Friday, November 7, 2008

Friday Finds

This week was a great week for me for new books, not so much because of quantity but for quality. On election night I was so stressed out that I decided to stay away from the television and go do some retail therapy at my local Borders. I got two books that I've wanted for a while now- Irina Reyn's What Happened to Anna K., and Aleksandar Hemon's The Lazarus Project.

Anna K. is an updated version of Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, set in a Jewish community in New York; I've started reading it and I'm loving it. I didn't plan on starting it right away, but I've been wanting to read it for months and really just couldn't stop myself.


Hemon's book is based on the 1908 murder of a Jewish immigrant and the surrounding mystery. I won't be able to get to it for at least a month, but I'm looking forward to it and I'm glad I finally bought it.

I got a little treasure in the mail this week- Yona Sabar's Folk Literature of the Kurdistani Jews. This book is by the father of My Father's Paradise, Ariel Sabar's recent, outstanding book. I got a look at the book a couple of weeks ago and I haven't decided if I'm going to keep it or not. It may go to my synagogue library, or I may buy a second copy for it. I want to spend a little more time with it before I decide. I do think the library should have it, though.

4 comments:

Serena said...

looks like you got some great finds there. I'd love to read what you have to say about the Anna K. book!

Anna said...

Sounds like some great books. Looking forward to your reviews!

--Anna
Diary of an Eccentric

Dawn @ sheIsTooFondOfBooks said...

I'm always for quality over quantity.

Isn't retail therapy the best?!

Anonymous said...

I love the cover of The Lazarus Project.