"How much can I care about Jewish life in New England circa 1940s?" This is generally how I feel when I start trying to read a Philip Roth book, which is just what I was going through last year, and I expressed just that sentiment to Bonnie. But his year aren't I singing a different tune. I just got done with My Name is Asher Lev, which deals in part with Jewish life in New England in the 1940s. Fascinating. And I know I would probably appreciate the Roth books if I made it through them--but so far his work goes down as the prize winning stories I can't seem to finish.
Anyway, I'm looking for more Asher Lev. Chaim Potok, the author, whose birth date was yesterday, wrote a sequel, and he also wrote other books I am interested in reading now. He also lived in Korea for a while.
We are in Louisiana now, eating boiled shrimp, pulled pork po boys (this is the non-vegan part of my diet) and watching the eagle cam.
yes! I love Chaim Potok! the Asher Lev books are great. You'd enjoy The Chosen and The Promise as well. I mentioned them in a RLW blog about favorite fictional characters a few weeks ago. I've read a few other Potok books as well, they are all great! In college I wrote a paper on Hasidic Jews in New England and read some articles he wrote about his fascination with that people group/lifestyle. Father Tim from Trinity went to New York a few years back and went on a few tours and had some meetings with leaders from the community as well. Next time you are in BR you should stop and chat with him about it, it was pretty interesting what they had to say, especially about CHaim Potok!
ReplyDeletehere's what i've thought about reading lately:
ReplyDeletethe lamplighter books (lamplighter is a publishing company)
the YWAM christian heroes then and now books (there's about 30 or more of them)
i've been told that they're AWESOME books to read WITH your family... so, we'll see how long i think about it and if i ever do. i can imagine your family would love those sorts of stories though.