Inauguration and follow up

I'm working today and tomorrow during the inauguration and responses, but have friends attending marches in D.C. and Atlanta. My coworker Rosie got this scarf via connections at her alma mater, Agnes Scott College. A faculty member had them made & many students are wearing them to DC.

Top Ten Tuesdays I: Atlanta Jewish Film Festival

Top Ten  Tuesdays is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week I'm stepping outside the assigned category because the lineup for the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival has just come out and I need your help! I can't see every film I'm interested in, so I am asking you to help me choose. Which of the following films would you like to see?

The 90-Minute War (narrative , satire) Israel & Palestine agree to let a soccer game decide who should leave & who gets to stay.

BANG (documentary about songwriter & producer Bert Berns (Twist & Shout, Under the Boardwalk.)

Big Sonia (documentary about Holocaust survivor Sonia Warshawski & her life in Kansas City.)

Body & Soul: An American Bridge (story of the jazz song showing interplay between Jewish & African American cultures.)

Dirty Wolves (Set in a mining village in NW Spain during WWII.) Two sisters make hard choices after the local tungsten mine is captured/controlled by the Nazis.

Doing Jewish (documentary) A Canadian Jew performing community service in Ghana misses Jewish community during the High Holy Days & visits a devout Jewish community in Sefwi Wiawso.

Fanny's Journey: a resourceful young girl leads a group of children through Nazi-occupied France. Family friendly, based on an autobiographical novel.

Forever Pure: documentary wherein a secret deal to transfer Muslim soccer players to an Israeli soccer team causes a crisis.

Hanna's Sleeping Dogs: A young Roman Catholic girl in 1960s France discovers her family& religious background isn't what she's been told.

Harmonia: a modern retelling of the story of Abraham & Sarah, a childless Israeli couple seeks a family and conflict arises.

The Jews (Il Sont Partout): Comedy sketches about Jewish stereotypes.

Olympic Pride, American Prejudice (documentary) Examines USA's decision to participate in 1936 Olympics & the racial politics influencing the decision as well as the athlete's reception on returning home.

Restoring Tomorrow (documentary) Depicts the restoration of the 1929 Wilshire Boulevard Temple, home to the oldest Jewish congregation in Los Angeles.

Shorts II: various short films

There are Jews Here: documentary profiling Jewish communities in rural America.

To be or not to be: Jack Benny & Carole Lombard star in a comedic/romantic/suspenseful look at WWII in Poland.

Top Ten Tuesdays II: My backlog & a few new items

This week's topic is new releases we're looking forward to. I don't have ten (yet.) I haven't finished reading all last year's new releases I want to read!

Here's some titles I want to read that were published last year:

  

The Underground Railroad: What would life be like if there was literally an underground railroad and two slaves used it to escape? Historical fiction/mashed up with surrealism?

The Bones of Grace: Paleontologist Zubaida Haque is torn between her expected arranged marriage and the mores of her Bangladeshi family and her infatuation with and American she meets shortly before leaving the US.

Homegoing: historical fiction, follows two half sisters and their descendents.

The Mothers: how do the secrets of our adolescence impact our lives?

White rage: History professor Carol Anderson argues that white rage responds to every gain made by African Americans.

And three titles I'm looking forward to this year in the science fiction & fantasy categories

 and Convergence by C. J. Cherryh

A New Book for Christmas!

Just finished reading a book I will want to reread at Christmas-time. It's a beautiful book physically and good reading as well.

 Christmas Days: 12 stories and 12 feasts for 12 days by Jeanette Winters on. Twelve short stories alternating with descriptions & recipes for Christmas/Solstice & New Year's. While many are hopeful, a few are horrible (shocking or causing fear or disgust.) But all well written.

Favorites include "The spirit of Christmas," and "The mistletoe bride." Check it out or put in on your list to read at the end of the year.

What are your favorite holiday reads?

2017 Reading Goals

My overarching goal this year is to be a bit more interactive online. I'm doing two group reads and a couple of challenges on Library Thing.

The group reads are year-long reads hosted by Rachel at Hibernator's Library.

• Reading the Bible as literature (first post here) 
• 6 books to help understand Trump's win (first post here)

In addition, I'm on Library Thing and will participate in the 2017 Category Challenge in the women & SFF (science fiction, fantasy, speculative fiction) categories.

2016 Favorites

My favorite books for 2016 include the following:

  Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Shantaram by Gregory Roberts  

 Lab Girl by Hope Jahren

James Tiptree, Jr.: The Secret Life of Alice B. Sheldon by Julie Phillips 

And I have several from last year's new publications that I still want to read, especially

The Undrgroud Railroad by Colson Whitehead (got about 1/3 of the way & it had to go back to the library.)

The Bones of Grace by Tahmima Anam (ditto)

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

Happy New Year everyone!

I started the New Year by doing some cleaning & meeting a friend for a labyrinth walk. We also lit candles on the altar pictured below.

I plan to do a little more cleaning this afternoon & meeting two more friends to see the movie Fences tonight.

I hope 2017 brings you a good mix of friends, fun, and satisfying work and accomplishment.