Jewish Genre Reading Challenge discussion

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BE KIND This is a group for people to join to have fun—it should not be a stressful, negative environment. Thanks to changes in Goodreads privacy settings, there is no longer a way for mods to give warnings to individual group members, so if you act like a jerk you'll probably just be removed from the group. If you are coming to this group in good faith, to read and talk about Jewish books respectfully with other readers, you do not need to worry about this, you'll be fine.

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NO ANTISEMITISM, NO ANTI-JEWISHNESS Antisemitic/anti-Jewish comments will be deleted. The admin team has the final say and will be operating on a policy of better safe than sorry. Jewish people need a safe place right now to talk about something pleasurable. Non-Jews are more than welcome here but please be coming in good faith because you want to read and talk in community about Jewish books.

AUTHOR SELF-PROMOTION Group members are allowed to promote their own books provided the books have Jewish main characters, or are written on a Jewish topic by a Jewish author. However, this is only allowed for ACTIVE participants in the Jewish Genre Challenge. Please post your challenge plan showing how you plan to complete the reading challenge BEFORE you promote your book. Then please actually do the challenge. Thanks! (This is a new rule so authors before 4/3/24 may not have adhered to this rule.)

HOT TOPICS Please keep potentially controversial topics in the Hot Topics area.

The Stereotypes and Antisemitism thread is the place to alert the community to books that seem to you to have stereotypical or antisemitic portrayals of Jewish characters and culture. Racism, homophobia, sexism, and other issues of stereotyping and negative portrayal can also be discussed here, these may be common in some of the older books in our book lists. Disagreement and debate are welcome in this thread, but the original person posting to alert the community that something is antisemitic or sexist, etc., is under no obligation to stay in the thread defending your position to those who disagree. Feel free to just drop in, let us know, and never need to check the thread again.

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Thanks for making it through the rules! It's always nice to know a little bit about the other group members. So take a moment and introduce yourself!

Hi everyone! I'm one of the founders of the Jewish Genre Reading Challenge and for right now I'm the sole mod of the Goodreads group. I'm a big genre reader (sci-fi, fantasy, romance, and suspense are my preferred genres) and a few years back I started noticing how much I enjoyed the rare occasions when I would encounter a Jewish character in the genre books I read. Ironically two of those books, Spinning Silver and The Calculating Stars, turned out not to be written by Jewish authors but they were well-researched and still brought me that joy of seeing part of my own story reflected in what I was reading. I decided to pursue that more intentionally by challenging myself to read just 3 Jewish books from 3 different genres. That year I ended up reading 6 books with Jewish main characters, out of 155 books total. At that point it felt clear that books with Jewish main characters were not just going to fall into my lap as a reader of genre fiction, rather I was going to need to go out of my way to find them. As I began building a database of books with Jewish main characters I invited some of my reading friends to join, and the Jewish Genre Reading Challenge was born!

As my co-founders and I began talking to other Jewish readers and other non-Jewish genre fiction readers, we found there was a lot of interest and excitement in the idea of reading about Jewish main characters in genre fiction. Some people were surprised that anything like that exists - romances about Jewish characters, sci-fi not just written by Jewish authors but actually featuring Jewish characters as well. We decided to create this group as a hub, a place where people can find book recommendations and talk about the experience of reading Jewishly.

We would love to know more about you, so comment here to say hello! You can let us know what draws you to this challenge, your favorite genres to read, anything you feel like sharing as an intro.

Hi there! My name is Karen and I try to read a variety of genres, but my favorites are science fiction/speculative fiction, rom-coms, and general fiction. I am not Jewish myself, but I have followed along with the lovely moderator as this concept was developed and I really support the intention behind it and agree that my own reading should include more Jewish main characters. Plus it just sounds fun to discover new books in a variety of genres!

Hi all 👋🏼 I’m Laia and I love reading Fantasy, Sci-Fi, general fiction and the occasional Romance. This challenge seems a lovely way to diversify my reading a bit, add some more Jewish perspectives and get to know different books 📚 📕 📖

I’m Laura and I’m always looking for good books to read. My kids are signed up for PJ Library which sends free kids books about Jewish life once a month. I’ve learned so much about Judaism from those books and felt more connected to the culture. This seems like an opportunity to do the same thing by reading adult books!

Hello! I am here in support of this community building intention :) I don't make a ton of space in my life to read with regularity and I'd like to do so more often. I look forward to seeing recommendations posted here. Happy birthday to our lovely moderator!

Hi, I'm Jillian and am excited to be here in this lovely space. I appreciate the curation, intention and opportunity to read more books with Jewish main characters. My reading lately has been pretty limited to memoirs and comedy, but in the past I've really loved all kinds of genres so I'm excited for this to hopefully spur me on to expand what I'm reading :)

That's all lovely! I'm Valerie Estelle Frankel, author of Chelm for the Holidays and also writing a comprehensive analysis of Jewish sf and f through Rowman & Littlefield...currently the length of five or six academic books (and if you wanted to write an academic book on Jewish genre I'd publish it! https://rowman.com/Action/SERIES/_/LE...). Book two on the 60s-80s is going to press soon (and I'm delighted that book one is on your list). So I've read every single Jewish fantasy and scifi I can get hold of, with some additional reading in other Jewish genres. Happy to geek out.

I'm overjoyed to have found this group! My name is Rebecca and one of my passions is reading Jewish fantasy in particular, but also other genre literature with Jewish themes/protagonists. I am an Orthodox Jew and I love seeing different Jewish perspectives in books, especially ones that are published with the intention to reach more mainstream audiences. I want to see Jewish genre lit reaching larger audiences and become more popular! Diversifying your shelf is so important and I believe adding Jewish voices is so important. I am a children's librarian so I read a lot of kid lit as well. Looking forward to building community together!

Valerie wrote: "That's all lovely! I'm Valerie Estelle Frankel, author of Chelm for the Holidays and also writing a comprehensive analysis of Jewish sf and f through Rowman & Littlefield...currently the length of ..."

Valerie!!!!! I can't believe you're here! You are a celebrity to me!!! I'm hoping to start doing author interviews later this year and you are at the top of my list of people to reach out to, and here you are! Sorry for the fangirl moment. I'm seriously plotzing. There are so many things I want to talk to you about, like the venn diagram between books with Jewish authors and books with Jewish characters, and the use of Jewish-analogue cultures in secondary world fantasy, and what you've learned in your research about the impacts on Jewish SFF of antisemitism and the pressure to appeal to a "broader audience" in the publishing world.

And of course I want to know if you spot books I'm missing from the lists and database. Through your reddit AMA I found Steven H. Silver's huge list of Jewish SFF but it seems that many listings don't have Jewish main characters and many others are short stories, which, unless they're in a Jewish-themed anthology, I haven't been sure how to incorporate into this project.

Rebecca wrote: "I'm overjoyed to have found this group! My name is Rebecca and one of my passions is reading Jewish fantasy in particular, but also other genre literature with Jewish themes/protagonists. I am an O..."

Welcome, Rebecca! I'm so excited about everything you shared in your intro, a lot of it could have come straight from my own thoughts. I love that you're a children's librarian - one of my friends who is a children's librarian is planning to do the challenge using all kids' books. If you're interested, take a look at the genre lists linked from this group and the website database and let me know if there are any books we've overlooked, or just add them to the genre lists. Since you have a passion for Jewish fantasy, it would also be wonderful if you made a post in the Fantasy thread (https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...) and shared some of your favorites to help others get started!

chysodema wrote: "Valerie wrote: "That's all lovely! I'm Valerie Estelle Frankel, author of Chelm for the Holidays and also writing a comprehensive analysis of Jewish sf and f through Rowman & Littlefield...currentl..."

Lol that's so kind. (With many exclamation points!!!) I actually don't get many fangirls out there--likely cuz I write about others' works and rarely do original fiction. I'm excited about the Jewish mega project but it's been huge and slow, though I do get approached as an expert sometimes. I'd love to be interviewed. Hmmm, the AMA...ah yes (as this goodreads indicates, I'm happy to guest speak in other people's Jewish projects).
I agree that Silver's list has loads of short stories and "Jewish sff" indeed has a range of definitions. I mean, if the author's Israeli often everyone is casually Jewish (mind blown). ANd yes, at some point I can put together a list of books for your criteria. In fact, I was just on a panel where we tried defining it. The four panels we ended up with are here https://www.fantasticbooks.biz/produc... (scroll down to the first paragraph under “Publicity and Reviews”)
Could we just talk sometime? Well, sure, why not. I like geeking out. But I can also give your topics a quick stab here.
the venn diagram between books with Jewish authors and books with Jewish characters...yeah. Weirdly in the 80s and 90s most were by nonJews. Now with Own Voices, we're flipping again. Many do a sensitive or at least not awful approach. Lots do weak tokenism (Willow on Buffy). But I feel like Jews are having more fun with the cuisine and humor.
the use of Jewish-analogue cultures in secondary world fantasy--sometimes authors have to point it out or sometimes the persecuted wanderers could be anyone. Guy Gavriel Kay (Jewish) may be best known for this. Sometimes it's a fun nod for readers like themselves and sometimes they're making a weird reimagined point. Kushiel makes the oddest choice.
antisemitism and "broader audience" Hmm. right now, own voices is big so Judaism is big...though Jewish publishers would love to get more non-white Ashkenazi stories. Right now though lots of speakers are twitchier about saying Jewish or Israeli, and Adam Gidwitz was quite surprised to be uninvited for his WWII book. Fiction about Israel is still going, with many Jews saying it's more needed...

chysodema wrote: "Rebecca wrote: "I'm overjoyed to have found this group! My name is Rebecca and one of my passions is reading Jewish fantasy in particular, but also other genre literature with Jewish themes/protago..."

I am rubbing my hands in glee because I think I have a lot of books that I can add to some lists. I’m so glad to have found a likeminded community!

Hi everyone! I'm an avid reader of historical romance and historical fiction. I'm also an author (blushing...). I love to combine my passion for Judaica with my love for "period drama." Lovely to meet you all!

Mirta wrote: "Hi everyone! I'm an avid reader of historical romance and historical fiction. I'm also an author (blushing...). I love to combine my passion for Judaica with my love for "period drama." Lovey to me..."

Mirta, I'm so glad you're here! Your books were some of the first I found when I began researching Jewish genre fiction. I love that many (or all?) of them have an Argentinian connection, that is an aspect of Jewish history I'm sort of generally aware of but haven't done much reading about.

chysodema wrote: "Mirta wrote: "Hi everyone! I'm an avid reader of historical romance and historical fiction. I'm also an author (blushing...). I love to combine my passion for Judaica with my love for "period drama..."
Yes! That's another of my passions- sharing the history of Jewish Argentina! Thanks for your warm welcome ❤️

Hello fellow Jewish book enthusiasts! My name is Rinat Klein, from Israel. I just wanted to share news about my 'Black Seagull', recently translated into English and now available on Amazon. Originally published in Hebrew in 2014, it's been a rewarding experience to see this work reach a wider audience.
The narrative spans two captivating timelines, moving between the landscapes of Russia and Israel. Set against the background of the historic immigration of Jews from the Soviet Union to Israel, the story introduce the life of three generations of one Russian-Jewish-Israeli family.
If you're on the lookout for something new, consider giving it a read. Hope it catches your interest. Happy reading!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CFYN39WC

Hi everyone! Hope your April is going well. We've just updated the rules to include guidance on author self-promotion. The gist of it is, group members are welcome to promote their qualifying books (see rule for details) provided they are here to actively participate in the Jewish Genre Challenge. Author self-promotion posts made from here on by authors who have not yet posted challenge plans will be deleted.

If you just want to make sure your qualifying book is in the Jewish Genre Challenge database, you can contact us through the contact form on the website www.readjewishly.com.

רינת wrote: "Hello fellow Jewish book enthusiasts! My name is Rinat Klein, from Israel. I just wanted to share news about my 'Black Seagull', recently translated into English and now available on Amazon. Origin..."

Black Seagull looks great! I've added it to our list for books in translation. Would you also like it added to the list for mystery? For historical fiction? I didn't really get a sense from the Goodreads description.

chysodema wrote: "רינת wrote: "Hello fellow Jewish book enthusiasts! My name is Rinat Klein, from Israel. I just wanted to share news about my 'Black Seagull', recently translated into English and now available on A..."

Thank you so much for this! The book primarily features historical fiction with two timelines, although it also contains a mystery at its core. Therefore, I would greatly appreciate it if you could add it to the historical fiction list.

Hello everyone! My name is Sophie and I'm so excited to be here! It's wonderful to be in a community of people who are enthusiastic about Jewish books :)

Hi I’m Rachel, I just found out about this, and coincidentally, the book I’m reading now, When the Angels Left the Old Country, fits this challenge! I’m going to do the genre challenge, because I like mystery, fantasy, and sci-fi the best.

Welcome Sophie and Rachel! We're so glad you're here. Thank you both so much for posting your challenge plans to the group. It's so inspiring to see what other people are reading!

Rachel wrote: "Hi I’m Rachel, I just found out about this, and coincidentally, the book I’m reading now, When the Angels Left the Old Country, fits this challenge! I’m going to do the genre challenge, because I l..."

Welcome Rachel!

Hi my name is Heather. I love this challenge. I found out about this challenge last week. I like that there is a community of people who love Jewish books. I am going to do the genre challenge, I like fantasy and sci-fi the best.

Rachel wrote: "Hi I’m Rachel, I just found out about this, and coincidentally, the book I’m reading now, When the Angels Left the Old Country, fits this challenge! I’m going to do the genre challenge, because I l..."

Hi Rachel! Welcome aboard!

Heather Sloan wrote: "Hi my name is Heather. I love this challenge. I found out about this challenge last week. I like that there is a community of people who love Jewish books. I am going to do the genre challenge, I l..."

Hi, Heather! Welcome! We're so glad you're here, and I agree that having a community of people to talk about Jewish books with is the best. Make a challenge plan to post in the Challenge Plans thread when you get a chance so we can get inspired by your choices!

Heather Sloan wrote: "Hi my name is Heather. I love this challenge. I found out about this challenge last week. I like that there is a community of people who love Jewish books. I am going to do the genre challenge, I l..."

Yay, another sci-fi/fantasy fan!

Heather Sloan wrote: "Rachel wrote: "Hi I’m Rachel, I just found out about this, and coincidentally, the book I’m reading now, When the Angels Left the Old Country, fits this challenge! I’m going to do the genre challen..."

Hi Heather! (That’s my sister’s name)! 😃

Hi, my name is Megan and I've been on a bit of personal read-more-Jewish-protagonists kick this year (also partly inspired by Spinning Silver) - which became a de facto genre challenge, as I mostly read fantasy/sci-fi/romance, so imagine how excited I was to find this group! Excited to find even more Jewish genre reads!

Megan wrote: "Hi, my name is Megan and I've been on a bit of personal read-more-Jewish-protagonists kick this year (also partly inspired by Spinning Silver) - which became a de facto genre challenge, as I mostly..."

Hi Megan, welcome! So glad you found your way here during a read-more-Jewish-protagonists kick, there will be so many book recommendations we can offer each other, I'm sure. Thank you for posting your (almost completed!) challenge in the Challenge Plans thread - I laughed out loud reading your commentary for The Matzah Ball.

In response to your comment there about the Jewish joy prompt, I just finished reading Magical Meet Cute myself. I would say that while, like almost every Jewish romance I read (and maybe it's really true for almost every romance in general?), it's surprisingly mostly angsty and full of people working through trauma, there are also moments of intentional focus on Jewish joy, which are named on the page as moments of intentional Jewish joy. The author, Jean Meltzer, is very big on Jewish joy (having created both a Jewish Joy book club and a Jewish Joy book subscription box!).

I'd love to hear more about your experiences reading books with Jewish protagonists, what brought that decision about for you and how it has impacted you so far. If you're interested in chatting more, hop over to the September Book Chat thread and let's chat!

Megan wrote: "Hi, my name is Megan and I've been on a bit of personal read-more-Jewish-protagonists kick this year (also partly inspired by Spinning Silver) - which became a de facto genre challenge, as I mostly..."

Welcome Megan! Great to have you here and that you are excited to read more books with Jewish main characters!

I am Martha and would like to read more about the Hasidic jewish community and historical fiction and nonfiction. i would like to learn Hebrew.

Martha samsell wrote: "I am Martha and would like to read more about the Hasidic jewish community and historical fiction and nonfiction. i would like to learn Hebrew."

Welcome, Martha! Browse through our lists - there specific lists for historical fiction and nonfiction books in the Prompts Challenge section - and hopefully you'll find some books that look good to you!

Hello, everyone. My given name is Mary, but I prefer to use Jordan, my non-de-plume, on the Goodreads site. I look forward to the challenge of increasing my reading of Jewish-genre books.

Hello, I’m Tree Smith Benedikt and I first learned about the Jewish Genre reading challenge this past summer or early fall. I think it’s a great idea and now that we’re starting a new year I’m hoping to be more involved so I can support Jewish writers and books on Jewish experience.

Hi, I'm Dara or @notinjersey on Instagram. I read a lot of Jewish books so I'm looking forward to more of them!

Hello my name is Natalie . My favorite genre is dystopian, horror , romance and historical fiction. I am looking forward to the reading challenge and to read more Jewish books this year.

Hello and welcome everyone! So glad to see you here! I am looking forward to reading alongside each other and chatting about books!

Hi all! I'm Maya, I'm a student from the Netherlands & I grew up in Israel :) I love reading many different genres, specifically magical realism/low fantasy, thriller/mystery, horror, classics, and anything cozy.
Only through this challenge I found out that there are so many diverse Jewish books, and I'm looking forward to reading more of them!!

Shalom everyone,

I'm Adva and I'm so excited to learn of this challenge! I, too, hardly knew that Jewish genre books were even a thing.
I especially love fantasy, but I'll read any good book in any genre. Just wish I could read faster and thus... far more!