Happy 4th of July!
June was a crazy month and I'm not sure why, it doesn't seem like anything extraordinary happened. July is going to be crazy as well. We have Tiffany Reisz and her husband
Andrew Shaffer in the house on Monday July 11
th for the release of all of their new books. Two for her (
The Bourbon Thief and
The Confessions) and two for him (
Ghosts from our Past and
The Day of the Donald). They are very busy people. This will be a bit of a party, as we are doing it in the evening. I know it is a Monday, but come straight from work, we will feed you.
Monday July 11 from 6 to 8. Join us for good conversation, good food and there could be some bourbon tasting involved, I'm working on that part.
On July 23rd we have
Gary Corbin and David DeHart signing from 1 to 4pm.
We have started a new reading program for the kids to keep them reading through the summer. Every Wednesday, any child visi
ting the store can choose a book off the $2 shelf for FREE. This will continue until school starts or we run out of $2 books.
REMINDER: We have the Jan's Literacy Fund, we use the money you
donate to purchase books for school libraries. We purchase books that kids want to read, the schools buy the books that educators think they should read. We feel that by making sure the kids have books they want to read we are creating tomorrow's readers. It is selfish on our part, we want to stay in business and to do so, we need readers. There are several ways to donate - feed the jug on the counter, purchase a book to donate, or choose ARC's and pay $1 per book to the jug.
What is an ARC? Advance Read Copy, Uncorrected Proof, Galley, they are all the same, the publishers put out early copies of books for review purposes. The books have not gone through final edits and so will contain errors that will not be in the finished copy. We get a lot of these and we can't possibly read them all, so we would like a little help and it adds to the Literacy Fund. If you would like to email us reviews of the books you read we would love that as well. You can send your reviews to
jill@janspaperbacks.com. They could be posted to the website and this newsletter.
This isn't bookstore related but Orenco Station Home Owners are having a neighborhood Garage Sale on Saturday July 16. Come shop and check out the neighborhood. See if you can find me because yes, I need to empty my garage. Orenco Station is located at Cornell and 229 Ave in Hillsboro.
What have I read this month?
- Hardwired by Meredith Wild - I liked it a lot, however, be warned this is a very hot book.
No Better Man by Sara Richardson - this is a debut novel and was chock full of editing errors. As a result, the Borders Book Group hated the book. I can overlook these errors and I actually like the story enough that I got the second book, Something Like Love. Still a good book and I am currently on book three. The errors go down with each book and she is getting better. These books are very mild and have no bad language.
The Language of Sisters by Cathy Lamb - awesome book. Cathy's books are always good. This one will be out in September.
Have a great month and happy reading!
Debbie
Greeting Cards . Magnets . Bookmarks . Coasters
Shop Alex Clark
at Jan's Paperbacks
Talking Politics
by Andrew Shaffer
The last thing I wanted to be talking about this year was politics.
Let me explain.
For over three decades, I lived in Iowa. A wonderful state, which has the unfortunate distinction of holding the first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses every four years.
Because of the state’s importance on the electoral calendar, Iowans are inundated with political advertising for presidential candidates—months, and sometimes years, before those in other
states. There are numerous rallies and door-knockers. And hand shaking. Oh, the hand shaking. I can’t count the number of presidential contenders I’ve shaken hands with—all during flu season, which seems like it should warrant some sort of attention from the CDC.
After moving to Oregon a couple of years ago, I was looking forward to being blissfully unaware of the presidential race this time around. Not forever, but at least until both the Democrats and Republicans had nominated their candidates. Oregon’s primary elections, occurring late in the season, attract little attention from the candidates. Which, I suspect, is just fine for many Oregonians.
This year, however, was different. Not for Oregon—the races had all but solidified by mid-May, even if Bernie still seems unwilling to admit it. No, this year was different because I had agreed to write a political thriller…starring presumptive Republican nominee Donald J. Trump.
For months now, I’ve been waist-deep in research: Every poll, every breaking news story, every lie touted as a fact by politicians on both sides of the aisle. If you write a political book, you need to stay on top of these things, so that you can sound like you know what you’re doing in interviews.
The Day of the Donald is set in a world where Trump has been elected president. Nearly two years into his term, he has fulfilled his campaign promise to “make America great again.” Trump’s official
biographer, Jimmie Bernwood, begins to suspect that everything may not be going as great as it seems. When Trump's previous biographer turns up dead, Jimmie must do some real investigative reporting, get to the bottom of a long series of murders...and, if it's absolutely unavoidable, save the country.
So come out to my reading on July 11th at Jan’s Paperbacks, where I will be signing
The Day of the Donald. (My wife, Tiffany Reisz, will also be signing her new book,
The Bourbon Thief.) And feel free to ask me anything—unless it has to do with politics.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
This is a delightful read! I discovered this book by accident. It was a co-worker who was out for the day and I was filling in for her. I picked the book up to glance at during lunch and was hooked! Since I couldn’t take the book with me, I had to buy it new, as the last copy at Jan’s was sold just before I got there!
This is the story of Sara, Amy and the town of Broken Wheel. Sara and Amy are pen pals that share their love of books through their letters. Amy convinces Sara to come to Broken Wheel (Iowa) for a 2 month visit. Sara does and arrives on the day Amy is buried and Sara didn’t even know she was sick!
The townspeople of Broken Wheel really don’t understand Sara or why she traveled all the way from Sweden to meet someone just because they both loved books. All Sara wants to do is repay the townspeople for their kindness and to share her and Amy’s love of books and to convince them reading is one of the great joys in life. So she starts a bookstore in Amy’s memory. In doing so Sara touches the people of Broken Wheel in a way no one ever has.
The characters are fresh and fun. They are also very real. Serious topics are addressed with a light touch but in a thoughtful way. Tolerance, understanding, humor, kindness, pride, second chances and love to name a few.
Once you visit Broken Wheel you’ll want to tell your friends about it.
I highly recommend this book. –Jana K. (Jan’s customer)
by J.T. Ellison
This book has all of Ms. Ellison’s characters, Lt. Taylor Jackson, ME Samantha Owens, FBI profiler Dr. John Baldwin and is set before all of Ellison’s other books. This story gives us a peak into these characters earlier lives and personalities. How the author did that amongst non-stop action is beyond me, but this one kept me riveted until the last page. J. T. Ellison has become one of my favorite authors and I always look forward to her new books. -Jody
Excellent romantic suspense. Lot’s of action, twists and turns. This debut novel by Brynn Kelly has me looking forward to her next book. Complex characters and a plot that is complex enough that the ending doesn’t happen as you would expect. Action packed and worth the read. -Tarra
Andrew Shaffer is the New York Times bestselling author of the essential survival guide, 
