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Jewish Journal

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Books

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.

Nice and Gruesome

Gaby Wenig November 15, 2001

Perhaps the most disarming thing about Jonathan Kellerman — best-selling author of gruesome crime mysteries that deal with the seedier aspects of human nature and society — is that he is nice and charming.

The pyschotherapist turned author has his 17th thriller \”Flesh and Blood,\” coming out on Nov. 20 (Random House).

The Secret History

Ruth Andrew Ellenson November 15, 2001

\”The Woman Who Laughed at God: The Untold History of the Jewish People,\” by Jonathan Kirsch (Viking Press, $14.95).

Jonathan Kirsch lives a double life that many lawyers only dream of.

To Warm the Soul

Shoshana Lewin-Fischer November 15, 2001

\”Chicken Soup for the Jewish Soul: Stories to Open the Heart and Rekindle the Spirit,\”

by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen and Rabbi Dov Peretz Elkins.

(Health Communications, Inc., $12.95).

What if someone told you they were making chicken soup, but it took eight years for you to get your bowl? Several years after the release of their first book, the creators of the \”Chicken Soup for the Soul\” series, Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, have prepared a warm bowl of \”Chicken Soup for the Jewish Soul,\” like bubbie used to make.

Man of the Book

Mike Levy November 15, 2001

Steve Wasserman is the literary editor of the Los Angeles Times. A former Berkeley political activist, Wasserman became deputy editor of the Times\’ Op-Ed page in 1978, at the age of 26. He went on to become editorial director of Times Books, a Random House imprint in New York. In 1996, Wasserman returned to California to take over the Los Angeles Times Book Review. The Journal spoke with Wasserman before his speech this week at the Jewish Community Library of Los Angeles on the topic \”People of the Book: Jewish Citizenship in the Republic of Letters.\”

Something to Laugh About

Mark Schiff November 15, 2001

\”The Haunted Smile: The Story of Jewish Comedians in America\” by Lawrence J. Epstein (Public Affairs, $27.50).

\”I\’ll tell you. I don\’t get no respect. My mother stopped breast-feeding me as a kid. She told me she liked me like a friend.\” (Rodney Dangerfield)

For as long as I\’ve been a comedian, I\’ve been asked two questions over and over:

Why are there so many Jewish comedians? And why do you think Jews are so funny?

In

Locals on the Shelves

Dennis Gura November 15, 2001

A roundup of some of the latest books by L.A. Jewish authors.

A Working Girl Can Win

Michael Aushenker November 15, 2001

\”She was thinking about how, growing up, she\’d force herself to look at the sun. Just because you weren\’t supposed to. Just to prove she could. Except she couldn\’t.\” — Lucinda Rosenfeld, describing Phoebe Fine, protagonist of \”What She Saw\”\n\nForgive Lucinda Rosenfeld if 2001 seems a bit anti-climactic. For the young author, it was the previous two years that provided the most action-packed odyssey of her life.

Wayward Son

Naomi Pfefferman November 8, 2001

\”Shadows of Sin\” began when Orthodox mystery author Rochelle Krich was chilled by a verse in Deuteronomy after the Columbine High School shootings in 1999.\n\nThe passage described the \”wayward and rebellious\” son, who is condemned to death for crimes of theft, drunkenness and gluttony.

Anxiety about Jewish Literature

Ruth Wisse November 8, 2001

As long as the Jewish people lives, it will generate a living culture, and as long as that culture values the written word, Jews will write books.

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