Greetings & Readings fans have something to look forward to besides their amazing author lineups and designer bag sales: a new book club.

Fran Baum, co-owner of the bookstore, was kind enough to give me the inside scoop on the new club, whose first meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, March 18th at 7 p.m.

Baum, who's already a book club member, explained that both customers and employees felt there was a need: "We always have discussions about what our clubs are reading, and I asked them if they thought we should start one at Greetings & Readings," she explained in an e-mail. "We also have had several customers ask if we were ever going to have a book group. They thought we should try it and see if people would be interested."

While the Greetings & Readings book department has picked the first book, People of the Book, by Geraldine Brooks, Baum envisions that future books will be chosen by participants.

"I know how much I enjoy reading books and being in a book club, so I was hoping people attending would have fun and find it enjoyable, too," she said. "We are hoping to have a very interactive book club and we are encouraging participants to help us pick books and guide our path."

At this point, Baum said that fiction, nonfiction and classics are all contenders, and that the club's meeting times could rotate to different days of the week and times, to better accomodate all readers.

"We are very flexible at this point until we get a sense of our audience," she said.

Even better, if you mention the book club while purchasing the selected titles, there's a 20 percent discount. But be sure to mention the club. Otherwise, no discount. Add the cookies and coffee offered to members, and you can't lose.