For Alyssa

When Chelsea Handler needs to get a few things off her chest, she appeals to a higher power -- vodka. You would too if you found out that your boyfriend was having an affair with a Peekapoo or if you had to pretend to be honeymooning with your father in order to upgrade to first class. Welcome to Chelsea's world -- a place where absurdity reigns supreme and a quick wit is the best line of defense.

If you like Jen Lancaster.....

On CBC's Fuse - Denise VanDine (Sunparlour Players)

Very Cool!!!

Saturday, May 31st:
Sunparlour Players started with one Mennonite farmer and have grown into a three-piece band with the power of a full choir. Voices of Praise started as a full choir and have slimmed down to a tight group of powerful, praising singers. Together, Voices of Praise and Sunparlour Players explore the lines between secular and spiritual, fusing together foot-stomping country-pop and soaring gospel soul.

Sunparlour Players http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=48494366

Voices of Praise
http://vop.freehomepage.com/

Burning Down the House

I am reading this right now and I can not put it down. It is not the cheap gore fest it could have been - this is a sensitive memoir of a firefighter and the people he encountered along the way.



From the Publisher:
Thousands of boys dream of become firefighters. Some get the chance, and for some of those, the dream becomes a nightmare.
"Burning Down the House" is the story of Wangersky’s eight-year career as a volunteer firefighter, an experience that wound up reaching into every facet of his life and changed the way he saw the world forever.
Written in vibrant, luminous prose, the book traces his years from rookie to veteran firefighter and the toll it took on his personal life. Offering a rare glimpse into physical dangers and psychological costs of trying to save strangers’ lives, Wangersky paints a harrowing and sometimes heartbreakingly vivid portrait of the fires, medical calls and automobile accidents that are the standard fare of the profession.
Visceral and affecting, "Burning Down the House" is an insightful insider’s account of the perilous world of firefighting and an unforgettable memoir of how, in finding his passion, Wangersky lost himself.

Joseph Boyden

International Bestselling author
Joseph Boyden

at Chat Noir Books
Tuesday June 3 4pm-6pm

Come Meet the author!!

Joseph Boyden will be signing copies of his bestselling novel Three Day Road and reading from his new book Through Black Spruce which comes out in the fall.




About the Book:
It is 1919, and Niska, the last Oji-Cree medicine woman to live off the land, has received word that one of the two boys she grudgingly saw off to war has returned. She leaves her home in the bush of Northern Ontario to retrieve him, only to discover that the one she expected is actually the other.
Xavier Bird, her sole living relation, gravely wounded and addicted to the army's morphine, hovers somewhere between the living world and that of the dead. As Niska paddles him the three days home, she realizes that all she can offer in her attempt to keep him alive is her words, the stories of her life.
In turn, Xavier relates the horrifying years of war in Europe: he and his best friend, Elijah Whiskeyjack, prowled the battlefields of France and Belgium as snipers of enormous skill. As their reputations grew, the two young men, with their hand-sewn moccasins and extraordinary marksmanship, became both the pride and fear of their regiment as they stalked the ripe killing fields of Ypres and the Somme.
But what happened to Elijah? As Niska paddles deeper into the wilderness, both she and Xavier confront the devastation that such great conflict leaves in its wake.
Inspired in part by real-life World War I Ojibwa hero Francis Pegahmagabow, Three Day Road reinvents the tradition of such Great War epics as Birdsong and All Quiet on the Western Front. Beautifully written and told with unblinking focus, it is a remarkable tale, one of brutality, survival, and rebirth.

Jen Lancaster

'nough said.

Whaa - Still Whining about the weather

I know I'm a big baby and there's nothing that can be done about it so there's no sense whining - however - the cold wet weather is starting to get me into a funk. We're looking forward to some warm sunny weather so our flower boxes in the front of the store can get planted (and survive). Although this is great weather for curling up with a hot beverage and a good book (which I highly recommend to all of you) that would require us being closed and therefore not on my list of things I'll be doing today.

I just finished a great curl-up-on-the-couch read -
Belong to Me by Marisa de los Santos.
From the publisher - A devoted city dweller, Cornelia Brown surprised no one more than herself when she was gripped by the sudden, inescapable desire to leave urban life behind and head for an idyllic suburb. Perfectly manicured, impeccably dressed, and possessing impossible standards, Piper is the embodiment of everything Cornelia feared she would find in suburbia. A saving grace soon appears in the form of Lake. Over a shared love of literature and old movies, Cornelia develops an instant bond with this warm yet elusive woman who has also recently arrived in town. As their individual stories unfold, the women become entangled in a web of trust, betrayal, love, and loss that challenges them in ways they never imagined, and that ultimately teaches them what it means for one human being to belong to another.

Coffee House a Success

The Coffee House with Phil went really well - We're planning another one with Gurf Morlix in August so stay tuned.

Booksellers Join Suits Over access laws - Scary Scary stuff

The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, the Great Lakes Booksellers Association and Big Hat Books, Indianapolis, have joined Media Coalition and other organizations in a suit filed yesterday against a new Indiana law requiring any store that sells a "sexually explicit" book, magazine, video or recording to register with the state and pay a $250 license fee.

"The law says Big Hat Books might be an 'adult' bookstore if we sell a single copy of Lolita," Big Hat owner Elizabeth Houghton Barden said in a statement. "Being classified as an adult bookstore basically puts us out of business."

ABFFE president Chris Finan observed: "This law is a shocking violation of our national commitment to maintain bookstores as a forum for the free exchange of ideas. We do not license bookstores in the United States."

The booksellers say the law is unconstitutional because it does not require that a book or magazine be judged as a whole in determining whether it is illegal--such a test may exempt works that contain only a few sexually explicit images or passages. In addition, there is no exemption for material that has serious literary artistic, political or scientific value for minors. Under the law, a bookseller can be prosecuted for allowing a 12-year-old to see a sex education book if it contains drawings depicting sexual conduct, even such a book written for minors.

Michael Powell, owner of Powell's, said, "For booksellers, the new law is vague and difficult to apply. It says a 13-year-old can legally buy these books, but it's a crime to sell them to a 12-year-old. How do I card a 12-year-old?"

Plaintiffs hope that there will be a hearing on their motion for a preliminary injunction before the law goes into effect on July 1.



There is some seriously scary stuff going on down in those united states.

Coffee House with Philippe Lafreniere

Come out for a fun night of music and coffee with Philippe Lafreniere at Chat Noir Books. Doors open at 7:00pm and it is $5 at the door. Come early there is limited seating.

Philippe Lafreniere offers a wide variety of acoustic music by combining world music with blues and folk traditions. With orginal songs in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese, he creates an inter-cultural and multilingual mosaic of music, poetry and art.

You can check out Philippe at: www.mspace.com/philippelafreniere

It's here!!

Book 3. She makes me giggle.