September 2020

Hi all, Mary here! I have a sad announcement about the book club so I thought it better if I did it myself. This was the first book club I started at the store & our first meeting was in a tiny, less-than 400 sq ft space. We had wine & talked about The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. The book club grew & became one of our most popular offerings. We expanded & added new book clubs, new folks decided to join us, and we even had authors come speak to us a few times! However, since the pandemic began, attendance at our virtual meetings has dwindled until, for the last few months, no one came at all. 

We understand that things are crazy right now and, for many, spending another hour on a screen at the end of a day spent on screens isn't very enticing. We also understand that the virtual format isn't as much fun for some as meeting in person at the bookstore with drinks & snacks. Whatever your reasons are for no longer attending our book club or for not attending in the first place, please know that we don't hold it against you! 

However, planning for an event takes prep time. I spend the month reading the book, developing discussion questions, creating these blog posts, and developing social media images & copy for marketing. It's a lot of work. I don't mind doing it, of course, if that means that the event goes well & we get to have a lovely discussion about that month's book. But, with folks not attending, I am going to have to put this book club on temporary hold. 

I am spread very thin right now & spending time on an event that doesn't bring in any readers doesn't seem like the best use of my time. I hope y'all understand & know that we wouldn't do this unless it was necessary. I need to spend more time on things that offer a return on energy spent, in some way or another. 

This doesn't mean that the Foggy Pine Book Club is canceled! We will be returning to our usual format when we are able to meet in person again. Of course, we have no idea when that will be but we expect that we will have no new meetings for the rest of 2020. We will post here & on our social media accounts when the book club is gearing up to start again. In the meantime, if you were hoping to join a book club, you can check out the Fantasy & Sci-Fi Book Club. 

Thank you, everyone, for your continued support of the bookstore. Without you, we wouldn't be here & we are forever grateful that you've allowed us a space in your hearts.