SUNNYVALE, Calif. A series of five reading and discussion programs centered on the theme of Your Heart’s Desire: Sex and Love in Jewish Literature will be presented at Sunnyvale Public Library between July and November 2008. The programs are made possible through a Let’s Talk About It: Jewish Literature grant from Nextbook and the American Library Association. Victoria Harrison, Ph.D., Coordinator and Lecturer in the History Department at San Jose State University (SJSU), will coordinate the series and guest lecturers will lead discussions of the different books in the series. The first book discussion will be on Philip Roth’s Portnoy’s Complaint, Wednesday, July 30 at 7 p.m. in the Program Room at the Library. In the initial meeting of the series, SJSU Professor David Mesher will explore the equal-opportunity offensiveness of Alexander Portnoy, Roth’s most over-sexed character.
Commenting on Portnoy’s Complaint, The New York Times writes “Deliciously funny…absurd and exuberant, wild and uproarious … a brilliantly vivid reading experience.” Alfred Kazin of the New York Review of Books says “Touching as well as hilariously lewd.”
Other books to be discussed are Grace Paley’s The Little Disturbances of Man, on August 13; S.Y. Agnon’s A Simple Story, on September 10; A.B. Yehoshua’s The Lover, on October 19; and Rebecca Goldstein’s The Mind-Body Problem, on November 19. All programs will begin at 7 p.m. in the Library Program Room. Contact the Information/Reference Desk at (408) 730-7300, menu option # 5, to register for the series.
The Library is located at 665 W. Olive Ave., across from City Hall. Free parking is always available, and VTA line 54 serves the Library. Information on Library programs can be obtained by visiting the Library’s Web site at www.sunnyvalelibrary.org or by calling the Reference Desk at (408) 730-7300. For TDD, call (408) 730-7501.