~ Giving Thanks

With our Canadian Thanksgiving behind us and the U.S. coming up, it seems appropriate to honor family-time.

Many questions about the future of reading have been raised with the arrival of computers.

To imagine a world without books is to deny that people are attached to the old familiar form that generations have read to their children. Imagine passing down a copy of Nancy Drew that belonged to you, to your daughter ~ on a Kindle! Imagine the loss of a story before bedtime. Could anyone look back on their childhood and fondly recall gathering around a computer?

In a used bookshop, it remains dear to our hearts that customers constantly ask for nostalgic volumes that have little value other than that it is a book their Mother used to read to them.

Back to Business...

The Cayuga & District Chamber of Commerce is holding their 4th Annual Trade Show on Saturday, November 7th., 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Cayuga Kinsmen Hall.
http://www.cayugachamber.ca/ The easiest way to access the Kin Hall is Regional Road 17 (the road leading to Dunnville winding along the Grand River).
This event will feature booths of the various area businesses. Activities include food samplings and new-product demonstrations ~ and books! Meet friends and neighbours and discover surprising services available locally. Free admission. Door prizes and silent auction.

Ride a Cock-horse to Banbury Cross

To all of our friends, Happy Thanksgiving Holidays.

(Don't forget Story Hour on Wednesday after school 'til 5:00. Under three, must be accompanied by an adult.)

Fall Hours

The Village Green, Cayuga Street, Cayuga-On-The-Grand.
Bookshop Hours: Continue to Open each day, Wed. to Sat. at 11:00 a.m.
Closing Wed. at 5:00; Thurs. & Fri. at 8:00;
Sat. at 3:00.
Photo: by Lorna

~ Best Wishes for a Happy Thanksgiving ~

Best wishes to everyone for a Happy Thanksgiving from beautiful Cayuga-On-The-Grand.

Photo: Ouse Street behind the bookshop

by Lorna (Click on photo for larger image.)

Bibliomaniacs

The word, "Biblio-maniac" came up during a conversation with an avid scrabble buff. A bibliomaniac is defined in the Canadian Oxford Dictionary as a person having "an extreme enthusiasm for collecting and possessing books."
I have read about eccentrics having to move out of their houses because there was no room left after collecting thousands of books. Frequently, we are assured by customers that they have more books than a bookstore. Often we are cautioned that floors have collapsed under the weight of books. At auction sales, book nuts tell us how many thousands of books they own -- as they bid on more. (Bibliomaniacs are generally not satisfied with one copy of a book.)
A customer who is not a bibliomaniac, expressed to us her puzzlement over a note attached to a trunkful of books found in her father's house, "Do not discard. Valuable."
We could try to explain this lack of self-control when it comes to collecting books, but that would take several books.

Book Lovers

Gizmo, where did you leave your book? (This is Gizmo, of whom we often speak.)

Anyone visiting The Neat Little Bookshop, will eventually meet this wee girl.

Today we pass on a poem by Ralph W. Bergengren; Jane, Joseph and John, Their Book of Verses, 1921*

My Pop is always buying books

So that Mom says his study looks

Just like an old bookstore. The bookshelves are so full and tall,

They hide the paper on the wall,

And there are books just everywhere,

On table, window-seat, and chair,

And books right on the floor.

And every little while he buys

More books, and brings them home and tries

To find a place where they will fit,

And has an awful time of it.

Once, when I asked him why he got So many books, he said, "Why not?"

I've puzzled over that a lot.

In a used bookshop we often hear this sentiment!

*Ralph Wilhelm Bergengren, author of The Comforts of Home.