In honor of National Read a Book Day, here are five ways you can celebrate.

1. Waiting at Hayden’s by Riley Costello. I’ll start off by recommending my daughter’s book—a novel set in Portland that deals with the complicated nature of timing in modern-day relationships. Get to know Charli and Jack, a couple who meet and fall in love before they are ready to settle down, and Gianna, a thirtysomething restaurant owner who is ready to settle down but hasn’t met the love of her life. The choices they make will keep you turning the pages. And while you do, you can shop-the-book as Riley has created a new reading experience format called shopfiction that allows you to watch scenes unfold and shop the characters’ clothes. Here’s how it works. And the book trailer. Waiting at Hayden’s is available on Amazon. (If you read it, please leave a review on Amazon. Thanks!)
2. Us Against You by Fredrik Backman. The author is famous for writing about odd characters that you come to love like Ove (A Man Called Ove) and Britt Marie (Britt Marie Was Here). Last year he wrote about an odd town—Beartown—a small isolated town that rests its hopes for redemption on its ice hockey team until a scandal threatens to tear it apart. This year he brings us back to Beartown and the aftermath of that scandal as the town tries to redraw its dividing lines and in the process finds many of those lines blurred. Both are great reads.
3. The Paris Architect by Charles Belfoure. My wife insisted this show up on the list as it’s on her top five of all time. It tells the story of an architect who finds himself getting increasingly involved in efforts to design clever hiding places for Jews in Paris during World War II.
4. The Women’s Murder Club series by James Patterson. I know Patterson is getting all the press right now for his co-authored book with Bill Clinton, The President is Missing, but I’ve been working my way through his Women’s Murder Club series and am hooked. The stories revolve around four women: a police officer, reporter, medical examiner and defense attorney who all bring their expertise to solving crimes. If you like knowing there’s more where that came from when you like an author, then this is a good fit as there are 17 books in the series.
5. Willamette Valley Wineries by Barbara Smith Randall. Lake Oswego Review reporter and resident has done the homework for us, tracing the 50 year history of our award winning Willamette Valley Wine region. What happened that a land that as she describes was considered “too cold and wet to grow great grapes” was named Wine Region of the Year in 2016 by Wine Enthusiast? Satisfy your curiosity by reading her book.

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