Christmas is fast approaching (less than two weeks away!) and for any last-minute shopping you need to do, herewith are some suggestions. Organized by category, all as local as possible, with some specific suggestions and some general. Feel free to leave additional suggestions in the comments.

If you're just browsing, there are a number of local new and used bookstores you should visit (in alphabetical order):

Between the Covers: 645 NW Delaware (the corner of Delaware and Bond), 541-385-4766. Open Monday through Saturday, 10 to 6.

The Bookmark: 228 NE Greenwood, 541-617-9271. Open 10 to 5:30, I think 7 days a week (at least Monday through Saturday).

Camalli Book Company: 1288 SW Simpson, Suite C, 541-323-6134. Open Monday through Saturday 10 to 6, Sunday 12 to 4.

Dudley's Bookshop Cafe: 135 NW Minnesota, 541-749-2010.

The Open Book: 155 NE Greenwood, 541-388-3249. Open Monday through Saturday 10 to 6.

Pegasus Books: 105 NW Minnesota, 541-388-4588. Open Monday through Saturday 11 to 6, Sunday 12 to 4.

Of course, there are specific book recommendations as well (some from user submissions, some are my own picks):

All Around Bend: Though the first printing has sold out, this newest (locally-published) guidebook to Bend looks to be accepting (pre?)orders for the new edition.

Living Local Coupon Book: Featuring 150 coupons from local businesses, including Alpenglow Cafe, Bellatazza, the Deschutes Historical Museum, Pine Mountain Sports, and many more. It's $20 and coupons are good through November 2010.

Haven Home Style in downtown Bend features a variety of "Interior Design and Specialty Books" available for purchase. If you're looking for books on architecture, interior design, or lifestyle you might give them a look.

Bend, Overall: Great guidebook released five years ago, by Scott Cook. (Read my review.) (Yes, a couple of these are Amazon.com links—despite my admonition to buy local. Sometimes those are the best-available links and I'm using my affiliate code. Click as you wish.)

Frontier Doctor: Love this book, it's the early history of Bend and the town's first doctor, Urling Coe. Fun read, a must for local history buffs.

Bend (Images of America): You can get this at the Deschutes Historical Museum, a 100-year pictorial history of Bend.

Meet Me in the Badlands: Exploring Central Oregon with Jim Witty: A collection of some of the best of the late Jim Witty's great travel adventures around Central Oregon. Proceeds from sales go to the Jim Witty Memorial Fund. Also found at the Deschutes Historical Museum, and some of the outdoor sports stores like Pine Mountain Sports.

This Saturday, April 4th, is the "Friends of the Bend Library Spring Book Sale". As usual it takes place downtown at the Library Administration Building at 507 NW Wall (in the basement). Time is 10 until 4.

This is a quarterly favorite of mine (as you regular readers all know). Try to get there early; the deals are great with books typically being 50 cents to a dollar, and children's books are paid by the inch (stacked).

This Saturday, January 17, is the (quarterly) Friends of the Bend Library Winter Book Sale. As always, it runs from 10am until 4pm at the Library Administration Building, downtown at 507 NW Wall Street.

Great deals to be had; for under $10 you can walk out with a big stack of books.

The Friends of the Bend Library is having their quarterly Fall Book Sale tomorrow, Saturday, from 10am until 4pm. As always, it's at the Library Administration Building, in the basement, at 507 NW Wall Street in downtown Bend.

I always recommend this sale when it comes up, because it's always such a good deal. But you need to get there early for the best finds.

It's confirmed; Duncan first reported it yesterday and it appears in today's paper (E-edition online only; no link). They've been downtown on Minnesota Avenue for 35 years (though not at the exact same location). 35 years! I don't even know what to say.

(And before anybody points an accusative finger as to supposed lack of community support, yes, I have bought books from them.)

On the bright side, they plan to continue to exist online (and take phone orders starting June 1). I hope that works out for them.

The third Saturday of this month is the Deschutes Public Library's Spring Book Sale. All the usual details apply; it's taking place at the Library Administration Building basement at 507 NW Wall Street downtown. Date is Saturday, April 19th, time is from 10am until 4pm. Get there early for the best selections; I believe hardbacks and large-formats are $1, paperbacks are 50 cents, and kids books are $1 per inch (stacked), but don't quote me on that.

What: Frontier Doctor, by Urling Coe. One of my favorite Bend history books—this is more of a narrative than a dry history tome and it's a fantastic read. Urling Coe came to Bend in 1905 to practice medicine when Bend was still entirely a frontier town, and his experiences and observations over the years that followed as Central Oregon developed are priceless.

For: Anyone interested in Bend history.

Price: $15.95 new - $$

Where: Try the Book Barn first—they have the best selection of local interest/authors that I've seen in town.

Online:

• Amazon
• Powells

Trivia: Urling Coe (aside from having an unusual name) also served as one of Bend's first mayors and co-founded Bend's first bank.

What: Bend, Overall, by Scott Cook. One of the best local guidebooks to the area, written by a local, with emphasis on the outdoors. I reviewed it here: "The book is divided into 53 featured outings/destinations, several driving tours, and maps. Each of the outings features exact directions for both driving and hiking, helpful tips like whether dogs are allowed and the price (if any), and is peppered liberally with photographs and tidbits of history and trivia."

For: Tourists and locals alike who want to see what the "Central Oregon lifestyle" is all about. But, if you're looking for a book that also recommends and reviews restaurants, lodging, shopping, etc., then this isn't it.

Price: $14.95 new - $

Where: Look for it at The Book Barn (135 NW Minnesota, downtown), or perhaps used at The Open Book (155 NE Greenwood) or The Bookmark (228 NE Greenwood).

If you're looking online:

• Amazon.com (used)
• Powells Books (used)
• REI.com (new)

Trivia: Trade paperback, 144 pages, guidebook-sized (about 5x8), should fit well in a stocking.

My wife pointed out the ad in the latest Source: Between the Covers, "Bend's newest neighborhood bookstore." It's located in the historic Delaware Annex building (which also has a little-known vacation apartment space, according to Bend Living) at 645 NW Delaware—the corner of Delaware and Bond.

So far I only know what's in the ad:

• General bookstore
• Free wi-fi
• Sitting and gathering areas
• Old fashioned candy
• Gift cards
• Children's books
• Coffee
• Pastries from Sparrow Bakery

Definitely worth checking out.

This almost slipped under my radar: the Friends of the Bend Library Fall Book Sale. It's today (October 6) from 10am until 4pm, downtown at the Library Administration Building at 507 NW Wall Street. (The old Library building.)

Thousands of quality books of all kinds for sale: fiction, nonfiction, travel books, children's books. Audios, videos and free books too!
In the Book Cellar of the Deschutes Library Administration Building.

Always good deals to be found there. Children's books are sold by the inch (stacked height), if I remember correctly.

I didn't know about this until I saw it in The Source today: writer Ursula Le Guin will be in Sisters Monday (the 6th), doing a reading and book signing from her latest book, Incredible Good Fortune. The Source's article is an interview with Le Guin.

the Source: What advice can you give to beginning writers?

ULG: Learning to write is no different from learning to play the tuba or paint or dance or any other art or craft. You learn it by doing it. If you don’t stick with it you won’t know how to do it very well. At some point you make the decision: this is worth sticking with, or it isn’t. For some of us, the decision is easy, even if the work is very slow and hard, because doing it is so rewarding in itself and for itself that we just want to go on doing it.

I think impatience is mostly the problem. We live in an impatient culture, where everything is supposed to happen right now – push the button and it happens! So we want, we expect, good results right away. Sometimes luck grants them. But mostly it’s patience that gets them. Art is work. The loveliest work in the world.

The reading/signing is taking place at 6:30pm at the Five Pines Conference Center in Sisters, at 1021 Desperado Trail. It's sponsored by the Paulina Springs Book Company and is free and open to all ages.

I'll bet it's totally worth it.

There's a new bookstore on Bend's westside: Camalli Book Company (the website is a blog, which is a good thing). The store's owner, Tina Davis, sent me the details:

Actually opened for the sale of Harry Potter 7 on Friday night, but the 'grand opening' is next week with the ribbon cutting by the chamber on Tuesday, 7/31. We're a 2400 sf general interest independent bookstore, located off of the Century and Simpson roundabout (in the Ray's shopping center, where the tile and stone place used to be), with our largest sections being children's books and fiction, though we're working to build our regional selection and keep titles by local authors in stock. We have two indies downtown of course (Book Barn and Pegasus, which I love), and obviously a big-box bookseller on the east side, but this is the first on the "west" side.

More bookstores in town is always a good thing. Its address is 1288 SW Simpson Avenue, Suite C. The Chamber ribbon cutting is today at 4:30, and there will be snacks and wine available.

Tina also sent along their official press release, which you can read after the jump.

Read the full press release

I loves me a good used book sale, and April is offering up two—on the same day, no less!

First is the Friends of the Library Spring Book Sale, at the Library Administration building downtown (where it's always held) on Saturday, April 14th. It runs from 10am until 4pm.

The other sale is the Bulletin's—from 9am until 3pm at their location (1777 SW Chandler Avenue). This is a donated book sale:

Please donate paperbacks, hardcover, and softcover books in good condition. Sorry, but no textbooks, magazines, National Geographic magazines, or Reader's Digest condensed books, please.

They're accepting donations until March 30th.

I'm thinking go to the Bulletin's sale at 9, and then the Library's at 10. If you're into that sort of thing.

Bend, Overall, by Scott Cook, is a guidebook with an emphasis on outdoor adventures. Published in 2004, it's fairly up-to-date and you should be able to manage each of the "adventures" with no real changes from the book.

The book is divided into 53 featured outings/destinations, several driving tours, and maps. Each of the outings features exact directions for both driving and hiking, helpful tips like whether dogs are allowed and the price (if any), and is peppered liberally with photographs and tidbits of history and trivia. Cook has an easy-to-read writing style that works well here in an "insider's guide" book, and he clearly has an excellent knowledge of the Central Oregon area.

Overall, it's a very good book and is eminently appropriate to tourists and locals alike who want to see what the "Central Oregon lifestyle" is all about. However, if you're looking for a book that also recommends and reviews restaurants, lodging, shopping, etc., then this is not the book you're looking for.

The book was published locally and doesn't appear to have an ISBN number; because of that, you won't find it on Amazon.com. I did find it on Powell's (my first link above), and here's a link to it on REI's website. Otherwise, you should be able to find it at our local bookstores, and of course the library has it as well. Price? Well, locally (and on REI) it looks to be $14.95, but Powell's at this writing is selling it for $8.95—a pretty good deal.

The next book I'm reviewing here is also by Raymond Hatton: Bend in Central Oregon. Like his previous book, this is a fairly short read (134 pages) yet fairly comprehensive.

The first thing to notice on the book is the publication date; originally published in 1978 and revised in 1986, there is an obvious 20-year gap for anyone looking for a more recent history of Bend, and at the same time, reading about "modern" Bend up until about 1980 is charmingly anachronistic and surprisingly relevant.

For example, Wall Street in downtown Bend used to be the main Highway 97 thoroughfare through the area, but:

Late in 1962, the Highway 97 by-pass was opened, rerouting through traffic one mile east of downtown Bend [on to Third Street]. Landscape changes resulting from the establishment of the "by-pass" have been profound. In many respects the character of Third Street, as it is commonly known, reflects a typical commercial strip highway, found in "Anytown, U.S.A."

The theme that the by-pass "drained some of the vitality from the heart of the city" immediately sounds familiar to anyone who remembers the Parkway debate of the '90s, and the "stripmall" criticism of Third Street (from 45 years ago!) resonates surprisingly with the article that appeared in the Bulletin last week:

Ripe for redevelopment is the Third Street corridor, where buildings popped up decades ago when the road was still the major highway through Bend.

"The development that emerged out there was almost entirely auto-orientated - fast foods, convenience uses, gas stations - low density uses that service high volumes," Shetterly said.

Of course, the function of Third Street changed when the Parkway was built in the 1990s.

"The days of serving as a classic strip (mall) corridor are nearing an end," he said. "We see that in the site by site changes in land use."

To help create a better Third Street, one of the suggestions is to add trees and other landscaping, build sidewalks, construct buildings along the edge of the street and put in bike lanes.

Anyway, back to the book. Like his other, this one is well-supplemented with black and white photos of Bend from various eras and stages, and Hatton pulls quotes from various sources (though the text is not as quote-heavy as High Desert). The main section of the book looks at the history and growth of Bend as a city, and is the most interesting as a result. Other sections look at the geography of the area, downtown, landmarks, and parks.

It's a good book, and one of the things most striking to me was the fact that the issues over growth, tourism, and "outsiders" moving into the area have been an source of discussion and contention since at least the 1930s—despite the common perception (mine included) that it has really only been an issue since the 1990s.

I highly recommend it. It can be found at the library and Amazon.com (used starting at $2.34); being out of print since 1986, I haven't seen it at the Book Barn but I'm sure they could order copies for you if you asked.

One of the things I decided to start doing on this blog was book reviews of books by local authors, or about the area in general. The first review covers both: High Desert of Central Oregon, by Raymond Hatton.

Hatton is Professor Emeritus of Geography up at COCC, and has written a number of books about Central Oregon. High Desert was first released in 1977 and the latest edition (Third) was published in 1997. You can find it at the library, or the Book Barn has several copies available for $12.95.

At 141 pages, it's a fairly quick read, liberally supplemented with black and white photographs of many of the topics covered. Much of the text quotes other (usually older) sources, with Hatton's very readable writing style tying them together.

The book is an excellent primer on, well, the High Desert, and while parts of it seem dated—it was originally written in the '70s, after all—the sections concerning themselves with geography and climate are as relevant as ever. It's roughly divided into two sections: a history of homesteading on the High Desert (a period which only lasted roughly from 1900 until 1920 in various stages) and general descriptions of the three main areas of Central Oregon desert: east of Bend along Highway 20 towards Burns, Fort Rock Valley, and Christmas Lake Valley. Each section covers some local history, as well.

Bottom line: it's definitely worth a read, but to be honest, I'm a bit allergic to shelling out 13 bucks for a short book like this. If you can find it used, go for it—it's currently out-of-print otherwise, so if you're dying to own a copy of this book, head on down to the Book Barn or pick one up from Amazon.com at its full price.

Saturday, January 20 is the Deschutes Public Library's Winter Book Sale. Sponsored by the Friends of the Library, it takes places from 10am until 4pm at the Library Administration Building at 507 NW Wall (the smaller building just a block down the street from the main library).

They always have great deals at these sales, if you can find books you're interested in—so arrive early (it's first come, first served).

I got this in email yesterday...

The Nature of Words, Central Oregon's Premier Literary Event, will take place November 2 through 5, 2006 in Bend, Oregon. Highlights of the weekend include readings by eight nationally acclaimed authors and poets at the Tower Theatre, two days of writing workshops held at the Oregon State University/Cascades Campus, and a sit-down dinner and panel discussion at the High Desert Museum. An open mike for regional writers, with the visiting authors in the audience, is the concluding event of the weekend.

Anyone with questions can contact us at 541.385.7025, via email at info@thenatureofwords.org, or the website http://www.thenatureofwords.org/

You can follow the links on their website for buying tickets... in short, though, readings are $12, workshops are $45, and the reception and dinner is $65 and $85 (for different tables). The workshops are generally limited to 15 participants, so you'd better buy your tickets early.

This Saturday, the 7th, is the Friends of the Bend Library Fall Book Sale. They have "Thousands of books of all kinds for sale: fiction, nonfiction, travel books, children's books. Music CD’s and free books too!" It's taking place at the Library Administration Building (507 NW Wall Street, just down from the main library building) from 10am until 4pm.

These are usually pretty good sales; the quality of books you'll find at one depends on both how soon you get there and what you're looking for. So get there early! And the deals are unbeatable, too. I'll definitely try to make it.

You know, I realized the other day that this town really doesn't have that many used book stores. Not including thrift stores that have a book section, I count four (in Bend):

• The Bookmark: 228 NE Greenwood
  
• The Open Book: 155 NE Greendwood
  
• Pegasus Books: 105 NW Minnesota. Known primarily for comic books, collectible cards and toys, Pegasus also sells used books.
  
• Xela Gallery: 920 NW Bond, Suite 206

My favorite of the bunch is the Open Book. They've been there forever and stock a ton of books. Good selection and reasonably priced, too.

I often think of that stretch of two blocks on Greenwood—just west of the light on 3rd—as the book store district. Especially when the Paperback Exchange was still open, across the street from the Open Book.

I've never been in to Xela Gallery, but it's located in the Penney Galleria downtown. Since I work downtown (more or less), I'll have to check it out one of these days.

Among other things happening this July 4th (which I'll blog about separately), the Bend Public Library is having one of their big book sales on that day. It's running from 10am to 4pm down at the Library Administration Building at 507 NW Wall Street (just south of the main library building), on Tuesday the 4th. Their blurb says, "Thousands of books of all kinds for sale: fiction, nonfiction, travel books, children's books. Music CD’s and free books too!"

The sign I saw at the library said hardcovers would be priced at $1, and softcovers for 50 cents (or cheaper, maybe). That's a great deal, but in general, the earlier you can get there, the better. Pickings get pretty slim as the day wears on. At any rate, I think I'm going to try to get down there sometime after the Pet Parade, if all goes well.

It was only relatively recently that I found out my friend Brian had written a book a few years back, called The 11th Postcard. Shannon recommended it, but said the only place you can get it is Amazon.

So imagine my surprise the other day when I was browsing in The Book Barn on a whim, and, checking out their local authors shelf, there was Brian's book—and not just one, but five copies! It's $12.95, and I bought one today. I figure, I could have bought it from Amazon, but this way I can support a local business and get the book immediately.

I'll write a review after I've had a chance to read it. Watch out, Brian. ;)

(By the way, The Book Barn in downtown is a really great store and deserves its own blog post here. I'll write one up sometime soon.)