Boys can be squirrely when any adult visits a classroom to lecture. That\’s why when Ursula Bacon comes in to talk about her Holocaust experience, she tells stories about how she once had a cockroach for a pet, and that she didn\’t have use of a toilet for eight years.
With the no-carb craze sweeping the nation, Atkins Diet adherents make sure to avoid pasta and potatoes, but when the High Holidays roll around, even purists are tempted by succulent Jewish breads.
Food is the centerpiece of every Jewish holiday.
The three A\’s in \”Natasha\” are filled in by tiny stylized Matryoshka dolls, the traditional Russian stacking dolls, on the book jacket of David Bezmozgis\’ radiant debut (Farrar Straus and Giroux, $18).
In this collection of linked stories, the three figures at the center are a mother, father and son who leave Riga, Latvia, for Toronto, Canada. The stories are told from the point of view of the son, Mark Berman, who observes everything and helps interpret the New World for his parents.
\”Revenge\” revolves around a 1998 staging of Stephen Fife\’s acclaimed adaptation of Sholem Asch\’s Yiddish classic, \”God of Vengeance,\” directed by his idol, the legendary Joseph Chaikin. The book recounts Fife\’s misadventures during that Atlanta production — such as his frantic attempts to find free places to crash — between astute insights into the play, the American theater and his colorful past.
\”The Last Dance\” began when Bank, an acclaimed PBS filmmaker whose work often involves Jewish themes, attended a Pilobolus performance in summer 1998.
Sylvia Rouss, who teaches at Stephen S. Wise Temple, is the author of the popular \”Sammy Spider\” series, which are widely used in Jewish schools around the country.
"Will Kevin be there?" my friend Jodi asked when I invited her to my upcoming book party at Dutton\’s.
Growing up in a Jewish home filled with books, I knew early on I wanted to be a writer like P.G. Wodehouse, Sam Levenson or my all-time favorite — Agatha Christie.
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