Author John Passfield, admits that folks sometimes accuse him of writing only about tragedies.

Tuesday evening, September 20, John will be talking about the Victoria Day Tragedy. The Neat Little Bookshop carries John's books ~ we are not familiar with the Victoria Day Tragedy but we are anxious to learn whether it is a St. Thomas story. John grew up in St. Thomas, Ontario, and has spent years researching the history. Even the small towns and villages have their stories to tell.

Everyone is welcome to attend The York Grand River Historical Society, 7:30 p.m. in the Golden Horseshoe Hall, Hwy. 54 in the village of York. Join in the discussions with a dedicated circle of historians. Enjoy a coffee and sweets.

Photo: John Passfield in The Neat Little Bookshop. In the photo ~ Molly Cooper of Cayuga.

View From The Neat Little Bookshop Window

John, Keith & Emma
take a break after putting up our sign.

View From Bookshop Window.

Float on its way to Haldimand Motors Annual Tricycle Race .

"Achieved art is quite incapable of lowering the spirits. If this were not so, each performance of King Lear would end in a Jonestown."

~ Martin Amis, British novelist in his appreciation of Philip Larken, Financial Times column Aug. 19. The Larkin Puzzle (P. Larken, British poet, 1922 - 1985.)
Amis' Philip Larken Poems published by Faber will be out in September, 2011.

Quotation came to our attention via Laurie Miller. Thanks, Laurie.

Smile For Today ~ Sunflowers

Note to Our Authors:

Neil Paul with Mrs. Huitema ~ Neat Little Bookshop Poetry Reading

In The Neat Little Bookshop we have always had the pleasure of hosting authors and other fascinating personalities. We look forward to rescheduling folks who were on our calendar when we were interrupted by suddenly having to relocate the bookshop. Just to mention a few ~ Neil Paul, John Geddes and Jose Penny. We welcome all authors to once again visit with us whether it is to do a reading, sign books or launch a new book.

Meet the authors, read and share stories. Watch for exciting updates!

T R A V E L

"Whether we wish it or not we are involved in the world's problems, and all the winds of heaven blow through our land."

A Preface to Politics [1913]

"In the great blooming, buzzing confusion of the outer world we pick out what our culture has already defined for us, and we tend to perceive that which we have picked out in the form stereotyped for us by our culture."

A Preface to Politics [1913], ch. 6 Stereotypes

~ Walter Lippmann (1889 - 1974) American journalist, author, philosopher

Source: BARTLETT'S Familiar Quotations, Sixth ed., 1992

They don't call it mania. . .

""It's gotten so I can tell when I see that furrowed faraway gaze in the eyes of a customer in a used-book store, having come to a dead stop, that he is trying to conjure up his bookcases in his mind's eye and remember whether or not he has the book he has found."


"That's one of the things that all bookaholics share, like a common symptom of a genetic disease. You come across a fine volume and you can't remember if you have it, or maybe you have it with a different jacket, or maybe in paperback and here is this fine hardcover copy -- or is your copy back at home also hardcover?"

~ A Passion for Books, Three Rivers Press, 1999. Edited by Harold Rabinowitz & Rob Kaplan