Hi guys! I'm just going to assume that everyone we invited to the bookclub has been checking in on this blog every day hoping for an update. And now your patience and perserverance has been rewarded. With an update, and my very first attempt to blog. Or whatever.
This is going to be a month of firsts for me, because not only will this be the first book club meeting I ever host, it will also be the first book club meeting i ever attend. I guess I'm not much of a joiner. Although I love to read, I've come to the (slightly panicky) realization in the past few weeks that since college I don't really discuss a book in very much depth once i've read it. I am unlike many of my friends that way. I'm more of a "this was my favorite part" or "wasn't it funny when..." kind of person. Which may not lend itself to book club moderation. I am worried. Ami, you're going to have to pick up a lot of slack, I think. Should we be discussing themes and literary precedents? Should I have read all of Chabon's output before voluteering?
To make up at least in part for my shortcomings, I plan to whip up a (pretty much guaranteed to be disastrous) Baked Alaska! That should make it worth your time to come on down to Park Slope, for sure!
Also, anyone know where I can find a Yiddish-English dictionary? It's proving more difficult than i expected. I wanted to make a nice little cheat-sheet for y'all.
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3 comments:
I am fully expecting everyone who shows up to be conversant in Old Yiddish literature and ready to point out the parallels between the English translation of the Mayse-bukh and Chabon's story.
That seems like a given.
Plus, I feel like before the meeting everyone should have read every one of Chabon's books and should have VERY STRONG OPINIONS on all aspects of them. Otherwise, there'll be trouble.
My parents' house has a couple of Yiddish-English books, but my parents' house isn't handy, unfortunately. Your best bet is either a used bookstore or the humor section - books like "Yiddish for the Jewish Mother: Oy Vey iz Meir!" are usually the only ones commonly available. [actuality of title not guaranteed]
Also I will discuss Yiddish short story writers with anyone who wants.
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