Library Corner

Cracking Codes and other Capers

December 18, 2024

By Robin Jacobson.  At a book event in 2019, a librarian posed a fateful question.  She asked the assembled authors whether they might like to collaborate with another writer one …

The Shadow of the Past

November 13, 2024

By Robin Jacobson. The shadow of the past hovers over the present in the remarkable debut novel, The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden, shortlisted for the 2024 prestigious Booker …

The Ships That Carried Them to America

October 10, 2024

By Robin Jacobson.  It’s the stuff of family lore and American history.  In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, over 10 million European immigrants crossed the Atlantic Ocean to America.  These included 2.5 …

The Madwoman in the Rabbi’s Attic

September 12, 2024

By Robin Jacobson.  Each High Holiday season, we turn again to sacred texts in search of new insights. That makes this a fitting time for Gila Fine’s The Madwoman in the …

Israelis in America

July 15, 2024

By Robin Jacobson.  For years Maya Arad has won enthusiastic praise for her fiction, even being described in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz as “the finest living author writing in Hebrew.”  …

Ladino Magic

June 3, 2024

By Robin Jacobson.  The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo imaginatively blends the genres of historical fiction and fantasy.  This captivating novel is set in 16th century Spain, a time and place linked to the …

New on the Youth Bookshelf

May 2, 2024

By Robin Jacobson.  Some adult book clubs choose one “young adult” title a year to read, simply to sample from the many excellent books in that category.  This year, two …

Looking Anew at Captain Dreyfus

April 8, 2024

By Robin Jacobson.  Near the turn of the 20th Century, the Dreyfus Affair thrust France into turmoil.  In 1894, the French army falsely accused and convicted Jewish military captain Alfred …

An American Tale of Love & Community

March 6, 2024

By Robin Jacobson.  How can a book full of societal evils like racism, antisemitism, and child abuse manage to be heartwarming and uplifting?  This is the magic of The Heaven …

The Cost of Free Land: Jews, Lakota, and an American Inheritance

January 29, 2024

By Robin Jacobson.  “Pa pleaded. “We can get a hundred and sixty acres out west, just by living on it… If Uncle Sam’s willing to give us a farm… I …