Saturday, April 30, 2011

Sentimental Serendipity


Recently I made a special trip to Powell's Books in Portland, Oregon. It is said to be the largest bookstore in the world. With several floors and an entire city block full of books - I don't doubt it! (However, I know of bookstores in both Toronto and New York City who also claim this title.)
My friend and fellow writer, Kriston, and I checked out the Newbery Award books that the store keeps in their own special section. They nearly go back all the way to the year 1922! I couldn't resist adding to my book collection-so I settled on a copy of "Whittington" by Alan Armstrong. It was a Newbery Honor book in 2006.
Our main reason for visiting Powell's this particular evening was to attend a reading and slide show of the book, Portland's Goose Hollow, authored by our friend, Dr. Tracy Prince. Check out her historical book - http://www.amazon.com/Portlands-Goose-Hollow-Images-America/dp/0738574724
It was a fascinating evening of reliving history. Tracy and former Portland Mayor, Bud Clark, signed my copy of her book at the close of the event. Northwesterners remember Mayor Clark's famous, "Whoop! Whoop!" - he did it once to the delight of the audience!
In addition to Kriston and myself, we were joined by our friend, Franki deMerle (center) for the evening. She is a published author of three books. Franki was our guest at the  Magic Pen Critique Group last Tuesday night. Check out her author page-http://www.independentauthornetwork.com/franki-demerle.html