What I've Been Reading 📚
If you love to read, you're in the right place!
Greetings from the Sunshine State! A shout out to all of you out there quarantined and looking for interesting online activities. Rest assured you have come to the right place! Following find some free entertainment resources I thought would be fun to share.
Please email me any other opportunities you think the group would enjoy.
Edinburgh, Scotland
We are going to begin in Scotland at the Edinburgh International Book Festival: Home which ran this week. Due to the pandemic, the festival was online this year and all the programs were free.
On Saturday, August 15th, I watched the opening night festivities Opening Night: Strange Times | Festival Player. In addition to authors reading from their selected works, I saw an amazing musician named Bumi Thomas.
Bumi’s voice is haunting and you can listen to her story/struggle in her song “Black Child.” You can watch her perform it here.
Be sure to peruse the many people who presented. Since the events were recorded you can watch them at your leisure.
We used to be able to engage with books in person—here I am at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco! Roz Chast is a very funny cartoonist and story teller whose work you have seen in The New Yorker and this was an exhibit of her work. The background is a drawing from her book Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?
During this time, I have joined several virtual book clubs instead! Because of my local Jewish Community Center’s suggestion, I read Dear Edward about a family involved in a plane crash.
Dear Edward is an easy, quick read that poses interesting, thoughtful questions about how life can change in an instant, dealing with grief and overcoming unimaginable obstacles.
You can read an excerpt here.
For those interested in non-fiction, I have just finished reading Becoming Eve. This book is about a Hasidic male who is extremely conflicted about his gender, living in a society that forbids even acknowledging that this situation, these thoughts can even exist in an individual.
Stein gives a very detailed account about growing up in a Hasidic community and explains the many rituals involved in daily life. It is so interesting and engaging that by the time you complete this memoir you still want to learn more about her. And you can. Just google her name and watch her being interviewed.
Attending book clubs and many other webinars on Zoom has opened a new world of learning for me and so many new ideas. And that is one of my most favorite things in life--besides visiting my daughter in California!
Please share what novels you have enjoyed by replying to this newsletter.
Now for some entertainment, I want to introduce you to the talented comedian Jo Firestone.
I know Jo because I found an online comedy class where I met Jo, the teacher, and other funny “characters.” Every Monday morning we zoom and laugh. What a great way to start the week! I did not realize Jo was famous and then happened upon her performance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. Check out her great timing!