 Hello, bookish friends! I hope you've had a wonderful year, so far, and that this summer has treated you well. I'm writing today with news and updates about the bookstore. The first item on my list is the newsletter. The newsletter has been difficult to keep up with, for various reasons, and I've felt awful for not being able to send out an update every month. After much thought, I've decided to change up the way we share information about the store. From now on, all important updates, sales, interesting information, and anything else that typically would have gone in the newsletter, can be found in blog posts that I share on our website--just like this one. This way, the important information will go out to anyone who is interested in reading it, not just those who have signed up for the newsletter. This doesn't mean I'm getting rid of the newsletter though! I will send out a newsletter inviting our dedicated readers to check out the new blog posts and a newsletter with our event calendar at the beginning of each month. These will be combined as often as possible so that we don't overwhelm your inbox. I've put a lot of thought into this and feel confident that this is the way our customers can get the information that is most relevant to them and that they are most interested in reading. If you have not signed up for our newsletter and would like reminders about our new blog posts and our monthly event calendars straight to your inbox, you can sign up here.
Second, with new people in town and lots of people returning at this time of year, I want to gently remind our customers that the cats need to be treated with respect when you visit the bookstore. Our cats are very friendly and love our customers but, like all creatures, need certain things to be happy. If you are visiting the store with a group, please take turns petting the cats and do not crowd around them. This causes both cats to get anxious and I'd like to avoid that as much as possible. Also, unless they show you that they want to be held, DO NOT PICK UP THE CATS. While they enjoy being petted, they don't always react well to being scooped up--especially if they're sleeping. Jane, the grey cat, is the only one who will ask to be held. She will reach her front paws up to you or lean up against you when she's on a counter top to show that she wants to be held. If you want to spend time with the cats, they enjoy when you sit next to them and will often crawl into your lap. Finally, please do not try to get them riled up by playing roughly with them, particularly Kell, the black cat. Jane will not respond well at all and Kell, once excited, will often harass Jane and cause a variety of other issues. Cats, like humans, use body language to convey many moods. If you are unfamiliar with feline body language, we suggest you look over this guide by Tuft & Paw. The next item on my list to discuss is our online store. Earlier this year, our primary distributor and the host of our online store decided to pull out of the retail wholesale market. This was a huge blow to us and is something that we've been struggling to accommodate for the last few months. We've been working to get accounts set up with various publishers and to replace our online store with another option. We've decided to try out IndieLite, a program offered by the American Booksellers Association, as our new online ordering option. Currently, we are working to get the new site set up and organized but it's going to take some time. I'm hoping to have it completed by the end of August so that we can go into the fall season with a fully functional website. When it finally goes live, we will share that update on our social media, in a newsletter blast, and in the next month's blog post. We apologize for the inconvenience but want you to know that we are happy to place orders for you at the store or over the phone and, during the month of August, we will be offering FREE shipping on all special orders that request it.  Next up, an update for students! Students, we are here to help you get your assigned reading. While we do not carry textbooks, we do order class titles and textbooks for you and give you a 20% discount. Just show us your syllabus with the titles you need to get the discount! We can order new and used titles. New titles can take 2-4 business days to arrive, while used books take longer, typically 7-10 business days. If you need a used title, please plan ahead to allow plenty of time for it to arrive.
The final topic on my list is used books. We do take used books and will give you store credit for them. This store credit can be used to purchase ONLY other used books and your credit will cover up to half of the cost of your used book purchase. If you would like to receive credit for your used books, please make an appointment to bring them by. We will not take walk ins and I apologize for this inconvenience. We are a very small staff, with each person filling many roles in order to provide you with the best bookstore experience possible. As a result, we typically have a very tight schedule and won't have time to go through your books unless we've specifically made time for you. Please check out our used book page to learn more about the program and to see what kinds of things we won't take or are looking for right now. That's it for August! Stay tuned for more updates & check out our events calendar to see what we're getting into this month!
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Happy new year, y'all! 2018 was a year of big change for Foggy Pine Books and we couldn't have done it without your support--from painting walls and helping move to the new location to shopping with us all year long and sharing our store with friends, family, even strangers. We are deeply grateful, as well, to the other businesses & non-profits who supported and worked with us this past year: Hatchet Coffee, Out of Your Mind, SAGA, and more. This community of giving, creative, thoughtful book lovers is precisely what we'd hoped to foster in Boone. Thank you for everything. Now, keep reading to find out what 2019 will bring and how you can be involved!
Are self improvement books not your style but you resolved to read more in 2019? Check out the "Best of 2018" list that our booksellers made for you! We had Mary & Saide list their favorite books that were released in 2018 & then compiled them on out website for you to browse. You can also check out the "Staff Picks" section in the bookstore which is on the bestseller shelf. If you like to pick out your own books but would like to challenge yourself to read outside the box, consider doing the Foggy Pine Reading Challenge! Our booksellers created this challenge to help our community read things they might not read otherwise. If you decide to do this challenge and complete it, bring us your filled out challenge list to get a FREE book! Check out the webpage for details.
Next, we have some staff announcements. Saide, a bookseller who joined our team in 2018, has been promoted to assistant manager. We would also like to introduce you to our newest bookseller, Rasier, who joined us during the holidays and will stay on through the winter. He did this interview to help you get to know him a little better and hopes you'll say hello next time you stop by the store.
Moving on to store announcements--we do have a few updates about our event schedule. First, the Young Adult Book Club is currently on hiatus. It didn't get a lot of interest or engagement last year so we're taking a break this winter to develop an excellent reading list and a marketing strategy that will bring this group to the members of our community who need it most. In addition to this hiatus, the Foggy Pine Storytime is also on hold indefinitely. We spent a lot of time picking stories and creating activities for kids but the event rarely brought anyone in. We tried moving the days & times but there was no change. We still do the Playhouse Storytime on the first Wednesday of every month at 11am, however, and will be considering a renewal of the Foggy Pine Storytime later this year. Finally, we are also putting a hold on the Swap Shop that we partner with Noble Kava to bring to the community. The Swap Shop generated a lot of interest but we're taking a break during the winter to catalog all the items, make donations to local charities, and get ready to come back this spring--just in time for spring cleaning! Not everything is leaving our even calendar though. We still have the Foggy Pine and Hatchet Coffee Book Clubs, the Foggy Minds Open Mic that we partner with Out of Your Mind to bring to you, the Watauga Witches community group, and all the awesome literary events we host throughout the year, like--TRIO, the Queer Arts Series, Indie Bookstore Day, Banned Books Week, and more! We're also excited to offer new programs this year. We are currently developing a book subscription service and a book club discount program. The most current news about these developments will come through our newsletter, which offers, in addition to exclusive news, the first announcements of sales and a coupon for our readers. You can sign up for it here, but we'll also make announcements on our social media pages: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, as well as this blog.  Lastly, we just have some reminders for you. Don't forget while you're Kon Mari-ing your house and getting rid of all your books that Foggy Pine Books will be happy to take them off your hands! Read up about our used book program here, then call us to make an appointment for your book collection. You'll get credit for other used books in the store so you can keep reading without investing a lot of money or space in your newly organized home!
Or maybe you didn't use the Kon Mari method but you're still supposed to host your book club meeting this month? Don't worry, we have you covered there too! Rent out our conference room to get a clean, cozy space for up to 12 people to meet. We have store parking, a comfy couch to sit on, a table to work at, and coffee available to all. If your meeting is during business hours, you can make your appointment online here. If you would like to meet outside of business hours, give us a call and we'll make the arrangements together. If you have any questions about the rental space or would like to check view it, please reach out to speak with Saide or Mary. That's it for all our biggest updates at the beginning of 2019. We'll be posting on this blog several times throughout the year but the best way to get news about Foggy Pine Books is to sign up for the newsletter. If you sign up before the end of January, we will email you a special coupon to use on your next purchase! Thank you again, Boone! We look forward to seeing you at our events this year and can't wait to see what great tings 2019 brings for us.  Every year, for Father's Day, we get to see dads spending this special day with their kids at our bookstore. We can't tell you how much it pleases us to see fathers sharing a love of reading with their children. The encouragement of a father who loves to read can go a long way toward showing children, but boys especially, that reading is not only fun but something you can develop and enjoy your whole life.* So, we want to say thank you to ALL dads but a special thank you to the bookish ones who read bedtime stories, make up silly songs, take their kids to storytimes, and generally model reading as a pleasure activity. You are helping to build the next generation of readers, of critical thinkers, of authors and illustrators, of storytellers. And we all know that the world needs more stories. Old NewsWe still have time slots available for the conference room so now's your chance to get your book club, knitting club, wine club, whatever club into a great space that is designed to meet your needs. We've got everything set up online so that making reservations is as simple as possible. You can even schedule a time to volunteer at the bookstore! We could always use someone to help out in the garden, clean, organize, read stories, and many other things. We always appreciate any help we receive but, after all, this is your bookstore too! Click here to get started or call the bookstore with any questions! Don't forget that we accept used books now! We are available to go through your order from 12-5pm Tuesday through Saturday. If you have more than 50 books, please call ahead to make an appointment so we can be sure someone gets through them all at once. Your accepted books will be credited to your account and can be redeemed when purchasing other used books. For more information about our used book program, visit this page. Right now, we could use books to help fill out the fantasy, science fiction, chapter books, mystery, southern nonfiction, and classics sections. It's the perfect time of year to get that spare room/storage unit/closet cleaned out.
We are still accepting donations for a few items that we need to help make Foggy Pine Books the coziest little bookstore you could imagine. We need rugs to help protect a few areas in the store from damage through use, particularly behind the register where we're constantly moving our chairs around and in the seating areas that get the most use. This summer has been sweltering and, even with open windows and ceiling fans, we've been feeling pretty melted by the end of the day. We could use just one standing fan to help create a cross breeze that will, hopefully, keep the store cool for the rest of the summer--especially once the new windows and window screens are installed (thank you, Joan!). Finally, we're trying to green up our space with house plants and we just love how cozy they make our space feel. We've been getting them a few at a time and nurturing some cuttings so that they can be potted but we could always use more. Whether you just have some cuttings or you have full, potted plants, we want to adopt your house plant babies. We prefer ones that need low to medium light since they'll stay inside all year long, often on top of shelves that aren't near windows. As always, a huge thank you to everyone who has donated and volunteered so far! New NewsWe have some store adjustments to share with you to make your browsing experience a little easier. We have expanded our religion section and that entire bookshelf now features the Religion/Spirituality section. We also decided to remove all biographies from the General History/Social Sciences section and relocate them to the Memoir/Autobiography section, which has been expanded and renamed Memoir/Biography. We felt that it made more sense to meld these two genres together. We've also added titles to the Discount Section so be sure to check it out!  Attention Watauga High students and parents!! We stock ALL of the summer reading titles for your rising 9th to 12th graders. We have these books in stock throughout the year so that those who won't be taking these classes until the fall will still be able to make the purchase for their class. All assigned titles are in their own section with the Battle of the Books titles. Books are separated by class and a book list is tacked up right next to the shelf. All assigned titles will get a 10% discount, as well! Included in this discount is the title assigned by Appalachian State University for the Common Reading Program--The Laramie Project. You can find this book in the same Summer Reading section.  June is Audiobook Month and our audiobook partner, Libro.fm, is giving you a FREE audiobook! All you have to do is click here to sign up for a membership, which you can cancel at any time, and you'll get your free audiobook--NO STRINGS ATTACHED! While your on their site, take some time to browse their playlists, audiobook bestsellers, and bookseller recommendations. You can always find something excellent to read on Libro.fm! Coming UpWe have a couple events this weekend and a few more to wrap up the month that we'd like to share with you and hope very much to see you there.
First, let's discuss this weekend's events. On Saturday, June 23rd from 6-9pm, we'll be hosting the Travelin' Appalachians Revue. This event is a showcase of Appalachian authors, artists, and musicians featuring local creators. We're incredibly excited for this unique event and look forward to meeting the local talent. We hope you'll join in and share some free wine with us while we soak up some local Appalachian creativity. Next, we have the Young Adult Book Club on Sunday, June 24th at 6:30pm. We meet at the bookstore to discuss the book and share some drinks and snacks. This month we're reading Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi. You can learn more about this book and our book club through our book club blogs. Click here to read about the June 2018 meeting. You can also check out the Foggy Pine Book Club Blog and the Hatchet Coffee Book Club Blog to learn more about those meetings that will take place next week. We are so excited about the Queer Literature and Film Series that we've partnered with Noble Kava to bring to our community next week. On Friday, June 29th at 6:30pm, we'll host the Queer Literature Night at Foggy Pine Books. Mary will give an introduction to the event and talk about the importance of representation and diversity in publishing. Then, we'll mingle and share book suggestions with one another. We'll have our Queer Literature display on hand with lots of LGBTQIA+ titles to help generate discussion. On Saturday, June 30th at 7pm at Noble Kava, we will be showing the movie Milk, about California's first openly gay man to be elected to public office. Kristina will introduce the film and talk a little bit about representation and about queer politics. Then, we'll watch the movie together on the kava bar's projection screen. There will be plenty of seating and snack and drinks available for purchase at the bar.  Finally, we are pleased to introduce to you our newest featured author as a part of the Local Author's Spotlight program--Kelsey Day. Kelsey is an incredible young person whose passion for writing has led her to publish a variety of things before even finishing high school. She's just graduated now and has released a collection of poetry about her high school and own coming of age experiences titled The Last Four Years. You can pick up a copy of her book from the bookstore anytime and you can meet her at the July First Friday Art Crawl! We'll be hosting the talented young author during the downtown Art Crawl who will be available to chat with about her writing and to sign your books. You won't want to miss out on this opportunity to get Kelsey's autograph before she hits the big time. So, come out for Art Crawl on July 6th and, starting at 6pm, you'll be able to meet this lovely author and browse the store with a glass of free wine. To learn more about Kelsey and her book, click here. Book Reviews We have a new review up on our website, written by our bookseller, Yelisa. She discusses Leslie Marmon Silko's classic novel, Ceremony. You can read the whole review on our review blog (click here) which features reviews from the owner and booksellers at Foggy Pine Books. We also have a review blog to feature reviews written by our community members! You can see the page here to read reviews and to get an idea what we're looking for. Then, the next time you finish a book you love, email it to us, and we'll feature it on our blog! We'll also let you borrow an ARC (Advance Reader's Copy) book if you'd like to review something but are unable to buy a book right now. We just want to know what books our community is into and we know that the community wants to know what everyone else is reading. So, don't be shy! Please email us your reviews!
Community EventsI can't believe it has already been two years! We have been priviledged to get to know many of you over these last two years and we are so thankful to you for making it possible for us to be here. Your support means the world to us and we enjoy meeting your book needs (and wants). We celebrated this past Wednesday with a community potluck. It was wonderful to see everyone who came out and we appreciate each and every one of our customers.  Old NewsWe still have some available time slots for the conference room so now's your chance to get your book club, knitting club, wine club, whatever club into a great space that is designed to meet your needs. Give us a call at the store to get your time scheduled today! New NewsWe are excited to be accepting used books at the store! We are available to go through your order from 12-5pm Tuesday through Saturday. If you have more than 50 books, please call ahead to make an appointment so we can be sure someone gets through them all at once. Your accepted books will be credited to your account and can be redeemed when purchasing other used books. For more information about our used book program, visit this page.  The Southern Bestsellers for this week are live on their page! You can click the titles to purchase the book from us online. The display is also up at the bookstore and is easy to browse and enjoy. We finally have The Overstory by Richard Powers, a SIBA Okra Pick, back in stock and available for purchase. We know that many of you have been looking for this title! Look for the Okra Pick symbol, seen below, on books in the store for titles that were recommended by Southern booksellers as the best books of their season!
Foggy Pine ReadsMary: I'm reading a few different things right now. I'm listening to Drawing Down the Moon by Margot Adler for Saturday's book club. I'm reading The Alchemyst by Michael Scott for Sunday's book club and A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah Maas. I'm enjoying everything but ACOMAF is, by far, the one that I cannot put down. The Adler book is a re-read for me so it's been interesting to compare my original thoughts on the book to my current ones. Yelisa: I've been reading Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur, on and off again. It could easily be a quick read, but I like to savor each poem and read them when I really need to as a way to resonate a certain feeling, whether that is hurting, loving, breaking or healing. It reminds me that while all of these aren't necessarily positive, they are essential to make me, and other readers, believe that we are milk and honey, filled with potential and worth. Kristina: I'm still reading The Alchemyst and really enjoying it. It's bringing me back to the age I was when I first read it. I'm looking forward to the book club discussion this Sunday! Katharine: I'm starting The Alchemyst. It sounds amazing and I can't wait to let you all know what I thought of it!
Coming UpWe have two book club events over the weekend and would love to see you at either (or both!). Saturday the 26th, Foggy Pine Book Club meets at the store from 7:30-8:30pm. This month, we've been reading Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshipers, and Other Pagans in America by Margot Adler. You're welcome to come by, have a glass of wine, and tell us what you think, even if you haven't read the entire book! We are laid back and love to have new members, so don't be shy! Then, Sunday the 27th we will be hosting the new YA Book Club at the store from 6:30-7:30pm. We have been reading The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel by Michael Scott and are excited to chat about it together over snacks and drinks. Coming to book club is a great opportunity to meet new people in your community and find other kindred-spirits!  Book ReviewsAre you looking for something awesome to read but don't know where to start? Check our the review blogs that we maintain on our website: If you've read something wonderful lately and want to tell everyone about it, write us a review and we'll feature it on the community page! You can also borrow an ARC (advanced reader copy) and write us a review based on a book that hasn't been released yet! Ask your bookseller for more information. In the meantime, check out Mary's review for Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows--  Community Events: This Saturday is the community swap shop at Noble Kava. Come by from 2-5pm with gently used items and swap them for something new-to-you! Have a few items with the tags still on that you know you can't re-gift? Donate them during the swap for coupons to use at Noble Kava and Foggy Pine Books.  Old News: Remember, we are running a sale on our parenting books and all 2018 planners and calendars. We still have some lovely ones left and you have an entire summer of events to plan so come take a peek! New News: College classes are officially over and that means our conference room is now the perfect place for your writing group, D&D campaign meetings, or just a hidey hole where you can get some peace and quiet while you work on that thing you keep meaning to do! You can rent by the hour (during and after hours), half day, or full day and, as always, we offer a discount for teachers. Come check out the space and you'll want to pull up a chair. Foggy Pine Reads: Mary - Right now, I'm reading A Court of Mist and Fury. I think this book is even better than the first in the series and, the further into it I get, the harder it is to care about anything else! Yelisa - I'm currently reading Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay. Both humorous and educative, being a "bad feminist" becomes so relatable and eye-opening, inspiring me to think more analytically about the movement and to use her witty quotes whenever it's appropriate (or in other words, wine drunk and profound conversations with my friends on Friday nights) Kristina - I'm currently in between books but I'm about to start The Alchemyst for the Young Adult book club that we host on the last Sunday of the month. I read it in high school and remember loving it so I'm looking forward to revisiting the series. Katharine - I'm just about to finish Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children and I love the story concept. For me, it was a good book but it's not as amazing as I think it could have been, given the subject matter. I wanted more!
Coming Up:
Be sure to pencil May 23rd into your new, discounted planner because we are turning TWO and there is no one we'd rather celebrate with than you folks! We are hosting a pot luck so bring your favorite dish to pass around--let's eat, drink, and read together! That's all for this week, bookworms. See you at the store! This week was teacher appreciation week and teachers everywhere were showered with chocolate, coffee mugs, and the sweetest homemade cards. It may seem like we're a bit behind (it is Friday, after all) but did you know at Foggy Pine Books, every week is teacher appreciation week? That's right! We offer a 15% discount to all educators, so you can enjoy some non-required reading on your days off! You deserve it! If you need to order books for your classroom, talk to us about what we can do to help. We offer a 30% discount for teachers who place classroom orders of 20+ books.  Are you facing this Friday night with no plans? Got the itch to do something but you're not sure what? We've got you covered! Come hang out with us tonight as we welcome Robert Gipe. We are so excited to have another Southern author visit the store, especially someone whose work shows the beauty and heartbreak of growing up in Appalachia. His new book, Weedeater, is available for purchase and you can snag a copy of the first book, Trampoline, as well. Come down at 6pm to get your books and have Robert sign them for you after his talk!  Tomorrow is story time at Foggy Pine and we're reading a wonderful book about cross-generational bonding and the beauty that can be discovered in unexpected places. Bring your littles and enjoy a free cup of delicious Hatchet Coffee while Mary shares Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña.
Book signings, story time, discounts: there's always a lot going on at Foggy Pine Books. On top of our event packed weekend, we are offering 20% off parenting books and 2018 calendars and planners. Come browse our selection and get some cat snuggles for free! That's all the news for this week, book worms. See you at the store!
 Join us for Independent Bookstore Day on Saturday April 28th! We have all kinds of exciting activities planned and we can't wait to celebrate our wonderful little store with you! To start things off right, we will have FREE COFFEE ALL DAY! Come down and try some delicious Hatchet Coffee while browsing our shelves or crafting a personalized bookmark. Keep it for yourself and your Blind Date book, or give it away to another bookworm - it's up to you!  If you've never heard of Blind Date with a Book, you are in for a treat! Each book in the display will be wrapped up with paper (no peeking) and will tell you which section it comes from. It will also have a small description to help ensure you enjoy your date. This is a fun way to find something new and interesting to read! We are also hosting a small, in-store scavenger hunt. Your path will twist through the store, with plenty of stops to learn about all the awesome events and promotions that are available at Foggy Pine Books. The first person to complete the scavenger hunt will get a FREE Blind Date with a Book! That's right, finish first and you get to choose your date from our display case - for free! What if you can't find anything that really grabs you, even after all your browsing? Well, it might be time to place a special order, get what you really want! We are always happy to place special orders but, choose this route on Saturday and you'll get a free book from our top secret Advanced Readers Copy stack! These books haven't been released to the public yet which means you'll be reading it before everyone else. Is there anything more gratifying than that?
You already know we love books, but we love our literary swag as well! Check out our totes, mugs, pins, socks, coasters, and much more for 10% off. We've got something for everyone, so come take a peek at our nerdy merch and take home something that marks you as a true bibliophile!
And as a true bibliophile, if you see a book during your browsing Saturday that you've read a million times over, sit yourself down and write us a review! Let us know which book you're writing up, give us a thoughtful and descriptive review, and you'll earn yourself a coupon for 20% off any book in the store (one per customer, pretty please). You might even get published on Our Community Reads! Didn't know we offered special orders or hosted community events? Sign up for our monthly Foggy Pine newsletter and get a sneak peek into the bookstore world. There are loads of perks for signing up! You'll be the first to know when new titles are coming out and what events are happening that month AND you'll be entered into a raffle to win a Libro.fm shirt and sticker! Speaking of Libro.fm, get a FREE audiobook when you create an account with them, Saturday only. Already a Libro.fm member? You still get that audiobook for free - they're so great like that! They have a huge selection of indie audio for you to enjoy (and a really pretty website to boot! We can't wait to see you Saturday to celebrate books and the places that offer them to you! As you can tell from the lengthy amount of time between blog posts, we've been quite busy here at Foggy Pine Books. At the end of 2017, we acquired a larger space across the street from our location at the time and moved into it in January. We're so grateful to have the opportunity to move into this space and, now that we're settled, are looking forward to more involved community engagement. We hope you'll stop by to visit us in our new space at 471 W. King St, the Harmon House between Boone Saloon and the Turchin Center.  New Location at 471 W. King St We also have some announcements for you. It was always our intention to move to a larger space and sell used books in addition to our new collection. Now that we have that larger space, we are taking used books from people in the community. A full break down of the trade-in policy can be found here but, essentially, we offer credit only for used books and that credit can only be used to purchase other used books. Credit may only account for 50% of an order payment. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to us.  We are also starting a children's story time series with Kindly Kitchen. The first event will take place on Saturday, March 17th (St. Patrick's Day!) and will continue on the third Saturday of every month for three months. The story times will start at Foggy Pine Books at 11:30am and will continue at Kindly Kitchen at 12:30pm. At Foggy Pine, parents will be able to get a free cup of coffee and at Kindly Kitchen a healthy snack will be available for children. The stories read will focus on food, community, and activism. Stay tuned to our Facebook page and the Events tab on our website for a list of the books we'll be reading together. So, bring your young ones downtown on the 17th to join in our brand new story time and stay to watch the parade!  We also offer a monthly story time at Foggy Pine on the second Saturday every month at 11:30am. Parents get free coffee and the kids get a fun story and activity. The book we're reading for March is Here We Are: Notes For Living on Planet Earth by Oliver Jeffers. IN addition to this story time that takes place at the bookstore, we also partner with the Children's Playhouse to bring a story time to their space on the first Wednesday of every month at 11am. This month, we're reading Allie's Garden by Sabra Chebby. The story time is free with admission to the Children's Playhouse.
First Friday is coming up next week, March 2nd, and we're so very excited to welcome musician Phil Ling performing as Tree Hollow, a folk music project that started in 2016. You can check out his music here: Tree Hollow Music. In addition to live music, we'll also have free wine, a giveaway, and 10% off your purchase made between 7-9pm. First Friday is always a lot of fun and there's usually a lot going on downtown. Come out, stretch your winter legs out, explore your local community, and support local artists and businesses. 
Hello, everyone! I can't believe I almost let this month get away without giving you an update. We have so much to talk about!
I'll start with events first. We have two more February events left and both take place this week. Tomorrow, Thursday, February 23 we'll meet at Hatchet Coffee at 7:30pm for our first Hatchet Coffee Book Club. We'll be discussing Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and they will have Butterbeer Lattes available for $3, all day. I'm so excited for this meeting and to kick off this new book club in partnership with Hatchet Coffee. We still have copies of the screenplay available for purchase at the store.
Saturday, February 25 we'll meet at the store for the February meeting of the Foggy Pine Book Club. We'll be discussing the beautiful novel, Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. We'll also be finalizing our book choices for the next 6 months of reading! And, as always, we'll have wine and snacks to share.
There are also some March events that I'd like to go ahead and tell you about. We'll be jumping back into Spring with our First Friday event. It begins at 7pm on March 3rd and will last until 9pm. We'll have free wine. a giveaway, 10% off the entire store, and a Thirty-One vendor available for questions and orders. We'll also be returning to our children's story time. This event will take place on Saturday, March 11 at 3pm. We'll read a story together and have some kind of activity related to the story. This event usually lasts about 30 minutes and we'll have free coffee available for the parents. Finally, on Saturday, March 18 at 6:30pm, we have an author reading and signing with Lynn C. Willis for her book, Tell Me No Lies. This event will take place at the bookstore and books will be available for purchase beforehand at 10% off their list price. 
We will also be sending out a new email newsletter in partnership with the literary website: Shelf Awareness. Currently, if you have signed up for the store e-newsletter, you are signed up for the Shelf Awareness e-newsletter. If you would like to be removed from the Shelf Awareness mailing list in advance, you can email Mary to have that done. If you check it out but decide that you don't want it, there's an unsubscribe button in the e-newsletter that you can click to have yourself removed. That said, we're really excited to send this newsletter out to our customers. Not only does it keep you up-to-date with the most current releases in hardback/paperback/children's books, you'll also find author interviews, book reviews, and links to other interesting articles on literary sites around the web. Plus, if something sounds so great that you can't live without it, you can click right on the "add to cart" button to buy it from us online. If you would like to register for this newsletter, please use the newsletter sign up. It has been adjusted to let you make a choice of which newsletter you'd like to have delivered to your inbox.
One of the things we believe bookstores exist to do is to function as a community space. Right now, we don't have the space to do a lot of the things that we'd like to do but that doesn't mean that we can't start to offer more community events. So, in the spirit of community interest, we want to know which events you would be the most interested in participating in at the bookstore. We've created a quick, two question survey for you and would really appreciate you taking the time to answer it. We will definitely be reading and acting on responses so the more we have, the better we can serve the Boone community. Since it's such a short survey, we thought we'd just post it here:
The program we're most excited about offering is the Foggy Pine Ambassador Program. We love our customers and we love that our customers love us back. So, we've created an ambassador program for those that want to spread the good news about Boone's new bookstore. Here's how it works: starting in March, you will have the opportunity to become an Ambassador. We will include a signup link in the March newsletter, across social media, and on our website.
To be an Ambassador, you must agree to: -be vocal about supporting FPB--word of mouth is the best form of advertisement -write reviews for the store online or write book reviews for the Our Community Reads project -give interested parties the FPB business card -volunteer in at least one event every 6 weeks In exchange, we will: -give you a 10% discount on all purchases -let you choose 1 ARC/month (doesn't have to be one we already have! Mary will ask publishers for you!) -create a private Ambassador page on Facebook to connect Boone's most dedicated bibliophiles -make sure you're the first to know about upcoming events, store changes, and community updates So, stay tuned for the signup link coming soon! 
We're also extremely excited to tell that we are now able to offer digital audiobooks to our customers! Just go to the Libro.fm website to shop for audiobooks. They start as low as $5 per book and include new releases and children's books! Once you've made your purchase, you simply download the FREE Libro.fm app to your iOS or Android device and sign in. You'll be listening in no time. If you prefer to download your book and listen from your laptop or desktop computer, it's a very simple process. Every purchase you make supports Foggy Pine Books. So, shop away and please let us know if there's anything we can do to help you with this new program.
Last, but not least, we want to talk about Black History Month. We've had an excellent time sharing our favorite authors of color with people celebrating BHM. Though we are dedicated to promoting the voices of marginalized people through literature every day, this month has been a special time to reflect on the contributions that black people have made to literature and to the world. We have thoroughly enjoyed the warm, friendly conversations that we've been able to have with our customers about Black History Month. So, we wanted to take this moment to let you know that we are always okay to have those conversations. We want you to feel comfortable, regardless of race/gender/ethnicity/sexuality/religion/citizen status expressing yourself at Foggy Pine Books. We want to help you find your favorite book or a new author you heard about. We want to help you find the stories and the information that you long to see. We're here to support you. So, please, don't hesitate to make our store your space. Bookstore's belong to community. Let's make sure Foggy Pine Books belongs to Boone.
Thanks for being a part of our community.
Happy New Year! You know what a new year means, right? Awesome new books! There are some books coming out in January that we're very excited about. I'll tell you more about them in another post this week. If you haven't checked out our reviews section, stay tuned for updates on books you won't want to miss! First though, I have updates about the bookstore!
Right now, we are hosting Noble Kava at the bookstore until they are able to move into their new location at Winkler Square. They will be running a booth in the store every day and will have kava, kratom brewskis & bulk, and kava candy/chocolate available for purchase. They are able to accept both cash and credit cards for purchases. The only thing we ask of Noble Kava patrons is that they please be respectful of the bookstore space. This is a drop-in booth and we do not have the space for people to hang out and socialize. Please be concious of the waste that you create and be sure to throw away empties or take with you any product that you've purchased. We also do not allow vaping inside the bookstore so please refrain from using your vape while purchasing product. If you are a bookstore patron and have never tried kava or kratom, feel free to talk to the staff member manning the booth. They will be happy to help you out in any way that they can. I also want to talk about the new book club program that we are offering. We have already posted about it in the book club section of the site but we want to make sure as many people know about this offer as possible. Foggy Pine book club members already receive 15% off our book club books. We would love to extend that offer to other local book clubs. All we need is a book list and the number of members in your club. We know that not everyone will purchase their book from us but we will keep a few books in stock for those members that do decide to shop local and support their communities. So, send a representative in or email Mary at foggypinebooks@gmail.com to start saving money on your book club's selections! If you are a member of the Foggy Pine book club, please click the book club link to RSVP for this month's meeting on Saturday, January 21st at 7:30pm. Finally, I want to tell you about the start-of-the-year sale we're having! During the month of January, we will be offering a 15% discount on all self-improvement books. Anything in that genre we don't have, we'll be happy to order for you for the same discount.
That's all for today, friends! We hope to see you in the store sometime soon and look forward to braving this new year with our loyal customers. Stay tuned this week for more info about the best books coming out in January!
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AuthorMary Ruthless: Owner/Manager Archives
August 2020
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