2008 Hyman S. & Freda Bernstein Jewish Literary Festival
Discover standout reads from the 2008 Hyman S. & Freda Bernstein Jewish Literary Festival, featuring The Book of Dahlia, Ellington Boulevard, and Left in Dark Times—curated fiction and political science picks.
Book
Ellington Boulevard
by Adam Langer
A wildly entertaining novel about real estate, Manhattan, and the lengths people go to in order to live in a small apartment on 106th Street and realize their dreams.
Book
Left in Dark Times
by Bernard Henri Lévy
The philosopher, activist, and author of American Vertigo warns of growing totalitarianism around the globe, covering such topics as the genealogy of anti-Americanism, anti-Semitism, and Islamo-fascism, and calls for the evolution of a new type of politics based on universal values and ethics. 50,000 first printing.
Book
The Book of Dahlia
by Elisa Albert
From the author of the critically acclaimed story collectionHow This Night Is Differentcomes a dark, arresting, fearlessly funny story of one young woman's terminal illness. InThe Book of Dahlia, Elisa Albert walks a dazzling line between gravitas and irreverence, mining an exhilarating blend of skepticism and curiosity, compassion and candor, high and low culture.Meet Dahlia Finger: twenty-nine, depressed, whip-smart, occasionally affable, bracingly honest, resolutely single, and perennially unemployed. She spends her days stoned in front of the TV, watching the same movies repeatedly, like "a form of prayer." But Dahlia's so-called life is upended by an aggressive, inoperable brain tumor.Stunned and uncomprehending, Dahlia must work toward reluctant emotional reckoning with the aid of a questionable self-help guide. She obsessively revisits the myriad heartbreaks, disappointments, rages, and regrets that comprise the story of her life -- from her parents' haphazard Israeli courtship to her kibbutz conception; from the role of beloved daughter and little sister to that of abandoned, suicidal adolescent; from an affluent childhood in Los Angeles to an aimless existence in the gentrified wilds of Brooklyn; from a girl with "options" to a girl with none -- convinced that cancer struck because she herself is somehow at fault.With her take-no-prisoners perspective, her depressive humor, and her extreme vulnerability, Dahlia Finger is an unforgettable anti-heroine. This staggering portrait of one young woman's life and death confirms Elisa Albert as a "witty, incisive" (Variety) and even "wonder-inducing" writer (Time Out New York).
