Brenda has launched a "Campaign of Forks" to help bring awareness to the issue of non-recyclable plastic tableware and to promote alternativesto using PS6 forks.
Brenda with bamboo fork
During the holiday season, Brenda was discussing the environmental hazards of using plastic utensils with her visiting daughters (probably after a few glasses of wine); one of them challenged her not to use plastic forks in her home and business. As a result, Brenda has started a campaign to collect old-fashioned metal forks for the events at Kona Stories. We need approximately 100 forks for our monthly Words and Wine event,and will re-use them instead of the plastic forks used in the past. So we are asking people interested in the campaign to clean out their drawers or purchase forks to donate them to Kona Stories.
"This seemed like a wonderful way to start 2017" says Brenda, "stop using these environmentally damaging forks. One other way to reduce use of plastic forks is to travel with your own fork--a nice way to do this is to invest in a To-Go-Ware set." Kona Stories sells these $14.99 sets, which are made of bamboo.
"People are predicting that free speech will take it on the chin in 2017.... It is because booksellers are strongly committed to tolerance and free speech that I believe that we can help moderate the tensions in our society.... There is no better medium for encouraging the free trade in ideas than books. They allow us to move beyond the heated emotion and inflamed rhetoric of campaigns to think hard about our problems. They provide common ground for debating the issues.
"In dark times, bookstores offer hope."
We also want to remind you that there is a Kona event supporting the "Women's March on Washington" on Saturday, Jan. 21 at 3pm. You can learn more on their
Women's March On Washington- Kona facebook page.
Our Book clubs are fun and friendly!
Read the book, bring either a pupu or beverage, and enjoy a lively discussion.
Our Travel Group: The Road to Little Dribbling: Adventures of an American in Britainby
Bill Bryson.
The Road to Little Dribbling
Bryson has traveled about Britain again, by bus and train and rental car and on foot, to see what has changed -- and what hasn't. With his instinct for the funny and quirky, and his eye for the idiotic, the bewildering, the appealing, and the ridiculous, he offers insights into all that is best and worst about Britain today. This best-selling travel writer will be our topic on Tuesday, January 17 at 6:30pm.
Our Non-fiction group: The Invention of Nature: Alexander Von Humboldt's New World by
Andrea Wulf.
The Invention of Nature
Alexander von Humboldt (1769 1859) was an intrepid explorer and the most famous scientist of his age. His restless life was packed with adventure and discovery, whether he was climbing the highest volcanoes in the world or racing through anthrax-infected Siberia or translating his research into bestselling publications that changed science and thinking. Now Andrea Wulf brings the man and his achievements back into focus: his daring expeditions and investigation of wild environments around the world and his discoveries of similarities between climate and vegetation zones on different continents. We will discuss this award winning science biography on
Tuesday, January 24 at 6pm.
Our Fiction group:
The Madwoman Upstairs by Catherine Lowell.
The Madwoman Upstairs
Catherine Lowell's smart and original debut novel is an enjoyable academic romp that successfully combines romance and intrigue ( Publishers Weekly). The only remaining descendant of the Bronte family embarks on a modern-day literary treasure hunt to find the family's long-rumored secret estate, using only the clues her father left behind and the Brontes own novels. Join us to discuss this fast-paced adventure on Tuesday, February 14 @ 6:30pm.
Not Kona
In honor of the Women's march we have "Top 10 books about wild women" from the Guardian. Warning: it's a very British list; I've only heard of two of them. (This is Joy.)
