The Arts

Children of the Stone, The Power of Music in a Hard Land, by Sandy Tolan, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2015 By Sheila Orysiek SAN DIEGO — In a “Note to Readers” the author states that the events and facts presented in the book have been extensively sourced, checked and, to the extent possible, verified.  However, Tolan also

By Dan Bloom CHIAYI CITY, Taiwan — Shari Becker grew up in a Jewish family in Montreal and now lives in Boston, where she is married and is raising two daughters with her husband John. Her first YA (young adult) novel has been published and there’s a fascinating story behind it I found out during

Everything You Ever Wanted by Jillian Lauren, Plume/Penquin Publishing Group, 2015 By Sheila Orysiek SAN DIEGO — This is the second of Jillian Lauren’s memoirs.*  Born in 1973, she was adopted as an infant by a middle class Jewish couple in Livingston, New Jersey.  Her childhood included the cultural norms of that time and place such