News - week of 12 January 2018

Best wishes to everyone for a great New Year.

It is a blizzard outside our windows today, the Christmas decorations have been stored away for another year, the window full of fake snow while the real stuff swirls around outside.

Our sale table is once again full of great bargains for your reading pleasure – this week the selection includes a lot of books on knitting to keep you busy through the winter.

As the New Year begins there are a few noteworthy new releases –

Peculiar Ground by Lucy Hughes-Hallet is new in hardcover. She is well known in the UK as a writer of non-fiction, but this new novel will be as popular in North America as it has been in England, I am sure. It is a great big saga of a story centred around life on an English estate, from the 1600s to the present time. See this weeks review for more detail.

New in paperback is We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter. I loved this book and you can read the review on our website to see why.

Peter May is one of our most popular mystery writers. His earlier books are being re-released for a North American audience, and this month we see the first in his China Thriller series, The Fire Maker. And, there are lots more to come!

MAKING WONDERFUL NEW TRADITIONS

Those of us in book business are happy to see new traditions in gift giving that make books the main attraction.

For the past few years many baby shower hosts have asked guests to forgo a card and bring a book for the new baby. A wonderful way to help a young family start a library and introduce a child to a world of reading.

This Christmas season there are more and more families choosing books as this year’s gift of choice.

A friend shared a great facebook post with me about the Icelandic tradition of Jolabokaflod. Icelanders are among the most literate people in the world, and it is a long standing tradition in Iceland to exchange books as gifts on Christmas Eve - then head to bed with a book and some chocolate! Sounds, to me, the absolutely most perfect way to spend Christmas Eve.

In North America this follows on the heels of the increasingly popular Blind Date with a Book. Book lovers gather, each with a favourite wrapped book and a tag indicating the general theme of the enclosed book. Each person chooses a wrapped book, and one by one they are opened. And, one by one, a book is kept, or traded for someone else’s unopened package.

What a great way to spend an evening with friends and family.

We’ve got the books to make for Happy Reading!!

The week before Christmas 2017

10 DAYS FROM TODAY – AND NO FEAR OF A GREEN CHRISTMAS THIS YEAR!

It has been a busy Christmas season at Parry Sound Books as we help our customers select books for everyone on their list  – and the books Santa will leave under the tree for every member of the family. And for those who are still undecided, we offer gift certificates - the perfect gift for anyone!

We will be open until 8 pm tonight and every evening next week as we count down to the big day.

 We will be closed on 25 & 26 December, opening again on 27 December and back to our regular hours of 9 am – 5:30 pm Monday – Saturday through the rest of the winter.

Our sale table will once again be full of a new selection of books at great bargain prices when we re-open after Christmas.

Imports from the United Kingdom

Something many of our customers may not know is that many British authors have books published in the United Kingdom sooner than in North America.

At one time when more Canadian distributors imported from the UK this was not so noticeable but now that most distributors and publishers are owned by American or Multi-national companies I find there are more and more books that are available at least a year earlier in the UK than they are in North America.

So, if your favourite authors are British and have a new book that is not yet available in North America I will order it for you directly from the UK at no additional cost to the price of the book.

One recent example of this is the new book by one of my favourite authors Bernard MacLaverty, Midwinter Break. This is his first book in 16 years, and well worth the wait, as I believe he is one of the best writers alive today. If you like the work of Ian McEwan and William Trevor, you will also like Bernard MacLaverty.

William Shaw, author of The Birdwatcher and a series of mystery novels featuring Detectives Breen and Tozer, has a new book appearing in North American next June, a second featuring Detective Alexandra Cupidi, but the fourth in the Breen and Tozer series is currently only available in the UK.

Another mystery writer we have strongly promoted for several years is Peter May. For some time many of his books were only available in the UK and I regularly brought them in for stock. Most of his books have now been re-issued and are readily available in North America, and he has become a very popular writer here.

So, if you have favourite British writers whose books you would like to read sooner than later, please let us know and we will get them for you – by special order directly from the UK.

3rd Annual Indigenous Storytellers Festival

The 3rd Annual Gchi Dewin Indigenous Storytellers Festival: Under the Spirit Moon

ReZ. 91.3FM and MUSKRAT Magazine Co-present:

The 3rd Annual Gchi Dewin Indigenous Storytellers Festival - Under the Spirit Moon

December 7 - 9, 2017 - Indigenous Storytelling at The Stockey Centre for Performing Arts

2 Bay Street, Parry Sound, Ontario

Welcome Feast and Storytelling - Friday Dec. 8th 12:00pm - 2:30pm

Water Ceremony with Nokimus Water Walker Josephine Mandamin

Special reading of The Water Walker, by author Joanne Robertson

Puppet Show with Rabbit and Bear Paws, Chad Solomon

Youth Change-maker, Autumn Peltier

Special Winter Storytelling Show

Friday Dec. 8th, 7 pm - 9pm  

(Doors open at 6:30 for evening show)

Host: JOHN RICE  

Featuring:

JOSEPHINE MANDAMIN

ISKWE

RABBIT AND BEAR PAWS

WAUBGESHIG RICE

ESTHER OSCHE

MSKWANKWAD RICE

LITTLE SPIRIT SINGERS

Short films, Giveaways and more!

 Rez Radio Anishinabemowin - Saturday Dec. 9th

Tune in to ReZ 91.3 FM or live stream at rez.91.com to hear a special radio documentary about a Wasauksing mothers’ dream to pass the language onto her son. Show times:  9:30am; 12:30pm; 5:30pm; and 7:30pm

All events are FREE and open to the public!