Dr. Brinkley’s Tower is a very moving portrayal of the various citizens of a 1930′s Mexican border town. Corazon de la Fuente continues to feel the effects of the Mexican Revolution with poverty and despair touching the lives of all of its citizens. When a wealthy American, Dr. Brinkley, decides to build a radio broadcast tower in Corazon de la Fuente, mostly for the purpose of hawking his impotence-curing “goat gland operation,” a new prosperity comes to town as well. However, with this new found wealth, and the radio tower itself, come a number of disastrous problems for the town’s people.

Hough lovingly describes the landscape of northern Mexico and creates a group of wonderful core characters.  A young man coming of age and falling in love, the young woman he loves dreaming of a way out of the life she’s been living, the town’s mayor, the cantina owner, the Madam, an octogenarian who finds love for the first time,  all have recognizable stories but Hough makes them fresh and unique.

Ultimately, this novel asks,  “What are the unseen or unimagined consequences of our often blind pursuit of wealth and the ‘American Dream’, and what damages to our world are we willing to live with?”

By Kirt

Eileen Cook spent most of her teen years wishing she were someone else or somewhere else, which is great training for a writer. Eileen lives in Vancouver with her husband and two dogs and no longer wishes to be anyone or anywhere else. For more information about her, check out http://www.eileencook.com/

1.      What was the last book you read?

I just finished reading Mrs. Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.  It’s a really quirky book with these bizarre black and white photographs.  It’s a story that has monsters, time travel, adventure and some very unique characters.  Up next I want to re-read Populazzi, it’s written by a friend of mine Elise Allan.

 2.      What were your favourite books growing up?

I was a HUGE reader growing up.  I loved everything from scary stories, to choose your own adventure books, to Nancy Drew.  Some of my favourite books as a kid included The Phantom Tollbooth, The Outsiders, A Separate Peace, The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, and anything Judy Blume ever wrote.  I wanted to be Judy Blume when I grew up.  She sent me an email after my first YA book came out, What Would Emma Do, and I still have it next to my desk.

3.      If you could have tea with any children’s book character, who would it be and why?

Oooh hard question!  Can’t it be a party where we invite a whole bunch of people?  Alice in Wonderland could host the party with the Mad Hatter.  I’d invite Harry Potter for sure, Nancy Drew, Katniss from The Hunger Games.   I’m just getting started, we might need a big room for this tea party.

 4.      What do you like best about the city/town where you live?

I love the ocean and the beach in Vancouver.  I do some of my best book brainstorming when walking on the beach with my dogs.  They like to rub in stinky dead things that have washed up on the shore, so we all find it to be a good way to spend the afternoon.

5.      What are your favourite pizza toppings?

I love Italian Sausage and extra cheese, but in the end it’s pizza.  I like it with pretty much any topping except olives.  I’m not a big olive fan.

6.      Honour us by writing a haiku about your latest book.

Oh, I was sooo bad at this in high school English.  I’m not sure what it says about me when I think it is easier to write a whole book than one three line haiku.

Unraveling Isobel
ghosts, love, fear, hope, tied together-
to know yourself

                       NEW FAVOURITES: 

 Jingle Bells by Veronica Vaslenko

This adorable padded board book for babies contains all the lyrics to Jingle Bells together with illustrations of the cutest little mice going on a sleigh ride. “Awww,” is the word you are looking for.

Bad Kitty by Nick Bruel

What happens when Bad Kitty doesn’t all all the prezzies a kitty of high stature would expect? Mayhem, of course. But Christmas lessons are still learned in the hilarious picture book. This is the perfect book for anyone who loves Bad Kitty, or anyone who has their own cats at home who are inevitable destroying Christmas ornaments with glee.

Strega Nona’s Gift by Tomie De Paola

Strega Nona and Big Anthony are back! This time they are celebrating all the different saints’ days in a traditional Italian Christmas, including the day where animals get presents. Big Anthony gets himself into his usual load of trouble, but of course makes good with the town, and the goat. A lovely story where you get to laugh and learn at the same time. You can’t go wrong with De Paola.

Small Miracle by Peter Collington

This wordless picture book was out of print for many years and has finally come back “out of the vault” (as Disney would put it). It is the very touching story of a beggar woman who risks her safety to save a nativity scene from being vandalized, but then is in danger of freezing in the cold. The nativity figures come to life and help her into her home, bring her food and create a beautiful Christmas celebration for her. There won’t be a dry eye in the house after reading this one.

The Night Before Christmas (Classic Edition) by Clement Clarke Moore

Illustrator Charles Santore brings a beautiful flavour to this classic holiday poem. The illustrations are lush and wrap you up in the warmth of Christmas. As a bonus, when the poem gets to tearing open the shudders and opening the sash, readers can do the same by opening up the pages to a spectacular scene.

The Book of Holiday Awesome by Neil Pasricha (Adult)

With each page dedicated to a different awesome thing about the holidays, this is a great way to remind yourself, amidst the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, of all the reasons why we put up with all the busy parking lots and crowded shops. We like such gems as, “just barely wrapping a gift with that tiny scrap of leftover wrapping paper” and “when that kid crying in the mall isn’t your kid.” This book also contains awesome thoughts for other holidays too!

SOME OF OUR ALL-TIME FAVES:

A Porcupine in a Pine Tree (A Canadian 12 Days of Christmas)by Werner Zimmermann  & Helaine Becker

A Creature Was Stirring by Carter Goodrich

I See Santa Everywhere by Glenn McCoy

A Perfect Snowman by Preston McDaniels

Christmas is Here by Lauren Castillo

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson

http://www.ckua.com:80/10/28/11/Holger-Petersens-Talking-Music-Book-Laun/landing.html?blockID=561264&feedID=7375

On Thursday, Nov. 10 at 7:00pm, Georges Laraque will be signing his new book, Georges Laraque: The Story of the NHL’s Unlikeliest Tough Guy. His memoir is already creating buzz in the hockey world and he’s appearing only at Greenwoods’! We recommend getting here early as we are expecting the line for the signing will be fairly long.

EVERYTHING IN STOCK IS 15% OFF!

&

We have tables of books for 50% OFF!

Saturday, October 15 at 3:00pm!

Join us for an afternoon of SF and Fantasy as several authors from Tesseracts 15: A Case of Quite Curious Tales read from the latest the latest anthology. The theme for this one is Young Adult.

Wayne Johnston and Anita Rau Badami will be here Tuesday October 11th at 7:00pm!

We couldn’t be more pleased to have this dynamic duo reading at Greenwoods’. Wayne Johnston has written many books, and The Colony of Unrequited Dreams has been hailed by the Globe & Mail as one of the 100 most important Canadian books. He will be reading from A World Elsewhere. Anita Rau Badami has written four novels, including the extraordinary Tamarind Mem, and she will be reading from Tell it to the Trees.

Five Little Pumpkins by Ben Mantle (Babies and up)

An adorable little rhyming book that comes in both picture book and board book. You get to count to five and explore the spookiness of a Halloween night – what could be better?

Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich by Adam Rex (ages 5+)

This picture book came out a few years ago, and it’s still making us giggle. Every monster you can think of has his/her own rhyming story. With such stories as “The Creature From the Black Lagoon Doesn’t Wait an Hour Before Swimming” and “Godzilla Pooped on my Honda,” this book is sure to amuse and disgust child and adult alike. The rhyme schemes are great, the originality of the stories is wonderful, and the illustrations are scary, but not too scary. 

Bloody Horowitz by Anthony Horowitz (ages 11+)

A Professor Wendy Grooling warns us away from this book from the very beginning, cautioning us to steer all children away from any books that are not fine literature. She tells us that horror stories will warp the mind. But I’m suspecting that this will only further entice young readers to continue on in this book of gruesome and chilling horror stories. The short stories encountered here are action packed, gory, suspenseful and have a lot of humour in them. Horowitz is the much-loved author of the Alex Rider series, and he almost never misses his mark, especially when it comes to writing for boys.

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin (ages 14+)

Mara is the only survivor after a night out with 2 of her friends and her boyfriend, but she can’t remember what happened. The stress and the trauma are causing her mind to play tricks on her and she can’t tell if she’s going crazy or if something genuinely supernatural is going on. Mara’s memory slowly unlocks its haunting secrets as her family struggles to support her. I loved the family dynamic in this novel. I loved the how the emotional consequences of trauma were handled, and how they were delineated and distinguished from the supernatural elements of this novel. But what I loved the most about this this book was the dialogue; it has been a long while since I have read a teen novel with dialogue this funny, witty and intelligent. At its core, this is a chillingly suspenseful, supernatural thriller with some romance thrown in for good measure.

Other books we love for Halloween:

Zombiekins by Kevin Bolger (ages 9+), The Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (ages 11+), The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (ages 10+), The Enemy by Charlie Higson (ages 12+), and Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs (ages 16+)