02/23/2023 09:43:50 AM
By Robin Jacobson, Library & Literary Programs Director
Thistlefoot by GennaRose Nethercott is a rollicking adventure story of magical realism, a spellbinding blend of old and new folklore. Comical yet profound, the novel explores serious subjects – inherited trauma, the roots of mob violence, and the power of folklore to preserve cultural history. Widely...Read more...
01/19/2023 02:29:28 PM
By Robin Jacobson, Library & Literary Programs Director
During an unwelcome visit from Covid-19, I dosed myself with soup, lemon drops (good for masking that metallic Paxlovid taste), and three novels: The Cost of Living by local author Saul Golubcow (detective fiction), Atomic Anna by Rachel Barenbaum (science fiction), and Eternal by Lisa Scottoline (historical...Read more...
12/30/2022 10:03:37 AM
By Robin Jacobson, Library & Literary Programs Director
Which three persons, living or dead, would you invite to a dinner party? The New York Times Book Review regularly asks this question in interviews. After reading Georgetown Law professor Brad Snyder’s fascinating biography, Democratic Justice: Felix Frankfurter, the Supreme Court, and the Making of the Liberal Establishment, I propose...Read more...
10/26/2022 10:36:23 AM
By Robin Jacobson, Library & Literary Programs Director
With 20/20 historical hindsight, it can be unbearable to read stories of European Jews in the 1930s who turned down opportunities to flee Europe. If only we could reach back in time and insist that they start packing. Tragically, they didn’t know then what we know now about the danger, destruction, and death that lay ahead.
Even...Read more...
10/26/2022 10:36:19 AM
By Robin Jacobson, Library & Literary Programs Director
My pharmacist dad reveled in books about epic breakthroughs in medicine and science. On my bookshelf, I found his copy of The Double Helix (1968), a memoir by James Watson of his discovery with Francis Crick of the structure of DNA, a feat for which they won a Nobel Prize in 1962. This discovery paved the way for stunning scientific...Read more...
09/09/2022 11:43:20 AM
By Robin Jacobson, Library & Literary Programs Director
Israeli author Omer Friedlander, only 28 years old, made a stunning entrance onto the literary stage this past spring. Big-name publisher Random House published his debut short story collection, The Man Who Sold Air in the Holy Land, and announced that it would also publish Friedlander’s upcoming novel. To add to the excitement,...Read more...
08/04/2022 12:57:51 PM
By Robin Jacobson, Library & Literary Programs Director
Early Shabbat morning, October 16, 1943, Nazi soldiers stormed Jewish neighborhoods in Rome, rounding up terrified Jews. They imprisoned them for two days in a military college near the Vatican before dispatching over 1,000 Jews to Auschwitz. Famously, Pope Pius XII made no protest.
Two fascinating new books look at...Read more...
05/24/2022 01:05:55 PM
By Robin Jacobson, Library & Literary Programs Director
On October 6, 1973, air raid sirens shattered the solemn quiet of Yom Kippur afternoon in Israel. Egypt and Syria had launched a two-front surprise attack. Within a few days, Israeli casualties were skyrocketing, and the state had lost alarming numbers of planes and tanks. Fearing for Israel’s survival, Minister of Defense Moshe Dayan...Read more...
05/24/2022 01:01:42 PM
By Robin Jacobson, Library & Literary Programs Director
As I write this, Ukraine remains under siege. News programs feature a nightly parade of diplomats, retired generals, and political historians speculating about a new global world order, comparing and contrasting today’s state of affairs with the Cold War period. For young people (ages 10-14) curious about the Cold War, three...Read more...
03/22/2022 02:05:48 PM
By Robin Jacobson, Library & Literary Programs Director
Here are two unusual – and terrific – crime thrillers to jumpstart your summer. For a comic, warmhearted romp, try The Prison Minyan by Jonathan Stone. Want a darker, more complex tale? Read How to Find Your Way in the Dark by Derek Miller.
The Prison Minyan
This delightfully original, witty novel opens in Otisville Correctional, a...Read more...
03/22/2022 02:01:59 PM
By Robin Jacobson, Library & Literary Programs Director
Every day, children benefit or suffer from their parents’ choices. Such is life, and such is the stuff of literature, especially when a parent’s options are radically shaped by societal upheaval.
Two recent, thought-provoking novels trace the far-reaching consequences of parents’ choices during tumultuous times: More Than I Love My...Read more...
01/07/2022 12:42:56 PM
By Robin Jacobson, Library & Literary Programs Director
When it comes to Passover children’s books, you could cover a Seder table many times over with wonderful choices. Here are five favorites, a mix of new and older titles, starting with ones for the youngest Pesach celebrants.
Dayenu! A Favorite Passover Song by Miriam Latimer (age 1 and up, 2012)This exuberant sing-along board book presents four...Read more...
01/07/2022 12:42:19 PM
By Robin Jacobson, Library & Literary Programs Director
Inhabited for millennia, Israel sits atop layers upon layers of a rich, buried past – long irresistible to archeologists. For a lively, colorful history of archeological expeditions, read Under Jerusalem: The Buried History of the World’s Most Contested City by Andrew Lawler, an acclaimed science...Read more...
01/07/2022 12:35:09 PM
By Robin Jacobson, Library & Literary Programs Director
The Jewish book world is celebrating a bumper crop of excellent nonfiction picture books for children. My three personal favorites are: Dear Mr. Dickens by Nancy Churnin, The Singer and the Scientist by Lisa Rose (both for ages 5-10), and No Steps Behind: Beate Sirota Gordon’s Battle for Women’s Rights in Japan by Jeff Gottesfeld...Read more...
12/06/2021 12:13:26 PM
By Robin Jacobson, Library & Literary Programs Director
On Bloody Sunday – March 7, 1965 – Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel watched in horror as...Read more...
11/11/2021 01:47:48 PM
By Robin Jacobson, Library & Literary Programs Director
Two painted Japanese vases rest atop bookcases in my living room. According to family lore, my...Read more...
11/11/2021 01:17:24 PM
By Robin Jacobson, Library & Literary Programs Director
Two new novels, Antiquities by Cynthia Ozick and The Vixen by Francine Prose, are well worth reading, even if they leave you shaking your head. Antiquities is a charming comedy-drama, but it is hard to make sense of it. In contrast, Vixen is easy to understand, but the novel is an eclectic mash-up of genres and styles: a coming-of-age story, historical novel,...Read more...
08/19/2021 10:50:04 AM
By Robin Jacobson, Library & Literary Programs Director
In 1953, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg went to their deaths in New York’s infamous Sing Sing prison, convicted of...Read more...
08/19/2021 10:44:41 AM
By Robin Jacobson, Library & Literary Programs Director
To Edmund de Waal, world-renowned ceramic artist and award-winning author, art objects are never just objects. They...Read more...
07/06/2021 10:00:57 AM
By Robin Jacobson, Library & Literary Programs Director
If you catch yourself or see your child obsessively checking devices for texts or emails, or living much...Read more...
04/14/2021 01:29:33 PM
Anyone Out There?
By Robin Jacobson
The bestselling new science memoir, Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth by Avi Loeb, probes a thrilling...Read more...
04/13/2021 02:54:30 PM
Shtetl Stories of Danger and Suspense
By Robin Jacobson
Tevye the Dairyman would fit right in among the rabbis, matchmakers, candlemakers, tailors, and other shtetl types...Read more...
03/02/2021 10:51:29 AM
Reading Geraldine Brooks in 2021
By Robin Jacobson
Like many, I’m a longtime fan of the historical novels of Geraldine Brooks – Year of Wonders, March, Caleb’s Crossing, People of...Read more...
01/27/2021 05:15:40 PM
The House We Inherit
By Robin Jacobson
As a child, learning in school about the American Civil War, I felt relieved that my family bore no guilt for...Read more...
12/30/2020 12:49:49 PM
Out of Egypt
By Robin Jacobson
To many Jewish families with memories of hard times, Meyerland in the 1970s was the Promised Land. This Jewish neighborhood in Houston, Texas, was home...Read more...
12/15/2020 10:32:51 AM
Reading Leviticus With Henry VIII
By Robin Jacobson
Soon the Torah cycle will come around again to Leviticus (Vayikra). After the dramatic stories of Genesis and Exodus, the litany of...Read more...
Read more... 11/11/2020 02:45:51 PM
Discovering a Lost World: The Cairo Genizah
By Robin Jacobson
While traveling in the Middle East in 1896, two wealthy, erudite Scottish sisters bought some antique manuscripts....Read more...
11/03/2020 01:05:25 PM
The Jewish Dynasties of Shanghai
By Robin Jacobson
The intertwined history of two Baghdadi Jewish families in China – the Sassoon and Kadoorie families – is the stuff of epic...Read more...
10/05/2020 03:05:32 PM
Mystery, Suspense, & Troublesome Texts
By Robin Jacobson
A fun suspense novel topped with a generous scoop of Jewish history is a winning combination, even if the history relates to the origins of dark anti-Jewish tropes. Here are two entertaining and informative reads: The Adventure of the Peculiar Protocols by Nicholas Meyer...Read more...
