The Bookstore and the Jew
Hank Rosenfeld
May 23, 2002
\”It\’s a war against indigenous people. Arafat was born there, while the other guy is from where, Poland?\”
Category
Books
Back to Basics
Judy Bart Kancigor
May 16, 2002
Marlena Spieler\’s latest, \”The Jewish Heritage Cookbook\” (Lorenz Books, $36), subtitled \”a fascinating journey through the rich and diverse history of the Jewish cuisine\” is so leap-off-the-page lusciously photographed you can practically taste the food.
For What It’s Worth
Mike Levy
May 16, 2002
That silver kiddush cup you save for special occasions? Your great-grandmother\’s seder plate? Beautiful objects with sentimental and ritual value, sure, but what kind of cash value do you have sitting on your mantels and bookshelves? With a fun takeoff of a popular PBS show, the Judaica Roadshow will answer your nagging questions. Professional appraisers specializing in Judaica will be on hand at Mt. Sinai Memorial Park-Simi Valley to offer appraisals of Judaica heirlooms, artwork and tchotchkes.
Between a Couch and a Hard Place
Carmela Ciuraru
May 9, 2002
In her latest book, \”The Thief of Happiness: The Story of an Extraordinary Psychotherapy,\” Bonnie Friedman sorts through the complex, confusing, ambivalent relationship between therapist and patient by way of her own psychotherapy, revealing the seductive \”thief\” to be Friedman\’s trusted doctor, a fact that the reader realizes immediately, but that takes the author years to understand.
Shedding Some Light
Amy Klein
May 9, 2002
Jonathan Safran Foer\’s new book, \”Everything Is Illuminated\” has garnered rave reviews everywhere, from The New York Times to Esquire, with front jacket quotes by Russell Banks, Nathan Englander and mentor Joyce Carol Oates; it has even been optioned for a movie by actor Liev Schrieber\’s prodction company.
Beyond Revenge
Sandee Brawarsky
April 25, 2002
\”Revenge: A Story of Hope\” is Laura Blumenfeld\’s account of her journey to understand the concept of revenge and ultimately act on it.
I’m a Survivor!
Michael Aushenker
April 18, 2002
On this April day, Drescher converses in a lackadaisical, morning-after drone that is, quite frankly, downright seductive.\n\nYet the topic of conversation — uterine cancer — is not sexy. Drescher feels that it is imperative to talk about the deadly disease and why women need to be proactive in discerning it. Her new memoir, \”Cancer Schmancer\” (Warner Books, $24.95), in stores May 1, chronicles her own experience detecting and surviving uterine cancer. \”Cancer Schmancer\” also documents a new chapter in her life. When her best-selling autobiography \”Enter Whining\” was released in late 1995, Drescher was the envy of Hollywood both for her storybook romance to high school sweetheart Peter Marc Jacobson and her serendipitous rise to fame in the 1990s. On a plane ride, the then-unknown actress sold her idea for \”The Nanny\” after pitching the concept to a CBS executive that happened to be seated next to her.
The Heart and Marrow of a Century
Miriyam Glazer
April 18, 2002
From the vantage point of our already traumatic new millennium, \”Old Men at Midnight,\” celebrated author Chaim Potok\’s latest collection of three novellas, requires us to look back in anguish at a wrenching picture of the 20th century.
\”This America of yours is not a country that values history,\” says the character Mr. Zapiski, a World War I soldier who has become a melancholy teacher of Torah trope in New York. \”Where I was raised, history was the heart and marrow of a person.\” That is why, as she herself moves from teenager to older woman in this collection, Ilana Davita Dinn, who first appeared in Potok\’s 1985 novel \”Davita\’s Harp,\” persists in eliciting from each of the main characters the personal story, however wrenching, of their lives.
A ‘Ring’ of Bias Not Likely
Craig A. Bird
December 13, 2001
The erudite professor of philology and expert in Norse languages wrote books about dragons and trolls and elves and wizards. The devout Roman Catholic purged any mention of Christianity from the 500,000 pages of his epic, \”The Lord of the Rings,\” series.
Diamant Finds a Harbor
Naomi Pfefferman
November 29, 2001
While writing \”Good Harbor,\” about the midlife friendship between two Jewish women, Anita Diamant says she suffered a bout of \”second-novelitis.\”\n\nHer 1997 debut novel, \”The Red Tent\” — a sexy spin on the biblical story of Dinah — had been a runaway best seller that\’s still on the New York Times list. Julia Roberts told Oprah magazine that \”Tent\” was one of her favorite books. The book has sold more than 1.5 million copies in the United States alone, and publishers have bought the rights in 18 countries.
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