Rivka Levy's Blog, page 4

Book Review: The Secret Life of Gershon Burd

Usually, I try to avoid ‘holy person’ biographies, for the simple fact that they often describe individuals in terms that I just can’t relate to. Like they never got angry, or never got stressed, or were always happy, cheerful and full of over-brimming belief in Hashem.

That concern flashed through my mind when I picked up a copy of ‘The Secret Life of Gershon Burd’, but I ignored it and bought it anyway. The truth is, that it does describe Gershon Burd in superlative terms. But the deeper tr...

How to transform your life in 49 Days

I know, that's a big 'promise' isn't it?

And I know, most of us are just SO jaded from hearing how to change, transform and revamp ourselves, our lives and our relationships.

A big part of the problem is that often the ideas, programs and techniques that have the biggest 'pizazz' and the biggest marketing budget behind them are often the most superficial.

People like the idea of changing and transforming a lot. But to actuallygo ahead and do it?That's something else entirely.

But if I've learnt...

Book Review: Lashon Hakodesh: History, Holiness and Hebrew

Click the image to go through to the book's page at the Mosaica Press Recently, I got sent a copy of ‘Lashon Hakodesh: History, Holiness and Hebrew’ by Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein.

Now, I’m not usually a big linguistic book fan – too left brain for me, normally – but I have to say that I actually really enjoyed reading the book. First of all, it was written in a fairly down-to-earth easy to read style. It also helped that the copious notes and source materials were corralled into the foot...

Is it REALLY possible to make any money writing Jewish books?

You should know something about me: I have absolutely no patience. Zero. Nada. Nothing. Part of the reason that I decided to go it alone when it came to get my book, Talk to God and Fix Your Health, published is that I figured it would take me at least a couple of years to find an agent, and who knows how much longer to find a publisher.

Writing the book had already taken more than a year, so I was keen to get it into print ASAP, and self-publishing seemed the best route, especially as most o...

Book Review: Miriam's Song

Sometimes, I yearn for more real books, by real, frum Jewish people who aren’t afraid to use their real names on their works.

So when I came across ‘Miriam’s Song’ by Smadar Shir, I gobbled it up. The book tells the true story of Miriam Peretz, who made aliya to Beer Sheva with her Moroccan family as a child. Miriam grew up in poverty in Casablanca, so when her family moved to a shack in the middle of the cultural wilderness that was Beer Sheva in the 1960s, Miriam felt she’d landed in paradi...

Guide to getting the most out of Goodreads (and Amazon...) for Jewish Authors

I've read SO MANY marketing guides for authors now, I'm a marketing maven (aspiring to be...).

To save other people the hassle of having to read 50 books on Twitter, I summed up the main points in a special guide to marketing for Jewish Authors, with the focus on making the most of Amazon and Goodreads.

You can get it by popping your email in the box below, (or if the form doesn't show up, then click the link) and I'll send it straight off to you.

http://eepurl.com/bJhOeb_

Here's to leveraging th...

Rav Ovadia Yosef: A True Man of the Book

Before his passing in 2013, I didn’t know much more about Rav Ovadia Yosef than he always wore sunglasses, and that he was the spiritual head of the Israeli political party Shas, that served the interests of the frum Sephardi world.

After his death, more than 850,000 turned out for his funeral in Jerusalem, temporarily closing the capital down. I happened to be on one of the last buses headed out of Jerusalem just before the funeral, and all the way down to the Mevasseret turnoff, there was o...

My indie author interview is up, over on Starbooks

While I was browsing Goodreads, I came across a new book reviewing website called Star Book Reviews , who was looking for new indie authors to interview. I jumped at the chance (who wouldn't?) - and they just posted the interview up now.

You can take a look at it HERE.

_Enjoy!

Book Review: Prophecy and Divine Inspiration

Click the cover to buy the book Over the course of his last few books, Rabbi Avraham Arieh Trugman has been forging a very interesting path as an author, specializing in bringing very ‘high’ concepts and sources together, in a way that the English-speaking public can start to get more of a profound glimpse into some of the deeper workings of our faith.

His book on reincarnation, ‘Return Again’, is one of my all-time favourite reads, and I’ve re-read and recommended it to other people many time...

Author Interview: Dassie Dahan, author of: 'The way to becoming Yaelle'

This is the first of what I hope will turn into a regular series of author interviews on the 'Jewish Book Review' blog, bringing you the inside story behind the book. First up: Dassie Dahan, author of: 'The way to becoming Yaelle'. If you're a Jewish author and you'd like to be interviewed, please drop me an email. Click the cover to buy the book on Amazon 1)How long have you been writing?

I’ve been writing since I was pretty young, and I wrote my first novel in fourth grade. I was actually...