Last week, Booknik tried to avoid his destiny, visited Africa, learned some useful Sh-words, became an online yeshiva student, celebrated Simchat Torah when it was not due, was an archaeologist and a film critic, and felt what it meant to be an outsider. Meanwhile, Booknik Jr. decided to enroll in an unusual school but he could not find any that could look like Hogwarts.

In 2011, the American journal of political science Foreign Policy had David Grossman included in the list of the most influential intellectuals of the world. His novel was nominated for the 2010 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction and won the 2011 JQ Wingate Prize. The novel's French translation, Une femme fuyant l'annonce, won the 2011 Prix Médicis étranger award for the best book published that year in translation. “I play with reality, turning it into literature,” David Grossman said. “Instead of rejection of the reality, I prefer to change it in my books, to transform it.” Booknik reviewer Kira Sapgir joins in the game with the modern classic.

The Iranian Schindler, or A Parisian Detective
In the Lion’s Shadow: The Iranian Schindler and His Homeland in the Second World War, by Fariborz Mokhtari

The story is striking. The brilliant Iranian diplomat, a bon vivant, and a party animal. The Iranian embassy in Paris occupied by Germans. Gestapo and the Resistance. When he started his dangerous game with the Nazis, Abdol-Hossein Sardari starts issuing Iranian passports to Jews. Thousands were saved through the efforts of this “Moslem Schindler.” Booknik reviewer Lesya Bobrova reads the gripping story that is much better than any spy thriller.

…and many other dangerous games in the Books & Reviews section.

Stefanie Zweig is a Jewish author, she was born in 1932 in Germany. In 1938, her family emigrated to Kenya trying to save themselves from the National Socialism, and they did not return to their homeland until 1947. The reminiscences of Africa were the basis for many Frau Zweig’s works, and her novel Nirgendwo in Afrika (Nowhere in Africa (1998) was filmed in 2001, and won an Oscar in 2002 for “Best Foreign Film.” Booknik’s Frankfurt reporter Olga Luk talked with Frau Zweig about Africa, books, and fashion.

…and many other African safaris in the Articles & Interviews section.

Tel Aviv before the Shabbat

Secular and seemingly cosmopolite Tel Aviv is often set off against traditional Jerusalem. Nevertheless, it is worth watching the Tel Aviv life before the Shabbat. All your doubts about the Jewish character of the city will disappear. Just see the photo feature of our Israeli reporter Ariel Bulstein yourselves.

The Joy of Torah

Last week, Booknik proudly presented his unique project, the bilingual parallel online publication of Torah, fully searchable in both Hebrew and Russian. So, follow the link, our gentlest readers, and rejoice with the new Online Torah, although the celebration of Simchat Torah is still some way ahead.

…and many other worthy celebrations in the Events & Reports section.

The Grandness and Humility of an Outsider

It is not easy to be an outsider, albeit it might be pleasant in a way. You can detachedly watch the fuss of those who did not let you in their circle. You can say about them everything you think about about—well, almost anything, for it might not be pleasant, and the regime might be severe, so you could be banished even further. Booknik’s staff Talmud scholar Reuven Kipervasser has now arranged your rendezvous with one of the most serious outsider of the Talmudic times.

…and many other serious dissents in the Columns & Columns section.

The Azbooka Publishers have just published the Russian translation of the American Russian author Lara Vapnyar’s novel Memoirs of a Muse, Booknik had already published her story Baby in the Snow, and now, we are proud to present an excerpt of her novel. Its protagonist, like its author, was born in the USSR, emigrated to the United States, and thus can look rather ironically at both nations.

…and many other exceptional extracts in the Stories & Essays section.

There is the Golden City 10: The Underground City

Apart from Earthly and Celestial Jerusalems, there is another dimension to the Eternal City, the underground one. It is represented by catacombs, and the Bronze Age settlements ruins. There one could find pagan figurines, coins of the First and Second Temples eras, pieces of broken crockery, and other artifacts of the Underground City. By “one” we do not mean only professional archaeologists but simple construction workers as well. In the last two thousand years, the city has been growing on a huge puff pastry of different cultures and epochs. It is a veritable archeological paradise now.

Hebrarium, the Lexicon of Jewish Whatnots: Sh-1

Why should one observe Shabbat? How to greet Booknik’s video whiz Kirill Chichayev in Hebrew when you meet him? What was the name of Jewish Mark Twain? All these answers, and many more, are to be found in this episode of our Hebrarium.

The Flickering Jew 11: Babel, the Three Perestroika Films

Booknik continues his educational and highly entertaining series on Jews in the soviet cinema. This time, Booknik's editor-in-chief, author and film critic Sergey Kuznetsov talks about the USSR perestroika films, and Russian post-perestroika cinema. The glastnost campaign penetrated cinematography, too, and it touched on the Jewish themes, naturally. Just in two years, three film directors made their screen adaptations of Isaak Babel’s Tales of Odessa, making three different interpretations of this classical work of Russian Jewish literature. Mr. Kuznetsov has a lot to say about them.

…and many other entertaining entrees in the Video Blog section.

When talking to other moms, I found out that the epidural anesthesia was very dangerous. It kills mothering instincts in nanny goats. I wish I knew about it,” our contributor and mother of three Maria Blinkina-Melnik laments. She should have consulted a nanny goat before risking her instincts.