Camino Island by John Grisham, © 2018, Bantam Books By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — By chance I happened to see an interview with John Grisham on TV, and found myself riveted by this charming and enormously successful writer. His books are not quite my cup of tea, but I found my attention drawn […]
A lesson in novel writing from John Grisham Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Dorothea Shefer-VansonBy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — I’m not quite sure when I started writing. I remember trying to write a story of my own sometime around my tenth birthday and having a great deal of difficulty deciding on my characters’ names. Nothing remains of that attempt, but as I grew up I found myself
How a novelist got her start Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson
Six Thousand Miles to Home by Kim Dana Kupperman, Legacy Edition Books; © 2018, ISBN 9781732-349704; 236 pages plus afterword, author’s notes, and appendix, $25. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – There are aspects of the story that are hauntingly familiar: A banging on the door and an arrest; people being crammed so tightly
Novel relates a lesser known Holocaust experience Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History
One Happy Divorce by Jennifer Hurvitz Weintraub; © 2017 Warren Publishing, ISBN 9781943-258543, 93 pages, $12.95. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – “One Happy Divorce” sounds like an oxymoron, doesn’t it? Author Jennifer Hurvitz Weintraub wouldn’t argue that hers was pain-free, or that she hasn’t experienced periods of loneliness in the five years since
Some tips for a ‘happy’ divorce Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Travel and Food
Hitler’s American friends: The Third Reich’s Supporters in the United States by Bradley W. Hart; Thomas Dunne Books; © 2018; ISBN 9781250-148957; 283 pages including extensive notes and bibliography, $28.99 By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – Former California Gov. Gray Davis, a liberal Democrat, and the Koch Brothers, billionaire businessmen and Libertarians often
Historian chronicles Hitler’s friends and fellow travelers Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, International, USA
Struck: A Husband’s Memoir of Trauma and Triumph by Douglas Segal, © 2018, Prospect Park Books, ISBN 9781945-551383; 253 pages plus acknowledgments, $16. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – Doug Segal, a contract writer and producer for Hollywood, wrote this compelling memoir after his wife Susan, a sometime actress, was severely injured in
Facing and recovering from near death Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Science, Medicine, & Education
What the Night Sings by Vesper Stamper; © 2018, Alfred A. Knopf, ISBN 9781524-700376; 266 pages including appendices, $19.99. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO –Set in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp after the Holocaust, but with a lengthy flashback to the events that preceded the main story, this novel tells of a teenage girl’s struggle
Holocaust novel probes girl’s dilemma of self-definition Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison
By Itzhak Brook MD, MSc WASHINGTON, D.C. — I am a physician who specializes in pediatrics and infectious diseases, and a head and neck cancer survivor. I was born and raised in Israel, graduated from the Hebrew University School of Medicine in Jerusalem, and completed my pediatric training at Kaplan Hospital in Rehovot, Israel. I was
Israeli doctor authors guide for throat cancer patients Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education, USABy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — So, this is the moment I’ve been waiting for. My new book is out. Hooray! So far it’s only available as an ebook, but the paperback version is in the pipeline and will be available soon, I hope. It’s taken about two years to write, which is almost
Dorothea’s book: ‘All Quiet on the Midwestern Plains’ Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, USABy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — The name of the author, the actress Simone Signoret, caught my eye and I bought Adieu Volodia for 50 cents (521 pages, hardback) last summer while browsing the stalls at a village brocante, a kind of flea-market in rural France where the locals bring out the items they wish
1985 novel by Simone Signoret still captivates Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, International, Theatre, Film & Broadcast
Women in Peace subject of study at the Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice The Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice at the University of San Diego is focusing on the role women can play in peace-making, with panels planned Oct. 23, Nov. 7, and Nov. 8 on the campus. Featured will be Rosa Emilia
Editor’s E-Mail Box: September 13, 2018 (3 items) Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Middle East, USA
By Oliver B. Pollak RICHMOND, California — A conversation over the breakfast table with friends started with the question, “What book do you wish you had not read so you could read it for the first time?” We pushed the concept to include, what do you wish you had read that you have not read?,
Rereading Leon Uris’s ‘Exodus’ Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Oliver PollakComing Home: Living in the Land of Israel in Jewish Tradition and Thought by Rabbi Dov Lipman, Gefen Publishing House, Jerusalem, © 2018, ISBN 978-9652299369, p. 141, $14.95. By Fred Reiss, Ed.D. WINCHESTER, California – Dov Lipman, author of Coming Home, has selected a propitious time for publishing a book about the historical and emotional ties
Israel in global Jewish tradition and thought Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Fred Reiss, EdD, Jewish ReligionBy Stanley Tiger SAN DIEGO — The following is a touching story about two great minds – one, a Jewish atheist respectfully confronting a religious Jew. Their reflections are in keeping with the solemnity of Rosh Hashana. The old friends and collaborators unexpectedly met while in Washington, D.C.. Nobel physicist, Richard Feynman (1918 – 1988)
Science v. Religion, a.k.a Feynman v. Wouk Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish Religion, Science, Medicine, & Education