BOOKS DISCUSSED AT OUR LAST MEETING:
The Art of Fielding, by Chad Harbach. We have heard that this debut novel was one of the best new books of 2011. Therefore, we struggled mightily to find a Jewish connection in order to make it eligible for discussion at one of our Book Nosh meetings. The following qualifications were proposed: (1) A good friend of Bev Cohen’s son-in-law (who is Jewish) wrote it; (2) One of the main characters, Mike Schwartz, is Jewish; (3) It is about two topics that are close to the hearts of American Jews – baseball and literature. Upon motion, duly made and seconded, the book was deemed eligible for discussion.
This is a book about a supremely gifted shortstop who, at some point in his college career, gets the yips. It is also a book about striving for perfection, and coming to terms with one’s fallibility. It is about baseball as a metaphor for life, but also about reading and writing great literature, about growing up and figuring out what to do with one’s life, and about relationships among its archetypal characters. According to our reviewer, in its more than 500 pages, this book, like a good shortstop, covers a lot of ground. However, it is a quick and enjoyable read. Highly recommended by our reviewer.
Small Wonder: The Little Red Schoolhouse in History and Memory, by Jonathan Zimmerman. The little red schoolhouse is one of the iconic images of America. In fact, there are a lot of these schoolhouses in our part of the country, including Blue Bell, although they are mostly not red around here, they are not used as schools anymore, and of course none of us has ever attended one. All the more reason to read this quick, breezy, entertaining, and enlightening volume about an aspect of American life that is part history, part mythology, and all nostalgia.
Song of Slaves in the Desert, by Alan Cheuse. Historical fiction is enjoying something of a revival currently, and this novel fits right in. It covers the period of American history from the 1830’s to the start of the Civil War. It tells the story of Nathaniel Pereira, a young New York Jew, who is sent by his father to help out on his uncle's South Carolina plantation. It turns out that the uncle is involved in the slave trade, and young Nathaniel becomes an eyewitness to the horrors of slavery, as well as a participant in the daily interactions between masters and slaves.
Although perhaps not a great work of either literature or history, this book does raise an important question about the involvement of Jews in the slave economy of the antebellum South. There is some irony in the fact that during early colonial history, the South was more welcoming to Jews that many northern cities and, as a result, there were relatively large Jewish communities in such places as Charleston, SC, Savannah, GA, and Mobile, AL. And there is little doubt that some of these southern Jews became slaveholders. In the 150 years since the end of slavery in this country, Jewish intellectuals have struggled with this legacy of slave ownerships, and many Jews have sought to atone for it by becoming major figures in the civil rights movement.
Alan Cheuse is a skilled writer, who manages to weave into his novel various threads about the history of slavery and life in antebellum South, combined with stories of illicit love, intrigue, manumission, miscegenation, and all-around melodrama. An interesting book, but not recommended for young readers, because of its graphic depictions of sex and violence.
Constantine's Sword, by James Carroll. This book, by a former Catholic priest, has generated much controversy, because of its core contention that the Church has waged a two-thousand-year battle against Judaism. Carroll’s well-research and massive tome traces the history of Catholic anti-Judaism from the New Testament, through the early Church teachings, the Crusades, the Inquisition, the Holy Week incitements to pogroms, all culminating in the Holocaust.
This is a book that will infuriate any Jewish reader, but it is also an essential aid in trying to answer the age-old question haunting Jews: Why do they hate us?
Food Rules: An Eater's Manual, by Michael Pollan. And now, for something entirely different, how about a few diet rules? (1) Eat food; (2) Don’t eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food; (6) Avoid food products that contain more than five ingredients; (9) Avoid food products with the wordoid “lite” or the term “low fat” in the title; (11) Avoid foods you see advertised on television; (12) Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle; (13) Eat only foods that will eventually rot; (20) It’s not food if it arrived through the window of your car; (21) It’s not food if it’s called by the same name in every language.
There are 64 chapters in all, each devoted to one of these rules. Lots of good, and entertaining, advice on healthy nutrition – something that we can all use.
This Is Where I Leave You, by Jonathan Tropper. A family gathers to sit shiva for their father. This is the first time they have gotten together in years. Old grudges are dredged up, embarrassing secrets are revealed, old flames and jealousies are rekindled. Rage, tragedy, betrayal, and helplessness compete for primacy. In short, a laugh-out-loud comedy. Recommended especially for those of us who have sat through a difficult shiva or two. Kind of like August: Osage County, but Jewish.
None of us enjoys talking or reading about Jew-hatred, but sticking our heads in the sand will not make it go away. The more we learn about this ancient scourge, the more we keep our eyes wide open to see its persistence in the world around us, the more effectively we can confront it and fight against it.
Four Decades of Polish Essays, by Jan Kott. Our reviewer confided to us that she approached this collection of essays with some trepidation, given the history of anti-Semitism in Poland. However, she was pleasantly surprised to find that included in this volume were a thoughtful essay about the need to examine the complex role of the Polish people in the genocide of Eastern European Jewry and a sympathetic essay about Polish Hasidic Jews. Of course, there are many other essays in this book about life in Poland since the end of WWII that will be of particular interest to those of us who have ties to, or origins in, this part of the world. A surprisingly rich and rewarding collection of essays, according to our reviewer.
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Please join us for our next meeting, on Tuesday, March 6, 2012, at 7:45 pm, at TBI.
