Wading through a backlog of New York Times. I can’t seem to keep up with the news on a day-to-day basis. Meanwhile, I uncovered a really great article that talked about Jewish convert Isla Fisher’s new film, “Confessions of a Shopaholic” in light of the economy and tightening budgets. Check out: “Calming the Voices The Scream ‘Shop’”. I haven’t seen the movie myself but in light of my own shopping problems in the past, it might not be comedic enough for me despite the fact that Entertainment Weekly gave the film an A.

Women in my writing group were raving about the collection of Hebrew books being sold at Sotheby’s. Personally, I’m glad I didn’t go. I think it would have just made me depressed about all those juicy Jewish books I couldn’t afford to own. In fact, being depressed about not being able to purchase new books keeps me out of Barnes and Nobles often. Anyway, The New York Times wrote up the auction at “A Lifetime’s Collection of Texts in Hebrew, at Sotheby’s”.

I read “Don’t Try This At Home” with much cynicism. I mean, does anyone really believe that the U.S. can solve the problems of the Middle East. Aren’t we still trying to “fix” Iraq and Afghanistan, not to mention our own problems right now? “In Shattered Gaza Town, Roots of Seething Split” paints a pretty grim picture of future relations between Israelis and Palestinians.