The 29th Austin Jewish Book Fair was held October 28 through November 1 at the Dell Jewish Community Campus. It was a pleasure to sit with my “sistahs” again at the fair (Sisterhood members of Congregation Agudas Achim), but the contrast between last year and this was noticeable. Last year the fair opened with the… Continue Reading
Austin hosted another Texas Book Festival over a beautifully crisp and sunny fall weekend, October 27-28. Having gone over budget at the vendor tents last year, I resisted temptation this time by heading straight for the capitol to hear authors speak. Not realizing that I would have to stand in line for a security check… Continue Reading
I love books. I love bargains. I love bargain books. Where do you do your bargain basement book buying? My first forays into used book buying were with my dad at the venerable Holmes Book Company on 14th Street in Oakland, California. Built in 1924, the store was spacious but dark with unpainted wood everywhere—floors,… Continue Reading
Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots (Simon & Schuster, 2012) is Deborah Feldman’s memoir of growing up in Brooklyn in the most insular of Chasidic sects, the Satmars. Fathered by the village idiot and abandoned by her mother, Feldman is raised by her grandparents, a bride at 17, a mother at 19, and… Continue Reading
How does one combine memoir, ethnography, self-discovery, and history, while contributing to two important bodies of literature—Holocaust and psychotherapy—in an eminently readable book? Do what Leila Levinson has done in Gated Grief: The Daughter of a GI Concentration Camp Liberator Discovers a Legacy of Trauma (Cable Publishing, 2011). The breadth of her project is evident… Continue Reading
