Shabbat reading

It was a good Shabbos for reading, following a couple of days in a row when I did nothing else but reading and writing from time to time. I still have a lot of reviews from the last year to finish and tons - not a stylistic poetry, but the raw reality of my reading life lately - of reviews to be done, but be'H will be done sooner than expected.

The first choice was an interesting book of comparative literature regarding the relation between Poles and Jews through the eyes of the authors from the end of the 19th, century: Poles and Jews, a Failed Brotherhood, part of the series of the Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry Series. 

I continued with Gil Yaron's trips where I found some interesting ideas for interviews, but did not like the angle so, I will rate this book with only two modest stars. I wasn't extremely impressed by the next book either, a collection of academic essays with a stereotypical title: Judentum zwischen Tradition und Moderne (Judaism, between Tradition and Modernity). Some interesting ideas about synagogal architecture and various details about the Jewish life in Germany through academic eyes. 

The best choice was almost at the end of Shabbos, when I started to read Tropical diaspora: The Jewish experience in Cuba. A book not only rich in illustration, but who's offering a lot of inspiration for one of my projects in process about Jewish communities around the world, especially in places where we, in the Western galut, do not have any idea that it may be any trace of Jewish life. I've read already 1/4 of it and will continue the lecture once I log off from blogger.

Shavua tov!