Jewish Book Carnival: December 2012

My Machberet is proud to serve as December 2012 host for the Jewish Book Carnival, “a monthly event where bloggers who blog about Jewish books can meet, read, and comment on each others’ posts. The posts are hosted on one of the participant’s sites on the 15th of each month.”

Herewith, this month’s goodies.

First, I’m going to exercise my prerogative as the host to share a few recent highlights from my own My Machberet:

Next, let’s move on to other items focusing on books for grown-up readers:

  • On The Judy Chronicles, Judy Bolton-Fasman interviews author Michael Lowenthal, whose latest novel, The Paternity Test, “gracefully merges gay marriage, Jewish identity, sexuality, the Holocaust, Jewish continuity and sexual fidelity in one story.”
  • The Jewish Journal‘s Books Editor, Jonathan Kirsch, reviews Am I a Jew?: Lost Tribes, Lapsed Jews, and One Man’s Search for Himself, by Theodore Ross, calling it “a confessional memoir…cast in the mold of a journey of self-discovery across the American landscape.”
  • Sheryl Stahl writes in: “At the Needle in the Bookstacks, we interviewed Sarah Bunin Benor about her new book: Becoming Frum: How Newcomers Learn the Language and Culture of Orthodox Judaism. Think what we can learn from this!”
  • Bagels, Books, and Schmooze shares two reviews: one discusses A Train in Winter, by Caroline Moorehead, and the other focuses on Jami Attenberg’s latest novel, The Middlesteins.
  • Jewaicious presents a review of Wandering Stars, by Sholem Aleichem (translated by Aliza Shevirn).
  • And The ProsenPeople, the blog of the Jewish Book Council, contributes author David Ebenbach’s “Visiting Scribe” post on the question of “What Makes a Short Story Jewish?”.

And some items from/about the world of books for children and young adults:

  • Two contributions from Heidi Estrin, president of the Association of Jewish Libraries. First, on The Book of Life, an interview with Sydney Taylor Book Award winning authors Susan Goldman Rubin (Music Was It: Young Leonard Bernstein) and Robert Sharenow (The Berlin Boxing Club). Then, on the AJL’s People of the Books blog, “Hanukkah Read Up!” a list of Hanukkah books for children recommended by the Sydney Taylor Book Award committee.
  • Over at The Times of Israel, blogger Yael Levy speaks with Canadian-Israeli author Anna Levine about Levine’s latest picture book, Jodie’s Passover Adventure.
  • On Jewish Books for Children, Barbara Bietz discusses Erica Silverman’s The Hanukkah Hop with the author.
  • Also for the Hanukkah season: Ann Koffsky reminds us of a read from last year, A Horse for Hanukkah, by Myriam Halberstam.
  • Over on The Fourth Musketeer, Margo Tanenbaum recommends some favorite Hanukkah stories to read aloud.
  • Similarly, Linda K. Wertheimer‘s blog post titled “It’s that Happy Whatever Time of Year” concludes with a short list of favorite children’s books on Hanukkah.

4 thoughts on “Jewish Book Carnival: December 2012

  1. Erika,
    Thanks for hosting. What a wealth of riches on this Jewish Book Carnival. As a parent of an almost 5-year-old, I’m particularly partial to the Hanukkah Read-up post. I plan to print it out.

    I’m looking forward to discovering more of Eric Kimmel’s books. Having growing up with little access to Jewish children’s literature, I love finding these gems as a mother.

    Linda

    1. Erika Dreifus says:

      Thanks for visiting, Linda, and thanks for your post.

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