The Book Band

Publisher: Seraphim Editions
Genre: essays
Format: trade paperback; 128 pages
Price: $18.95

Books – and by extension, reading – exercise the imagination and can change lives. The author explores this thesis in the context of community, zeroing in on eight Jewish writers. There is something deeply Jewish about turning pages, says Porter – reflecting on commentaries, making footnotes, scribbling notes in margins. Books and reading in the Jewish tradition are how a person fulfills “the moral obligation to be intelligent”.

Review: “A new book by J.S. Porter is always something to celebrate. His Lightness and Soul does not disappoint. Full of surprises and keen insights, Porter’s book takes on a difficult and long-debated subject: the literary character of Jewishness over the recent seventy-odd years. Porter is one of our great expositors of the pleasures of reading.”  – Eric Mader, English teacher & blogger, claytestament.blogspot.com

Review: “[Porter’s} probes are as much autobiographical as historical. That’s what makes this book a lively, endlessly allusive love affair wherein Porter brings to the table such a treasure trove of wit, oracular utterance, discreet disclosure, unnerving epiphany and sheer fun that the book itself becomes a companion to conversation.”  – Michael W. Higgins,  The Telegraph-Journal

Review: “From the book’s title, one might gather that Jewishness in these writers somehow defines them, or at least represents a common element in their work. This is not the case… It is rather a fact – a biographical fact – that they share ... Porter’s usual critical mode is a blend of empathy, enthusiasm and, at times, something verging on ecstasy. The three e’s. Porter has turned many pages, consulted the commentaries, footnoted, and scribbled in margins. These were seeds sown. Lightness and Soul is the harvest that we as readers are invited to share.” – David Cohen, Hamilton Arts & Letters