Sub-zero temperatures and a wind chill factor in the -20s didn't keep bibliophiles from turning out last Saturday for the fourth annual "Night-In" at Beagle Books & Bindery in Park Rapids, Minn. The event, which is primarily for book club members seeking suggestions, is held the third Saturday in January for a reason, explained store manager Jennifer Wills Geraedts. It's enough time to have recovered from the holidays and, furthermore, the reality has begun to set in that months of winter are still on the horizon. 
Attendees warmed up with hot cider and wine while Geraedts and her mother, Beagle Books owner Sally Wills, presented 21 discussion-worthy titles. They also received goodie bags containing Indie Next lists, posters, calendars and a brochure featuring the evening's spotlighted titles. Among the recommendations Daniel Smith's Monkey Mind: A Memoir of Anxiety and N.M. Kelby's White Truffles in Winter, a novel centered on French chef Auguste Escoffier. In addition, publishers provided some 70 books that were given away as prizes.
Fifty people came to this year's event, the biggest crowd yet. The inaugural Night-In gathering drew 17 people and was held in the store's basement. By the next year, it had been moved to a larger space on the main level. If the trend continues and even more book lovers brave the elements in 2014, said Geraedts, "We're either going to have to do some serious rearranging to more comfortably accommodate attendees or move off site." --Shannon McKenna Schmidt
