MIGDAL CHAPTER OF HADASSAH AT NORTH SHORE TOWERS PRESENTS…
SUMMER READING SELECTIONS
BY ARLENE AUGENBRAUN
It is hard to believe that spring
has gone by and we are now in
summer. Living like hermits, we
were consumed with the routine
tasks of personal survival. Every-one
looked alike under their masks.
Close friends did not recognize one
another as they distantly passed in
the Arcade.
However, Migdal Hadassah as
always has not forgotten its mem-bers.
Bern Rosenthal and I, as
co-chairs of the Book Club, have
utilized our time researching, read-ing
and selecting the books to be
discussed once we can resume our
Book Club Discussions.
CATCH UP READING
First, let us not forget the last two
books on our list which we never
had the opportunity to discuss.
Hopefully, once we can resume our
meetings, we can devote a session
to review them together. Here are
the books to catch up on and some
thought provoking questions to
ponder about each one.
THE LAKE ON FIRE
by Rosellen Brown
In April, we were scheduled to
discuss THE LAKE ON FIRE. This
historic novel focuses on teenage
siblings Chaya and her precocious
brother Asher, who in 1893, ran
away from their Jewish immigrant
family’s unsuccessful farm in rural
Wisconsin. They were seeking a
better life in the booming city of
Chicago. To think about: What were
the major themes and issues in the
novel and how were they dealt with
by the author? How did Chaya and
Asher try to achieve their individual
dream and were either successful?
THE ONLY WOMAN IN THE
ROOM by Marie
Benedict
In July, the selec-tion
was this biog-raphy
about the
beautiful actress
Hedy Lamarr, born
Hedwig Kiesler in
1914 to an upper
middle class Jewish
family in Vienna,
Austria. She was
unhappily married
at age 19 to a man
who was domi-neering
and pos-sessive--
and a Nazi
sympathizer. She
eventually escaped her husband,
immigrated to America, changed
her name to Hedy Lamarr and
became a movie star. But she was
much more than that, as revealed
in this compelling book. To think
about: How was Hedy’s incredible
beauty both a help and a hindrance
in achieving happiness and her
life’s goals? What were some of the
factors that made it so difficult for
Hedy to be taken seriously?
NEW SELECTIONS
THE WORLD THAT WE KNEW
by Alice Hoffman
This historical nov-el,
a New York Times
bestseller, introduces
the reader to Ava, a
female Golem creat-ed
in the early days
of WWII to serve as
a protector of Lea,
a 12 year old Jewish
girl who is being sent
alone from Berlin to
Paris by her mother
to save her from the
Nazis. Accompanying
them is Ettie, a Rabbi’s
daughter who created the Golem.
The novel follows them as they tra-verse
war-torn France in search of
safety. Considered by critics to be a
wartime odyssey, the author blends
ancient Jewish folklore, superstition
and reality in a beautiful, delicate
fashion.
“The greatest magic in this novel
is humankind’s enduring capaci-ty
for love— a love that survives
even in the midst of
the most evil human
behavior.” Fran
Hawthorne, New
York Journal of Books
THE LAST
WATCHMAN OF
OLD CAIRO by
Michael David Luban
For cen-turies
there
was a thriv-ing
Jewish
presence in
Egypt and in
this histori-cal
novel,
we are introduced to the ancient
Ben Ezra Synagogue in Cairo
and the generations of a Muslim
family who served with honor
and distinction as watchmen of
the notable synagogue. Covering
a span of almost 1,000 years, the
book is divided into
three eras starting
over 800 years ago,
on to the 1800s, and
continuing up to
contemporary times.
“The three nar-ratives
are all so
wonderfully rich that
to summarize them
here is beyond the
limits of this space…
‘The Last Watchman
of Old Cairo’ is only
one story…but it’s
its own very real
act of preservation, a fight against
erasure, a mingling of history and
imagination and mystery.” – Natalie
Bakopoulos, San Francisco
Chronicle
THE BOOKSHOP OF THE
BROKEN HEARTED by Robert
Hillman
Our final novel takes us to
the town of Hometown in rural
Australia in the late 1960s.
Populated by farmers and sheep
ranchers, it focuses on Tom Hope,
a rancher, who is recently divorced
after a miserable marriage, and
Hannah Babel, a twice widowed
Jewish survivor of the Holocaust,
who has immigrated to the town
to realize her dream of opening
a bookshop in a small town. The
blending of this oddly
matched pair develops into
a unique tale of loss, surviv-al,
parental love and hope.
“Hillman offers an uplift-ing
exploration of how
people rise above tragedy
to find joy… the novel is
an impressive, riveting tale
of how two disparate and
well-drawn people recover
from soul-wrenching grief
and allow themselves to tru-ly
love again.” – Publisher’s
Weekly
We look forward to
resuming our lively and informa-tive
sessions once things return
to normal (or a new normal) and
we will announce dates as soon as
we are able. In the meantime, stay
well, stay safe, wear your masks
and enjoy the recommended books
above.
16 NORTH SHORE TOWERS COURIER ¢ July 2020