Wine Wednesday: Favorite Romantic Books
July’s theme is favorite romantic books. These may or may not fall into the romance genre.
Sage Impressions
Spring brought some wonderful highlight moments for Sage & Dragonfly.
Our inaugural Rites of Spring event in April turned out to be a lovely day all around. Local authors and artists setup pop-up displays for sales and signings along our shaded veranda. We also had several authors give readings and talks about their works to an enthusiastic group. Our Faire included authors Blaire Burns, Amy Meyer, Marilyn Turk, and Lenora Worth and artist Neica Jones. Attendees gave us great feedback on the event, and we intend to expand it next year with more artists and authors, as well as more talks scheduled for the week.
May's Wine Wednesday gathering was a great one as we had the largest group of attendees and lots of wonderful conversations about Southern Writers. Classics, such as, Cross Creek and A Land Remembered, as well as more contemporary writers such as Carl Hiaasen, Sean Dietrich, and poet Mary Oliver were discussed. We enjoyed sample readings from some of the authors that elevated our appreciation of great writing. One book touted that isn't by a southern writer is Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt. This is a fascinating story told through the eyes of an octopus, and apparently is moving and fulfilling.
The highlight moment of our spring, though, was an event that exemplifies what bookstores and author events are all about. Read Spring Magic for our story.
There’s a lot to love about having a bookstore, but absolutely the best part is when we connect customers with works they love. Even better, we recently discovered, is how magical it is to connect true fans with favorite authors.
One of our customers, Mrs. Carol Anne Thompson, is a caregiver and is unable to attend events. She drops by periodically when she gets reprieve care and can come into town. She is a huge fan of cozy mysteries and romance and has contributed quite a lot of books of that genre to our store. She has been sweetly supportive of us since the day we opened our doors. After many months of not wanting to use her accrued store credits, she finally came in and asked me to special order some books for her. While she was here, we talked about the books she had donated, and I mentioned that Lenora Worth, one of the authors she had donated, had attended our recent Faire.
She was dumbfounded that Lenora Worth, one of her favorite authors, had been here. I told her Lenora would be attending another event in June, and she was so sad that she would not be able to attend. So once her books came in, we scheduled a time for her to come pick them up.
Meanwhile, I had told Lenora about Ms. Carol Anne, and we schemed to surprise her. When Carol Anne came into the shop, she politely greeted Lenora (not knowing who she was), then immediately began showing me the index cards where she had listed every book she’d read by Lenora. I said, “Well, guess who that is sitting by the door,” and she screamed–literally screamed. Oh my, we had an emotional morning of tears and laughter and hugs and stories. Lenora had brought autographed books for Carol Anne, and Carol Anne had brought her daughter, Charlotte, who took lots of pictures and cried along with us. It was truly a magical morning and made me feel, once again, how important neighborhood bookstores are, and will continue to be.
I’m deeply grateful for these wonderful customers and affiliates who support our store and community. We’ve been truly blessed.
Rites of Spring 2024
[Seasonal Hours
Tuesday-Friday 10am to 5pm
Saturday 10am to 3pm
We have a variety of events each month,
including our book discussion Wine Wednesdays
usually on the 2nd Wed. of the month.
Be sure to RSVP for events so that we can plan appropriately.
Hope To See You Soon!