Friday, September 19, 2008

HELP TO ALL OUR Brethens

Our Rabbi from Temple Emanu-El sent this to all our members of Temple Emanu-El.
It is a good idea to spread the word throughout the entire Jewish community. This is not only for the Jewish community, but the entire area that was affected by Hurrcane IKE.
If you would like to get involved read below:

I am asking you to support The United Jewish Communities (UJC) and their Disaster Relief Fund which supports all victims of Hurricane Ike. You can go online to this address UJC.org and follow the links to the Hurricane Relief Fund. To donate by check, please make the check out to UJC Hurricane Relief Fund and clearly mark UJC Hurricane Relief Fund on the bottom of the check. The check should be sent to:

United Jewish Communities
P.O. Box 30
Old Chelsea Station
New York, NY 10113
Attention: UJC Hurricane Relief Fund
Leshanah Tovah Tikatevu

Monday, September 15, 2008

I am added this post on my blog about the book Matrimony by Joshua Henkin.
He is a Jewish author. The question always arises what makes a Jewish book.
The author? The time period??( The old country), the Jewish customs( Friday Shabbat candles)?
Does just being Jewish make you a Jewish author. I have pondered this question every time a Jewish author publishes a book. Let me know your thoughts. Any one know of any Jewish Book Blogs out there that have answered the question. Let me know by leaving a comment.
There is a contest at B&B. The contest ends soon. Visit and leave a comment.

Here is a contest that can't be beat. Bethany at B&B exlibres is having a drawing for the book Matrimony. The drawing will be on September 22nd. This a great time for this drawing.

Because of the Book Appreciation Week. He has nice things to say.
You can read what he has to say about book clubs over at Books on the Brain.
You want to talk about dedicated you must read what his daughter and him were talking about
when it deals with book clubs. Also when I visited books on the brain, Lisa is having a contest there and lots of background info. I would check it out. Then Bethany added more comments on
Matrimony. I would check that out again here. This post was written in June. This also has a nice video and lots of links to other bloggers reviews.

http://www.randomhouse.com/images/dyn/cover/?source=9780307277169&height=300&maxwidth=170 The image “http://www.pub.umich.edu/daily/1997/apr/04-14-97/photos/fileartsbooksbitch.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.


Joshua Henkin is giving one signed copy of his new book Matrimony, in paperback away to one super-special commenter!!! Seriously this book has been all over the web, and back and I am guessing you just HAVE to read it. This week is Book Blogger Appreciation Week as well, and this giveaway will add to the love being posted around this bloggie-blog world.

To enter the drawing:
1.) Comment on this post for one entry
2.) Post about it on your blog for an additional two entries.

The super-lucky-ducky winner will be chosen on the 22nd!!!

For more information on the book you can head over to Joshua Henkin's website, or you can go to amazon of indie bound for ratings and to purchase the book.

Here is what your fellow book bloggers had to say about Matrimony:

Rebecca of The Book Lady's Blog
Chartroose of Bloody Hell, It's a Book Barrage!
Jennifer of The Literate Housewife
Trish of Hey lady! Whatcha readin'?
Gautami of My Own Little Reading Room
Bookfool of Bookfoolery and Babble
Mrs. S of 50 Book Challenge
Lisa of Books on the Brain
Heather J. of Age 30 - A Year of Books
Gayle of Everyday I Write the Book Blog
Becca of The Inside Cover
Dewey of Hidden Side of a Leaf
Tanabata of In Spring it is the Dawn
Trish of Trish's Reading Nook
Amy of My Friend Amy
Julie of Booking Mama
Bethany of B&b Ex Lib

Saturday, September 13, 2008

My First Giveaway









Bookclubgirl.com has agreed to help promote my Jewish book blog.
Jen has agreed to allow me a few copies of a Diana Spechler, Who By Fire. The giveaway contest will take place in conjuction with book club girl's talk radio.
Further details will follow.

You can visit her website here and visit Harpercollins here
Bits and Ash were children when the kidnapping of their younger sister Alena, an incident for which Ash blames himself, caused an irreparable family rift. Thirteen years later, Ash is living as an Orthodox Jew in Israel, cutting himself off from his mother, Ellie, and his wild child sister, Bits. But soon he may have to face them again: Alena’s remains have finally been uncovered. Now Bits is traveling across the world in a bold and desperate attempt to bring her brother home and salvage what’s left of their family. Told from the alternating points of view of the three family members, Who By Fire is a searing commentary on guilt, grief, and the inescapable bonds of family from a fresh and extremely talented new voice in American fiction





Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Book Club Today


We had our book club meeting for the first time at Barnes and Noble.
It was convenient and everyone seemed to like it there.
All of us agreed to meet here again on October 22nd at 1P.M.
We had some business, and then some more business and then it was back to
The BOOK CLUB
We decided on a few things, do you remember, how crazy last year was with us. Participating in gift wrapping?? If you do, then you would agree that it is best to skip December's meeting. We decided to read something totally different, we will be reading Exile by James North Patterson. Since the book is 600+, We will wait to discuss it in January. In February, we will be discussing, People of the Book by Geraldine March. It is similar to" Davinci Code/Jewish Slant". We are hoping that Rabbi Debbie will be available to host the book club in February. That should be very interesting.
Our next book in October is Keeping The House by Ellen Baker. The author will be joining us, with her treats that she will be sending us.
I love the book cover it drew my interest. I hope the book is as good as the cover, or I am in great trouble. Anyway, here is what everyone thought of the book, AWAY by Amy Bloom.
We felt it was very unrealistic.
The book Away, was a short book less than 300 pages. It was about a young Jewish immigrant.
She looses her husband and daughter in Europe during the pogroms in the early 1920's. She decides to leave Europe to the better life in the United States. But she finds, life is not any better here than in Europe. She is struggling to survive poverty, and the desperation she must endure. She learns that her daughter is alive from a friend. He helps her financially to help her on her way.
She leaves NYC to search for her daughter in Alaska. We learn about her hardships to get there and all the strange people she meets along the way. It would have done better with short stories. She did not know how to make the story flow. She did not know how to change the scenes subtlety. The novel would have done better with short stories.
 
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