The Overbooked Book Club will meet to chat about Shut Up an
d Read: A Memoir from Harriett&rsquo\;s Bookshop by Jeannine A. Cook.
This book club is geared to adults.
***Join us for a Meet the Aut
hor event on November 13th at 7PM at Sinking Spring Public Library.***
The author of It&rsquo\;s Me They Follow chronicles the improbable true
story of how she left an abusive past to build a bookshop that survived th
e Covid pandemic and become an international sensation.
Jeannine Cook
always thought she&rsquo\;d open a bookshop in her old age. Raised by a b
lind librarian\, books were integral to her life\, and she expected she wo
uld eventually write one as well. Instead\, Jeannine found herself a burnt
-out workaholic with three jobs and no time to read or write\, feeling lik
e she hadn't fulfilled her purpose.
In her journal\, Jeannine began a
n imaginary dialogue with Harriet Tubman\, &ldquo\;Q&\;As&rdquo\; she d
ubbed Conversations with Harriett. Jeannine wondered how Harriet became a
&ldquo\;wade through waist-high water in the winter: type of woman&mdash\;
and how she could become one too.
On February 1\, 2020\, Jeannine ful
filled her dream and opened a bookstore in Philadelphia which she named af
ter her hero and inspiration\, Harriet Tubman. Harriett&rsquo\;s Bookshop
would be a place to celebrate women authors\, artists\, and activists. Whi
le the name was ironic&mdash\;Harriet could neither read nor write&mdash\;
it was also fitting. The City of Brotherly love was one of Harriet's first
stops to freedom on the Underground Railroad. But in only six weeks\, Jea
nnine would be forced to shut the shop&rsquo\;s doors when Covid turned th
e world upside down&mdash\;not knowing whether her dream would survive.
Five years later\, this small independent bookshop is thriving\, with s
atellite stores in unconventional places\, from movie theaters to horse tr
ailers. Despite global death and destruction\, book bans\, the downward sp
iral in readership\, the lack of physical customers\, AI\, and more\, Jean
nine's shops have survived. Shut Up &\; Read is her story&mdash\;the st
ory of the little bookseller who could\, and of the woman who has been the
driving force behind it all. \;