Jewish Book Club discussion

This time, appropriately enough, we're looking for a beach read. ⛵

Let's use this definition that I found on the web, from Macmillan Dictionary: a book you can take on holiday, which is good enough to keep you engaged but not so serious it will spoil your holiday. Well, it will keep you engaged, yes, and not requiring heavy study. It does not have to be fluff, and it definitely does not have to be "chick lit." Some definitions say a beach read must have a beach setting, but we can skip that part. So -- it does not have to be fiction, as long as it is compelling and no heavy lifting required.

And, yes, a Jewish beach read.

The book Hotel Cuba may be an example. It has been the subject of discussion. I haven't read it; does sound compelling and definitely not light-weight.

Nominations will be taken until we get eight or through Friday the 23rd, whichever comes 1st. After we have the nominations we'll have our poll.

One nomination per person, please.
We're asking for a nomination, not a list of suggestions, but if we get a list we'll take the 1st book on the list as your nomination.
Stacey and I will vet for availability and for whether your nomination is already on our bookshelf.

[Nominations by a book's author or other interested party not accepted

I definitely want to nominate Hotel Cuba. It's perfect to take on a holiday and most definitely will NOT ruin your vacation. It's uplifting and hopeful and beautiful!!! And the ending is swoon-worthy and joyous! It's not fluff. It's outstanding literature and my top read for 2023.

Nomination: People of the Book

My nomination is Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. Loved it!

Thanks, Richard, Liza, and Barbara. Will be checking availability a little later. Keep 'em coming!

Richard -- you mean Geraldine Brooks, right?

I wanted to nominate the Summer of 69 by Elin Hildebrand . I think it has Jewish themes with antisemitism and the reading of The Diary of Ann Frank. I put a link in about the book .

https://www.librarything.com/work/225...

Jonathan wrote: "I wanted to nominate the Summer of 69 by Elin Hildebrand . I think it has Jewish themes with antisemitism and the reading of The Diary of Ann Frank. I put a link in about the book .

https://www.li..."

Thank you for your nomination Jonathan.

My pleasure Stacey .

Jonathan wrote: "I wanted to nominate the Summer of 69 by Elin Hildebrand . I think it has Jewish themes with antisemitism and the reading of The Diary of Ann Frank. I put a link in about the book .

https://www.li..."

Was just double checking to see if already on our bookshelf, and it's not. Knowing you, Jonathan, you already checked that. Sounds familiar to me so maybe was nominated in the past :)

Okay, I am going to look up these books in the order nominated, and if I don't finish before grandchildren show up at the door, will continue this evening. Thanks for these nominations!

Liza wrote: "I definitely want to nominate Hotel Cuba. It's perfect to take on a holiday and most definitely will NOT ruin your vacation. It's uplifting and hopeful and beautiful!!! And the endi..."

Nomination No. 1: Hotel Cuba is $16.99 new via Amazon Prime. A few used copies are available in the $13 range via Amazon Marketplace and AbeBooks (including postage), but is a new book, so not going to be dirt cheap. Kindle 11.99. Unfortunately it isn't in my library but maybe others will have better luck. By most accounts seems to be one people are really loving, and when it comes time to vote, please take cost into consideration.

Richard wrote: "Nomination: People of the Book"

Nomination No. 2: People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks. Lots available used at less than $5 and in the library.
2008

Barbara wrote: "My nomination is Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. Loved it!"

Nomination No. 3: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
Has been a big bestseller for months. $15.49 new on Amazon Prime, and Kindle a dollar less. At the library in various formats. Long queues but the queues move fast, for example at my library the queue for the hardback is 145 but the library has 38 copies. Get in line early for this one!

Grandchildren have arrived so back in a while! :)

Thanks Jan, for checking.

Jonathan wrote: "I wanted to nominate the Summer of 69 by Elin Hildebrand . I think it has Jewish themes with antisemitism and the reading of The Diary of Ann Frank. I put a link in about the book .

https://www.librarything.com/work/225..."

Nomination No. 4: Summer of '69 by Elin Hilderbrand -- available very inexpensively from AbeBooks and in the library in various formats!

Jonathan, is that you in that Library Thing review? Yes, I saw the Jewish theme, but that Jonathan sounded just a little ambivalent.

Liza wrote: "I definitely want to nominate Hotel Cuba. It's perfect to take on a holiday and most definitely will NOT ruin your vacation. It's uplifting and hopeful and beautiful!!! And the endi..."

Liza, thank you for this. I am going on vacation next week and Hotel Cuba is already in my suitcase.

Sarah wrote: "Liza wrote: "I definitely want to nominate Hotel Cuba. It's perfect to take on a holiday and most definitely will NOT ruin your vacation. It's uplifting and hopeful and beautiful!!!. And the endi..."

Liza, thank you for this. I am going on vacation next week and Hotel Cuba is already in my suitcase."

Yes, we have four good nominations right off the bat. Can we get four more? 😊

Re - People of the Book. Excellent. I recommended to my dad for his book club and everyone enjoyed it and had a wonderful discussion.

Hotel Cuba- I’m getting from library. I’ll read with anyone even if it doesn’t win.

Other two sound interesting

Brina wrote: "Re - People of the Book. Excellent. I recommended to my dad for his book club and everyone enjoyed it and had a wonderful discussion.

Hotel Cuba- I’m getting from library. I’ll read with anyone e..."

I was hoping we'd have a few more nominations!

Not a mod but you can’t nominate your own book as compelling as it sounds. You can cut/paste it to the authors announcing their work thread so we can still all benefit from it.

Thanks! Makes sense. Will re-post

Thanks, Brina. And Oren. 🙂

Jan wrote: "Thanks, Richard, Liza, and Barbara. Will be checking availability a little later. Keep 'em coming!

Richard -- you mean Geraldine Brooks, right?"

Yes, Brooks.
Can I send you a copy of my novel, Illumination?

Fleishman Is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner. Jewish couple undergoing a bitter divorce. Excellent writing and relatable modern characters.

Rmplanet wrote: "Fleishman Is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner. Jewish couple undergoing a bitter divorce. Excellent writing and relatable modern characters."

Rmplanet,
Thank you for the nomination. FIIT is a nice choice.
We still have to vet it, so hang tight for a bit. It's an older book, meaning there should be many copies and in libraries.

Stacey B wrote: "Rmplanet wrote: "Fleishman Is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner. Jewish couple undergoing a bitter divorce. Excellent writing and relatable modern characters."

Rmplanet,
Thank you for the nomina..."

I had no idea it was made into a t.v. series..
Amazon $13.99 kindle $12.45 paperback. Going to check others now. IndiBooks is more costly than Amazon. Alibris.com sells used pp beginning at $1.60 . In many libraries as well.

Hey, Stacey, yes, Fleishman Is in Trouble in my library too -- multiple copies and no queue! 🙂
Also available used from Amazon Marketplace & AbeBooks in $5-$7 range (including postage) -- less expensive than Kindle for once!

Nomination No. 5 is Fleishman Is in Trouble Thanks, Rmplanet.

Two books have been suggested to me in private messages but so far formal nominations haven't been made, so I haven't vetted them yet. The moderators don't make nominations, so the backers of these two books need to come forward and nominate them, or anybody can actually -- anyone but Stacey and me --
The two books are The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History (hope I have this one right) and Last Summer at the Golden Hotel, if anybody would like to see them on the candidate list!

We read Last Summer at the Golden Hotel in August/21
so we can add another one in lieu of that.
Not understanding why a nomination would be private.

Stacey B wrote: "We read Last Summer at the Golden Hotel in August/21
so we can add another one in lieu of that.
Not understanding why a nomination would be private."

Oh! Okay, thanks! I looked but missed it. It did sound familiar! 😁
It's not actually a nomination yet anyway; just a prospective nomination.

We have room for up to three more. Last day tomorrow.

Jan wrote: "Liza wrote: "I definitely want to nominate Hotel Cuba. It's perfect to take on a holiday and most definitely will NOT ruin your vacation. It's uplifting and hopeful and beautiful!!!..."

Hotel Cuba is a small fortune here, equivalent to $23 USD

Jazzy wrote: "Jan wrote: "Liza wrote: "I definitely want to nominate Hotel Cuba. It's perfect to take on a holiday and most definitely will NOT ruin your vacation. It's uplifting and hopeful and ..."

Jazzy, is that Kindle or PP?

How about Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene

A long time favourite, I read it loads of times but would definitely love to re-read it along with Summer of '42 by Herman Raucher

I'm not sure what PP is... Paperback? but it's hardcover. It's too new

Jazzy wrote: "Jan wrote: "Liza wrote: "I definitely want to nominate Hotel Cuba. It's perfect to take on a holiday and most definitely will NOT ruin your vacation. It's uplifting and hopeful and ..."

Oh..that damn pound!!! :) including all the rest of foreign currency.
This issue has been dormant in the back of our heads as we knew
that at some point this may become an issue due to exchange rates and inflation.
I'm not sure what to do right at this moment. but...
At this point for voting purposes, I would feel terrible if any book lost due to its cost. The win is based on a books own merits. Conundrum happening. It may become worse.
Are you seeing this with other new releases?
Give Jan and I a moment. We are not on the same schedule.

My library had a copy of Hotel Cuba in paperback. I know you’ve mentioned about England’s library situation before, Jazzy. Is there any other way you can get inexpensive copies of newer books.

Brina wrote: "My library had a copy of Hotel Cuba in paperback. I know you’ve mentioned about England’s library situation before, Jazzy. Is there any other way you can get inexpensive copies of newer books."

I have been looking to find other international arenas to buy books
at a lesser cost. One issue seems to be shipping costs, so by the time you pay for both, it's the same or higher. :(

Hi Jan, I am a little late answering but it was not me. I just posted link to show Jewish themes.

Jazzy wrote: "How about Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
I didnt know about the movie.

Ok then Jazzy, thank you and we will vet it.
Yes to the other comment- PP is paperback. :)

I had the results of the vetting here- not seeing it.
Amazon $ 7.90 AbeBooks $7.90 for new and $3.85 for used in good condition.

Stacey B wrote: "Jazzy wrote: "How about Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene

Ok then Jazzy, thank you and we will vet it.
Yes to the other comment- PP is paperback. :)"

Summer of my German Soldier- Amazon- has costs starting at 1.60 all the way up. Click on "other formats etc.)
I don't get it- I thought AbeBooks closed. I looked up Hotel Cuba and its 12 pounds and change for a soft cover slightly used book.
Just went back to get shipping cost and the book's not there. We are talking all of 4 minutes. How does it disappear.
Im telling you I saw it in American currency and converted it. I couldn't make this up. :)

Jonathan wrote: "Hi Jan, I am a little late answering but it was not me. I just posted link to show Jewish themes."

I don't remember what we were discussing. I scrolled up but it didn't help. Maybe whatever it was is settled? Thanks anyway, Jonathon!

Stacey B wrote: "...Summer of my German Soldier- Amazon- has costs starting at 1.60 all the way up. Click on "other formats etc.)
I don't get it- I thought AbeBooks closed. I looked up Ho...."

Summer of My German Soldier appears to be an award winning book hailing from 1973, and YA, which is fine. While some prices are in the $1-$2 range, postage pushes the cost up to $5-$6. But on AbeBooks there are some used copies for $4 or $5, including postage. Book Depository is the one that closed. ... In my library in all formats so they must be considering it a classic!

So it can be Nomination No. 6! Summer of My German Soldier

I don't think it's on our shelf. Somebody doublecheck me please. 🥱

Bette Greene, novelist whose ‘Summer of My German Soldier’ became a young-adult hit, dies at 86

By Harrison Smith
October 8, 2020 at 9:24 p.m. EDT

Bette Greene, a critically acclaimed young-adult novelist who confronted anti-Semitism, domestic violence and homophobia in books such as “Summer of My German Soldier” and “The Drowning of Stephan Jones,” which were frequently targeted in book-banning crusades during the culture wars of the 1990s, died Oct. 2 in Lakewood Ranch, Fla. She was 86.

The cause was congestive heart failure, said her son, Jordan Greene.

Ms. Greene often joked that she had been a professional writer since age 9, when she wrote a newspaper story about a barn fire in her tiny Arkansas town for 18 cents. Decades later, she published a debut novel that sold more than a quarter-million copies in its first paperback printing and was adapted into an Emmy-winning TV movie, despite being rejected by more than a dozen publishers.

Ms. Greene’s 1973 debut, “Summer of My German Soldier,” quickly sold more than a quarter-million copies after it was released in a paperback edition. (Puffin Modern Classics)
Published by Dial Press in 1973, “Summer of My German Soldier” told the story of Patty Bergen, a Jewish girl in 1940s Arkansas who is beaten by her father, ignored by her mother and finds love and support from the family’s Black housekeeper, Ruth, and from a German prisoner of war, Anton, who escapes from a nearby military camp.

“This is an exceptionally fine novel about a young girl whose mediocre parents don’t like her, precisely because she is an inconveniently exceptional human being,” literary scholar Peter Sourian wrote in a New York Times review.

While some critics questioned whether the novel’s brutal scenes of domestic violence were appropriate for younger readers, “Summer of My German Soldier” became a National Book Award finalist and was adapted into a 1978 television movie, co-written by Ms. Greene and featuring Esther Rolle, who earned an Emmy Award as Ruth.

Ms. Greene had grown up as one of the only Jewish children in her town, just like her fictional protagonist, at a time when nearly 23,000 captured Axis troops were being sent to Arkansas POW camps. Asked whether her novel was autobiographical, she once responded by referring a reporter to the dust jacket, which simply described the story. In other interviews, she acknowledged that she, too, had a Black housekeeper named Ruth.

Her son said that Ms. Greene never went further in explaining the inspiration behind Patty Bergen. But in a short video interview in 2011, Ms. Greene seemed to declare that the entire novel was autobiographical, and that she had actually been punished for helping a German POW as a young girl.

“It’s about my life,” she said. “I spent 40 years denying it was about my life. But it was a story that was bursting out to be told. . . . Before, I had felt that I had harmed a lot of people. I was ashamed. It took me a lot of years to be able to say, ‘I think I did the right thing.’ Now I’m sure I did the right thing.”

Jazzy wrote: "Bette Greene, novelist whose ‘Summer of My German Soldier’ became a young-adult hit, dies at 86

By Harrison Smith
October 8, 2020 at 9:24 p.m. EDT

Bette Greene, a critically acclaimed young-adult..."

Thanks, Jazzy. I remember the movie starring Kristy McNichol, but I never knew anything about the author. Excellent choice.

Shanah wrote: "Jazzy wrote: "Bette Greene, novelist whose ‘Summer of My German Soldier’ became a young-adult hit, dies at 86

By Harrison Smith
October 8, 2020 at 9:24 p.m. EDT

Bette Greene, a critically acclaim..."

WWII non-fiction is heavy on page numbers, but also has lots of photos by author. First edition was largely Rorimer's writing, but the new edition (2022) covers more details about what these men did, written from the person who was incharge of the whole US army operation. Nazis had stolen many art pieces from from Jews' homes and local museums, hiding them all overGermany. If you are a lover of history, especially retrieving stolen Jewish art, you will also enjoy this book. [book:Monuments Man: The Mission to Save Vermeers, Rembrandts, and Da Vincis from the Nazis' Grasp. I nominate this 2022 edition.

Diana wrote: "WWII non-fiction is heavy on page numbers, but also has lots of photos by author. First edition was largely Rorimer's writing, but the new edition (2022) covers more details about what these men di..."

Thanks, Diana. I had the wrong book. I think this is the one you mean: Monuments Man: The Mission to Save Vermeers, Rembrandts, and Da Vincis from the Nazis' Grasp.
Let me look it up....

Jan wrote: "Stacey B wrote: "...Summer of my German Soldier- Amazon- has costs starting at 1.60 all the way up. Click on "other formats etc.)
I don't get it- I thought AbeBooks closed. I looked up Ho...."

Sum..."

Its not on shelf.

Diane, Monuments Man: The Mission to Save Vermeers, Rembrandts, and Da Vincis from the Nazis' Grasp just came out last year. It's around $38 new on Amazon and over $30 used on Amazon Marketplace or AbeBooks when postage is considered. Not in library in my area. So that would be too much at this point. I hate to ask, but would the 2009 book with a similar name be at all acceptable? The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History Or, do you have another nomination for us today?