Books

Growing up in Providence, Rhode Island, Dan McCann loved visiting his dad at work. His father was a firefighter, and McCann enjoyed climbing all over the big red trucks.

Spokane author Jess Walter (“Beautiful Ruins,” “Cold Millions,” “Citizen Vince,” “Ruby Ridge” and more) has earned the O. Henry Prize, the oldest major prize for short fiction in America.

Here are the bestsellers for the week that ended Saturday, April 27, compiled from data from independent and chain bookstores, book wholesalers and independent distributors nationwide, powered by Circana BookScan © 2024 Circana. (Reprinted from Publishers Weekly, published by PWxyz LLC. © 2024, PWxyz LLC.) HARDCOVER FICTION 1. "Funny Story" by Emily Henry (Berkley) Last week: — 2. "The Women: ...

Good things are often born from bad situations.

Like for many, pandemic-era closures were hard on author Eileen Garvin.

The spirit of Christopher Guest’s mockumentary “Best in Show” (2000) will forever haunt any work focused on the captivatingly odd phenomenon of the dog show. It looms especially large over “Dogland: Passion, Glory, and Lots of Slobber at the Westminster Dog Show,” with its cover design that could be a still from the comedy: The bespangled figure of a handler appears from the torso down, faceless and paired with what you’d swear is an especially hirsute yeti – but is actually an Afghan hound. One might assume the contents will bear a strong affinity to Guest’s less-than-kind rendering of the sorts of people who inhabit the insular world of canine competition.

Eileen Garvin uses wildlife to comment on the human condition.

For 60 years, Laurie Klein has been holding on to her family’s secret. Now, she is letting it go.

April 27 is Independent Bookstore Day and what better way to commemorate it than by celebrating local indie authors?

On May 15, 1953, TV Guide ran a profile of Barbara Walters, young producer of a 15-minute children’s program called “Ask the Camera.”

Pulitzer prize-winning author Ed Humes spoke to more than a hundred students and community members Thursday evening at the Myrtle Woldson Performing Arts Center at Gonzaga University with the hope of getting Spokanites to engage with what could be the most consequential challenge the country is facing: waste.

Big league talent spread across the 1946 Spokane Indians baseball team, until lives and dreams were shattered by a bus crash nearly 80 years ago. The bus heading to Bremerton began descending Snoqualmie Pass, tumbled off the highway and plummeted into a ravine before bursting into flames. Nine players died. Others who survived were badly injured. Three members who weren't on the bus escaped it all, but the memories never faded. Those individual players' stories, along with influences of post-World War II times, captivated Eric Vickrey, author of the new "Season of Shattered Dreams: Postwar Baseball, The Spokane Indians and a Tragic Bus Crash That Changed Everything."

At one time the “foundational betrayal” in Simone Gorrindo’s marriage was her husband’s career in the military. For a pacifist-raised editor in New York City, it was difficult moving to a military base in Georgia with a full-time job of being a supportive spouse to someone fighting terrorism overseas.

Microplastics are in the food we eat, the water we drink, the refreshing IPAs at our local brewery. All told, we munch on a credit card’s worth of plastic every day and probably will for the rest of our lives.

The planet is facing a number of environmental crises, and the impacts are all too present here in the West.

“The Wives” hit close to home.

The 26th edition of Eastern Washington University’s Get Lit! Festival kicks off this week, offering several days of writing workshops, meet the author events and panel discussions. The headliner this year is Carmen Maria Machado, best known for her short story collection titled “Her Body and Other Parties” and her memoir, “In the Dream House.”

In “Sleeping Giants,” Rene Denfeld tells an awakening story that weighs the complex balance between human cruelty and kindness.

On its face, “Sleeping Giants” can appear like a dark story focused on a woman searching for truth after learning her 9-year-old biological brother was swept away by waves crashing on a remote Oregon beach 20 years before.