12 May 30 • 2019
jn
What if the unimaginable happened and you
had to rid yourself of all your books except
one. Which one book would you keep? Here’
s
what some Metro Detroiters said (and note
how many could not choose only one and how
many would keep something from their child-
hood).
“My father’
s machzor with all his notes to lead
the services. It’
s treasure for me. It has notes
like “read responsively” and “all stand.” I use
it every year; I don’
t care about not having the
same one as the rest of the congregation.”
— Naomi Levine, Farmington Hills
“The Giving Tree, best children’
s book ever.”
— Polly Carpenter, Southfield
“
All children’
s books: The Giving Tree, Love
you Forever … Also, The Blessing of the
Skinned Knee by Wendy Mogel.”
— Lisa Mark Lis, Farmington Farms
Winnie the Pooh
— Micki Grossman, West Bloomfield
“Before You Were Born. It makes me cry every
time I read it. It was one of the first PJ Library
books.”
— Lisa Soble Siegmann, Bloomfield Hills
“My three-volume cloth-bound set of Lord of
the Rings. I bought the set (used) in 1970 and
carried it with me on a road trip that summer.
Each book includes a pull-out folded map. I
read the books twice and I’
ll probably read
them again.”
— Cary Gersh, Bloomfield HIlls
“When I downsized, my partner “convinced”
me to give away 70 percent of my books. It
was an agonizing experience. I have about 300
left. I couldn’
t possibly choose one; I would
give up the partner first!”
— Ian Zitron, Lathrup Village
“The books from my childhood, like The
Secret Garden, Little Women, Cherry Ames,
etc. — a reasonable collection.”
— Sharon Schumer Schwartz,
Bloomfield Hills
“I would keep one of my Nancy Drew origi-
nal books — any of the titles. This series was
the one that shaped my taste in reading. It
took me out of my rather narrow world into
situations which I would never otherwise
encounter. Mysteries are to this day my favor-
ite genre.”
— Phyllis Weeks, West Bloomfield
And Naomi Harel of Rochester, N.Y., wouldn’
t
choose one book. Instead, she’
d keep her
library card. ■
If You Could Only
Have One Book …
“My siddur. I enjoy
the feel of it, the wear
of the pages as the years
go by, the turning of the
pages, and I hold
it against my face
sometimes to help me
focus myself/concentrate
and to hear myself better
as I say the words.”
— YOSEF SHERMAN,
FORMERLY OF OAK PARK,
NOW LIVING OUTSIDE
OF JERUSALEM
”
jews d
in
the
lation, although he has no data to prove it. That could be
because Jews have a much higher level of education than
the general population, he said.
Or vice versa. Researchers have found a high correla-
tion between the number of books in a home and aca-
demic achievement. Mariah Evans of the University of
Nevada-Reno studied adults in 42 nations and found that
books in the home correlated to improved test scores. The
boost is most pronounced in families with little education
and low-status occupations, but it was seen in poor and
wealthy nations alike and across both socialist and capital-
ist economies. Perhaps Jews achieved more educationally
because we were “people of the books.
”
And where are we getting these books? The demise of
megastore Borders and the near-demise of its erstwhile
rival, Barnes & Noble, attest to huge growth in online
book sales (that’
s how retail giant Amazon got its start)
and also to the increase in audio books and electronic
books. But the number of independent bookstores has
been increasing since 2009.
Cary Loren, co-owner of the well-respected Book Beat
in Oak Park, has had to use some creative approaches to
stay afloat, including selling at libraries, schools and com-
munity centers and holding in-store book-related events.
Book Beat specializes in children’
s books and books on
fine art; many customers are educators, artists or those
buying for children and grandchildren. Loren says they
are well-educated people who often ask for suggestions of
books to read and give as gifts.
Loren supports efforts to encourage parents to read to
their children. “If a child sees you reading, it will send
a positive message and instill a lifetime of reading and
learning,
” he said.
JCC BOOK FAIR/BOOKSTOCK
Jewish Detroit can boast of two annual book-related
mega-events, the Jewish Community Center’
s Jewish
Book Fair in November and Bookstock in April.
Jewish book fairs are now held across the country,
and Detroit’
s Jewish Books Fair is the granddaddy
of them all. Detroit’
s first Jewish Book Fair, in 1951,
COURTESY JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER
MICHELLE AGIN SHERMAN
Patrons at the JCC Book Fair browse Jewish books for sale.
continued on page 14
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