Mike McCardell meets with cancer survivor to whom he dedicated his latest book
Hunger Games
12/12/2012 Book Club February recommendations
Fabulous Five Sale at Black Bond Books, Richmond
Mike & Judy Olan
2011 December
The meeting between Mike McCardell and Judy Olan, to whom he dedicated his latest book, became possible at Black Bond Books, South Surrey Warehouse Store.
Dedication from Mike McCardell's latest book <Here's Mike>
"This book is dedicated to Judy. I've never met her. I was buying a bottle of sparkling wine for my daugher's birthday and the nice woman at the ... register ... asked if I was going to write an other book. I said never. I was through with book writing. I didn't believe anyone read them.
She said her mother read them all. She said her mother had breast cancer and she read them while she was going through the ... pain and despair that goes with cancer. This woman at the cash register, Angie (... from her name tag) said her mother found comfort and relief in my books.
I was shocked and humbled, and didn't know what to say. My books ... about ordinary folks ... overcoming daily problems, gave me reason to live , but I didn't think they did the same for anyone else. I paid for the wine and ... What's your mother's name, I asked.
Judy, she said.
Then I stopped before leaving... This didn't make the person happy behind me [in the line]. Okay, I said to Angie, I'll write a book and put your mother's name in it. ...
Angie started crying.
Another clerk saw her and asked what the problem was, meaning, "Is this guy bothering you?...
"Nothing, no problem", Angie said. "They are tears of happiness."
What choice did I have? Judy wanted an other book. So I started, and since I can't just stick her name in a story, there is only one way to do it:
This book is dedicated to Judy.
You are a survivor. I learn a lot from survivors.
Thanks, and good luck.
The Joy of Books
Books at night
Watch this video made by the owners of Type, an independent book store in Toronto.
Congratulations to Cathy Jesson, owner of Black Bond Books, for being awarded the White Rock South Surrey Chamber of Commerce Business Person of the Year!
Ian Rankin
past event
Ian Ranking is in town as a guest of the Vancouver International Writers Festival. Lucky for Trish Petrie, the manager of Guildford Black Bond Books location, a special luncheon was organized with the author for booksellers. Mr. Rankin was lovely and very passionate about European football (soccer).
(photo: Trish is on the far right, Ian Rankin is at her right shoulder.)
Canada Reads 2012
Something Fierce win
Canada Reads 2012 debate kicked off yesterday with surprise elimination: Prisoner of Tehran is longer a contender.
Day 3: On a Cold Road gets cold feet.
... and the winner is: Something Fierce by Carmen Aguire
" A gripping, darkly comic memoir of a young underground revolutionary during the Pinochet dictatorship in 1980s Chile. This dramatic, darkly funny narrative, which covers the decade from 1979 to 1989, takes the reader inside war-ridden Peru, dictatorship-run Bolivia, post-Malvinas Argentina and Pinochet's Chile. Writing with passion and deep personal insight, Carmen Aguirre captures her constant st...ruggle to reconcile her commitment to the resistance movement with the desires of her youth and her budding sexuality. Something Fierce is a gripping story of love, war and resistance and a rare first-hand account of revolutionary life. Carmen Aguirre is a Vancouver-based writer and theatre artist who has worked extensively in North and South America. She has written or co-written eighteen plays, including The Refugee Hotel, which was nominated for a Dora Mavor Moore Award for best new play in 2010. Something Fierce is her first book.
"Aguirre, a playwright, has crafted a narrative packed with suspense, emotion, and dollops of sardonic humour. Even better, her searing memoir conveys the confusion and heartache of adolescence alongside the violent upheavals of Latin America during the late 1970s...Never polemical or self-pitying, Aguirre has written a crisp, dramatic account of growing up under extraordinary circumstances."
Black Bond Books is an independent family owned Canadian bookstore with 12 locations through out the Lower Mainland. Black Bond Books currently has over 100 book lovers on staff, some of whom have been with the company for over 20 years.
Shipping is free within
Canada with a $50 purchase
