July 2007

July 09, 2007 - The Lit section is almost finished!

Whew! The construction of bookshelves, etc., are done as much as they are going to be (thank you Wayne!), and as of tonight, I have pretty much finished the Canadian Lit/World Lit/Chick Lit/Historical Fiction/Short Stories/Drama/Poetry section (only half of which is shown here). I haven't found the bulk of my poetry yet, so that section is a little skimpy, but I can't worry about it now; there are still three more rooms to the store that need to be done and exactly five working days to finish it all!

What you see right here (besides the boxes to be put away and books to be shelved) is just the world lit and just women authors (really!), but represents about 2000 unique titles from all over the world.

At the very beginning is Minaret by Leila Aboulela, who grew up in Khartoum, Sudan and now divides her time between Dubai & Aberdeen, and at the other end is Bread, Wine & Angels by Anna P. Zurzolo, who calls Canada home now, but originally came from Italy.

Somewhere in there Japan, Russa, Thailand, the United Kingdom, Vietnam, and more are all represented.

It's a very nice collection, if I say so myself. :)

I'm still declaring that next Monday (July 16th) I will be officially open, but there is still a LOT of work to do, and I won't have nearly the cushion I was hoping to have. :0

Still, I'm having fun, and I'm much more relaxed (well, as relaxed as I can be right now!) now that all the construction is finished, and I can start unpacking properly and organising the sections. :)

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I was just heading home, but was inspired to take this quick picture & share it with you! This doesn't do the shop justice, but take my word for it, The Jade *W* looks SO pretty at night with the lights shining through the windows!

Last week, one person remarked how wonderfully basic, organic, warm & inviting it is - there are no fluorescent lights & no metal here - just brick & wood & paper & glass.

At night it resembles the personal library I'm going to have some day! :)

Looking for the next Great Canadian Author

July 27 - I think I made it - despite the pixies!

Little beings who create complete havoc, taking books out of their rightful places and relocating them somewhere completely inappropriate. Sprinkling sawdust on clean shelves. Hiding my markers so I can't make fresh signs on my sandwich board.

Isn't my landlord ethically bound to reveal my bookshop has these other tenants? Especially since my landlord is a church and should know all about ethical behaviour? But maybe they don't believe in pixies .... Hmmm.

I'm hoping we can come to a truce - maybe they are really quite playful & this was just their way of getting acquainted! :)

To counter them, I have to give special thanks to Norm, Cathy, John Andrew, Peter, and Phil who all came to my rescue, lending me their muscles, moral support, & organizational skills, and who made it possible for the store to look so great for the reading tomorrow.

Thank you all - I really, really, REALLY appreciate it!!

And speaking of the reading, Charles Hodgson was in earlier, dropping off his book "Carnal Knowledge: A Naval Gazer's Dictionary of Anatomy, Etymology, and Trivia", along with a t-shirt for me! :)

(And of course, they are available for sale in the store or through this website!)

He will be reading here tomorrow (July 28th) at 2.00 pm, and there are still a few more seats available, based on the RSVPs rec'd so far. I think it will be fun! And hopefully cool enough; I bought another fan this morning! :)

It will be at least another day before more pictures are up, but I promise, they are coming!

July 28 - First author reading at The Jade W!

I think here he is demonstrating how well he knows something - "like the back of my hand" - or "opisthenar" for the rest of us. :) The word comes from Geek opisth, meaning "at the back", and from thenar, an English word that comes from Latin and means "ball of thumb".

So why do we use this word so little and use instead a string of four words? How does this relate to the expressions "give the back of my hand" and "backhanded"?

For these and other answers you have to buy the book. :) Next time you'll know to come to the reading! ;)

Seriously, it was a lot of fun, even with the heat (and I thank everyone for bearing up so well!) and it was a pleasure to host Mr. Hodgson.

I (& I'm sure I speak for him as well) appreciate everyone's good wishes; you made this a fun event for both of us, and a lot more comfortable in looking forward to future events. Thank you! :)

Oh, and on a slightly different note; Mr. Hodgson's daughter Allie was director & sound check at this event & I'm hoping to have an audio and /or video clip to put up here. Keep checking back! :)

UPDATE: Here is the (edited) version of the reading - thanks Charles & Allie!