djc reading circle 2014/2015 season

DJC READING CIRCLE
2014/2015 SEASON
Thursday, October 23, 2014
THE BUS DRIVER WHO WANTED TO BE GOD by ETGAR KERET
Self-Moderated Group Discussion
Israel’s hippest bestselling young writer today, Etgar Keret, is part court jester, part literary crown prince,
part national conscience. THE BUS DRIVER WHO WANTED TO BE GOD gathers his daring and
provocative short stories for the first time in English. Brief, intense, painfully funny, and shockingly honest,
Keret's stories are snapshots that illuminate with intelligence and wit the hidden truths of life. As with the
best comic authors, hilarity and anguish are the twin pillars of his work. Keret covers a remarkable emotional
and narrative terrain-from a father's first lesson to his boy, to a standoff between soldiers caught in the
Middle East conflict, to a slice of life where nothing much happens.
Bus Driver includes stories from Keret's bestselling collections in Israel, Pipelines and Missing Kissinger, as
well as Keret's major new novella Kneller's Happy Campers, a bitingly satirical yet wistful road trip set in the
afterlife for suicides.
Thursday, November 26, 2014
THE AFTERLIFE OF STARS by JOE KERTES
Moderated by CYNTHIA GOOD
Award winning author Joe Kertes tells the story of 9.8 year old Robert and his older brother Attila. The Beck
family flees Hungary in 1956, escaping to the Paris townhouse of their great-aunt Hermina, an opera singer.
Robert and Attila approach the journey as an exciting adventure, but minefields both real and imagined
confront them. In this beautifully crafted novel, the darkness of life is balanced with an awareness of life's
wonders. As Robert lives and reflects, the reader sees the world anew – in all terror and glory. "Blazing with
every single good thing that a work of fiction ever does or could do. It is brilliant. Radiant." Richard Bausch,
winner of the Penn/Malamud Award.
Cynthia Good is director of the Creative Book Publishing Program at Humber College, and former president
of Penguin Group (Canada). At Penguin she originated the Penguin's Canadian Program, which has grown
to one of the most successful in Canada, boasting a list of premier Canadian writers. She has taught in both
Ryerson University's and Centennial College's publishing certificate programs, and been a featured speaker
on cultural, literary, and business subjects at many universities and colleges across Canada.
Thursday, February 19, 2015
THE FINKLER QUESTION by HOWARD JACOBSON
Moderated by KALMAN WEISER
Julian Treslove, a professionally unspectacular former BBC radio producer, and Sam Finkler, a popular
Jewish philosopher, writer, and television personality, are old school friends. Despite a prickly relationship
and very different lives, they've never lost touch with each other, or with their former teacher Libor Sevick.
Dining together one night at Sevick's apartment, the two Jewish widowers and the unmarried Treslove share
a sweetly painful evening reminiscing on a time before they had loved and lost, before they had prized
anything greatly enough to fear the loss of it. But as Treslove makes his way home, he is attacked when he
hesitates for a moment outside the window of the oldest violin dealer in the country. Treslove is convinced
the crime was a misdirected act of anti-Semitism and, in its aftermath, his whole sense of self will slowly and
ineluctably change. The Finkler Question is a funny, furious, unflinching novel of friendship and loss,
exclusion and belonging, and the wisdom and humanity of maturity.
A native of New York City, Kalman Weiser arrived in Toronto in 2012 to become the Silber Family Professor
of Modern Jewish Studies at York University. He is the author or co-author of three books about Jewish
history and Yiddish language and culture, including Jewish People, YIddish Nation: Noah Prylucki and the
Folkists in Poland, which won the 2011 Canadian Jewish Book Award for scholarship. He is currently
dividing his time between caring for two children under the age of 2, researching the careers of Nazi Judaica
scholars, and developing an international seminar for graduate students about anti-Semitism pedagogy. He
is often tired.
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
THE RETROSPECTIVE by A.B. YEHOSHUAH
Moderated by DEREK PENSLAR
An aging Israeli film director has been invited to the pilgrimage city of Santiago de Compostela for a
retrospective of his work. When Yair Moses and Ruth, his leading actress and long time muse, settle into their
hotel room, a painting over their bed triggers a distant memory in Moses from one of his early films: a scene
that caused a rift with his brilliant but difficult screenwriter — who, as it happens, was once Ruth’s lover. Upon
their return to Israel, Moses decides to travel to the south to look for his elusive former partner and propose a
new collaboration. But the screenwriter demands a price for it that will have strange and lasting
consequences. A searching and original novel by one of the world’s most esteemed writers, The
Retrospective is a meditation on mortality and intimacy, on the limits of memory and the struggle of artistic
creation.
Derek Penslar is the Samuel Zacks Professor of Jewish History at the University of Toronto and Chair of
Israeli Studies at St. Anne's College, Oxford. His latest book is The Origins of Israel, 1882-1948: A
Documentary History (University of Wisconsin Press).
May 2015, Date: TBA
MY PROMISED LAND by ARI SHAVI
Moderated by JAMIE LEVIN
In this decade, no non-fiction book coming out of Israel has been more lauded than My Promised Land. As the
Jewish Daily Forward noted, "Ari Shavit wants to do nothing less than prompt a fresh discourse on Israel,
something free and loving, critical and authentic, a conversation that accepts both the miracle and the true
consequences of the Jewish state, one that will bring American Jews closer to the real Israel and Israelis
closer to their own lost narrative.
"Shavit’s new book, My Promised Land: The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel, arrives with great expectations —
winning the inaugural Natan Book Award before it was even finished. It is a sweeping history framed as
personal narrative, reflecting two intertwined journeys: the author’s attempt to understand his own family’s
Zionistic evolution, and his country’s tortured politics. Shavit is unsparing in his presentation of what he argues
is the truth behind Israel’s founding stories. The book is composed chronologically and thematically, with a
specific historic event, project or person standing in for a significant turning point. Some chapters will make a
Jewish reader swell with pride, like when Shavit relates a stirring history of Rehovot, where he was born,
drawing a warm painting of peaceful farmland and fragrant orange groves.
Jamie Levin is a PhD candidate in the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto. His
research focuses on the role of weapons and disarmament in the resolution of internal conflicts. Jamie’s
research has been published in the Palestine-Israel Journal, International Politics, and the Journal of Peace
Conflict and Development. His writings have appeared in Harper’s, The Walrus, Jerusalem Post, Haaretz, and
The National Post.
ABOUT THE DJC READING CIRCLE
Now in its eleventh glorious year, the Reading Circle is a favourite among our book-loving members, bringing us
together throughout the year for interesting and animated discussions about a variety of books that touch on Jewish
themes. And, of course, when we’re done, there’s always a little nosh. After all, this is a Jewish book group!
The Danforth Jewish Reading Circle is open to all – no charge for members, $10 for non-members. An RSVP is
necessary as we have to cap our numbers in order to continue meeting in the warmth and intimacy of members’
homes. Drop us a line at djcReadingCircle@gmail.com – but please do so early. Space fills up quickly and names
are accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. You will receive a confirmation email with time and place details. Feel
free to contact us if you have any questions or comments.
Reading Circle dates and book descriptions are available on the DJC website events calendar, so be sure to visit us at
djctoronto.com.
Happy Reading!
DJC Reading Circle Organizing Committee