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Tuesday, June 16, 2009

... because it enjoys a good read



[Another attempt to revive this much neglected blog.]

Hebrew book week is an annual celebration of books, literature and writers. It happens every summer, and lasts ~ 10d. During this time, book stores and publishing houses hold huge outdoor book fairs all over Israeli towns and cities.

In Tel Aviv, the central book week fair is on Rabin square, near the City Hall. I'm a fan of a written word, and seeing so many books together is always exciting. We bought several books, got one of them signed by the author, and loved to learn that this year the book week, like many other events in Israel, is dedicated to Tel Aviv centennial. Happy birthday, city!

Today, June 16, it is impossible to write about books without mentioning Bloomsday. It was on June 16 1904 when Leopold Bloom, the main protagonist of "Ulysses", had made his notorious journey around Dublin. It was a walk of one day, 250,000 (!!!) words - and also endless fascination, complexness, and wonder - for generations of readers. I hadn't managed (yet) to finish the whole book, just chapters here and there. In a way, I live it through my brother - he's a real fan, having red "Ulysses" several times, back and forth and vice versa. Here's one of Mr. Bloom's many stops on Dublin's pavement.

Visit "That's my world" - who else is celebrating Mr. Bloom's journey?

5 comments:

Dina said...

Olga you're back!! yay!
Great post. So interesting.

I was at a yom iyun at Yad Ben-Zvi today and could not resist buying a set of their _Jerusalem, a walk through time_ guide books, for 50% discount!
Yay Book Week.
See you again soon.

Leif Hagen said...

Hello Olga! I just discovered your blog today. Thanks for showing us Tel-Aviv! I look forward to many more photos! Kind regards from EAGAN daily photo in Minnesota, USA

Arija said...

Nice to see that books respected somewhere other than in our family.

B SQUARED said...

Welcome back!

Anonymous said...

somebody said that life is more important than love and art