Friday, October 3, 2014

October column

Now I am caught up.  Maybe I will find time to add some juicy stuff here soon!


September turned out to be a very busy month. As an active member of Fiber Folks of SW Mo. I have been involved with our annual event in Mt Vernon. This year it was Sept 19th and 20th. We had a good turn out to shop with our vendors and many took classes in everything from plucking and spinning bunny fur, polymer clay, basket making, and several types of weaving. I taught 2 weaving classes in beginner rag rug weaving. Taught a total of 7 students. This is the same class I will be teaching in my store as soon as I sell off a few more hundred of these 50 cent books so I can make room. I will still sell books, but will be more selective on the books I take in and will try to sell the best I can find but keep the prices low. Also on Saturday the 27th I did a weaving demonstration at Prairie State Park north of Joplin. What a treasure we have in our own back yard. A great place to take the kids to see what most of the state used to look like. The visitors center is a trove of information.
I had to do a little digging to find my books to review this month.

The Four Agreements:
by
Don Miguel Ruiz
I read this small book a few years ago and have given several as gifts to family. Ruiz is a shamanic teacher and healer and has written several books on guides to personal freedom (Toltec Wisdom)
This little book is full of simple truths about life.
There are four agreements: Be impeccable with your word. Don't take anything personally. Don't make assumptions. And Always do your best. It is the how and why one should do these things that make the book worth reading and remembering. Being impeccable with your word seems simple right? Don't tell lies. But your word is a powerful thing. We can express love, hate, envy, and many more emotions with our word. Also your words that you speak to yourself is involved as we tend to use negative self-talk to put ourselves down. I will just mention what I learned about the second agreement. Don't take anything personally. I like the term he used “its not about you” I think this one statement should be the main take away from this book. We tend to take everything personal, and thus making us responsible for everyone elses thoughts and actions. An example would be someone being ugly to you. When the other person's beliefs transfers to you, it changes you and their baggage becomes your baggage. Basically what other people do, feel, think, or say “don't take it personally”. There is much more in this little book and worth reading and trying to make these agreements that can change how you go through this life a much happier person.

Outlander
by
Diana Gabaldon
I did report on this book series last year, but since the movie of this first book came out recently on one of the movie channels I thought I would touch on it again. Gabaldon as become one of my favorite authors and since I have collected her complete series I finally did start re-reading them. I am up to book four now and bought her newest release but refuse to read it till I have read all 7 of the others first.
The setting starts out in the early 1940's when a war nurse, Claire is in Scotland on vacation with her husband and ends up passing thru some special stones and ends up back in1745 win the wilds of Scotland where she is taken captive by a Scottish clan who think she is an English spy. She is rescued by Jamie Fraser a young Scottish warrior. As the books progress she is able to use her nursing skills to help people but has to be careful that they don't brand her a witch. Remember this is 1745 and people didn't know about germs or disinfecting anything. Each book has a historical significance so you do learn a lot about history. They eventually end up in the New America during its early years and that is where I am now in book four. I do love these epic novels that carries you thru the years with the main characters.

Dorothy Cliff is owner of Read Again Books in Granby.

Sept. column

Guess I have gotten behind.  So here is Sept.


I want to put another plug in again for our Fiber Daze event Sept 19th and 20th in Mt Vernon. I have flyer's and info at my book store or go to our website and check it out. Lots to see and do. Free admission and there may even be some classes still open that you can sign up at the door. But you can still register on line. http://www.fiberfolksofswmo.com/ Then click on Fiber Daze. My rug weaving class has filled up but don't forget I will eventually be teaching classes here at my book store.

I can't believe I have been writing this column for over 3 years!
I am vain enough that I have a scrapbook of all my column and in looking back I feel I have read some very interesting books along the way. At the present time my reading has been a little boring as I have been very busy and I seem to fall back on old authors that are comfortable and easy to read. Not that I don't have a big stack of very interesting books waiting for me, so I promise my next book will be a new author.

I have been seeing advertisement for a new movie on an old book that I really liked. It was a book for young adults and I reported on it back in Dec 2012. I felt it would be good to repeat that review since this movie is out. By the way it is rated PG and even though I haven seen it, if its anything like the book I highly recommend it.
The Giver
by
Lois Lowry
After reading this book I recommend it for anyone 10 or above. It actually comes in a set of 3 books and after reading this first one, you will want to find the other 2 books. It is a small book and easy to read. The setting is in the future where the world has no poverty, no crime, sickness, and no unemployment. Sounds wonderful doesn't it?
Think again as it also offers no choices. 12 year old Jonas is chosen to become the Giver which is an honor only bestowed every generation or so.
As Jonas begins to receive the “memories” of what life before was like going back and back and back, he begins to feel things and see light and color, and experience pain for the first time.
Will he decide that he cannot pay the price to become the “Giver”? There is no turning back or is there?
This is one of those simple but unforgettable books that will stay with you for a long time and may make you even wonder where our own society is headed.

Low Pressure
by
Sandra Brown
I have found Brown to write good romance novels but also to include very good mysteries into her books. In this one Bellamy has blocked out her memory of a tornado that happened when she was 12 and the murder of her big sister on the same day. As an adult she becomes a well known author and to help her remember this event she writes a book titled “Low Pressure” and opens all the wounds for herself and her family about this event. It is a fiction but has enough facts in it that it opens things up for the people involved in the investigation and conviction of a local man and they don't like the way they are portrayed and the sloppy job and probable incarceration of the wrong man. Which means the the killer is still around and the spotlight goes back on the sister's old boyfriend, Dent. Now Bellamy is getting way to involved with Dent so is she at risk. A great read!

Dorothy Cliff is owner of Read Again Books in Granby.