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Step Right Up to the Jewish Book Carnival

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

My Machberet is proud to serve as January 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: (more…)

Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

  • From Women in Judaism: “We are delighted to announce the electronic publication of two new issues of Women in Judaism: A Multidisciplinary Journal. The journal can be accessed at www.womeninjudaism.org. Click on the following links to access the new issues: Vol. 8:1 http://tinyurl.com/7plstwa; Vol. 8:2 http://tinyurl.com/lgo2br.”
  • Lisa Katz goes “Beyond Amichai” in her take on contemporary Israeli poetry.
  • Discovered this extraordinary photo-essay-exhibit by Beth Burstein thanks to the lively discussion unfolding in a Generations of the Shoah (GSI) Facebook discussion group. As curator Sura Levine describes it, this work “explores[s] Burstein’s dual identity as an American born well after World War II and as the daughter of a Holocaust survivor. Intimate and public, these images function at the margins of both the documentary and fine art.”
  • Mazel tov to the National Jewish Book Awards’ latest winners and finalists.
  • Coming up February 16 in NYC: “Soviet-Jewish Experience in NYC, 1972-2000, In Fact and Fiction.” Featuring Anya Ulinich, Lina Zeldovich, Mikhail Iossel, Emily Rubin, and Anneliese Orleck. Tickets are $10 ($8 for Members of the CUNY Graduate Center).
  • Attention, book bloggers! “The Sydney Taylor Book Award committee is preparing to announce the best Jewish kidlit published in the past year. Winners will be revealed in mid-January, and there will be a blog tour for medal-winning authors/illustrators in February! If you’re interested in interviewing a winner and hosting a stop on the blog tour, please let us know! If you’d like to participate, please email Barbara Krasner(at)barbarakrasner(dot)att(dot)net and CC Heidi Estrin at Heidi(at)cbiboca(dot)org.”
  • Yesterday’s main feature on Jewish Ideas Daily was a piece titled “Among the Literati.” Its author: yours truly.

    • Shabbat shalom!
    (Photo by Reut Miryam Cohen.)

    Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

    by Erika Dreifus on
    2
  • Some fascinating literary history involving Ralph Waldo Emerson and Emma Lazarus, courtesy of Benjamin Ivry on The Forward‘s Arty Semite blog.
  • Thanks to the Yiddishkayt site, I discovered a fabulous video profile of author Arnost Lustig (1926-2011) that was produced for Czech TV. Thankfully, there are English subtitles. And the profile perfectly captures Arnost, with whom I had the privilege of studying in the Prague Summer Program in 2004. Arnost would have turned 85 last week.
  • On her Jewish Muse blog, Linda K. Wertheimer reflects on writing about faith and related writings that she published this year.
  • It’s not common for me to publicly utter anything resembling a criticism of Israel. (See this poem on that subject.) On the contrary, one link I planned to share this week is The Jewish Week‘s editorial chiding The New York Times, which includes a number of sentiments that I share about the latter’s Israel coverage. But that same New York Times was also the source this week of an Israel-related op-ed that I find deeply disturbing—and this time my upset is not directed toward the newspaper. I hope that Yad Vashem will correct the injustice described in the piece (and confirmed by an easy online search).
  • After an inexcusable delay, I’m currently reading Joan Leegant’s Wherever You Go. I’m sorry that it took me this long to begin this excellent novel.

    • Shabbat shalom and Happy 2012, all!

    My Year in Jewish Books

    by Erika Dreifus on
    6

    Looking back at my reading for 2011 (thank you, Goodreads!), I can see that I do not and would not ever limit my reading to “Jewish books” exclusively. (By the way, I define “Jewish books” as books with substantive Jewish content/themes. In my view, non-Jewish authors can write “Jewish books.” And Jewish authors can write books that don’t strike me as particularly Jewish. I read several of those books this year, too.)

    But this year, as usual, I did read quite a few books that fall within the “Jewish book” category. And, as an advocate for Jewish literature, I’m proud of that. Moreover, although it wasn’t intentional, when I revisit the record of my reading (again, thanks, Goodreads!), I find that there are 18 such titles.

    Below, you will find these books presented in the order in which I read them. Please note that, where appropriate, I have included links to reviews/essays/newsy items I have written; interviews I have conducted; and chat transcripts in which you will see I participated. I have also disclosed how I obtained each book: P (purchase), G (gift), R (complimentary review copy), L (library). NB: Later this week, I’ll publish a “meta-post” with some thoughts and observations based on this one.

    Meantime, maybe you will find a title or two (or 18) for your own reading list. Or for a gift for someone else.  (more…)

    Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled
  • Beautiful essay by Thomas Israel Hopkins on Tablet, on grieving, Jewishly, for a non-Jewish parent.
  • Anna Solomon’s Little Bride continues to attract lots of attention. See Judy Bolton-Fasman’s post for The Forward‘s Sisterhood blog for some especially interesting thoughts.
  • Kevin Haworth revisits “The Catskills” for Defunct, “a literary repository for the ages.”
  • Poet and professor Rick Chess reflects on Amichai, Asheville, and more.
  • Last call! Come join us on Sunday afternoon to talk about “Looking Backward: History, the Holocaust, and Literary Writing in the Third Generation.”

    • Shabbat shalom!