President Donald Trump’s family and cabinet did more than just host 21,000 people for the annual White House Easter Egg Roll on Monday—they finally got caught reading. First lady Melania Trump perched on a seat before a crowd of children and read aloud “Party Animals,” a 2010 book by TV host Kathie Lee Giffords, telling […]
Trump’s First Easter Egg Roll Was One for the Books Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, USA“Dearest Marlene: I always love you and admire you and I have all sorts of mixed up feelings about you […] please know that I love you always and forget you sometimes as I forget my heart beats. But it beats always.” The letter was addressed to Marlene Dietrich and written by Ernest Hemingway, one
Hemingway’s love letter to Marlene Dietrich goes on the auction block Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA
As I Remember It by Cynthia Citron, © 2017 Xlibris; ISBN 9780152-4571627. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – Given that Nancy and I are mentioned in Cynthia Citron’s book, I feel a bit embarrassed recommending it to you. But the fact is, Cynthia also writes in her memoir about important people with whom she
A memoir of travel, encounters with the famous Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Cynthia Citron, Donald H. Harrison, International, Science, Medicine, & Education, Travel and Food, USA
Finding Maria: A young man’s search for his grandmother, and himself by Peter Szabo; © 2016;; ChickadeePrince; ISBN 9780991-327447; 138 pages; $11.99. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – Late in his grandmother Maria’s life, Peter Szabo came to realize that as a cultured woman who had survived the Holocaust in Hungary and had withstood
A young author profiles his grandmother Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. HarrisonBy Dan Bloom CHIAYI CITY, Taiwan — When the Oxford Dictionaries in Britain made a list of new words it was accepting into its chambers for 2017, J.K. Rowling’s ”Harry Potter” novels had its “quidditch term accepted, along with “latte art,” “floordrobe,” “snoozefest” and ”cli-fi.” Words matter, and the editors of this British dictionary in London
Cli-fi, quidditch, latte art among new words Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Travel and FoodThe much lauded Soviet-era writer and poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko has been laid to rest in Moscow. Had lunch at CDL Central house of Writers in Moscow. Beautiful establishment witch was a Mason’s lodge pic.twitter.com/MrzJXBiArH— Telemacus (@msiah) July 28, 2016 Mourners paid their respects at a civil ceremony at the ‘Writers House’ in the Russian capital.
Lauded Russian poet Yevtushenko buried in Moscow Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Obituaries & memorialsMarvel artist Ardian Syaf will face “disciplinary action” after it was revealed over the weekend that he promoted an anti-Christian and anti-Semitic verse from the Koran in one of its books. Superhero fans know the X-Men as a team of “mutants” that fights against intolerance. The newest issue of “X-Men Gold,” however, included a reference
Untethered The True Children of Cyrus By Joe Gandelman Editor-in-Chief, The Moderate Voice SAN DIEGO — There is a moment in 1974’s Godfather 2 when Michael Corleone sees the determination of Fidel Castro-led rebel forces. The scene is quick and later Michael notes it to the ill-fated crime bigwig Hyman Roth: “I saw an interesting
Ten reasons for the demise of the Shah of Iran Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Joe Gandelman, Middle EastBy Rabbi Dow Marmur JERUSALEM — Micha Goodman is one of the most interesting young scholars of Judaism in Israel today. His books on two seminal works of Medieval Jewish philosophy – Moses Maimonides’ Moreh Nevuchim and Yehuda Halevi’s Kuzari – have been best sellers in Israel, as has his third book on Deuteronomy, Moses’
Would a ‘hudna’ bring Mideast peace? Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Middle East
TULSA, Oklahoma (WJC) — Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko, whose 1961 poem about the Nazi massacre at Babi Yar near Kiev helped to expose rampant anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union, died Saturday at 84. Yevtushenko passed away in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He had been a faculty member at the University of Tulsa since the mid-1990s.Some 34,000 Jews were
‘Babi Yar’ poet Yevtushenko dies Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Jewish History, Obituaries & memorialsJust prior to Pesach (Passover), the National Library of Israel revealed that it had acquired the velum Prague Haggadah two months ago, when the library purchased the famed Valmadonna Collection of Judaica. The Haggadah was printed in Prague in 1556. A previous Haggadah was printed in 1526, but no copy survived. Several elements of the
500-year-old ‘Prague Haggadah’ found Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Middle EastStockholm (dpa) – Bob Dylan at long last received his 2016 literature Nobel medal and diploma during a private ceremony at an undisclosed location in Stockholm on Saturday. Members of the Swedish Academy told broadcaster SVT that the rock legend received his award at a private ceremony shortly before he took the stage at the
Bob Dylan finally gets his Nobel Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, USA
Fleeing From The Fuhrer: A Postal History of Refugees From the Nazis by Charmian Brinson and William Kaczynski; The History Press; © 2011; 191 pages including index; ISBN 9780752-461953; 17.99 British currency. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – I must acknowledge cousins Herb and Susie Rheingruber’s kind gift of this book to me;
Book stamps through World War II history Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish HistoryRedemption, Then and Now: Pesaḥ Haggada with Essays and Commentary by Rabbi Benjamin Blech; Menorah Books, Jerusalem, © 2017, ISBN 978-1-940516-73-8, p. 310, $24.95 By Fred Reiss, Ed.D. WINCHESTER, California – Considering the long arc of Jewish history, the Haggada, a book containing the Passover Seder, the traditional ordered meal recreating God’s redemptive acts through the
A haggada for those who want more Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish Religion