gation into the friendship-turned-hateship bet- ween the very gentile Joan Didion and the very Jewish Eve Babitz is coming your way soon. Babitz, a Los Angeles writer and artist, wasn’t exactly a wallflower. (She posed nude while playing chess with Marcel Duchamp, wrote a novel called Sex and Rage , and was known for her lengthy list of famous lovers.) Didion, who wrote everything from film scripts to es- says and was one of the key figures of New Journalism, was quieter. Nonetheless, a friendship flourished.Poignantly, the friends died in the same week in December 2021. Babit left behind sealed boxes of letters bet- ween herself and Didion (retrieved by Jewish Family Services, who had to work in hazmat suits to clean out the extreme filth of Ba- bitz’s West Hollywood condo). Journalist Lili Anolik read through them to create portraits of these two extremely different writers—first in an article for Vanity Fair , and now at grea- ter length in book form.
enchanted Mina is with the Bolsheviks, he believes he must move his sister away from Russia for her safety. The book chronicles their adjustment to life in Liverpool, their survival through two world wars, and their family’s ups and downs, all the way through to the present day.
between a rigid rabbi, Noah (Adam Brody), and straight-talking shiksa, Joanne (Kristen Bell). The show chronicles their hilarious, sad, and frustrating struggle to meld their lives. The internet has been ablaze since Brody’s casting was announced, full of anticipation at finally getting some “hot rabbi” represen- tation in Hollywood.
A Real Pain In movie theatres October 18
Jesse Eisenberg has become a triple threat over the years: he acts, writes, and directs. His newest project is A Real Pain , in which two mismatched Jewish cousins return to Poland to honour their grandmother. Timid David Kaplan (Eisenberg) and obnoxi- ous Benji Kaplan (Kieran Culkin) must contend with old tensions, all while taking in the trauma of their own family history. Plus, they have to get along with the rest of their tour group, who Benji constantly alienates by making them do awkward things, such as taking smiling photos with a monument for fallen soldiers. Jennifer Grey also makes an appearance as a divorcée who forms a nice bond with Benji.
FICTION
The Rest Is Memory Lily Tuck (Liveright, December 10)
Czeslawa was a 14-year-old Catholic girl li- ving in southeastern Poland until, in 1942, the Nazis transported her to Auschwitz and tattooed 26947 on her arm. Fellow prisoner Wilhelm Brasse snapped a photo of her. Lily Tuck saw this photo and wondered: how did a young Catholic girl end up in Ausch- witz, where she eventually died? Her book, The Rest Is Memory , imagines what Czesla- wa’s life was like, from her short childhood to her death in Auschwitz.
MUSIC
ON SCREEN
Bob Dylan and The Band: The 1974 Live Recordings September 20 A 27-CD collection of live Bob Dylan shows from 1974—all of which are backed by Toronto rock legends The Band? Over 400 previously unreleased performances? A never released version of “Forever Young”? Sign us up. It’ll make for perfect listening to calm your nerves before the American election, or as a primer for the release of the upcoming Dylan biopic—featuring another nice Jewish boy, Ti- mothée Chalamet—in December.
The Story of the Forest Linda Grant (Zando – SJP Lit, November 12)
Nobody Wants This Streaming on Netflix September 26
Have you ever wondered what would hap- pen if one of your Russian ancestors deci- ded to dance with a bunch of Bolshevik boys instead of picking mushrooms in the forest? Acclaimed British novelist Linda Grant used that bit of her own family folklore to inspire a gripping and beautifully written family saga. The Story of the Forest chronicles the but- terfly effect of Mina’s 1913 forest encoun- ter. After her brother, Jossel, finds out how
In the materials announcing her new series, Erin Foster says the best thing she ever did was fall in love with a nice Jewish boy, following that up with a very Jewish quip: “I realized that being happy is way harder than being miserab- le (there’s nothing to complain about).” Then, she did a very Nora Ephron thing: she wrote a TV script loosely based on it. Nobody Wants This chronicles the love story
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