Here I share my favorites from best-selling author Tina Wasserman’s latest book, “Entrée to Judaism: A Culinary Exploration of the Jewish Diaspora,” and the newly released “Entrée to Judaism for Families: Cooking and Kitchen Conversations with Children.” Wasserman hosts www.cookingandmore.com…
Features
“A Permanent Member of the Family” Written by Russell Banks
by Betty Hafner • • 0 Comments
You might know Russell Banks from his books that were made into movies—“Affliction” (1989) and “The Sweet Hereafter” (1991)—or you might be familiar with his award-winning novel “Continental Drift” (1985). I’d like to introduce you to the new Banks I’ve…
Mike at the Movies
by Mike Cuthbert • • 0 Comments
The Grand Budapest Hotel (R) **** This is one weird, funny, audacious and wonderful piece of filmmaking. It is not to be watched while fatigued or in an inattentive manner: You’ll lose track. Briefly, the story is the history of…
Black Beasts — Real and Imaginary
by Nora H. Caplan • • 0 Comments
The French have an expression, “bête noire,” that comes easily to me when I’m talking about a special fear of mine when I was young. The word “fear” takes on a deeper, more sinister meaning when I use bête noire…
Comfort Foods for March
by Sheilah Kaufman • • Comments Off
March means the beginning of spring in some parts of the world, but it is still winter in other areas. While the March winds are still blowing, enjoy these comfort foods. Then, as spring begins, enjoy the refreshing flavor of…
“Life After Life” Written by Kate Atkinson
by Betty Hafner • • Comments Off
When you pick up British writer Kate Atkinson’s popular 2013 novel “Life After Life,” you have to be willing to enter a new world of storytelling. As Atkinson casually says in interviews, it has a “high-concept” structure. One look at…
Mike at the Movies
by Mike Cuthbert • • Comments Off
Pompeii (PG-13) ** This is a movie, not a documentary. It is a movie we’ve all seen before. It involves a slave who is a gladiator, small but effective, a black slave who is the noblest character in the cast,…
Mike at the Movies
by Mike Cuthbert • • Comments Off
The Monuments Men (PG-13) **** George Clooney gambled on his audience and their patience in this odd war film. Many critics find it too episodic and slight for true praise, and episodic it is. Perhaps Clooney, who wrote and directed…
Flying Kangaroos and Penguins
by Nora H. Caplan • • Comments Off
After a three-hour delay at BWI Airport and a six-hour flight across the continental USA, our plane finally touched down in Los Angeles. We were tired and eager to deplane. But the pilot announced over the intercom that air traffic…
“The Goldfinch” Written by Donna Tartt
by Betty Hafner • • Comments Off
Mississippi-born writer Donna Tartt told an interviewer that she writes to create a work like the ones she loved as a child—“galloping, gleeful, you-don’t-know-what’s-going-to-happen-next.” Her stunning, almost 800-page novel “The Goldfinch” is overflowing with that spirit. With her elaborately constructed…