Oakton Reads Jewish Literature 2021
Every Spring Semester Oakton Community College Library hosts a Jewish Literature series entitled ‘Oakton Reads Jewish Literature’. This year’s online five-part series of readings, lectures, and discussions will be led by 2 distinguished professors: Davis Schneiderman and Josh Corey from Lake Forest College, and Elana Barron from Oakton Community College. Registration is free through the Alliance for Lifelong Learning Office. For more details, visit our Oakton Reads Jewish Literature LibGuide.
The books being discussed this current semester are:
kaddish.com by Nathan Englander
Meeting Date: January 27
Facilitator: Elana Barron
“Larry is an atheist in a family of orthodox Memphis Jews. When his father dies, it is his responsibility as the surviving son to recite the Kaddish, the Jewish prayer for the dead, every day for eleven months. To the horror and dismay of his mother and sisters, Larry refuses—thus imperiling the fate of his father’s soul. To appease them, and in penance for failing to mourn his father correctly, he hatches an ingenious if cynical plan, hiring a stranger through a website called Kaddish.com to recite the daily prayer and shepherd his father’s soul safely to rest.
This is Nathan Englander’s freshest and funniest work to date—a satire that touches, lightly and with unforgettable humor, on the conflict between religious and secular worlds, and the hypocrisies that run through both. A novel about atonement; about spiritual redemption; and about the soul-sickening temptations of the internet, which, like God, is everywhere” (Descriptive content provided by Syndetics).
Meeting Date: February 17
Facilitator: Davis Schneiderman
“Written in 1914 but not published until 1925, a year after Kafka’s death, The Trial is the terrifying tale of Josef K., a respectable bank officer who is suddenly and inexplicably arrested and must defend himself against a charge about which he can get no information. Whether read as an existential tale, a parable, or a prophecy of the excesses of modern bureaucracy wedded to the madness of totalitarianism, The Trial has resonated with chilling truth for generations of readers” (Descriptive content provided by Syndetics).
The Day of Atonement: A Novel by David Liss
Meeting Date: March 24
Facilitator: Davis Schneiderman
“In 1755 on a mission of revenge, and in the guise of English businessman Sebastian Foxx, exiled Sebastião Raposa returns to Lisbon, stalking the ruthless Inquisitor priest Pedro Azinheiro who imprisoned his parents ten years earlier. When a twist of fate turns his carefully laid plans to chaos, he will be forced to choose between surrendering to bloodlust or serving the cause of mercy” (Descriptive content provided by Syndetics).
Running the Books: The Adventures of an Accidental Prison Librarian by Avi Steinberg
Meeting Date: April 14
Facilitator: Davis Schneiderman
“Avi Steinberg is stumped. After defecting from yeshiva to attend Harvard, he has nothing but a senior thesis on Bugs Bunny to show for himself. While his friends and classmates advance in the world, Steinberg remains stuck at a crossroads, his ‘romantic’ existence as a freelance obituary writer no longer cutting it.
Seeking direction (and dental insurance) Steinberg takes a job running the library counter at a Boston prison. He is quickly drawn into the community of outcasts that forms among his bookshelves—an assortment of quirky regulars, including con men, pimps, minor prophets, even ghosts—all searching for the perfect book and a connection to the outside world. Steinberg recounts their daily dramas with heartbreak and humor in this one-of-a-kind memoir—a piercing exploration of prison culture and an entertaining tale of one young man’s earnest attempt to find his place in the world” (Descriptive content provided by Syndetics).
Sinners and the Sea: The Untold Story of Noah’s Wife by Rebecca Kanner
Meeting Date: May 5
Facilitator: Elana Barron
“The young heroine in Sinners and the Sea is destined for greatness. Known only as ‘wife’ in the Bible and cursed with a birthmark that many think is the brand of a demon, this unnamed woman lives anew through Rebecca Kanner. The author gives this virtuous woman the perfect voice to make one of the Old Testament’s stories come alive like never before.
Desperate to keep her safe, the woman’s father gives her to the righteous Noah, who weds her and takes her to the town of Sorum, a land of outcasts. Noah, a 600-year-old paragon of virtue, rises to the role of preacher to a town full of sinners. Alone in her new life, Noah’s wife gives him three sons, but is faced with the hardship of living with an aloof husband who speaks more to God than with her. She tries to make friends with the violent and dissolute people of Sorum while raising a brood that, despite a pious upbringing, have developed some sinful tendencies of their own. But her trials are nothing compared to what awaits her after God tells her husband that a flood is coming—and that Noah and his family must build an ark so that they alone can repopulate the world. As the floodwaters draw near, she grows in courage and honor, and when the water finally recedes, she emerges whole, displaying once and for all the indomitable strength of women.
Kanner weaves a masterful tale that breathes new life into one of the Bible’s voiceless characters. Through the eyes of Noah’s wife we see a complex world where the lines between righteousness and wickedness blur. And we are left wondering: would I have been considered virtuous enough to save?” (Descriptive content provided by Syndetics).
posted by Kevin Purtell
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Oakton Reads Jewish Literature 2020
Oakton Reads Jewish Literature
Wednesdays, 7-8:30 p.m., Room A145-152, Skokie Campus
Registration is free through the Alliance for Lifelong Learning Office
Every Spring Semester Oakton Community College Library hosts a Jewish Literature series entitled Oakton Reads Jewish Literature. This year’s five-part series of readings, lectures, and discussions will be led by 2 distinguished professors: Davis Schneiderman and Josh Corey from Lake Forest College and Elana Barron from Oakton Community College. The books being discussed this current semester are:
Memento Park
by Mark Sarvas
Meeting Date: January 29
“After receiving an unexpected call from the Australian consulate, Matt Santos becomes aware of a painting that he believes was looted from his family in Hungary during the Second World War. To recover the painting, he must repair his strained relationship with his harshly judgmental father, uncover his family history, and restore his connection to his own Judaism. Along the way to illuminating the mysteries of his past, Matt is torn between his doting girlfriend, Tracy, and his alluring attorney, Rachel, with whom he travels to Budapest to unearth the truth about the painting and, in turn, his family. As his journey progresses, Matt’s revelations are accompanied by equally consuming and imaginative meditations on the painting and the painter at the center of his personal drama, Budapest Street Scene by Ervin Kalman. By the time Memento Park reaches its conclusion, Matt’s narrative is as much about family history and father-son dynamics as it is about the nature of art itself, and the infinite ways we come to understand ourselves through it. Of all the questions asked by Mark Sarvas’s Memento Park—about family and identity, about art and history—a central, unanswerable predicament lingers: How do we move forward when the past looms unreasonably large?” (Descriptive content provided by Syndetics).
The Merchant of Venice
by William Shakespeare; edited by Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine
Meeting Date: February 19
“In The Merchant of Venice, the path to marriage is hazardous. To win Portia, Bassanio must pass a test prescribed by her father’s will, choosing correctly among three caskets or chests. If he fails, he may never marry at all. Bassanio and Portia also face a magnificent villain, the moneylender Shylock. In creating Shylock, Shakespeare seems to have shared in a widespread prejudice against Jews. Shylock would have been regarded as a villain because he was a Jew. Yet he gives such powerful expression to his alienation due to the hatred around him that, in many productions, he emerges as the hero” (Descriptive content provided by Syndetics).
The Day of Atonement: A Novel
by David Liss
Meeting Date: March 25
“Sebastião Raposa is only thirteen when his parents are unjustly imprisoned, never to be seen again, and he is forced to flee Portugal lest he too fall victim to the Inquisition. But ten years in exile only serve to whet his appetite for vengeance. Returning at last to Lisbon, in the guise of English businessman Sebastian Foxx, he is no longer a frightened boy but a dangerous man tormented by violent impulses. Haunted by the specter of all he has lost—including his exquisite first love—Foxx is determined to right old wrongs by punishing an unforgivable enemy with unrelenting fury.
Well schooled by his benefactor, the notorious bounty hunter Benjamin Weaver, in the use of wits, fists, and a variety of weapons, Foxx stalks the ruthless Inquisitor priest Pedro Azinheiro. But in a city ruled by terror and treachery, where money and information can buy power and trump any law, no enemy should be underestimated and no ally can be trusted. Having risked everything, and once again under the watchful eye of the Inquisition, Foxx finds his plans unraveling as he becomes drawn into the struggles of old friends—and new enemies—none of whom, like Lisbon itself, are what they seem.
Compelled to play a game of deception and greed, Sebastian Foxx will find himself befriended, betrayed, tempted by desire, and tormented by personal turmoil. And when a twist of fate turns his carefully laid plans to chaos, he will be forced to choose between surrendering to blood lust or serving the cause of mercy” (Descriptive content provided by Syndetics).
Running the Books: The Adventures of an Accidental Prison Librarian
by Avi Steinberg
Meeting Date: April 22
“Avi Steinberg is stumped. After defecting from yeshiva to attend Harvard, he has nothing but a senior thesis on Bugs Bunny to show for himself. While his friends and classmates advance in the world, Steinberg remains stuck at a crossroads, his ‘romantic’ existence as a freelance obituary writer no longer cutting it.
Seeking direction (and dental insurance) Steinberg takes a job running the library counter at a Boston prison. He is quickly drawn into the community of outcasts that forms among his bookshelves—an assortment of quirky regulars, including con men, pimps, minor prophets, even ghosts—all searching for the perfect book and a connection to the outside world. Steinberg recounts their daily dramas with heartbreak and humor in this one-of-a-kind memoir—a piercing exploration of prison culture and an entertaining tale of one young man’s earnest attempt to find his place in the world” (Descriptive content provided by Syndetics).
Sinners and the Sea: The Untold Story of Noah’s Wife
by Rebecca Kanner
Meeting Date: May 13
“The young heroine in Sinners and the Sea is destined for greatness. Known only as ‘wife’ in the Bible and cursed with a birthmark that many think is the brand of a demon, this unnamed woman lives anew through Rebecca Kanner. The author gives this virtuous woman the perfect voice to make one of the Old Testament’s stories come alive like never before.
Desperate to keep her safe, the woman’s father gives her to the righteous Noah, who weds her and takes her to the town of Sorum, a land of outcasts. Noah, a 600-year-old paragon of virtue, rises to the role of preacher to a town full of sinners. Alone in her new life, Noah’s wife gives him three sons, but is faced with the hardship of living with an aloof husband who speaks more to God than with her. She tries to make friends with the violent and dissolute people of Sorum while raising a brood that, despite a pious upbringing, have developed some sinful tendencies of their own. But her trials are nothing compared to what awaits her after God tells her husband that a flood is coming—and that Noah and his family must build an ark so that they alone can repopulate the world. As the floodwaters draw near, she grows in courage and honor, and when the water finally recedes, she emerges whole, displaying once and for all the indomitable strength of women.
Kanner weaves a masterful tale that breathes new life into one of the Bible’s voiceless characters. Through the eyes of Noah’s wife we see a complex world where the lines between righteousness and wickedness blur. And we are left wondering: would I have been considered virtuous enough to save?” (Descriptive content provided by Syndetics).
-posted by Kevin Purtell
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Skokie Summer Nightstand Event
During the Summer semester “What’s on Your Nightstand” event at the RHC campus, the following books were discussed.
Remember, if Oakton doesn’t own the book or our copy is checked out, you can order a copy to be sent from one of our consortium libraries for FREE! Most books take less than a week to arrive.
The Weight of Ink
by Rachel Kadish
“Set in London of the 1660s and of the early twenty-first century, The Weight of Ink is the interwoven tale of two women of remarkable intellect: Ester Velasquez, an emigrant from Amsterdam who is permitted to scribe for a blind rabbi, just before the plague hits the city; and Helen Watt, an ailing historian with a love of Jewish history.
When Helen is summoned by a former student to view a cache of newly discovered seventeenth-century Jewish documents, she enlists the help of Aaron Levy, an American graduate student as impatient as he is charming, and embarks on one last project: to determine the identity of the document’s scribe, the elusive ‘Aleph.’
Electrifying and ambitious, The Weight of Ink is about women separated by centuries—and the choices and sacrifices they must make in order to reconcile the life of the heart and mind” (Descriptive content provided by Syndetics).
The Passage
Book 1, The Passage Series
by Justin Cronin
“An epic and gripping tale of catastrophe and survival, The Passage is the story of Amy—abandoned by her mother at the age of six, pursued and then imprisoned by the shadowy figures behind a government experiment of apocalyptic proportions. But Special Agent Brad Wolgast, the lawman sent to track her down, is disarmed by the curiously quiet girl and risks everything to save her. As the experiment goes nightmarishly wrong, Wolgast secures her escape—but he can’t stop society’s collapse. And as Amy walks alone, across miles and decades, into a future dark with violence and despair, she is filled with the mysterious and terrifying knowledge that only she has the power to save the ruined world” (Descriptive content provided by Syndetics).
The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business
by Charles Duhigg
“In The Power of Habit, Pulitzer Prize-winning business reporter Charles Duhigg takes us to the thrilling edge of scientific discoveries that explain why habits exist and how they can be changed. Distilling vast amounts of information into engrossing narratives that take us from the boardrooms of Procter & Gamble to sidelines of the NFL to the front lines of the civil rights movement, Duhigg presents a whole new understanding of human nature and its potential. At its core, The Power of Habit contains an exhilarating argument: The key to exercising regularly, losing weight, being more productive, and achieving success is understanding how habits work. As Duhigg shows, by harnessing this new science, we can transform our businesses, our communities, and our lives” (Descriptive content provided by Syndetics).
Sweetblood
by Pete Hautman
“Lucy Szabo thinks she knows where the myth of vampires came from. She’s sure that that the first vampires ever were dying from diabetics. And she should know. She’s diabetic herself. When she gets involved with Draco, a self-proclaimed ‘real’ vampire she meets in a Transylvania chat room, her world starts to crash down around her. Soon, her whole life—grades, relationships, and health—are spiraling dangerously out of control. Lucy needs to make some important choices to take back control of her life—but is it already too late?” (Descriptive content provided by Syndetics).
Tell Me How This Ends Well
by David S. Levinson
“In 2022, American Jews face an increasingly unsafe and anti-Semitic landscape at home. Against this backdrop, the Jacobson family gathers for Passover in Los Angeles. But their immediate problems are more personal than political, with the three adult children, Mo, Edith, and Jacob, in various states of crisis, the result, each claims, of a lifetime of mistreatment by their father, Julian. The siblings have begun to suspect that Julian is hastening their mother Roz’s demise, and years of resentment boil over as they debate whether to go through with the real reason for their reunion: an ill-considered plot to end their father’s iron rule for good. That is, if they can put their bickering, grudges, festering relationships, and distrust of one another aside long enough to act.
And God help them if their mother finds out . . .
Tell Me How This Ends Well presents a blistering and prescient vision of the near future, turning the exploits of one very funny, very troubled family into a rare and compelling exploration of the state of America, and what it could become” (Descriptive content provided by Syndetics).
The Cat Who Could Read Backwards
Book 1, The Cat Who Series
by Lilian Jackson Braun
“The world of modern art is a mystery to many. But for Jim Qwilleran, it turns into a mystery of another sort when his assignment for The Daily Fluxion leads down the path to murder. A stabbing in an art gallery, vandalized paintings, a fatal fall from a scaffolding—this is not at all what Qwilleran expects when he turns his reporter talents to art. But Qwilleran and his newly found partner, Koko the brilliant Siamese cat, are in their element—sniffing out clues and confounding criminals intent on mayhem and murder. This riveting beginning to the Cat Who series is the perfect cozy mystery for cat lovers to start sleuthing!” (Descriptive content provided by Syndetics).
-posted by Huma Abdulaziz
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )
Oakton Reads Jewish Literature
Oakton Reads Jewish Literature
Wednesdays, 7-8:30 p.m., RHC Rm A145-152
Registration is free through the Alliance for Lifelong Learning Office
Every Spring Semester Oakton Community College Library with a grant from the Oakton Educational Foundation hosts a Jewish Literacy series entitled Oakton Reads Jewish Literature. The books being discussed this current semester are:
The Zigzag Kid
by David Grossman
Program on February 4
“David Grossman’s classic novels See Under: Love and The Book of Intimate Grammar, earned him international acclaim as an author of childhood. The Zig Zag Kid is written in a more optimistic vein, and recounts thirteen-year-old Nonny Feuerberg’s picturesque journey into adulthood.
As Nonny’s Bar Mitzvah year trip turns into an amazing adventure, he not only finds himself befriending a notorious criminal, and a great actress, but confronts the great mystery of his own identity. With wit and humor, The Zig Zag Kid is a novel that explores the most fundamental questions of good and evil and speaks directly to both adults and teenagers” (Descriptive content provided by Syndetics).
Persian Brides
by Dorit Rabinyan
Program on February 25
“Persian Brides is a novel of rare beauty and extraordinary accomplishment. Set at the turn of the century in the fictional Persian village of Omerijan, it tells the magical story of two young girls—Flora and Nazie Ratoryan—and their many neighbors in the almond tree alley in Omerijan where they live. Fifteen-years-old, pregnant, and recently abandoned by her cloth-merchant husband, Flora longs desperately for the return of her unborn baby’s father. Nazie consoles and pities her, and though she is still a child of eleven, she yearns—just as desperately—for her own future marriage.
Although the narrative spans only two days, it branches out and back, encompassing the lives and histories of many of Omerijan’s inhabitants. Rabinyan’s vivid depiction of the village is a sensual feast, recreating the odors and flavors, the colors, sounds, and textures of everyday life. A masterful blend of fantasy and reality, the narrative forcefully conveys the shocking cruelties endured by many of the characters while at the same time weaving a modern-day Arabic legend where snakes offer jewels in exchange for milk and death is thwarted by appeasing the village demons. Written with passion and elegance, Persian Brides brings a rich array of characters to life—telling of their hardships without ever losing the magic and wonder that is so much a part of their lives” (Descriptive content provided by Syndetics).
Suddenly in the Depths of the Forest
by Amos Oz
Program on March 25
“In a gray and gloomy village, all of the animals—from dogs and cats to fish and snails—disappeared years before. No one talks about it and no one knows why, though everyone agrees that the village has been cursed. But when two children see a fish—a tiny one and just for a second—they become determined to unravel the mystery of where the animals have gone. And so they travel into the depths of the forest with that mission in mind, terrified and hopeful about what they may encounter.
From the internationally bestselling author Amos Oz, this is a hauntingly beautiful fable for both children and adults about tolerance, loneliness, denial, and remembrance” (Descriptive content provided by Syndetics)
Friendly Fire: A Duet
by A.B. Yehoshua
Program on April 15
“A couple, long married, are spending an unaccustomed week apart. Amotz, an engineer, is busy juggling the day-to-day needs of his elderly father, his children, and his grandchildren. His wife, Daniella, flies from Tel Aviv to East Africa to mourn the death of her older sister. There she confronts her anguished seventy-year-old brother-in-law, Yirmiyahu, whose soldier son was killed six years earlier in the West Bank by ‘friendly fire.’ Yirmiyahu is now managing a team of African researchers digging for the bones of man’s primate ancestors as he desperately strives to detach himself from every shred of his identity, Jewish and Israeli.
With great artistry, A. B. Yehoshua has once again written a rich, compassionate, rewarding novel in which sharply rendered details of modern Israeli life and age-old mysteries of human existence echo one another in complex and surprising ways” (Descriptive content provided by Syndetics).
My Russian Grandmother and Her American Vacuum Cleaner: A Memoir
by Meir Shalev
Program on May 6
“Grandma Tonia was never seen without a cleaning rag over her shoulder. She received visitors outdoors. She allowed only the most privileged guests to enter her spotless house. Hilarious and touching, Grandma Tonia and her regulations come richly to life in a narrative that circles around the arrival into the family’s dusty agricultural midst of the big, shiny American sweeper sent as a gift by Great-uncle Yeshayahu (he who had shockingly emigrated to the sinful capitalist heaven of Los Angeles!). America, to little Meir and to his forebears, was a land of hedonism and enchanting progress; of tempting luxuries, dangerous music, and degenerate gum-chewing; and of women with painted fingernails. The sweeper, a stealth weapon from Grandpa Aharon’s American brother meant to beguile the hardworking socialist household with a bit of American ease, was symbolic of the conflicts and visions of the family in every respect.
The fate of Tonia’s “svieeperrr”–hidden away for decades in a spotless closed-off bathroom after its initial use–is a family mystery that Shalev determines to solve. The result, in this cheerful translation by Evan Fallenberg, is pure delight, as Shalev brings to life the obsessive but loving Tonia, the pioneers who gave his childhood its spirit of wonder, and the grit and humor of people building ever-new lives” (Descriptive content provided by Syndetics).
-posted by Kevin Purtell
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 1 so far )RHC Nightstand Titles
During the fall “What’s on Your Nightstand” event at the Skokie campus, the following books were discussed.
Remember, if Oakton doesn’t own the book or our copy is checked out, you can order a copy to be sent from one of our consortium libraries for FREE! Most books take less than a week to arrive.
Afterlife with Archie
by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa & Francesco Francavilla
“When Jughead’s beloved pet Hot Dog is killed in a hit and run, Jughead turns to the only person he knows who can help bring back his furry best friend—Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Using dark, forbidden magic, Sabrina is successful and Hot Dog returns to the land of the living. But he’s not the same—and soon, the darkness he brings back with him from beyond the grave begins to spread, forcing Archie, Betty, Veronica and the gang to try to escape from Riverdale!” (Descriptive content provided by Syndetics).
The Avengers: A Jewish War Story
by Rich Cohen
“Rich Cohen, author of the acclaimed Tough Jews, again narrates a little-known episode of Jewish history, this time altering what we thought we knew about the Holocaust.
Abba Kovner, Vitka Kempner, Ruzka Korczak-comrades, lovers, friends. In the Lithuanian ghetto of Vilna, they were the heart of a breathtakingly courageous underground movement, and when the ghetto was liquidated, they fled to the forests and joined other partisans in continued sabotage and resistance. Riveting, poignant and uplifting, The Avengers is a powerful exploration of resistance and revenge, of courage and dedication, and an inside look at some of the intrepid individuals who fought against the Holocaust and the Nazi occupation of Europe” (Descriptive content provided by Syndetics).
College: What It Was, Is, and Should Be
by Andrew Delbanco
“As the commercialization of American higher education accelerates, more and more students are coming to college with the narrow aim of obtaining a preprofessional credential. The traditional four-year college experience—an exploratory time for students to discover their passions and test ideas and values with the help of teachers and peers—is in danger of becoming a thing of the past.
In College, prominent cultural critic Andrew Delbanco offers a trenchant defense of such an education, and warns that it is becoming a privilege reserved for the relatively rich. In arguing for what a true college education should be, he demonstrates why making it available to as many young people as possible remains central to America’s democratic promise.
In a brisk and vivid historical narrative, Delbanco explains how the idea of college arose in the colonial period from the Puritan idea of the gathered church, how it struggled to survive in the nineteenth century in the shadow of the new research universities, and how, in the twentieth century, it slowly opened its doors to women, minorities, and students from low-income families. He describes the unique strengths of America’s colleges in our era of globalization and, while recognizing the growing centrality of science, technology, and vocational subjects in the curriculum, he mounts a vigorous defense of a broadly humanistic education for all. Acknowledging the serious financial, intellectual, and ethical challenges that all colleges face today, Delbanco considers what is at stake in the urgent effort to protect these venerable institutions for future generations” (Descriptive content provided by Syndetics).
King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa
by Adam Hochschild
“In the 1880s, as the European powers were carving up Africa, King Leopold II of Belgium seized for himself the vast and mostly unexplored territory surrounding the Congo River. Carrying out a genocidal plundering of the Congo, he looted its rubber, brutalized its people, and ultimately slashed its population by ten million—all the while shrewdly cultivating his reputation as a great humanitarian. Heroic efforts to expose these crimes eventually led to the first great human rights movement of the twentieth century, in which everyone from Mark Twain to the Archbishop of Canterbury participated. King Leopold’s Ghost is the haunting account of a megalomaniac of monstrous proportions, a man as cunning, charming, and cruel as any of the great Shakespearean villains.
It is also the deeply moving portrait of those who fought Leopold: a brave handful of missionaries, travelers, and young idealists who went to Africa for work or adventure and unexpectedly found themselves witnesses to a holocaust. Adam Hochschild brings this largely untold story alive with the wit and skill of a Barbara Tuchman. Like her, he knows that history often provides a far richer cast of characters than any novelist could invent. Chief among them is Edmund Morel, a young British shipping agent who went on to lead the international crusade against Leopold. Another hero of this tale, the Irish patriot Roger Casement, ended his life on a London gallows. Two courageous black Americans, George Washington Williams and William Sheppard, risked much to bring evidence of the Congo atrocities to the outside world. Sailing into the middle of the story was a young Congo River steamboat officer named Joseph Conrad. And looming above them all, the duplicitous billionaire King Leopold II. With great power and compassion, King Leopold’s Ghost will brand the tragedy of the Congo—too long forgotten—onto the conscience of the West” (Descriptive content provided by Syndetics).
Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls
by David Sedaris
“A guy walks into a bar car and…
From here the story could take many turns. When this guy is David Sedaris, the possibilities are endless, but the result is always the same: he will both delight you with twists of humor and intelligence and leave you deeply moved.
Sedaris remembers his father’s dinnertime attire (shirtsleeves and underpants), his first colonoscopy (remarkably pleasant), and the time he considered buying the skeleton of a murdered Pygmy.
With Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls, David Sedaris shows once again why his work has been called ‘hilarious, elegant, and surprisingly moving’ (Washington Post)” (Descriptive content provided by Syndetics).
More Stories from My Father’s Court
by Isaac Bashevis Singer
“A sequel to I. B. Singer’s classic memoir In My Father’s Court, these stories, published serially in the Daily Forward, depict the beth din in his father’s home on Krochmalna Street in Warsaw. A unique institution, the beth din was a combined court of law, synagogue, scholarly institution, and psychologist’s office where people sought out the advice and counsel of a neighborhood rabbi.
The twenty-seven stories gathered here show this world as it appeared to a young boy. From the earthy to the ethereal, these stories provide an intimate and powerful evocation of a bygone world” (Descriptive content provided by Syndetics).
My Glorious Brothers
by Howard Fast
“‘The strength of five brothers will define a nation. My Glorious Brothers is the epic story of perhaps the most breathtaking chapter in the history of Israel, a stirring tale of courage for those who like to find meaning for today’s world in the great events of history.
After witnessing a ransacked and desecrated Jerusalem, Simon and his four brothers—soon to be known and revered as the Maccabees—rise to lead an earthshaking rebellion. Their tale has almost no parallel in human history. Theirs was the will, fire, and unbending spirit that inspired the timeless rite of Hanukkah, transforming a society of farmers and scholars into an unconquerable army that would wage the first modern fight for freedom and the first victory for religious freedom. Master storyteller Howard Fast recounts the story of great battles, brutal atrocities, and undying love and loyalty. But it is also a sensitive and sure picture of a people and an age, in which the mood of a small but spirited segment of humanity two thousand years ago is recreated with gripping authenticity” (Descriptive content provided by Syndetics).
One For the Money
by Janet Evanovich
“Welcome to Trenton, New Jersey, home to wiseguys, average Joes, and Stephanie Plum, who sports a big attitude and even bigger money problems (since losing her job as a lingerie buyer for a department store). Stephanie needs cash—fast—but times are tough, and soon she’s forced to turn to the last resort of the truly desperate: family…
Stephanie lands a gig at her sleazy cousin Vinnie’s bail bonding company. She’s got no experience. But that doesn’t matter. Neither does the fact that the bail jumper in question is local vice cop Joe Morelli. From the time he first looked up her dress to the time he first got into her pants, to the time Steph hit him with her father’s Buick, M-o-r-e-l-l-i has spelled t-r-o-u-b-l-e. And now the hot guy is in hot water—wanted for murder…
Abject poverty is a great motivator for learning new skills, but being trained in the school of hard knocks by people like psycho prizefighter Benito Ramirez isn’t. Still, if Stephanie can nab Morelli in a week, she’ll make a cool ten grand. All she has to do is become an expert bounty hunter overnight—and keep herself from getting killed before she gets her man…” (Descriptive content provided by Syndetics).
Two for the Dough
by Janet Evanovich
“Stephanie is after a new bail jumper, Kenny Mancuso, a boy from Trenton’s burg. He’s fresh out of the army, suspiciously wealthy, and he’s just shot his best friend.
With her bounty hunter pal Ranger stepping in occasionally to advise her, Stephanie staggers kneedeep in corpses and caskets as she traipses through back streets, dark alleys, and funeral parlors.
And nobody knows funeral parlors better than Stephanie’s irrepressible Grandma Mazur, a lady whose favorite pastime is grabbing a front-row seat at a neighborhood wake. So Stephanie uses Grandma as a cover to follow leads, but loses control when Grandma warms to the action, packing a cool pistol. Much to the family’s chagrin, Stephanie and Granny may soon have the elusive Kenny in their sights.
Fast-talking, slow-handed vice cop Joe Morelli joins in the case, since the prey happens to be his young cousin. And if the assignment calls for an automobile stakeout for two with the woman who puts his libido in overdrive, Morelli’s not one to object.
Low on expertise but learning fast, high on resilience, and despite the help she gets from friends and relatives, Stephanie eventually must face the danger alone when embalmed body parts begin to arrive on her doorstep and she’s targeted for a nasty death by the most loathsome adversary she’s ever encountered. Another case like this and she’ll be a real pro” (Descriptive content provided by Syndetics).
When Will There Be Good News?
by Kate Atkinson
“On a hot summer day, Joanna Mason’s family slowly wanders home along a country lane. A moment later, Joanna’s life is changed forever…
On a dark night thirty years later, ex-detective Jackson Brodie finds himself on a train that is both crowded and late. Lost in his thoughts, he suddenly hears a shocking sound…
At the end of a long day, 16-year-old Reggie is looking forward to watching a little TV. Then a terrifying noise shatters her peaceful evening. Luckily, Reggie makes it a point to be prepared for an emergency…
These three lives come together in unexpected and deeply thrilling ways in the latest novel from Kate Atkinson” (Descriptive content provided by Syndetics).
-posted by Kevin Purtell
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( Comments Off on RHC Nightstand Titles )Let’s Talk About It: Jewish Adventures in the Graphic Novel
The Oakton Community College Library is pleased to present the five-part series focusing on the theme Jewish Adventures in the Graphic Novel with Benjamin Goluboff, associate professor of English and winner of the “Great Teacher Award” at Lake Forest College, leading the discussions.
- Sessions are comprised of readings, lectures, and engaging group discussions.
- Advance registration is required at Alliance for Lifelong Learning (CSP E29-001).
- Admission is free.
- Students can borrow a copy of each book at the Skokie campus library.
- Each session can be attended without attending prior sessions.
- Each session is held at 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm on the dates below.
Session Dates:
January 26: A Contract with God by Will Eisner
February 16: Maus by Art Spiegelman
March 9: Julius Knipl by Ben Katchor
April 6: The Quitter by Harvey Pekar
May 4: The Rabbi’s Cat by Joann Sfar
This series is made possible by a generous grant from the Oakton Educational Foundation.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )What’s on RHC’s Nightstands
Here is the list of books discussed at this year’s “What’s On Your Nightstand” program at Oakton Community College Library in Skokie.
The Art of Racing in the Rain
by Garth Stein
This novel follows the triumph and tribulations of a race car driver told from the perspective of his dog.
Contract with God and Other Tenement Stories
by Will Eisner
This graphic novel tells the stories of various immigrants as they struggle to create a life for themselves in a new nation.
Dances With Wolves
by Michael Blake
This book tells the story of a civil war era army soldier sent to man an isolated military post who befriends a wolf and develops both a friendship and respect for the local Sioux tribe.
Golden Country
by Jennifer Gilmore
This novel follows the lives of three immigrant families who move to Brooklyn in the early to mid 1900’s as they try to find the American dream.
In the Time of the Butterflies
by Julia Alvarez
This novel tells the story of the lives of the three young women in the Dominican Republic who eventually become known in real life as the martyrs Las Mariposas.
by Geraldine Brooks
This novel traces the history of a book of Jewish prayers as it is being restored while also telling of the life of the restorer herself.
by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard
Filipino myths and legends give one family the courage they need to face the losses that WWII brings to them and to their country. The family, like the Philippines itself, emerges stronger for their trials in this unique story.
by Diane Ackerman
The book tells the true story of a couple who owned a zoo in Poland during WWII and used it to hide and eventually smuggle out Jews during the Holocaust.
Zorro
by Isabel Allende
This novel tells the life story of Diego de la Vega, the man to become known as the masked man Zorro who helps the poor and fights tyranny.
-posted by Susan McClelland and Gretchen Schneider
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )
What's On My Nightstand? 