Dear Gentle Reader,

Happy New Year!

The big news we alluded to last week, well– we are going to keep you on tenterhooks a little while longer. Instead, here’s some other GOOD news. We donated over $250, which was gathered in change at the registers over the holidays, to Brother Wolf Animal Rescue. Hurricane Helene decimated Brother Wolf. They lost all physical assets (including their shelter, a building that has saved over a hundred thousand animals since 2007). Thanks to all who chipped in!

We have returned to our post-holiday winter hours of Wednesday through Sunday from 10am to 5pm.

Margot Lester will be here on tomorrow, Wednesday, January 8 from 2:30-4:30pm. Margot is a professional writer and writing instructor who has monthly office hours at the bookstore. So if you are stuck on a memoir, homework essay, or other writing project, here’s your chance to get some good advice.

Storytime returns this Thursday at 10:30am. Bring your preschoolers for a story or two ready by Johanna Banana, singing, and a coloring page.

Our neighbor next door, Galloway’s Bar in The Belted Goat, is offering wine tastings on Saturdays from 1-3pm. So, this month on the11th come out and sample the wines of Lumen in Santa Barbara, California. Saturday the 18th sample the C.V.N.E. Rioja in Spain, and Saturday the 25th explore L.A. Cetto’s production from Guadalupe Valley, Mexico. Expand your palette while touring global vineyards.

And finally, if you made a resolution to read more books in 2025, here’s some good advice from Slate magazine. Here’s a quote to whet your appetite and stoke your desire to read, “As other studies have found, reading is protective against age-related cognitive decline, and it helps strengthen memory in older adults. Reading as a child is associated with better cognitive performance and mental health during one’s teenage years. Overall, reading is also associated with a longer lifespan; one study found a 20 percent reduction in mortality among those who read books compared to those who didn’t.” What’s not to love?

All the best from the Usual Suspects,

Pete, Johanna, Sarah, Tyler, Beth, Amy and Keebe