APPLE STORE

We got a killer write up on FELT & WIRE. If you're not familiar it's a blog on design, print and packaging... um... I think it's exciting. Even if that's not a topic of interest for you though, maybe you'll enjoy their bit about us. You're reading OUR blog, right? It's accompanied by some very nice photographs, my favorite of which features two of my coworkers candidly peeking around a corner. I've stolen and posted it below. Thanks Felt & Wire!

February's Book of the Month: West of Here by Jonathan Evison

Each month, we present a new book that we enthusiastically recommend. Really enthusiastically recommend. Here's KPR's really enthusiastic "shelf-talker". Buy it now.

There are books for which the words "gem-like" and "compact" and "precise" apply, but West of Here isn't one of those. West of Here is: Epic. Sprawling. Visceral. Lusty. Big in every way -- it spans years and generations. Filled with characters who will stay with you long after the book is done, including the rugged wilderness of the Olympic penninsula itself, from Klallam Indian to modern-day Sasquatch hunter. Along the way there is love and blood and birth and death and human vs. nature. The story takes us from the settlers -- who first dammed a wild river -- to their descendents -- who want to tear the dam down to preserve the salmon run. The settlers' impulse to conquer the wild is set against the modern notion that it is nature that needs protection from humans. I know this is a cliche, but this is that rare almost-500 page tome that, when you get to the last page, odds are you will quietly mourn the departure of these characters from your life, and then quietly turn the book over and begin the adventure all over again.

a new book we like: The Lover's Dictionary

The Lover's Dictionary by David Levithan is a short, sweet, and creatively narrated novel of love and its aftermath.

If there's one subject for which our vocabularies so often feel insufficient, it is also perhaps the most popular subject for artistic expression. The nameless narrator of this book has constructed the story of his relationship as a dictionary. Through these short entries, he provides an intimate window into the greatest events and the most trifling details of being within a couple.

The Lover's Dictionary is funny and fun and heartbreaking.

Green Apple got to ask author David Levithan a few questions. Check out his answers below. Oh, and we have a handful of signed copies for the first customers who hightail it in here!

Teresa Strasser is Very Funny

I just came across a post on Huffington Post by Teresa Strasser, who is going to be at Green Apple on Friday Feb. 25 to promote her new book Exploiting My Baby: Because It's Exploiting Me. I had no idea who she was before we booked the event, but now I'm quite interested. Here are a few excerpts from the post, the whole of which can be found here, which is about the drugs and other chemicals she's not allowed to ingest while pregnant or nursing.

Vicodin -- Narcotics are bad. Except for the fact they produce a little something called euphoria. Listen, this drug is a highly addictive opioid that should be used only to manage moderate to severe pain. However, my definition of "pain" is a loose one. Is it painful to sit around pondering labor?

Klonopin -- Relaxes muscles, reduces anxiety, helps you sleep. Take it the night before a job interview or audition, and the entire next day is kissed with a light potion of placidity. If taken during pregnancy, it may cause "floppy infant syndrome." I don't know what that is, and I don't want to know.

Artificial sweeteners -- Yellow packets, blue packets, pink, I don't know what's in you or which of you is better, but you all taste so chemical-y now. You taste like a birth defect.

This could be fun. You have a few weeks to block off space on your calendar. Beer & wine will be provided, so we can toast her self-discipline.