Sunday Sentence

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

katha p_0In which I participate in David Abrams’s “Sunday Sentence” project, sharing the best sentence I’ve read during the past week, “out of context and without commentary.

I don’t agree that the drawings of Mohammed are in a different key than the magazine’s rude caricatures of the Pope or Hasidic rabbis or the Virgin Mary just after being raped by the three kings, but maybe that’s in the eye of the beholder.

Source: Katha Pollitt, “‘Charlie Hebdo’ Deserves Its Award for Courage in Free Expression. Here’s Why” (The Nation)

Pre-Shabbat Jewish Literary Links

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen
Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen
Every Friday My Machberet presents an array of Jewish-interest links, primarily of the literary variety.

  • Podcast I intend to listen to this weekend: Gil Roth interviewing Thane Rosenbaum for The Virtual Memories Show.
  • On the occasion of Anthony Trollope’s 200th birthday, Ann Marlowe argues that Trollope is “the most Jewish of the great English novelists.” (I *need* to read some Trollope. But where to begin?)
  • Grateful for this summary of a New York Public Library “Children’s Literary Salon” that focused on Jewish kidlit.
  • ICYMI: My latest “From My Bookshelf” post here on My Machberet spotlights Michal Lemberger’s After Abel and Other Stories.
  • Finally, Fig Tree Books, publisher of fiction on the American Jewish experience, made a big announcement this week. (Hint: It has something to do with forthcoming titles.)

    • Shabbat Shalom!

    Midweek Post from a Practicing Writer

    by Erika Dreifus on
    2

    UnknownRecommended Reading

    Over on my other blog, I’m singing the praises of Michal Lemberger’s new collection After Abel and Other Stories. If you’re looking for a new book with which to celebrate Short Story Month (May!), you might consider this one. (For anyone consciously trying to “Read Women,” it’s an especially appropriate choice.)

     

    New iPhone!

    Okay, so maybe this isn’t directly writing-related, but this week also brought me an iPhone upgrade! I leapfrogged over from my old iPhone4 to a snazzy 6! A lovely little quality-of-life upgrade, I must say. Including a noticeably improved camera. To wit: a photo snapped after a recent run in Central Park. How do you like it?

    CParkApril28

    Dispatch from the Day Job

    Last, but by no means least: Things are hopping over at my day job with Fig Tree Books. Just today, in fact, we’ve unveiled our fall 2015 list. You’ll see why I’m so excited about it when you read the announcement.

    From My Bookshelf: AFTER ABEL AND OTHER STORIES by Michal Lemberger

    by Erika Dreifus on
    2

    Unknown As per usual, it has been a busy time, and I haven’t been able to read as much as I’d like to. But among the few books that I have managed to finish lately is one that still has me thinking: Michal Lemberger’s After Abel and Other Stories (Prospect Park Books).

    I’d been looking forward to this book of short stories for months, ever since I read the piece titled “Lot’s Wife” in Lilith magazine. Shortly thereafter, I enrolled in a Jewish-writing class myself that shared some parallels with Lemberger’s project in its approach.

    So what is Lemberger’s project? In a recent post for the Jewish Book Council’s blog, she explained: (more…)