In the past weeks, Booknik flew Aeroflot, gathered two trunks of memories, got to know new Pygmalion, counted Calcutta Jews, separated sheep from goats Zionists from Black-Hundreders, and hopped through New York. Meanwhile, Booknik Jr. fought his fears and won.
Booknik’s literary critic Yevgeniya Ritz tells about new releases from the Knizhniki publishing project. The protagonist of My Mother's Sabbath Days by Chaim Grade survived the war, and the main character of Twee koffers vol by Carl Friedman was born after the war but her parents survived Auschwitz. Both characters are almost namesakes, and their symbolic names tell that the people who lived through the tragedy are able to pass on not only their terrible memory to new generations but a great hope as well. “It means, Life. I think, after the war, my parents did not quite believe that they had survived, so they named me to spite the fate.”
…and many other surprising survivals in the Books & Reviews section.
Kosher Onboard Food
Booknik’s food critic Mila Dubrovina studied and tested kosher cuisine in Moscow, risking with her extra weight, only to tell our readers about it. The final touch of her culinary study is the interview with Olga Kurganova, the development director of Pinhas, the official supplier of kosher food to Aeroflot and Transaero airlines.
If You Could Know What Junk Gives Birth to Poems
The kinematic theater Barrel Organ is the project by the mechanical sculptor Eduard Bersudsky, from St. Petersburg. In the 1990s, when it became too expensive to exhibit his works in Russia, Scotland welcomed him, and his theater took roots in Glasgow for twenty years, becoming the city’s treasure and pride. However, everything started in a Leningrad communal apartment where Mr. Bersudsky cut his first sculpture from wood, attached a motor to it, and the figure came alive. It went on from that, with countless moving objects made out of rusty springs, wheels, and pieces of furniture.
…and many other kinematic kinds in the Events & Reports section.
Good Luck, Alfred
The Dark Knight Rises, directed by Christopher Nolan
It is easy to write about this movie. One could take a dozen interpretations, and all of them would by adequate. To watch it, however, is an entirely different kettle of fish. It is excruciatingly boring. There is sterile office seriousness instead of intrigue, plus tedious corporate hassles, and tear-jerking family scenes. How to kill time when nothing happens? You could talk, of course. And they do talk—Bruce Wayne with his butler, the butler with Wayne, the villain with Batman, Batman with his neighbor, the butler with himself, etc., etc. Our film critic Ivan Pervertov talks too. With Booknik readers.
You will not be able to enter a Calcutta synagogue from the street. First, you will have to find its custodian. Then, he, without asking you who you are or what you want, will open the iron gate, and unlock the doors. There was a time when all two floors of the synagogue were filled with people, and it stands empty. Like the rest of synagogues in Calcutta. There are two Jewish schools in the city, and they do not have a single Jewish student among both of them. Only the Jewish cemetery is occupied, being the testimony to the once numerous Jewish community. These days, Booknik’s Indian reporter Yelena Demidova can count the Jews on the fingers of one hand.
…and many other Calicut calls in the Columns & Columns section.
Can You Tell a Zionist from a Black-Hundreder?
Many people who are challenged with a national issue, claim that Jews are easily identifiable by their looks. Booknik has decided to test this hypothesis with an experiment. We give you a gallery of portraits depicting famous Zionists and no less famous members of the Russian Black Hundred. Your task will now be to tell ones from others. Go.
…and many other Lombrosian loments in the Contests & Quizzes section.
The New York Crossroads, Conversation No. 11
Alexander Genis believes that authors belong to two groups, those who seek answers to questions in themselves, and those who do so in the world around them. It does not mean that ones are worse than others are, generally, it only means that the introverted authors are gloomier than the other ones. Alexander himself prefers not to go deep into the dark recesses of his conscious but hop on the surface of life, describing its exterior. Where else should an extraverted author on a bike look for inspiration but in New York?
…and many other trippy treks in the Video Blog section.
I tacket lyser stjarnorna, by Yuhanna Tidel
The protagonist of this book is a twelve-year-old girl whose mother is dying of cancer. She dies painfully, slowly, and very realistically. Nevertheless, the book is not about cancer. It tells about living in a family where every day something happens that a child cannot cope with but wants to, very much.
Fear Eats Soul
Leonard, by Wolf Erlbruch
Psychologists often suggest that we should draw our fears in order to get rid of them. Leonard draws doggies, those nice household pets, every morning after waking up. But his fear is still with him. The boy does everything to conquer it, barking at his parents, his neighbors, passers-by on the street, yet nothing helps. Every little dog he meets outside takes all his courage.
…and many other courageous courts at Booknik Jr., also known as Family Booknik, our own web site for kids and their parents.
The Imaginarium does not cost a thing. We're not here for money. Booknik and Family Booknik are supported by the AVI CHAI Foundation.
