Hoping that you had a wonderful Valentine's Day!  We have been busy in the bookshop acknowledging some of the folks who have helped make the bookshop better.  If you are ever on facebook, check out the numerous photographs of fascinating personalities and of course authors who have visited us.

There are too many to mention and we don't have photographs of everyone.  It was in November of 2004 that our first bookshelves appeared on Cayuga Street.  We existed in a remote corner at 11 Cayuga Street opposite the red-brick building where Herb Martindale began the original Neat Little Bookshop.  There were five empty commercial windows at the time and since that, businesses have come and gone.  Thank you to all of our supporters:  family and friends, customers and fellow Cayuga Street businesses.

~ John & Lorna

Visit https://www.davidjforsyth.com/ to view David J. Forsyth's biography and books.

 

 

Downtown Village of Cayuga

Topic Change for this Thursday:

FRIENDSHIP, WAR and POETRY ~ Presented by Dr. Alan Bishop

Robert Frost, Edward Thomas, Ivor Gurney
Eleanor Farjeon, Helen Thomas, Marion Scott

Join us for an informative and inspirational afternoon with Alan.  Coffee pot's on...

"In in case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you." ~ Mortimer J. Adler

 

Author Brad Smith

 

Signing New Release "ROUGH JUSTICE"

TOPIC:  Henri J.M. Nouwen (1932 - 1996) Dutch theologian, writer.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 21 at 1:00 p.m.

 

KIRK DU GUID & ROBERT OTTERMAN

 

Author Kirk Du Guid interviewed two dozen Haldimand Veterans and published "in their own words",

 

Soldiers' Stories

 

Join us in the bookshop ~ Coffee & tea always on...

 

 



 

 

Kirk Du Guid interviewed soldiers in the Haldimand area and in their own words published for posterity their stories.

"[Soldiers]  hope by telling their stories they will leave a legacy, so that our youth can understand what happens in conflict, and why people go to 'serve'."
~ Kirk Du Guid.

Other books by Kirk Du Guid THE FIRST COLD CASE, THE FIRST DRUG SQUAD, Du Guid's Anthology and To the Last Round.

The Neat Little Bookshop is pleased to make available a limited quantity of Soldiers' Stories.  We also have limited quantities of THE FIRST DRUG SQUAD and Du Guid's Anthology.  Books by local authors make thoughtful gifts.

The second printing of Soldiers' Stories includes additional special soldier stories.

"The chase ended with a gunshot as the drug dealer's car hit a small tree on the apartment building's lawn.  The uniformed O.P.P. officer ran up to the car, ripped the driver's door open, and pulled the suspect out of the vehicle.  Once handcuffed the officer turned him over to a back-up officer and started to search the car. On the floor behind the driver's seat he found a pill bottle containing fifty red and gray capsules.  It was Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (L.S.D.) in a new, powdered form.

Drugs started to invade southern Ontario in quantity in the early 1970's, and the Ontario Provincial Police hierarchy decided it was time to form their first "Drug Squad."  This is the story of how a fledgling Drug Squad might have reacted to a new and hazardous form of policing they had never encountered before."

~ Kirk Du Guid, The First Drug Squad.  First Choice Books, 2012.
Author of Soldiers' Stories, The First Cold Case and Du Guid's Anthology.

{Books published by local authors make thoughtful gifts.}

JOIN US ~ 

Reading Thursday, September 17, 1:00 p.m.

John Passfield

Ospringe:  A Visit with Grandad

The story is set in Southern England in Kent.  Two children growing up in the 20s sharing stories with their grandad.  Reading and discussion.  "Coffee pot's always on..."

Credit:  "Ospringe church" by OhNoPeedyPeebles at English Wikipedia - Own work (Original text: I created this work entirely by myself.). Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ospringe_church.jpg#/media/File:Ospringe_church.jpg

In my craft or sullen art
Exercised in the still night
When only the moon rages
And the lovers lie abed
With all their griefs in their arms,
I labour by singing light
Not for ambition or bread
Or the strut and trade of charms
On the ivory stages
But for the common wages
Of their most secret heart.
Not for the proud man apart
From the raging moon I write
On these spindrift pages
Nor for the towering dead
With their nightingales and psalms
But for the lovers, their arms
Round the griefs of the ages,
Who pay no praise or wages
Nor heed my craft or art.

Join us in The Neat L'l Bookshop on Thursday, January 15 at 1:00 p.m.  Laurie Miller, author of "The Avro Arrow" will read and present the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas.  Everyone welcome ~ coffee pot's always on. . .

"The bards of ancient Wales were either master poets patronized at the Welsh courts or minstrels wandering from village to inn, telling their tales for bread and shelter.  The court bards had to undergo a rigorous training in metre and metaphor and Christian allegory;  a restricted official vocabulary, carefully vetted for heresy or indulgence, limited the abundance of the Welsh language. . .Bards competed fiercely for the Chairs of Poetry at the various courts and for the patronage of the Welsh kings; but they were more courtiers than poets, more interested in a safe position than in the dangerous search after poetic truth.  At one period, the court bards accepted a metrical code of writing, which restricted them in practice to writing eulogies of the princes and elegies for their deaths.  The riches of the full Welsh language and its treasure of myths and romances were abandoned to the minstrels or travelling bards."

Last year, 2014, Wales celebrated one of their most famous bards, Dylan Thomas.  His writing and travels, the great Welsh tradition of reading and writing poetry will be the topic in the NEAT LITTLE BOOKSHOP on Third Thursday, January 15 at 1:00 p.m. We are pleased to have Laurie Miller, author of Avro Arrow, who will read and discuss Dylan Thomas.

 

Join us on Thursday, January 15 AT 1:00 p.m.

~ DYLAN THOMAS POET OF HIS PEOPLE Andrew Sinclair, Michael Joseph Ltd, 1975.

New Release ~ "FINAL DESCENT The Loss of the Flagship Erie" by Robert D. Schweyer is a well-researched and well-written account of a DC-3 crash in Ontario near St. Thomas in 1941.
The aircraft was an American Airlines passenger plane that went down under mysterious circumstances leaving no survivors.  At the time, this was the worst air disaster occurring in Canada.  "Final Descent" casts light on the early days of air travel and how the basics of air safety we have today were formed.  This book is available in our shop at $18.95.

The Avro Arrow

The story of the great Canadian Cold War Combat Jet in Pictures and Documents by Lawrence Miller.

Lawrence's 2011 book, THE AVRO ARROW A PICTURE HISTORY / DRAMATIC IMAGES sold out -- it is out of print.

On order now -- and with our fingers crossed, -- Lawrence's 2014 book, The Avro Arrow.  We hope to make it available at The Neat Little Bookshop. Soft cover $19.95 no tax

~ Canadian Publisher, James Lorimer & Company Ltd.

 

25 1/2  x 20 cm, 111 pages

Update:  Available now in The Neat L'l Bookshop $19.95

Today Only his Nose Shows

The Neat L'l Bookshop has postponed the Third Thursday Reading.  "Ol' Dylan has been dead long enough that he isn't going anywhere -- he will still be around whenever we get back to him." ~ Laurie Miller

We look forward to rescheduling the Dylan Thomas reading.  Thank you, Laurie.

[Photo of Boy With Book taken before the big storm.  Today, only his nose shows.]




This is *before* the big storm

We would be amiss if we didn't mention the great books available for the person interested in local history.

Visit The Neat Little Bookshop for books by local authors ~ books about subjects close-to-home that family and friends might not "spring-for" themselves but undoubtedly would be happy to receive as a gift.  They may just share with you.

Neil Dring Visiting with William Thomas

www.williamthomas.ca Search William Thomas or stop at The Neat Little Bookshop.  We carry Thomas' books, including The Dog Rules -- Damn Near Everything!  You may have met the author when he visited The Neat Little Bookshop or you may read his weekly column in the local papers.  Whatever, he never fails to make one laugh.  "...a three-year-old Great Dane from Portland, Oregon was found to have eaten 43 1/2 socks.  His owners starting asking questions when the family budget revealed they were spending more money on socks than water, heat and hydro.

"One day Hamlet [dog's name changed] just started writhing and retching and was immediately rushed to the nearest animal hospital.  The vet was certain it was something the dog had eaten but he had no idea at the time it was the argyles.  Argyles disagree with everybody." *

*"All The World's A Circus," William Thomas.  The Haldimand Press,  10/1/14

Photo:  The Neat L'l Bookshop, Cayuga St. location.

While researching his family tree, author David J. Forsyth vowed to someday record his own story for his descendants.  Dafydd is that story.  Growing up in rural Ontario in the forties and fifties, David describes the crystal radio kit that his brother received as a birthday gift, the stone boat that his father used to clear stones from the fields and the fishing trips to beneath the high-level bridge in Hamilton.  With all his recalled incidents, he concedes that "recollections can never quite capture the excitement of youth."

Join us today ~ 1:00 p.m.

 

We welcome David today in The Neat L'l Bookshop ~ reading and discussing his book.* 1:00 p.m.  Join us.

* Dafydd, 2012. Fifth Concession Publishing, Printed by Carruthers Printing Inc., Smithville.  Bound by Van Huizes Bookbinding & Finishing Ltd., St. Catharines.

[Check out the May issue of The Free Press, Serving Haldimand Communities.  An excellent article on the author.]

Author, David Richard Beasley

Speaking at the York Grand River Society, author David Beasley, described his family's military history through the rebellions in New York State followed by the American Revolution, the War of 1812 and the formation of Upper Canada.

Follow one family's fascinating, well-researched story through the War of 1812 and their contribution to the building of a nation.  From Bloody Beginnings / Richard Beasley's Upper Canada by David Richard Beasley. 2008.
www.davuspublishing.com

Other books by D. R. Beasley include:  Sarah's Journey, The Canadian Don Quixote, the Life and Works of Major John Richardson and Beasley's Guide to Library Research.

Suzanne Hurley "To the Stars"

Meet the Author Suzanne Hurley, reading today in The Neat L'l Bookshop.  Suzanne recently released her eighth novel ~ a popular mystery series and now a novel intended for young people who have experienced the loss of a loved one.  To the Stars has received glowing reviews.  To read more, visit the author's website www.suzannemhurley.com

                THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1:00 p.m.

"Everyone Welcome ~ coffee pot's always on..."