When it snows in Portland, everything comes to a halt. Cars and bikes and pedestrians slow down; everything feels like it’s on hold. Speaking of which, it’s the perfect time to browse the library catalogue and put books on hold, so that they’re waiting at the library when the streets finally thaw. Some titles that appealed to me during this snowy weekend:

• The Residue Years by Mitchell S. Jackson: set in NE Portland in the 1990s, The Residue Year follows the story a recovering drug addict and her dealer son—not your usual Portland novel, which should make a refreshing change.
• Portland Confidential: Sex, Crime, and Corruption in the City of Roses by Phil Stanford: a look at the seamier side of Portland history during the 1910s through the 1950s, which promises to dish a great deal of dirt about bootleggers, lumber barons, and politicians.
• And an outlier, Dirty Snow by Georges Simenon: the pimp, thug, and petty thief Frank Friedmaier caters to the desires of the German forces in occupied France during WWII, and the novel follows his increasing brutality during a long, cold winter.