From the fingertips of Eugenia S
Monthly Archives: February 2015
Thoughts so far
It had been hard to predict what to expect from a sequel to a book like Unorthodox. Often enough memoirs leave the reader at the last page with a nice sense of closure. You think, aha, so now she is out of her prison, her life can begin, she is free to be like me, here is her happy ending. The end. What is unique in a well crafted sequel is the ability to pick up right at the point where the original stopped off and create not a new chapter but an entirely new story. I can’t say that Exodus reads well as a stand alone book, because without the context of the original, the struggles in the sequel fall in the category of why should I care? But as a “What Happens Next”, Exodus has been a trove of intimate information that i felt was missing from Unorthodox. Unorthodox was about breaking out of prison. So far Exodus is solely about the person Deborah Feldman is now that Satmar affiliation does not define her. Its the ultimate identity search. I’ve been enjoying the journey of discovery right along with Deborah.
From the fingertips of Eugenia S
Filed under Midread thoughts
Another little book blog of mine
I also started blogging for Khetanes World Artist Initiative – I am of course doing what I do best ( at least I’d like to think so) and reviewing books but this time these are books with Romani themes. Take a look at the blog here – Romani Book Blog. I expect to be reviewing one-two books a month specifically focusing on educating myself about Romani culture, history and people.
The newly cleared dining room shelf!
From the fingertips of Eugenia S
Filed under Personal Reflections
So far the winner is
Methinks this shall be the next review after all. I am about 65 pages into the book and quite interesting so far. It’s a very different feel from Unorthodox. What I mean by that is the book feels less rushed by the necessity to capture everything in Feldman’s life and has so far presented a very micro look at both her life post the break from Satmar and certain specifics about her past that were previously just barely touched upon. Look for lots of psychoanalysis in my mid-read thoughts and subsequent review. Feldman is certainly undergoing a hell of a lot of therapy.
Filed under Midread thoughts
Bookly thoughts
This is what I wish my books looked like. Color coded, organized, a pleasure to observe.
But this is what they look like. They are a pile of insanity and most times I just hope that they are not on the floor.
And in the end I feel that regardless of the organization, at least they always bring me such joy.
From the fingertips of Eugenia S
Filed under Personal Reflections
Without going all lovey and goopy
Though like a hell of a lot of people out there I see Valentine’s Day as a fakish holiday, I thought that it would be fun to look online for some images that capture the intended spirit of the holiday as I see it relevant to me. It’s not about gifts. It’s not about fancy foods. Its spirit is about expressing loudly and hopefully not obnoxiously how you feel about another person. My boyfriend and I don’t have a storybook romance, we have a relationship that’s based on realistic assessment of each other and acceptance and respect of who we are. We are two hearts in pages of book of life that brought us together. 
My love affair with books goes back to first grade when I reluctantly (oh the irony) learned how to read. One of my clearest memories of 1st grade is my mother trying to get my 6 year old brain to understand how the letters go together and make up a word. When the eureka moment finally struck, it was as if my brain opened up for the first time. I couldn’t for the life ever put a book down after that. I read while eating, while washing my hands, while friends were trying to visit me when I was sick. All the world that mattered to me was books.
Today books matter a hell of a lot too. But their dominance has receded enough for me to allow wonderful people into my life. Some of them share my love of reading up to my impossibly high standard. Others like my love shows their love of reading in smaller but just as significant ways. We may not be a storybook couple but we walk the path together hand in hand.
Filed under Personal Reflections
Too many choices are paralyzing
I feel like switching up right now. I know I’ve been saying for a month that I want to do Maggie Anton’s book next but last night it dawned on me that last time I went to the library (yes actual physical building that happens to be conveniently two blocks away from my work), I grabbed only books that would be blog appropriate. So there are three (count them three!)books that seem exceptionally promising sitting on my desk right now gathering dust while instead I am reading about George III on my tablet. How am I over-committing myself already? Its only going to be my fifth review.
So…….I shall be choosing amongst the three very different books below (interesting how all the covers feature woman but only in Anton’s book do we actually see a face – must because in the ancient times women were less shy about their faces?). Maybe I’ll review the next one. Maybe I will read for pleasure of it alone.
So it may be I will next find myself in Babylon with Hisdadukh or Istanbul with Hannah amongst the opulence of the Ottoman court. Or perhaps in NYC again with the sequel to Unorthodox.
From the fingertips of Eugenia S
Filed under Coming Next, Personal Reflections
Do I blog enough?
As a blogger of still very short amount of time, I feel like this:
But on another hand I worry that I don’t produce enough to feel like I am attracting enough viewership and followers. When I started the blog, I had a very specific idea and purpose. I was going to read and review only Jewish themed books because I felt that there was a real lack of blogs within this niche and I wanted to spread the word of how much interesting stuff my culture has to offer.
So far, I’ve had a blast with the books I’ve chosen. Having a blog dedicated to Jewish themes is tremendously important in this time when lack of knowledge about my culture is again on the rise and hatred comes out in unexpected places all the time. It’s not necessarily on the reported news in US, but trust me, if you look around online, plenty of other countries are reporting on it all the time. So I feel like I am obligated to give it as much as I can but is it wrong not to give it my constant all? Is it OK to read other books too? It may be easier to attract readers if I reviewed books without such a specific niche. It would be easier even if I had chosen a specific genre to literature only to review. I had tried it before but that blog didn’t really keep me interested because I couldn’t find something that would make it stand out. So I choose to stick it out. I accept that it will take me longer to build readership because not everyone is interested in Jewish books. I also accept that because I read a variety of books, I can’t review them constantly since they are not all blog related. So bear with me readers, I may not be posting every day but I am dedicated every day to bring interesting books to my readers’ eyes and minds in order to show that Jews and Jewish culture are worth your second gander.
From the fingertips of Eugenia S
Filed under Personal Reflections
Jewish Books Are Awesome 