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recommendation. It's "an
exceptional book of humor and
sadness," she says. "I think it's the
best thing he's done."
Mrs. Salle enjoys reading while
on the family's sailboat. She
recently picked up a collection to
take along while sailing, which
includes Ken Follett's latest, The
Pillar of the Earth.

ALAN GOODMAN

SEN. CARL LEVIN

reads more newspapers than books.
He-gets a daily dose of the Detroit
Free Press, the Detroit News, the
New York Times and the Wall
Street Journal — and more if he
has the time.
When he does get to books, Sen.
Levin prefers the past to the
present, reading "a prodigious
amount of history," according to his
assistant, Willie Blacklow. "And of
course he spends a lot of time
reading memos."
One book Sen. Levin recently
completed proved to be more than
just pleasurable reading material.
"We got into an argument here
awhile ago about the use of the
word bupkiss (a trifle)," Mr.
Blacklow said. Sen. Levin went into
his office, retrieved The Joys of
Yiddish by Leo Rosten and quickly
settled the matter. The book still
remains on his desk.

BRACHA ALTA COHEN,

a second-grade student at Bais
Yaakov, is like Judge Silver: she
loves those mysteries. Bracha
Alta's favorites are in the
"Encyclopedia Brown" series; most
recently, she read Encyclopedia
Shows the Way.
The works focus on the
investigations of Encyclopedia —
"his real name is Leroy" — Brown,
and his father, the city police chief,
Bracha Alta says. Whenever the
chief is stuck for a loop in solving a
case, "he asks Encyclopedia for
help. Encyclopedia is 10 years old.

"Like once these people broke
into someone's house and stole
some stuff," Bracha Alta says. "And
there was this costume party there.
Encyclopedia and his father
dressed up in costumes and solved
the crime."
In another book, "Encyclopedia
opens his own detective agency."

DR. JERROLD WEINBERG

when not delivering babies, likes
the New York Times or a book
"that will teach me something."
Among his latest favorites is The
Book of Abraham by Marek Halter,
which chronicles the life of a
biblical scribe and his subsequent
generations. "I like it because it's
layers of tradition, describing the
social settings of the times," Dr.
Weinberg says.

RABBI ALON TOLWIN,

of Aleynu/Aish HaTorah, doesn't let
a day go by without reading a page
of Talmud. But he also is reading
Seven Habits of Highly Successful
People and In Search of Excellence,
recommended by his wife.

LEE ANN SALLE

president of the Temple Beth El
Sisterhood, is an avid reader whose
tastes include everything from
family sagas to spy novels. Among
her favorite authors are Tom
Clancy, and Jonathan and Faye
Kellerman.
In the winter, she's a member of
a book group that reads serious
works like Philip Roth's Patrimony,
for which she gives a strong

,

executive director of Jewish Family
Service, has five books on his
nightstand: Elkhorn Tavern, A
Time to Die, Ellis Island, Spy vs.
Spy and The Transformational
Leader.
"I don't like best sellers," he says.
"What I do is go to the library, walk
between the shelves and take
something that looks interesting."
His journeys have resulted in finds
about the Civil War and suspense
novels; "I like to immerse myself in
books that have no bearing on my
current reality."
Mr. Goodman also enjoys books
about his native South Africa,
especially in the early days. Among
his latest reading on this topic was
Hold My Hand I'm Dying, about
struggles in Zimbabwe (Rhodesia).

ZELDA KAY

,

president of the Northwest Child
Rescue Women, is a confirmed
romantic. She loves reading light,
romantic works likes books by
Danielle Steel. A good book, she
says, "doesn't drag or stop in the
middle. And I like things that
sound as though they could actually
happen." She recommends Ms.

Steel's Fine Things and No Greater
Love.

JAMES AUGUST

,

of Stone, August, Baker
Communications Companies, has
an eclectic collection of reading
material, ranging from gay fiction
to a comparative analysis of
Hebrew myths co-written by the •
late British scholar Robert Graves.
"I picked it up by accident," Mr.
August, vice president of the
Jewish Federation, says of Jewish
Myths. The work relates biblical
accounts to other cultural stories of
creation. "It's demanding, but
nevertheless interesting."
He recently completed Armistead
Maupin's Significant Others, about
gay men, also a work he "got by
happenstance," and purchased
Bryan Burrough's Vendetta, the
story of a Jewish businessman's
battle with American Express. "I've
just read the first chapter of
Vendetta," he says. "It's really
interesting."
Finally, Mr. August recommends
Friday Night Lights, the story of a
small Texas town's obsession with
football. "It's good and an easy read
— but for sports fans only."

JANET MOSES

is a former English literature
teacher at Akiva Hebrew Day
School who now serves as principal
of the school's secular studies
department.
Mrs. Moses' latest reading in-
cludes Erich Segal's Act of Faith
("disappointing"), Ishagura's The
Remains of the Day ("wonderful"),
Margaret Atwood's Cat's Eye ("I
love everything she writes") and
Anne Tyler's The New Saint Maybe
("I liked this one").
She believes "everyone should
read How to Make An American
Quilt" and highly recommends The
Sweet Hereafter by Russell Banks,
the story of how a school bus
accident affects the survivors. "It's
a very, very touching and beautiful
book," Ms. Moses says.
She also enjoyed Eleanor
Lipman's Then She Found Me,
about a girl's search for her
biological mother, and Gloria
Nagy's Looking for Leo, which she
described as "a Beaches-type book"
about a woman who goes in search
of her ex-husband to help save her
daughter, who will die without a
bone-marrow transplant.
Mrs. Moses recommends Maus,
Art Spiegelman's recounting, in
cartoons, of his father's life in the
Holocaust, and All Around the
Town, a story of abuse by mystery

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

27