Alex Kudera's Blog, page 37

100,000 books

"In November, the ghetto library went beyond the figure of a hundred thousand books distributed to readers. Because of this, the library is organizing a big cultural morning recital, which will take place in the Ghetto Theater on Sunday, the 13th of this month, at noon. On the program: Opening by G. Yashunski, welcome from the ghetto chief, writers, scientific circles, teachers, and the Youth Club. Dr. Ts. Feldman will speak on "The Book and Martyrdom," then a lecture by H. Kruk, "100,000 Books in the Ghetto." The second part will be a concert of words and music.

The finale: distribution of gift books to the first reader in the ghetto and the youngest reader of the library."

~~ from The Last Days of the Jerusalem of Lithuania: Chronicles from the Vilna Ghetto and the Camps, 1939—1944 by Herman Kruk

Thanksgiving

Although I was able to resist an "extra" large pumpkin pie this past weekend, it's never too early to enjoy an American Thanksgiving.

Happy to you, yours, and everyone who gobbles!

how successful the book had become

"Blake wondered what exactly it was that everyone had done to this author. He doesn't doubt people had don him wrong—he  just wonders exactly what it was. Had they ignored him his entire life? Had they shoved him against lockers, tripped him in the halls, offered high-fives with pushpins wedged between their fingers? Blake wished the man had been alive to know how successful the book had become, wished he could actually enjoy making people eat shit."

~~ from Hashtag Good Guy with a Gun by Jeff Chon

"a poetic love letter"

Another review of Auggie's Revenge awaits your attention.

art

 

Amazon reviews

Amazon has new reviews of Auggie's Revenge and Fight for Your Long Day: "Kudera is a darn fine writer, worthy to be read on the level of the sentence."

fear and fascination

"Then he tried to persuade me to follow the 'natural way' and to refrain from what he regarded as a criminal act. We stayed there for a long time, huddled over a table in the Café Métropole, near the entrance. He couldn't bring himself to leave. I felt that his determination to make me change my mind was underpinned by a powerful emotion combining fear and fascination. Men found my desire to abort strangely enticing."

~~ from Happening by Annie Ernaux

consolidated soup

A judge blocked Penguin Random House's merger with Simon & Schuster.

working-class-jobs candidate

"But Ryan’s bid may have the most riding on it, because it is based on substantive disagreements within the party about how to rebuild the middle class and the middle of the country. For years, too many leading Democrats stood by as the wrenching transformation of the economy devastated communities, while accruing benefits to a small set of highly prosperous cities, mostly on the coasts, that became the party’s gravitational center. It was so easy to disregard far-off desolation — or to take only passing note of it, counting the dollar stores as one happened to traverse areas of decline — until Trump’s victory brought it to the fore."
~~ from "Tim Ryan: The Working-Class-Jobs Candidate in the Era or Resentment" by Alec MacGillis

Rushdie update

 Salman Rushdie will live without a functional hand and eye.