Jewish Literature Challenge

Jewish Book Carnival

2011-02-18T13:12:00.000-05:00

I hadn't heard of this until now but The Boston Bibliophile is hosting this month's Jewish Book Carnival.

Go on over for a roundup of links to other blog reviews and posts about Jewish Books. Apparently this carnival is on the 15th of every month, hosted at a different blog each time.

Jewish Literature Challenge 2010-2011

2010-11-25T10:30:00.000-05:00

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NOTE: I am holding this challenge again because it's seems to be fairly popular but this will be a self run challenge. I won't be posting linkies for reviews or offering related posts or anything. The only thing I will be doing is approving comments for this blog and adding any new members who wish to post on this blog.

What: Reading books by Jewish Authors or about Judaism

When: December 1, 2010 (First Night of Hanukkah) to April 26, 2011 (End of Passover)

Who: Anyone who wants to participate! Bloggers or Non-Bloggers alike

Where: Right here of course! You can also post your picks and reviews to your own blog if you have one.

Levels

Read 1 book that fits the criteria
Read 3 books that fit the criteria.
Read 5+ books that fit the criteria.

How Do I Join?
Sign the comments on THIS post to join the challenge. If you have a blog, you can leave your url if you want. I will NOT be doing a participants list this time. If you don't have a blog just mention you are joining.

You still have the option of being a member of this blog. This allows you to post you reviews here which helps make a good directory of Jewish Literature. You don't have to have a blog to join this one but you do have to have a blogger profile. Get one free at http://www.blogger.com

If you want to be added to the blog, please include your email address. (put it like this to prevent spam: yourname AT yourdomain DOT com) in your comment.

Are you wondering more about what books are okay?
Fiction, Non-fiction, memoirs, Adult books, Teen books, Children's books, books about the Holocaust, books about anti-semitism, books about Jewish Life, Jewish Culture, Jewish Customs. Books by Jewish Authors no matter what the subject.

See side bar for links that might help or check out the archive to see what participants read in the past.

Anything else?

Books don't count if you read them before the start date so keep that in mind.

Nick and Norahs Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

2010-07-05T15:25:00.002-04:00

Nick and Norahs Infinite Playlist

Pages: 192
Pub Date: August 28, 2007
Author Website/Blog: http://www.davidlevithan.com/index.html http://www.rachelcohn.com/
Synopsis: It all starts when Nick asks Norah to be his girlfriend for five minutes. He only needs five minutes to avoid his ex-girlfriend, who's just walked in to his band's show. With a new guy. And then, with one kiss, Nick and Norah are off on an adventure set against the backdrop of New York City and smack in the middle of all the joy, anxiety, confusion, and excitement of a first date.

Just brilliant. As always the book is better then the movie. The movie made me tear off my nails and eat them it (figuratively) it was so painful. I dont think Ive ever been truly bored to tears. The book made up for it. The book always makes everything so much better. This book was slow at the beginning but the end made up for it. It really showed that things arent as they seem. Granted I gaged a bit when Norah talked about Tukan Olam which is a jewish idea that the world is broken and we need to put the pieces back together again. I really enjoyed that the story showed the true feelings of the characters. It wasnt some cheesy novel where all they wanted to do is fall in love. THis was a great well written story.

You Are SO Not Invited To My Batmitvah by Fiona Rosenbloom

2010-06-19T06:07:00.002-04:00

You Are SO Not Invited To My Batmitvah by Fiona Rosenbloom

Pages: 208
Pub Date: August 29, 2005
Synopsis: Stacy Friedman is getting ready for one of the biggest events of her young life--her bat mitzvah! All she wants is the perfect BCBG dress to wear, her friends by her side, and her biggest crush ever, Andy Goldfarb, to dance with her (and maybe give Stacy her first French kiss .). But of course, things never work out quite the way you'd like them to.. Her stressed-out mother forces her to buy a hideous beaded sequined dress that she wouldn't be caught dead in. Her mitzvahs are not going at all well. And then the worst thing in the entire world happens--Stacy catches her best friend, Lydia, making out with Andy! And thus she utters the words that will wreak complete havoc on her social life ...You are so not invited to my bat mitzvah!

This book was just perfect. It reminded me of everything MY Batmitvah wasnt. I absolutely loved that. My Batmitvah was a small affair and no one really cared. Meanwhile with this oh its a Batmitvah so its like a stinkin wedding! And also only a few of my friends had one. In this book there was every single person she knew having one, EVEN if they werent jewish! In real life, sadly its not cool to have a Batmitvah. But in this book there were people throwing faux batmitvahs. Ridiculous! Right? This book also showed that you shouldnt freak about right or wrong with a batmtivah. Just enjoy it!

The Devil's Arithmetic - Jane Yolen

2010-06-12T02:22:00.003-04:00

When I began looking for books for the Jewish Literature Challenge, I thought immediately of Jane Yolen's The Devil's Arithmetic. It follows the story of a young Jewish girl named Hannah Stern. Hannah is tired of her Grandpa ranting about the Holocaust, and wishes she could spend Seder with her Gentile friends.

When her family asks her to symbolically open the door to invite the prophet Elijah in, she finds her self in the Poland of 1942. Everyone there thinks she's a young girl named Chaya, who survived the cholera that killed her family. She tries to explain to them that she's from a different time & place, but they think she's still feverish from her illness.

She slowly acclimates to her new surroundings, but during her uncle's wedding, the Nazis come to relocate the entire village to a concentration camp. Hannah tries to warn them of the dangers they face...starvation, gas chambers, hard work...but they don't believe her. After all, how would a young girl know of such things?

This book is a sobering look at just some of the realities of the Holocaust. It was the 1989 winner of the National Jewish Literature Award for children's literature. It's a very fast read, and its skillful writing pulls you into the story line immediately.

How's everybody doing?

2010-06-11T15:14:00.000-04:00

Well how's everyone doing? Sorry to those I never sent invites to. I've now sent them. If you're read a book, please add your review here or email it to me and I'll add it. Remember we're trying to create a blog of review of Jewish books or books by Jewish authors.

Check in, tell me how you're doing. Have you read any books?

Jewish Literature Challenge 2010

2010-01-26T12:13:00.001-05:00

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NOTE: I forgot to start this challenge when I was supposed to so JLC 2010 will run different months this time. It ends in September but will start up again with JLC 2010-2011 on Dec 2 (Hanukkah.)

Also read carefully even if you participated before as I've changed a few things.

What: Reading books by Jewish Authors or about Judaism

When: February 27, 2010 (Purim) to September 10, 2010 (Rosh Hashanah)

Who: Anyone who wants to participate! Bloggers or Non-Bloggers alike

Where: Right here of course! You can also post your picks and reviews to your own blog if you have one.

Levels

Read 1 book that fits the criteria
Read 3 books that fit the criteria.
Read 5+ books that fit the criteria.

See you next year!

2009-06-01T09:31:00.002-04:00

This challenge is over (and has been for a month) but I just wanted to make sure anyone passing by this blog was sure of that. Check back at the beginning of December for signups for 09-10

Jewish Literature Challenge 2008-2009

2009-04-30T14:46:00.002-04:00

*This is a sticky post, scroll down for newest posts*

Having trouble saving pic? Go here.

NOTE: Changes from last year are in red.

What: Reading at least 4 books by Jewish Authors or about Judaism
When: December 21, 2008 (Beginning of Hanukkah) to April 27, 2009 (End of Passover)
Who: Anyone who wants to participate! Bloggers or Non-Bloggers alike
Where: Right here of course! You can also post your picks and reviews to your own blog if you have one of course.
How: Sign the comments on THIS post to join the challenge. Tell me if you want to be added to the blog. If so, include your email address. (put it like this to prevent spam: yourname AT yourdomain DOT com) Once I've added you, you can post your picks here and when the time comes, post your reviews here too.

NOTE: Also please post on your blog your intention to do this challenge. You can add a list of possible books now or at a later date. Put the url to your specific post about the challenge in the comments.

Are you wondering more about what books are okay?
Fiction, Non-fiction, memoirs, Adult books, Teen books, Children's books, books about the Holocaust, books about anti-semitism, books about Jewish Life, Jewish Culture, Jewish Customs. Books by Jewish Authors no matter what the subject.

My Challenge Wrap-Up

2009-04-27T19:32:00.001-04:00

Today is the last day of Callista's Jewish Literature Challenge, but I'm not quite done. I'm in the middle of Peter Beagle's A Fine and Private Place, and I'm also listening to Night, by Elie Wiesel, on my iPod, but am not quite finished with it, either. So I'll continue to read and listen to these final choices even though the official challenge is over.

The books I have completed for this challenge are:

In the Name of Sorrow and Hope, by Noa Ben Artzi-Pelossof

The Devil's Arithmetic, by Jane Yolen

My Grandmother's Stories, by Adele Geras

I enjoyed this challenge very much and look forward to it again next time! Thanks for hosting, Callista!

Challenge Complete (3M from 1morechapter.com)

2009-04-27T18:35:00.000-04:00

I really loved participating in this challenge again. I enjoyed all my books, especially Petropolis, but the highlight of the challenge was watching the film Ushpizin. I loved it!

Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels
Zlateh the Goat and Other Stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer
Petropolis by Anya Ulinich
Natasha and Other Stories by David Bezmozgis

Film from Israel: Ushpizin

Pattie's list wrap-up

2009-04-26T21:00:00.000-04:00

My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok
Suite française by Irène Némirovsky
Baby Needs a New Pair of Shoes by Lauren Baratz-Logsted
Fax Me a Bagel by Sharon Kahn (I read one other book in this series last year!)

Alternate selections (in case I can't finish the above books, or decide differently):

The Book Thief by Marcus Zuzak (BEGUN)
The Hidden Life of Otto Frank by Carol Ann Lee (Dad gave me his copy)
The Family Fortune by Laurie Horowitz

Wrapping up:

I finished three and began a fourth. I know I won't finish The Book Thief by tomorrow, but I am reading it. It is very good so far.

Thanks again for the opportunity to contribute, even in a small way, to this blog.

Shalom.

The Innkeeper's Song by Peter Beagle

2009-04-24T16:35:00.000-04:00

The Last Unicorn is one of the most beautiful and poetic books I've read. I LOVED it. Loved it. So I was thrilled when I found out that Peter Beagle has written other books. This fantasy seemed like it would be right up my alley and it was at first. Told through the eyes of several narrators (in the end I think it was too many narrators), three women: Lal, Nyateneri, and Lukassa to an inn run by an old crab named Karsh. Other important characters who also narrate include Marinesha and Rosseth (two teenage orphans who work at Karsh's inn), Tikat (who is following Lukassa), and the Fox who is a shape-shifter. That's the point of view of eight characters which I'm not saying inherently is a bad thing but I wasn't able to stay with it all the way through.

Here is the Innkeeper's Song upon which the story is based:

There came three ladies at sundown:
One was brown as bread is brown,
One was black, with a sailor's sway,
And one was pale as the moon by day.

The white one wore an emerald ring,
The brown led a fox on a silver string,
And the black one carried a rosewood cane
With a sword inside, for I saw it plain.

They took my own room, they barred the door,
They sang songs I never had heard before.
My cheese and mutton they did destroy,
And they called for wine, and the stable boy.

And once they quarried and twice they cried —
Their laughter blazed through the countryside,
The ceiling shook and the plaster flew,
And the fox ate my pigeons, all but two.

They rode away with the morning sun,
The white like a queen, the black like a nun,
And the brown one singing with scarlet joy,
And I'll have to get a new stable boy.

I didn't quite love this book but I didn't dislike it. There was a very alarming sexual scene in the middle that seemed out of place in the book to me...something important was discovered because of it but it just seemed a bit gratuitious and it caught me completely off guard. But it was just that one random scene and that was it. There was some nice romance too though.

Old Men at Midnight by Chaim Potok

2009-04-24T16:30:00.002-04:00

Chaim Potok is one of my favorite authors. He wrote The Chosen, The Promise, the Asher Lev books, and Davita's Harp. I actually wrote a paper about The Chosen when I was in high school and I liked doing it. Old Men at Midnight is a book of three short stories connected to Ilana Davita Dinn from Davita's Harp. The stories are not about Davita, but rather about some of the people she comes in contact with through her life.

In "The Ark Builder," seventeen year old Ilana meets Noah Stremin, the only survivor of the Nazi destruction of his village in Poland. When Ilana is is working on her doctorate in "The War Doctor", she convinces a former KGB interrogation officer to write the story of his life - the horror of war, the anti-semitism in Russia, and the terror of Stalin's reign.The final story is a bit more psychological than the other two. It is about Benjamin Walter, who Ilana moves in next door to when she is a woman in her sixties writing fiction for a living. Benjamin sees her as something she is not - a well maintained, beautiful middle-aged woman. But Ilana is really overweight and dowdy. But Benjamin's wife is ill and he has too suffered during World War II as a soldier in the British Army. "The Trope Teacher" was the man who had a lasting and painful effect on Benjamin.Potok's writing is always impressive. He has a wonderful way with language and while it did not strike me in the same way The Chosen and Davita's Harp did, it was a great book

Wrap-up Posts

2009-04-24T09:14:00.002-04:00

There's still a few days left and like I said, feel free to continue, even if you're past the date, it's all for fun anyways.

You can post a wrap-up directly to this blog if you want. If you don't want to or aren't a member of the blog, and you post one at your own blog, leave the link in the comments.

Emil and Karl

2009-04-23T13:11:00.000-04:00

Glatshteyn, Yankev. 2006. Emil and Karl. Square Fish. (Roaring Book Press) 194 pages.

There is an immediacy and urgency to Emil and Karl. Written in 1938--in Yiddish--it was only recently (2006) translated and published in English. Set in Austria, Vienna to be exact. The Third Reich is in power, yet the horror of World War II has not yet dawned. The full wrath unleashed during the Holocaust--the organized full-scale murdering of the Jewish people*--has yet to begin. Though the hate is strong and ever-present. Meet Emil and Karl. Best friends. One is Jewish. The other is not. But despite it being in Karl's "best interest" to forget about his Jewish friend, Emil, he can't brush him off.

The seriousness of the novel is apparent from the very beginning. When we first meet Karl, he is alone.

"Karl sat on a low stool, petrified. The apartment was as still as death. He looked at the pieces of the broken vase scattered on the floor. Several times he reached out with one hand to pick up an overturned chair lying beside him. The chair looked like a man who had fallen on his face and couldn't get up. But each time Karl tried, he could only lift the chair up a little bit, and then it fell down again. It was even quieter in the kitchen and the bedroom--so quiet he was afraid to go in there. It wasn't that Karl minded being in the apartment by himself. He'd been left alone there more than once before; he could even go to bed by himself without being afraid. He wasn't scared of spooks or devils. Instead, he loved to stare, wide-eyed, into the darkness and make up stories." (1)

Why is he afraid? He witnessed what I imagine would have seemed the unthinkable. He watched them take his mother. He watched them hurt her. He heard their threats. He heard them threaten to come back...for him. In one night, everything in Karl's world is turned upside down.

When he does move, act, it is to go see his friend, Emil. He seeks the comfort of a true friend. What he learns is that Emil too has changed. Emil and Karl have an enemy in common now. Both have been orphaned. Both have only each other. Can these two children find a way to survive in this topsy-turvy ever-dangerous world where hate rules supreme?

What makes Emil and Karl unique--in my opinion--is its urgency. When it was written, this wasn't a distant event in the past. This wasn't historical fiction. This was current events. This was the threat and danger facing the world. And at the time it was written, it was a threat that had not been conquered. There's a suspenseful quality to it. A sense of the unknown. There was no happy ending light at the end of the tunnel to brighten it up. In fact, the worse was yet to come. It's an emotional novel; it's brilliantly and intelligently written to make you feel that you are there, that you are witness.

Fax Me a Bagel

2009-04-20T16:21:00.002-04:00

Fax Me a Bagel by Sharon Kahn

I read the fourth in this series last year for this same challenge.

Can I just say that I love Ruby? Ruby is the best minister's wife protagonist I have read in a while. She is so honest about who she is, I hope that someday I can also be that self-aware.

I really enjoyed this novel. It's a great cozy mystery, without icky details (well, unless you count Rabbi Kevin, but I digress...), and a great mystery and some insight into synagogue life (which is not all that different from church life, really...and again, I digress...).

Such fun!

Almost Done

2009-04-19T19:11:00.004-04:00

Well the challenge is almost over (although if I hadn't messed the date up, it would have already been over)

I was supposed to participate but haven't read a single Jewish book yet so I'm obviously not going to be done in time. That's okay, I have some on my agenda to read this year and I'll keep running this challenge every year.

For those interested in children's Jewish books, I found this blog on Jewish Books for Children. I'll add that to the side.

Do your best to finish but don't worry if you don't make it. You can keep adding your reviews even past the finish date. Just have fun with it and enjoy new books.

If you do a wrap-up post, I'll put a finish post up soon that you can link to your wrap-up post or you can just post (or repost) it here, whichever. Let me know if you have any suggestions for next time.

2009-04-14T23:49:00.001-04:00

Another author I have just discovered, and am so glad I did, is Adèle Geras. I've been aware of her name, seen some of her books, but had never read anything by her. I just finished a most delightful books of stories by her, and can't wait to read more of her work! Here's what Booklist said about My Grandmother's Stories: A Collection of Jewish Folktales.

“Like all good stories in the Yiddish tradition, the pleasure of Geras’ collection comes as much from the telling as from what happens. These are stories within stories: the narrator remembers herself as a young child hearing them from her grandmother, as they cooked, hung up laundry, prepared for the Sabbath, or cleaned house for Passover. This framing of the stories emphasizes their continuing pleasure across generations; and customs, idioms, traditions, even recipes that the Jews brought with them from Eastern Europe are an unobtrusive part of the telling.”

Each story was inspired by Geras's grandmother, and each one teaches a lesson in the kind and endearing way a grandmother would teach her beloved grandchildren. This collection was illustrated by Anita Lobel, whose illustrations were as delightful as the stories.

This book won the Sydney Taylor Book Award in 1991. I read it for Callista's Jewish Literature Challenge, and it was a wonderful find.

Freefall by Anna Levine

2009-04-14T23:28:00.001-04:00

I read a review of Anna Levine's YA novel about an Israeli girl and knew I had to give it a try. Aggie, who lives in Jerusalem, will soon be drafted into the Israeli Army (all Israeli citizens serve their country for two or three years after high school). While she isn't sure exactly what she wants to do, she's pretty sure she doesn't want to push paper in an office for two years. She also isn't exactly sure that she isn't attracted to her best friend's older brother Noah who is already in the middle of his military service. Though her parents completely oppose it, Aggie decides she wants to try out to be part of an elite squad and is determined to prove herself.

I liked Aggie. She seemed like a good girl with a reasonably frustrating home life. She was tough and yet had enough indecision in her to make her be a real teenager. I loved the descriptions of Israel and the information about the Israeli Army was interesting. Also the romance was fantastic.

Happy Passover

2009-04-08T00:44:00.003-04:00

Happy Passover the holiday starts tomorrow at sundown.

The Diary of a Young Girl

2009-04-07T09:21:00.001-04:00

by Anne Frank
ages: 12+
First sentence: "On Friday, June 12th I woke up at six o'clock and no wonder; it was my birthday."

Ack.

Let me say that again.

Ack.

If I had read this book when I was 12 or 13, I would have totally loved it. I would have completely identified with Anne, with her plight, with her suffering, with her angst, with her. I would have cried at the end. I would have swooned over her relationship with Peter, and the difficulties it presented.

But now...

I just felt like she's a whiny teenager who wasn't completely grateful that she didn't end up in a concentration camp for the whole war, and that she spent too much time whining about how horrible her parents (and the Van Daans) are. I felt like the book is only famous because she (in a cruel irony) died in a concentration camp three months before the Allieds liberated it. Yes, it was human, and real, and sometimes insightful. But I couldn't stand her. Or the book.

Which makes me feel guilty.

Oh, well. I missed the boat on this one.

People of the Book

2009-04-06T22:14:00.003-04:00

Geraldine Brooks based this amazing novel on the story of an actual book called the Sarajevo Haggadah (a book which describes how the Passover Seder is to be performed). Hanna Heath is an expert in old books - a serious expert. She is invited to Bosnia to analyze a rare volume and try to determine its authenticity and its origin. Using tiny artifacts found in the book (a hair, a piece of an insect wing, salt, and a wine stain) to trace its history.

The story is told backwards with Hanna's experiences interspersed with glimpses into the book's past, the most recent events explored first. The Haggadah survived some of the world's most tragic moments and been protected by some very brave individuals, several of them not Jewish. Hanna's family life has been less than ideal and as she studies the Haggadah she is forced to confront some of her most difficult relationships.

People of the Book was an intriguing and painful book to read. Some of the scenes I couldn't even get through because they were so disturbing. The interweaving of Hanna's life and the backwards progression of the book worked very well. I have enjoyed all of Geraldine Brooks' other books and this was no exception.

I will say though, if you want a much better review of this book, scroll down and see my sister Corinne's thoughts!

NOTE to all participants

2009-04-02T09:44:00.002-04:00

Somehow I messed up as Passover ends April 16 this year. I'm not sure how I managed to mess up the dates but don't worry, the challenge will still end as planned.

To finish the challenge, you need to finish READING the books in time, but you don't have to have your reviews posted (if you're doing reviews) by that time.

The Family Fortune

2009-04-01T15:01:00.002-04:00

The Family Fortune by Laurie Horowitz

Very cute chick lit story. I purchased it in the first place because it was based on Persuasion, but I ended up enjoying it for its own sake in the end.

summary from Amazon.com, Publishers Weekly:

Based loosely on Jane Austen's Persuasion, Horowitz's cheeky, uneven debut novel follows Jane Fortune, a Bostonian with a romantic crisis. The 38-year-old founder and editor of a prominent literary journal, Euphemia Review, Jane pines for true love while devouring novels and dealing with the financial woes of her once wealthy family, which force them out of their Beacon Hill home. When an enigmatic writer named Jack Reilly submits a brilliant story to a Euphemia contest, Jane is intrigued; when she learns that he lives off the grid, she becomes infatuated and tries to track him down. But Jane still carries a torch for her first love, Max Wellman, a successful novelist who got his start in Euphemia. Jane's narrative voice is natural and lively, but the plot unfolds in fits, careening between Jane's romantic adventures and the Fortune family foibles. Horowitz captures her "lifestyles of the rich and literary" milieu, but otherwise her Austen tribute is transparent and unnecessary; for all the highbrow window dressing, this is pure chick lit, featuring characters with the depth of a teacup and a "girl loses boy, girl finds boy" plot. Horowitz continues the tradition ably, promising plenty as soon as she ditches the lit-crit posturing and embraces her inner Lauren Weisberger.

The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle

2009-03-29T20:44:00.001-04:00

I am ashamed that I haven't read this before. I was a great devotee of the movie when I was young and it wasn't until I was a teen that I even realized there WAS a book. But even then, I remember checking it out once and trying it, but just preferring the movie. Silly girl. The book is just as good and definitely more profound. Or, maybe, I have just lived enough now to see that it IS profound.

The last unicorn doesn't know she is the last until she hears a hunter speak the words. Her journey to find out the truth about unicorns in the world leads her on a journey into the depths of the human condition. She gathers with her those who can see her for what she truly is: the kind and bumbling Schmedrick, the Magician, and Molly Grue, the crabby scullery girl. With these two by her side she travels towards the realm of King Haggard and his terrifying Red Bull. What she learns along the way about herself and the ways of humans will change the land forever.

What makes this book such a classic? Is it the complex characters? The unicorn is at once both naive and wise, teaching us what is human by putting words to what we have and what we lack. Is it the magic itself, fleeting and powerful - at the ready for some but tantalizingly fickle with others? Or perhaps it's because it is a tale of finding what is beautiful, old, and good and restoring it to its rightful place - but first having to learn what is worth living and dying for.

The writing is witty, lyrical and powerful. If you have seen the movie, you'll hear voices in your head as you read text that was lifted word for word and put into the movie. But even if you haven't - if you love tales of magic and love, unicorns and heroes - you should open the pages of this one and take the journey. You won't forget it.

Maus by Art Spiegelman

2009-03-26T18:30:00.001-04:00

Spiegelman, Art. 1986. Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History.

This is a true-must-read of a book, well, a graphic novel to be exact. But still, must-read at all accounts. I loved the format of this one. No, not just the graphicness of it. But the framework of the story. How this novel is just as much about a father-son relationship--in all its complications--as it is about Jewishness, about the Holocaust. I also love the exploration of the psychology of it. So often with "Holocaust" books the issue of long-term effects, of psychological and emotional trauma that persists through the decades following such a horrific event, doesn't come up. It's a non-issue. Often memoirs are about a specific period of time. Liberation comes from either the Americans and the Russians. And voila. Horror over. But life isn't that easy.

In this first volume, we meet Artie, an artist, and his father, Vladek, a Holocaust survivor who is grumbling his way through a second marriage to a fellow-survivor, Mala. (Artie's mother, Anja, committed suicide in the late 1960s.) Artie seeks out his father in this volume wanting to hear his story, his past. Seeking answers to questions not only about his father, but his mother as well. Questions about the Nazis, the war, the Holocaust, how these two survived despite the odds. We, as readers, follow two stories, the contemporary setting where a son is asking some hard questions of his father and getting inspired to write about them in graphic novel form, and the historical setting--1930s and 1940s--where we meet his parents and learn their stories and backgrounds.

His father isn't in the best of health, and their relationship is strained. The book addresses the question of if parents ever really understand their children and/or if children can ever truly understand their parents. Can stressful tensions--ongoing issues and conflicts--ever be resolved peacefully? The drama is just as much about healing as it is the Nazis. And I think that is one of the reasons it's so powerful, so resonating. These characters--represented as mice in the novel--feel authentic. They're flawed but lovable. Their stories matter. (By the way, the Nazis are cats. The Polish are pigs. The French are frogs.)

The story is continued in Maus II.

Spiegelman, Art. 1991. Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began.

If Maus I was great, Maus II is even greater. If you thought the first one was heart-felt and moving, wait until you get to this one. Everything is more intense. The sorrows and griefs are even deeper; the actions even more troubling. For here we get to the heart of the story. The darkest place of all. Artie's father and mother have been captured by the Nazis and sent to a concentration camp. (In this graphic novel, the name is "Mauschwitz" instead of Auschwitz.) In the contemporary story line, we see that Artie's father isn't doing well; in fact, it becomes obvious, that he's dying. This complicates things tenfold. More guilt. More anger. More frustration. Even in fine health, Artie had a difficult time getting along with his father. Now, when his father perhaps needs him more than ever, he's crankier and grouchier and meaner than ever. Life isn't easy. Never easy. This is a complex novel--graphic novel--with heart and soul. Highly recommended.

People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks

2009-03-26T11:07:00.000-04:00

genre: fiction/historical fiction
rating: 4/5

A centuries old manuscript is at the crux of this book - illustrated and written in Hebrew, it's a once-in-a-lifetime chance for Australian conservationist Hanna Heath. Her conservation efforts lead her to clues within the book that shed light on who might have handled the book, where it traveled from and who drew the amazing illuminations. The narrative does one of my favorite things: switches us from chapter to chapter between the present time period and different periods of the book's history: each clue Hanna finds is more background about the book and the hands that have held it.

For the most part, it is a gripping story. We travel through centuries of time and all over the world as we follow Hanna and her book. Some sections were more engaging than others (a few were a bit raunchy), but it always kept my attention and I was always pleased whether a chapter took me back to Hanna or to somewhere (and sometime) new. The clues themselves were interesting and parts of the book felt like an episode of CSI or some other forensics tv show, but since I like that, it added to the book for me.

Hanna is a challenging character, bordering on emotionally dysfunctional. Sometimes her personality grated on me - and other times I really could relate to her. I like how she made a point of explaining her "Aussi-ness" and differentiated, at times, between American/British/Australian ways of thinking and doing things. Her back-story and the things she learns about her past along the way flowed well enough with the book plot and I never wanted to put it down.

While the ending wasn't what I'd imagined it would be, it worked. I thought this was a good read.

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

2009-03-22T21:36:00.002-04:00

genre: historical fiction
rating: 3.5/5

The Red Tent tells a fictionalized version of the story of Dinah, daughter of the Leah who is the sister of Rachel and the husband of Jacob from the Old Testament. Because it is based on the Biblical story, many of the characters and major events are familiar to those of us familiar with the Bible; what makes this story different is that it is told from Dinah's perspective, drawing readers into what the female half of the world may have been doing during Biblical times.

Dinah is a daughter between two worlds - the world of the Red Tent, where goddesses are worshiped and where the lives of women revolve around the cycles of the moon and the harvest. In this sanctuary, the female form and purpose is a sacred thing. Contrast this to the world outside the Red Tent, where women are bought and sold, beaten and worked into old age. As she grows and becomes aware of the nuances of family relationships, she begins to see divisions and unrest among her mothers, father and brothers. When tragedy forces Dinah to make a horrendous choice, her life and that of her family's will never be the same.

I liked it, as much this time as the first time I read it, years ago. I thought about it when I had to put it down and I wanted to know the end of Dinah's tale. I enjoy reading about familiar characters from fresh points of view and I think Diamant created a very realistic rendition of Canaanite society and of the world of Jacob, his wives and family. I loved that so much of the book had to do with birthing and midwifery and relationships between women and between mothers and children. Dinah's relationships were intricate and her friendships were a pleasure to read about.

I was sometimes frustrated that so many of her characters seemed hopelessly flawed, almost unrealistically so and the graphic nature of some scenes detracted from the story, for me. It's certainly an earthy story, set in a time when the old gods and goddesses are being replaced by the one God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob, creating an interesting juxtaposition between "new" ways and the "old" ways. As much as the "earthy-ness" bothered me, I can't deny that Diamant has a way with words. One of my favorite paragraphs, written about the birth of a child:

There should be a song for women to sing at this moment, or a prayer to recite. But perhaps there is none because there are no words strong enough to name that moment. Like every mother since the first mother, I was overcome and bereft, exalted and ravaged.

I recommend this with caution. There is much honeymooning and lovemaking and we don't have to imagine much. That being said, there much to appreciate in this story about the power and resilience of the female spirit.

ATTN Participants

2009-03-21T20:48:00.002-04:00

Most of you probably think I fell off the face of the earth completely while the rest of you figure I just gave up on this challenge blog. For that I am SO SORRY.

I was 4 months behind on adding some of you to the participants list. The challenge is getting close to the end but I DID add you. If you are participating and don't see yourself on the list, comment here and I'll add you.

For those who requested an invite to this blog, I sent them, so again, if it doesn't come, comment here.

I hope everyone is enjoying their reading. Don't forget if you aren't a member of this blog, leave a link to your review so we can all enjoy them. I'll make a post soon with links to all the reviews people have added to the comments.

Also please label your posts if you are posting to the blog with your name and the type of book, subject as well as type of post (like wrap-up etc..)

CHALLENGE COMPLETED

2009-03-20T11:03:00.001-04:00

I just completed the Jewish Literature Challenge for 2008-2009.

The five books read were:

SEINLANGUAGE by Jerry Seinfeld
DREK! by Yetta Emmes
CROSSING DELANCEY by Susan Sandler
CONVICTION by Leonard Levitt
SARAH'S KEY by Tatiana deRosnay

Thanks to Callista for hosting this challenge - I'll be looking forward to the 2009-2010 edition.

SEINLANGUAGE

2009-03-20T10:54:00.000-04:00

SEINLANGUAGE by Jerry Seinfeld was read for the Jewish Literature Challenge, the Support Your Local Library Challenge, and the New Authors Challenge.

We've all seen the Seinfeld TV show. Remember in the earlier shows, at the beginning of the show, Jerry would be on stage, doing his act - his observations of life? That's what this book is - observations on various stages of life.

When Dom and I would watch the show, we could gauge how funny the show would be by the amount of hair on George's head -- much hair, not funny - little hair, funny. I think George had a full head of hair when this book was written.

There was one funny bit in this book on page 177. I'm going to post it now to save you the time and trouble of reading through this book to find something to bring a small chuckle.

To me, the thing about old people is that everything about them gets smaller. You know, their bodies get smaller, they move into smaller places, they sleep less time, they eat smaller meals ... except the car. The older they get, the bigger their car gets. They're all driving these Detroit behemoths. I've never understood that. And old people have a way of backing out of the driveway. They don't turn from side to side. Their attitude is "I'm old and I'm coming back." "I've been around a while, now. You watch out for be, buddy, I survived, let's see you do it."

And then once they get out there, they drive so slowly. I would think the less time you have left in life, the faster you would want to go. I think old people should be allowed to drive their age. If you're eighty, do eighty. If you're a hundred, go a hundred.

They can't see where they're going anyway, let them have a little fun out there.

Now, after reading that, you can feel you've read the entire book. You can thank me - I've saved you time and money!

Sarah's Key

2009-03-08T11:50:00.001-04:00

book 3 of 5 for the War Through the Generations Challenge: WWII
book 2 of 5 for the Jewish Literature Challenge
genre: historical fiction

Let me start off by saying I could not put this book down. I must also say, that this book ripped my heart into tiny pieces and I'm not sure I'll ever be the same. Really. Maybe it's because I'm a mom or maybe I'm just an incredibly sensitive person. But I now have images in my brain that will never leave.

Sarah's Key takes place in France - switching between the modern day and the early days of World War II. I really like books like this, and I think the author did a fine job of transitioning us back and forth and filling in the blank spots. Sarah is a 10 year old girl living in Paris when her life is shattered by the French Police, who come into her home to arrest her parents and deport them, along with thousands of other French Jews. Her haunting story is intertwined with that of Julia, a journalist who stumbles upon Sarah's story as well as learning about the involvement of the French Police in the deportations.

Julia's fascination with the story leads her on a journey of not only self-discovery, but also a discovery of a her family's past, a country's past, and the consequences of a terrible secret.

Bee Season

2009-03-06T14:26:00.003-05:00

by Myla Goldberg
First sentence: "At precisely 11 a.m. every teacher in every classroom at McKinley Elementary School tells their students to stand."

Eliza Neumann is an average student. She has above-average parents: Saul, the synagogue's cantor leader and who spends his time studying Jewish mystics, and Miriam, who is a bit on the obsessive-compulsive side but is a brilliant lawyer. And her older brother, Aaron, is a star student, too. So, no one expects Eliza to begin spelling words perfectly, seemingly out of the blue. Her consecutive wins at the bees -- first school, then district, then state -- throw her family's already precarious balance completely off. Her parents' marriage, which was already a bit tense, goes into a headlong downward spiral. Her father decides to throw himself into helping Eliza study, mostly because he believes she can become the next Jewish mystic, in the process alienating his son. And Aaron, unable to cope with Eliza's genius, decides that what he really needs is to connect with God and so goes about checking out different churches, eventually settling on the Hari Krishnas.

The only real thing that I liked about the book was the spelling bees. I liked how Eliza approached them, and Goldberg's description of the intensity surrounding them. Unfortunately, that ended halfway through the book, and the rest of the book, though, I could have done without. The family was troubled, of course; what Jewish family isn't? (Argh.) Miriam was completely quacked (what's with mothers who can't manage to be decent people?), and Saul was no better, being concerned only with his children's success rather than what they want. His show-down with Aaron over the Krishnas was, at the very least, embarassing, but probably more along the lines of stupid parenting. It was very frustrating to see two smart people being completely incompetent. And the sex... well, let's just say that it was enough to make me uncomfortable. Which was probably the author's intention. But, still. I felt like it qualified as overshare.

And in the end, I wanted the time I read the book back. Please.

DREK!

2009-03-02T06:00:00.000-05:00

DREK! THE REAL YIDDISH YOUR BUBBE NEVER TAUGHT YOU by Yetta Emmes was read for the Jewish Literature Reading Challenge and the New Author Challenge.

From the back of the book:

Who says Yiddish is a dying language? After hundreds of years, you should look so good! In fact, today Yiddish is spoken in almost all parts of the world. Whether you're a goy, a Jew, nebbish, schmuck, yenta, or klutz, you probably already know enough Yiddish to praise your best friend, insult your worst enemy, or at least order lunch. But what about the hundreds of other exclamations, expressions, profanities, colloquialisms, blessings, and curses your blushing bubbe never taught you? They're all here, in this comprehensive, uncensored, hilarious, not to mention delightfully illustrated book. DREK! is a walk on the wilder side of Delancey Street, where the mensch, the mamzer, and the meiser meet.

This little book (only 97 pages) hardly rates as Jewish Literature. It's basically a dictionary arranged by types of words with a few little stories thrown in for fun. It was interesting to learn the meaning of some of the words I've heard tossed around - and some I've used myself.

I'm sure we all know a little Yiddish. Remember the opening of Laverne and Shirley - "Shlemiel - Shlemazel - Hasenpfeffer Incorporated?" Yep, Yiddish. But now I know what they mean.

Here are a few Yiddish terms - how many do you know?

Mishmash
Nudge
Shmooze
Fressing
Shmaltzy
Shlep
Shnook

A fun little book!

Shlemiel - a foolish person, a simpleton, a dolt, a bungler
Shlemazel - a born loser, someone for whom nothing seems to go right or turn out well. When the shlemiel spills his soup, it always lands on the shlemazel. (page 15)

The Devil's Arithmetic

2009-02-28T11:53:00.001-05:00

"We all have such stories. It is a brutal arithmetic. But I--I am alive. You are alive. As long as we breathe, we can see and hear. As long as we can remember, all those gone before are alive inside of us."

Last year I read Jane Yolen's Briar Rose, a beautiful retelling of the fairy tale as a holocaust story. I have just finished listening to another one of her books, The Devil's Arithmetic, a story of the holocaust for young adult readers. It, too, was beautifully written and a very powerful story, and the audiobook was beautifully read by Barbara Rosenblat.

Hannah is a young girl who is "tired of remembering." She doesn't understand or appreciate the family rituals of remembering family members and friends that were lost in the holocaust, and she doesn't want to hear those stories of the past again and again. But during the family's Seder, when she "opens the front door to symbolically welcome the prophet Elijah, she is transported to a polish village -- and the year is 1942." She become "Chaya" (which means "life") and she experiences the holocaust first-hand.

It's a powerful experience to read this book or listen to the audiobook version. There's not a word out of place. It was honest and riveting, (which is such a Jane Yolen thing) and it was heartbreaking. But it was also full of hope ... if we remember.

CONVICTION

2009-02-17T10:36:00.000-05:00

CONVICTION by Leonard Levitt was read for the Jewish Literature Reading Challenge (book by Jewish author).

From the back of the book:

On October 30, 1975, fifteen-year-old Martha Moxley's brutal murder made national headlines. But for years one one was arrested, despite troubling clues pointing to the Skakels, a rich and powerful family related to the Kennedys.

In the years that followed, investigative reporter Leonard Levitt uncovered groundbreaking information about how the police had bungled the investigation; he also discovered that Tommy and Michael Skakel had lied about their activities on the night of the murder. The case was reopened and investigator Frank Garr began to doggedly pursue unexplored leads. In 2002, more than twenty-five years after Moxley's death, a shocked world watched as Michael Skakel was convicted of the murder, thanks largely to the evidence Garr alone had marshaled against him.

Now, for the first time, Levitt tells the amazing true story of Garr's fight to solve the case and of how their friendship with each other, and with Martha Moxley's mother, Dorthy, sustained them over the years. A riveting, suspenseful drama that unfolds like a mystery novel, this incredible memoir also reveals how a police officer and a reporter refused to give up, and how they helped justice to prevail, against all odds.

I first learned of this case a few years ago after reading Mark Fuhrman's book MURDER IN GREENWICH. (That's the same Mark Fuhrman from the O.J. Simpson trial.) In that book, Mr. Fuhrman named Michael Skakel as the murderer.

This book by Mr. Levitt went into a greater amount of detail about the case. He wrote of the problems with the case from the beginning in 1975 when the police failed to investigate the Skakel boys, probably due to intimidation from the family. Much time was wasted by the police trying to build a case against the Skakel family's live-in tutor, Ken Littleton.

Mr. Levitt's determination in writing his story and uncovering evidence helped lead to the case being reopened in 1991. The story was profiled on Unsolved Mysteries in 1996, and tips were received leading the police to look closely at Michael Skakel. A grand jury was convened in 1998, and after an 18-month investigation, an arrest warrant was issued for Michael Skakel in January, 2000.

On June 7, 2002, Michael Skakel was found guilty of murder and sentenced to 20 years to life.

I enjoy reading true-crime stories, and I thought this book was very interesting. Mr. Levitt, having been involved with this story since 1982, had a wealth of information and gave a true picture of the frustrations of working on a 20+ year old case and the satisfaction of seeing the case finally solved and closed.

In the Name of Sorrow and Hope

2009-02-16T22:37:00.002-05:00

(This post was originally posted on my own blog on January 1st.)

As I was preparing for Callista's 2009 Jewish Literature Challenge, I found this book sitting patiently on my TBR shelf. It has such a wonderful title, In the Name of Sorrow and Hope, and with all that has been going on in the Middle East in the last few weeks, I decided it was a book that might help me understand a little better what is happening there. It's a poignant little book, written by a young woman about the loss of her beloved grandfather.

Noa Ben Artzi-Pelossof is the granddaughter of Yitzhak Rabin, who along with Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994. Noa was very close to her grandparents, and especially to her grandfather.

From a very early age, because of difficult family circumstances resulting from a serious injury suffered by my father, Jonathan and I grew up at my grandparents' house in Ramat Aviv. A very special relationship was forged. My grandparents showed us so much love, understanding and patience that the generations seems to blur. Grandpa was both my father and my grandfather, and he became the main pillar of my existence, the reference point for my life. He belonged to me. I was his only granddaughter, and he was my guide, my mentor, my model.

She was still a teenager when he was assassinated, and I think this book was part of her attempt to come to terms with her own terrible loss. It was also her attempt to understand the bigger picture of this loss. She was part of a political family, a witness to history, and I think she felt the need to explain, defend, preserve memories, and perhaps come to understand for herself the complexities of her grandfather's beliefs. He was her Hero. She is not a professional author, but she wrote with heart and honesty, and with hope.

Above all, I hope my memories of Grandpa will touch young people. I want young Israelis, young Arabs, in our neighboring countries, and other young people to know that behind the politician there was a man of honesty and principle, a man who never stopped believing that his dream of Middle East peace could become a reality.

My own sorrow is that we have lost so many of the great and strong peacemakers over the years! But I also have hope! As we begin another new year, we must once again dedicate ourselves to finding ways to resolve our conflicts without violence or war. My own beliefs about how peace happens were formed as a young exchange student immersed in another culture. So on this first morning of 2009, I share my hope with you for a more peaceful year. The motto of my exchange program, the American Field Service (now AFS Intercultural Programs), became my own deeply-held belief:

Walk together, talk together
O ye peoples of the earth
For then and only then
Shall ye have peace.

Tropical Secrets

2009-02-13T16:14:00.002-05:00

Engle, Margarita. 2009. (March 31, 2009 Pub.) TROPICAL SECRETS: HOLOCAUST REFUGEES IN CUBA. Henry Holt. 198 pages.

Read. This. Book. True, it won't be released for a few more weeks. But make note of it now to get to this one when you get the chance. Written by Margarita Engle--an acclaimed verse novelist--the book is the story of Daniel, a Jewish refugee, and the friends he makes in Cuba--Paloma and David. Daniel had no intentions of going to Cuba. When his parents tearfully sent him away--hoping and praying that at least their son may survive--this was right after the Night of Crystal or Broken Glass; they all thought that his ship would reach American shores--having heard stories of Lady Liberty and America being the place where all were welcome and the land where dreams could come true. But Daniel's ship was turned away from both Canada and the United States. His one chance for survival now depends on Cuba's mercy. The year is 1939. Does Daniel have a prayer of a chance?
This verse novel is told primarily in three voices: Daniel, Paloma, and David. Paloma is the daughter of "El Gordo" a man who is hoping that these refugees will make his wallet fat--very fat. The bigger the bribe, the higher the cost for a visa to enter the country, the richer he becomes. And with the Nazis even sending men to spread propaganda about Jews, the public isn't necessarily on their side--open to the idea of Jews being allowed to enter and settle there. Still, Daniel's ship is allowed. But we're not talking about one ship or even a dozen ships. David is a Jew--a Russian Jew who fled Russia many years before. Paloma helps David--and others--help the refugees providing food and clothing and friendship and support--teaching them Spanish, for example. The book is a novel about meaning things: hope, life, survival, friendship, tolerance. But it doesn't hide the fact that this was a very ugly, very brutal, very cruel time in history.

I don't know about you, but I'd certainly never heard about Cuba in regards to the Holocaust. It's interesting to see how this one island, small in size especially when comparing it to Canada and the United States, was able to provide some shelter to Jews fleeing Hitler. In the author's note she shares, "Despite tragedies and scandals, Cuba accepted 65,000 Jewish refugees from 1938 to 1939, the same number that was taken in by the much larger United States during the same time period. Overall, Cuba accepted more Jewish refugees than any other Latin American nation."

This book is fascinating. It's absorbing. Read. This. Book.

Baby Needs a New Pair of Shoes

2009-02-05T12:16:00.003-05:00

The first Jewish Lit Challenge book I've finished is Baby Needs a New Pair of Shoes. The latest chick lit offering from Lauren Baratz-Logsted is a fun romp into the world of blackjack and the pursuit of Jimmy Choos. I really enjoyed this book. I think I liked it better than I liked How Nancy Drew Saved My Life, which I read for last year's challenge (read my review here).

This is certainly lighter fare than many of the books on this blog; however, I enjoyed it! It is fun to read about someone whose obsessions are worse than my own.

If you are looking for something fun to read, by all means "Choos" this one ;) You'll be glad you did.

From Amazon.com:
For herein Fortune shows herself to be more kind Than is her custom.

That's Shakespeare.

In case you're wondering.

If you were Delilah "Baby" Sampson, you'd already know that. Delilah got hooked on the Bard back in college. Then she briefly got hooked on Singapore Sling cocktails. And then she got tossed out of school. Yes, when Delilah discovers something she likes, she really sticks with it.

These days, her addictions include sudoku, lime diet cola and now…Jimmy Choos. Oh, Baby's gotta have those shoes!

But on her window-washer salary, $700 for one pair is a stretch. Which leads us to her latest obsession…gambling.

With an impromptu posse, including an elderly movie star, two Brazilian lesbians and Hillary Clinton (no, not that one!), Delilah hits the casinos and discovers that she's a natural-born high-roller. Every win puts her closer to those beloved Choos. And as the "21s" keep dropping, so do the men…right at her feet. But for a girl who never knows when to fold 'em, gambling and casino guys are not healthy habits. She could end up losing her shirt, her head…and a whole lot more.

Click on the book graphic to order.

Maus I and Maus II

2009-01-31T20:25:00.000-05:00

by Art Spiegelman
age: adult
First sentence, Maus I: "I went to see my father in Rego Park."
First sentence, Maus II: "Summer vacation."

These are two books, but like Persepolis, they're essentially one story, so they get lumped into one review.

One review in which I'm not sure what the heck to say about the book. I'm always at a loss for words when it comes to the Holocaust; it's so depressing -- humanity at its worst -- that I almost would rather not go there. However, these graphic novels -- stark and depressing, yet somehow ultimately hopeful -- are worth reading.

I'm not sure if this is a story that couldn't have been told in a different form, but for what it's worth, it works as a graphic novel. It's spare, but then, I'm not sure the story of a survivor of Auschwitz could (or should) be anything but spare. Even though Spiegleman didn't go into detail about the situation, or the harshness, it was all there in its stark, depressing reality.

I was fascinated by the relationship between Spiegelman and his father -- how did the Holocaust fit into it? Did the Holocaust make his dad into the grumpy, miserly, bitter, racist person? He fits squarely into the Jewish stereotype, and yet I could sense that Spiegelman was trying to understand his father, understand why their relationship was so strained. I'm not sure any of us got any answers -- Spiegelman or the rreader -- but I appreciated not having it spelled out or sugarcoated in any way. Something like this shouldn't be.

I'm sorry I don't have more coherent thoughts about this one. I think it's an experience -- kind of like the Holocaust Museum is an experience -- that's beyond words. There are horrors out there, and sometimes it's good to face them. Even if its in a book.

Book Giveaway: People of the Book

2009-01-27T23:33:00.002-05:00

If any of you are interested I am giving away 2 copies of People of the Book at my two blogs( Seaside Book Worm and Jewish Rantings). All you have to do is leave a comment on both blogs and you will be entered to win. This book will be perfect for the Jewish Challenge since it ends at Passover, and the main character of the book is the Haggadah.

Kathrin's reading list

2009-01-15T17:51:00.002-05:00

I'm so excited about this challenge! I've read a few books on judaism or by Jewish authors in the past, but I know there's so much more out there!

I created a tentative list, but I do not promise to stick to it:
1) Chaim Potok: The Chosen
2) Rochelle Krich: Blues In The Night
3) Kizzur Shulchan Aruch
4) Harry Kemelman: Sunday The Rabbi Stayed Home

SARAH'S KEY

2009-01-11T12:18:00.001-05:00

SARAH'S KEY by Tatiana deRosnay was read for the Jewish Literature Reading Challenge, the New Author Challenge, and the Every Month is a Holiday Reading Challenge (January 27 is Holocaust Memorial Day).

From the back of the book:

Paris, July 1942: Sarah, a ten-year-old girl, is taken with her parents by the French police as they go door-to-door arresting Jewish families in the middle of the night. Desperate to protect her younger brother, Sarah locks him in a bedroom cupboard - their secret hiding place - and promises to come back for him as soon as they are released.

Sixty years later: Sarah's story intertwines with that of Julia Jarmond, an American journalist investigating the roundup. In her research, Julia stumbles onto a trail of secrets that link her to Sarah, and to questions about her own romantic future.

In 1942, around 14,000 Jews were taken from their homes in Paris by the French Police. They were sent first to the Vélodrome d'Hiver (Vel' d'Hiv'), an enclosed bicycle track in the center of Paris. From there, the men were sent to Drancy, a transit camp, from which they were then sent to Auschwitz. The women and children were sent to Beaune-la-Rolande; the women were then separated from the children and also sent to Auschwitz. After being left alone at the camp for some time, the children were also then sent to Auschwitz. The French authorities never accepted responsibility for their actions until 50+ years later when French President Jacques Chirac made a public apology.

I had never heard of this roundup before. I'm sure there are many things about the Holocaust that have never been made public. I cannot fathom how or why these atrocities happened.

This book broke my heart. I had to keep reminding myself the story of Sarah and her brother was fiction, although the facts about the roundup were all too true. There were a few little "side" stories that were fillers and not directly related to the Sarah storyline, but these did not detract from the book and the writing.

CROSSING DELANCEY

2009-01-10T17:20:00.002-05:00

CROSSING DELANCEY by Susan Sandler was read for the Jewish Literature Reading Challenge, the Read Your Own Books Challenge and the New Author Challenge.

I picked this book because I absolutely loved the movie Crossing Delancey with Amy Irving and Peter Riegert. When I bought this on Amazon, I didn't realize it was a play, not a novel. But I thought I'd give it a try anyway.

How do I write about a play? It was short and didn't give too much insight into the characters. It was hard to make a connection with them in that short period of time.

So I pulled out my copy of the movie and watched that again. I wanted to see how the two compared, as Susan Sandler also wrote the screenplay for the movie.

About the movie:

Single, attractive, 30-something Isabelle ("Izzy") Grossman has a rent-controlled apartment in uptown Manhattan and a burgeoning career in publishing. "I'm happy," she says. "She lives alone in a room, like a dog," counters Bubbie, her tradition-minded grandmother. So Bubbie hires a matchmaker who finds Izzy a marriage prospect: a man who runs a street-side pickle stand.

Izzy is appalled. Is the man who offers "a joke and a pickle for only a nickle" her Mr. Right? And will she somehow, someway end up Crossing Delancey - the street that divides her world from his - and find love?

As a rule, I don't like movies that are made from books. I like to read the books and form the pictures in my mind. I like to see the characters as I envision them. But in this case, I felt the movie was better, much better.

By seeing Izzy and Bubbie and Sam and seeing their expressions, I learned so much more about them. There was a character in the play, Tyler Moss, an author. In the movie, his part was fleshed out (his name was changed to Anton Moss) and the interaction between him and Izzy made so much more sense.

Would I recommend reading this play? No, unless you're really "into" reading plays. But would I recommend watching this movie? Oh YES. I reaffirmed today why this is one of my all time favorites.

Davita's Harp by Chaim Potok

2009-01-07T21:31:00.001-05:00

genre: fiction/Jewish Literature
rating: 5/5

When we meet Ilana Davita she is around 8 years old, in the late 1930s. She lives in New York City with her writer-activist parents in a non-religious household. The subject for which her parents have nearly radical zeal is, we learn through Davita's listening in to conversations and nightly meetings, communism. Her parent's decisions and activism, their friends and political struggles lie at the heart of Davita's young life - they move frequently and her nights are spent in a strange dream of "Spain" and "Fascism."

Before I read this book I had no sense that the second World War played such a vital role within the context of the story, and the communist movement within America at the start of the war is a perspective I have never read about before. Davita's entire life is shaped by involvement of people she loves within the War - either first-hand or through political leanings that taint the reputation and limits one's freedom.

What I particularly loved about this book is Potok's firm grasp of a young child's voice - their understandings and misunderstandings. The entire tale is told from Davita's point of view and we often share her frustration as she understands that very important things are happening and all she can do is wait to be told or try to figure it out for herself.

The characters in this story are deep and vivid. I loved Davita's depth-less thirst for knowledge - about the meanings of words, about the war, and, eventually of Judaism and the Torah. Her decision to become religious on her own, despite her mother's disapproval, felt very real and was a thread throughout the book that I found particularly engaging. The other characters - her parents, the friends of her parents - and even Davita's own friends, never felt false or caricatured. Each person was flawed and yet full of different strengths that Davita used to help find her own way through the trauma of war and of growing up in a tumultuous time.

Davita's Harp is amazing, it has an almost mystical quality about it. The harp itself, which hangs on a door and is an omen of both good and bad - but mostly is a tinkling constant throughout her childhood, becomes a haven within the story-world that Davita retreats to when life becomes more than her imagination can handle. Because her world is sometimes incredibly harsh and confusing, her search for truth and good occasionally becomes a struggle against those she loves and respects the most.

This is a story of the uselessness of war, the truth that can be found between the lines of stories and the pages of books, the beauty and reality of Judaism and the reconciliation of a girl with the world that she was born into. A triumph.

Freefall

2009-01-07T14:10:00.001-05:00

Levine, Anna. 2008. Freefall.

I am about to jump. I am about to jump wearing a full load on my back. Feet, knees, hip, back, roll. Crammed tightly, the pack is stuffed with my anxieties, fears--and army-issued parachute. It is secured to my chest with strings and clasps. It hold my heart in place, should it try to break free. When the time is right, I will yank the cord. At that moment, the pack will open. My fears will rise to the dome of my chute, where they will hover. And for a moment I will be free of them. Feet, knees, hip, back, roll.

I loved the opening of Freefall. It was a nice introduction to our heroine, Aggie, and her situation--she's an Israeli woman embarking on a new phase in her life: serving her country as a paratrooper. The book is set in Israel. And it features Aggie and her friends and family. Every person--man or woman--is required to serve their country for several years. It doesn't mean that all people see active combat duty, but for some it does. Aggie's family wants her to be assigned a desk job; a job where she'll be as safe as anyone can be in these dangerous days where terrorists can wreak havoc on ordinary citizens in their homes, schools, and workplaces. But Aggie...Aggie is considering joining an elite paratrooper troop (or are they called squads?). Regardless of the term, Aggie is considering active duty, something that will challenge her physically, mentally, and emotionally. The book is about more than army training--far from it--it's about life: friendship, family, and love. Aggie is falling for the brother of one of her best friends. And he just happens to be a solider.

What I enjoyed about Freefall is that it gives a new perspective. I don't know about you, but I don't come across many books set in Israel narrated by female soldiers, books that provide a unique take on what it is like to live in a country where the threat of terrorists or war (some threat or another) is always lurking. While there are elements that will more exotic to readers, there are many elements that will feel familiar--her thoughts, feelings, and concerns about friendship and love and life.

I liked Aggie, and you may like her too.

As Good As Anybody

2009-01-06T14:13:00.000-05:00

Michelson, Richard. 2008. As Good As Anybody. Illustrated by Raul Colón. Knopf.

I received this one just yesterday, but as soon as I saw who illustrated it, it jumped to the top of my priority list. Raul Colón has received both Gold and Silver Medals from the Society of Illustrators. And his work is incredible. Incredible. Just beautiful, wonderful, oh-so-amazing work. The kind of illustrations that you are just in awe of really. As Good As Anybody is the story of two men: Martin Luther King, Jr., and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. Two men. Two stories. Both powerful. The first person the reader is introduced to is Martin Luther King, Jr. And chances are that this won't be anyone's first introduction to the legendary man. The second person readers meet is Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, a Jewish man that became active in the Civil Rights movement. Chances are good that this will be the first introduction to this man. It's also the story of how two men from two different backgrounds came together in the mid-sixties for a worthy cause. The text by Richard Michelson is simple and straight forward. It tends to be more concise than verbose. (Which isn't a bad thing for a text to be at all. In fact, you could say it was a very good thing.)

Definitely recommended.

Memories of Babi

2009-01-05T14:16:00.000-05:00

Siegal, Aranka. 2008. Memories of Babi.

A collection of nine short stories--loosely connected much in the same way as A Long Way From Chicago works--about a young girl spending time with her grandmother. Set in pre-World War II Ukraine (near the Ukraine/Hungary border really), the stories feature a Jewish family living side by side with their gentile neighbors in this small mountain community. The stories are fictional but based on the author's childhood memories of her time with her grandmother. The stories have little life lessons packed into them, but not in a preachy way.

I read this book about a month ago. So the details are sketchy when it comes to individual stories. But I do remember liking the book in a general way.

The author is Aranka Siegal who won a Newbery Honor for her autobiography Upon the Head of The Goat in 1982.

In My Hands

2008-12-30T12:05:00.000-05:00

Opdyke, Irene Gut. 1999. In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer.

I did not ask myself, Should I do this? But, How will I do this? Every step of my childhood had brought me to this crossroad; I must take the right path, or I would no longer be myself. You must understand that I did not become a resistance fighter, a smuggler of Jews, a defier of the SS and the Nazis, all at once. One's first steps are always small: I had begun by hiding food under a fence. Now I was making plans to... (142-143)

In My Hands is nonfiction--a memoir--and it's a powerful one. Full of descriptive images you might wish you'd never seen. But it's an important work, a necessary one. Our narrator, Irene Gut, was a Polish girl--a young woman training to be a nurse when the war burst into her life. The conflict between Germany and Russia stripping her of her childhood in more ways than one. Her account of what happened during the war years are powerful and haunting. But there is nothing over-the-top either. It's straightforward, spare, even.

This is her description of the purging of the Poland of Jews (I believe we're speaking of the ghettos.)

The gates were dragged open, and the Jewish prisoners were forced out through a gauntlet, while the guards beat at them with their rifle butts. An old man, tottering with a cane, was not fast enough, and a guard shot him on the spot. In vain, women tried to protect their small children from blows, men tried to shield their old fathers. But every time someone stumbled and fell under the beatings, shots rang out. The street was paved with bodies, and still the Jews were forced to march out over them.
We watched this from our windows in a paralysis of horror. We could do nothing but watch. We could not even pull back from the glass to keep hidden. An old rabbi carrying the Torah stopped to help a young woman with a shrieking toddler, and all three were shot. A graybeard in a faded uniform of the Polish army from the last war limped past the guards, and he, too, was not fast enough. The sun shone down on all of them, and the dust settled in pools of blood.
By this time, the four of us were crying uncontrollably. Helen was on her knees, sobbing in her mother's arms. Janina turned her face away. But I watched, flattening myself against the window. As I pressed against the glass, I saw an officer make a flinging movement with his arm, and something rose up into the sky like a fat bird. With his other hand he aimed his pistol, and the bird plummeted to the ground beside its screaming mother, and the officer shot the mother, too. But it was not a bird. It was not a bird. It was not a bird. (116-117)

This is how she sums it up, "We did not speak of what we had seen. At the time, to speak of it seemed worse than sacrilege: We had witnessed a thing so terrible that it acquired a dreadful holiness. It was a miracle of evil. It was not possible to say with words what we had witnessed, and so we kept it safely guarded until the time we could bring it out, and show it to others, and say, "Behold. This is the worst thing man can do."" (118)

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Review: Sarah's Key

2008-12-28T09:53:00.005-05:00

Sarah's Key
by Tatiana De Rosnay

Genre: WWII/Holocaust

Synopsis from bn.com:

Paris, July 1942: Sarah, a ten year-old girl, is brutally arrested with her family by the French police in the Vel’ d’Hiv’ roundup, but not before she locks her younger brother in a cupboard in the family's apartment, thinking that she will be back within a few hours.

Paris, May 2002: On Vel’ d’Hiv’s 60th anniversary, journalist Julia Jarmond is asked to write an article about this black day in France's past. Through her contemporary investigation, she stumbles onto a trail of long-hidden family secrets that connect her to Sarah. Julia finds herself compelled to retrace the girl's ordeal, from that terrible term in the Vel d'Hiv', to the camps, and beyond. As she probes into Sarah's past, she begins to question her own place in France, and to reevaluate her marriage and her life.

Tatiana de Rosnay offers us a brilliantly subtle, compelling portrait of France under occupation and reveals the taboos and silence that surround this painful episode.

Once again, I've read a historical novel about a subject of which I have no knowledge. But, the cool part is the present day character is a journalist researching the event, so that problem was solved. I did know that France was occupied by Germany, and I had the vague understanding that Jews were rounded up in France during this time, but I had never heard of this particular incident.

The structure of this book was interesting. The book could really be split into parts, which the author doesn't formally do. But the first part alternates between Sarah's story and Julia's story---past and present, first-hand and second-hand. Sarah's first-hand story was really the most compelling (and heartbreaking) part of the book and I was bored at first with Julia. But, later I grew to understand her better, especially after making the right choice (which I won't describe here, suffice to say I agreed with her decision and was relieved when she made it). The second part of the book deals with the present generations and how they cope with the new found knowledge of Sarah's ordeal. Julia becomes obsessed with uncovering what happened to Sarah and revealing that knowledge to Sarah's family. I wasn't sure how I felt about Julia revealing Sarah's history, but in the end, it is better to know the truth.

A quick note about the typography: Sarah's chapters were set in a oldshool-type font whereas Julia's had a more modern feel. At first I was thought there was something wrong with the book, but when I realized the purpose, I thought it was an interesting idea. I love it when publishers/authors/printers play around design.

I read this book in two days, and I would have read it in one if hadn't had to go to work. I absolutely loved it. Eventually, I want to read some more about the Vel' d'Hiv roundup and the occupation. The few Holocaust books I have read or heard about don't focus on this aspect of the war.

Rating: 5 out of 5. Highly recommended.

Yellow Star

2008-12-27T09:40:00.000-05:00

by Jennifer Roy
ages 9-12

This is not a happy book. Then again, what book about the Holocaust is a happy book? Granted, this one has a happy ending -- it's a story based on the life of the author's aunt, and she survived -- but getting there is harsh, depressing, and painful. Which means that Roy did an incredible job depicting the life and circumstances of her aunt Syvia's childhood.

I'm trying to figure out a way to sum up the book without giving a mini-history lesson. For those who don't know their World War II history, this story of one of the 800 survivors -- only 12 of which were children -- of the Lodz, Poland ghetto is not a fun one to read. Written in verse, I think to mimic the spare conditions of Syvia's life, Roy captures the faith and family togetherness in the face of pure hopelessness quite well. There were parts that made me cringe -- the Nazis deported all the children at one point, tearing them from their family; it was only through the courage and resorcefulness of Syvia's father (and herself) that she managed to survive that time -- and others that made me cry. I am amazed at Syvia, and at the luck -- miracles? providence? chance? -- that she had during her life. There were so many (more than 270,000 people lived in the ghetto at one time) that didn't get her chance.

I'm not sure I can separate a critique of the book (can I say that in this instance I felt the verse was good, but unnecessary?) from the life. It's a good book -- not a great one -- with a worthy story. And a story worth reading. Which makes the book worth reading, too.

Hanukkah by Roni Schotter

2008-12-23T18:47:00.003-05:00

Schotter, Roni. 1990. (Rereleased in October 2008). Hanukkah! Illustrated by Marylin Hafner.

This is a simple but joyful introduction to Hanukkah. It begins simply,

"In darkest December
Night steals in early
And whisks away the light.

But warm inside,
Mama, Papa, and Grandma Rose
Light the sun that is the menorah.

While Nora and Dan,
Ruthie and Sam
Sing a song that is a prayer."

That will give you some hint what the text is like. This one has won the National Jewish Book Award. Definitely recommended.

Seaside Bookworm

2008-12-18T13:00:00.002-05:00

My list is as follows:
Who By Fire By Diana Spechler
Zookeeper's Wife By Diane Ackerman
Hurry Down Sunshine By Michael Greenberg
People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks

I may add a few more. I already read one by Michael Greenberg Hurry Down Sunshine.
You can read it at my blog at Jewish Rantings.

Callista's List

2008-12-05T09:52:00.002-05:00

Here's my tentative list, subject to change.

1. The Illuminated Soul by Aryeh Lev Stollman
2. Hanna's Suitcase by Karen Levine
3. Yellow Star by Jennifer Roy
4. The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak

3M's List

2008-12-02T17:25:00.004-05:00

I'm participating again! This is a start to my list, though I do reserve the right to change it:

Broccoli and Other Tales of Food and Love by Lara Vapnyar
Petropolis by Anya Ulinich
People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
What Happened to Anna K by Irina Reyn
Natasha and Other Stories by David Bezmozgis

AJL Launches Podcast, Book Giveaway

2008-11-12T10:23:00.001-05:00

November, 2008 -- For immediate release

New Podcast

Author talks, lectures on Jewish literature, panel discussions, and workshops are among the offerings of the newly launched Association of Jewish Libraries Podcast. Available at www.jewishlibraries.org/podcast, the program provides audio that enhances and enriches the listener's appreciation of Jewish book culture.

The podcast will include material recorded at the Association of Jewish Libraries annual convention, as well as recordings of Jewish literary events across North America. A wide range of topics will be covered, from the academic to the hands-on, from children's literature to technology.

"Jews are book lovers, and Jewish librarians even more so," says Susan Dubin, President of the Association of Jewish Libraries. "The AJL Podcast gives us a way to share our enthusiasm with others, without geographical or scheduling restrictions. Now everyone can learn and enjoy!"

How to Listen
New podcast episodes will be posted every few weeks. Listeners can hear the show online at www.jewishlibraries.org/podcast, subscribe via iTunes or other feed readers (using the feed http://feeds.feedburner.com/ajlpodcast), receive episodes by email via FeedBlitz, or listen by phone at (651) 925-2538.

Book Give-Away
To celebrate the launch of the podcast, AJL is offering a Jewish book give-away. Forward this press release or post its contents on a blog or web page to be entered into a drawing for five Jewish interest books from Hachette Book Group. Be sure to CC jewishlibraries@gmail.com on any forwarded messages or to email us about any posts. Complete contest rules and information about the give-away titles can be seen at jewishlibraries.org/podcast - click on the Contest page in the sidebar. Deadline for entry is December 12, 2008.

For more information, contact AJL Public Relations Chair Heidi Estrin at jewishlibraries@gmail.com

About the Association of Jewish Libraries
The Association of Jewish Libraries promotes Jewish literacy through enhancement of libraries and library resources and through leadership for the profession and practitioners of Judaica librarianship. AJL fosters access to information, learning, teaching and research relating to Jews, Judaism, the Jewish experience and Israel.

Jewish Giveaway

2008-11-04T10:02:00.013-05:00

Shalom Y'all, I am hosting a giveaway at Jewish Rantings. This is in conjunction with Book Club Girl's Blog Talk Radio show, it will air on November 20th. I have 10 copies to give away. The book would be appropriate for the Jewish challenge. The book is called Who by Fire by Diana Spechler I am extending my giveaway till Monday of next week. Just stop by and write a comment and you are entered.

Keep Posting...

2008-05-28T01:41:00.002-04:00

If you haven't posted all your reviews or your wrap-up yet, go ahead and post!

Wrap-Up

2008-05-12T15:44:00.003-04:00

I completed the challenge a while ago; it was fun to have occasion to highlight some of the reading I do for my job as a temple librarian and share some of the great books I read. You can see my reviews here. Thanks to Callista for hosting the challenge.

One!?!

2008-05-04T01:15:00.005-04:00

But, I did a lot of book talks at the college library for "History post Civil War" assignments. The Zoo Keeper's Wife, Diary of Anne Frank, and Night were all big circulation winners; especially, Night because it is very short. You remember college days, right?!?

Book Read: The Year of Living Biblically by AJ Jacobs.

Thank you for hosting this moving challenge.

Lynne's Reviews and Wrap-Up

2008-05-03T15:56:00.002-04:00

Lynne from Lynne's Little Corner of the Web finished this challenge a long time ago:

Reviews:
700 Sundays by Billy Crystal
A Stone for Danny Fisher by Harold Robbins
Eyewitness Auschwitz: Three Years in the Gas Chamber by Filip Muller
Empty the Ocean with a Spoon by Rosalie Sogolow
Jewish Culture and Customs by Steve Herzig

Wrap-up

Challenge Wrap-Up

2008-04-28T01:34:00.002-04:00

Well I finished my challenge and had great fun. I'm glad so many people joined me for it. I fully intend to hold it again come Hanukkah.

Books I read:

Even Higher by Richard Ungar
Hanukkah by Roni Schotter
Hanukkah Lights, Hanukkah Nights by Leslie Kimmelman
The Channukah Tree by Eric A. Kimmel
The Channukah Guest by Eric A. Kimmel
I Have a Little Dreidel by Maxie Baum
The Christmas Revolution by Barbara Cohen
The Rabbi's Girls by Johanna Hurwitz
Something from Nothing by Phoebe Gilman
Emil and Karl by Yankev Glatshteyn
Hooray it's Passover by Leslie Kimmelman
A Woman in Jerusalem by A.B. Yehoshua

You can find all my review here.

My favourite novel was Emil and Karl by Yankev Glatshteyn and my favourite picture book was The Channukah Guest by Eric A. Kimmel.

A Woman in Jerusalem by A.B. Yehoshua

2008-04-28T01:32:00.004-04:00

Stars: ****

This is a very interesting novel by a Jewish author. It’s written differently than most books I’ve read. It’s written from a third person point of view and makes me feel like I’m listening to a narrator.

What’s really interesting is every so often throughout the book is a small italicized paragraph or two that shows what is thought from the point of view of someone not important to the story; for example a neighbour or guard. I found this extremely interesting and a great idea.

The actual storyline is quite different. The title makes you think the book is about a woman who lives in Jerusalem when in fact, the beginning of the book, the woman is dead and the whole book takes place after that. This is quite a unique perspective. To the average person, when someone dies, a funeral is held and they are buried and that is that. If it’s not someone you knew personally, than the details don’t concern you at all. This book gives a glimpse of how things work after someone dies from identification to finding next of kin to making arrangements for funeral and burial. It’s not extremely depressing though like you may think it is.

I also liked that the main character’s dreams are described in detail. It shows how our minds take things in our lives and jumble them up to make our dreams. This is why our dreams often don’t make sense, because they are a bunch of stories jumbled up into one. It’s like taking the pages of a short story book and rearranging them completely.All in all this was a very interesting book

Becky's Completed List

2008-04-24T14:41:00.001-04:00

Callista is hosting a new challenge, the Jewish Literature Challenge. It does have its own blog. I'm assuming she'll invite participants so they can post their as well as on their own blogs.

Golden Dreydl by Ellen Kushner
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
All of a Kind Family by Sydney Taylor
The Entertainer and the Dybbuk by Sid Fleischman
I Will Plant You a Lilac Tree by Laura Hillman
The Mozart Question by Michael Morpurgo
The Cage by Ruth Minsky Sender
Diary of A Young Girl by Anne Frank
I Have Lived A Thousand Years by Livia Bitton-Jackson
My Bridges of Hope by Livia Bitton-Jackson

3M's Challenge Wrap-up

2008-04-24T10:59:00.001-04:00

I read six books for this challenge:

Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky
Maus I by Art Spiegelman
Maus II by Art Spiegelman
Kaddish for a Child Not Born by Imre Kertesz
Kanada by Eva Wiseman
Detective Story by Imre Kertesz

I highly, highly recommend the first four books on my list, especially Maus I and II. I really enjoyed this challenge. Thanks for hosting, Callista!

Maus I and II

2008-04-24T10:55:00.001-04:00

Brilliant. Powerful. Poignant. Intensely personal. In graphic novel format and the winner of a Pulitzer Prize Special Award in 1992, Maus is Vladek Spiegelman's story of his survival of Auschwitz during World War II. It is also a story of the father-son relationship between Vladek and Art. In this first book, Art interviews his father about his intense past. Each nationality is represented as a different animal. The Jews are mice, the Germans are cats, and the Poles are pigs. We not only see the absolute horrors of Auschwitz from a survivor's viewpoint, we also see one survivor's son deal with the guilt of just being the son of a survivor.

I first heard about this book through Dewey for the graphic novel challenge. Thanks so much, Dewey, for introducing me to this astounding work.

Highly recommended to all.

1986, 161 pp.
Rating:

The continuation of Maus, and subtitled And Here My Troubles Began (From Mauschwitz to the Catskills and Beyond), Maus II is every bit as astounding as Maus, and the two books really should be read together. In this book we learn more about the end of Vladek's life, and one of the questions that is posed from the book is:

They were survivors, but did they really and truly survive?

Art's struggles with his father's personality -- made so because of the war -- are clearly shown. He is very honest in his portrayal, even to the point of demonstrating his father's own prejudices -- something you would think would be non-existent in someone who had been persecuted himself.

Again, I highly recommend both books to all.

Serialized from 1973 to 1991, 127 pp.
Rating:

My Bridges of Hope

2008-04-23T14:31:00.001-04:00

Bitton-Jackson, Livia. 1999. My Bridges of Hope.

My Bridges of Hope is the sequel to I Have Lived A Thousand Years. It is the middle book in a trilogy of the author's memoirs. (Though each book can and does stand alone just fine.) The book opens with Elli Friedmann and her mother and brother returning to their home town of Samorin after they were liberated by the Russian soldiers. Unlike some of the other returning Jews, they did find their home relatively intact. Stripped of furniture, yes, but still standing. The neighbors are shocked, extremely shocked to see them again. Shocked that they're living skeletons. But most of their closest neighbors are helpful. They give what they can, do what they can to make the Friedmann's home habitable again. This doesn't mean that every neighbor is this nice. And it doesn't mean that the family's possessions are returned from the neighbors who took them for safekeeping at the beginning of the war. But a few are ethical enough to return and restore.

"Out of Samorin's more than five hundred Jewis citizens, only thirty-six returned, mostly young men and women. Those who did not--our children, parents, grandparents, siblings, husbands, wives, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, and lovers--have been replaced by an abyss." (18)

Imagine that if you will. Really think about it. My Bridges of Hope tells the stories of those in between years. Those years between 1945 and 1951 when Elli was growing up in such a strange and foreign environment. It looked a bit like her old home, her old town. But so many people missing, so many new people in their place, so many strangers--the Russians, the Communists coming to town and taking over. Nothing is ever the same, nothing could ever be the same.

In these years, Elli dreams of going to Israel. At the beginning of the book, it isn't even a state or nation yet. But the dreams, the Zionist dreams, are there both in Elli and in her friends. But it is decided that America will be their destination, if they can get in.

These are years of waiting and years of growing. A turbulent time of changing for Elli as she matures from a fourteen year old girl into a young woman of nineteen or twenty. The book records her hopes, her dreams, her loves, her losses, her disappointments.

Hanna's Suitcase, by Karen Levine

2008-04-23T12:37:00.005-04:00

Hana's Suitcase, by Karen Levine, published in 2007, is the true story of a young Czech girl named Hana Brady, who was taken away by the Nazis along with her older brother George, and that of her suitcase, which through a chain of events ended up in Japan. It is also the story of a Japanese woman's efforts to find out about Hana- who she was and what happened to her. The book is incredibly moving. Illustrated with photographs of Hana and her family as well as the Holocaust center in Japan where her suitcase is found, Levine tells Hana's story in parallel with the story of the efforts to learn about her. This structure sets up two crushing waves of emotion that left me in tears by the end. It's bittersweet tragedy, told with beauty and sensitivity.

Yellow Star by Jennifer Roy

2008-04-22T18:38:00.001-04:00

Another review from Natasha of Maw Books.

Bee Season by Myla Goldberg

2008-04-22T18:36:00.000-04:00

Another review from Natasha of Maw Books.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

2008-04-22T18:30:00.002-04:00

Another review from Natasha at Maw Books.

The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen

2008-04-22T18:27:00.001-04:00

Another review from Natasha of Maw Books.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

2008-04-22T18:21:00.001-04:00

A review from Natasha of Maw Books.

Lost in America by Marilyn Sachs

2008-04-22T18:08:00.001-04:00

Another review from Mandy.

Daniel's Story by Carol Matas

2008-04-22T18:06:00.002-04:00

Another review from Mandy.

Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer

2008-04-22T17:57:00.003-04:00

Another review from Mandy.

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

2008-04-22T17:55:00.002-04:00

A review from Mandy.

Old Men at Midnight by Chaim Potok

2008-04-22T17:38:00.002-04:00

A review from Mandy.

The Schocken Guide to Jewish Books

2008-04-21T09:56:00.002-04:00

Since this is my last post in the challenge, I thought it would be appropriate to talk about The Schocken Guide to Jewish Books. The Schocken Guide is the book lover's passport into the world of Jewish books- basically it's an extended bibliography of Judaica in a range of subject areas, fully annotated and illustrated with photos and drawings. I found it on one of my trips into my local used book store; it caught my eye because I work in a synagogue library right now and was browsing the Judaica section for something that might be either a good addition to the collection or a useful tool for me. This book turned out to be both.

Schocken Books is a publishing company speicalizing in Judaica since it was founded in Germany in 1931. In 1987 it became a division of Random House but continues to publish popular Judaica in a broad range of subject area, and publishes authors like Anita Diamant and Aharon Applefield. See the official About Schocken page at Random House or the entry on Wikipedia for more information. In other words the company is an expert source when it comes to Jewish books.

Every chapter of The Schocken Guide is written by a different expert, mostly rabbis and college professors representing every stream of Judaism. The chapter on the Jewish Middle Ages, for example, is written by Ivan Marcus, a professor of history specializing in medieval Europe at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. The chapter on immigration and Jews in America is written by Brandeis University professor of American Jewish History Jonathan D. Sarna. So it's not just one guy rattling off a list of his favorite books but scholars giving a gloss on the most useful volumes in his or her specialty.

The recommendations include all genres of writing- fiction, nonfiction, etc. And each section mixes genres so for example the chapter on the Holocaust includes Holocaust fiction as well as history and memoirs. This feature is useful for someone learning about a given topic because you can find all the information you need in one place. The well-researched chapters cover mostly scholarly topics like Jewish mysticism, Israel and Zionism, women, as well as separate chapters covering Hebrew and Yiddish literature as well as American Jewish novels.

It's been fifteen years since The Schocken Guide was published in 1993; I would love to see an updated version covering newer publishers like Jewish Lights and Gefen Books, and newer trends in Jewish publishing, like the recent spate of self help books. I think it would also be helpful to include some chapters on less-scholarly topics. At my library, the single most popular category of books for adults is cookbooks and it would be great to have an expert along the lines of Joan Nathan or Susie Fishbein tell me about the must-haves. It would also be helpful to include a directory of publishers and other resources in Jewish literature, like the National Yiddish Book Center or the Association of Jewish Libraries. But it is still incredibly useful for evaluating collections made up largely of older books and for anyone looking for a good read in Jewish religion, history, and literature.

Happy Passover

2008-04-20T15:10:00.003-04:00

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Passover. Hope you are all having fun with this challenge. There are only 6 days left. Happy reading!

Challenge Wrap-Up

2008-04-19T15:10:00.001-04:00

Happy Passover!

I prepared this post in advance, since I will be spending all day Saturday in the kitchen cooking up our Seder meal!

Well, at least I can say I've finished one challenge this year, since I'm not doing so well on the others.

Books Read:

1. Living a Jewish Life: Jewish traditions, customs, and values for today's family - Anita Diamant (non-fiction) (finished 22 January 2008)
2. Moishe's Miracle: A Hanukkah Story - Laura Krauss Melmud (children's)
3. Hanukkah at Valley Forge - Stephen Krensky (children's)
4. The Book Thief - Markus Zusak (fiction) (finished 25 February 2008)
5. The Castle on Hester Street - Linda Heller (children's) (finished 7 February 2008)

The best book: They were all good in their own way. If I had to pick a favorite, it would probably be Moishe's Miracle, although I also really loved The Book Thief.
What book could I have done without: None, I liked them all.
Any new authors: All except Anita Diamant.

Thanks, Callista for hosting this challenge!

The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom

2008-04-19T10:37:00.004-04:00

I'm really not sure how many folks are familiar with Corrie ten Boom and her fascinating story, The Hiding Place. She was a Dutch Christian who, with her father and sister, hid Dutch Jews in their Haarlem house during World War II and Hitler's terrifying reign.

Corrie lost her father during their time in prison, and then her sister Betsie passed away while they were in the Ravensbruck concentration camp. Corrie lived until 1983.

I really love this story. I saw the film "The Hiding Place" when I was growing up, and I subsequently read the book. After also reading Anne Frank's diary, I became fascinated with Jewish culture (which makes me a bit of an oddity as a Christian minister's wife, actually) and the sadness of the Holocaust, which is the most horrible crime against humanity in the 20th century.

I recomend this book, because it is a personal story. It shows that that well-meaning Christians died to help save Jews. And it shows the love of God.

Hold the Cream Cheese, Kill the Lox by Sharon Kahn

2008-04-19T10:30:00.005-04:00

I thoroughly enjoyed this cozy mystery by Sharon Kahn. Hold the Cream Cheese, Kill the Lox is the fourth book in Kahn's "Ruby the Rabbi's Wife" mysteries. Ruby, a rabbi's widow, seems to find herself in the middle of a mystery that will take you from Alaska to New York from a small town in Texas.

I have become a fan of cozy mysteries in 2008, and this book turned out to be a great cozy. I really enjoyed it. I feel this is a book that would be enjoyed by everyone, not only those familiar with Jewish culture.

I also learned how lox is made. :-)

Pattie's Picks/Wrap-Up

2008-04-19T09:45:00.001-04:00

**Wrap-Up at the end**

Hi, I'm Pattie the Fresh-Brewed Writer, and I'm happy to be joining this challenge! I decided to go ahead and finalize my list, giving myself two alternates in case I change my mind. I have this thing about not finishing challenges, so if I give myself room to change, maybe it won't be so difficult to complete.

Well, Shalom! I'm gonna get down with my bad Baptist self and join a Jewish Lit challenge!

My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok (also a Something About Me challenge book)
The Hidden Life of Otto Frank by Carol Ann Lee (Dad gave me his copy)
[x] How Nancy Drew Saved My Life by Lauren Baratz-Logsyed (I have this book)
[x] Hold the Cream Cheese, Kill the Lox by Sharon Kahn (I have this book)
Suite française by Irène Némirovsky (I think I have this book somewhere)

Alternate selections (in case I can't finish the above books, or decide differently):

The Book Thief by Marcus Zuzak (will have to find this one)
[x] The Hiding Place by Corrie tenBoom

**April 19: I don't think I am going to be able to finish this challenge. I only read three of the required five books. However, I do intend to finish my list at some point. Thanks for the opportunity to participate, and l'chaim to everyone!**

May 4: I did not finish, but these books that are not finished are still in Mt. TBR...so eventually I'll read them! No book leaves my home unread unless it's a duplicate or immensely boring.

Thanks for letting me join the blog, and if we do this again, count me in!

Out of Line: Growing Up Soviet, by Tina Grimberg

2008-04-18T15:22:00.002-04:00

Out of Line: Growing Up Soviet, by Tina Grimberg, is a vivid, affecting memoir of a childhood and adolescence spent in Ukraine under the Soviet regime. Grimberg, now a rabbi in Canada, lived in the former Soviet Union until she was 15 and emigrated with her family to Indiana. The book is a memoir about growing up in a world that doesn't exist anymore.

Grimberg's narrative jumps back and forth through the years, from early childhood to her emigration. Grimberg frames her narrative in terms of a young girl and her family doing what they needed to do to survive- queueing up in long lines, working connections for that extra little luxury that made life bearable and worthwhile. The reader gets to know her parents, deeply in love with each other and devoted to their two children, Tina and her older sister Natasha; we meet her grandparents, especially Inna (always "Babushka Inna"), who changed her name from the Jewish Ginda to the more ethnically indeterminate Inna to fit in, and a small cast of friends and some family members who passed away before Grimberg was born.

Throughout the book the tone is warm and affectionate but not really sentimental; Grimberg depicts a loving family struggling to survive and is open about the trials of life as a Jewish family under the anti-Semitic, anti-religious Soviet regime, as well as her own lapses and failings. One of the most touching, albeit sad, anecdotes in the entirety of this slim volume is when Grimberg tells us the time she rode on the bus with Babushka Inna and heard Inna speaking Yiddish with another Jewish woman. After a brief altercation with another passenger they got off the bus; then little Tina told her grandmother never to speak Yiddish in public again, so ashamed was she of the attention it attracted. She speaks then of the heavy, loaded silence and shame that lived between her and Babushka Inna for the rest of the day, even as Babushka lovingly laid out Tina's nightclothes and put her to bed. I have Russian Jewish friends who escaped like Grimberg's family did and most of the time they don't like to talk about their more painful experiences, or only do in general terms, but this anecdote in particular brought something home to me about the damage done to families and to people by the Soviet system.

We also see some other aspects of Soviet life. Through her grandparents' story we see the terrible price the Soviet people paid for World War II, with nearly every family missing that entire generation of men; we see the role played by that generation of women, including Babushka Inna, as essential childrearers and neighborhood watchdogs. We see privations and little victories, such as when Grimberg is able to buy flowers for her mother for Women's Day even after the florist has sold out.

Grimberg draws herself as a basically happy, normal little girl and although her circumstances were grim, we have to remember that the story has a happy ending for the Grimberg family, however unlikely it may have seemed to them even up to the very moment they boarded the train for western Europe. I'm grateful for them that they made it, and grateful for being able to read this sweet, moving book. Out of Line gives some great insights into everyday life in a time and place that shaped a lot of people and is definitely worth checking out. Aimed at young adults, I think it would be a great read for teens (or anyone) interested in the former Soviet Union, in Jewish life there, and in the world that was swept away with the fall of the Soviet Union.

I Have Lived A Thousand Years by Livia Bitton-Jackson

2008-04-17T13:19:00.004-04:00

Bitton-Jackson, Livia. 1997. I Have Lived A Thousand Years.

I Have Lived A Thousand Years: Growing Up in the Holocaust is the memoir of Elli L. Friedmann. Born in Czechoslovakia, Elli along with her family were taken to Auschwitz when the ghettos were liquidated in 1944. The book covers the years 1944-1945, although it hints at what came before and what comes after. The book concludes with Elli and her remaining family members arriving in America in 1951.

Her prose is concise and powerful. As a child, she loved to write poems. And this is evident in her memoir. The imagery is strong; there is power in her words. The emotions resonate. When our story opens she is around the age of 13. Here is her description of when the Nazis came and her school was closed, "I weep and weep. I weep for my classroom, which is no longer my classroom. For the school that will never be my school again. I weep for my life, which will never be the same." A bit further on we read her description of what it was like to be shown where the family's treasure was buried. The unspoken words being that she may be the only one to survive. "I don't want to know the spot! I don't want to be the one to survive! I don't want to survive alone! Alone, I don't want to live. Oh God, I don't want to live if you don't! I don't want to know about anything! I don't want to know!"

Her descriptions are so powerful, so real. The way they are written, so straight-forward, so concise, instantly put me in her shoes. The people aren't just numbers, aren't just statistics, aren't just nameless, faceless strangers. They're real; they matter; their stories, their lives count.

This was a very powerful book for me. Elli's determination to survive, to ensure her mother's survival is so courageous, so incredible. The fact that hope and strength and courage and dignity can survive in the midst of such horror is amazing to me. Wonderfully amazing to me.

This book is definitely a must read.

The title of the book comes from the liberation scene. Elli and her brother and mother are all together. They are trying to survive until they can be liberated. Freedom is within their grasp, yet there is still danger and fear on the prowl. When they are liberated, Elli is taken for an old woman. They think she is a woman who is in her sixties, they're flabbergasted to learn that she is just fourteen years old. She says, "I am fourteen years old, and I have lived a thousand years." What great imagery.

Hooray, It’s Passover by Leslie Kimmelman

2008-04-15T18:54:00.003-04:00

Stars: ****

It's very straightforward about what happens during the holiday but is still told in a fun way with adorable illustrations by John Himmelman. Definitely recommend to teach your child what to expect during the Passover holidays or to teach non-Jewish children what Passover is all about.

Emil and Karl by Yankev Glatshteyn

2008-04-15T18:06:00.001-04:00

Stars: *****

Unlike most books about the Holocaust, this one was written before WW II even started. It was originally written in Yiddish and was translated by Jeffrey Shandler into English which is how I read it.

Something else that makes this book different from all the others is that it was written for children in Jewish School in America to learn more about what was happening to kid’s their age in Europe. The author did a good job of putting in just the right amount of detail about the horrid things that happened to Jews. Enough to make it clear how things were but not too much so that the kids would go home scared and have nightmares. Written from a 3rd person point of view so that you get to hear what the thoughts are from both boys. I think this was a good choice.

Passover by Design by Susie Fishbein (Cookbook)

2008-04-15T17:51:00.002-04:00

I'm not counting this for this challenge since I'm not sure if a cookbook is literature but I just wanted to link to my review since I figured some people doing this challenge might be interested in this book.

So here is my review.

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

2008-04-15T16:49:00.001-04:00

A review from pussreboots here.

Detective Story by Imre Kertesz

2008-04-10T16:33:00.002-04:00

Written in 1977 but published in the US for the first time this January, Detective Story by Nobel laureate Imre Kertesz tells the story of a group of men who, while working for an unnamed Latin American country's government, go too far to stop their political enemies. While I thought Kaddish for a Child Not Born by Kertesz was brilliant, I must admit I didn't get into this one too much. I'm willing to confess the fault might lie with the reader rather than the writer, however. Luckily, this one was short, but it didn't pack the same punch for me that Kaddish did.

1977 [2008 for the English translation], 112 pp.
Rating: 3/5

http://1morechapter.com/2008/04/10/review-detective-story/

Kaddish for a Child Not Born by Imre Kertesz

2008-04-10T16:31:00.002-04:00

Definition: Mourner's Kaddish expresses love of God and acceptance of God's will, even while the mourner is feeling sorrow over the death of a loved one. [See the actual English translation at the end of this review.]

Nobel laureate Imre Kertesz, survivor of both Auschwitz and Buchenwald, is a brilliant writer. As I was reading this short work, I found that I wanted to quote almost the entire book for this review. In the story, a man at a writer's conference explains to a colleague why he refused his ex-wife a child because he doesn't want to bring a child into a world where an Auschwitz is allowed to occur. In fact the very first word of the novel is "No," a reference to a question on whether or not he has children. He then expounds on his reasons for that decision, and on his childhood, his marriage, and his survival experiences.

"No!" something screamed, howled within me, immediately and forthwith, and it was only gradually, after many, many years had quieted it down, that my cramp gave way to a quiet but persistent pain, until slowly and maliciously, like a malignant sickness, a question began to take distinct shape with me: "Were you to be a dark-eyed little girl? With pale spots of scattered freckles around your little nose? Or a stubborn boy? With cheerful, hard eyes like blue-gray pebbbles?" Yes, my existence in the context of your potentiality.

I've had family members also question the wisdom of bringing children into the world, and the first time it was put to me, I didn't understand the reasoning behind this stance at all. Perhaps I was too naive then, though, because I do understand it now. I am a mother; I'm grateful to be a mother; but, unfortunately, there is much evil in this world, and while not my choice, I understand why people would question whether to subject their potential children to it.

1990, [1999 for English trans.], 95 pp.
Rating: 4.5/5

English Translation of the Mourner's Kaddish
May His illustrious name become increasingly great and holy
In the world that He created according to His will,
and may He establish His kingdom
In your lifetime and in your days
and in the lifetime of all the house of Israel
Speedily and soon. And let us say amen.

May His illustrious name be blessed always and forever.
Blessed, praised, glorified, exalted, extolled
Honoured, raised up and acclaimed
be the name of the Holy one blessed be He
beyond every blessing hymn, praise and consolation
that is uttered in the world. And let us say amen.
May abundant peace from heaven, and life
Be upon us and upon all Israel.

http://1morechapter.com/2008/04/10/review-kaddish-for-a-child-not-born/

Kanada by Eva Wiseman

2008-04-08T19:13:00.002-04:00

This is the story of 14 year-old Jutka's life before, during, and after World War II, with the three sections of the book dealing with those periods being titled Limbo, Hell, and Paradiso.

The story is heart-wrenching. We see how her friends and neighbors turn from loving her family to despising them. We see the horrors of the ghetto, Auschwitz, and the DP camps. Then we see Jutka and her friends struggle to find a new home for themselves when nothing is left of their old ones. While most want to relocate to Israel, Jutka dreams of being with her relatives in Canada.

The story is compelling, but I did find the writing to be a bit simplistic and choppy, thus the lower rating.

Kanada's author, Eva Wiseman, was born in Hungary and has based this book on her parents' and other friends' experiences during the war. She now lives in Winnipeg.

2006, 241 pp.
Rating: 3.5/5

http://1morechapter.com/2008/04/08/review-kanada/

Always Remember Me

2008-04-05T23:28:00.003-04:00

Russo, Marisabina. Always Remember Me.

It is hard to find books--particularly picture books--about the Holocaust and World War II that are appropriate for young audiences. ALWAYS REMEMBER ME: HOW ONE FAMILY SURVIVED WORLD WAR II is a great find indeed!

ALWAYS REMEMBER ME is a story within a story. Oma is sharing her family history with her young granddaughter, Rachel, as the two look through two photo albums. One photo album contains pictures of her life in Poland and Germany. These photos contain pictures that evoke happy memories of the grandmother's life (her childhood, her marriage, her motherhood)...but some of the later pictures in the book evoke sad memories of what happened when the Nazis took control of Germany. Fortunately, Oma and two of her daughters survive concentration camp (her oldest daughter had immigrated to America). The second photo album contains pictures of the family once they have moved to America to start their new lives.

The endpapers are designed as a scrapbook/photo album. Black and white photos (also sepia-toned photos) line the endpapers with white cursive captions identifying the people, places, and ages of the photographic subjects.

There is a five word glossary identifying Yiddish and German words used in the picture book, and there is a two-page afterward summarizing briefly Hitler's rise to power and the Holocaust.

In addition to being a great story/introduction to the Holocaust, I enjoy the celebration of family that ALWAYS REMEMBER ME embodies. It is a great story about how important it is to pass down family stories and keepsakes. I love the bond between Rachel and her grandmother.

The Diary of A Young Girl

2008-04-05T19:56:00.005-04:00

Frank, Anne. 1952. The Diary of A Young Girl.

"You're reading that again?" That's what my mother said as she caught me reading Anne Frank. Like I haven't read anything but this one book in all these years. She's right. I have read Anne Frank's Diary of A Young Girl before. But some things are worth repeating. Diary of A Young Girl is one of them. The first time I read this book, I would have been in high school. Close enough to Anne's age to feel it--the drama of adolescence on top of extreme political and social upheaval. The Diary of A Young Girl captures both. The war. The threat of death. The threat of captivity. The threat of starvation and disease. But it also captures youth. What it means to be young, to be at that ever-awkward stage in life, in development. Always a me-in-the-making, never quite done finding out who you are and what you believe and what you want out of life. Anne could be any girl in any place and time. But because she was born a Jew. Because Hitler came to power. Her life--her perfectly ordinary life--was cut short.

The book begins in June of 1942. The last entry is in August of 1944. In these two years, these two turbulent years, Anne and her family and several other people as well all go into hiding in the Secret Annexe. Mr. and Mrs. Frank. Margot, the older sister. Mr. and Mrs. Van Daan. Their son Peter. And Mr. Dussel. Eight people. Cramped living conditions. This isn't reality tv. This is life and death. Yes, every person gets super-cranky and super-sensitive. But wouldn't you?

The reader gets a glimpse into the lives of real people through the eyes of one very young sometimes-mature, sometimes-immature girl. Anne Frank. Very famous now because of her diary. But just then--at the moment--one very ordinary girl with a natural desire to write a diary. I think most kids (or teens) at one time or another try their hand at keeping journals. Though perhaps now, blogging has replaced all that. Diaries are intimate, personal, private. Each entry is a snapshot into that one day, that one hour, that one moment. When you're young, (and even when you're older and supposedly all grown up) your mood, your outlook changes moment by moment, day by day. Happy one minute, miserable the next. Such is the case with Anne. Personally, I'm surprised that Anne had as many happy moments, contented moments, grateful moment in the Annexe as she did. I think it would only be natural to be unhappy, scared, miserable, depressed. Living in cramped quarters with people you dislike, people you disagree with, not being able to go outside, to go anywhere you want. Not having the freedom to move, to make noise when you want. To always be on alert. To always worry about the threat of discovery, the threat of capture, the threat of bombs blowing you to bits. High stress. Very high stress.

But this isn't just a book about war, about being Jewish, about being a victim. This book is so much more than that. It's a book about growing up. A book about changing from a girl into a young woman with hopes and dreams and fears and desires. It's a book about being that age. That extremely awkward stage of life. My mom thought all people of that age should be shipped off to junior high island until they grew out of it. That moody, I-hate-you, you-don't-understand-me stage. Anne was a work-in-progress. There's no doubt about it. When we first meet her, she's entering that phase of life. She doesn't get along with her mother. At all. She feels completely disconnected from her. Misunderstood. Unloved. Unwanted. Unappreciated. And her relationship with her father is better, but not perfect. Sometimes she feels the disconnect with him too. And her sister. She feels that her parents love her sister more. That her sister gets all the praise, the love, the positive attention. And she feels that she gets attacked, bombarded with negative attention--lectures, lectures, more lectures. Everyone is always out-to-get-her. But though this does seem to be Anne's story, Anne's predicament, by the second half of the book, Anne is growing, changing, maturing. She looks back over past entries and realizes that things are different, things have changed. And she realizes that most of the changes were in her. She is beginning to build, to establish a better relationship with her family. She is beginning to get comfortable in her own skin.

Anne is someone I think we all can relate to in a way. Anne was just a girl. A girl with interests and hobbies. Likes and dislikes. She could be anybody.

The Diary of A Young Girl was originally published in Holland in 1947. It was soon translated into other languages, including English, and printed in the United States. 1952 is the first publication date for the United States. Almost from the very beginning, it was recognized as a good book, a powerful book, a book worthy of time and attention and respect. But it's not without its enemies.

Though I'll never in a million years understand the mindset of those that challenge books, I'll never ever ever understand why Diary of A Young Girl is one of their targets. I just don't understand it. Can't understand it. One challenge brought against the book stated that it was pornographic. How??? Why??? Fortunately, the challenge failed, and the book stayed on the shelves. I suppose pornography is subjective. But a young girl writing about her period is so not pornographic! A young girl writing about her breasts developing? Not pornographic. A young girl writing about her first kiss? Not pornographic. There is no talk, no hint of sex in the book. Though Anne spends the last part of the book making out with Peter, the son of the Van Daans. But it's not pornographic in the slightest. Not unless it's the mention of Anne reading a book where there is mention of a woman selling her body. Or perhaps it is the conversation about the cat's male organs that is so offensive to folks? Whether the cat is a tom cat.

I could go on for hours about all the suffering the war has brought, but then I would only make myself more dejected. There is nothing we can do but wait as calmly as we can till the misery comes to an end. Jews and Christians wait, the whole earth waits, and there are many who wait for death. (64)

I see the eight of us with our "Secret Annexe" as if we were a little piece of blue heaven, surrounded by heavy black rain clouds. The round, clearly defined spot where we stand is still safe, but the clouds gather more closely about us and the circle which separates us from the approaching danger closes more and more tightly. (115)

But seriously, it would seem quite funny ten years after the war if we Jews were to tell how we lived and what we ate and talked about here. Although I tell you [the diary] a lot, still even so, you only know very little of our lives. (192)

And if I haven't any talent for writing books or newspaper articles, well, then I can always write for myself. . . I want to go on living after my death! And therefore I am grateful to God for giving me this gift, this possibility of developing myself and of writing, of expressing all that is in me. I can shake off everything if I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn. But, and that is the great question, will I ever be able to write anything great, will I ever become a journalist or a writer? I hope so, oh, I hope so very much. (197)

Wrap-up

2008-03-20T17:09:00.002-04:00

I finished the Jewish Literature Challenge today. My post with links to all reviews is here.

Megillat Esther

2008-03-19T16:40:00.001-04:00

Happy Purim!

For my next entry in the Jewish Literature Challenge series, I chose a graphic novel-style interpretation of the Megilla, the story of how Queen Esther saved the Jews from slaughter by King Achashverosh and his advisor, Haman, in ancient Persia, forming the basis for the Jewish holiday Purim, which begins tomorrow. Not your standard children's-book interpretation, this version of Esther's story is full of intrigue, conspiracies and reversals, not the least of which is the physical reversal of the text which occurs halfway through. At this point, the reader needs to flip the book over and read it right to left, all the better for the Hebrew but possibly jarring for readers unfamiliar with reading Hebrew or (in my case) Japanese manga. But I digress.

This Megillat Esther is a treasure, a beautiful and thoughtful retelling of the Book of Esther. The story is told in English and beautifully-lettered Hebrew, and includes rabbinic footnotes and a bibliography, as well as a section explaining the importance of citations and explaining the term midrash, the orally-told stories that expand on the Hebrew Bible. This section seems aimed at children, but this is no children's book. Waldman's rich, detailed black and white illustrations reward careful attention and a slow, deliberate pace, and there is some racy sexual content and innuendo that would make me hesitate to include this volume in a library collection for children, although it would be wonderful for adults who can be persuaded to read a "comic book."

Waldman's Megillat Esther is a real treat. I had a hard time tracking down a copy through my local public library system, but it's worth a read, at Purim time or anytime.

The Cage

2008-03-03T17:56:00.002-05:00

Sender, Ruth Minsky. 1986. The Cage.

The Cage by Ruth Minsky Sender is one of the most outstanding Holocaust memoirs I've ever read. The narrative is told loosely through a framework. That is in the first chapter, Ruth Minsky Sender begins her narrative by setting it in the present day (or what would have been the present day when it was being written). She frames her story around questions her children asked about why they had no grandparents, no cousins, no extended family, etc. This, I believe, is quite effective in drawing you into the story. Of making you see the big picture.

Nancy looks at me, bewildered. "Why did they let them do it? Why didn't people stop them?"
Why did they let them do it? Why did they let them do it? It echoes in my ears. Many voices ring in my ears. Voices I have heard before. They are all calling, Why? Why? Why did they let them do it?
I hear Mama's voice, filled with hope. A world full of people will not be silent. We will not perish in vain. She was so sure. But she perished, and the world was silent.
Tears fall down my face. Nancy's soft hands wipe them away. "But, Mommy, it could not happen here. Our neighbors, our friends, they would help."
Suddenly it is 1939 again. (4)

In simple but haunting prose, the narrative tells the story of one girl's survival. Riva, our narrator, is a child-soon-to-be-a-woman growing up in Lodz, Poland. Her world changes, her future changes when the Nazis invade Poland. Friends? Neighbors? Vanish overnight it seems. You see, it's not safe to be 'Polish' anymore...better to be German. To blend in with the oppressors. To take up their mantras. To join with them side by side. To pursue the destruction of the Jewish race. There is no one to stand up for the Polish Jews. (Or should I say there are few if any that are willing to make such a stand.) The story of Riva and her family--her mother, her brothers, her sisters, is powerful.

Riva finds her strength in poetry. You might could even say that poetry saves her life in more ways than one. This is her story.

Camp Mittelsteine, Germany
September 23, 1944
Riva Minska, Number 55082.

When my tormented heart can't take any more
The grief within rips it apart;
My tears flow freely--they can't be restrained
I reach for my notebook--my friend.
I speak to my friend of my sorrow
I share my anger, my pain.
I speak to my friend of tomorrow
Of a future we'll build once again!
The pillars I build for the future to come,
I knock down and build once again.
I share all my dreams, share my hopes with my friend
Share the pain that is filling my heart. (178)

First sentence: Warm rays of sunshine fill the house, mixed with the sweet smell of lilac in full bloom.
Last sentence: As long as there is life, there is hope.
245 pages

Such a Prince, by Daniel Bar-el

2008-03-03T15:44:00.001-05:00

Such a Prince, a new picture book for elementary-school children by Dan Bar-el, is a lively retelling of the "three peaches folktale about a sick princess who needs three perfect peaches to get well. In return for providing the peaches, her father, the king, promises the girl's hand in marriage. This version is narrated by Libby Gaborchik, a fuss-budget little fairy who takes a liking to a skinny, feckless young man named Marvin and helps him win the princess.

The book is a joy from start to finish. The story is funny, the characters are recognizable fairy-tale types used perfectly. My favorite character is the unabashedly loud-mouthed, assertive Princess Vera, who even from her sickbed will express herself in quite the forthright manner. And the pictures! The guache and colored-pencil pictures are appealing, colorful and complement the fast-paced, rolly-poly story. Even the endpapers, depicting bunnies bouncing here and there, contribute to the overall atmosphere of hyperkinetic action.

When I first read the book silently, I enjoyed the humor and the beautiful, vibrant illustrations. But it really came to life when I read it out loud- Libby's playful, irreverent tone, only a little sarcastic at times, is a great match to the bouncy, bright pictures, and sounds great when spoken. The lively Yiddish-inspired syntax is to blame. Even without using a single Yiddish word Bar-el does a great job of capturing the uniquely expressive sound of Yiddish-inflected English and it's this trait that lends the book so beautifully to being read aloud. So read it, enjoy it, have fun with it, and read it out loud- though you might have to ham it up a little to really do it justice!

Jewish Literature Challenge

Jewish Book Carnival

Jewish Literature Challenge 2010-2011

Nick and Norahs Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

You Are SO Not Invited To My Batmitvah by Fiona Rosenbloom

The Devil's Arithmetic - Jane Yolen

How's everybody doing?

Jewish Literature Challenge 2010

See you next year!

Jewish Literature Challenge 2008-2009

My Challenge Wrap-Up

Challenge Complete (3M from 1morechapter.com)

Pattie's list **wrap-up**

The Innkeeper's Song by Peter Beagle

Old Men at Midnight by Chaim Potok

Wrap-up Posts

Emil and Karl

Fax Me a Bagel

Almost Done

Freefall by Anna Levine

Happy Passover

The Diary of a Young Girl

People of the Book

NOTE to all participants

The Family Fortune

The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle

Maus by Art Spiegelman

People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

ATTN Participants

CHALLENGE COMPLETED

SEINLANGUAGE

Sarah's Key

Bee Season

DREK!

The Devil's Arithmetic

CONVICTION

In the Name of Sorrow and Hope

Tropical Secrets

Baby Needs a New Pair of Shoes

Maus I and Maus II

Book Giveaway: People of the Book

Kathrin's reading list

SARAH'S KEY

CROSSING DELANCEY

Davita's Harp by Chaim Potok

Freefall

As Good As Anybody

Memories of Babi

In My Hands

Review: Sarah's Key

Yellow Star

Hanukkah by Roni Schotter

Seaside Bookworm

Callista's List

3M's List

AJL Launches Podcast, Book Giveaway

Jewish Giveaway

Keep Posting...

Wrap-Up

One!?!

Lynne's Reviews and Wrap-Up

Challenge Wrap-Up

A Woman in Jerusalem by A.B. Yehoshua

Becky's Completed List

3M's Challenge Wrap-up

Maus I and II

My Bridges of Hope

Hanna's Suitcase, by Karen Levine

Yellow Star by Jennifer Roy

Bee Season by Myla Goldberg

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Lost in America by Marilyn Sachs

Daniel's Story by Carol Matas

Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

Old Men at Midnight by Chaim Potok

The Schocken Guide to Jewish Books

Pattie's list wrap-up