February Newsletter
- Stephanie Coughlan
- Mar 26
- 3 min read
"February: the month of the great thaws. The ice on the ponds begins to crack, and the soul begins to stir, though it is still too cold to move."
— May Sarton, Journal of a Solitude
February Book Club
This month, we had two jam packed discussions about the books we chose for our Silenced Voices theme. Check them out in store, online or on libro.fm by navigating to the link below.
April Book Club
March book club (Women in Translation) was revealed in last month's newsletter, and both sessions are already almost booked up! So in today's newsletter, I'm introducing our April theme, James Patterson! Read any book written, co-written, or published by James Patterson and then come to book club at the end of the month to discuss.
Find out more information about our March book club by following the link below, and stay tuned to our blog to be the first to know when April Book Club is open for registration.
Well guys, this short month snuck up on me and I dropped the ball on newsletter prep. Now I'm scrambling to put something together, and since all I have to show for it is a summary of our February book club and a preview of our next ones, I decided to give you a short blog of my month in lieu of specific updates.
As mentioned last month, instead of a book bracket, this year I am making one-second videos of each day to be published at the end of each month, with February included below. In addition to running the shop, this month I've also decided to tackle a few of my New Year Resolutions including Swedish and Pilates.
In terms of my Swedish, I signed up for a 28-day challenge through Language Lockin which came highly recommended by a friend. If you complete 19 classes within the timeframe, the challenge is considered complete and the upfront cost of 5,000kr can be either refunded or applied to future classes. As of today, my 27th day, my challenge is complete and I must decide next week how to move forward. While I would like to continue, it will be dependent on the fee structure as I am much more cost-sensitive in my life as a used bookseller.
I enjoyed the format of the classes very much because it emphasized conversation over grammar which is what I need at this point in my journey. I can read Swedish well enough, but verbal communication is where I really struggle, and I can already see that I've made vast strides in this area within this first month alone.
Now for an update on my Pilates journey: after a short break during the Christmas season, last month I signed back up with friend of the shop Kate Croxton's Pilates studio, Reformed Pilates. I struggle to find motivation to work-out generally (less time for reading!! can anyone relate?), but find that this format works well for me as it is flexible in terms of timing (you can almost always book last-minute sessions in 30-minute intervals), format (the screen-led classes provide motivation without the self-consciousness), and price (400kr for a 4 session/month subscription). Can't recommend it enough if you too are in the market for a new workout! And if so, I have discount codes available in the shop for your first session.
Last but not least, we have to talk about BOOKS! We've had a great month this month in terms of both our incoming stock and sales. While I'm still looking for crime books, all our other genres have had quite healthy stock levels and turnover. That said, we must not become complacent! Last March was by far the worst month in the shop's 2+ year history - let's reverse that trend this year and make it our best so far this year!
On a personal level, I am currently reading four books: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith which I absolutely ADORE, The Ending Writes Itself by Evelyn Clark (pen name for VE Schwab and Cat Clarke) which is a fun Knives Out-esque parody of a whodunnit set in the publishing world that comes out April 7th, Les Miserables by Victor Hugo of which I am tackling one chapter a day for a year, and Harry Potter och fenixorden which is a re-read to aid in my Swedish.
And that's a wrap for February! Thank you all for your support - whether you shop in-store or online, read physical books or audiobooks, donate, sell or exchange stock, or attend book club and other events, please know that I appreciate you and would not be here without you!
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