January 2016 column

Weaver Birds Rugs  is now officially open in Granby at same location as the book store on Hwy. 60 just west of blinking light. Big sign on building says BOOKS & WEAVING.  I have been selling down books at bargain prices all fall and now have space for my weaving studio.  I will be open by appointment and by chance.  So if my sign is out, come on in.  Still have books around the wall shelves for sale and will take trade ins on a limited basis.  Weaving classes will be available by appointment and I plan to have free weaving  available for previous students and newbies who want to try their hand and make a small runner.  Call to see when I will schedule those days.   
I think this will work out very well for me as I will be free to handle other commitments and still do what I enjoy in my studio/book shop. I will also be available to do weaving demonstrations as upon request.

I still read a lot of books and have a few to report on this time.  I am currently reading a huge book by Ted Dekker that I have trouble putting down,  actually have a hard time holding it as it is really thick.  It is four books in one.  It is a good thing because if you read one you definitely have to get right into the next.  So that will be for Feb.

It seems I have been drawn to Apocalyptic type books lately and have another one  that I really enjoyed.  This is one I really recommend for anyone who is concerned about the future of this world.  How would we manage if some catastrophic accident  happened to take away all of our technology that we have become so dependent on?

World Made by Hand
by
James Howard Kunstgler



The future is nothing like they thought it would be. In the beginning of the novel, the citizens of Union Grove, New York are living on the tail end of a national catastrophe, with their community slowly falling apart from neglect and natural decay.  Robert is a local carpenter, who lost his family.  He narrates the novel and there is a focus on several groups that give us a window into how society would possible handle a major breakdown of modern social norms. Transportation is slow and dangerous, so food is grown locally at great expense of time and energy, and the outside world is largely unknown.  They don't even know if there is a working government.  In a world of abandoned highways, and no gas they use horses to work  the fields. The rivers, no longer polluted, are replenished with fish.
Robert ends up becoming the voice of reason.  A religious group move into town to try to convert followers, and then there are the rebels who run the big dump by excavating what has been buried for years and selling the raw materials to the townspeople. 
I find this an extraordinary book, full of love and loss, violence and power,  depression and desperation, but also plenty of hope, and more relevant than ever. I think this may be a book I will keep to read again in a couple years. It rings a bell with me because its the people with skills to make things and barter who will be able to survive should something like this ever happen.

Beautiful Lies
by Lisa Unger

I reported on a couple of Unger's books this past year.  She is really a great mystery writer. 

 What if your family was a lie? What if your name was a lie? What if your whole life was just a pack of Beautiful Lies?   When Ridley happens to rescue a child from being hit by a car she had no idea that her life as she knew it would be over.  Her picture is published in the paper and then a mysterious package shows up on her door step.  She comes from an over protective family, with a troubled brother who is a drug addict.  The package shows her a photo of a woman and child and the woman looks so much like herself and a note that says “are you my daughter”.  Her family act like they think she is losing it and wants her to forget it all.  But someone is stalking her and the mystery deepens when it seems people are protecting the legacy of her late Uncle Max, a real estate mogul who used his influence to fund rescue houses for abused women and children. Following leads, she learns about the  operations of places Max's foundation supports, Ridley uncovers a chilling scheme for taking infants and toddlers from violent homes.  Of course there is the mysterious neighbor Jake who is more than eager to help her solve the mystery, but why?  A great page turner!

Best Kept Secrets
by
Sandra Brown

I always find Brown to have great ideas for Romance Mysteries.
Twenty-five years after her mother's scandalous death, Alexandra is in the position to investigate her murder. She is now an attorney working in a powerful law firm.  She goes back to her home town in Texas and has named three suspects who were closest to her mother and she is positive that one of them murdered her.  She risks everything to uncover their secrets about her mother and of course as in all of Browns books the main character finds love in the mix of it all and nearly loses her life in the process.


 From Weaver Birds Rugs a wish for a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year.