Children’s Storytime
EVERY THURSDAY! 10:15am
Join us every week for a picture book read aloud and a fun activity!
An Evening with Michael Pogach
Thursday, June 2 – 6:30pm
Please join us as we welcome Michael Pogach, the author of The Spider in the Laurel! Michael will be joining us on June 2nd at 6:30pm at the Newtown Bookshop. This is a FREE event, all are welcome!
About the book: “In the Citizen’s Republic of America, religion is outlawed. Professor Rafael Ward is an everyman capable of the kinds of decisions most everymen cannot stomach, and he has been tasked by Relic Enforcement Command with destroying the very artifacts he cherishes. It will take the uncompromising faith of an outlaw as an ally, and the acceptance of his guilt for his mother’s death, to help Ward break free of the government’s yoke. If he’s lucky, he might also prevent an apocalyptic future for which his secular world is completely unprepared. The Spider in the Laurel questions the methods of both governmental authority and those attempting to subvert the status quo. It presents two unique visions: a new, never-before-heard fairy tale; and an alternate take on the concept of creation from Genesis and other narratives based on ancient and Dark Age mythologies. It straddles the line between simple adventure and the type of novel that can force a reader to question their beliefs.”
About the author: Michael Pogach grew up in Holland, Pennsylvania, with parents who encouraged him to read, read, read. Somewhere in those early years he began writing. His mother is fond of telling him (and anyone else) that in those early stories, everyone died.
Currently an English Professor in the Lehigh Valley, Michael spent a number of years traveling the US, studying in Scotland, and backpacking across Europe. Many of the cities and cathedrals he visited during that time are highlighted in The Spider in the Laurel. Yes, every time protagonist Rafe stares up at a basilica’s tower, he is following in Michael’s neck-aching footsteps. Every time the mysterious MacKenzie charges through an alley, Michael was there first, trying to find his way back to his hostel.
The Spider in the Laurel is Michael’s first novel. He is hard at work on a sequel, plus a new novel project and numerous short stories.
Monthly Poetry Club
Thursday, June 9 – 6:30-7:30pm
Welcome Poetry Lovers! All Are Invited!
Summertime is here and so is vacation time! I’ll be out, but our group continues on course with Larry Bullock as the evening’s host. Bring a poem and a friend! Cheers, Larry!
Coming in July : Featured poet, Steve Nolan.
*** If you are interested in sharing a collection of poems, please email Lynn at lynn.fanok@gmail.com
The first half of the monthly meeting is devoted to a reading by a featured poet from the group or by a published poet. The second half hour allows open mike time for group members to share a few poems they’ve written, or they may choose to read poems written by their favorite poets. In the future, we may include poetry workshops to the group’s activities.
The meeting will be facilitated by Lynn Fanok, who has written a collection of poems about her experiences as a survivor’s daughter examining her family, memory, and history. Her poetry has appeared in Burnt Bridge and other journals. Lynn holds degrees in English from The Pennsylvania State University and Arcadia University. You’ll find some of her poetry at lynnfanok.weebly.com.
All are invited and welcome to join us!
An Evening with Lisa Unger
Monday, June 13 – 7:00pm
Please join us as we welcome New York Times Best-selling author, Lisa Unger on June 13th at the Free Library of Northampton Township where she will be speaking and telling us about her new novel “Ink and Bone”. Lisa Unger is an award-winning New York Timesand internationally bestselling author. Most recently, In the Blood won the Silver Falchion Award for Best Crime Thriller. Her novels have sold more than 2 million copies and have been translated into twenty-six languages. Unger lives in Clearwater Beach, Florida with her husband, daughter, and labradoodle.
Now, in INK AND BONE available June 7th, Unger immerses us in the world of a young woman whose mysterious psychic abilities draw her into the middle of the dangerous investigation of a little girl’s abduction.
Visited by apparitions and haunted by prophetic dreams since childhood, twenty-year-old Finley Montgomery has never fully been able to control or understand the things that happen to her. With her powers growing and her personal life in a shambles, she turns to the only person who may be able to help—her grandmother. Finley moves in with Eloise Montgomery, a renowned medium living in The Hollows, a seemingly quiet place in upstate New York, hoping to harness her “gift.” Yet her troubles follow her in more ways than one.
Merri Gleason is nearing the end of her rope after a ten-month-long search for her missing daughter, Abbey. With nearly all hope extinguished, she resorts to hiring Jones Cooper, a no-nonsense police officer turned private detective who often calls upon Eloise’s supernatural aid when traditional leads run dry. Merri’s not a believer, but she’s desperate enough to try anything, certain that time is running out.
Concealed in a cold, tiny barn room, far from anything she used to know, Penny is captive to strangers she knows only as Mama, Poppa, and Bobo. Like Finley, Penny sees things that other people can’t see, hears things that others can’t hear. That’s why she was brought to this awful place—and why she can’t leave.
As a harsh winter blows into The Hollows, Finley, Merri, and Penny are on an inexorable path toward a snowy showdown with much more at stake than even the fate of a missing girl. As Finley digs deeper into the endless layers and shades of her new small town, she is forced to examine the past, even as she tries to glimpse the future. Only one thing is clear: The Hollows gets what it wants, no matter what.
Delving deep into issues of identity, family, trauma, fear, and the corrosive nature of secrets and lies, INK AND BONE is full of Lisa Unger’s signature twists and turns, all leading to a heart-wrenching, shocking conclusion.
Cookbook Club “Literate Epicures”
Tuesday, June 14 – 7:00pm
We will be reviewing Dishing Up New Jersey: 150 Recipes from the Garden State by John Holl! And we are very excited and honored that John Holl will be joining us in the discussion! All are invited! Choose a recipe out of Dishing Up New Jersey, please let us know what recipe you will be bringing and to get on our cookbook club contact list.
Daytime Book Club
Thursday, June 16 – 11:15am
A Hundred Summers by Beatriz Williams
We will be discussing “A Hundred Summers” by Beatriz Williams. All are welcome to join us!
Memorial Day, 1938
Lily Dane has returned to Seaview, Rhode Island, where her family has summered for generations. It s an escape not only from New York’s social scene but from a heartbreak that still haunts her. Here, among the seaside community that has embraced her since childhood, she finds comfort in the familiar rituals of summer.
But this summer is different. Budgie and Nick Greenwald, Lily’s former best friend and former fiance, have arrived, too, and Seaview’s elite are abuzz. Under Budgie’s glamorous influence, Lily is seduced into a complicated web of renewed friendship and dangerous longing.
As a cataclysmic hurricane churns north through the Atlantic, and uneasy secrets slowly reveal themselves, Lily and Nick must confront an emotional storm that will change their worlds forever.
Evening Book Club
Tuesday, June 28 – 7:00pm
The Residence: Inside the Private World of The White House by Kate Andersen Brower
A remarkable history with elements of both In the President’s Secret Service and The Butler, The Residence offers an intimate account of the service staff of the White House, from the Kennedys to the Obamas.
America’s First Families are unknowable in many ways. No one has insight into their true character like the people who serve their meals and make their beds every day. Full of stories and details by turns dramatic, humorous, and heartwarming, The Residence reveals daily life in the White House as it is really lived through the voices of the maids, butlers, cooks, florists, doormen, engineers, and others who tend to the needs of the President and First Family.
These dedicated professionals maintain the six-floor mansion’s 132 rooms, 35 bathrooms, 28 fireplaces, three elevators, and eight staircases, and prepare everything from hors d oeuvres for intimate gatherings to meals served at elaborate state dinners. Over the course of the day, they gather in the lower level’s basement kitchen to share stories, trade secrets, forge lifelong friendships, and sometimes even fall in love.
Combining incredible first-person anecdotes from extensive interviews with scores of White House staff members many speaking for the first time with archival research, Kate Andersen Brower tells their story. She reveals the intimacy between the First Family and the people who serve them, as well as tension that has shaken the staff over the decades. From the housekeeper and engineer who fell in love while serving President Reagan to Jackie Kennedy’s private moment of grief with a beloved staffer after her husband s assassination to the tumultuous days surrounding President Nixon’s resignation and President Clinton’s impeachment battle, The Residence is full of surprising and moving details that illuminate day-to-day life at the White House.
Newtown Bookshop Blog 