Kosher Sex

Kosher Sex: A Recipe for Passion and Intimacy by Shmuley Boteach

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars

This would make a great book club book because there is so much room for discussion and disagreement. I swung back and forth between totally agreeing with what Boteach said and completely disagreeing, experiencing nearly every point in the "agreement spectrum" along the way. I found myself really wishing I could discuss what I was reading with someone else who had just read the same thing. (I would LOVE to get my boyfriend's take on the book.) There is just so much to talk about!

For example, when I read the chapter on using sex to mend bridges, I REALLY wanted to argue with Boteach: how can he possibly think that sex can be used to end a fight?! Make-up sex, absolutely, but not until the real issues are uncovered and the fight is over because I have yet to meet a woman who wants to be touched like that while she's still angry. It just fuels the Rage Monster. Boteach advocates using sex to halt all but the biggest, most serious arguments, but I think that if the underlying issues aren't addressed promptly, they will fester and cause more arguments. (I did agree with his point about a higher frequency of sex overall being likely to prevent many arguments from beginning in the first place, though.)

On the other hand, I also wanted to be able to discuss the places where I completely agreed with Boteach, such as the chapter on adultery and the pain it causes: When a man cheats on his wife, "she experiences a pain equivalent to death. Her former marriage goodwill oozes out slowly, and she finds every reason in the world to quarrel. Her friends see her and will hate you for snuffing out the fire in her soul" (p.223). He really nailed that description.

These are just two of many many examples, so I really do recommend this book for reading in book groups.

Something else I'd love to see? Rabbi Boteach and Alison Armstrong (of PAX programs) discussing these issues!


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Goodbye, Evil Eye: Stories

Goodbye, Evil Eye: Stories by Gloria Devidas Kirchheimer

My review

rating: 2 of 5 stars

I picked this book up because of the title. I'd just returned from Egypt, where the Evil Eye is still a strong concept. Turns out that this book isn't really about evil eye stories so much as it is a book of...short vignettes? I am not sure how to classify it, really. The book is thin, and the stories seem to have nothing to do with each other except that they all feature Sephardic Jews in America. (The Sephardim are Jewish people "whose multilingual roots lie in Spain, Turkey, Greece, Egypt, [and:] the Middle East," according to the book's cover.)

Frankly, reading this book was difficult. I never finished. I got all the way to page 108 (out of 150), but in all that time, I never really liked any of the characters in the stories. The tone often felt slightly disrespectful rather than amusing, as though the author was trying to be funny but harbored resentment toward the older generation(s), and that translated into a condescension which trickled through in the narrative. And I never figured out whether the stories were supposed to have any basis in fact--although the book is catalogued as a 974.71, which is in the Dewey range for history.


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Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man

Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man: What Men Really Think About Love, Relationships, Intimacy, and Commitment by Steve Harvey

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars

I put this book on hold at the library because I saw Steve Harvey on Oprah a couple of times, and I thought he had some useful advice for women. Steve's voice jumps off the pages of the book, making it an entertaining read. It's maybe a bit more targeted for single moms--especially African-American ones--or fast-track career women than it is for me personally right now, though. I'd rate this book 4 stars for anyone who has NOT already attended or listened to a PAX workshop, and 3 stars for anyone who HAS, simply because it won't really be new information. I didn't always totally agree with Steve, but most of the time, he was right on the money.


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Running Hot

Running Hot by Jayne Ann Krentz

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars

Another entertaining volume in the Arcane Society series. This one is set in modern day, so Krentz thankfully avoids the use of the word "psychical," which I greatly appreciate. Our hero & heroine are both off-the-charts in terms of psychic talent, of course, but they always are. The thing I appreciated most was that this book moved the story a little further along in terms of revealing details of the Nightshade Organization. On the other hand, if you hadn't already read the previous four volumes, you might be a bit confused by ongoing plot lines.


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The Laughter of Dead Kings

Laughter of Dead Kings by Elizabeth Peters

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars

Elizabeth Peters brings back Vicky Bliss in a modern setting, this time heading to Egypt to solve the theft of King Tutankhamun's mummy from his tomb in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor (ancient Thebes). I started this book about a month and a half before I actually went to Egypt, and although it took me too long to read it (in snippets during lunch breaks, mostly), I really enjoyed it. I got about 3/4 of the way through it before I went on vacation and finished the rest once I got home. Having just been there and seen the places Peters describes, I have to say I got SO much more out of the book once I came home! Before my trip, I'd have rated the book probably at about 3 or 3 1/2 stars. Afterward--particularly after reading the ending where Peters writes herself into the story, which tickled my fancy--I'd have to give it 4 or even 4 1/2 stars. I now want to purchase a copy to reread and savor, knowing, for example, exactly what the Karnak Temple complex looks like at night and how enormous it is and how easy it would be to hide in the shadows (and how difficult to find or follow anyone!).

Peters does refer numerous times to previous Vicky Bliss novels, so if it's been a while since you've read them, it could be helpful to reread them before beginning this one. Also--don't expect it to follow chronologically with the earlier Vicky Bliss novels, which were written years ago. Peters just jumps ahead to present day as though the other books took place within the previous few years. Neither Vicky nor Schmidt nor John have aged significantly.


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The Secret Lives of Men

The Secret Lives of Men: What Men Want You to Know About Love, Sex, and Relationships by Christopher Blazina

My review

rating: 2 of 5 stars

I'm giving up on this one. I've been trying to read it off and on for a few months now. What the author has to say is valuable, but...oy. The writing style reminds me of students who have to write a 10-page paper but only have 5 pages' worth of things to say. It's very redundant & dry. A good editing would go a long way. *sigh*

Instead, I would recommend checking out what the people at www.understandmen.com have to say. The PAX workshops are expensive but totally worth it, and there are now some programs on CD, DVD, and even in book format.


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Plum Spooky

Plum Spooky by Janet Evanovich

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars

I'm not sure what holiday this book is supposed to be linked with, although it does include an encounter with a retired Easter Bunny. This Between-the-Numbers novel features a lot of Diesel, a little Ranger, and very little Morelli (aside from phone conversations). Lula and Carl the Monkey spend a great deal of time "helping" Stephanie track down the socially inept (to say the least!) boy genius, Martin Munch, who has teamed up with Diesel's evil cousin Wulf. There are some laugh-out-loud moments, although not nearly as many as in Fearless Fourteen. It was light entertainment, but not my favorite of the Stephanie Plum books.


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