Books Cafe offers pop-up June sale

For the first time in its 21-year history, the Wye Parish Books Café in Queenstown will offer a summertime version of its winter 90%-off book sale. Featuring “Stories for Summer” as well as the regular Books Café collections, the new sale will take place on four days in June: Friday and Saturday June 14, 15 and June 21, 22. As in the winter, the location will be St. Luke’s Chapel, Main and Dudley Streets, Queenstown, and the hours each day will be 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

“This pop-up sale is an experiment for us,” said Books Café volunteer Don Regenhardt of Queenstown. “We know people like buying our 90%-off books for reading on dark winter days. Now we’ll find out if they would like to stock up for summer reading at the beach — or some cooler place near home.”

The “Stories for Summer” concept will be aided at the June sale by an AI-assisted “Gold Star Reader’s Tool” under development by the Books Café team. The Tool identifies the best entry points for readers wanting to try out one of the super-prolific modern novelists like David Baldacci (46 novels) or Patricia Cornwell (34 novels). These novels will be marked with a small gold star: if you like one of these, you’ll like others by this author; if you don’t like it, this author isn’t your cup of tea. At the sale, the output of more than 40 super-prolific modern authors will have been assessed and marked by the Gold Star Tool.

Along with the other regular Books Café collections, the popular Young People’s Room will again be open. The wintertime lunchroom will have turned into the Book Nook, as the June food service will focus on baked goods, delicious snacks, and cold drinks, instead of winter’s sit-down lunches.

Sale proceeds will as usual support the local community outreach organized by the Wye Parish Episcopal Church Women. Books Café accepts cash, checks, and the occasional IOU; no credit card sales. Sales to approved dealers are by advance authorization only; use of barcode scanners is strictly prohibited.

For further information on Books Café, call the Wye Parish Office at 410-827-8484.