Shalom, my friends

There are times in the life of a reader when one has to pull out the big guns and call on friends for a good book recommendation. Personally, I am lucky to have awesome friends and family to whom I can turn when my stack starts to dwindle. A couple of years ago I was desperate for a read so I called on my sister-in-law Natalie for her expertise. She kindly shared several of her favorites, one of which was Davita's Harp by Chaim Potok. Natalie deserves some serious props here for turning me on to Chaim because he is now one of my absolute faves! The problem is, I am just not eloquent enough to give Chaim and his beautiful novels the praise they deserve. But I'll do my best to convey to you, with my limited intellect and vocabulary, why he has earned my undying love. First of all, I love to say his name, which takes quite and bit of phlegm to pronounce. Secondly, his prose is unique in it's simplicity. I just couldn't seem to get his voice out of my head long after the book was finished (kinda like a Miley Cyrus song, though not as annoying). Also, Chaim's' novels gave me a much needed education on Judaism. I became fascinated with Jewish culture and soon found myself adopting the Hebrew greeting "shalom" in my daily life (ring..ring.."Shalom, this is the Walter residence"). Although I enjoyed Davita's Harp, I will have to say it was his novel My Name Is Asher Lev that blew me away. It's the story of a young Hasidic Jewish boy who realizes that his calling in life is to be an artist, far from the hopes and dreams of his parents. One interview I read alluded to this particular novel being auto-biographical in nature. Chaim himself was an artist and, in fact, one of his paintings plays a pivotal role in this book. Not only was he a great author and artist, he was also a college professor, a rabbi and the editor of a newspaper. Do you see why I get a little nervous about reviewing his books? The man was a genius and his books are masterpieces, people, MASTERPIECES!!! Now I'm getting a bit too dramatic for my own good. If you haven't yet had the pleasure of reading one of his novels may I suggest starting with his most popular, The Chosen? It is also a very compelling read and has an equally awesome sequel titled The Promise. If for some reason you read (or have read) one of his books and you don't like it, I kindly ask that you keep it to yourself. I think it's pretty obvious from this post that I am quite attached to Mr.Potok and can't be trusted to take any criticism about him very well. That being said, I leave you with a very heart-felt "Shalom."