Staff Recommendations

Janice Batzdorff

  • Book cover for The Lost Shtetl

    The Lost Shtetl

    by Gross, Max

    July 6, 2021

    Call Number:

    For as long as anyone can remember, a caravan of gypsy traders provides the Jews of Kreskol with their only connection to the outside world. Situated in a remote part of a forest in Poland, the town was inexplicably overlooked by the Nazis, and has retained the traditions of eastern European shtetls or villages from before the Holocaust. Clothes are hand sewn, Yiddish is spoken, the sabbath is observed, the Rabbi is consulted for important life decisions. Think Anatevka of Fiddler on the Roof, without the singing.This idyllic way of life is upended by the disappearance of a recently... Read Full Review

  • Book cover for Call Me By Your Name

    Call Me By Your Name

    by Aciman, Andre,

    January 16, 2018

    Call Number: Ed.a

    The critically acclaimed film, Call Me by Your Name, has generated a resurgence of interest in André Aciman’s novel upon which the movie is based. What a gift for readers!Originally published in 2007, this intellectual coming of age and coming out idyll takes place at an Italian seaside villa where a college professor and his family host a young academic each summer. The visiting scholar assists the professor an hour or so each day, and is free to use the rest of the time to write, to accept dinner invitations from other seaside residents, and to enjoy the lush surroundings.This year... Read Full Review

  • Book cover for QB : my life behind the spiral

    QB : my life behind the spiral

    by Young, Steve, 1961-

    June 26, 2017

    Call Number: 796.271 Y76

    A facetious question posed by an NPR radio host lured me into reading Steve Young’s memoir, QB: My Life Behind the Spiral. Did the pro football Hall of Famer receive special treatment at Brigham Young University where he played quarterback because he is the great-great-great grandson of Brigham Young?With outstanding high school achievements, Young was readily admitted to the university, but the football team listed him as number eight on the depth chart for the quarterback position (future Chicago Bears Super Bowl winner Jim McMahon was number one). The quarterback coach was adamant... Read Full Review

  • Book cover for All I Love and Know

    All I Love and Know

    by Frank, Judith, 1958-

    February 22, 2015

    Call Number:

     Lydia Rosen’s inane chatter about bourekas during the flight to Israel baffles Matt Greene. To his partner, Daniel Rosen, his mother’s preoccupation with the stuffed pastry makes total sense. “She’s trying not to have to imagine how much of her son’s body has been blown to bits,” he explains. But the grim reality intrudes when Daniel, his parents, and Matt land at the Tel Aviv airport and are transported directly to the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Jerusalem. There, amidst indescribable, horrific odors and the sound of crying and wailing, the family is asked to identify Joel’s body... Read Full Review

  • Book cover for A star for Mrs. Blake

    A star for Mrs. Blake

    by Smith, April, 1949-

    February 16, 2014

    Call Number:

    When U.S. soldiers died during the First World War, their relatives were given the choice to have the remains shipped home or buried in an American cemetery in Europe. A lobbying movement on behalf of those who selected overseas interment resulted in Congress financing close to 7000 pilgrimages for mothers and wives to visit the graves.Inspired by the diary of a young West Point graduate who escorted groups of mothers to France, local writer April Smith has created a well-researched and engaging fictional account of five women who left their homes during the height of the Depression to pay... Read Full Review

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