Her entry begins:I just finished a marvelous book that I completely expected to loathe: The Liar’s Gospel by Naomi Alderman.About A Guide for the Perplexed, from the publisher:
Why did I think I’d hate it? Well, it’s a historical novel about Jesus. I’ve got nothing against Jesus, but the likelihood of there being anything new to say about him seemed rather low—and the fictionalization of massively-mythologized historical figures almost always disappoints me. (The movie Lincoln may have been a brilliant piece of filmmaking, but it still bored me to tears.) On top of that, like many people with a decent Jewish education, I already know more about Roman-occupied Judea than any normal person should—and I suspected this alone would disqualify me from enjoying the book. But when I heard a brilliant interview on Tablet magazine’s podcast with Alderman—who, like me, had the kind of education that encourages absurd levels of knowledge about Roman-occupied Judea—I decided to give it a try.
Wow. For starters, Alderman is a beautifully subtle and elegant writer. She could...[read on]
The incomparable Dara Horn returns with a spellbinding novel of how technology changes memory and how memory shapes the soul.Learn more about the author and her work at Dara Horn's website, Facebook page, and Twitter perch.
Software prodigy Josie Ashkenazi has invented an application that records everything its users do. When an Egyptian library invites her to visit as a consultant, her jealous sister Judith persuades her to go. But in Egypt’s postrevolutionary chaos, Josie is abducted—leaving Judith free to take over Josie’s life at home, including her husband and daughter, while Josie’s talent for preserving memories becomes a surprising test of her empathy and her only means of escape.
A century earlier, another traveler arrives in Egypt: Solomon Schechter, a Cambridge professor hunting for a medieval archive hidden in a Cairo synagogue. Both he and Josie arehaunted by the work of the medieval philosopher Moses Maimonides, a doctor and rationalist who sought to reconcile faith and science, destiny and free will. But what Schechter finds, as he tracks down the remnants of a thousand-year-old community’s once-vibrant life, will reveal the power and perils of what Josie’s ingenious work brings into being: a world where nothing is ever forgotten.
An engrossing adventure that intertwines stories from Genesis, medieval philosophy, and the digital frontier, A Guide for the Perplexed is a novel of profound inner meaning and astonishing imagination.
Horn is also the author of the novels All Other Nights, The World to Come, and In the Image.
The Page 99 Test: The World to Come.
The Page 99 Test: All Other Nights.
The Page 69 Test: A Guide for the Perplexed.
Writers Read: Dara Horn.
--Marshal Zeringue
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