•

ell
A. for

ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM Assistant Editor

Amadeo Modigliani loved literature almost as much as he loved painting.
lbward the end of his life, he spent countless hours in cafes — often with his
friend, painter Chaim Soutine, with whom he would drink tea sweetened with
apple (sugar was too expensive). Their conversations usually revolved around the
arts.
Modigliani's favorite book was Comte de Lautreamont's dark and mysterious
Les Chants de Maldoror, from which he would quote at length, much to the dis-
may of cafe patrons.
Nobody from the Detroit Jewish community has been seen — yet — reciting
extensive book passages while patronizing
local cafes. But quite a few are spending
these last, lazy days of
summer reading in a
hammock or by their
neighborhood pool.
Looking for
something a little
more stimulating than
an evening of Dukes of
Hazzard reruns? Here
are what some local
residents recommend:

•

CHARLES GREENBERG

head of the Greenberg Eye Center
in Troy, has among his bedside
companions The Art of Worldly
Wisdom, written by a monk in the
15th century.
"It's one of the more amazing
books I've seen," Dr. Greenberg
says. "It contains 300 rules of
behavior for life which really are
very sophisticated." In the same
genre is Life's Little Instruction
Book, which he labeled "a bit of
Americana with advice like 'Keep
your hair brushed' and 'Send
thank-you notes on time.' If you
actually managed to do everything
it said, you would be a saint."
Dr. Greenberg admits to being
addicted to spy novels "especially
when they're true and have an
Israeli connection." He recently
completed Every Spy A Prince,
which focuses on the Israeli
Mossad, and Nelson DeMille's The
Gold Coast, which he labeled "the
best novel I've read in the last six
months. Everybody I know who
read it loved it."
A man never left speechless when
he goes abroad (he speaks four
languages), Dr. Greenberg also
enjoys travel books, especially
those by Paul Thoreaux and Bruce
Chadwick.
"Thoreaux is insightful, though
he's a bit of a curmudgeon," Dr.
Greenberg says, while Chadwick
was a brilliant writer, "but
probably a major bore at cocktail
parties. He would learn some
obscure language, then never stop
talking about it."

JUDGE SANDRA SILVER

of the Oakland County Probate
Court loves murder mysteries and
even reads them late into the night.
She's spending most of this summer
rereading old favorites. But she
also had time for a new novel,
Harry Kemelman's The Rabbi
Bought a Cross, the latest in the
Rabbi Small series. "It's good, fun
summer stuff," she says. For the
murder mystery connoisseur, Judge
Silver recommends anything by
Georges Simenon.

RABBI JOEL ROTH,

former Detroiter and head of the
Jewish Theological Seminary
rabbinical school, spends most of
his time reading curriculum
reports. But he did recently
complete and recommends two
works: Vol. I, Deuteronomy, in the
Anchor Bible series and Jacob
Milgrom's commentary on the Book
of Numbers, which he called
"phenomenal."

26

FRIDAY, AUGUST 7, 1992

c,

<