Book Reviews Alan Levenson Ever since early Islam, Jews have been dubbed the people of the book. The title stuck in European lands too, a deferential nod to the role of the Hebrew Bible in the Western canon, the breadth of Jewish literacy (never universal, often gender-specific), and the sheer productivity of Jewish authors—or today, Jewish and non-Jewish authors writing about the subject. I prefer this paean to bookishness, bestowed by outsiders, to Ecclesiastes’ musing, “of the making of books there is no end,” which sounds like unwarranted kvetching. Elisabeth Gallas’s A Mortuary of Books: The Rescue of Jewish Culture after the Holocaust (NYU Press, 2019) and Lisa Moses Leff’s The Archive Thief: The Man Who Salvaged French Jewish History in the Wake of the Holocaust (Oxford University Press, 2015) confirm the verdict of Jorge Luis Borges, who called the book the most astonishing human instrument. It seems the desire for preserving books is also lodged deep in the human soul. These two volumes stem from the desire to recount the efforts to rescue books and scrolls and ritual items from the fires of the Holocaust. Both volumes chronicle the life-affirming response to the Nazis’ nihilistic intent to destroy not only Jewish lives but any vestige of Jewish learning. Gallas and Neff confirm the verdict of Jorge Luis Borges, who called the book the most astonishing human instrument. It seems the desire for preserving books is also... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'
[ World Literature Today | 2019-07-02 20:46:30 UTC ]
This new play based on Martin McKenna’s memoir tells a difficult story with theatrical skill and artistic heart. Continue reading at The Conversation
[ The Conversation | 2021-03-01 05:56:16 UTC ]
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Mrabet was friends with Paul Bowles—and, it’s assumed, lovers, too—and they were artistic collaborators. But his memoir begins long before they met. Continue reading at The Paris Review
[ The Paris Review | 2021-02-26 14:00:30 UTC ]
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Allen & Unwin to publish How to be a Rock Star by Shaun Ryder, a memoir that promises to lift the lid on what it's like to be a rock star. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-25 01:13:37 UTC ]
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The bestselling novelist, subject of an upcoming HBO Max biopic and author of the new memoir 'The Soul of a Woman' discusses aging, feminism and home. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-02-24 17:00:12 UTC ]
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Two Roads will publish Billy Connolly's first autobiography, titled Windswept and Interesting. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-24 15:35:50 UTC ]
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A memoir by Where the Crawdads Sing author Delia Owens and her husband Mark Owens, titled Cry of the Kalahari, will be reissued by Corsair in October, 36 years after its first release. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-23 09:02:09 UTC ]
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Skyhorse Publishing, the imprint behind director Woody Allen's memoir, is considering suing HBO for sampling its audiobook for a documentary series. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-02-22 22:46:48 UTC ]
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John Murray Press imprint Two Roads has acquired Devorgilla Days: A Memoir of Hope and Healing by Kathleen Hart, a "heart-warming and deeply moving" memoir about recovery, resilience and starting over. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-22 09:27:36 UTC ]
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Cassell will publish the “hilarious and unflinching” memoir from award-winning author and journalist Emma John about "what it means to be alone when everyone else isn't". Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-22 00:54:33 UTC ]
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WHAT WOULD YOU DO if the person who hurt you most refused to say they were sorry? Could you forgive anyway? Best-selling author Susan Shapiro explores this universal question in her intriguing, insightful, all-too-relatable new book The Forgiveness Tour, out this past January. In her... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books
[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2021-02-21 18:00:04 UTC ]
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A syllabus of sorts for exploring some of the funniest books of all time by the funniest people. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-02-19 10:00:27 UTC ]
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Kristin Iversen profiles Patricia Lockwood, writer of crystalline sentences, really good tweets, and a new novel about much more than the internet. | Lit Hub Yemisi Adegoke grapples with what it means to be a “returnee” to Lagos, after growing up in the UK. | Lit Hub Memoir “Am I prepared? Is... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-02-18 10:30:19 UTC ]
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An excerpt from “Blindfold: A Memoir of Capture, Torture, and Enlightenment,” by Theo Padnos Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-02-16 13:32:26 UTC ]
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“Blindfold” is the American journalist Theo Padnos’s memoir of his nearly two years in captivity and a meditation on resilience. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-02-16 10:00:06 UTC ]
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“Ticking Clock,” a new memoir by Ira Rosen, a former producer for the show, recounts the newsmagazine’s pathbreaking journalism and its culture of harassment and abuse. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-02-16 10:00:05 UTC ]
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In 'Between Two Kingdoms,' young cancer survivor Suleika Jaouad writes with fierce honesty about the false divide between the sick and the well. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-02-15 15:00:38 UTC ]
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Actress and activist Evanna Lynch is publishing a "raw and compelling" memoir with Headline, exploring eating disorders and "the battle between perfection and creativity". Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-15 11:29:21 UTC ]
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Vanessa Springora’s memoir, Consent, electrified the French literary world. American readers will find it exhilarating. Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2021-02-15 10:50:00 UTC ]
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“Still, the best, most generative conversations mostly happen out of the public eye.” Wayne Miller on the hazards of talking poetry on social media. | Lit Hub As Gabriel Byrne watches his father’s decline, he wonders if it’s ever possible to be truly honest with himself. | Lit Hub Memoir “It... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-02-13 11:30:54 UTC ]
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Michael Patrick F. Smith’s “The Good Hand” is a memoir about grinding work in the last days of the Bakken oil boom. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-02-12 10:00:02 UTC ]
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