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Step Right Up to the Jewish Book Carnival

by Erika Dreifus on
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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
  • André Aciman writes about Irène Némirovsky.
  • Joan Leegant’s remarkable, Israel-set short story, “Beautiful Souls,” was chosen by Ron Carlson as winner of the 2011 Colorado Review Nelligan Prize. It is extraordinary, as is Leegant’s novel, Wherever You Go, which I finished reading on New Year’s Day. Hope to write more about Leegant’s work soon.
  • The New York Times reviews the Museum of Jewish Heritage’s Emma Lazarus exhibit.
  • More cultural news from NYC: Next week marks the start of the 21st annual New York Jewish Film Festival.
  • Looking for some book-club possibilities? Check out the Jewish Book Council’s themed reading lists.
  • Can you believe that it’s been almost one whole year since my short-story collection, Quiet Americans, was published? To celebrate this anniversary, I’m offering three free copies of my book. There’s no cost to enter this giveaway and the guidelines couldn’t be simpler. Read more here.

    • Shabbat shalom!

    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!

    Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

    by Erika Dreifus on
    1
  • As an academically trained historian of modern France, I subscribe to an active listserv on French history. This week, the listserv presented a review of The Hidden Children of France, 1940-45: Stories of Survival, edited by Danielle Bailly and translated by Betty Becker-Theye.
  • Barbara Krasner (The Whole Megillah) recently returned from Prague, where she visited the graves of Franz Kafka and Arnost Lustig.
  • I neglected to create a dedicated post on the 15th to announce the latest monthly Jewish Book Carnival. But it’s a good one, so please go over to the August host, the HUC-JIR librarians’ blog, and take a look.
  • Tablet profiles the impressive founder of Yaldah magazine.
  • Commentary magazine has launched a literary blog: Literary Commentary. According to the magazine’s editor, John Podhoretz, the blog “will be a place to discuss matters fictional, science-fictional, Jewish-fictional, and all other manner of story, and it will be the charge of D.G. Myers, long a professor of English literature at Texas A&M and now a member of the faculty of the Melton Center for Jewish Studies at Ohio State University.”
  • The Adventures of Augie March, by Saul Bellow, is Chicago’s latest “One Book, One Chicago” pick.
  • I purchased two novels for my Kindle this week: The Submission, by Amy Waldman (whom Eric Herschthal has just profiled for The Jewish Week), and, at long last, Sarah’s Key, by Tatiana de Rosnay, which I hope to read before going to see the movie (my parents saw it last week, and they are still talking about it).

    • Shabbat shalom!

    Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled
  • This week, Josh Lambert’s new books column looks at an array of “post-Holocaust” titles.
  • Judy Bolton-Fasman reviews Avi Steinberg’s Running the Books for The Jerusalem Report.
  • Interesting item on “Creativity and Cultural Arts in Today’s Jewish Europe.”
  • I am going to have to go see this exhibit at The Jewish Museum.
  • A new podcast from The Book of Life reminds me that Joan Leegant’s novel, Wherever You Go, remains on my tbr list.
  • In the July-August Moment magazine: Katharine Weber’s review of the new Wendy Wasserstein biography by Julie Salamon. And much more.

    • Shabbat shalom!