It’s a NEW YEAR…may the year ahead bring the promise of joy, peace, and love …and of course, BOOKS! And hoping your holiday season was filled with countless blessings for you and yours.  As the year wound down, the book pundits bombarded we readers with countless lists…the best of [name your genre]…the most read…the short lists…the long lists…the award winners…the most anticipated new releases!   Perhaps my favorite shared tradition is the Icelandic – Jólabókaflóð –  meaning “Christmas Book Flood”.  The tradition says that books are exchanged on Christmas Eve and one then spends the night reading and eating chocolate!   Bliss!

Now with a new year beginning, we “turn the page” as it were, to our 2026 selections. As our respective book clubs celebrated the holidays, included in the festivities were reader’s choice discussions as with Sankofa Library’s Second Story Readers or “mystery” book exchanges where all one knew was the genre…historical fiction, mystery, fantasy, etc., and perhaps choosing what to read for 2026.   

And with that,  January’s BOOKMARED will feature Chelsea Book Club – full disclosure – I’m honored to be nearly a founding member.   Chelsea Book Club, some 20 years young – was originally the Polly Wogg Book Club begun by Tokeii Hale, founding owner of Polly Wogg Bookstore.   This independent bookstore, chartered in 2004, was located on S. Magnolia in downtown Ocala in what is now Jennifer Townsend’s WHITE ELEPHANT.  Tokeii’s selections were unique – from current best sellers to fascinating gems from a variety of genres…and she would graciously order whatever she did not happen to have in stock…including for me, shall we say, some obscure theology titles needed for my Master’s study.  And her book club selections were always something out of the ordinary.   

Sadly, Polly Wogg’s closed its doors after nearly four years due to competition – not from the brick-and-mortar giants like Barnes and Noble or Books-a-Million – but to what was fast becoming the ubiquitous Amazon. The presence of an independent bookstore downtown is indeed missed and hopefully – one day in the not-too-distant future – that will be remedied…

Honoring the tradition, Tokeii’s book club continued meeting at its new location – Chelsea Coffee in Chelsea Square on E Silver Springs Blvd hosted by member Cynthia Rose – the founding owner of Chelsea Coffee with her husband Greg. The selections based on member suggestions were predominantly if not exclusively fiction.   One of the more unusual choices was  Christopher Phillips’ SOCRATES CAFÉ – A Fresh Taste of Philosophy.  So taken was the group with his premise that we began to host Ocala’s own Socrates Café discussions at Chelsea Coffee.

The successor to Polly Wogg’s, appropriately renamed Chelsea Book Club, continued to meet at the coffee shop until Cynthia and Greg sold the business.  While still most accommodating, the new owners began closing earlier in the evening.  Then members began alternating hosting in our homes.   And our selection process  evolved as well.   In December, each member would bring a choice of two books – present those selections to the group – and then by majority vote  we choose which title to read.  And now with twelve members,  each with unique reading tastes, it makes for an eclectic,  surprising, and challenging list as our 2026 cover images suggest.    

Afterall, isn’t that what reading is supposed to do…expand our horizons…and book clubs open us up to community through our shared passion for reading.

As the remarkable Ranier Maria Rilke, author of LETTERS TO A YOUNG POET,  so aptly states…”Ah how good it is to be among people who are reading”!

NOTE:   BOOKMARKED will be exploring local authors and book clubs throughout the year…let us hear from you about yours!