June Jewish Book Carnival

It is my pleasure to host this month's Jewish Book Carnival, a selection of  book reviews; interviews with authors, publishers, librarians and others about Jewish books; and essays about Jewish books and literature. 

The purposes of the Jewish Book Carnival are to build community among bloggers who feature Jewish books on their blogs and to promote Jewish reading, and fields supporting this reading such as publishing and library services.


Without further ado, here are this month's selections:

At Book Q&As with Deborah Kalb, Deborah talks with author Barbara Stark-Nemon about Barbara's new book, Even in Darkness, a novel based on her great-aunt's concentration camp experiences. 

At The Best Chapter, Diana Bletter interviews Michelle Brafman on her first novel, Washing the Dead, about how participating in a tahara ritual helps the narrator turn her life around.

The Fig Tree Books blog celebrates what would have been Saul Bellow's 100th birthday (June 10th) with some notes gleaned around the Web and three writers' discussions of Bellow novels.

Erika Dreifus shifts from the page to the screen as she recommends "Above and Beyond," a documentary about the (mostly) American pilots who helped Israel win its independence. Find her review at her blog --  My Machberet.

Photojournalism and romance are the topics of interest at Lorri M. Writings and Photography, where Lorri reviews Waiting for Robert Capa by Susana Fortes.

Heidi at The Book of Life blog hosts a podcast interview with filmmaker Ian Rosenberg about his documentary "Welcome to Kutsher’s," a loving tribute to the last Catskills resort.

At the Whole Megillah, Barbara Krasner interviews Tracy Newman about her new picture book, Uncle Eli's Wedding.

Finally, I left the comfort of my reading spot and ventured into Jerusalem for Hebrew Book Week and The Festival of Light. You can "picture" it at Life Is Like a Library.


I'd like to thank all the contributors for sharing, and for making my first time hosting much less daunting than I thought it would be.  One of the benefits:  I got to see all these great blogs first!

Book Week and the Festival of Light

Hebrew Book Week takes place every June in Israel. While I will rant another time about why every event has to take place at First Station when they are many beautiful venues around Jerusalem, it is always nice to see so many people enthused about books, especially children. Alas for me, but maybe good for my wallet, almost everything was in Hebrew. Equally impressive was the variety of books for so many different interests.






I missed seeing Sydney Taylor Book Award Winner Penina Moed Kass when she was there, but I spotted her Berele the Snail books:

I also enjoyed seeing the Hebrew versions of the Minions from Despicable Me and, of course, Captain Underpants:

From First Station, it was on to the Old City for dinner and a dose of bad grammar:

As the sun began to set, the lights came on and the crowds teemed.  Although I did not get to see all the installations and displays, I really enjoyed "The Large Pendulum Wave" and "Tower of David Ramparts:"

This month's reading did not include any standouts, but my book club read The Aleppo Codex by Matti Friedman. We had a lively discussion about the sadness of this story and what an amazing job Friedman did in laying out the saga with its cast of characters and cultural nuances. I had read the book when it first came out in 2012, and one of the first things I did was go see (what's left of) the Codex in the Israel Museum:

This manuscript was beautifully "written out" in 925 and was used by the Rambam as a reference.  Although "stranger than fiction" and "non-fiction that reads like fiction" are quite trite and overused, the book is both of these and more.

More pictures than words this month, but looking ahead:

A book about challah

A memoir

Beating the Elul Rush

Happy Reading!