often the source of divisiveness,
the language of faith unites us all."
A practicing Jew in a Bible-belt
state, he explores 10 nonpartisan
values — ranging from opportu-
nity to security — and uses Old
Testament stories to illustrate
how these values can unite all
Americans.

Think a Second Time by Dennis
Prager
Prager, a prolific California talk-
show host, addresses the great
questions of the day, including race
relations, capital punishment, abor-
tion, pacifism and religious extrem-
ism. He supports his opinions with
arguments and examples drawn
from the great traditions of moral
philosophy, Judaism in particular.
Among his other publications,
Prager is co-author, with Joseph
Telushkin, of Why the Jews?

The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew,
and the Heart of the Middle East
by Sandy Tolan
In the midst of seemingly endless
conflict in the Middle East, this
true story shows that compromise
is possible through the true story
of a single friendship between a
Palestinian who had spent decades
in Israeli prisons and an Israeli
family descended from Holocaust
survivors. A National Public Radio
reporter whose work also appears
in the New York Times and other
print media, Tolan is director of the
Project in International Reporting
at the University of California at
Berkeley.

PEOPLE'S
FICTION
F I CU TN I O GN

Julia's Kitchen by Brenda A.
Ferber
When 11-year-old Cara loses her
mother and sister in a house fire,
she is overwhelmed with grief.
Eventually, she finds peace through
friendship, spirituality and carry-
ing on her mother's legacy as a
baker of chocolate chip cookies.
Recommended for young people in
grades 4-6

The Weight of the Sky by Lisa Ann
Sandell
A high-school junior, the only
Jew in her class, looks forward to
spending the summer on an Israeli
kibbutz. But Sarah's summer is not
as idyllic as she'd anticipated in

this sensitive novel for middle- and
high-school readers. Sandell will be
speaking at the Frankel Academy
of Metropolitan Detroit.

Shlemazel and the Remarkable
Spoon of Pohost by Ann Stampler
In a Yiddish-flavored tale for very
young readers, preschool through
third grade, Moshke the tinker con-
vinces the lazy Shlemazel that, if
he uses a certain magic spoon, his
luck will change. Shlemazel never
does become "lucky," but, after
helping the townsfolk with tilling,
milling and baking, he does earn
the respect of the community, raise
his self-esteem and find a wife.

MEMOIRS

Come Back: A Mother and
Daughter's Journey Through
Hell and Back by Claire and Mia
Fontaine
Claire Fontaine lived through one
of the worst experiences a mother
can face — seeing the 15-year-old
daughter she loves turn into an
oppositional drug addict. At the
same time, her daughter, Mia, was
powerless to stop her spiraling
descent. How they turned their
lives around is told in alternating
sections by mother and daughter.

The Book of Telling: Tracing the
Secrets of My Father's Lives by
Sharona Muir
Itzhak Bentov invented Israel's first
rocket, but he never told his daugh-
ter, who was raised by her mother.
In this memoir, she seeks the truth
about her late father in documents,
photos and in the homes and
streets of modern Israel.

and The Magic Barrel. This memoir,
by his psychologist daughter, is
written with love, admiration and a
clear eye for the author's strengths
and weaknesses.

SELF-HELP/
HEALTH

Age Strong, Live Long: Lessons
from My Patients by Seth Baum,
M.D.
No matter what your age, you
can begin to change your life-
style today and feel stronger and
healthier almost immediately, says
Dr. Baum, who has been practic-
ing cardiology in Boca Raton, Ha.,
since 1991. This book provides jar-
gon-free instructions for getting a
handle on stress, weight, exercise,
food and time.

Locker Room Diaries: The Naked
Truth about Women, Body Image
and Re-imagining the "Perfect"
Body by Leslie Goldman
A self-confessed workout junkie
and a recovering anorexic, the 30-
something Goldman critiques her
fellow-exercisers and their atti-
tudes and finds that no woman is
happy with her own looks. Written
in a lightweight way, this book illu-
minates some heavyweight topics.

Ultrametabolism: The Simple Plan
for Automatic Weight Loss by
Mark Hyman, M.D.
You can't keep off the pounds
by fasting, counting carbs or
eliminating any one type of food,
says Dr. Hyman, former co-medi-
cal director at Canyon Ranch in
the Berkshires, an internationally
acclaimed health resort. Now
editor in chief of Alternative

Therapies in Health and Medicine,

Outside the Box: A Memoir by
Lynn Sherr
A former investigative journalist
on ABC's 20/20 and World News
Tonight, Sherr was in the first
cadre of serious female reporters,
coming to prominence in the 1960s
and '70s. This sensitive and witty
memoir traces her path through
the Associated Press to television,
and the personal struggles that
ensued.

My Father Is a Book by Janna
Malamud Smith
Bernard Malamud's place in
American literature is defined by
his masterpieces: The Assistant

a peer-reviewed journal, he offers
a detailed six-week plan for sus-
tainable weight loss.

I Am My Mother's Daughter:
Making Peace with Mom — Before
It's Too Late by Iris Krasnow
If you're a middle-aged woman
who still has issues with your
mother, you are not alone, says
Krasnow, a professor of communi-
cations at American University. In
interviews with scores of daugh-
ters and mothers Iry various stages
of their lives, she asks the right
questions to find the roots of their
conflict. At the very least, this
book will help open up the lines of

communication for its readers.

Save Your Hearing Now: The
Revolutionary Program That Can
Prevent and May Even Reverse
Hearing Loss by Michael Seidman,
M.D.
Stop listening to that pulsat-
ing bass! Dr. Seidman, a West
Bloomfield otolaryngologist, has
developed a specific combina-
tion of antioxidants, diet, exercise
and basic lifestyle changes that
fit easily into your everyday life,
whether you are a senior citizen or
a stressed-out boomer.

Every Day Counts: Lessons in
Love, Faith and Resilience from
Children Facing Illness by Maria
Sirois
Sirois, who spent a yearlong
internship counseling children at
Harvard University's Dana-Farber
Cancer Institute, found unexpected
strength in her young patients.
In this inspirational book, she
recounts the ways that innocence,
joy, vulnerability, humor and cour-
age fortified not only her patients
but also those around them.

POP CULTURE,
HUMOR, SPORTS

A Season in the Big House: An
Unscripted, Insider Look at the
Marvel of Michigan Football by
George Cantor
Veteran journalist and Jewish
News columnist George Cantor
chronicles the twists and turns of
the 2005University of Michigan
football season — in which Michigan
fans were staggered as their team
careened through a 7-5 season,
with eight of the 12 games decided
in the last minute or on the last
play from two compelling, and
at times divergent, points of view:
those of Michigan fans and of head
coach Lloyd Carr.

Katie Roiphe and Molly Jong-Fast.
Among the sacred cows they
demolish are dating and 3-Dating,
worrying, divorce, observance, body
image and loyalty to Israel. This
book was awarded the National
Jewish Book Award in Women's
Studies for 2005.

Yes, But Is It Good for the Jews?
by Johny Geller
With tongue firmly in cheek, liter-
ary agent Geller proposes a meth-
od by which you can quantitatively
answer the age-old question, "Is it
good for the Jews?" This method
assigns relative importance to fac-
tors such as Anti-Semitic Potential,
Impact on the World, the J-Factor
(level of Jewishness) and Tsores
(troubles)- .

Masters of the Comic Book
Universe Revealed by Arie Kaplan
An informal history of the comic
book through the lives and careers
of 11 artists and writers from 1936
to the present, this book includes
previously unpublished self-por-
traits by many of the cartoonists.

1

SPIRITUALITY

A Book of Life: Embracing
Judaism as a Spiritual Practice by
Rabbi Michael Strassfield
In this thorough guide to tradi-
tional and contemporary Jewish
rituals, the co-author of the 1970s
bestseller The Jewish Catalog
quotes from the Bible, Midrash
and Talmud as he explores such
diverse topics as Shabbat laws and
practices, work ethics, religious
Zionism and keeping kosher. The
book includes prayers and bless-
ings for every occasion.

-

Out of Nowhere: The Detroit
Tigers' Magical 2006 Season by
George Cantor
Cantor details through words and
photographs the best baseball
season this city has experienced in
more than two decades.

The Modern Jewish Girls' Guide to
Guilt by Ruth Ellenson
Ellenson has assembled essays by
some of today's top Jewish women
writers, including Daphne Merkin,

COOKING

The Divine Kosher Cookbook by
Rise Routenberg and Barbara
Wasser
A comprehensive, user-friendly
cookbook for creative cooking and
gracious home entertaining, Divine
Kosher includes more than 400
recipes, ranging from traditional
to contemporary. Keeping the real
cook in mind, the book is bound in a
hard cover with a concealed wire to
lie flat on your kitchen counter. iI

— Diana Lieberman

October 26 • 2006

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