L ifestyles /C ulture
Overlooked: Other Books to Consider
B OOKS
“The Drive” Courtesy of New Vessel Press, “Present” Courtesy of Even Hoshen, “Divorcing” Courtesy of New York Review Books, “Recipes for a Sacred Life: True Stories and a Few Miracles” Courtesy of Sandra Jonas Publishing, “The New Jewish Canon: Ideas & Debates, 1980-2015” Courtesy of Academic Studies Press,
“The Piano Student” Courtesy of New Vessel Press, “When Rabbis Bless Congress: The Great American Story of Jewish Prayers on Capitol Hill” Courtesy of Cherry Orchard Books, “Daddy Wouldn’t Buy Me A Bauhaus: Profiles in Architecture and Design” Courtesy of Princeton Architectural Press
JESSE BERNSTEIN | JE STAFF
ONCE A MONTH, we
dedicate space for two book
reviews, generally of books that
are Jewish in subject matter,
recently published and inter-
esting to the writer, though
what guides our coverage more
than anything is determining
which books will be interesting
to our readers.

Twelve book issues give us
space for just 24 book reviews
with those criteria. And
because we occasionally fill
one review space with books
coverage of a different sort, we
sometimes miss books we were
excited about.

This week, we remedy that
with this list of right books that
came out at the wrong time,
all of which are worthy of your
consideration even if they didn’t
fit into our coverage schedule.

Thanks for reading this
year, and come back for more
in January.

“DIVORCING” “THE DRIVE”
Yair Assulin (translated by
Jessica Cohen)
As an Israeli soldier nears his
breaking point, torn between
his responsibilities, his desires
and his country, he is ordered
to meet with a military psychi-
atrist, who will decide whether
the young man will continue
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM Broken into four categories —
Jewish Politics and the Public
Square; History, Memory
and Narrative; Religion and
Religiosity; and Identities and
Communities — “The New
Jewish Canon” is a decisive
statement that the intellec-
tual life of Jewry is a vibrant,
breathing thing.

with his army service. On the
long, emotionally fraught ride,
the soldier, who is driven to the
appointment by his father, does
the sort of soul-level struggling
that makes great fiction possible.

The translator, Jessica
Cohen, is responsible for trans-
lations of Israeli literary giants
with fans in America like David
Grossman, Amos Oz and Etgar
Keret, and one can only hope
that her name on Assulin’s work
means that we’ll be seeing more
from him on our shelves soon.

Susan Taubes
Susan Taubes is usually
consigned to the role of a minor
orbiter of Planet Sontag. A New
York Review of Books reissue
of her 1969 novel “Divorcing,”
savaged upon release when it
wasn’t being ignored, makes
the case that Taubes’ work was
worthy of greater consider-
ation in its own right. Born in
Budapest, another writer in the
line of a great rabbinic family,
Taubes brought a clerical sense
of seriousness to her work,
yet still managed to be pretty
funny. gushing blurb from actor Ally
Sheedy. This new edition of
Rivvy Neshama’s 2013 book,
updated with a few fresh
stories, is one of the most
pleasant types of memoirs — a
sustained study of one life that
nonetheless holds insight into
the lives of attentive readers. If
you give Neshama that honor, “THE PIANO STUDENT”
Lea Singer, translated by
she’ll repay it.

Elisabeth Lauffer
This is a strange novel about
a strange correspondence
between the famous pianist,
Vladimir Horowitz, and a
young student of his. The story
is based on letters discovered
by Lea Singer, a German, in
Switzerland, and comes with
an accompanying Spotify
playlist and YouTube channel
filled with performances by
Horowitz. “THE NEW JEWISH CANON:
IDEAS & DEBATES, 1980-
2015” Edited by Dr. Claire E. Sufrin
and Dr. Yehuda Kurtzer
Claire Sufrin and Yehuda
Kurtzer, who is president
of the Shalom Hartman
“RECIPES FOR A SACRED
Institute of North America,
LIFE: TRUE STORIES AND A
display a great sensitivity
FEW MIRACLES”
to the contours of contem-
Rivvy Neshama
porary Jewish thought and
This is assuredly the only debate with their selections
book on this list to feature a in “The New Jewish Canon.”
JEWISH EXPONENT
“DADDY WOULDN’T BUY
ME A BAUHAUS: PROFILES
IN ARCHITECTURE AND
DESIGN” Janet Abrams
For someone like me who
knows less than zero about
architecture or design, this
collection of profiles made me
feel I’d gotten a crash course.

Janet Abrams, with a founda-
tion of sharp questions and
sharper writing, builds her
book with profiles of designers,
policy makers and academics,
written over a few decades. l
jbernstein@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0740
“WHEN RABBIS BLESS
CONGRESS: THE GREAT
AMERICAN STORY OF JEWISH
PRAYERS ON CAPITOL HILL”
Howard Mortman
Did you know that more
than 400 rabbis have delivered
more than 600 prayers before
Congress since the Civil War
era? And that Isaiah appears
to be the most popular prophet
to cite? Howard Mortman,
communications director for
C-SPAN, turns his attention
to this infrequently discussed
phenomenon, yielding more
than just fun facts.

www. jewishexponent.com
DECEMBER 10, 2020
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