The Innkeeper's Song by Peter Beagle

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

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

People of the Book

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!

The Family Fortune

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.

Sarah's Key

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

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.

Baby Needs a New Pair of Shoes

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.

SARAH'S KEY

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

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.

Review: Sarah's Key

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.

A Woman in Jerusalem by A.B. Yehoshua

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

Bee Season by Myla Goldberg

Another review from Natasha of Maw Books.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

Another review from Natasha at Maw Books.

Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer

Another review from Mandy.

Old Men at Midnight by Chaim Potok

A review from Mandy.

Hold the Cream Cheese, Kill the Lox by Sharon Kahn

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. :-)

The Book Thief - Markus Zusak

Title: The Book Thief

Author: Markus Zusak

Country: Australia

Year: 2005

Pages: 552

Rating: 5 out of 5

First sentence: First the colors.

You can find the complete review here.

What I thought: I can not come up with the words to describe this book that would do it justice. It is that good. It is written from the unique perspective of Death, a wry, frank, and compassionate character who sees moments in shades of color: The last time I saw her was red. The sky was like soup, boiling and stirring. In some places, it was burned. There were black crumbs, and pepper, streaked across the redness. (p.12). We learn how Death comes to know the book thief and her story. It is an emotionally draining read. 

Towards the end, I was reading parts out loud to my daughter when she was fussy, so that I could calm her down and try to finish the book at the same time. I had to stop, I literally could not read the story out loud without crying. 

There is plenty of foreshadow. I know what is going to happen. I know how it is going to end. And I still sobbed through the last few chapters. Yet, a narrative filled with death and despair, one of the overarching themes is that of hope and love. There is so much love in this story, and overflows from the pages to the reader. 

And, always a favorite for bibliophiles, it is very much a story about words: 

She tore a page from the book and ripped it in half. 

Then a chapter.

Soon, there was nothing but scraps of words littered between her legs and all around her. The words. Why did they have to exist? Without them, there wouldn't be any of this. Without words, the Führer was nothing. There would be no limping prisoners, no need for consolation or wordly tricks to make us feel better. 

What good were the words?

She said it audibly now, to the orange-lit room. "What good are the words?"(p.521)

I was particularly captured by the story within a story - the writings and illustrations of Max, the Jew hidden in the basement. His short story, The Word Shaker, could easily be a stand alone children's book. The book is marketed as young adult fiction, but is just as enjoyable and meaningful for adults.

Blake's Therapy by Ariel Dorfman

A review from PussReboots. Read it here.

Pussreboots reviews Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger

You can read the review here.

The Golden Dreydl (Becky)

Kushner, Ellen. 2007. The Golden Dreydl.

File this review under better late than never. I had *every* intention in the world of reading and reviewing this one in time for Chanukah. Really. But it got buried in a box. By the time I remembered I needed to find it, it was the last day. I didn't get it read until Wednesday night. And I'm just now getting to the reviewing part.

Before it was a book, it was a musical performance. It is performed live, and there are also radio productions of it. And a CD.

"The Golden Dreydl" is an award-winning family entertainment featuring the music of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, as interpreted by Shirim Klezmer Orchestra, with original story and narration by Ellen Kushner. Together, they have created a brand-new retelling of an old tale: Sara is a little girl with a problem: she hates the annual family Chanukah party! But when a mysterious party guest gives her the gift of a golden dreydl, Sara is catapulted into a magical world of demons and fools, sorcerers and sages.

Knowing that it is a "Jewish" interpretation of The Nutcracker helps when you're reading the book. You know in some ways what to expect.

Sara is a young girl who is not excited about Chanukah. She'd much rather be celebrating just like her friends--with Christmas trees and such. But Sara is on her way to a Chanukah celebration she'll never forget. A most magical time is about to be had--at least for Sara. And it all starts with a gift that is not what it seems. A gift that comes to life. A golden dreydl.

I really enjoyed this one.