The Gilder by Kathryn Kay

The Gilder is a story about a woman who restores and gilds art objects.  The layers of gold that Marina, the protagonist, uses is a metaphor of her inability to confront her past.  Each glittering leaf is another lie.  Her crisis is the moment in which she realizes that she must alleviate her daughter’s psychological pain.  In order to do so, Marina has to remember that the restoration of an object is flawed unless the base is repaired before applying the gold.  Through repentance, Marina replaces the gold of lies with that of love.

Nevertheless, her transformation is difficult while she struggles with the central question of the novel.  How much information about the sins of the past should a mother tell her daughter?  By using a series of flashbacks, Kay explores the question by following Marina from her idealistic and naive youth to her life as a conflicted and emotionally isolated adult.  Her conclusion is that Marina needs to say something while at the same time  considering the complexity of life.  Life is complicated but I’ll try to explain becomes Marina’s solution.

Marina’s journey brings her  from Italy to the United States.  The author describes Marina’s inner turmoil with a rich use of language that evokes the five senses.  She also uses Christian symbols such as Marina’s friend’s wedding ring.  Her friend, Sarah, wears a ring that is a malformed image of Christ.  Her spouse, Thomas, has little faith in marriage.  He wears no ring.  The symbols and the actions of the characters carry the story to a better, if not complicated, future.

There is  one aspect of the story that is weak.  The young Marina falls in love with Sarah.  Many passages treat Marina’s emotional angst about her friend.  Even when Thomas and Marina make love, Marina thinks about Sarah and not of Thomas.  With the emphasis of Marina’s love for her friend, it is natural to conclude that Marina is bisexual or a lesbian.  However, Marina insists to a lesbian friend that she isn’t a lesbian.  For this reason, the author shies away from an aspect of Marina that a reader may conclude.

However, Marina valiantly faces her past and truly restores the foundation of her life while she helps her daughter.  For this reason, the story carries the reader to an open conclusion:  It’s complicated, but I’ll try to explain.

• The Gilder
• Kathryn Kay
• $15.00
• Publication date:  January 2012
• 9780758263223

Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick by Joe Schreiber

Wow!  This book is a fun ride through the staid life of a 17-year old young man and a   murderer.  Perry, whose life has been carefully managed by his parents, is suddenly thrust into the bizarre world of assassination.  This action-packed page turner kept me reading.

Perry’s very different experiences of college prep and murder are juxtaposed by the heads of chapters which draw on essay questions from prestigious college admissions applications and the quirky, heart-pounding actions of a murderer.

Will Perry get out alive?  Will he choose his own path in life?  What does he learn about some who are compelled to murder?  Buckle up for a thrilling adventure to find out.

• Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick
• Joe Schreiber
• $16.99
• Publication date:  October 24, 2011
• Publisher:  Houghton Mifflin

Solomon: The Lure of Wisdom

In this book, Steven Weitzman explores the fascination with Solomon and the acquisition of wisdom throughout the ages.  This book isn’t about who King Solomon actually was.  As the author notes in the preface to his book, “Today when not one single find can still be confidently attributed to the Solomonic era, it is no longer clear that there even was such an era.”  (page xviii)  The author examines our notions of Solomon gleaned from reading between the lines of biblical narrative.   He includes Jewish, Christian and Muslim ideas of Solomon as well as that of early scientists.

The author’s approach of straddling between the realms of believer and biblical analyst is at once easy to read and knowledgeable.  He gives examples of those who would be Solomon and asks “Would so many rulers have boasted of Solomonic judgement, would they have invested so much in replicating the Temple or his throne had they understood what Solomon’s political legacy really is:  a lesson to the world that all human leaders are poor imitations of divine rule, including the wisest and most powerful among them?”  (page 97)

The book gives us something to ponder during the manic gathering of information known as the Information Age.

• Solomon:  The Lure of Wisdom
• Steven Weitzman
• ISBN: 9780300137187
• Yale Univeristy Press
• Publication date:  March 2011

What Language Is: And What It Isn’t and What It Could Be

This is a wonderful, non-technical exploration of language.

This is an excellent introduction with limited technical jargon as to how linguist’s view language.  This thoroughly enjoyable read discusses what a language is and how, because of acculturation, languages can be held in low esteem.  From a quick trip through aspects of the world’s 6,000 languages, one learns that some languages have no regular verbs while others love to use prefixes, suffixes and infixes.  This book is a must read for any verbivore.

• John McWhorter
• 9781592406258
• August 2011
• $26.00

The Shema: Spirituality and Law in Judaism by Norman Lamm

This is a splendid exploration of the most important prayer in Judaism.   This book is informative for Jews as well as non-Jews.  For Jews, the book offers ideas that make the Shema a meditation instead of a rote prayer.  Non-Jews will get a glimpse of how Jews view God and prayer.

The book focuses on two verses of the Shema.  Inside is a slice from differing Jewish viewpoints as to:

• what it means to hear.  (“Shema” means “hear.”)
• what concept does “Israel” refer.  To a people?  To a person?
• God’s unity
• what “you shall love” means

Through Judaism’s honoring different opinions on a topic, we can gain much more insight to the topic.  The different viewpoints are like different facets of a gem, each scintillating as the gem is turned in the light.

• Price:  $19.95
• ISBN 082760713X
• Publisher:  Jewish Publication Society

Every Day, Holy Day by AlanMorinis

The subtitle of the book is “365 Days of Teachings and Practices from the Jewish Tradition of Mussar.”

Mussar is a Jewish self-improvement philosophy and regimen.  The idea is that for one week a person chooses one topic upon which to make improvements in his or her life.  The following week another topic is chosen and the same for the following week and so on.  This wonderful approach allows each person to improve himself or herself throughout the year without becoming mired in frustration because the topic changes each week.

Topics range from the development of gratitude and enthusiasm to humility and judging others favorably.  Brief daily readings accompany each topic  in order to guide the reader in the soul’s

development.

Excellent guidance for self-improvement.

In Mussar there are techniques for choosing the topic upon which to improve.  For those who don’t know where to start, Every Day, Holy Day is a good introduction to Mussar.  Even though the assumed audience is Jewish and the daily readings are from Jewish sources, the concept of choosing a weekly topic for self-improvement can be adapted to any culture.

• Price:  $17.95
• ISBN:  9781590308103
• Publisher:  Trumpeter

The Spirit Lens by Carol Berg

A fantastic tale of intrigue and murder!

This riveting story features Portier, a librarian of a magic college and failed magic student.  He is charged with untangling a conspiracy of murder, intrigue and the appalling use of unholy magic.  His two assistants in this undertaking are a court dandy and a very cranky mage.  Together they unravel a horrendous plot that would unleash chaos in the world and forever change their perceptions of themselves.