Arts & Entertainment
ON THE COVER
Magical Memoirs
Here's your key to enter the private lives
of an actor, a defense attorney and more.
Elizabeth Applebaum
Special to the Jewish News
S
ex and the City star Evan
Handler was diagnosed with
a form of leukemia at first
considered incurable. In It's Only
Temporary: The Good News and the
Bad News of Being Alive, he considers
life from the perspective of one who
believes his time is limited:
Q: From your romances to your inter-
est in certain chat rooms, you reveal
extremely private details about yourself
Do you wonder what people will think
about you after they read the book?
A: I think one of the reasons people
read is to compare their own private
thoughts, secrets and motivations with
those that the writer is willing to reveal
More Memoirs
— either those belonging to himself
or to his fictional characters. It allows
readers to get a sense of the mind and
motivations of another human being as
they might in conversation with some-
one close — but without putting their
own privacy at risk.
And, OK ... so I've lived through 27
break-ups, spread over only 10 relation-
ships (I was a back-and-forth kind of
guy).
I think everyone can relate to the
"should I stay, or should I go" dilemma
from some point in their lives.
Do I wonder — or care — what peo-
ple will think? Sure. But I feel like that's
the bargain.
In a memoir, that's what I have to
offer: honest revelation, along the lines
of life choices we all face at one time or
another.
ev oft 0,1.1! Ilkfm:t$
8:15 p.m. (WB): Martin Fletcher,
Breaking News: A Stunning and
Memorable Account of Reporting From
Some of the Most Dangerous Places in
the World
The Emmy Award-winning NBC News
bureau chief in Tel Aviv brings his own
family's history in the Holocaust to his
memoir of reporting on the world's hot
spots.
1 p.m. (OP): Henry Gleisner, Defying the
Fates: The Remarkable Story of a Jew
Who Survived in Nazi Europe
The author, who escaped the Lvov
Ghetto and found work as an interpreter
in German construction during World
War II, recounts his life in the Italian
Resistance and with the American
troops in Austria.
10:30 a.m. (WB) and 1 p.m. (OP):
Lily Koppel, The Red Leather Diary
After discovering a diary abandoned
in a Manhattan dumpster, Lily Koppel
goes in search of its author and, writing
in a novelistic way, re-creates the privi-
leged world of 1930s New York.
Fluirstiav, Nov. 6
1 p.m. (WB): Marie Brenner, Apples and
Oranges
Drawing on experiences with her
dysfunctional and feuding family, the
author explores the untapped subject of
sibling rivalries.
3 p.m. (WB): Erin Einhorn, The Pages In
Between: A Holocaust Legacy of Two
Families, One Home
The Detroit native goes in search of
the Polish family who saved her mother
when she was just an infant during the
Holocaust and finally learns the truth of
what happened.
Thowdev- Nov. 11
7 p.m. (OP): Ariel Sabar, My Father's
Paradise: A Son's Search for His Jewish
Past in Kurdish Iraq
Sabar traces his roots to northern
Iraq in a quest to understand his father.
10:30 a.m. (WB): Ariel Sabar (see above)
7 p.m. (WB): Aaron Cohen, Brotherhood
B18
October 30 • 2008
IT'S ONLY TEMPORARY
The Good News and the Bad News of Being Alive
EVAN HANDLER
Q: You were, understandably, often
angry about your disease. But some say
that learning they have a life-threatening
ailment teaches them to appreciate every
moment. Did you feel that?
A: Of course I've felt supreme appre-
ciation for life, and at times those feel-
ings have been overwhelming. But life, if
lived with any longevity, often becomes
a balancing act between gratitude and
regret, enjoyment and endurance (been
stuck in any traffic lately?).
The ironic conundrum of my life has
been the fact that I've struggled with the
same issues of appreciation as others
have while the circumstances of my life
have been more extreme than for many.
Q: Writing and acting are both creative
expressions, but do they draw on the
same creative skills?
of Warriors: Behind Enemy Lines with a
Commando in One of the World's Most
Elite Counterterrorism Units
A memoir of serving as the only non-
Israeli with a post in the Israeli Special
Forces traces one life-and-death situa-
tion after another.
Noon (WB): Anne Roiphe, Epilogue: A
Memoir (Lunch with the Authors)
The author tells the poignant story of
her life after her husband of 39 years
unexpectedly dies of a heart attack,
capturing the essence of widowhood
and the world of life after love. $30.
7 p.m. (OP):
Mort Zachter, Dough: A Memoir
As the author struggles to under-
stand the reasoning behind his family's
hidden wealth, he comes to grips with
many family mysteries and learns les-
sons of acceptance and forgiveness.
Laura Manischewitz Alpern,
Manischewitz, The Matzo Family: The
Making of an American Jewish Icon
An insider tells the story of a small,
family run-bakery that became a brand
of ethnic food known the world over.
10 a.m. (WB): Bob Morris, Assisted
Loving: True Tales of Double Dating with
My Dad
Acting as both coach and accomplice,
the author helped his widowed father
navigate the dating world of the elderly
– and learns a great deal along the way.
1 p.m. (WB): Mort Zachter and Laura
Manischewitz Alpern (see Nov. 13)
caftwdev, /40v, 1 5
8:15 p.m. (WB): Charles Strouse, Put on
a Happy Face: A Broadway Memoir
The Emmy, Grammy and Tony-award-
winning composer recounts his life and
such unforgettable hits as Annie, Bye,
Bye Birdie and Applause in an evening
filled with tales of Broadway, intermixed
with music and laughter.
$10 JCC members/ $12 nonmembers/
$15 at the door.
5 p.m. (WB): Rick Lax, Lawyer Boy: A
Case Study on Growing Up
A Michigan native describes his jour-
ney from childhood to lawyerhood – and
how he used the skills he developed as
a magician to succeed in class.