Category: Judaism/Jewish Culture

June 21, 2010

The Lost: A search for six of six million, by Daniel Mendelsohn **** (of 4)

Nearly sixty years after the author’s great-uncle, wife, and four daughters disappeared in the Holocaust, the author searches for their memories. Beginning with his grandfather’s...

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June 21, 2010

Joy Comes in the Morning by Jonathan Rosen *** (of 4)

An assistant Reform Rabbi slowly loses touch with God while she falls in love with the son of a Holocaust survivor who slowly finds God...

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June 21, 2010

Foreskin’s Lament by Shalom Auslander **** (of 4)

Auslander carries all of Woody Allen’s neuroses into the 21st Century and does it with panache. This autobiography is a therapeutic disgorging of growing up...

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June 21, 2010

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer * (of 4)

Has received excellent reviews from Newsweek, New York Times, New Yorker, and my mother, but I couldn’t read even half of it, so take my...

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June 21, 2010

Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer *** (of 4)

I really enjoyed this book, but I have to admit I didn’t understand it. The story line kept coming in and out of focus. Nevertheless,...

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June 21, 2010

East of Eden by John Steinbeck **** (of 4)

A retelling of the stories of Adam, Eve, Cain, and Abel transposed to three generations of two families living mostly in Salinas, California during the...

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June 21, 2010

Born to Kvetch: Yiddish Language and Culture in All its Moods by Michael Wex **** (of 4)

Wex is three-fourths scholar and one quarter stand-up comic. In departure from say Rosten’s books on Yiddish, which list words, definitions, and accompanying anecdotes, Wex...

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June 21, 2010

Betrothed by S.Y. Agnon *** (of 4)

A wonderful little novella that I listened to on tape about a botanist who arrives in Palestine in 1909 (I think) is quickly surrounded by...

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June 21, 2010

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon *** (of 4)

Written for a thinking reader, treats you like you are intelligent, though he could have used a bit of editing to cut some of the...

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April 30, 2010

The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs **** (of 4)

Jacobs takes a year to live strictly adhering to the bible. He doesn’t know bubkes when he begins and figures he’ll start reading Genesis and...

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