Friday Reads April 16, 2021: Fabian, Jews Don't Count, Sherlock & More

This literary festival sounds amazing! If I can finally manage to visit Jerusalem one day, I should probably plan a visit if it takes place.

Nice to hear you liked Fabian. I love Kästner's writing. All his books are actually quite sad and melancholy. And his books have been banned and publicly burnt in Nazi Germany.

That live picnic event sounded absolutely glorious!

Really loved your thoughts on Jews Don’t Count- I got a lot from it, but I saw a fair bit of disagreement about it online (part of me couldn’t help but feel that much of that disagreement proved his point). I maybe would have preferred a slightly more fleshed out and fuller book, but I still loved it, and it was undeniably important. Like you said, it’s a good conversation starter.

Also, fascinating that you knew Baddiel at school!

Hi Daniel, great video as usual, but this one was extra special for me.
This is my take on Jews don’t count. It’s true! Oh I have more to say. We not only haven’t counted for a long time, But have been despised, Blamed for everything including plagues, economic depression’s, and the murder of, Well you know. I have no experience of Jews in England but I would very much like to know your experience on micro aggressions. In Hawaii Jews don’t count because in my experience, Very few people know what Jewish means. I don’t know if this is a good thing or a bad thing. But Except for two incidents, I’ve had only positive feedback when I tell people I’m Jewish. They either want to convert me to Christianity or tell me I am lucky to be one of the chosen people.
In my two experiences of anti-Semitism in Hawaii. One woman was a very left progressive pro Palestinian Local girl who told me how the Jews still think they’re the chosen people. And said it with hatred. Well come to think of it the second was a Danish women I made friends with because I had so much fun in Denmark in the 80s. She had lived in England and was very Pro everything royalty. I guess she really was on the right but I didn’t realize it. When I started studying Judaism, my mother was a Jew but not observant, she took every Opportunity to down the Jews to me. I couldn’t take it anymore so I had to leave the friendship behind. She was a toxic person.
This is a bit off the subject but I’ve also been ridiculed for being half Puerto Rican and what they called half Jewish. This combination was not that common even in the New York City 1950s. I was considered weird. I didn’t know which half to hide. It messed with my identity of being either.
But even liberal hawaii is becoming anti-semitic. In the synagogue that I go to our Torah scrolls were stolen and bad things written on the sidewalk. The Synagogue found a new home a little more secure. It’s sad.
I went to England on the ship With my South Indian partner and Sometimes when we were Together, I felt the racism toward him. When I was alone I didn’t Encounter that coldness.
I will try to get the book.
On your other topic I really want to read read Sherlock Holmes. My first encounter with Sherlock Holmes was in high school Where I read the short story the speckled band. It was great!
I love that you love crime mysteries as much as literary fiction.Aloha and shalom

Excellent discussion. Being Scottish I followed the Rayner comments closely, and of course the UK party's awful handling of anti-Semitism under Corbyn. I hadn't thought of contrasting this with BLM and so on, but maybe that's Baddiel's point. I am buying this book today.

so do you think you'll be getting two authors for the price of one with domenico starnone? piece recently in lit hub came out very strongly saying he was elena ferrante. the festival sounds terrific.

Great video! I love David Baddiel, and the book sounds really interesting. Thanks for starting a discussion about it.

Appreciated your review of the Baddiel book. Before Trump's election, there were definitely a good number of people on the left in the U.S. who basically thought antisemitism wasn't a real thing. The uptick in antisemitic hate crimes during Trump's time in office might have opened some people's eyes, but it is troubling how often "Jews" are conflated with "Israel," especially in discussions of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.

Did David Baddiel discuss the language around racism we use? People of colour is used as a catch all term for ethnic minorities, but Jewish people have white skin, yet clearly an ethnic minority. This framing must have an effect, even if it's only on people's subconscious.

I knew you were a progressive lefty, the copy of Haaretz in one of your videos have it away.

The question raised by Baddiel is fascinating. I have despaired of the Labour Party's failure to address antisemitism properly or treat it as racism which it is. At the same time my two best friends at the the start of secondary school were respectively of Iraqi Jewish and German Jewish heritage. I suspect their experience of racism will have been different over their lifetime.

It must be bliss to be able to go to proper literary festivals again! Great reviews!

I am excited by Fabian. Like so many others I grew up with Emil and the Detectives but never read any of Kastner's work for adults.
The literary festival sounds great. I really liked Grossman's A Horse Walks Into A Bar although many people didn't.

Schrodinger's Whites is a brilliant summation in a phrase. David Baddiel even in his comedy has always used very personal material, outing real life people in a way I find problematic. It's funny I saw on of his earliest gigs which was so sporadically attended that I was picked out of the audience by several of the comedians that night just bcause there was no on else to go to. Baddiel riffed when I was unresponsive "I even went to school with this guy and h's claiming he doesn't know me".

Fabian sounds interesting , I was raised on Emile and the Detectives so very interested .....it's a sort of suspense in reverse that we , the reader , know what tragically happens next but the author doesn't ....can you think of other examples?? ..,..on another subject it's worrying that a contemporary politician said that ....we seem to live in an age of black and white ( pun intended) and anything that doesn't fit is ignored ....I hate that simplistic binary so much in any sphere ..and the further away from the centre we go the more predictable that stance becomes ...

All the love for Jews Don’t Count. Baddiel excelled as always

Really enjoyed your reviews, thank you.

Fabian 's depiction of Nazi v. Communist in the context of the time in which the book was written is fascinating. The author's innocence of what we know will take place . . . My goodness.
I have watched with concern the American Left's opposition to Israel's policies regarding the Palestinians morph into what I believe is growing antisemitism. Do you think that is true? Do you think that is what is partially at work in the Labor Party in the UK?

I'm really happy to hear you enjoyed Fabian.
Jews Don't Count sounds fascinating! Your comment about the discussion panel that didn't have any Jewish people reminded me of the media landscape here in Germany where they tend to invite lots of white people "discussing" and routinely dismissing questions pertaining to minority groups such as the Sinti and Roma. This then leads to pearls of wisdom like "I don't know anybody who's offended by this" coming from somebody who probably just doesn't know anyone affected by it or likening the experiences of racism to silly jokes about blonde women...
You'd think that Germans might have realised that Jews need protection as a minority group, but sadly the reality is that pleas for police protection by the Jewish community in Halle were ignored repeatedly before the attack in 2019, and that the application for funds to secure the building was met with referrals to their regular budget which is supposed to cover costs like the rabbi's wage, not additional security measures.

Was waiting for your review. Definitely going to get Jews Don’t Count.

Great review.