New Worthy Reads

by Peter Manseau

Guest blogging on Jewcy: January 19 - 23.

Publishers' Weekly said:
Known for Vows, his memoir of growing up the son of a former priest and nun, Manseau uses an alter ego to tell the story of fictional Yiddish poet Itsik Malpesh, born in the Moldovan city of Kishinev in 1903. Itsik's story is told through his Yiddish memoirs, which he helps a young American Catholic (working, like Manseau once did, as a Yiddish archivist) translate. Inspired by the image of Sasha, the brave butcher's daughter who was present at his birth, Itsik reaches America in young adulthood through haphazard luck, a taste for troublemaking and the inventiveness of a printer. Sasha continually inspires and confounds Itsik throughout his life, becoming an apt symbol for Yiddish humor, sorrow and idealism. As Itsik's darkly picaresque immigrant narrative unfolds, it competes with the translator's modern romance and with insights into the art of translation and the history of Yiddish. Occasional narrative missteps are not enough to undercut this rich, often ironic homage to Yiddish culture and language. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Release date: September 9, 2008

Check out Peter's web site, or cut to the chase and buy his book!

by Lia Romeo & Nick Romeo

Guest blogging on Jewcy: January 19 - 23.

11,002 Things to Be Miserable About is a list of all the reasons NOT to wake up in the morning. Ironically enough, when you put all of them under one cover, it's actually very funny. This decidedly absurd inventory of misery is perfect for sardonic and disaffected youth, for people seeking gifts for Traumatic Event Birthdays (like 21, 25, 30, 40, and, well, anything after 40), and for anyone else with an offbeat sense of humor. Enjoy.

Some of the entries are pretty basic, like imitation crabmeat, student loans, and David Hasselhoff, but other entries actually include educational things, like: Dust mites, which make up one-third of the weight of a six-year-old pillow. See, you can laugh and learn.

Release date: February 1, 2009 

Check out the Things to Be Miserable About web site or cut to the chase and buy the book! 

by Maria Balinska

Guest blogging on Jewcy: February 2 - 6.

From Publishers Weekly: 

From the Italian ciambella in a 17th-century portrait of a young prince to the 1959 album Bagels and Bongos by pianist Irving Fields, journalist and BBC radio editor Balinska traces the cultural identity of a New York City icon from its humble beginnings in Poland to the freezer section of American supermarkets. Balinska's own interest in the bagel began with a year spent in Warsaw, Poland, as a graduate student, where she learned that her own family history was relevant to that of the bagel. She then unearths a plethora of little-known facts about this breakfast staple, recounting its role in children's nursery rhymes, Poland's economic crisis of 1929, even its place in a McCall's magazine spread in 1963 next to Shirley Temple where the magazine encouraged its readers to Join the stars below in this salute to Manhattan's most popular breakfast-bagels and lox. While the book may be too dry for the run-of-the- mill bagel lover, academics and dedicated foodies will appreciate Balinska's considerable research as well as her forays into the late 19th-century Jewish immigrant experience and American pop culture. Photos. (Nov.) 

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 

Release date: November 3, 2008 

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by Tania Grossinger

Guest blogging on Jewcy: February 9-13.

From 1919 to 1986, Grossinger's Catskill Resort Hotel provided a summer retreat from the city heat for New York's Jews, and entertained the great, the near-great, and the not so great, Jews and Gentiles alike. A melting pot of the Borscht Belt, sports, and show-biz worlds, loyal visitors included Red Buttons, Rocky Marciano, Eddie Fisher, and Jackie Robinson. Tania Grossinger grew up there. In her fascinating insider's account of life in the hospitality industry, she sheds light on how hotel children keep up with the frenetic pace of life, and how they come to grips with the outside world (which intrudes now and again), sex (happening in every room), and, occasionally, their intellectual interests. Growing Up at Grossinger's is both a wonderful coming-of-age story and a sentimental reading of a chapter of the Jewish experience in America that has now closed.

Release date: June 1, 2008

Visit Tania's website, or cut to the chase and buy her book!

by Diana Spechler

Guest blogging on Jewcy: February 9-13.

From Publishers Weekly
In her affecting debut, Spechler raises the question of whether, in rescuing others, we risk ruining ourselves. Thirteen years after the abduction of youngest child Alena at the age of six, the remaining members of the Kellerman family are still deeply damaged by their shared loss. The irresponsible oldest daughter, Bits, seeks out random sexual encounters with near strangers to fill the voids in her life. Son Ash, meanwhile, dabbles in a variety of compulsive behaviors before settling on Orthodox Judaism, cutting himself off from the rest of the family and moving to Jerusalem. The mother, Ellie, enlists the help of a charismatic stranger to help save Ash from what she views as a cult, and when Alena's remains are discovered, Bits determines to bring Ash home for their sister's long-overdue memorial service. Told in alternating chapters by Bits, Ellie and Ash, the narrative is notable in large part for how little these family members actually interact with one another despite the drama that confronts them all. Though the ending is overly tidy, Spechler's debut raises provocative questions about religion, violence and the resilience of families and individuals.    

Release date: September 2008

Check out Diana's Web site or cut to the chase and buy the book! 

by Melissa Seligman

Guest blogging on Jewcy: February 16-20 

Melissa Seligman is something rare in the world of military families-a military wife who is also a beautiful writer. Here she describes her feelings as she watches her husband walk away from her and her newborn, knowing full well that he might not return from the war in Iraq. She experiences saying goodbye twice-both times he left when their children were still infants. While he's away from home again, Melissa struggles to remember the goodness of her husband and the joy of their life together. Working hard to raise a baby and a four-year old, Melissa tells of the heartbreak and desperation she experiences at home. She watches her daughter clutch a G.I. Joe doll she's named "Little Daddy," and wonders if the family will make it through.

Hers is a story of sadness and strength, desperation and hope, displacement and unity. It's a story that anyone left behind (and we have all been left behind) will respond to, one that, unfortunately, is becoming more and more common as the war in Iraq continues. This is a work of timely and powerful non-fiction by a significant new author. 

Release date: October 6, 2008

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by Rebecca Walker

Guest blogging on Jewcy: February 16-20.

From Publishers Weekly
These plainspoken, cage-rattling essays, collected by Walker (What Makes a Man), address how dramatically the traditional nuclear American family has changed. Jenny Block's And Then We Were Poly sets the decidedly unconventional tone by insisting that her and her husband's embrace of other sexual partners allows them a more joyful, fulfilling commitment to each other. A gay couple adopts the child of a self-destructive street girl in Dan Savage's DJ's Homeless Mommy, then tries to keep the mother in touch with her son. In Sharing Madison, Dawn Friedman, another parent of an adoptee, writes of her agonizing process of overcoming the guilt she feels in having taken baby Madison away from her teenage mother. Antonio Caya, in Daddy Donoring, recounts his rational decision to sire his friend's child, firmly remaining a donor, not a daddy, so as not to muddle the issue. Children of mixed race force a much-needed altering of people's perceptions, as ZZ Packer explores in The Look, while Susan McKinney de Ortega's choice to marry a much younger Mexican man and make a home in Mexico challenges the American notion of middle-class values. These fresh, diverse views represent an authentic, valuable new reality.    

Release date: February 19, 2009

Check out Rebecca's Web site or cut to the chase and buy the book! 

by Melvin Konner

Guest Blogging on Jewcy: February 23-27. 

Melvin Konner, a renowned doctor and anthropologist, takes the measure of the "Jewish body," considering sex, circumcision, menstruation, and even those most elusive and controversial of microscopic markers-Jewish genes. But this is not only a book that examines the human body through the prism of Jewish culture. Konner looks as well at the views of Jewish physiology held by non-Jews, and the way those views seeped into Jewish thought. He describes in detail the origins of the first nose job, and he writes about the Nazi ideology that categorized Jews as a public health menace on par with rats or germs. 

A work of grand historical and philosophical sweep, The Jewish Body discusses the subtle relationship between the Jewish conception of the physical body and the Jewish conception of a bodiless God. It is a book about the relationship between a land-Israel-and the bodily sense not merely of individuals but of a people. As Konner describes, a renewed focus on the value of physical strength helped generate the creation of a Jewish homeland, and continued in the wake of it. 

With deep insight and great originality, Konner gives us nothing less than an anatomical history of the Jewish people. 

Release date: January 13, 2009.

Check out Melvin's Web site or cut to the chase and buy the book! 

by Jeremy Benstein, Ph.D.

Guest blogging on Jewcy: March 2 - 6. 

For everyone who wants to understand how Jews view the natural world and the responsibilities of environmental stewardship, this book provides the way into an essential aspect of Judaism and allows you to interact directly with the sacred texts of the Jewish tradition.

At a time of growing concern about environmental issues, Jeremy Benstein, PhD--a founder and associate director of the Heschel Center for Environmental Learning and Leadership--explores the relationship Jews have with the natural world and the ways in which Judaism contributes to contemporary social-environmental issues. He also shows us the extent to which Judaism is part of the problem and how it can be part of the solution.

Benstein offers both an environmental interpretation of Judaism and a Jewish approach to environmentalism, examining the dilemmas and questions we face when evaluating Judaism's role in the care of creation:

What environmentalism is. What do we mean by a "sustainable society"? What in our lives and our society needs to change in order to achieve it? How can we best apply Jewish ethics of caring for the land in all our lands and in the Land--the Land of Israel? 

What the creation stories can teach us about who we are and what nature is. Are we essentially a part of the natural world--or crucially apart from it? Are we masters of creation--or its servants? Are we creatures or creators? What dreams and responsibilities flow from these roles? 

The relevance of Torah and traditional sources. What contemporary insights can be gleaned from ancient teachings? What role should the material world play in our spiritual lives? How can bringing Judaism and environmentalism into creative dialogue enrich our understanding of ourselves and our world, and contribute to tikkun olam, our repair of that world?  

 Release date: October 2006.

Cut to the chase and buy the book! 

by Liz Funk

Guest blogging on Jewcy: March 9-13

"Liz Funk has written a smart, insightful and important book for every woman who thinks she has to do--and be--it all. Women of all ages will benefit from this highly readable, highly enjoyable read."-- Abby Ellin, author of Teenage Waistland: A Former Fat Kid Weighs in on Living Large, Losing Weight and How Parents Can (and Can't) Help

"Liz Funk exposes the dark side of high-achieving young women - and what lies behind their desire to be perfect - with sympathy and candor. Parents may freak out at first read but girls will say, 'Ohmigod, that is so true.' Supergirls will jump-start a conversation between generations that is long overdue."-- Laura Sessions Stepp, author of Unhooked: How Young Women Pursue Sex, Delay Love and Lose at Both 

"Too many young women feel enormous pressure to attain unrealistic standards of perfection in every area of their lives. The emotional toll is often damaging -- and can be life-threatening. With Supergirls Speak Out, Liz Funk performs an invaluable service by examining this serious problem and exploring what we can do to help young women lead healthier, happier lives." -- Leslie Bennetts, author of The Feminine Mistake: Are We Giving Up Too Much?

Release date: March 3, 2009 

Check out Liz's web site or cut to the chase and buy the book! 

by Edgar M. Bronfman

Guest blogging on Jewcy: March 9-13.

From Publishers Weekly:

Bronfman, a philanthropist, former World Jewish Congress president and former Seagram CEO, bemoans the dry, joyless Judaism of his youth, which he in turn transmitted to his own children. The Holocaust and fear of anti-Semitism are no longer enough to drive Jewish identity and participation, he argues, along with writer Zasloff; only a more open, more celebratory and hopeful communal life will draw and retain young Jews. This community must be pluralistic, unreservedly welcoming intermarried Jews and their spouses, gay Jews and others outside the traditional Jewish mold. (Among the scores of mostly young leaders the authors quote is the first Asian-American rabbi.). Few of these ideas are new, and, occasionally, Bronfman oversimplifies, as when he reduces the complex issue of intermarriage to the need for an open tent, mirroring the hospitality of the biblical Abraham and Sarah. Still, Bronfman has spoken to and learned from a highly diverse group of American Jewish religious and cultural leaders outside the mainstream to fashion a fairly coherent view of what a more vibrant Jewish future might looks like.

Release date: September 2008

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by Joanna Smith Rakoff

Guest blogging on Jewcy: April 6-10.

From Publishers Weekly
Rakoff's debut novel is a ponderous, meandering and nostalgic portrait of a postcollegiate group of Gen-Xers awkwardly navigating weddings, pregnancies, betrayals and funerals in pre- and post-9/11 New York City. At the center of the group is Sadie Peregrine, a rising book editor who is having trouble reconciling her personal and professional ambitions. Rounding out her circle is Lil, a depressed and flailing scholar; Emily, a starving actress; Tal, a successful actor; Beth, a would-be English prof; and Dave, an enigmatic musician and Beths ex-boyfriend. The writing is episodic and relies heavily on exposition, and many character interactions and plot developments occur off the page and are referred to only indirectly. At her best, Rakoff offers a carefully studied glimpse into her characters minds. Too often, though, the large cast and the hopscotch chronology come at the expense of narrative tension, of which there isn't much. Thirty-somethings looking back wistfully on their 20s and their struggles with the vicissitudes of adulthood might get a bang out of this.    

Release date: April 7, 2009 

Cut to the chase and buy the book!