"My memory of being a kid is that my mother was available but rarely hovering or directing my activities.  My siblings and I did not have organized playdates.  We rode our bikes around the neighbourhood without adult supervision.  Our parents might have checked on our homework once in a while, but they rarely sat with us while we completed it.  Today, a 'good mother' is always around and always devoted to the needs of her children.  Sociologists call this relatively new phenomenon 'intensive mothering,'  and it has culturally elevated the importance of women spending large amounts of time with their children.  Being judged against the current all-consuming standard means mothers who work outside the home feel as if we are failing, even if we are spending the same number of hours with our kids as our mothers did."

~ LEAN IN ~ WOMEN, WORK, AND THE WILL TO LEAD, Sheryl Sandberg (Chief Operating Officer Facebook) Alfred A. Knopf, 2013.  www.leanin.org

On Friendship ~

"You shall judge of a man by his foes as well as by his friends."  ~ Joseph Conrad (1857-1924)  Writer b. Ukraine.

"It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) Amer. poet, essayist.

"He makes no friend who never made a foe." ~ Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892) Poet Laureate Great Britain & Ireland.

"Constant use had not worn ragged the fabric of their friendship." ~ Dorothy Parker (1893-1967) Amer. writer.

"It is good to have some friends both in Heaven and in Hell." ~ George Herbert (1593-1633) English writer.

"Friends
to borrow my books
and set wet glasses on them."

~ Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869-1935) Amer. poet.

Random Act of Kindness ~  Cold temperatures, relentless winds, endless icy snowbanks on the streets and village sidewalks and today an act of random kindness.  Thank you, Grant Church.  Camera caught him helping downtown.

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..."

"There are a great many opinions in this world, and a good half of them are professed by people who have never been in trouble."

~ Canadian writer, Mavis Gallant (August 1922 - February, 2014)
The Harper Book of Quotations, edited by Robert I. Fitzhenry. HarperCollins, 1993.

 

Mavis Gallant (August 11, 1922 - February 18, 2014)

Master of the short Story

 

Mavis Gallant, Canadian author who seldom gave interviews spent much of her writing years in Paris, France where she died at age ninety-one.

Best known for her short stories, Gallant wrote:

"There is something I keep wanting to say about reading short stories.  I am doing it now, because I may never have another occasion.  Stories are not chapters of novels.  They should not be read one after another, as if they were meant to follow along.  Read one.  Shut the book.  Read something else.  Stories can wait." *

~ *Preface of The Selected Stories of MAVIS GALLANT, McClelland & Stewart Inc., 1996. 

 

 



 

 

The Literary Round Table

Welcomes

 

Suzanne M. Hurley

 

Caledonia Author

 

Thur. Feb. 20,  1:00 p.m.

 

 

Everyone Welcome

 

 

 

Caledonia author Suzanne Hurley's latest release is a new genre for this author.  Her previous books (eight now in total) were mysteries.  To the Stars is a fictional novel dedicated to all young people who have lost a loved one.  To read a glowing review by K.T. Bowes of Readersfavorite.com, visit www.suzannemhurley.com

 

Recipient of the Publishers' Best Seller Award four years in a row and having made the finalists for the Epic eBook Awards in 2012, Hurley is clearly on her way to becoming a well-loved author.

 

Join us in The Neat L'l Bookshop on Thursday.  Suzanne will be reading from her books and taking your questions.

Read Mike Burgess' story in the February 6 issue of The Sachem & Gazette.