malik has been secretly in love with Rose Mbikwa who has been leading the Tuesday...