Kriston, the couple of times I've been to Portland, Powell's has been one of my favorite places to hang out. Their main store is, I'm told, the largest book store in the country. It takes up a whole city block and has (from what I remember) five or six floors filled with books, both new and used. The people who work there actually read, and I found them to be very helpful (both in person and when I've called from LA looking for some out-of-print thing).

I've been to Powells in Portland. Awesome place. Browsed till I was dizzy.

I see Powells is 100% Blue because the CEO donated to Kerry. Kind of a silly way to decide who you want to do your book buying from.

Gotta give credit to Amazon for the way they raised money for Tsunami relief.

You know to link through the ILWU portal, right?

http://www.powellsunion.com/

Politics & Prose is a bastion of NW DC progressivism too. I don't remember the book, but about a year ago they ordered 40 copies of some conservative screed. After three weeks or some similarly significant period they had sold none of them.

By all means P&P. And I bet their food is better than Kramerbooks, as well; Carla Cohen (co-owner) is the sister of Mark Furstenberg (founder of Marvelous Market; owner of The Bread Line).

hmm... who is that silhouetted man on the right of that picutre &mdash the one with the spectacles.

really, i just thought it was funny that i originally titled my picture from my visit "kramer's books."

still, quite a place, even if their essays section was less than comprehensive.