Arts & Entertainment

JEWISH BOOK FAIR

Read All About It

We give you a glimpse of the books written by authors
making Book Fair appearances.

The Wonder Spot by Melissa
Bank:
In her second novel, the author
of The Girl's Guide to Hunting and
Fishing follows the up-and-down
journey of Sophie Applebaum as
she travels from suburban
Connecticut to the shtetls of New
York City, seeking a place in the
universe. Nothing comes easy for
Sophie, from Hebrew and typing to
love and friendship, and the
humor in this novel is shadowed
by sadness.

The Boy Who Loved Anne
Frank by Ellen Feldman:
Suppose Peter van Pels, the boy
hidden with Anne Frank, had sur-
vived the Holocaust. In this novel,
Feldman creates an imaginary
Peter who invents a new life in
America, in which he denies his
Judaism but is haunted by his past.

The Funeral Planner by Lynn
Isenberg:
Maddy Banks, the heroine of
this comic novel, is a Type-A busi-
nesswoman who learns the differ-
ence between self-worth and net
worth when she begins a business
that provides alternative funerals.
Isenberg, a Bloomfield Township
native, began her writing career
when, at 8 years old, one of her sto-
ries was selected for Oakland
University's Young Authors
Conference.

Now You See Me by Rochelle
Krich:
The latest suspense novel in the
Molly Blume series finds the
intrepid Orthodox Jewish reporter
investigating the disappearance of
a rabbi's 18-year-old daughter. The
search opens up some old wounds
for the newly married Blume but
also examines the power of for-
giveness.

56

In Case
We're
Separated by
Alice Mattison:
In 13 inter-
related short
stories,
Mattison fol-
lows the lives
of an
American-Jewish family. Its mem-
bers confront everything from a
broken kitchen appliance to
Ronald Reagan and Prozac. The
title story appeared in Best
American Short Stories 2002.

The Position by Meg Wolitzer:
What happens when your par-
ents write a best-selling sex manu-
al — using themselves as models
for the illustrations? The answers
span some 20 years of humor and
anxiety. Meg Wolitzer also wrote
the best-selling novel The Wife and
other favorites.

The Other Shulman by Alan
Zweibel:
Shulman, a middle-aged sta-
tionery store owner, figures he's
gained and lost enough pounds to
create another entire Shulman. So
guess who shows up as he trains
for the New York Marathon? The
first adult novel by former
Saturday Night Live writer Alan
Zweibel takes a wry look at mid-
dle-aged angst in (where else?)
New Jersey.

Bridge to America by Linda
Glaser:
Written for young people in
grades 3-5, this novel traces the
adventures of a Jewish family from
Poland as they make their way to
the United States in the 1920s.
Fivel, the young hero, survives
extreme hunger and the threat of
Cossacks to come to New York City,

where he adjusts to an alien cul-
ture.

Jubana: The Awkwardly True
and Dazzling Adventures of a
Jewish Cubana Princess by Gigi
Anders:
In 1959, when Fidel Castro came
to power, Gigi Anders' family left
Cuba with little more than the
shirts on their backs. What fol-
lowed was a hectic life in Miami
and Maryland, with one Jewish
and one non-Jewish Cuban parent.
This bittersweet memoir will have
you saying both "oy vey" and "ay
caramba!"

Shanghai Remembered:
Stories of
Who Escaped to
Shanghai from Nazi Europe by
Berl Falbaum:
Detroit writer Berl Falbaum was
a small boy when his father, a tai-
lor, brought the family to Shanghai,
one of only two places in the world
accepting refugees from Nazi ter-
ror. In all, more than 20,000 Jews
spent the war in Shanghai, many
suffering extreme deprivation.
Falbaum interviewed 23 for his
book, which includes photos.

Who She Was: My Search for
My Mother's Life by Sam
Freedman:
The author's mother, Eleanor
Hatkin, who died of breast cancer
at the age of 50 nearly three
decades ago, was a high-spirited
and iconoclastic person. "Besides
having been my mother, besides
having been my father's wife,
besides having been someone who
died miserably and died young, I
did not know who she was:'
explains Freedman, author of the
National Jewish Book Award-win-
ning Jew vs. Jew.

Tab Hunter Confidential: The
Making of a Movie Star by Tab
Hunter:
In this honest and sensitive
memoir, the 74-year-old Hunter
revisits his life and career. Hunter,
who jumped from playing dinner
theaters to the lead in the movie
Damn Yankees, now lives a peace-
ful life on a ranch with his partner
of 23 years.

Tony and Me by Jack Klugman:
A gracious tribute to Tony
Randall, this memoir stays away
from scandal and focuses on the
positive. The book, which comes
with a DVD of clips, traces five
decades of collaboration, from
Broadway and the early days of tel-
evision to the Odd Couple and
beyond.

Blood
Relation by
Eric
Konigsberg:
A dark
secret has
haunted the
respectable
Omaha, Neb.,
family of Eric Konigsberg: His
great-uncle Heshy "Kayo"
Konigsberg was a Mafia hit-man
who has spent most of the past
four decades in jail. When part of
this book appeared the New Yorker
magazine, the author feared for his
life — for good reason.

Breaking Ground by Daniel
Libeskind:
Libeskind, a former Bloomfield
Township resident who served as
the head of the architecture
department at Cranbrook in
Bloomfield Hills, is best known as
master plan architect for the
embattled World Trade Center
reconstruction site. He's also build-
ing museums in Denver, Toronto
and San Francisco, as well as com-
mercial and cultural projects in
Switzerland, Italy, Germany,

England and Ireland. In this book,
he writes about his experiences in
life and architecture.

My Fathers' Houses: Memoir of
a Family by Steve Roberts:
In this autobiography, journalist
Steve Roberts traces his family's
roots and branches from Bialystok
to Bayonne, N.J., and beyond.
Roberts, who spent 25 years with
the New York Times, is now con-
tributing editor at U.S. News and
World Report and Shapiro
Professor of Media and Public
Affairs at George Washington
University. With his wife, Cokie
Roberts, he co-authored the best-
selling From This Day Forward.

Early Birth A Memoir of
Premature Retirement by
Rodney Rothman:
A quarter-life crisis propels the
28-year-old Rothman to Century
Village, a retirement community in
Boca Raton, Fla. This former
writer for David Letterman com-
bines insight with out-and-out
jokes as he dives into the secrets of
senior citizenship, along with the
heated pool.

Spanning the World: The
Crazy Universe of Big-Time
Sports, All-Star Egos and Hall
of Fame Bloopers by Len
Berman:
A regular on the Today show,
sportscaster/raconteur Len
Berman was named the 2004
New York "Sportscaster of the
Year!' In this book, he's collected
some of his funniest and most
unusual anecdotes.

Busting Vegas: The MIT Whiz
Kid Who Brought the Casinos
to Their Knees by Ben Mezrich
Mezrich recounts the true
story of the "Darling of Las

October 27 2000

jzor