Stacy Alesi's BookBitch.com™

Antisemitism is growing in the publishing industry, and somehow, I was unaware and surprised to hear this. I heard about it from my machatainista (Yiddish for my daughter-in-law’s mother; interestingly, there is no English word for this relationship!) Nancy attended a talk by Alison Hammer, who writes with a partner under the name Ali Brady (look for their new book, Battle of the Bookstores, in June) and Alison gave some specific examples, such as publishers refusing to publish Jewish authors, bookstores pulling books by Jewish authors, and an Israeli author being disinvited from a conference. That sent me down the rabbit hole – I am a librarian, and research is what I do – and what I found is extremely disturbing.

It seems like this has become more of an issue since October 7. Shades of McCarthyism with a blacklist of Jewish, or what they are calling Zionist, authors. The list was shared on Google Sheets, but Google has since pulled it down. I got this message:

We’re sorry. You can’t access this item because it is in violation of our Terms of Service.

This is completely abhorrent – same with the legal immigrants being disappeared in this country. I see the headlines and can’t help but think of this, written in 1946 by Pastor Martin Niemöller:

I found a few articles about how Shelf Awareness, a book industry newsletter aimed at readers, booksellers, and librarians, that I have subscribed to for more years than I can remember, wouldn’t take an ad for a book with the word Israel in the title. Ad for Israel Book Canceled Because ‘Customers Might Complain’. I canceled my subscription.

I found this: Half of British publishers ‘won’t take books by Jewish authors’

And this: The Gaza War has become a war on Jewish books and authors

And this: Anaheim book event faces accusations of antisemitism after canceling Jewish author appearance

There’s a lot more, but you get the idea. Hammer is a member of a group called Artists Against Antisemitism, and I was happy to make a donation. Please help if you can. And thank you, Nancy, for helping me shine a light on this.

Book News

300 residents form human chain to help Michigan bookstore move 9,100 books

Food News

I have a 7-quart Le Creuset Dutch Oven in “Cerise Red” and a couple of baking dishes. I find it very heavy – when I use it and have to transfer it from the stove to the oven, or take it out of the oven, I generally enlist my husband’s or daughter’s help. Although I do like the baking dishes – yes, they are heavy but no more than most ceramicware. I tried the No Knead Bread recipe and the interior bottom of the Dutch oven cracked and crazed. I contacted Le Creuset (lifetime guarantee) and they said that wasn’t covered, but they replaced it anyway, which I greatly appreciated. This was the second time I had one of their Dutch Ovens just explode on me.

The first Le Creuset I ever got was the same 7-quart Dutch Oven, but in Caribbean Blue. I got it at one of Macy’s crazy sales, and I paid $99 for it, which is just insane, but the sale price was only for that color. I didn’t care, I was poor! When would I ever get an opportunity to get one of their ovens for that price. Then a year or so later, I was browning a brisket, and the interior bottom exploded, cracked, and crazed. I had to throw out the brisket (which was upsetting; it’s an expensive cut of meat), and I returned the pot to Macy’s for a new one. This was back in the day before everything was online, but I didn’t think it would be a problem. I had worked in retail years prior, and I knew that with defective merchandise, the store just sends it back to the vendor for a credit or some variation of that. Well, because I didn’t have my receipt, Macy’s staff was not especially helpful or kind; in fact, their response was to offer to sell me a new one. After escalating to the department manager and then moving up to the next level manager, and over an hour of waiting around, they finally agreed to exchange it, but for the red color – I guess they had a lot of those? Whatever. I didn’t care, and I was thrilled to get a new one. I have a Lodge enameled braiser that I’ve used for a few years now, and the outside enamel and the lid are chipped in several places. It’s still usable, but I think it illustrates the price difference between the brands. However, as my husband points out, I can buy at least two of the Lodge pans before hitting the cost of a new Le Creuset. (But not at the outlet store!)

These pots are supposed to last a lifetime. That article showed a picture of a set of pots this couple bought when they got married in 1965 and are still using! Not sure why I haven’t had that experience. Hopefully, the third time, or in this case, the third oven, is the charm, and I can leave it to my kids! Oh, and I bought an Emile Henry ceramic bread oven to make that no knead bread, which was before Le Creuset finally came out with one of their own. I also won’t heat up my Le Creuset past medium-high on my stove. Lesson learned.

Good News

A boy was in tears because he didn’t have PJs for Pajamas Day. His bus driver came to the rescue

I’m not a birder, but even I can appreciate those who travel to exotic locales like these in Panama. Gorgeous pictures!

Other News

I thought this was so interesting!

April was a rough month for me, and it surprised me. April 11 was the one-month anniversary of losing my beloved Loki, and it was a hard day. I remember when I lost my mother, someone told me it takes a full year at minimum to go through the grieving process. You have to get through every holiday, birthday, and every other memorable occasion, and it held true for me. I just never thought it would also apply to losing my cat. Yes, he was a member of the family for sure, but I didn’t think that holidays and such would be so upsetting.

I mean, Passover – it didn’t occur to me that I would have an issue related to losing my Loki, yet it was. I was sauteeing chicken livers for chopped liver and dropped a tiny piece. My first instinct was to call Loki; he was always the beneficiary of a dropped piece of liver. Or chicken. Or turkey or steak. But no Loki this year.

Normally, I bake a sponge cake for Passover, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. It was the craziest thing – when I would take that cake out of the oven to cool, Loki would go nuts. He’d stand up against the counter, stretching upwards, his little nose quivering. A sponge cake is baked in a two-piece tube pan, with feet, like an angel food cake. Once it comes out of the oven, you turn it upside down for an hour. There was something about the scent of that cake that appealed to him more than just about anything else I made. This year, I made Flourless Chocolate Cake for Passover, which is better for me because I’m not a fan, so a bite was more than enough. But everyone else at the Seder loved it. I brought the rest of the cake to work, and it disappeared in a hurry.

This was also the first year I didn’t get to celebrate my grandchildren’s birthdays with them. It was the first time I missed one of Jonah’s birthdays, he turned four, and I missed Sylvie’s first birthday. It was the first, probably not the last, though. I missed being with my family for Passover, but was happy I got to share it with good friends.

Sorry for being so maudlin. I can’t seem to snap out of it. I guess I will have to get through this year to feel any better at all.

As always, thanks for reading, and stay safe.

Thanks to The New York Times for allowing me to “gift” my readers with free access to these articles, a lovely perk for subscribers.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 1st, 2025 at 9:00 AM and is filed under Ramblings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.