2007 Books: January
1) The Virgin Blue - Tracy Chevalier. A young American moves to France and goes on a journey to discover her Huguenot roots. Chevalier's first novel that lacks the grace of the later works. Also, the motives of the protagnoist aren't always clear, and she's generally annoying. Still, a decent book.
2) The Red Tent - Anita Diamant. A retelling of the story of Dinah from the Bible. Horrible, horrible, horrible. Such sloppiness and disrespect for the original story I haven't seen in my life. Biblical figures with modern names or worse, Yiddish (!) names. A sexual culture that completely does not correspond with what we know of the biblical sexual culture or even the Pagan sexual culture at the time of the Bible. Gross misunderstandings of both the original text and the culture that produced the original text. Horrible, did I say? Embarassing, too.
3) The Death of Methuselah - Isaac Bashevis Singer. A collection of short stories by the Jewish Nobel-Prize winner. Extra-marital sex, homosexuality, transgender issues, polyamory, vegetarianism, atheism... among Polish Jews before WWII. Somewhat hilarious, but a bit too sensational to my taste.
4) The Magician of Lublin - Isaac Bashevis Singer. A (stage) magician who leads an unethical life goes deeper into sin, crime and egotism. A pessimistic story about emptiness, loneliness, and the ongoing human search for purpose, happiness, and perhaps boundaries. Depressing, but the ending was surprising and ironic.
5) That's Not What The Good Book Says - Avigdor Shinan, Yair Zakovitch. Non-fiction. A collection of 30 biblical stories with their older, sub-textual, non-canonical versions. The purpose of the book is mostly to reveal various sub-texts in the Bible, uncover symbols, and reveal the oral history of Judaism. Very interesing.
2) The Red Tent - Anita Diamant. A retelling of the story of Dinah from the Bible. Horrible, horrible, horrible. Such sloppiness and disrespect for the original story I haven't seen in my life. Biblical figures with modern names or worse, Yiddish (!) names. A sexual culture that completely does not correspond with what we know of the biblical sexual culture or even the Pagan sexual culture at the time of the Bible. Gross misunderstandings of both the original text and the culture that produced the original text. Horrible, did I say? Embarassing, too.
3) The Death of Methuselah - Isaac Bashevis Singer. A collection of short stories by the Jewish Nobel-Prize winner. Extra-marital sex, homosexuality, transgender issues, polyamory, vegetarianism, atheism... among Polish Jews before WWII. Somewhat hilarious, but a bit too sensational to my taste.
4) The Magician of Lublin - Isaac Bashevis Singer. A (stage) magician who leads an unethical life goes deeper into sin, crime and egotism. A pessimistic story about emptiness, loneliness, and the ongoing human search for purpose, happiness, and perhaps boundaries. Depressing, but the ending was surprising and ironic.
5) That's Not What The Good Book Says - Avigdor Shinan, Yair Zakovitch. Non-fiction. A collection of 30 biblical stories with their older, sub-textual, non-canonical versions. The purpose of the book is mostly to reveal various sub-texts in the Bible, uncover symbols, and reveal the oral history of Judaism. Very interesing.