Yvette Melanson is a woman who might say the Sh\’ma before going to sleep, and in the morning light whisper the Navajo prayer, \”May I walk happily and lightly on the earth.\” Both are deeply felt, authentic expressions of her soul. As she explains, \”I know that I\’m Jewish. I feel Jewish. I\’ve been raised Jewish. I\’m also Navajo.\”
Contemporary Holocaust literature for young adults seems to favor a theme: transport unaware teenagers to German-occupied Europe and, together with the characters, the readers will emerge as more sensitive, aware young adults.
When I consider author Sara Davidson\’s now-so-public love affair with a cowboy who didn\’t know about Anne Frank, I can hear my mother saying, \”Honey, you could do so much better.\”
To which Davidson\’s response would surely be, \”Show me how.\”
I have been reading two books lately, sort of shifting from one to the other — a bad habit, I know, but it has been with me too long to correct at this point.
The idea for Rochelle Majer Krich\’s new mystery, \”Blood Money,\” goes back to the day she discovered some startling photographs in her parents\’ china closet.
Think Jean-Claude van Itallie, and you think, \”icon of the 1960s.\”
Author Annie Reiner is tall, elegant, poised — and politelyexasperated when you ask about her famous father and brother.\n\nYou can hardly blame her: It\’s the umpteenth time she\’s beenasked.
Naomi Wolf, author of \”Promiscuities: The Secret Struggle for Womanhood\”\nSex will always be with us, but thoughtful, non-hysterical conversations about sexual issues are few and far between. With the publication of her newest book, \”Promiscuities: The Secret Struggle for Womanhood\” (Random House, $24), social critic Naomi Wolf has helped bring the subject of girls\’ sexuality to the national spotlight in a serious way — for at least as long as it takes to conduct a book tour.
For the next few weeks, you will be hearing about girls and sex. \”Oprah,\” \”Leeza,\” \”Charlie Rose,\” The New York Times, even The Jewish Journal — media great and small will focus airwaves and inches on a topic that, while hardly new, rarely gets serious, sustained attention.
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