Library

Library News

The Library is almost deserted now, except for our wonderful collection of books, the paintings that Sharon ZirkinDagan donated to brighten up our space, and Marci Hopkins and I, carefully checking books in and out, sanitizing the doorknobs and keyboard, etc., and copying children’s books on Google docs so that the teachers can read them to their students virtually.

We continue to add new books that we think you will find enlightening, useful, and enjoyable. Send requests to borrow books, DVDs, and CDs to emunahlibrary@gmail.com and if we have what you want, we’ll let you know when you can pick them up at the entrance to the synagogue. When books are returned, we quarantine them for four days before processing them.

We want to thank Jenny Brown for donating Birthright: Poems by Erika Dreifus; and Risa Bressler for donating a number of books from the library of her mother, Sylvia Handler, z’l. And thanks for all the donations to the Library made in memory or in honor of loved ones. We greatly appreciate your generosity.

Below is a list of a few of the books in our library:

Adult Fiction

Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner The Book of Jeremiah: A Novel in Stories by Julie Zuckerman The Book of V. by Anna Solomon The Flight Portfolio by Julie Orringer Haunting Paris: A Novel by Mamta Chaudhry The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer Neuland by Eshkol Nevo The Order by Daniel Silva The Tunnel by A. B. Yehoshua

Adult Nonfiction

Becoming Eve: My Journey from Ultra-Orthodox Rabbi to Transgender Woman by Abby Stein Better Than Gold: An Immigrant’s First Years in Brooklyn by Fannie Silver Birthright: Poems by Erika Dreifus The Color of Love: A Story of a Mixed Race Jewish Girl by Marra Gad Here We Are: My Friendship with Philip Roth by Benjamin Taylor Job: A New Translation by Edward Greenstein The Kosher Palette: Easy and Elegant Modern Kosher Cooking The Last Kings of Shanghai: The Rival Jewish Dynasties That Helped Create Modern China by Jonathan Kaufman Lost and Found in Spain: Tales of an Ambassador’s Wife by Susan Lewis Solomont (see review below) What We Will Become: A Mother, a Son, and a Journey of Transformation by Mimi Lemay

Children

Hard Hat Cat! by Jamie Kiffel-Alcheh Miriam at the River by Jane Yolen

Youth

Survivors of the Holocaust: True Stories of Six Extraordinary Children by Kath Shackleton Too Far from Home by Naomi Shmuel

PLEASE Return Books

Please return the library books you have borrowed. We have a cardboard box in the foyer that you can use. The area is sanitized by Claudio and you don’t have to enter the synagogue. Toni Stechler (emunahlibrary@gmail.com)

Book Review

Lost and Found in Spain: Tales of an Ambassador’s Wife by Susan Lewis Solomont

When her husband was appointed by Barack Obama in 2009 to be Ambassador to Spain, Susan Solomont uprooted herself, leaving her home, family, friends, and her career. She joined her husband for a three-and-a-half-year tour in Spain.

Her memoir is part travelogue, as she goes on a culinary tour with some of the best chefs in Spain, and she learns about the rules living in a diplomatic household. She describes the everyday life in an American embassy, in contrast to her life in Weston MA, where she had been a counselor for private philanthropic foundations.

Susan takes an active role in the Jewish community in Madrid where she celebrates the Jewish holidays with members of the Spanish community, and enjoys the cultural exchanges. My book group and I liked the book and especially admired the author’s courage as she dealt with the challenges of her journey in Spain. [230 pages] Babsy Krichmar

Last year, when we could gather together, Warren Wein read to Kitah Alef at H . anukkah time.