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Reading: Shawn Levy: The Castle on Sunset

Annie Bloom's Books 7834 SW Capitol Hwy, Portland

Annie Bloom's welcomes back Portland author Shawn Levy to read from his latest book, The Castle on Sunset: Life, Death, Love, Art, and Scandal at Hollywood's Chateau Marmont. This is the definitive history of Hollywood's most iconic, storied, and scandalous hotel. For ninety years, Hollywood's brightest stars have favored the Chateau Marmont as a home away from home. An apartment house-turned-hotel, it has been the backdrop for generations of gossip and folklore: 1930s bombshell Jean Harlow took lovers during her third honeymoon there; director Nicholas Ray slept with his sixteen-year-old Rebel Without a Cause star Natalie Wood; Anthony Perkins and Tab Hunter met poolside and began a secret affair; Jim Morrison swung from the balconies, once falling nearly to his death; John Belushi suffered a…

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Free

Rev. Lenny Duncan Dear Church Book Tour

Central Lutheran Church 1820 NE 21st Ave, Portland

Join us as we welcome Rev. Lenny Duncan to Portland. His forthcoming book, a love letter written to the ELCA, is a challenge and gift to our denomination. Come and hear his questions, vision, and passion. Learn more about Pr. Lenny at www.lennyduncan.com. From his website: Dear Church: A Love Letter from a Black Preacher to the Whitest Denomination in the U.S Lenny Duncan is the unlikeliest of pastors. Formerly incarcerated and homeless, he is now a black preacher in the whitest denomination in the United States: The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Shifting demographics and shrinking congregations make the all headlines, but Duncan sees something else at work—drawing a direct line between the church’s lack of diversity and the church’s lack of vitality. The…

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Free

Oregon’s Ancient Forests: A Hiking Guide

Powell's Books on Hawthorne 3723 SE Hawthorne Blvd, Portland

Chandra LeGue’s Oregon’s Ancient Forests (Mountaineers) is a guidebook with a purpose: to inspire readers to learn about and visit Oregon’s rapturous old-growth forests, and then love them enough to keep them protected. Not just for hikers, this Oregon Wild-sponsored guide explains where the forests are and who manages them, the threats they face, and an action plan for protecting what remains and restoring damaged forests so they may become the ancient forests of the future. LeGue discusses forest ecology, flora, and fauna, and also details 91 of her favorite hikes across the state.

Free

Kristen Arnett in Conversation With Karen Russell

Powell's City of Books 1005 W Burnside Street, Portland

One morning, Jessa-Lynn Morton walks into the family taxidermy shop to find that her father has committed suicide, right there on one of the metal tables. Shocked and grieving, Jessa steps up to manage the failing business, while the rest of the Morton family crumbles. Her mother starts sneaking into the shop to make aggressively lewd art with the taxidermied animals. Her brother Milo withdraws, struggling to function. And Brynn, Milo’s wife — and the only person Jessa’s ever been in love with — walks out without a word. As Jessa seeks out less-than-legal ways of generating income, her mother’s art escalates — picture a figure of her dead husband and a stuffed buffalo in an uncomfortably sexual pose — and the Mortons reach a…

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Free

Classic Poetry Open Mic

Rose City Book Pub 1329 NE Fremont, Portland

Keats and Rilke and Donne and Wordsworth and Angelou and Plath and Yeats and Browning and Dickinson, oh my! Bring your favorite old poems to OSLS's first ever Classic Poetry Open Mic, co-hosted with Rose City Book Pub. This is a time to gather together to enjoy classic poetry from around the world. Memorization/recitation is highly encouraged, but you can also read from a digital/hard copy. This is not a time to share your own writing--there are lots of open mics for that! This is a time for poetry lovers to share and discuss favorite old poems that inspire and delight. Need some ideas? Check out this article about great poems that work well for recitation: https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/lesson/committed-memory

Free
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