Books read recently by J. Zimmerman.


{ December : diciembre (see also books on learning Spanish) 2010 }

(12.31.2010)

(12.30.2010) (12.29.2010) (12.28.2010) (12.27.2010) (12.26.2010) (12.25.2010) (12.24.2010) (12.23.2010) (12.22.2010) (12.21.2010) (12.20.2010) (12.19.2010) (12.18.2010) (12.17.2010) (12.16.2010) (12.15.2010) (12.14.2010) (12.13.2010) (12.12.2010) (12.11.2010) (12.10.2010) (12.7.2010) (12.5.2010) (12.2.2010) (12.1.2010)


{ November : noviembre (see also books on learning Spanish) 2010 }

(11.30.2010)
Outstanding day at the University Library where I discovered their thrilling section of books on haiku and tanka.

Read:

Began to read and set aside for a return visit:

(11.29.2010) (11.28.2010) (11.27.2010) (11.26.2010) (11.25.2010) (11.24.2010) (11.23.2010) (11.22.2010) (11.21.2010) (11.20.2010) (11.19.2010) (11.18.2010) (11.17.2010) (11.16.2010) (11.15.2010) (11.13.2010) (11.10.2010) (11.7.2010) (11.2.2010)


{ October : octubre (see also books on learning Spanish) 2010 }

(10.31.2010)
Kalooki Nights (2008) by Howard Jacobson (narrated by by Steven Crossley).

One of the best books read in 2010.

Essentially Jacobson's novel shows how desperate humor is used as a coping mechanism, particularly for the impossible horrors of the Nazi-inflicted Holocaust and for the difficulties of the close 1-to-1 relationships of cross-cultural marriages.

Set in Jewish families in north Manchester (Lancashire, UK) in the 1950s, the book explores serious material: "the Holocaust; fathers and sons; imbalanced friendships; evil and victimhood; forgiving and forgetting; race and religion; Jews and Gentiles; parenticide by gassing; and ... what it means to be a Jew, Jew, Jew" [Will Buckley, The Observer, Sunday 9 July 2006].

Its narrator, a would-be cartoonist, Max Glickman, was born in "an irreligious Jewish family in the 40s, [and] he was raised in an atmosphere of sweet reason comprising 'socialism, syndicalism, Bundism, trade unionism, international brotherhoodism, atheism'" [Bryan Cheyette, The Guardian, 8 July 2006].

A terrific book made even richer in this recording by Steven Crossley with his authentic accents [and much more authentic than in his relatively disastrous reading of The Maiden Bride (2000)].

(10.29.2010)

(10.27.2010) (10.24.2010) (10.21.2010) (10.20.2010) (10.19.2010) (10.18.2010) (10.16.2010) (10.15.2010) (10.14.2010) (10.13.2010) (10.12.2010) (10.10.2010) (10.9.2010) (10.8.2010) (10.7.2010) (10.6.2010) (10.5.2010) (10.4.2010) (10.3.2010) (10.2.2010) (10.1.2010)