A beautiful summer is drifting by. August is a month with no teaching income but also no pressure – an ideal time to embark on a new project. But first I had a superb couple of days on the deck with the latest “New Yorker”, the new Harry Potter, and a few glasses of rose. A true summer vacation. And now to work, though I’m still figuring out what’s next.

The third child is doing fine. I went to New York in July to visit family but also to talk up the book. While I was visiting my scholarly friends at the YIVO, the centre for Yiddish research, a woman I’d never met, who is now in charge of YIVO theater research, sought me out and gave the book an enthusiastic endorsement. I also had a great meeting with the helpful and lively Canadian cultural attachee Anna Velasco about a possible launch or reading in NYC. And among copies of the book sent out recently to possibly interested parties was one to Steven Spielberg, who used to sponsor a Yiddish theater website. I have always thought the story of the Jewish Shakespeare would make a great movie, starring, say, Kevin Kline as Gordin. No?

Some very nice, intelligent person just posted a review at Amazon.com saying that the book is “rich with nuanced detail.” Love it. Perhaps I’ll ask for that to be put on my tombstone. “Beth Kaplan, 1950-2050. Rich with nuanced detail.”

Happy reading to you all.