Burger Rankings Change
The former #3 burger is now #2, moving Black Market's excellent burger down one slot and moving Black's (Bethesda) to the slot behind the sensational Ray's Hell Burger. Black's (tasted twice) has fine meat cooked to perfection, fresh veggies and four choices of cheese, with a super bun. Don't miss the fries - they can rarely be beat.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
#9 Book Recommendation
Colm Toibin's Brooklyn is a short novel you will not be able to put down. Set in impoverished Ireland of the early 1950s (not 1850s), and centering around Ellis, a young woman we come to know well, its focus is partly on Ireland and Brooklyn of that period, but mostly on Ellis, and her point of view. Toibin's novels develop complicated feelings with the simplest of prose; his deep psychological realism grabs you, even without Irish nationalism and Catholicism in your background. The steerage voyage to Brooklyn is unforgettable, surely one of the most vivid on record. You will love it!
Colm Toibin's Brooklyn is a short novel you will not be able to put down. Set in impoverished Ireland of the early 1950s (not 1850s), and centering around Ellis, a young woman we come to know well, its focus is partly on Ireland and Brooklyn of that period, but mostly on Ellis, and her point of view. Toibin's novels develop complicated feelings with the simplest of prose; his deep psychological realism grabs you, even without Irish nationalism and Catholicism in your background. The steerage voyage to Brooklyn is unforgettable, surely one of the most vivid on record. You will love it!
Monday, September 21, 2009
#8 Book Suggestion
The Master and Margarita, by Bulgakov. My colleague in Russian literature calls this the most important Russian novel of the first half of the twentieth century, and while that may be arguable, that this is a sensational work is not. Three distinct narratives weave in and out, highlighted by the farcical and satirical Russia of the 1920s and 1930 (Stalin's terror) and a serious story of Pilate and Yeshua (=Jesus, stripped of all messianic attributes) with an amazing crucifixion scene. Note especially the clever ways the narrator/author connects these two stories set 1,900 years apart (e.g. weather, architecture, time frame).
Thursday, May 28, 2009
The Williamsburg Rebbe is now chairing a tasting panel dedicated to ranking burgers in the Metro DC area. As of late May, 2009, the panel has visited 14 burger joints, and evaluated the gourmet centerpiece in six categories (burger, cheese, additions, bun, price, size) worth 10 points each. #1, with 55 points, is Ray's Hell-Burger (Arlington VA), and #2, with 48 points, is Black Market (Garrett Park, MD). #3-14 are available on request.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
#7 - Liana Millu's Smoke Over Birkenau
I cannot believe I did not know until last month of this brilliant translation (in 1991) by the novelist and short-story writer, Lynne Sharon Schwartz, of Millu's six essays on her experiences in Birkenau. You will cry, and you will be amazed at her elegance, in these astonishing stories which tell of the women who lived and suffered alongside her during her months at Birkenau in 1944. They are stories "of violence and tragedy, but also of resistance, of dreaming in the middle of a nightmare, and of the endurance of the human spirit." Primo Levi says that it is "one of the most powerful European testimonies to come form the women's lager at Auschwitz-Birkenau."
I cannot believe I did not know until last month of this brilliant translation (in 1991) by the novelist and short-story writer, Lynne Sharon Schwartz, of Millu's six essays on her experiences in Birkenau. You will cry, and you will be amazed at her elegance, in these astonishing stories which tell of the women who lived and suffered alongside her during her months at Birkenau in 1944. They are stories "of violence and tragedy, but also of resistance, of dreaming in the middle of a nightmare, and of the endurance of the human spirit." Primo Levi says that it is "one of the most powerful European testimonies to come form the women's lager at Auschwitz-Birkenau."
Book Recommendation #6
Clive Sinclair, in his True Tales of the Wild West, claims that the hybrid work he has written could be called "creative realism," but he prefers the term "dodgy nonfiction." Either way, it is so much fun! Two Jewish cousins from Luton, England, Saltzman and Peppercorn, wander the west trying to write it up. Peppercorn is a photojournalist doing a piece on the Buffalo Roundup at Custer State Park in So Dakota, but that is just an excuse for trying to find his inner cowboy. Saltzman is an American Studies professor from the University of St Albans and his adventures are more startling and even more fun (if that is possible). Much of this "cannot put it down" book is packed with details about actors and movies and scenes in movies: did you know that Mrs Wyatt Earp was of German Jewish ancestry? The dime-novel cover says it all (as you will see when you are done) and this is a clever, funny, slanted take on America, pop culture and much much else.
Clive Sinclair, in his True Tales of the Wild West, claims that the hybrid work he has written could be called "creative realism," but he prefers the term "dodgy nonfiction." Either way, it is so much fun! Two Jewish cousins from Luton, England, Saltzman and Peppercorn, wander the west trying to write it up. Peppercorn is a photojournalist doing a piece on the Buffalo Roundup at Custer State Park in So Dakota, but that is just an excuse for trying to find his inner cowboy. Saltzman is an American Studies professor from the University of St Albans and his adventures are more startling and even more fun (if that is possible). Much of this "cannot put it down" book is packed with details about actors and movies and scenes in movies: did you know that Mrs Wyatt Earp was of German Jewish ancestry? The dime-novel cover says it all (as you will see when you are done) and this is a clever, funny, slanted take on America, pop culture and much much else.
Friday, June 6, 2008
#5 to Recommend
Those of your who were present for the discussion of the stories of Tevye and his daughters from the superb collection by the same name, heard me suggest that you now read THE ADVENTURES OF MOTTEL THE CANTOR'S SON, a hilarious Sholom Aleichem novel (his only one) about the Jewish immigrant experience from eastern Europe. And those of you who were not present will enjoy its comedy and its intelligence, both integrated into a little book you cannot put down. It may no longer be in print, but copies abound from used book sellers.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)