The Answer Is…: Reflections on My Life by Alex Trebek If I was to write a memoir of my life, it would include watching the quiz show Jeopardy. For years I’ve played versions of this game with my students. Watching Jeopardy was sacred time when I was a child. Life stopped from 7:00-7:30 in the Miner household for a family viewing. It is not a surprise that I enjoyed reading The Answer Is…Reflections on My Life by Alex Trebek (2020). As a life- long Jeopardy fan, I recalled almost every show that he mentioned. I enjoyed his folksy unassuming style. I read the whole book in one night. This m ..read more

Judenrein (2020) by Harold Benjamin is an action-thriller set in an alternative modern-day America. For their own protection American Jews are forced to give up their property and their occupations.  The Jews are rounded up and put in ghettos called Kike Kennels. But this is not the holocaust of the 1940s, the displaced people receive food stamps and are allowed to have religious services.  The round-ups started when liberal Jews sided with the PLO then the Presidential- Flag waving, Maga- hat-wearing crowd, accuse all Jews of being terrorists.  The main character, Zach was a ye ..read more

As events are canceled due to Coronavirus and my school will be closed for at least a week. My first stop was the public library. Yes, I know I can read ebooks but how many hours can one spend looking at a screen?  The library was bustling with patrons and phone calls. Apparently the Schenectady County Public Library system had just announced a two-week shutdown. I arrived at the perfect time.  This morning my world was more relaxed. No reason to rush, I have nowhere to go!  I snuggled in with Dara Horn’s Novel, A Guide for the Perplexed (2013).  What a treat!  Josie is a Jewish woman wh ..read more

The Golem and the Jinni (2013) is the third book about a Golem that I’ve posted about. I haven’t been seeking out Golem books, they just find me. This one was selected for our Temple’s co-ed book group. Is the debut novel of Helene Wecker, a Jewish woman married to a  Arab-American man.  This fantasy novel starts in Europe but mostly takes place in New York City’s immigrant Lower East Side and Little Syria. Set  in the late 1800s; the backdrop for this story is totally factual. It’s the characters who bring the magic. The Golem is polite and obedient. She was created to be a wife and protec ..read more

Alice Hoffman puts a little bit of magic into her newest book, The World That  We Knew (2019).   The Holocaust is not usually where writers include fantasy elements, yet France from 1941-1944 is the backdrop for this work of magical realism.  “In a world where anything could happen and nothing was impossible” a Golem monster was created. A Golem is a creature created out of mud and brought to life with a Hebrew word written upon it. In The World that We Knew a young girl breaks from tradition and creates a female Golem.  The story has accurate historical details about Nazi occupied France ..read more

I guess I do the whole book rating thing backwards. Instead of reading the reviews to decide what to read, I finish the whole book and then read what everyone else says. This way I can form my own opinions and the story is never ruined for me.  I’m a new librarian in a school district with an annual Battle of The Books for 5th graders. I needed to read all eleven of the novels;  I liked most of them but one totally surprised me. Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster by Jonathan Auxier. I am embarrassed to admit that I was shocked when magic  appeared in this story. I know, monster ..read more

Sharon Pomerantz’s Rich Boy (2010) Is about both the lack and overabundance of money.  Robert Vishniak grew up in a poor neighborhood. His Jewish family was obsessed with saving money. Many details of family life in the 1970s are expertly recounted through the eyes of the young main character.  When Robert goes to college, his roommate is so wealthy that he buys new clothes rather than taking the time to wash them. Robert is exposed to the leisure class, this knowledge alters him forever. Twice in relationships with wealthy women, he constantly feels money pressure.  Rich Boy is over 5 ..read more

Harvey Milk His Lives and Death (2018) by Lillian Faderman  The University of Albany in the 1950s was very different than it is today!   Harvey Milk attended what was then called, Albany Normal School. Harvey was one of a small number of male students enrolled during the post-war years.  He wrote for the school newspaper where he complained that the student body was apathetic to sports. Milk joined a Jewish fraternity and was active in Hillel. One thing Mr. Milk did not do in Albany, was publicly identify himself as a gay man.  Harvey’s rise to prominence is detailed in this book. I was ..read more

One day Noah, a retired NYC professor  receives a phone call–his deceased nephew’s son is in need of a guardian. This eleven year old boy was a complete stranger to Noah.  Certainly a better guardian can be found than a 79 year old! However, there is no one else and so Noah ends up bringing a foul-mouthed, grieving, street- smart boy on his previously planned trip to Paris. The Professor is traveling to solve some mysteries of the generations before him. The novel Akin, spans just one week of time, but the truths uncovered span three generations.  In France, Noah starts to wonder abou ..read more

Accidental Soldier  In 1989 Author Dorit Sasson and I were both at SUNY Albany. I was in my senior year, she was a sophomore. I don’t remember her, I assume we never met. Dorit opted to do something “that was either very brave or very stupid” she withdrew from SUNYA and served over 2 years in the Israeli Army.  In 2016 she published Accidental Soldier: a memoir of service and sacrifice in the Israel Defense Forces.  Perhaps this book would have been better titled Insecure Soldier because Dorit very intentionally joined the military in order to escape her overly cautious controlling mot ..read more