A brilliant introduction to the Jewish calendar that’s both visually and intellectually striking.
Marx, a rabbi and Jewish scholar, explores the Jewish calendar in this work.
“Each month in the year,” writes the author, “has its own character, its own special flavors and aromas.” This is especially true in the case of the Hebrew calendar, which has shaped the rhythm of Jewish life for millennia. Chapters are devoted to every month of the Jewish liturgical calendar, and each entry offers readers an introductory prayer of kavanah, poems and scripture that relate to the ethos of the month, and a reflective analysis of relevant themes and holidays associated with each month. Though initially written “by an Israeli for an Israeli audience,” this English translation is careful to include a diverse range of perspectives, including traditional interpretations and the voices of feminist theorists and modern scholars. African Jews, including those from Morrocco and Ethiopia, are highlighted, along with their unique celebrations of Mimouna and Sigd. In the words of Rabbi David Ellenson, who contributed the book’s foreword, as a 10th generation Israeli, a professor of Liturgy and Midrash at Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion, and the author of multiple books, Marx is “arguably the foremost student of Jewish liturgy of her generation.” Her scholarly bona fides are on full display here with nuanced commentary that’s backed by more than 300 endnotes. The book’s intellectual depth is balanced by an accessible writing style that successfully engages lay readers with applications to contemporary life, including prayers for schoolchildren and families. This emphasis on accessibility is reflected in the book’s ample appendices, which include a glossary and a diagram of the Hebrew calendar year. While Marx’s perceptive analysis is the star, this book is also a visually stunning volume, full of text-box vignettes, gorgeous illuminations, and other decorative flairs, as well as frequent parallel texts juxtaposing Hebrew scripture with English translations. This work is a welcome reminder of King David’s adage to “count our days rightly…that we may obtain a wise heart.”
A brilliant introduction to the Jewish calendar that’s both visually and intellectually striking.Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2023
ISBN: 9780881236132
Page Count: 400
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Nov. 28, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An ebullient nature lover’s paean to birds.
A charming bird journey with the bestselling author.
In his introduction to Tan’s “nature journal,” David Allen Sibley, the acclaimed ornithologist, nails the spirit of this book: a “collection of delightfully quirky, thoughtful, and personal observations of birds in sketches and words.” For years, Tan has looked out on her California backyard “paradise”—oaks, periwinkle vines, birch, Japanese maple, fuchsia shrubs—observing more than 60 species of birds, and she fashions her findings into delightful and approachable journal excerpts, accompanied by her gorgeous color sketches. As the entries—“a record of my life”—move along, the author becomes more adept at identifying and capturing them with words and pencils. Her first entry is September 16, 2017: Shortly after putting up hummingbird feeders, one of the tiny, delicate creatures landed on her hand and fed. “We have a relationship,” she writes. “I am in love.” By August 2018, her backyard “has become a menagerie of fledglings…all learning to fly.” Day by day, she has continued to learn more about the birds, their activities, and how she should relate to them; she also admits mistakes when they occur. In December 2018, she was excited to observe a Townsend’s Warbler—“Omigod! It’s looking at me. Displeased expression.” Battling pesky squirrels, Tan deployed Hot Pepper Suet to keep them away, and she deterred crows by hanging a fake one upside down. The author also declared war on outdoor cats when she learned they kill more than 1 billion birds per year. In May 2019, she notes that she spends $250 per month on beetle larvae. In June 2019, she confesses “spending more hours a day staring at birds than writing. How can I not?” Her last entry, on December 15, 2022, celebrates when an eating bird pauses, “looks and acknowledges I am there.”
An ebullient nature lover’s paean to birds.Pub Date: April 23, 2024
ISBN: 9780593536131
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.
The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.
Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
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