Davida Chazan, at The Blogs

Jun 25, 2021, 9:40 AM

Epistolary Chills from 1938

Book Review for “Address Unknown” by Kathrine Kressmann Taylor. Summary: “A rediscovered classic and international bestseller that recounts the gripping tale of a friendship destroyed at the hands of Nazi Germany. In this searing novel, Kathrine Kressmann Taylor brings vividly...

Mar 24, 2021, 10:45 AM

Intimate essays

Book Review for “Conversations with My Body” by Dr. Elana Sztokman Summary: “Elana Sztokman arrived in Israel in 1993 as a young religious mother wearing a long skirt and a hat covering her hair. Today, nearly 30 years later, after...

Dec 19, 2019, 11:19 AM

Connecting Jewish Worlds

Book Review for “White Zion” by Gila Green. Miriam’s father is a dark-skinned Israeli from Yemen, and her mother is a fair-skinned Jew from Canada. Their histories and families, together with Miriam’s own experiences, span across many decades and take...

Sep 13, 2019, 12:08 PM

Saving a Whole World

Book Review for “The Last Train to London” by Meg Waite Clayton. This is the fictionalized story of Geertruida Wijsmuller, aka “Tante Truus” the Dutch, Christian woman who saved over 10,000 mostly Jewish children from the clutches of the Nazis...

Apr 28, 2019, 11:43 PM

Photos of Female Fighters

Book Review for “Women on the Front Lines: Inside the Combat Units of the Israeli Army” by Debbie Zimelman. Yes, this is a photography book, and yes, I've never reviewed one of these before. But you see... Debbie is a...

Feb 10, 2019, 10:07 AM

My ‘Hello’ to the late Philip Roth

Book Review of “Goodbye Columbus,” a novella and five short stories by Philip Roth. When I heard of Roth’s passing, I realized that while I knew the name well, and I’d seen some films based on his writings, I never...

Jun 19, 2018, 11:29 AM

Q&A with Eric Houston, author of The Lost Artist: Love Passion War (part 1)

I recently heard about Eric Houston's memoir "The Lost Artist: Love Passion War (part 1)" and was immediately intrigued. While I couldn't fit this book into my reading list, I decided instead to feature this work here, by asking...

Mar 18, 2018, 10:32 AM

The Difficulties of Devotions

According to Goodreads, Jonathan (or Yonatan) is “preparing to serve in the Israeli army while also trying to reconcile his close relationship to two Palestinian siblings with his deeply ingrained loyalties to family and country.” This novel is told...

Dec 30, 2017, 5:15 PM

Border Life – A Review of “All the Rivers” by Dorit Rabinyan

Liat is spending time in the New York apartment of friends, while she studies for her translation degree. Hilmi is living in Brooklyn, trying to make it as an artist. Their whirlwind romance would be uneventful except for the...

Jun 6, 2015, 3:07 PM

Dangerous Reunions

Run you Down by Julia Dahl. The sudden death of Pessie Goldin never received any publicity, despite her being a young mother. That's mostly because she's a member of the ultra-orthodox (Haredi) community of Roseville, and they officially declared it...

About Me

Davida is a published poet, amateur baker, a home-made ice-cream maker, an average bowler, and a chocolate gourmet (not an addict). She also has a passion for reading (despite her mild dyslexia) and writing book reviews. She recently retired from her "day job" in resource development, writing for the non-profit sector. Originally from Evanston, IL she made aliyah in 1978 and lives in Jerusalem.

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