Do your Christmas shopping early!

We'll be at the Agi Christmas Fair at the Community Centre this Saturday (Nov 30) from 10-6 with AS-NEW books in all genres. They have no marks, no names, no tears, no signs of having been read before. Many are First Editions but we are offering them at "just for the island" prices ranging from $10 to $20 (no tax.) Cash only please. Hope to see you there!

Good Reads & Great Gifts

July 2013 Catalogue - For Islanders Only

It's summer. It's not raining. The sun's even out! Complete this idyllic picture with a great book to read - for you or someone else. Here's a tiny sample of books from the July catalogue.

Fabulous Fiction
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese (Soft cover; as new, $10)
Room by Emma Donohue (Hard cover, as new, $10)
The Forest Lover by Susan Vreeland (First ed., HC, $10)

Remarkable Memoirs
Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer (Soft cover, as new, $8.00)

Is there a hunter in your life? As a person who doesn't hunt, eats little meat, and feels guilty when she inadvertently walks through a spider's web, I found this memoir by the author of Mercy for The Children enlightening. Not that I could empathize, but I certainly appreciated the expanded point of view. The book is Facing the Hunter: Reflections on a Misunderstood Way of Life by David Adams Richard (First ed., HC, $10)

Another memoir on the topic (which I have not read) is A Hunter's Confession by David Carpenter (First ed., HC, $8)

For Gardeners and Gardener-Wannabes
Garden Diary: A Green Thumb Guide and Personal Planner by Maggie Malone (First ed., HC, $12)
Perennials for BC by Alison Beck and Marianne Binetti (SC, $12)

For Beach & Nature Lovers
Ocean Alpine: BC Nature Guide by Joy and Cam Finlay (First ed., SC, $10)
Living Things We Love to Hate by Des Kennedy with Foreword by David Suzuki. Inscribed by author. (SC, $8)
Seashore of BC by Ian Sheldon (New, SC, $10)

For Children and the Young-at-Heart
Rude Ramsay and the Roaring Radishes by Margaret Atwood (First ed., HC, $12)
The Kids' Cottage Book: Official Activity Book of Summer by Jane Drake and Ann Love (Large, SC, $8)
The Kids' Book of Canada's Railway: How the CPR was Built by Deborah Hodge (First ed., HC, $10)
Who Runs This Government Anyway: A Guide to Canadian Government by Joanne Stanbridge (First ed., SC, $8)
Highly Inappropriate Tales for Young People by Douglas Coupland and Graham Roumieu (First ed., HC, $10)

Noteworthy Non-Fiction
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver (First ed., HC, $10)
The Legacy: An Elder's Vision for a Sustainable Future by David Suzuki. Foreword by Margaret Atwood. Signed by author. (First ed., HC, $15)

All 150 books in the catalogue are suitable as gifts: they're clean and in new or as-new condition. Many are first editions and some are signed or inscribed by the author. The catalogue lists titles, authors, editions, and prices by genre. You'll notice that the prices are very reasonable - usually half the list price or less.

To get your copy of the full July 2013 catalogue, email me at islandbookshoppe@gmail.com. Then, if you see a book (or two or three) you'd like to view, let me know. You can come by our house to view them or meet me at FolkLife Village or I'll drop them off next time I'm in your neighbourhood.

Happy reading!

Sharon

May 2013 Gift Catalogue

For Islanders Only

This is a perfect opportunity to stock up on books for gift-giving - for others and/or yourself! All 150 books in the May catalogue are suitable as gifts: they're clean and in new or as-new condition. Many are first editions and some are signed or inscribed by the author. The catalogue lists titles, authors, editions, and prices by genre. You'll notice that the prices are very reasonable - usually half the list price or less.

To get your copy of the catalogue, just email me at islandbookshoppe@gmail.com. Then, if you see a book (or two or three) you'd like to view, let me know. You can come to our home-based studio to view them or meet me at FolkLife Village. (I write at the Old Crow a couple of afternoons a week, and am happy to meet you there with a bag of books.)

Happy reading!

Wonderful News from Gabriola's New Society Publishers

The following statement (revised slightly) was issued today
by NSP spokesperson, Sara Reeves. 

 

NEW SOCIETY PUBLISHERS BREATHES A SIGH OF RELIEF

In a surprise move, New Society Publishers, a former imprint of Douglas & McIntryre, has been re-acquired by its previous owners, Chris and Judith Plant, and Carol Newell of Renewal Partners. Judith Plant will once again take on the role of Publisher and all distribution channels will remain unchanged. D&M, the company that purchased New Society in 2008, declared itself insolvent in October 2012, and the BC book publishing community has been wondering if New Society could be reclaimed.



Chris and Judith Plant with Mango the cat

A mission-driven company, New Society Publishers has for decades published books that contribute in fundamental ways to building an ecologically sustainable and just society, and has conducted its business in a way that models that vision, bringing to print authors whose work inspires and offers tools for change.

New Society led the book publishing community in Canada through a collaborative arrangement with Friesens, a leading Canadian printer, by committing to print all of its books on 100 percent post-consumer recycled book paper, and making that paper available on the shop floor, thereby making it ready and affordable for others. New Society was also the first publisher to go carbon-neutral and was named BC Publisher of the Year in recognition of this and other achievements. 

The “new” New Society will continue to acquire books with an activist focus. For, as publisher Judith Plant says, “Given climate change, ecological limits, the end of cheap energy, and the underlying economic and social collapse here and around the world, the party’s over, as New Society author Richard Heinberg succinctly puts it. We’re at a tipping point, and we need tools, techniques, strategies and inspiration for radical change, now.”

New Society is also embracing other technological challenges facing the publishing industry in the 21st century. Explains Plant, “Of course we sell all of our books as ebooks, and we plan to continue this. But the real challenge as a publisher is adapting to the broader electronic culture. We’re working on proactive ways to harness these technologies to work for our authors in getting their critical messages out to the reading public, in whichever form that public might use.”

“Courage and resiliency are at the core of New Society Publishers’ corporate culture, and this has never been more evident than in the past months,” says Plant, “when our committed, passionate, smart and savvy staff stuck with New Society through uncertainty and constrained working conditions.”

It all gives the distinct impression that if anyone is going to survive this time of turmoil and transition in the industry, this team will.

Congratulations from The Island Book Shoppe! 

This is such good news for Gabriola Island

and great news for the publishing industry and book lovers everywhere!