The Castles and the Crown, Spain 1451-1555, by Townsend Miller, Published by Coward-McCann, Inc., 1953 By Sheila Orysiek SAN DIEGO — I first read this book several decades ago and since have read it twice more finishing my third reading of it in this last week. It was as fresh and as exciting a tale […]
From the Jewish library: ‘The Castles and the Crown’ Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International
Together We Can Do More: The Leon Williams Story by Lynne Carrier; 2015; Lynne Carrier and Montezuma Publishing; ISBN 978-0-7442-3808-2; 223 pages including notes and index. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – This biography of Leon Williams, who was the first African-American to serve on the San Diego City Council and scored another such
Leon Williams biography a lesson in civil government Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, San Diego County
Tempting The Devil in the Name of God: The Heavy Hand of Fate by Howard Beckman; Inspire on Purpose Publishing; 2012-2015; ISBN 978-1-941783-24-8; 373 pages, $19.99 By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – One of my favorite apocryphal stories concerns the Jewish woman who traveled to India to see the guru. She was told that
Drug dealer becomes a spiritual leader Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish ReligionBy Eric George Tauber SAN DIEGO — Is there another city in the world that draws as much controversy as Jerusalem? I-max film director Daniel Ferguson spent five years making Jerusalem and “nothing came easily.” The first challenge was to get their mixed crew of Israelis, Palestinians and Jordanians to work through their distrust of one another
‘Jerusalem’ explores holy sites of 3 religions Read More »
Eric George Tauber, Middle East, Theatre, Film & BroadcastMy Grandfather Would have Shot Me, by Jennifer Teege and Nikola Sellmair. The Experiment, Pub. 2015, 221pp By David Strom SAN DIEGO — At the age of 38 Jennifer Teege was at the Hamburg central library. There she glanced at a book with a red cover and was drawn to it. From photographs in the book,
Mixed-race descendant of Nazi murderer tells of life Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Jewish HistoryRashi: The Magic and the Mystery by Avigdor Bonchek, Gefen Publishing House, New York; ISBN 978-965-229-779-2 ©2015, $18.00, p. 132, plus Appendix, References and Index of Interpreted Verses By Fred Reiss, Ed.D WINCHESTER, California — Torah Commentator Rashi, the acronym for Shlomo Yitzchaki, stands at the head of a long line of revered Jewish sages. For instance,
Why Rashi wrote sometimes and refrained at others Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Fred Reiss, EdD, Jewish Religion
More Than Enough: A Passover Story by April Halprin Wayland, illustrated by Katie Kath; Dial Books for Young Readers © 2016; ISBN 978-0-8037-4126-3; $16.99. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — We received at San Diego Jewish World a book to be read to children that either came to our mailbox quite late or extremely
Many reasons for happy children to say ‘Dayenu’ Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish ReligionBy Eileen Wingard SAN DIEGO–Violinist Asi Matathias and Pianist Victor Stanislavsky have become regular visitors to San Diego. This time, they performed as the second offering in the Salk Science and Music Series. A unique series, inaugurated in 2013, it takes place in the Salk Institute’s excellent concert hall. These evenings are unusual because they
Salk’s mixture of music and science stimulates Read More »
Eileen Wingard, Music, Dance, and Visual ArtsBy Eileen Wingard SAN DIEGO — The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra presented an all-orchestral program in San Diego’s Civic Theatre Nov. 12 under its venerable Conductor-for-Life, Zubin Mehta. The concert began with the playing of the two anthems, The Star Spangled Banner and Hatikvah. The latter, which featured the IPO’s glorious string section, brought tears to
Mehta and the IPO please San Diego concert goers Read More »
Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego CountyA Tale of Love and Darkness by Amos Oz, Harcourt, Inc., 2003 By Sheila Orysiek SAN DIEGO — Is it fair to write a review of a book after having read only 55 out of a total of 358 pages? Probably, not. And, yet, that is exactly what I am going to do. Amos Oz is
Love and Darkness on Jewish book shelf Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short StoriesBy Dan Bloom CHIAYI CITY, Taiwan — Peter Gould has lived in Vermont for over 45 years and his new novel Marly is about Vermonters, climate issues and wind turbines, among other things. Growing up Jewish, Gould — who calls himself a “non-observant Goddess-worshipping American Jew — said it was his parents who were “intellectual,
He does the talking; she dominates the discussion Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short StoriesThe Theft of Memory by Jonathan Kozol; Crown Publishers, New York, 2015, 302pp By David Strom SAN DIEGO–My oldest sister died at the age of ninety-three. She couldn’t recognize or communicate with her children or her two living brothers. Gertie, my sister, grew up in a home where singing and music were a joyful part
A prize- winning author looks at dementia Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short StoriesBy David Amos SAN DIEGO — When you hear about an upcoming concert with the music of Kabalevsky, Crusell, and Grofé, you may ask, “Where is the music of the great masters we all know and love?”, referring to Bach, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Brahms, and so on. But, trust me, the former names will provide you with
TICO to offer unusual music, dance program Nov. 15, 17 Read More »
Music, Dance, and Visual ArtsBy Dan Bloom CHIAYI CITY, Taiwan –When it comes to translating science fiction novels from France, Japan or other non-English speaking nations, the U.S. publishing industry has a rather dismal track record. Yes, Tor Books published in 2014 a popular sci-fi novel from communist China by Cixin Liu, titled The Three-Body Problem and not only did
Non- English language novels find U.S. challenging Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories