TWO BRIEF BOOK REVIEWS from Jewsweek:

Wise Men and Their Tales: Portraits of Biblical, Talmudic, and Hasidic masters
by Elie Wiesel, Published by Schocken Books, 336 pages, Purchase
Summary in a sentence: The author of more than forty books, Wiesel tells the stories of men and women who have -- according to the press release -- been "sent by God to help us find the godliness of our own lives."
Opening lines: A man, a woman. Abraham and Sarah. Who has not heard of them? Everyone loves them. They radiate goodness, nobility, human warmth. Who doesn't claim kinship with them? Humankind is what it is because they shaped our destiny. He is the father of our people, she the mother. Everything leads us back to them.
The Jewsweek verdict: The book reveals little new information and, we're sorry to say, it seems Weisel just phone this one in. Although it must've been a long call.

The God of Old: Inside the lost world of the Bible
by James L. Kugel, Published by Free Press, 260 pages, Purchase
Summary in a sentence: In his new book, Harvard professor Kugel enters the spiritual world of the ancient Israelites in order to see God through their eyes, God as he was actually encountered in biblical times.
Opening lines: My field is the study of ancient texts. I have spent the better part of my life working on them, mostly texts from the Hebrew Bible, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and other writings of the ancient Near East, but also Hebrew texts from the middle ages.
The Jewsweek verdict: A bit esoteric for our tastes, but the professor certainly knows his material.

There are seven more reviews in the article.