The Mom Salon
The Mom Salon is a discussion group just for Moms. It’s a regular gathering of thoughtful mothers who want to talk with other women about important issues in the world of mothering, issues including what it means to be a mother and a wife, balancing work and home life, finding time for self, and one’s relationship with one’s partner. For each Mom Salon session we’ll read ahead of time a chapter from a provocative book about women’s lives today. At the meeting, Lynn Rosen will lead a discussion about the reading and the issues raised by the author. The next Mom Salon gathering is on April 21st. It will take place at Whole Foods in Jenkintown on the Fairway. Class runs from 12pm to 1pm in the Whole Foods community room. There is no charge. Pick up a yummy lunch and join us for friendly, lively and thoughtful conversation! Monday, April 21st, 12-1xpm Perfect Madness: Motherhood in the Age of Anxiety by Judith Warner Of course we worry, we all worry. It seems to come with the territory of motherhood. Author Warner talks about dealing with the stresses of motherhood and bringing things back into balance, and we will too! Note: All books are available for sale at Whole Foods. For more details or with any questions contact lynn at lynnrosen dot...
Open Book “Pop Up” Mobile Bookstore
Stop by our mobile bookstore for a carefully curated collection of great books for adults and children. You’ll discover great fiction you didn’t know about, thought-provoking non-fiction, and terrific books for children of all ages. Sunday, February 23rd, 9:30am to 12:30pm, Keneseth Israel, 8339 Old York Rd. (corner of Township Line Rd.) Open to the public. Held in the main lobby accessed from the parklng lot side main door near the traffic circle. UPCOMING POP UPS: At Creekside Co-op, 7909 High School Road, Elkins Park, PA Sunday, March 2nd, 11am to 3pm Sunday, March 30th, 11am to 3pm Sunday, May 4th , 11am to 3pm If you have a location you’d like to have an Open Book Pop Up Mobile Bookstore, send us an email! Please note that we are also available by appointment. If you’d like to set up a time to shop our collection privately, email...
A Free Radical: The Reason Why We’re Here
The credit goes to Corey Pressman of Exprima Media. I called to tell him that my position as Editorial Director of Book Business and Publishing Executive magazines had been eliminated, that I was no longer employed by parent company NAPCO. After some riffing and word association, he hit on the right expression and joyfully exclaimed: “You’re a free radical!” And so I am. Free to explore the exciting and ever-changing world of publishing through my own lens. Free to sniff out change, to explore the edges of what’s being developed and help bring important new approaches and technologies to the fore. Free to find the value in both the old and the new, in disruptive and legacy approaches. And radical in the sense of not being bound by the rules, embracing change, and veering away, far away, from the “this is how we’ve always done it” approach. Helping to put the pieces together into a new whole that makes sense and is fluid, productive, and successful. I’m pleased to introduce my new blog, Pub Hub, in which I will cover publishing news in book, magazine, and newspaper publishing. In many ways, these are three separate worlds, each with their own issues and challenges. In other ways, particularly as we move more and more into digital publishing, these three strands intersect and overlap. Publishing professionals in all three segments decide what gets published, shape it into publishable form, and make it available to readers, and have in common their role as gatekeepers of public discourse and of our intellectual heritage. I will be speaking with them, covering their news, their challenges, controversies and successes, and presenting it in both written and video form in this...
Lauren Grodstein’s Explanation for Everything
Local Philadelphia author Lauren Grodstein is out and about doing readings from her compelling new novel, The Explanation for Everything. You may have heard of Grodstein from the excellent press she received for her last novel, A Friend of the Family, and her new book is sure to be well-received as well. Lauren teaches creative writing at Rutgers University Camden and (I love when I can say this part) is an all-around lovely, friendly, funny person. Learn more about her work...
Life After Life After Life After Life…
Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life is a book I admired more than I enjoyed. I’ve always meant to read Atkinson, and have friends who have highly recommended her earlier crime stories Case Histories and Started Early, Took My Dog. When this new book came out, reviews seemed to indicate it was a departure in style for her, as well as something of a literary tour de force, so I decided to begin at the end, as it were, with her most recent book. Life After Life is the story of…well, that’s hard to say. It’s the story of Ursula, born outside London in 1910 on a very snowy day. The plot tracks the path of Ursula, some of her family members, friends, and acquaintances, as they wend their way through two World Wars. That path, however, is far from straight. This is a book that plays with timelines in a major way. Plot lines start and then stop, wind their way back to their starting point and begin again. Stories repeat with multiple endings. Characters live or die, survive or don’t; each character’s outcome changes in the story’s telling. Atkinson’s literary feat is impressive. One pictures her in her study with a huge collection of Post-its hovering overhead to help her keep track of plot strands. Being the puppet mistress pulling these strings was no easy feat. The concept itself is imaginative and original; the execution is excellent. When I say I admired the book more than I enjoyed it, what I mean is that, while reading it, I appreciated its literary acrobatics, but that kept me at a distance. While many of the characters, Ursula included, where quite likeable, compelling or entertaining, they did not so much draw me in as keep me watching from afar. Nonetheless, I think the book well deserves the accolades it has received and I recommend it for readers of serious and well-written literary fiction. I do plan to include it in my one of my Open Book discussion classes this spring as well, so check the events page for more...