'The Best of Bits and Pieces' Offers World of Folksy Wisdom

Barrie Hopkins is a rarity. He's a writer, a columnist who has made a much-treasured weekly contribution for nearly 25 years to The Wellington Advertiser in southern Ontario.

(PRWEB) April 2, 2008 -- Barrie Hopkins is a rarity. He's a writer, a columnist who has made a much-treasured weekly contribution for nearly 25 years to The Wellington Advertiser in southern Ontario.

He has not a lick of training in the world of journalism, not a single moment of formal literary tutoring. In fact, he doesn't even see himself as a journalist at all -- all he knows is how to put together the words, and the thoughts, and yes, too, the feelings, that touch his readers' hearts and spirit. And that, surely, is more than enough.

His column in the Advertiser is headed Bits and Pieces and has become so popular among many readers that Hopkins was persuaded, by his Little Lady, the love of his life, to publish a compilation of his work. The result is his first book, entitled The Best of Bits and Pieces, and it's sure to be a hit with readers far beyond the boundaries of southern Ontario.

Just to provide some perspective on Hopkins' enduring popularity, this book is a selection of 200 of his earliest Advertiser columns - and Hopkins already has plans, for a sequel. And then another. And another. And another. That's what happens when a newspaper column is so well read that it lasts for 25 years - he's written well over 1,000 columns, which have been published, since he first began.

Now, to be clear, we are not talking here about columns on politics. Or government. Or the law. Or international affairs. We are, instead, talking about the kind of stories that emerge from every day human happenings, in any small town, any place, clear across this country we proudly call Canada.

If Hopkins sees his tap water turning a rusty red, from ill-flushed aging water- mains, he'll write about it -- and he'll use that little incident to observe how Canada isn't taking care of what may well be its most treasured resource.

When he sits beneath the canopy of the lowly poplar tree, he doesn't see the short- lived lowly poplar at all- he sees an noble, sturdy guardian that acts as a shield to its fellow followers, for it is a tree that is inevitably the first to re-generate in the wake of a disastrous forest fire.

And when Hopkins experience a January thaw, he experiences much more than a welcome winter break-- he feels the passage of time in his bones and he tells his readers all about it.

The Best of Bits and Pieces is a collection of newspaper columns that will appeal to the romantic in all of us. It takes us away from the hustle and bustle and the time-pressured world of today and asks us to stop and reflect a bit, perhaps even stop, stoop, and smell the roses.

It suggests that we pause, to consider the many, many ways to live-- and that to live simply, with a healthy outlook and respect for the natural world around us, may be the smartest choice that we all could make.

The Best of Bits and Pieces
by Barrie Hopkins
ISBN: 9780973766011

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