But at least I\’m succeeding at one thing: sloth. Yes, one of the quote/unquote seven deadly sins can actually be viewed as a virtue — no, a lifestyle program, according to Wendy Wasserstein\’s new book, \”Sloth: The Seven Deadly Sins\” (The New York Library/Oxford, 2005).
The book is particularly timely, in light of Yasser Arafat\’s death, and new possibilities for hope in the Middle East. Rees writes about individuals, many of whom have not spoken publicly before, and he proves himself a good listener and skillful as a teller of other people\’s stories.
So is it possible to squeeze 5,765 years of history, culture, law and food into a 380-page book? Yes! While academics might snub their noses, the books actually can teach both the idiot and the dummy quite a bit about Judaism.
\”The Jewish Century,\” by Yuri Slezkine. (Princeton University Press, $29.95).
Yuri Slezkine opens this major new book by declaring: \”The modern age is the Jewish age, and the 20th century, in particular, is the Jewish century.\” This assertion may ring bells.
Rabbi Joseph Telushkin said that he was inspired to write the book, which CBS plans to bring to the small screen in fall 2005, after he conducted a hypnotic regression with a friend of his who went back to a life in the year 1853.
\”The Final Solution: A Story of Detection\” by Michael Chabon (Fourth Estate/HarperCollins, $16.95).
Depending on their authors\’ predilections, so-called \”literary\” novels are often unsettling, disturbing, enlightening or tragicomic. They are not, in the main, much fun. Fun is left to hacks, those genre writers who churn out the chick-lit blockbusters, weepy romances, thrillers, sci-fi fantasies and blood-and-guts horrors that dominate the best-seller lists.
When Imre Kertesz was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 2002, few Americans had read the work of the Hungarian novelist, the first survivor of the concentration camps to be awarded the literary prize. Even in his own country, his works were not well known; his subject, largely the Holocaust, was not popular.
\”The Creative Jewish Wedding Book\” by Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer helps couples tap into their creativity and design the wedding that really suits them. Kaplan-Mayer inspires readers to honor their own comfort level of style, taste, emotional and financial resources and Jewish observance.
It\’s a novel with humor and a good share of darkness as well as light, the contrast alluded to in the Psalm from which the title is drawn, \”Weeping may endure for a night. But joy comes in the morning.\”
The Jewish Journal introduces a new weekly column: My Jewish Library. We\’ve asked rabbis, scholars and thinkers to each pick the one book that was essential to their Jewish life. They will discuss the book and its impact, and explain why you need to add it to your Jewish library.
