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 ]
Dialogue Books has acquired A Working-Class Family Ages Badly: A Memoir of Love and Life Between Two Pandemics by Juno Roche. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-12-17 17:09:37 UTC ]
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Acclaimed designer and thought leader Cheryl D. Miller shares her decades-long quest for design justice. Cheryl D. Miller is an acclaimed New York communications designer, artist, and theologian. She is the author of the memoir Black Coral: A Daughter’s Apology to Her Asian Island Mother and... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2020-12-17 08:00:08 UTC ]
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The 44th president of the United States does more than defend his legacy; he shares the values that have animated his life and political career. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-12-15 00:02:29 UTC ]
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The 44th president of the United States does more than defend his legacy; he shares the values that have animated his life and political career. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-12-15 00:02:29 UTC ]
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The 44th president of the United States does more than defend his legacy; he shares the values that have animated his life and political career. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-12-15 00:02:29 UTC ]
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Lit Lists Literary translation’s 2020 story is one of abundance and adaptation. Like most books published this year, dozens of new translations were published during a global pandemic. Events quickly moved from bookstores to Zoom. Writers and... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2020-12-14 20:55:17 UTC ]
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Apologies, but I have to begin my introduction to this list of books by briefly mentioning my own book; shout your aggrievance about this to the heavens if you must. Writing my book, which is a hybrid of memoir and reporting about my dog, was difficult for me at times, because I’m not used to... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2020-12-11 12:00:43 UTC ]
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Don Winslow sells a trilogy to William Morrow for seven figures, Dey Street buys a memoir from Moon Unit Zappa, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-12-11 05:00:00 UTC ]
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For a while, Melania Trump has teased that she might write a book after the Trump family exits the White House. I, like many, had mixed feelings. On one hand, it’d be interesting to see the Trump administration from the point of the view of the famously sullen First Lady; but on the other hand,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-12-10 18:18:04 UTC ]
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“I personally know the author of this story you’re reading.” Oh look, a new story by Rachel Kushner. | Lit Hub Fiction Finding your craft: Wright Thompson on bourbon, books, and writing your way out of small-town America. | Lit Hub Memoir “He ripped his shirt open, revealing the bloody tooth,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-12-09 11:30:37 UTC ]
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Seven Dials has acquired Dame Elizabeth Anionwu’s memoir Dreams From My Mother, a trailblazing nurse's story of how she overcame a background of shame, stigma and discrimination to dedicate her to life to fighting inequality. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-12-09 10:06:03 UTC ]
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Bonnier Books UK will publish The Right Sort of Girl, a "deeply personal" coming-of-age memoir from broadcaster Anita Rani. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-12-08 17:30:55 UTC ]
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Take a look at previous What We’re Reading blogs for more reading inspiration.Don’t Worry, Little Crab by Chris HaughtonAll Chris Haughton’s delightful picture books for young children open with a quotation, which the story then evinces. His latest, surprisingly, quotes Anaïs Nin: ‘Life shrinks... Continue reading at British Council global
[ British Council global | 2020-12-08 12:08:02 UTC ]
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Sinéad O’Connor's long-awaited and “revelatory” memoir Rememberings will be released by Penguin General imprint Sandycove in June 2021. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-12-08 08:41:00 UTC ]
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THE BASIC POLITICAL BACKDROP of Alex Niven’s New Model Island is that Britain is potentially only halfway through a 20-year period of Conservative governance, and that the union may lose several members before power changes hands at Westminster. But the book, a peculiar volume of polemic and... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books
[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2020-12-07 16:00:40 UTC ]
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New figures show total spending on Great Britain's libraries fell by £20m in the last financial year, as Libraries Connected warned more budget reductions are on the way. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-12-04 10:12:19 UTC ]
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Grigory Rodchenkov has won this year's William Hill Sports Book of the Year award for his memoir The Rodchenkov Affair: How I Brought Down Putin’s Secret Doping Empire (W H Allen). Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-12-03 21:02:42 UTC ]
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“I have never in my life met anyone with such an acute lexical feel for the specific word needed, for the hidden rhythm of a prose sentence.” Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn on his beloved wife Aliya. | Lit Hub Memoir “I am no longer acquainted with the people who made drug ingestion easy, or free, or... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-12-03 11:30:56 UTC ]
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Doreen Cunningham has won £10,000 for her memoir Soundings: A Journey with Whales at this year's Royal Society of Literature Giles St Aubyn Awards. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-12-03 05:13:41 UTC ]
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Booksellers reported a significant drop in customer traffic and a commensurate drop in sales, but online orders were way up, forcing bookstores to adapt. Barack Obama's memoir and Jeff Kinney's latest were the most popular titles over the Thanksgiving weekend at stores surveyed by 'PW.' Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-12-03 05:00:00 UTC ]
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