Jewish Book Club discussion

Book announcements, awards, and recognition, from Jewish Book Council, Moment Magazine, Mosaic, Tablet Magazine, National Book Award, your rabbi, your friend, your mother, Oprah. Books you saw reviewed, authors you heard speak. Does it sound like a good book? And so forth!
Let's see if this is a useful topic.

→If you are an author (or one's friend), go to "Authors Announcing Their Work." Not here.

→If you're actively reading a book, go to "What Are You Reading?"

→And not for your own reviews or what you think everybody else should read 😘

"The Top 5 Books" in various genres, from Moment Magazine, Summer Book Issue, 2018:

https://momentmag.com/the-top-5-books/

"Five Books to Be an Educated Jew," Part I, Part II, and ongoing: https://momentmag.com/what-five-books...

Lots of suggestions here!

This Tablet article includes a discussion of Israeli literature today prior to the interview with author Dorit Rabinyan.
https://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts...

(You can ignore the other article or articles that Tablet tacks on.)

Lastly, for this evening, my sister has recommended The First Mrs. Rothschild. 😊

Jan- It was a good book. I read it in August.

Thanks, Stacey. That makes two recommendations for it!

I went to hear Dani Shapiro speak about her book Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love last June, and now here's an interview with her and another memoirist from Jewish Book Council. I do want to read this, and the only reason I haven't added it to my to-read list is that I'll get overwhelmed if I have too many on it. https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/pb-...

I hope this is the correct forum—we have started a new group called Yiddish Literature in Translation. If you’re interested or have friends who might be interested please send them over.
Hoping to start a group read with Gimpel the Fool.
Thanks!

Alan wrote: "I hope this is the correct forum—we have started a new group called Yiddish Literature in Translation. If you’re interested or have friends who might be interested please send them over.
Hoping to ..."

How about if I set up a thread in the Literary Chat and Other Book Stuff section, and you can put in the link. Our first spin-off! (giving this group a teeny bit of the credit, whether due or not!)

Thanks.

Alan, did you ask at some point whether we would ever reread books we'd read previously, and I only said that the discussion threads were still open. I can't find those comments! Subsequently it occurred to me we might have a worthy book from our bookshelf as a current read. Is that what you meant?

Hi Jan,my inquiry was how can one find previous reads but I found the folder. Thanks!

I found your prior comment too, Alan, but now couldn't say where! 🧐 Glad you found the discussion.

Jewish Book Council award winners and finalists for 2019:
https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/pb-...

Our March author, Alice Hoffman, won a fiction award, her first National Jewish Book award, although for a new book, not the one that we're going to read. Dani Shapiro won for her memoir that's a current candidate for April.

I like the Washington Post's Book Club, by critic Ron Charles, who also writes on Goodreads. It's not just reviews like the New York Times book review newsletter but also info on what's going on in the book world.

It's free to get the newsletter, although without a subscription you can only click on so many links.

Here are the last three:
https://s2.washingtonpost.com/camp-rw...

https://s2.washingtonpost.com/camp-rw...

https://s2.washingtonpost.com/camp-rw...

"Quarantine reading" recommended via Tablet Magazine by Adam Kirsch, although it seems not many of them are Jewish books. https://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts.... I have his The People and the Books: 18 Classics of Jewish Literature but haven't read it.

Alice Hoffman is one of my favorite authors. I have read all of her books and loved them especially her newest book, The World That We Knew. What award and for what book did she win this award.

Nancy from NJ wrote: "Alice Hoffman is one of my favorite authors. I have read all of her books and loved them especially her newest book, The World That We Knew. What award and for what book did she win this award."

Click on the link in Comment 15 above, and you'll see it, Nancy!

FYI
Israel announced this morning they have developed a mask which can kill germs and viruses on contact.
Argaman Technologies bio-inhibitive cotton is being made into the facial masks, hotel linens, uniforms, active wear, and more.
GO ISRAEL!!!
YOU MAKE ME SO PROUD

Stacey wrote: "FYI
Israel announced this morning they have developed a mask which can kill germs and viruses on contact.
Argaman Technologies bio-inhibitive cotton is being made into the facial masks, hotel line..."

👍

This article from Israel today does not make me proud:
https://www.timesofisrael.com/charity...

Nor me!

I find this list exciting -- not just the books these personages would recommend, but the ones they have recommended the most:

https://jewishreviewofbooks.com/artic...

jan on another topic when tried to vote for a book i got an error message on top of the name of the book.

Newest Washington Post Book Club newsletter, which covers the book world in general and all the goings-on:
https://s2.washingtonpost.com/camp-rw...

Tanach, I’ve studied at length, although primarily Torah, and I have several translations, maybe five or six. I’ve also studied Duties of the Heart with my rabbi. What I find missing, or else I didn’t look at all the links, is Telushkin on Jewish ethics. I think that is a fundamental resource and he uses proof texts to support his points.

Susan wrote: "Tanach, I’ve studied at length, although primarily Torah, and I have several translations, maybe five or six. I’ve also studied Duties of the Heart with my rabbi. What I find missing, or else I did..."

Hi, Susan. Are you referring to the Jewish Review of Books recommendations a few comments back? I think you'll find the recommendations you're missing among those from Moment Magazine, comments 2 & 3. I seem to remember it was Dara Horn recommending them!

...but, you're right, no one has recommended Telushkin yet -- until you did! I don't know that one on ethics; just the standard one. Can you put in the whole name here, Susan?

Jan, I was thinking of the two volumes of The Code of Jewish Ethics.

I see them. Thanks, Susan!

Books to give your graduate, from Moment Magazine

I have one of these in my stack: He, She And It--a past Jewish Book Club suggestion before we started having nominations and polls. I've read another one, Trever Noah's Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood. Not a Jewish book, but an excellent book. Good recommendation, Moment!

Susan- is this what you were looking for?
A Code of Jewish Ethics: Volume 1: You Shall Be Holy
by Joseph Telushkin

Jeremy Gordin has written a warm and insightful review of an important book about a brave opponent of the apartheid government. In the current climate of world politics, it is important to remind ourselves of men and women who had the courage to speak out against iniquity. And people like Jock Isacowitz did so long before it became ''fashionable.''

https://www.politicsweb.co.za/opinion...

book:TELLING PEOPLE WHAT THEY DON'T WANT TO HEAR: A Liberal Life Under Apartheid|54134319]
Roy Isacowitz

reply | edit | delete | flag *

Jack wrote: "Jeremy Gordin has written a warm and insightful review of an important book about a brave opponent of the apartheid government. In the current climate of world politics, it is important to remind o..."

Now I have to find my way back to my mindset when I read the review. But 1st, my initial reaction to your post: saw the word apartheid and feared a political post by a troll. Until realizing the setting was South Africa!

Jack wrote: "...book:TELLING PEOPLE WHAT THEY DON'T WANT TO HEAR: A Liberal Life Under Apartheid|54134319]...."

I know what I meant to ask! How did you find out about this book, Jack?

Hi Jan,
I follow Jeremy Gordin's weekly column on https://www.politicsweb.co.za/home.
He often does good book reviews.

Here's something that's already getting some buzz: David Biespiel's A Place of Exodus: Home, Memory, and Texas. Here's the starred review from Kirkus Reviews: "A distinguished poet reflects on his Texas roots and on the Orthodox Jewish upbringing from which he distanced himself. Growing up in Houston, "boots and belts and ten gallon hats" were as much a defining part of Biespiel’s life as his secret desire to become a rabbi. He and his family lived in Meyerland, the main Jewish neighborhood in mostly Christian Houston. Though the community was home to Holocaust survivors and a Jewish community that kept a close eye on events in Israel, Meyerland Jews still "spoke Hebrew with a southern accent, punctuated ironically with y'all.” The author’s most significant memories, which he renders in immersive detail, concern major Jewish celebrations, religious classes at the local synagogue, and his encounters with Rabbi Segal, who believed that Jewish codes defined life for all Jews. Just as Biespiel was entering adolescence, Rabbi Segal had singled him out for having the "knack" for religious learning but also as one who was developing a dangerous restlessness. By the time Biespiel entered high school, he had become a powerful debater who openly questioned Orthodox Judaism and challenged—and eventually broke with—Rabbi Segal. For the author, his faith offered only one way to understand a world where "there [were] many ways to be a human being.” Determined to chart his own path, Biespiel "retire[d] from the authority…of the Torah" and left Texas. His meandering path took him through a dozen states and eventually ended in Portland, Oregon. Yet he could not entirely shed his past and eventually returned to visit the place that had made him. “No matter what, consciously or subconsciously,” he writes, “we are clutching some shard of that place.” In this moving, erudite book, the author offers an intimate, searching meditation on personal identity, and he effectively investigates the universal question of the nature and meaning of home. A poignantly eloquent memoir."

Another wonderful book I've been reading and would recommend: Benjamin Taylor's memoir on his friendship with Philip Roth.

Wow- Ruth, you really gave us a great intro into this author. I also like your other recommendation by B. Taylor on his relationship with Philip Roth. So, you favor memoirs? I wanted to see what types of books you enjoy and genres, but only saw one listed. We are inclusive and also can recommend books back to you.
"Introduce Yourself." No worries, we aren't looking for a lengthy War and Peace intro :)
Thanks-Stacey

Hi, Stacey, thank you! I'm very new to goodreads. I do love nonfiction...yes! Things written by Andrew Solomon and Vivian Gornick top the list. Novels, of course...I love Jamaica Kincaid's writing. I guess I love very clear prose! That's why I love Amos Oz's Tale of Love and Darkness and Daniel Mendelsohn's The Lost. I could name so many. You?!

Hi.
I love to read almost anything. I believe that when I read something new, I will take away something learned- from the book.
Love Amos Oz too!!
Not a lover of Sci-Fi .
Jan, who you will meet is the other moderator. For August, the genre was "short stories". I read Nathan Englander before, but not this book.. There were two stories whose endings surprised me; one left me speechless.
Due to the climate we are feeling, reading something light and entertaining, in lockdown mode -was voted as a good choice. :)

I've been wondering about reading "kaddish.com." Read it yet?

Yes

Stacey wrote: "Yes"
Ruth, I apologize for the one word reply.
Im not concentrating this am. Waiting to see if the county I live in is going to to shutdown ..again. :(

I came across this old New Yorker article in one of their emails.
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cul...
Doesn't specifically involve Jewish books, but the idea intrigued me. I have a "bibliotherapeutic" bookshelf.
Since seeing this, have already given the book The Novel Cure: An A-Z of Literary Remedies as a gift.

In anticipation of Nathan Englander’s book of short stories, I decided to read one of his books to see what kind of writer he is. I read kaddish.com and I’ve fallen in love with his writing. I reviewed the book under my name on Amazon and the overall Goodreads site. Once it’s published, I’ll see if I can copy and paste it here. I’m really looking forward to next month’s read!

Susan wrote: "In anticipation of Nathan Englander’s book of short stories, I decided to read one of his books to see what kind of writer he is. I read kaddish.com and I’ve fallen in love with his writing. I revi..."
So good!!! Read them. He is terrific. There was one of his books (which of course I cant remember the title) that was a little depressing for me.

I have all of them on my list now.

Here’s my review of kaddish.com

Reviewed in the United States on July 14, 2020

I had not heard of Nathan Englander until an online book club decided to read a book of his short stories in one of our future reads. I decided I’d see what sort of writer he was and randomly chose kaddish.com, and what a joy it was to read.

In this book, Larry, a Jewish man by birth but certainly not in actual practice, is tasked, as the only son, to recite the Mourner’s Kaddish for his recently deceased father; a task, or mitzvah (commandment) that very observant Jews do every day for the eleven months after a parent’s death. His very observant sister demands that he do this for the sake of his father’s soul, and after much resistance, he finally agrees to do so, if only for keeping the peace with his sister and mother.

But Larry is clever. He doesn’t want to do this and he scours the internet until he finds a site called kaddish.com, where, for a fee, one can have the Kaddish said by proxy, by a student in a yeshiva in Jerusalem. He’s happy, and that’s that.

Well, not exactly. Fast forward about 25 or 39 years, and Larry has returned to the fold, is now extremely observant. Known as Reb Schuli, he teaches at a yeshiva in Brooklyn, and is married with two children. Wracked with guilt that he didn’t live up to his filial obligation, he tries, without luck, to find the student who had allegedly recited the Kaddish all those years ago. With the help and strange insight of one of his students, he hunts down the physical location of kaddish.com, discovering a yeshivah that welcomes him to study, and devotes his non-studying hours to finding the whereabouts of the elusive website and the mysterious student that he’d paid to say kaddish all those years ago.

There is much more to this remarkable tale that I won’t reveal due to spoilers. Englander is a wonderful writer, combining this world with excursions into other worlds seamlessly. His characters leap off the page with life. I look forward to reading more of his work in the future. Highly recommended.