Aimee Bender
In The Butterfly Lampshade, 8-year old Francie lives with a single mother who is mentally ill. On the night her mother has a particularly dramatic psychotic break, Francie is set upon a long journey of a kind of self-preservation that we come to understand only as confronts disturbing and confounding events.
She believes that a butterfly has emerged from a butterfly lampshade. A beetle from a kid’s drawing emerges in three-dimensional real life. Roses from the pattern on a curtain can be picked up. Twenty years later, Francie is still trying to make sense of these incidents. Do they portend her own kind of break with reality and descent into mental illness. Do they make up part of her coping? Do they mean something else?
Portland finds place on PEN America awards longlists; ‘Sharks in the Time of Saviors’ dominates
Updated Dec 22, 2020;
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PEN America on Tuesday announced the “longlists” for its 2021 awards, making a debut novel with a Portland connection an oddsmakers’ favorite to take home a prize.
Kawai Strong Washburn’s “Sharks in the Time of Saviors” made the list in three categories, the first time that’s ever happened. The novel, a mystical family epic that partly takes place in the Rose City, is in the running for the Jean Stein Book Award, the Hemingway Award for Debut Novel and the PEN Open Book Award.
ASK AMY: This year, everybody needs a book on their bed albanyherald.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from albanyherald.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Ask Amy: Independent booksellers share their literary picks for the year
Updated Dec 28, 2020;
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Dear Readers: Every year at Christmastime, I prompt readers to put “A Book on Every Bed.”
The idea originally came from historian David McCullough. On the Christmas mornings of his youth, the very first thing he woke up to was a wrapped book at the base of his bed, left there by Santa.
Working with my literacy partner, Children’s Reading Connection, this campaign has grown to include schools, libraries and bookstores.
This year is different. All of us not just children need a good book on our beds.
Dear Readers: Every year at Christmastime, I prompt readers to put âA Book on Every Bed.â
The idea originally came from historian David McCollough. On the Christmas mornings of his youth, the very first thing he woke up to was a wrapped book at the base of his bed, left there by Santa.
Working with my literacy partner, Childrenâs Reading Connection, this campaign has grown to include schools, libraries and bookstores.
This year is different. All of us â not just children â need a good book on our beds.
Iâve reached out to some of my favorite independent booksellers for their special picks for books for all ages.