Meet Bleu Mobley

RB & I made our first visit to “The Greene Space” in the West Village last night for the kick-off of Warren Lehrer’s latest book launch.

A Life in Books: The Rise & Fall of Blue Mobley, a gorgeously produced multi-color “novel,” is a brilliant meditation on the state of publishing in the 21st Century:

* What is truth?

* What is fiction?

* Who is “me,” am I my nom de plume, & how can I turn us into a franchise… or maybe even into two?!?

By the time you reach page 330 with pictures of Bleu’s Book Lamps, you’ll be laughing thru your tears. Here is a taste from the opening pages which sets the tone for what is to follow:

I can’t think of a better gift for Chanukah 5774. Somewhere in the Great Beyond, Sholem Aleichem is kvelling about this new great-grandson 🙂

But “Bleu Mobley?” you ask. “Is this the name of a good Jewish boy?” YES! Here’s a bit about Bleu’s family from Chapter One:

“My grandfather was a Jewish rag merchant/entrepreneur/socialist who did business in Mexico under the alias Jake Mobley. His real name was Mordechai Jacobson…”

A Life in Books has a totally Ashkenazi-American sensibility, as befits someone who is the real son of Ruth Lehrer the author of My Book of Ruth: Reflections of a Jewish Girl. By the way, Warren designed the cover of Ruth’s book as well as his own. An appropriate act of devotion for this son of this mother! 

Click HERE to order A Life in Books.

Click HERE to order My Book of Ruth.

PS: “The Greene Space” is a performance space on the ground floor of the building that houses WNYC = New York Public Radio. The host for the evening was Warren’s brother Brian of WNYC’s Brian Lehrer Show. The place was packed, with extra chairs stuffed in all the nooks & crannies for folks on the Wait List.

Kudos to Warren’s partner Judith Sloan who did a masterful job coordinating this whole hullabaloo! All the audio/video worked perfectly & I was agog 🙂