News around the store: Mat King who has been a frequent contributor to our book review section, This Month’s Spotlight, has a new website with more book reviews. If you’ve enjoyed his contributions you might like to check http://www.bookrocker.com/ .
Local children’s author, Duane Porter, has added a blog site to his Buried Treasures Publishing web page, http://buriedtreasurepublishing.com/joomla/ . The blog site can be reached from the menu there, or accessed directly at http://buriedtreasurepublishing.blogspot.com/ . We will be featuring Duane’s latest book, Molly O’Malley and the Leprechaun, in the March issue of our newsletter.
At the moment we are overstocked on several authors. While they last we will sell titles by these authors at a special discount; buy 1 get 1 free. This includes hardback editions as well as paperback.
Robert Ludlum
John Grisham
Stephen King
Dean Koontz
Mary Higgins Clark
Sue Grafton
Sidney Sheldon
Danielle Steele
V.C. Andrews
Sandra Brown
In other news, the City of Blue Springs has asked us to remove the little roadside sign that we used to direct people to our store. If you are suggesting our store to friends, please give them helpful suggestions on how to find us. We are on the east side of Highway 7, behind Einstein Brothers and Sheridan’s. We are in the Pittsburgh Paint building just south of Zarda’s Barbeque. Thank you for your help.
Beth King and Marilyn Miller
We are looking for these books for our customers!
The Ashley Book of Knots by Clifford Ashley
First Rider Call by Kristin Britain
Stone Cold by David Baldacci
Simple Genius by David Baldacci
101 Crazy Quilt Blocks by Linda Causee
The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy (nice hard back copy)
Geron’s Return by Michael V. Cox
The Red Tent by Anita Diament
Motor Mouth by Janet Evanovich
One for the Money by Janet Evanovich (nice hard back copy)
Two for the Dough by Janet Evanovich (nice hard back copy)
Three to Get Deadly by Janet Evanovich (nice hard back copy)
Twelve Sharp by Janet Evanovich (paperback copy)
Lean Mean Thirteen by Janet Evanovich (paperback copy)
1632 by Eric Flint
Dark Fire by Christine Feehan
Magical Wind by Christine Feehan
F is for Fugitive by Sue Grafton (nice hard back copy)
Murder Carried a Torch by Anne George
The Harlequin by Laura K. Hamilton
Dirty White Boys by Stephen Hunter
The Day Before Midnight by Stephen Hunter
The Spanish Gambit by Stephen Hunter
The Master Sniper by Stephen Hunter
True Evil by Greg Iles
Turning Angel by Greg Iles
The Footprints of God by Greg Iles
Sleep No More by Greg Iles
Dead Sleep by Greg Iles
Black Cross by Greg Iles
The Devil’s Cat by William Johnstone
The Devil’s Kiss by William Johnstone
The Devil’s Heart by William Johnstone
Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz
Judy Eckert, our Story Lady with the children in December. Just a sweet reminder that we have our Story Lady in the store one Friday a month. The children listen to stories for about 30 minutes and home made cookies are passed around afterward. Recommended ages are toddlers through pre-school age.
Store Events in February
February (Thursday Evenings) 7:00 P.M. Parkside Writers Group
Call (816) 224-9082 for exact dates
February 13, (Wednesday) 10:00 A.M. Morning Book Club
February 22, (Friday) 9:30 A.M. Story Lady
This Month’s Spotlight
By Mat King
Still Life with Woodpecker by
Let’s start with how the book summarizes itself:
Still Life with Woodpecker is sort of a love story that takes place inside a pack of Camel cigarettes. It reveals the purpose of the moon, explains the difference between criminals and outlaws, examines the conflict between social activism and romantic individualism, and paints a portrait of contemporary society that includes powerful Arabs, exiled royalty, and pregnant cheerleaders. It also deals with the problem of redheads.
If that synopsis doesn’t make you want to kidnap this book from the shelves of your local book joint, then you are probably just a touch prudish. I came across this book in a bookstore and read the back and snatched it up. It sat on a shelf for a few months, when I got a call from my Ma about a book she found on her shelves she thought I might like. As you may have guessed it was this very one.
This is the first Tom Robbins book I’ve read. I’m a bit surprised by this, because his writing is a lot like Christopher Moore. Who is one of my favorite authours. I say his writing is similar, mostly in the unapologetic, offbeat humor.
This book is essentially the story of a Deposed Royal Princess, and her quest for love. The word that best describes this story is Hope. There is a hopeful tone. The plot moves along well, and the characters are amusingly outlandish. I expect the more of his books I read, the more I will see these characters appearing in other stories. This is nothing more than a hunch, as I have only read this one book by him.
If this book has any real flaws, it’s that Tom seems to get off on pedantic tangents frequently. While most are entertaining, it gets old after a while. Some of these can be quite long, and I found my mind wandering during these sections, slowing the book’s overall flow down considerably. Taking into account the main protagonist is a girl in her early twenties, who still has that idealistic, poetic, romantic view on life and love, it can almost be forgiven, but for me I found it a bit excessive, even taking that into account.
All in all, I would say this book was pretty good. If you’re a fan of outlandish, unapologetic, and irreverent humor then you will enjoy this book. I definitely think I’ll be picking up some of his other books.
Finally, a short story From the Parkside Writers Group
Groundhog Day
It was 7:25 in the morning. Phil was not a happy groundhog.
“I tell you, Gladys, these humans are crazy! Trusting a groundhog to plan their lives. It’s not like I have any special powers!”
“Phil, if it bothers you that much, just come back to bed.” Gladys pulled the blanket up under her chin.
“Don’t think I wouldn’t like to. But do I have a choice? Nooo, at 7:29 every 2nd of February, that big hand in the white glove comes in and grabs me. Then I’m shoved up above ground, a thousand reporters blind me with their camera flashes, and I’m lucky to make it back into the hole before some kid beans me with a stale bagel. Don’t tempt me, Gladys, don’t tempt me!”
“Well, try going with the flow instead of fighting it this time. That might make a difference.”
“Go with the flow? Oh, that’s brilliant, Gladys, just brilliant. It doesn’t make any difference what I do anyway. If I see my shadow, we’re in for six more weeks of winter. If I don’t see my shadow, spring will be here within a month and a half.”
Gladys yawned and blinked sleepily. “If it doesn’t make any difference what you do, just do whatever makes you happy.”
“Makes me happy? Do you know what would make me happy, Gladys? It would make me happy if this whole Groundhog Day business just went away! Do you know how this started, Gladys? There was a holiday called Candlemas they celebrated in the old country. The animal they watched on Candlemas to see if he saw his shadow was a hedgehog. A hedgehog, Gladys! Only there weren’t any hedgehogs around when they came over to the new world, so they decided to watch groundhogs. I’m a second-rate substitute for a hedgehog, Gladys! I’m the first runner-up in the beauty contest for hibernating weather predictors!”
“Well, Phil, at least you’re not in the running for Miss Congeniality. Why don’t you just show them that you are unique this year? Do something different?”
Phil scratched his nose impatiently. “That might be just the thing to do, Gladys, you might be on to something there.” The tiny grandfather clock in the hall tunnel chimed 7:29. Phil groaned. “Well, here we go!”
A huge white-gloved hand appeared in the tunnel and gently grasped Phil by the scruff of his neck. He was dragged to his front door, and the hand began to push him up from behind.
“Hey, hey, hey, watch where you’re pushing, there!” Phil barked. Then he was outside.
Multitudes of people began cheering as cameras flashed from every direction. Phil closed his eyes to dull the pain. In a moment, his vision cleared and he looked around to see his shadow on the ground behind him. “Hey, what do we have here?”
He lifted his right foot, and the shadow lifted with it. “Hmmm… what else can we do with this?” He lifted his foot higher, and raised his paws higher above his head. “Haiii-yah!” he screamed.
“Look!” someone shouted. “Punxsutawney Phil is in the crane position!”
A man in formal attire and wearing white gloves stepped between the crowd and the kung-fu groundhog. An airborne stale bagel bounced off of his striped vest. “Phil is fine, folks, he’s just a little upset like the rest of us that we’re going to have six more weeks of winter!” Twisting his neck around, he hissed to his assistant, “Get that groundhog back into the tunnel!”
Phil was unceremoniously hurried back into his warm home. He saw the shadow of the front door close above him. He stared up, listening to the jabbering of the crowd outside.
“Phil, honey, are you finished already?”
Phil smiled to himself. “It seems so, Gladys.”
“Then come to bed. It’s six weeks until spring.”
Written by Duane Porter, January 30, 2008
Have a great month, everyone. Come see us!!
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