It's an Issue . . . you won't want to miss

Pete & Freddy (& Company) are slated to start working on the next issue of the newsletter now! I am confident this will be one of our best issues yet.

I've just finished reading a book review by a new member of our team, Leo. She reviewed Marilyn Monroe's autobiography, My Story. To put it lightly it is AMAZING! Of course you can't read it yet, but I can brag about it. This may make you want to call us everyday until the newsletter is hot off the press and ready to send, wondering when is it coming. Soon folks. Soon.

Should I tell you more about what we are going to feature? Nah...I'm going to leave you guessing.

However, if you would like to be featured with a book review, poetry, or even a short article, let us know. The more the merrier! We want to give everyone a chance to see their work in print. It is a great feeling!

Not subscribed yet? No worries, you still have time. Leave a comment and we will subscribe you . . . for FREE. You can also email us at pagesaplenty@hotmail.com with your name and address.

In case you're wondering, we do not sell our mailing list. We are waiting for the right company and right price to sell. Just kidding! :)

No matter how busy you may think you are, you MUST find time for
READING or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance.
~Confucius

Feed the Need with a Read Challenge

We meant to post this sooner. It did appear in the most recent issue of the newsletter. Please join us!

We are wrapping up 2011 and it is coming faster than many of us would like to admit. The two biggest seasons of the year are almost upon us, Thanksgiving and Christmas. During these times we celebrate with friends and family. All around us, though, are people in need. It is this need that gave me an idea.

For the month of November I’m challenging you, our readers, friends, family, and customers alike to. . . READ. How will reading help, you might be asking. Think of it as a charitable book reading club. We would ask that you pick from the small reading list below and tell us that you are joining the Feed the Need with a Read challenge. Then tell us on Facebook, by mail, by email, by phone even, or come into the shop, that you have joined. When you tell us you are joining the reading challenge Pete and Freddy’s will donate $1.00 for each person to the Helping Hands Food Pantry in Mentone. By reading you’re helping those in need to have a more tangible holiday season. We want to help while enjoying a good read!

In our next issue we hope to feature you, the readers, with book reviews, comments, articles or thoughts that you had while participating. If we have a good turnout, we will have a movie night at the shop. We encourage you to not limit yourself to one book. Please feel free to share this opportunity with your friends and family as well. Join us!

Feed the Need with a Read Book Challenge List

-The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington

-The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom

-The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

-A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton Porter

-The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis 

I will be reading The Magnificent Ambersons.

Books about Books

If you aren't familiar with our shop, then you've probably been missing out on our newsletter as well. We try to print a new issue every 2 months and next month will be our one year anniversary of this venture. For your reading enjoyment we thought you might like reading an article from a past issue. Enjoy!

Books about Books is an article featured in every issue.

Books about Books
by Pete (aka Maddie)
Originally appeared in the October 2010 issue

What better book for a bibliophile to indulge in than a book about books? Reading about your fellow friends out in the world is a warm embrace. They're quirky, a bit crazy even, zealous, well-written and versed, and just like you.

This month's book came into our midst purely by chance. A few years ago Freddy was at our local library looking at, wonders of all wonders, the for sale shelf. She came across a thin, sepia cover, brand new looking book with books on the cover. Of course she bought it, who wouldn't?

Freddy came home and read the book in one after-noon. Despite gobbling up all its yummy “bookness” she left some for me and pushed it into my hands saying “you have to read it now.” I devoured it just as quickly and decided it must be added my collection.

The book, a classic must have, is the twenty-year correspondence between the New York born and bred author/playwright Helene Hanff and the British bookseller Frank Doel. Helene Hanff is an avid, sometimes demanding, book reader constantly requesting this or that title. Over the years (post World War II) she and Frank, even the other bookstore employees, develop a devoted and long lasting friendship all because of BOOKS!

The main things I look for in books about books, in which 84, Charing Cross Road passes with flying colors, are:
-Does it make me laugh?
-Do I nod my head in agreement while reading it?
-Is it quotable?
-Would I recommend it to other bibliophiles?

My favorite quote from the book is:

“I am going to bed. I will have hideous nightmares involving huge monsters in academic robes carrying long bloody butcher knives labeled Excerpt, Selection, Passage and Abridged.”
~ Pg 76/77 Helene to Frank 1960

Oh how she would cringe today, right? Sadly Helene Hanff passed away in 1997.