Please excuse our mess
Spring has arrived. So, in honor of spring, we are doing some house cleaning and some fixing up. Painting is at the top of our to-do list and we are hard at it. In the process of clearing walls for the painter, we have moved some books around temporarily, or permanently, depending.
I recently had a phone call from a customer asking if we are going out of business. I want to let you know that, although the possibility is always there in these economic times, we have no immediate plans to close our doors. We aren’t sure how rumors like this get started, but in this case we can happily say “not true.”
Special Discount; buy 1 get 1 free
As part of our clean up effort, we are continuing our special discount and adding more authors to the list. While they last we will sell titles by these authors at a special discount. This includes hardback editions as well as paperback.
V.C. Andrews
Tom Clancy
Mary Higgins Clark
Robin Cook
Sue Grafton
John Grisham
Jonathan Kellerman
Kaye Kellerman
Stephen King
Dean Koontz
Robert Ludlum
Sidney Sheldon
Danielle Steele
Store Events in April
April (Thursday Evenings) 7:00 P.M. Parkside Writers Group
Call (816) 224-9082 for exact dates
April 9, (Wednesday) 10:00 A.M. Morning Book Club
April 18, (Friday) 9:30 A.M. Story Lady
Pot Luck Questions
By Linda Carrell
Ah, so you decided to come then? Did you have any trouble finding it?
No, why? Did you think I’d get lost?
Isn’t that what usually happens?
Why do we always have to have these dinners in the church basement? Don’t they know how cold it is down here?
Don’t look now but isn’t that Louise coming in with a pie container?
She’s bringing a pie? If that doesn’t scare you what will?
Remember last Christmas when she baked that fruitcake? How in the world did that thing fall off the counter and crack a tile? Has she fixed it yet?
The tile? Please, does she look handy? How could you expect her to fix a tile if she can’t even hang a picture straight?
Why does she keep trying? Wouldn’t you think burnt toast was kind of a signal that cooking isn’t her forte? And who but Louise could ruin canned soup?
Did you eat any of her tuna casserole at the last dinner?
Didn’t I take Tums for a week afterward?
Is she looking at us? Is she coming over? Will she make us eat her pie?
Would anyone notice if we left? Don’t we have somewhere else we need to be? Isn’t there someone in the hospital we need to visit?
Do you think we waited too long?
Oh, Louise, is it you? My, doesn’t that pie look delicious?
Linda Carrell is a member of the Parkside Writers Group.
This Month’s Spotlight
By Beth King
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
The author presents his stories against the backdrop of Afghanistan, his native country. Khaled Hosseini has provided a look into the country with all its warts. From the dust jacket: “ A Thousand Splendid Suns is a breathtaking story set against the volatile events of Afghanistan’s last thirty years – from the Soviet invasion to the reign of the Taliban to post-Taliban rebuilding – that puts the violence, fear, hope, and faith of this country in intimate, human terms. “
The book begins with the life of Miriam,the illegitimate daughter of a wealthy businessman. Miriam’s father has built a small hovel outside of town for his daughter and her mother. Eventually, Miriam tries to join her father’s family and is turned away. When she returns home she finds that her mother has hanged herself. At this point, Miriam is married off to Rasheed who takes her to Kabul. We are constantly reminded that the Miriams in Afganistan are at the mercy of the men around them and of the differences among the Islamic people. Those who are educated and more liberal in their views are viewed with suspicion, and even hate, by their more rigid, traditional neighbors. When war comes, these ingrained differences become explosive and the warring factions in Kabul, as in the rest of the country, tear families and neighborhoods apart.
Laila, daughter to a former university teacher, lives down the street from Rasheed and Miriam. Her father sees to her education and when the schools are closed to women, he teachers her at home. She grows up with one friend, Tariq, who becomes her lover just as his family flees the city for Pakistan. When Laila’s home is bombed and her parents killed, Rasheed takes her into his house and decides to marry her.eed decides he will marry and protect her. Rasheed arranges for Laila to hear of Tariq’s death and, broken in heart and spirit, Laila accepts him as her husband.
These two women find their lives entwined, first unwillingly, then through mutual experience. Experiences foretold by Miriam’s mother, in the hovel, on the hill. “Learn this now and learn it well, my daughter: Like a compass needle that points north, a man’s accusing finger always finds a woman.” The story plays out against the insurrections, invasions, and tribal warfare of Afghanistan over the past thirty years. We weep for these women even as we admire their steadfastness and devotion to each other. This is not a book for the weak of heart. Khaled Hosseini once again uses his masterful story telling abilities to pull out all the emotional stops for his readers. It is a story of humanity at it’s worst and best. It’s a story you won’t soon forget.
Come see us soon.
Marilyn and Beth
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