Lev Raphael

First off, I really enjoyed this book. I always find it interesting to see a story from another character's point of view, and Raphael did a wonderful job of showing us Edith Wharton's classic from Rosedale's POV. The style was kept true to the time period, and made this all the more enjoyable. Siegerman did an excellent job narrating, bringing the story to life. I loved the range used to turn both characters and events into a captivating listen. Overall, I would recommend this to anyone who loves the classics, and I definitely think the story was enhanced by the audio. A must-listen!… (mere)

Dancing on Tisha B'av is a collection of short stories about being gay and Jewish. It was published in 1990, but many of the stories were published before then, in the 1980s. There is a lot of talk about AIDS, which makes sense considering it was a prominent fear at that time. A few of the stories feature men who are proudly, happily gay but stuck in relationships with closet cases. "Betrayed by David Bowie" was a good one (oh, but it made me sick). There are some stories having less to do with homosexuality and more to do with the Jewish family unit. I appreciated the female characters - the strong, beautiful sisters and the mothers who were Holocaust survivors. They never seemed shrill or stereotypical, and their concerns were given as much weight as those by the male characters. I was expecting all the stories to be from the POV of gay men, but they weren't. The author did quite a good job with characterization and story-telling. Each chapter was unique. Good job!… (mere)