P’lovers is proudly celebrating its 20th birthday this year. One of our ways of marking this milestone is that after 17 years in Park Lane, P’lovers is migrating to a new nest.
As of May 12th, P’lovers will be located in a spacious, light-filled new location in The Trillium at 1443 South Park Street.
Please come see us and help us begin our next 20 years of serving Halifax with eco-alternatives…for you and for the planet.
Come out and celebrate the release of Scott Fotheringham’s remarkable new novel ‘The Rest is Silence’ – P’lovers is supporting two of the three events and will have books available for sale on May 2 at the Company House in Halifax,, on May 5 at the store in Mahone Bay and all of May at our two stores.
By Peter Ladner – $18.95
This book is full of both fascinating facts and figures and inspiring examples of how people are trying to change the way we feed cities. Some issues covered by the author have been written about before – such as (a) the decline of fish stock in our oceans; (b) the huge amount of money spent on carbonated beverages ($12 billion was spent on carbonated beverages in American supermarkets last year!); (c) how difficult it is for inner city neighbourhoods stores to supply fruits and vegetables at all, let alone ones produced locally; (d) the perils of soil erosion and water shortages; (e) peak oil and carbon pricing; and (f) shortages of people willing to be farmers in a world largely controlled by large corporations.
Even though all of these topics can be hugely depressing, Ladner fins a way, through balanced reflection and writing, to show us what is already possible in terms of producing health food locally. From the streets of downtown Detroit to the community gardens of Montreal, we see ways individuals and groups of citizens and urban leaders are addressing the issues of food security and the means to make changes for the better in our food productions and availability.
A lot of the book is about planning cities, but planning isn’t just for professional planners. We all contribute by the choices we make every day: how we get to work, where we live, what we are willing to pay for water and what food we choose to eat and grow. This is a valuable book, with lots of information we can use to help us see how our choices matter and how we can contribute to changing the way we feed ourselves and our urban dwellers.
P’lovers’ next Book Club Meeting is on Monday, March 26, at 6 PM.
The book is ‘Wildlife Heroes’.
by Gretchen Rubin – $17.99
This book has become an inspirational best seller. The author, Gretchen, became aware, one day, on a bus ride to work, that despite having a loving husband, two healthy daughters and work she loved something was missing. So she came up with what she called ‘the happiness project’ which was, for her, an approach to changing her life and experiencing more joy each day.
Gretchen started slowly. She first identified the situations that made her happy and also researched many books from varied authors about happiness. She started in January, the first month of a new year, and came up with projects for all twelve months her year, Each month has a theme and includes an elaborated list of four or five ways each month to increase happiness. The bottom line is that her project worked for her and she decided to share it with others.
“The Happiness Project” is very easy to read being both serious and light-hearted at the same time. One can read it from start to finish, in the order it is printed, or one can start with the month or the theme of one’s choice. It’s a great book to read and to have nearby as a reference or reminder to help on the road to a fulfilled and happy life.
The next book is “The Urban Food Revolution” by Peter Ladner – $18.95
by Hillary Jordan – $19.99
Hillary Jordan has written a fast paced thriller, an ‘unputdownable’ novel.
The book opens with the main character, Hannah Elizabeth Payne, being found guilty of the crime of murder and hearing that she is to go to prison for 30 days where she will become a Red for a period of sixteen years. The next thing she knows is that she is waking up and discovering that she is red, the solid red of a stop sign, the colour of newly shed blood.
When Hannah is released from the prison, where she had seen no one and talked to no one for thirty days, she realizes that she is free but is still filled with trepidation. Where can she go? Certainly not home. Her mother had made that clear. She would be shunned by the community as a Chrome, a Red.
It is revealed that Hannah loves a married man named the Reverend Aidan Dale. Hannah’s love for this man is so great that she chose prison and ‘chroming’ (becoming red) rather than give his name as an accomplice to the charge of ‘murder’. The reader wonders what kind of man lets someone he professes to love sacrifice her life for him…and that is just one of the many provocative questions raised by this novel.
Feeling she has no choice, Hannah begins a journey towards freedom in Canada. Her journey is filled with terrifying dangers and she has to decide who can be trusted and who is will betray her. Through all these challenges, Hannah discovers her inner strength and her true self.
When She Woke shows what can happen with a totalitarian government and how society behaves towards people who are “judged ” to be of a lesser moral standard by leaders in the community. This book is a gripping read and raises many questions about the effects of narrow values and unforgiving judgements.
The next book is an international bestseller, titled “The Happiness Project” by Gretchen Rubin – $17.99
Check out P’lovers’ first “January Inventory Sale” – January 12-22.
We’ve never done this before but we’re 20 years old this year and so we thought we’d offer it as a gift for your ongoing support.
We’re already thinking of the great ideas we have for the spring and we want to give you the opportunity to help us make room for them and, at the same time, get some great bargains.
Here’s some of what you will find:
…and free gift with purchase if you buy $100 or more!!!!
Come early for the best selections. We look forward to helping you find some special bargains.
All sales final.
by Chris Bohjalian – $19.99
This novel is full of tension – between various family members and between environmentalists and big business.
One of the main characters, Scottie Wilson, portrays some of this tension when he says: “Some people say my wife’s sister is a witch. My sister-in-law is not a witch, at least not literally. She along with my wife and mother-in-law is a dowser. An ability even now being developed by our daughter Miranda. These females in the family are capable of divining underground water with a stick. And unlike my wife and mother-in-law, my sister-in-law, Patience, is an active dowser. She does not merely have the power; she uses it and uses it profitably. Patience is a well-paid dowser. According to her logbook and diary she has now dowsed 1,812 wells, of which 1,500 are in Vermont.” Even with this amazing track record, not everyone respects or trusts the powers of dowsers!
Alongside fascinating characters, the novel brings together the natural beauty of a mountain, a serious drought, and the greed of big business. The mountain: in size, in sheer accessibility there may be no more perfect mountain in the world than Mount Republic, one of the higher mountains in Vermont. It is the highest of the cluster of mountains that comprise the Powder Peak Ski Resort. But now the whole ski industry is on the verge of bankruptcy. The resort needs more snowmaking capacity, which requires water, but drought is a serious problem in Vermont and people’s well are drying up.
Expansion plans are underway. The plan is to tap the Chittenden River for a new snowmaking machine. Scottie, who never expected to represent ski resorts when he went to law school, is representing Schuss Limited, the corporation that owns Powder Peak. Scottie is arguing that the expansion plans will bring more jobs to the community and if the resort does not expand, it may not survive, pitted against him and the corporation, though, are his wife, daughter, mother-in-law, sister-in-law (Patience, the dowser) and Patience’s fiancée, all environmentalists. Vermonters are already concerned with the damage to the river and vegetation because of the nightmarish drought and argue that the river cannot tolerate being drained further to make snow.
And so the question emerges as to whether Scottie’s family and friends can convince him to put his energies into preserving of the river rather than destroying it for monetary gain.
This novel for will appeal to anyone who has ever considered the dilemmas created when business expansion and preserving nature are at odds with one another.
P’lovers’ Book Club’s next book is “When She Woke” by Hillary Jordan
The Bird Totas and Tree of Life hangings and Pillow Covers available at P’lovers come from The Barefoot College (www.barefootcollege.org), founded in 1972 in Tilonia, Rajasthan, one of India’s largest, driest, and poorest states. The Barefoot College is based on the belief that solutions to rural problems lie within the community. The programs and initiatives of the Barefoot College are designed to benefit the ‘poorest of the poor’ and improve their lives by addressing basic needs for water, electricity, housing, health, education and income.
The Barefoot College encourages learning by doing and focuses on practical knowledge and skills. It many programs include training and service delivery in solar electrification, rainwater harvesting, environmental restoration, health promotion, and education.
Plover’s Book Club had a night in which each member could pick any book they wanted by Pema Chodron.
“The Wisdom of No Escape”; ” Comfortable with Uncertainty”; “When Things Fall Apart”; “Start where You Are”; and “Taking the Leap” were five of the books read. (Prices range from $16.00 to $24.00)
Everyone agreed that Pema Chodren comes across as a gentle woman herself, one who has lived her basic messages of “be gentle with yourself” and “practice ‘loving kindness’ to yourself”.
Chodren, a Buddhist nun, argues that we don’t have to be perfect, therefore we shouldn’t be hard on ourselves if we falter or fall on our path.
Life is sometimes inconvenient and painful, but once we know the purpose of our lives is simply to walk forward, trying to do our best, and using our lives to wake up (rather than fall asleep), then it is easier to remember that nothing is permanent…even mistakes. One can embrace things like inconvenience and suffering knowing they are, like all things, temporary. Pema encourages readers to remember to take a breath, be aware of the shifts and movements of our thoughts and emotions, and to be gentle with yourself.
Pema Children’s books are written from the tradition of Tibetan Buddhism and she writes in a very approachable way. Her teachings seem somehow familiar and completely applicable to every day living and every day challenges. Members of the P’lovers’ Book Club all recommended these books as ones which would enlighten readers’ minds and enrich their lives.
The next book is “Water Witches” by Chris Bohjalian
by Lawrence Scanlon – $19.95
This book chronicles Lawrence Scanlon’s real life experiences, living and helping volunteer organizations in different parts of the world, a month at a time. While some chapters are a bit longer than necessary to make his points, this book is an inspiration, an insight into different opportunities; a starting point for anyone interested in volunteering their time and energy for the benefit of society.
The January chapter recounts Scanlon’s volunteer work at the St. Vincent de Paul Society-Loretta Hospitality Centre in Kingston, Ontario, feeding, housing and clothing, men, women and children. Scanlon gets to know daily visitors and he tells us about Judy, a middle aged woman from a middle class background. Then after twenty years of marriage every thing fell apart in Judy’s life. Divorce led to depression and self-medication with alcohol and drugs and within three years Judy was living on the streets.
A chapter that provoked a great deal of discussion was Scanlon’s time volunteering at the Kingston Penitentiary. He asked one of the older inmates, “What is it like inside?”. The inmate answered, “I can tell you about the rapes, especially of the young. Going inside a Mr. Tough Guy attitude doesn’t cut it in prison because there is always someone tougher than you.” And when he asks how prison personnel work daily with the incarcerated, dealing with the risks and enforcing the rules, he is told they form an impersonal, remote, protective shield.
September is a chapter at The Onguanada Resource Centre in Kingston where no one uses language to communicate but all communicate in their own way. All at Onguanada are profoundly challenged in mind and body.
October chronicles a stint with Habitant for Humanity in New Orleans.
In December, Scanlon spends the month in Dakar exploring the obstacles to improving education of females, and coming to understand the prevalence of poverty, deep and widespread corruption on all levels, and the uncertain economy. But he also talks about his appreciation of the Senegalese tight and meaningful family ties, their neighborhood connections and their generous hospitality.
Every chapter in Lawrence Scanlon’s, A Year of Living Generously provides eye-opening insights into the world of philanthropy and the rich returns to those who choose to give of their time to help others.
