"These are not books, lumps of lifeless paper but Minds alive on the shelves. From each of them goes out its own voice...and just as the touch of a button on our set will fill the room with music, so by taking down one of these volumes and opening it, one can call into range the voice of man far distant in time and space, and hear him speaking to us, mind to mind, heart to heart"   Gilbert Highet

BOOK CATEGORIES AT HIDDEN GEMS:

We do carry the usual categories found in bookstores: Thrillers/Suspense; Murder Mysteries; Romance; Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror; True Crime; Non-Fiction/Biographies and Westerns but also want to highlight some other categories you can find as you browse around...

LOCAL AUTHORS-a mix of fiction, non-ficiton  can be found amongst our talented local writers. As well, some BC authors can also be found on this bookcase. We also have Canadian and one American author, who have brought their books in to sell-children books-fiction/non-fiction-to becoming a success in the music business. (You can check out the books currently in the store that are being highlighted below.) "If there is a book you really want to read but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it." Toni Morrison.

NEW BOOKS: HGB continues to bring in new books that are requested authors/genres such as Fantasy or the current best seller.

NEWER RELEASES: there is a book case dedicated to newer release gently used books found near the back of the store and for all the book clubs in town a great way to to find their reading material. As well, you will now find books at ends of bookcases and on the post highlighting favorite authors/good books to read.

CANADIAN CONTENT: non-fiction books on BC  and on the rest of Canada.

CANADIAN AUTHORS: From Pierre Berton, Margaret Atwood, Pauline Gedge, Michael Ondaatje, Carol Sheilds, Alice Munro, Stuart McLean, and so on. As well, some of other local authors can be found in this section.

BOOKS ON TAPE: a mix of thriller and romance on tape, and occ'l books on c.d. can be found on a shelf by the front counter.

Award Winners and Oprah's picks can be found in one book case: Ken Follet's 'Pillars of the Earth'; Toni Morrison's books; Sidney Poiter's memoir; and so on.

BACKROADS MAPBOOKS AND FISHING BOOKS: available for the local area as well as up north and Kootenays/Revelstoke are for both map and fish books; maps that are water and tear resistent available for 3 areas.

BOOKS TO MOVIES/T.V. SHOWS: this bookcase is alphabeticalized by movie and t.v. show titles and assists customers to find those authors, whose work they enjoyed on screen/t.v., to find their other books.

GENERAL FICTION/NOVELS: for those books that do not fit under a particular category but offer wonderful stories with authors such as Joanna Trollop, John Irving, Jodi Pincoult, Diane Chamberlain, Bryce Courtenay, and Barbara Kingsolver, etc.

HISTORICAL SAGAS: with authors such as Jean Auel, Diana Gabaldon, Kathleen O'Neal and Michael Gear, Aaron Fletcher, John Jakes and Stuart Long to name a few.

HUMOR: Political and Sports Cartoon books, both Canadian (Donato, Ben Wicks, Stanley Burke/Roy Peterson) and American Ranan R. Lurie; The Herman Cartoon Books; For Better or Worse; and general humor such as Tom Robbins or the Red/Green Show. "Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves for they shall never cease to be amused."--unknown

FERN MICHAELS: The Sisterhood series. Fern writes romance but also started the Sisterhood series that has become so popular that she is up to # 22 and now starting 'The Godmothers Series". "Seven women have risked everything in the name of justice, including their own freedom..." This series is found with Fern's contemporary romance books.

STAR TREK/STAR WARS:  A popular science fiction genre that can be found in the Science Fiction area.

CHILDREN'S/YOUNGER TEENS: There is a Kid's corner at the back of the store and by the washroom--books from pregnancy to parenting; teaching the ABC's to educational tools; Golden books; Fairy Tails; Disney; classics; to younger teen books. "Children are unpredictable. You never know what inconsistency they're going to catch you in next." -Franklin P. Jones

ANIMALS/GARDENING: Found around the corner from the kids section.

SCIENCE/PHILOSOPHY AND REFERENCE/HOW TO BOOKS: Found around the corner from the kid's corner.  "The Philosophy of Ambiguity: If you try to fail, and succeed, which have you done?"--unknown

 

SPORTS:  on the back wall you can find books on golf; hockey, wrestling; skiing; snowboarding; baseball; fishing and hunting; with some books on cars. "Goaltending is a normal job, sure. How would you like it in your job if everytime you made a small mistake, a red light went on over your head and 15,000 people stood up and yelled at you."--Jacques Plante

OLD OR HARD TO FIND BOOKS: In this section are books from the 1960s and older and covers a wide range of topics--from Winston Churchill, Mark Twain, Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, etc.  "If I have not read a book before, it is, for all intents and purposes, new to me whether it was printed yesterday or three hundred years ago."--William Hazlitt

MUSIC: There is a section of biographies of musicians and sheet music to purchase.  "Music speaks what cannot be expressed, soothes the mind and gives it rest, heals the heart and makes it whole, flows from heaven to the soul."--unknown

THE MORE THAN GENTLY USED BOOKCASE: Just before you head out the door there is a big bookcase with "more than gently used books" on it, as well as magazines, that are all free.  It is a great way to find new authors or an old cookbook, etc., and to recycle. Thanks to all our customers for helping to contribute to this growing assortment of reading material. We also carry the Friday A.M., Tidbits of the Shuswap, and local tourist information on this bookcase.

WAR & HISTORY: From the Civil War through to the end of 1990's; general history of England, Scotland, USA and Canada, with some odds and ends thrown in. "Books are the building blocks of civilization and a people without books are a people without history, no story older than the tales of the oldest man or woman."--Louis L'Amour

THE CLASSICS-- LITERATURE/PLAYS & POETRY: From Shakespeare, Steinbeck, Bronte, Alcott, Kipling; to Canadian/mix for poetry. "My books are water; those of the great geniuses are wine. (Fortunately) everybody drinks water."--Mark Twain

FOREIGN LANGUAGES: French, German, Spanish and Dutch with some novels of known authors.

RELIGION:  Christian content of non-ficiton material on three shelves, alphabeticalized by author. As well, under the Romance section there are a number of Christian fiction to be found--from Romance to thrillers that the store carries:

-T. Davis Bunn; Linda Chaikin; Margaret Daley; Richard Paul Evans; B.J. Hoff; Beverely Lewis; Gail Gaymer Martin/Cynthia Rutledge; Felicia Mason; Lynn & Gilbert Morris; Janette Oke; Marta Perry; Tracie Peterson/Judith Miller; Michael Phillips/Judith Pella; Lorraine Snelling; Bodie Thoene; and Janet Tronstad; and Lahaye/Jenkin

SPIRITUALISM/STRANGE OCCURANCES:  angels, new age, healing, philosophy, and non-fiction books on a variety of 'stange occurances' and more.

SELF HELP/HEALTH: Can be found below the Business/Finance section--from relationships, to death, to health into diet/cookbooks. "I went into a bookstore and asked the saleswoman 'where's teh self-help section?' and she said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose."--George Carlin

COOKBOOKS: Found under the Health section and books cover cooking with butter to low fat cooking; from other countries; and wine/beer books.

COMPUTER BOOKS: There are computer guides (new) from BC author Louise Latremouille that are easy to read guides and very popular: From My Parents First; Beyond the Basics; My Parents Went Mac and My Parent Get Windows 7; and My Parents Go Wild For Word.

ART & PHOTOGRAPHY BOOKS: From how to draw through to colored plate books of well known classic artists to contemporary. " Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life."-Pablo Picasso

LARGE PRINT BOOKS-Have some Thrillers; Murder Mysteries and Romance.

ODDS' ENDS:  this bookcase has  music, non-fiction adventure--from sailing, treasure hunting, to climbing mountains; travel books; and books on collecting--antiques, stamps and so on.

"Books can be possessive, can't they? You're walking around  bookstore and a certain one will jump out at you, like it had moved there on it's own just to get your attention. Sometimes what's inside will change your life..."-Sarah Allen