You know when you love one thing, and then you also love another thing, and those two things happen to meet in an article in the New York Review of Books? Well, the Gods of Literature and Rock have seen it fit to give us Luc Sante on Patti Smith. Needless to say, this is an amazing, awesome, and perfect read. Let’s all memorize it and tattoo it on our hearts. While we are on the topic of NYRB, sometimes magazines just nail it in a specific issue. I mean not all issues of every magazine are created equal, and this week, with it’s new issue, the New York Review of Books really reached an upper echelon level I previously didn’t think that even they could get to with great articles on the Conflict in Israel, OWS, and an article on the relevance of the Bible as a foundation for our literature which covers 10 books.That’s devotion.
The National Books Critics Circle awards have announced the finalists for their yearly awards. A lot of worthy nominations. Of note, Edith Pearlman, long praised as one of the masters of the short story form was nominated for her Binocular Vision, and a bit of a dark horse, John Jeremiah Sullivan’s excellent book of essays Pulphead was nominated for Non Fiction. If you’ve never read something by Sullivan please, try to. His site lists many of his essays available on the interweb, but here’s one of his better ones about a Christian Rock Festival. Also, the Jewish Book Council announced the finalists for their $100,000 Sami Rohr Prize.
Even though the Oscars don’t really matter, (I mean, come on, Extremely Sandra, Incredibly Bullock up for a best picture nomination, instead of Drive? Who sanctioned that one?) the Israeli movie Footnotes, one with academia and family dynamics at its center, won a nomination for best foreign film.
Hey, about a the ability to listen to the whole new Leonard Cohen album before its upcoming release? Thanks NPR! Also, Frank Lloyd Wright, of Frank Lloyd Wright fame, and of the Guggenheim Fame, apparently, designed a pretty innovative and gorgeous synagogue and now people have written about it.
No big secret that Jews love writing about Kafka. That conversation seems endless, but this post and series looks particularly good. Amongst all the hoopla and influx of books by Jewish Male Authors, we’ve forgotten that Jonathan Lethem plans on tackling a book on the Talking Heads. See here.
Apparently Freud’s brother in law, Jacob Bernays, a homosexual, Orthodox Jew frequently corresponded with the great Sigmund and Benjamin Ivry of the Forwardhas written about it. Also, I know sometimes Howard Jacobson comes off as a jerk, but this article seems important. Lastly, having trouble understanding the craziness surrounding modesty in Israel, the Jewish Academic, Yehuda Mirsky, provides a bit of a contextualization.
OK, one more thing, and it might be the most important article on the list, Julie Klausner has written up her thoughts on the important finale of Housewives of Beverly Hills. If ever you want to laugh and feel good about yourself read this.