Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Our dear friend, Kim Jeffrey, has offered on short notice to OPEN the bookshop tomorrow morning. Kim is opening her own pottery and gift shop in the spring just around the corner. We welcome Kim and appreciate her help.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

We will be attending a family funeral. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience. We will be available as usual for Story Hour in the afternoon.

The Charles Taylor Prize 2011

And the winner is:

Mordecai: The Life & Times by Charles Foran, Alfred A. Kopf Canada. The 10th Charles Taylor prize was announced on Monday, February 14 at an event in Toronto, Ontario. The winner was presented with a cheque for $25,000 and a specially commissioned crystal award.

The remaining nominees were presented with a leather-bound copy of their shortlisted book and an honorarium of $2,000.

http://www.thecharlestaylorprize.ca/

Monday, February 14, 2011


How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.

I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints ~ I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! ~ and if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

~Elizabeth Barrett Browning, English poet; wife of Robert Browning (1806 - 1861)
Sonnets from the Portuguese (1850) no. 43 The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, Oxford University Press,
2001.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Thought for Today: A Love Story

Katharine Hepburn and Tracy Spencer made nine movies together. Two weeks after making their last movie, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Spencer died suddenly.

"They were motion picture nobility, but they never went out together to restaurants, movie premieres, or big parties. They maintained separate residences and the press honored their privacy." *
Spencer was married.

During the twenty-seven years they shared their lives together, unmarried, the press respected their privacy. Unimaginable today. "It was a unique feeling that I had for S.T.
I would have done anything for him. My feelings -- how can you describe them? -- the door between us was always open. There were no reservations of any kind. . . It is called LOVE." **

* The Private World of Katharine Hepburn by John Bryson with a forward by KH. Little Brown & Company 1990. ** ME Stories of My Life, KH. 1991. Knopf.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Moments in Nature
A Photographic Exhibit ~ The Neat Little Bookshop

"Beauty is all around us if we take the time to look..." Scott C. Walker





On the Subject of Love:

"We use this expression very carelessly. 'I love you.' What does this mean? It seems to me I discovered what 'I love you' really means. It means I put you and your interests and your comfort ahead of my own interests and my own comfort because I love you.

"LOVE has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get -- only with what you are expecting to give -- which is everything. What you receive in return varies. But it really has no connection with what you give. You give because you love and you cannot help giving. If you are very lucky, you may be loved back. That is delicious but it does not necessarily happen.

"It really implies total devotion. And total is all-encompassing -- the good of you, the bad of you."

~Katharine Hepburn, American actress (1907 - 2003) ME Stories of My Life, 1991, Alfred Knopf.

At the original Hepburn home at 133 Hawthorn Street in Harford, Connecticut, six words inscribed on the fireplace:

"Listen to the Song of Life."