Good news! We're getting a major Internet update thanks to a fiber installation, with improved speeds and upgraded routers that will make even big events like the Day of Knockout Noveling prove speedy and efficient.

Bad news! It won't be installed until Tuesday late April.

An unexpected facility buildout to accommodate the fiber line means that our Internet access will be limited for the next six to eight weeks or so. So don't expect that we'll have Wi-Fi available, although we are researching ways to mitigate the gap, because it affects the store, too.

And as such – we're closed today (Tuesday, Feb. 17) for a work-from-home day because Jason needs to do some consulting work that requires better performance than his phone tethering can accommodate. So this is the periodic reminder that you should always check the online calendar to see if we're open.

As a friendly reminder, we also close or adjust hours on major civil and Catholic holidays. Tomorrow (Wednesday, Feb. 18) is Ash Wednesday and as such, we are closing at 2 p.m. As another friendly reminder, in 2026 we've decided to swap days. So we're always closed on Friday and (almost) always open on Saturday mornings. But not Saturday, Feb. 28, because at 10 a.m., the dojo has the space and Jason will be testing for third-degree black belt.

Book Club!

But in happier news, the monthly book club has thought ahead and made a schedule for the rest of 2026:

  • March: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (first volume of the series, although the entire series is OK if you're game for the challenge)
  • April: Wuthering Heights
  • May: The Long Goodbye (Chandler)
  • June: Brave New World
  • July: Matilda. Also, this is a destination club reading, so we'll be at a Muskegon-area beach for the discussion and then a group pizza outing after.
  • August: Slaughterhouse Five
  • September: The Trial and Metamorphoses (both Kafka)
  • October: The Collected short Stories of Phillip K. Dick. Also, this too is a destination event; we will also go apple picking at a farm in northern Kent County.
  • November: No book club because of That November Thing.
  • December: We'll listen to an audiobook of one of the Chronicles of Narnia series while enjoying pizza in the bookstore.

Anyone's welcome to come to book club! Just show up on the scheduled date and time (see the Events calendar) and, well, have read the book. For our destination events, the bookstore closes early and we only accept new people who have been to at least one recent "normal" club meeting.

The weather's getting warmer, hinting that the worst of winter is over and that spring will soon be upon us. What better time to drop in to grab the books you'll enjoy beneath soon-to-bud leaves?