Hello, friends! Astronomical spring begins tomorrow, so here's what you need to know today to maintain high-levels of well-read bliss over the next three months.
Store Schedule
Our current operating hours will not change. However, it may be the case that we open a wee bit late and close a wee bit early on various Tuesdays, because that's Cade's chemo day. Brittany covers the store on Tuesdays but has to attend to her 7-year-old mini-me, which nibbles some time off the back and front of her day. If you're curious about when we're open, call the store at 342-4002.
Planned closures over the spring season:
- Spring Inservice (Monday, March 18)
- Good Friday (Friday, March 29)
- Equine Acquisition Day (Friday, May 10)
Cart Chaos Contained!
If you haven't dropped by lately, now's the chance to be amazed and impressed by us finally having done the minimum: The Perpetual Giant Stack of Books-Upon-Table™️ has now been properly labeled and carted. 😸 Thanks to Cade, Brittany, and Kyler for their diligent efforts over the last few weeks!
We're up to nearly 2,400 used books in inventory, which puts us squarely in the "normal-sized indie bookstore" category, albeit in on the smaller end of the scale. Here's the inventory by type for what's currently stocked:
| Used Inventory | |||
| Locations | Genre | SKU | Count 3/1/24 |
| N1b | Anthologies | USED-ANTH | 25 |
| K2c | Art & Photography | USED-ARTPHOTO | 44 |
| A0c | Audio | USED-AUDIO | 19 |
| J2abc, I2b | Biography/Memoir | USED-BIOGMEM | 96 |
| M1abc | Classics | USED-CLASSIC | 102 |
| M2abc, N2abc | Contemp/Hist Fiction | USED-CONTEMPFIC | 184 |
| K2a | Family Matters | USED-FAMILY | 27 |
| D1abc, E1abc | Fantasy | USED-FANTASY | 177 |
| D2b | Fantasy - Series | USED-FANTSERIES | 18 |
| O2b | Follett, Ken | USED-FOLLETT | 13 |
| L2a | Health/Medicine | USED-HEALTHMED | 18 |
| H2abc, I2a | History | USED-HISTORY | 105 |
| K2b | Humor | USED-HUMOR | 10 |
| B0ab | Kids | USED-KIDS | 148 |
| A0abc | Kids - Series | USED-KIDSERIES | 77 |
| K2b | Leadership | USED-LEADERSHIP | 8 |
| O2bc | Lewis, C.S. | USED-LEWIS | 65 |
| O1a | Local Interest | USED-LOCAL | 21 |
| D2c | Men's Adv/Western | USED-MENADV | 27 |
| O2c | Michener, James | USED-MICHENER | 19 |
| K1c | Non-Fiction (Misc) | USED-NONFIC | 35 |
| L2bc | Cooking/Nutrition | USED-NUTRITION | 46 |
| L1a | Philosophy | USED-PHIL | 23 |
| N1c | Poetry & Drama | USED-POETRYDRAMA | 47 |
| L1bc | Politics | USED-POL | 66 |
| O1c | RD Classics | USED-RDCLASSIC | 24 |
| H1c | Rel - Concord/Comment | USED-REL-COMCON | 31 |
| I1ab | Rel - Hist/Ref | USED-REL-HISREF | 43 |
| J1abc | Rel - Inspiration | USED-REL-INSP | 139 |
| H1ab | Rel - Scripture | USED-REL-SCRIPT | 31 |
| I1bc | Rel - Theology/Prayer | USED-REL-THEOPRAY | 53 |
| E1abc | Romance | USED-ROMANCE | 108 |
| C2abc | Sci-Fi | USED-SCIFI | 103 |
| D2a | Sci-Fi - Series | USED-SCIFISERIES | 40 |
| O1b | Steel, Danielle | USED-STEELE | 9 |
| K1b | Textbooks | USED-TEXTBOOKS | 20 |
| E2abc, F1abc, F2abc | Thriller & Mystery | USED-THRILLMYST | 276 |
| K1ab | Writing/Language | USED-WRITING-LANG | 47 |
| 2344 | |||
Upcoming Salons
The salon program has been doing quite well. Writers are welcome to pop in anytime to write or edit or whatever. After 4 p.m., Jason is available one-on-one to help with ideas or to provide an on-the-spot critique of a chapter or short story.
At 6:30 p.m., the "main event" occurs.
For the book club — which meets on the second Tuesday of the month — our inaugural discussion went well. We discussed Stephen King's On Writing in parallel with Destiny Pills and Space Wizards, a speculative-fiction anthology published by local author Jean Davis. And Jean showed up! We enjoyed a great conversation with her about her crafting strategies and her approach to writing. As they say: "Many careful notes were taken." As well as a photograph:
For April's Book Club, we'll discuss Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher — a novel just awarded the 2023 Hugo Award, and which was nominated for a Nebula. It's billed as a "dark fairy tale" and should make for an interesting conversation. No RSVP needed, but you do need to have read the book to join the discussion.
The third Wednesday features Discussion Club. The topic for March is "Is the Catholic Church Thriving under Pope Francis?" The April topic is "Is Anti-Racism Morally Coherent and Politically Viable?" The May topic is "What Does It Mean to Live a Happy Life?" These discussions are free-form, but are guided to be genuine inquiries rather than shouting matches. If you're curious about these topics and want to learn rather than to indoctrinate, drop in! No cost or RSVP required.
The fourth Wednesdays deliver Craft Seminars. Our March topic is "Software, Platform, and Archive Solutions for the Aspiring Writer." The April topic is "How to Thrive in a Critique Group." The June topic is "Voices of Authenticity: Writing What You Know — And What You Don't." These topics are a mix of presentation by Jason with open discussion and Q&A. Again, no cost or RSVP required.
Crafter's Shelves
We've registered our first two crafters and even had a sale already!
We accept any crafted item — including shelf-stable food — within reason, on consignment. There must be a product for sale, even if it's just a certificate for a professional service. We'll put up a nice little shelf tag and send monthly sales updates. To get started, check out the program description on our website.
Thank You!
Jason's Books & Coffee has been open since Valentine's Day, 2023. Over the last 13 months, we've grown our inventory and made a lot of new friends. The fact that we have a bunch of regular visitors, despite having done no meaningful advertising, blows me away.
As we move into summer, the bookstore's next evolution will focus on new-book and online sales. The new books will highlight local and small-press stories, as well as massive collection of literary journals. Our online store will move interesting books that are more rare but also less likely to move by just sitting on a shelf.
All of our success is because of you. Thank you.
—JEG
