Visit With The Author ~ Brad Smith

Author of Big Man Coming Down the Road, One-Eyed Jacks*, Busted Flush, All Hat, Rises a Moral Man and now his sixth book, Red Means Run.

Local author, Brad Smith, will be at The Neat Little Bookshop on Saturday, February 18 at 1:30 p.m. signing books.

"For such a furiously funny writer, Smith has great reserves of tenderness."
~ New York Times Book Review

"His characters are drawn with precision and sympathy, and seem as real as any in contemporary fiction."
~ Toronto Star

*One-Eyed Jacks was shortlisted for the Dashiell Hammett and Arthur Ellis Awards. Brad grew up in Canfield, Ontario. He lives in the Dunnville area.

http://www.bradsmithbooks.com/ Photo: Smith signing books at Flyers Cafe in Dunnville ~ L. B. Walker

Greeting Cards Lovingly Handmade by Angie ~

Imagine hours of sitting quietly with scissors, paper and glue. Angie Van Groningen's greeting cards are unquestionably a labour of love. Sparkles and tiny gems artistically placed amid layers of finely crafted images ~ this is the stuff that brings a smile. We have received cards meticulously sewn with golden thread. Whatever the occasion ~ new-baby congrats, anniversary, birthday and get-well wishes ~ Angie has thought of it!

Angie and her husband live in Holland most of the year. Whenever they visit Canada, which is several times a year ~ Angie comes by the bookshop with surprises of tea and a basket of her latest handmade cards. Thank you, Angie, for spreading beautiful thoughts and warm hugs.

"WHATEVER mitigates the woes or increases the happiness of others, this is my criterion of goodness; and whatever injures society at large, or any individual in it, this is my measure in iniquity."

~ Robert Burns (January 25, 1759 - July 21,1796)

Many of you may have warmed someone's heart with greeting cards from The Neat Little Bookshop. Do you know the story behind them ? That coming up tomorrow ~

"May your day be filled with fun and laughter." Some of Angie's beautiful greeting cards are blank, some deliver warm sentiments ~ ALL are "Lovingly Hand Made by Angie."

Joseph Heller, author of Catch-22 and Portrait of An Artist as An Old Man, explained why he kept writing,

"I have nothing else to do. The phone isn't ringing much anymore with calls I don't want to receive. There are no more faxes coming in with requests for interviews I don't want to give, no invitations from people I don't want to see for parties I don't want to go to. Damn it, I miss those interruptions!. . . Writing is about the only way I can define myself."

~ Joseph Heller (1923 - 1999) American satirical novelist.
Heller introduced a new phrase into the English language with "Catch-22." Simon & Schuster, 1961.

Source: Endangered Species, Writers Talk About Their Craft,Lawrence Grobel, Da Capo Press, 2001.

Don't forget to give your friends a hug. . .

Smile For Today ~

Thought for Today:

"Have you ever rightly considered what the mere ability to read means? That it is the key which admits us to the whole world of thought and fancy and imagination? to the company of saint and sage, of the wisest and the wittiest at their wisest and wittiest moment? That it enables us to see with the keenest eyes, hear with the finest ears, and listen to the sweetest voices of all time?"

~ James Russell Lowell, American poet and critic (1819 - 1891) Democracy and Other Addresses, 'Books and Libraries'
The Writer and The Reader, Blandford Press, 1884