January is jam-packed with events at Orca Books in downtown Olympia. Here’s a list of what’s booked so far. More may be added later. All events are FREE and open to the public. Thank you for helping us publicize these events! Take special note of the Crow Planet reading. We are really excited about this one. All the employees are juggling their schedules for to try and be here! [more]

Christian Carvajal will read from his debut novel, LIGHTFALL, published by Fear Nought. The novel also debuts in hardcover TODAY. The book views the prophesied End of the World from Sugar Roses, a churchy little college town in Oklahoma. To commemorate the Apocalypse, Carvajal will not only take reader questions but also hand out Twinkies, beef jerky and bottled water. [more]

I’m always a little leery when the cover of a book displays the author’s name more prominently than the title of the book. Too many times I have purchased books based on the author’s name only to find out the book was something they couldn’t get published before their big hit novel, or they threw together the story just to meet their publisher’s deadline. Fortunately, I haven’t learned my lesson, otherwise I might have passed on Small Steps by Louis Sachar, Author of the award-wining bestseller HOLES. [more]

In terms of global disasters, Robert Charles Wilson’s sci-fi novel “Spin” makes global warming look like a refreshingly warm breeze on an icy winter day. What, you might ask, could be more disastrous than global climate change? How about the impending demise of the sun? 

Like the growing national debt, we are inclined to ignore the inevitable death of the sun because we won’t be around to experience it. It’s unlikely that the human race or anything but cockroaches will survive to witness an event that is billions of years in Earth’s future. [more]

Ken Follet’s fascination with the architecture of European cathedrals inspired this novel (and it’s sequel World Without End). The story follows the lives of two masons who dream of building a cathedral and the monk, Prior Philip, who must lead the endeavor while overcoming the political, economic and religious challenges of 12th-century England. [more]

So, I stumbled across this book: The Great Neigborhood Book, by the fine folks at PPS.

Well, I didn’t actually stumble across, Mark recommended it to me, and so I ordered it. And yes we have it for sale at einmaleins. (enough of the cheap sales tactic, on to the book review).

What can I say, but it blew me away! [more]

Olympia – The Sound of the City Next Door by Serena Bartlett and Perrin Randlette. Review by Bryan West.

All right, I admit it. I’m one of those people who walks into a bookstore and eventually finds himself in front of the travel books, you know, the Lonely Planets, Frommers, Rough Guides.