To quote Charles Dickens from a Tale of Two Cities:
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”
From our point of view as the staff of the Gitlin Library we feel so cut off from all of you and we miss your visits to our Library whereby we shared your input about the books you had read and wanted to read.
These wonderful exchanges at the issue desk brightened our days and filled our Library with light.
YOUR BOOK REVIEWS
So now that we have to move towards another period of social distancing I encourage you to send us your thoughts about books you have enjoyed reading from our collection so we may gather them and share with our borrowers. Please email me jacqui@gitlinlibrary.co.za
So by remaining in touch we may turn our winter of despair into one of hope.
BOOK SITES
There are many sites which I encourage you to peruse especially the Jewish Book Council which record interviews with authors on a weekly basis. You may reach them by clicking on this link and choosing what you would like to hear. I suggest you wait for the recorded session as we have a time difference.
Link to: Jewish Book Council
Sefaria is an online open source free content digital library of Jewish texts.
Link to: Sefaria
The London Library shares an amazing interview with Philippe Sands on his current book “Ratline”
Link to Philippe Sands book Review
I am sure many of you have been watching the weekly webinars presented by the Jewish Report. Of particular literary interest was their Zoom book club session on the 19h April hosted by the marvelous editor of the Jewish Report. She was in conversation with some of the authors who were going to be present at the Jewish Literary Festival. I was particularly happy to see that most writers had a pile of books next to them which they were looking forward to reading. We have most of these books and as soon as bookshops open will have many more. Should you have missed this session you will find it online.
CHILDREN’S STORIES
I encourage you to share and delight in Janine Rodgers’s wonderful children’s stories on the Jacob Gitlin Facebook page. Please follow us on Facebook where we will share snippets of literary interest to keep you updated on what to read, listen to or watch.
JEWISH LITERARY FESTIVAL @HOME
For those who had booked for the JLF, which would have taken place on the 15th March, there will be Zoom sessions that will follow the format that had been in the programme.We are delighted that the JLF has decided to go virtual.
We will keep you posted as to when we will be open and how we can once again offer you the service you so richly deserve.
Till we meet again – a little further back from the issue desk.
With warmest wishes,
Jacqui Rodgers
Head Librarian, Jacob Gitlin Library
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