Arts & Entertainment

ON THE COVEROW

Books In Brief

A bit about each of the new books written by authors
making Book Fair appearances:

HOLOCAUST
NONFICTION/
MEMOIRS

Reflections: Auschwitz, Memory
and a Life Recreated by Henry
Greenspan and Agi Rubin
A study of memory in the face
of unbearable experience, this
poignant book results from 25
years of conversations between
Holocaust survivor Rubin and
psychologist-Holocaust scholar
Greenspan.

The Lost: A Search for Six of Six
Million by Daniel Mendelsohn
Haunted by evocative photos of
his great-uncle and his family, who
disappeared during the Holocaust,
Mendelsohn travels throughout
the world seeking the true story of
how they lived and how they died.
In the process, he gains insights
into the meaning of family.

Refuge Denied by Scott Miller
In May 1939, the Cuban govern-
ment refused sanctuary to more
than 900 Jewish refugees who had
fled Nazi Germany on the ship St.
Louis; they were then denied entry
to the United States. Written with
Sarah H. Ogilvie, this book traces.
the author's nine-year journey to
discover the fate of these pas-
sengers.

Night by Elie Wiesel
Elie Wiesel was 15 years old when
he and his family were deported
by the Nazis to Auschwitz. In this
groundbreaking autobiographical
work, which has become a beacon
against prejudice and hate, he
describes his experiences and the
story of his survival. First pub-
lished in 1955, it has been reissued
with a new preface and the text
of the author's 1986 Nobel Peace
Prize acceptance speech.

F
H I O CL T O I CAUST

Not Me by Michael Lavigne
A middle-aged comedian from New

60

October 26 • 2006

Jersey is thrust into the world of
shadows and half-truths when his
father, a Holocaust survivor, pres-
ents him with a box of journals.
This novel grapples with themes of
guilt, redemption and forgiveness.

Awake in the Dark by Shira
Nayman
In this collection of four stories
and a novella, survivors and their
children never really escape the
degrading experiences, painful
compromises and secret lives of
the Holocaust. This is the first
nonacademic work by the author,
a clinical psychologist with experi-
ence treating severely mentally ill
clients.

FICTION

The Lipshitz Six, or Two Angry
Blondes by T. Cooper
Cooper follows the eccentric
Lipshitz family, from Russian
pogrom to Texas panhandle.
Among other mishegas, the narra-
tor's mother, Esther, is convinced
that Charles Lindbergh is really her
long-lost son Reuven, who disap-
peared as a child on the boat from
Russia.

Golden Country by Jennifer
Gilmore
Three intertwined immigrant fami-
lies become real Americans in this
generational novel, set in New York
City from the 1920s through the
early 1970s. The narrative weaves
its way through the various social
and intellectual circles that have
come to constitute American
Jewish life.

Leeway Cottage by Beth Gutcheon
The scene is an idyllic summer
home on the coast of Maine; the
characters are a long-married
couple looking back on the tumul-
tuous times that tested their mar-
riage. As Hitler seized power, the
half-Jewish husband returned to
his Danish birthplace to work with
the underground, leaving his upper

class American bride to find unex-
pected strength at home.

definite cinematic possibilities.

Tolstoy Lied: A Love Story by
Rachel Kadish
A 33-year-old untenured college
professor believes she can live
without love — until she meets Mr.
Right. Written in a sassy first per-
son, this novel blends office politics
and the politics of sex and domina-
tion without losing its light touch.

Love and Other Impossible
Pursuits by Ayelet Waldman
Waldman's newest novel combines
satire and compassion as it looks
at a highly educated Manhattanite
whose life is thrown off the skids
when her newborn daughter dies of
SIDS. Her efforts to bond with her
unappetizing 5-year-old stepson
ironically prove to be her salvation.

Walking in Circles Before Lying
Down by Merrill Markoe
A quirky, with-it comic novel about
a young woman at the very low-
est point in her life who suddenly
realizes she can talk to dogs — and
they talk back. In the early 1980s,
Markoe won several Emmy Awards
as head writer for Late Night with
David Letterman.

Piece of Work by Laura Zigman
When Julia Einstein's husband
loses his job, the young mother
must return to work as a celeb-
rity publicist. Unfortunately, her
primary client is a demanding has-
been actress. This comic novel is
aimed at any mother who has felt
guilty for going to work — or for
staying home.

Secret Anniversaries of the Heart
by Lev Raphael
This collection combines stories
from this Michigan author's first
collection, Dancing on Tisha B'Av,
with 12 new tales. Among the sub-
jects: anti-Semitism on the college
campus, self-hatred, sibling rivalry
and the shaded lives of Holocaust
survivors and their children.

Blue Nude by Elizabeth Rosner
Danzig, a once-prominent art-
ist, is the son of a Nazi official;
Merav, a beautiful Israeli model, is
the granddaughter of Holocaust
survivors. Will she be the key to
unlocking the artist's repressed tal-
ents? This novel explores issues of
memory and the redeeming power
of art.

Not Enough Indians by Harry
Shearer
It would take a miracle to rescue
the town of Gammage, N.Y., from
bankruptcy, until the city coun-
cil has an inspiration: Why not
declare themselves a long-lost
Indian tribe and open a casino?
This comic novel from funnyman
Harry Shearer (The Simpsons, This
is Spinal Tap, A Mighty Wind) has

MY
FICSTTIOEN
RY

Killer Instinct by Joseph Finder
In this corporate thriller, Jason,
a successful salesman, becomes
involved with a shady character
for whom the term "cutthroat" is
no metaphor. Will he overpower his
nemesis or become yet another
victim?

The Rabbit Factory by Marshall
Karp

LAPD detectives Mike Lomax and
Terry Biggs have more than they
bargained for when employees of
Familyland amusement park turn-
up dead. The first to go: the actor
playing Rambunctious Rabbit, the
park's beloved mascot.

CURRENT
EVENTS/POLITICS

Now They Call Me Infidel by Nonie
Darwish
This book's subtitle is the best
summary of its contents: "Why
I Renounced Jihad for America,
Israel and the War on Terror."
When Darwish was 8 years old,
her Egyptian father died leading

raids into Israel. Growing up in
Cairo, she learned to hate Jews,
destroy Israel, oppose America and
submit to dictatorship. She is now
an activist on behalf of moderate
Arabs and Arab-Americans.

Watching the World Change: The
Stories Behind the Images of 9-11
by.David Friend
The visual images of 9-11 are
burned into our memories — a
plane coursing through a clear blue
sky, flames pouring from a sky-
scraper, a body hurtling from the
sky, the faces of lost loved ones on
posters, firefighters raising a tat-
tered American flag. In this book,
Friend tells the stories behind the
photos and shows how advances in
photography and the Internet have
permanently changed how we view
reality.

Prisoners: a Muslim and a Jew
Across the Middle East Divide by
Jeffrey Goldberg
When the author joined the Israeli
army, he did not bargain for guard
duty at a desert prison housing
Arab offenders. But it's there that
he met Rafiq, a rising leader in the
Palestine Liberation Organization,
and the two started a tenuous
friendship that continues to this
day. Goldberg, now a correspon-
dent for the New Yorker, confronts
the issues that face the Middle
East today while telling an engross-
ing tale.

Aliya by Leil Leibovitz
Why do American Jews decide to
move to Israel? The author inter-
views three distinct families who
made aliyah at different times in
history, and for different reasons.
Leibovitz is a former spokesman
for the Israeli consulate in New
York and a writer for New York's
Jewish Week.

Compassionate Community:
Ten Values to Unite America by
Jonathan Miller
Miller, Who is Kentucky state trea-
surer, feels that "although faith is