Rivka Levy's Blog, page 3

BOOK REVIEW: Open when you are, by Ben Ackerman

Now, as you may or may not know, I’m not a big reader of fiction. In the old days, I used to get far too ‘caught up’ in the plot, or the storyline, and be unable to put a book down until it was finished - which is a real problem when you have to look after other members of the family who can’t wait to eat their supper until you’ve reached the denouement.

So that’s one reason I stopped reading so much fiction. Another reason I stopped reading fiction is because a few years’ ago, I decided to o...

The Secret Diary of a Jewish Housewife meets: Author Annette Gendler

Recently, I had the privilege of meeting the author of 'Jumping over shadows', Annette Gendler for a coffee in Jerusalem.  We discussed a whole bunch of things about what it means to really 'belong' somewhere, in all meanings of the word, and also how much time, effort and money is involved in trying to promote our books.

I also asked her some questions to tie in with the launch of my latest book, The Secret Diary of a Jewish Housewife, and her answers make for some very interesting reading.

En...

An alternative networking initiative for frum authors...

In these days of the 'Three Weeks' the much hoped for ideal of Jewish unity - achdut!  - sometimes seems so very far away from being realised. And especially when it comes to matters of Jewish expression.

I've just finished reading a post on a 'progressive' Jewish site which was fabulously well-written, even-handed, and as truthful as it could be, under the circumstances - but still promoting something that is completely against basic Jewish halacha.

So, NOT a good fit for a frum Jewish w...

The Secret Diary of a Jewish Housewife meets: Author Sheyna Galyan

Continuing our series of interviewing creative Jewish women to celebrate the launch of The Secret Diary of a Jewish Housewife, today we meet best-selling Jewish author, Sheyna Galyan. 1)Tell me a little bit about how you became a writer, and why specifically you wanted to write Jewish-themed fiction.

I’ve been writing stories since I was about seven. I wrote about themes that mattered to me—about the meaning of family, the power of hope, the isolation of perseverance. I’ve held two previou...

Book Review: The Princess of Dan

Fellow-blogger Myrtle Rising reviews 'The Princess of Dan', by Nechama Sarah Gila Nadborny Burgeman Even though I drifted off novels (yes, including frum ones) a while ago, a friend handed me a frum novel with a non-fiction twist that offered quite a lot of information from solid Torah sources on the Tribe of Dan.

So I read The Princess of Dan and here’s what I think:

First of all, the non-fiction element woven throughout the book is brilliant.

I learned so much about the deeper qualities of...

Author Deborah Kalb shares her big secret

This interview is the first in a series of interviews with creative Jewish women to celebrate the launch of my latest book, 'The Secret Diary of a Jewish Housewife'.  Today, we meet author Deborah Kalb, who began her career reporting on Washington DC politics, but is now writing fiction for children, instead. 1. Tell me a little bit about how you become a writer.

I always wanted to write. I think in part it was because there are so many other writers in my family—my parents are both writer...

Jumping over shadows: Annette Gendler

Annette Gendler, the author of ‘Jumping over shadows’ is an interesting woman. She’s a German convert who met and married her Jewish husband, Harry, in Munich in the early 1990s.

Harry hailed from a family of holocaust survivors. His mother survived the war by hiding out in a French barn for four years, while his father survived by joining Stalin’s Red Army.

As the dust settled,  the two holocaust survivors somehow found themselves rebuilding their lives in Munich, of all places, and probabl...

Book Review: Defensive Shield, by Brig. Gen. Gal Hirsch

I’m really not a big military fan. The last place I lived, I had F16s from the local army base, gunfighter helicopters and I don’t know what else regularly flying overhead. As we were in the middle of three major motorways, I also saw a ton of tanks, Humvees and I don’t know what else regularly being transported up and down the country, depending on whether the rockets were coming from Hizballa up North, or Hamas down South.

While all my male relatives were well happy about all the military e...

Interview with the author of 'Tough Like Her'

Hadas Israel's latest book,Tough Like Herjust hit the bookstores.

Here, I asked the author a few 'behind the scenes' questions about the story behind her latest book.

You can pickup the Kindle version of the book up for just 99 cents, by clicking HERE.

Enjoy! Q: When did you first start writing?

In 4th grade, I wrote out an 80-pagestory by hand. It took months and I was very proud of the accomplishment. I can't remember exactly what it was about, but I was fascinated by the purple-haired punk ro...

Book Review: The Secret Life of Gershon Burd

Check it out, over on the Jewish Book Review page.