Nominations for our book of Oct. 2026: our author members' books > Likes and Comments
Nominations:1) KINDLE THE LIGHT OF LIBERTY: A Jewish Colonial Love Story of the American Revolution by Mirta Ines Trupp
2) A Promise Kept: 1934 to 1946, by Lewis M. Weinstein
3) Stories My Father Told Me: From Warsaw, Moscow, Algeria, Siberia, Kazakhstan, Dominican Republic, by Dvora Treisman
4) As I Remember...: a memoir of a Jewish woman & her family before & after the Holocaust (Book 3 of 5, according to Amazon) by Maria Gluck and edited by Sherwin Gluck
5) A Quest for Home: Jewish Immigrant Memoir of Exile, Identity, and the Search for Belonging by Joseph B. Stinsky
6) The Winding Road: My Childhood Years, by Rokhl Feygenberg and translated by Tamara T. Helfer
7) The Crate: A Story Of War, A Murder, And Justice by Deborah Vadas Levison
8) Across A Starlit Sky: WWII Historical Fiction by Susan Shalev
9) Halabiyah by Terrence Shama Levine
I'd like to take this opportunity to nominate my latest book: KINDLE THE LIGHT OF LIBERTY: A Jewish Colonial Love Story of the American Revolution. Set in Colonial Philadelphia, the story follows Jewish families navigating complex questions of identity, belonging, and loyalty during the Revolutionary era. While deeply rooted in rigorous archival research of early Jewish-American families, the narrative carries a subtle (or not so subtle) influence from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, capturing the idea that first impressions rarely reveal the full story.
It is available on Amazon in paperback and eBook formats.
Lewis Weinstein ... A Promise Kept is the middle book of my holocaust trilogy ... it is written, however, to also be read alone ... the book follows the two fictional characters who keep their promise to each other to stay in Europe and fight Hitler, when they could have left ... the history follows Hitler from his appointment as Chancellor to the end of the war, as he consolidates his power, destroys his enemies, and commits mass murder.
Stories My Father Told Me: From Warsaw, Moscow, Algeria, Siberia, Kazakhstan, Dominican Republic, is based on a memoir my father wrote for me late in his life so that I would know more about his history and the family I never met. His original manuscript is now at the YIVO archive.My father, Rafał Feliks Buszejkin, was an unusual Polish Jew for his time. He was born in Warsaw in 1912 to a bourgeois Jewish family that left Warsaw in 1914 for Moscow to escape the Germans, and then returned to Warsaw in 1917 to escape the Bolsheviks. He boxed, raced bicycles, rode horses, got into fights. Photos of him (included in the book) attest to the fact that he was a hunk. He studied medicine in France and agronomy in Algeria where he established a Maccabi sports club. He survived the Holocaust trapped in the Soviet Union, and after the war he lived in a Jewish farming community in the Dominican Republic before finally coming to the U.S. A master of resilience, he spoke five languages but preferred to swear in Russian.
The book is available in paperback and ebook on Amazon, and also in paperback from your local bookstore or online at B&N. Vintage family photos are included in the book.
Thanks for considering me! Dvora Treisman
I’d like to nominate As I Remember...: a memoir of a Jewish woman & her family before & after the Holocaust, written by my aunt Maria Glück and edited by me.
Maria was born in 1916 in the tiny village of Polyán in Czechoslovakia, where she grew up in a close-knit Jewish family. She came to America with three of her siblings in 1940 to join a fifth sibling already there, leaving much of the family behind. At age 93, after my father repeatedly asked her to write down her memories, she began writing — by hand, page after page, notebook after notebook — about her family, village life, Jewish customs, school, neighbors, immigration, and the world they had left behind.
But she didn't stop when the memoir was finished. Maria discovered, very late in life, that she had a great deal she wanted to say. She continued writing into 2013, eventually learning to dictate into a computer, and her later essays are also included in the book. They range from family and faith to aging, independence, age discrimination, healthcare — including what it feels like to grow very old and sometimes find that people see your age before they see you.
That is one of the things I love about the book. It preserves a Jewish world that disappeared, but it is not only a Holocaust memoir. It is also the voice of a woman in her nineties still observing, questioning, remembering, complaining, learning, and writing.
As I Remember… is available in hardcover, paperback, and as a Kindle edition on Amazon, and libraries can also order it through Ingram. My aunt would have been delighted to have the group read her story.
Thread Title: Book Nomination | "CHAG SAMEACH: Happy Holidays" – Children's StoriesHello everyone in the community!
I'm reaching out with great excitement to share a special milestone and introduce my latest work. I’m Darío A. Levin, an Argentine author with several published children’s books, dedicated to creating engaging stories that help young readers connect with culture and family values.
I would love to present my book "CHAG SAMEACH: Happy Holidays", a collection of beautifully illustrated tales designed to guide families through the Jewish holidays all year round.
Available on Amazon:
You can find it both as an eBook (Kindle) and in print (paperback) using the following link:
👉 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
I would truly appreciate your vote to support this nomination, as well as an honest review or rating on Amazon. Your support as readers means the world to independent authors and helps us keep creating.
Thank you so much for your time and for this space!
Authors, thank you, thank you, thank you, for all the beautiful nominations! I did find them all on Amazon -- for various prices etc -- will write each of them up later today and add to the list as appropriate and as I come to them....
Dario wrote: "Thread Title: Book Nomination | "CHAG SAMEACH: Happy Holidays" – Children's StoriesHello everyone in the community!
I'm reaching out with great excitement to share a special milestone and introd..."
Dario, this children's holiday book sounds beautiful AND it may be more appropriate to pitch to us now on Authors Announcing Their Work. And, this time, go ahead and describe it on Jewish Children's Literature too. I'm not sure it's best competing as a book for all of us to read this October -- thinking.... Should it?
Chag Sameach – Happy Holidays: Jewish Holiday Stories and Tales for Boys and Girls: Tender, Funny, Exciting Stories and Biblical Tales to Learn About Our Roots
I'd like to nominate my memoir, A Quest for Home: Jewish Immigrant Memoir of Exile, Identity, and the Search for Belonging.The book tells the story of growing up Jewish in the Soviet Union and, over several decades, searching for and building a life across Ukraine, Lithuania, Israel, and the United States.
At its center is a question that followed me through those places: What does it mean to have a home—not simply a country where you live, but a place where you no longer have to explain who you are?
My own journey was shaped not only by immigration and Jewish identity, but also by a life in science. I graduated from Moscow Lomonosov University, worked at the Weizmann Institute in Israel, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, and Pfizer Discovery and Research.
The memoir follows that professional life alongside family, political upheaval, illness, loss, renewal, and the changing meaning of belonging.
It is not intended as a story of grievance or triumph. It is a reflection on Jewish identity, exile, assimilation, family, and the quiet work of building a life—and on how fragile even a hard-won sense of home can sometimes be.
The book is available in paperback and Kindle editions on Amazon.
I would be honored if the Jewish Book Club chose it for its reading and discussion.
Available on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0G...
Wow!!! Im thrilled to see so many nominations from our authors- and in less than 24 hrs. :)We are very extremely aware how tough it is out there to sell books these days. Wishing all of you much success in the months to come.
Hello, everyone! I'd like to nominate my book, October 7th: the day life changed for the October, 2026 selection.The book features 17 firsthand stories and interviews with Nova Festival survivors, Gaza Envelope residents, and hostage families that I gathered over my two months in Israel between February and April of 2024.
Over 420-pages, the hardcover book provides a deep insight into life before, during, and after October 7th through the accounts of those who shared their experiences and thoughts with me.
I hope that as the third anniversary of October 7th arrives, this book can be considered for our community to read, learn from, and discuss at depths; I am happy to moderate conversations, host a Zoom for readers, and work on a format together to best serve everyone -- if desired.
The book is not currently available on Amazon, but I have created a discount (using code JBC) on my website, october7thbook.com, for a $25 all-in, shipped price in the United States for our community.
(...Jan and Stacey, I know you requested Amazon-availability only, and I understand if you will have to remove this book from contention, but I tried to make it as accessible as possible for members of the JBC).
Thank you for your consideration as we look toward the holidays, a difficult October 7th anniversary, and a New Year ahead.
Mirta wrote: "I'd like to take this opportunity to nominate my latest book: KINDLE THE LIGHT OF LIBERTY: A Jewish Colonial Love Story of the American Revolution. Set in Colonial Philadelphia, ..."
OK, taking the nominations in the order in which the authors made them, the first is KINDLE THE LIGHT OF LIBERTY: A Jewish Colonial Love Story of the American Revolution
by Mirta Ines Trump, as she said, available from Amazon as an ebook and a paperback -- at the very reasonable price of $9.99 for the paperback & -- wait for it -- $.99 for Kindle. Amazon says free delivery for Prime members. It is not in my particular library.
🎺 Our first nomination 🎺
Lewis wrote: "Lewis Weinstein ... A Promise Kept is the middle book of my holocaust trilogy ... it is written, however, to also be read alone ... the book follows the two fictional characters who..."A Promise Kept: 1934 to 1946 by Lewis Weinstein is available via Amazon, $18 for the paperback and $4.99 for the Kindle; not in my particular library. Delivery of the paperback is free with Prime membership.
P.S. Putting in the subtitle helps, as there are other books by the main title.
It's our second nomination. Thanks, Lewis.
Dvora wrote: "Stories My Father Told Me: From Warsaw, Moscow, Algeria, Siberia, Kazakhstan, Dominican Republic, is based on a memoir my father wrote for me late in his life so that I would know more about his hi..."Stories My Father Told Me: From Warsaw, Moscow, Algeria, Siberia, Kazakhstan, Dominican Republic about her adventurous and resilient father is Dvora Treisman's nomination. It's $15.99 in paperback and $4.99 on Kindle from Amazon and, as she notes, also in bookstores and as a B&N ebook (as others of the nominations may be as well).
It's our 3rd nomination. Thank you, Dvora.
Back in a little while. ...You may wonder why I didn't pick a day on which I was more available. I wish there were more such days! 😅
Sherwin wrote: "I’d like to nominate As I Remember...: a memoir of a Jewish woman & her family before & after the Holocaust, written by my aunt Maria Glück ..."
Sherwin, the link you submitted is showing up as Volume 3. Is this the one volume you're submitting for the poll, and can it stand alone? Let me know if it needs to be changed.
As I Remember...: a memoir of a Jewish woman & her family before & after the Holocaust by Maria Glück and edited by Sherwin Gluck is available on Amazon in paperback for $19.95 and on Kindle for $4.99.
It's our fourth nomination.
Dario wrote: "Thread Title: Book Nomination | "CHAG SAMEACH: Happy Holidays" – Children's StoriesHello everyone in the community!
I'm reaching out with great excitement to share a special milestone and introd..."
Hi, again, Dario. (See my prior response above in Comment No. 9)
I've thought further about your nomination and am not going to accept it for this particular poll. As a children's holiday book, it is just too different, and it could lose for that reason. On the other hand, it could win just by seeming more colorful or easier reading.
What we may want to do is have a later contest for children's books written by our authors. Even so, I'm unclear how it would fit if, say, the other books were middle grade children's fiction. So, we'll be turning this around in our heads. Look back up at Comment 9 to see where else to talk about your book today.
Thanks again, Dario, for your nomination and for being a member.
Joseph wrote: "I'd like to nominate my memoir, A Quest for Home: Jewish Immigrant Memoir of Exile, Identity, and the Search for Belonging.The book tells the story of growing up Jewish in the Soviet Union and, o..."
Joseph, thanks for your nomination of A Quest for Home: Jewish Immigrant Memoir of Exile, Identity, and the Search for Belonging. It's available on Amazon for $14.99 and on Kindle for $7.99.
It's our fifth nomination.
Eitan wrote: "Hello, everyone! I'd like to nominate my book, October 7th: the day life changed for the October, 2026 selection.The book features 17 firsthand stories and interviews with Nova F..."
Thank you for your nomination, Eitan. ...Thinking....
Jan wrote: "Sherwin wrote: "I’d like to nominate As I Remember...: a memoir of a Jewish woman & her family before & after the Holocaust, written by my a..."
The link I gave is from Goodreads and is correct. The book is indeed the third volume of "The Gluck Family Legacy Series" and it can definitely stand alone.
The direct link to Amazon is www.amazon.com/dp/B0FC1CQ9ZR
Sherwin wrote: "Jan wrote: "Sherwin wrote: "I’d like to nominate As I Remember...: a memoir of a Jewish woman & her family before & after the Holocaust, wri..."
👍
Hi folks, I'd like to nominate my new translation, The Winding Road: My Childhood Years by Rokhl Feygenberg. This is a lightly fictionalized memoir of the writer's rough childhood in a tiny 1890s Belarusian shtetl. Amazingly, Feygenberg wrote this coming of age story when she was still a teenager. In The Winding Road, the narrator's father dies when she is five, and her mother dies when she is fourteen. A lot of the book concerns the three year period of her mother's illness, when young Rokhl has to take over the responsibilities of running the family store and home. The stress she's under causes her to invent a romantic interest for herself (inspired by the trash novels of the day), which lends some comic relief.
Rokhl Feygenberg herself is a fascinating character, and I wrote an extensive introduction and afterward to put the story in the context of its relevant history, and to tell more about her own life. She was one of the first professional Yiddish women writers, and she went on to become one of the most popular writers in the Eastern European Yiddish press in the 1920s and 1930s, writing novels, essays, doing pogrom journalism, and more.
And she really knew how to tell a story! -- The Winding Road is poignant and funny and also gives a vivid portrait of everyday life in the shtetl. It's an especially fascinating look at the daily lives of girls and women in an old-world shtetl. The book is easy to read but has a lot of depth and lots to talk about.
The Winding Road was published in April 2026 by Syracuse University Press and is available through all the usual vendors (Bookshop, Amazon, your favorite seller, and directly through SUP). You can also find out more about Feygenberg and my translation at mywindingroad.com.
Thanks for considering this!
Tamara wrote: "Hi folks, I'd like to nominate my new translation, The Winding Road: My Childhood Years by Rokhl Feygenberg. This is a lightly fictionalized memoir of the writer's rough childhood ..."The Winding Road: My Childhood Years is our seventh nomination. It's available via Amazon for $22.90 and with a $3.99 delivery fee. Looks like delivery could take up to two weeks. In this book's case, Kindle is actually more expensive than the book, at $29.95. (Now I see the book is originally also $29.95 and is discounted at this point.)
Tamara, thank you for the nomination of this book that you translated.
Jan wrote: "Tamara wrote: "Hi folks, I'd like to nominate my new translation, The Winding Road: My Childhood Years by Rokhl Feygenberg. This is a lightly fictionalized memoir of the writer's r..."Thanks Jan! Just a quick edit for your summary list... the writer's last name appears as Feygenberg, and my name as Tamara T. Helfer. Many thanks. :-)
Tamara wrote: "... Thanks Jan! Just a quick edit for your summary list... the writer's last name appears as Feygenberg, and my name as Tamara T. Helfer. Many thanks. :-)"Oh, I'm sorry, Tamara. Will correct.
Eitan wrote: "Hello, everyone! I'd like to nominate my book, October 7th: the day life changed for the October, 2026 selection.The book features 17 firsthand stories and interviews with Nova F...",
And Jan wrote, Thank you for your nomination, Eitan. ...Thinking...."
Eitan, the issue is that we'd be directing our members to make contact with an outside source. At first I was thinking a disclaimer would work -- and it would, as long as you didn't win.
In other words we'd be reminding members that even though they met you here on the Jewish Book Club, they would need to use their own discretion in contacting you to get the book etc. And reminding them that they'd be dealing with an emotional topic so not to let that overwhelm their discretion. And that would be fine -- as I say, as long as you didn't win. But if you DID win, then the Jewish Book Club would be directing members to be in contact with you.
So I'm going back to the understanding you originally expressed in your comment No. 12 (above) and not including October 7th: the day life changed in this month's competition.
Thanks so much, Eitan.
Hi everyone! I'm honored to nominate my first book, a true crime story called THE CRATE. THE CRATE is the intimate account of a gruesome murder that involved my family of Hungarian Holocaust survivors. We discovered a wooden crate, nailed tightly shut and hidden underneath our idyllic lake house in Muskoka, Canada. We were not prepared for the grisly contents of the crate; it turned out to contain a woman. The discovery rocked my family. My husband and I had young children to protect, my brother became the primary murder suspect, and worst of all, my fragile parents were traumatized: the crime dredged up their memories of the Shoah – of surviving ghettos, concentration camps, cattle cars, death marches – and forced them to confront violence yet again. The discovery and investigation, trial, and aftermath are intertwined as evil in the past and evil in the present converge in the narrative.
THE CRATE won seven literary awards and its themes of antisemitsm and violence against Jews are more relevant now than ever. It's available on Amazon in paperback, e-book, and audio. Thanks for considering!
Hello everyone, I'd like to nominate the first installment of my Tikun Tapestry Weavers book series: 'Chronicles of the Quantum Arcana: Sovereign Breath I'
For your consideration, my story: a portrait of fierce maternal love, and a window into the hidden world of parents navigating childhood illness. Available on Kindle for only $2.99 and in print on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
I am a publicist, so I hope it is okay for me to nominate the book that I am currently pitching? The author is busy getting ready for his launch event tomorrow night in Detroit. He is the featured author of kicking off the 50th Detroit Jewish Book Fair, with almost 500 tickets sold! Each guest will be receiving a hardcover copy of "The Best Day".
What if your worst day could become your best day?
The Best Day: A Memoir of Finding Joy, Inspiration, Resilience, and Hope is a story-driven memoir by Joseph H. Krakoff, a hospice chaplain who has devoted his life to visiting, comforting, and counseling people during the most profound moments of their lives. Told as a collection of 18 true stories, the book is equally suited to reading cover to cover, a single chapter at a sitting, or selected stories for book clubs and group discussions. Rabbi Krakoff is President and CEO of the Jewish Hospice and Chaplaincy Network (JHCN) in West Bloomfield, Michigan, and the author of Never Long Enough: Finding Comfort and Hope Amidst Grief and Loss.
If you are looking for a memoir or short story collection about finding joy in difficult times, this book will inspire you with true stories that show how an ordinary person can discover that life’s hardest moments can become doorways into wisdom, peace, and unexpected happiness. How could the day you were fired become a best day in retrospect? How could there be anything good about being trapped inside an elevator plunging toward the ground? You’ll find such surprising transformations in these pages.
That’s why best-selling author Brian D. McLaren said, “I love Rabbi Krakoff’s book. He defines happiness as ‘a lifelong spiritual journey of reclaiming our resilience when bad things happen, and fully appreciating the wonderment of the good things that happen.’ Through memorable stories from his life and ministry, and meaningful reflections on Scripture, Krakoff invites all of us deeper into that kind of spiritual journey in The Best Day.”
And, there’s so much more in these 18 stories. If you have ever wondered what hospice work and end-of-life care can teach the rest of us about how to live, Krakoff opens the door to this world, too. You will meet Ron, a man who moved home to die and instead lived another 13 months in which he experienced some of the best days of his life. You will learn from people nearing the end of life who have quietly taught him about love, peace, and what truly matters.
If you are searching for a path to hope after grief or hardship, The Best Day draws on the Bible and the world’s great spiritual traditions, including Psalm 90's call to "number our days that we may attain a heart of wisdom." The Best Day is a perfect gift for caregivers, grieving readers, hospice and palliative care professionals, book clubs, and anyone who wants to live with more gratitude, presence, and resilience.
The best day of your life may still be ahead.
Thank you for your consideration. I hope that I did not break any rules. : )
Hi there. Nominating my book Halabiyah. Aleppo, in the last decades of Ottoman rule. Moise Shama has his father's blue eyes and his place in the family cotton trade. When his family sends him to Manchester, he leaves behind his city and a betrothal to a girl he has only just met. What he can't leave behind is the part of himself that, in his world, would ruin him.Regina marries into the Shamas from the banking families of Damascus — quick, restless, built for a wider life than the one arranged for her. She comes to love her husband, who is gentle and devoted and never entirely hers. Across years and oceans, she pieces together the shape of what he hides.
From the souks of Aleppo to the mills of Manchester, the harbor at Port-au-Prince to the streets of Alexandria, the Shamas remake themselves while empires around them shift and come apart. Drawn from the author's own family history, Halabiyah is a novel about a marriage built on secrets and silence — and how much we can love a person we are never permitted to fully know.
Available on Amazon in print and ebook. Let me know if you need more details.
Thank you all. Thanks for the plethora of nominations❣️
I am now going to proceed in the order these came in.
...and stop when I get to eight. 😢
Deborah wrote: "Hi everyone! I'm honored to nominate my first book, a true crime story called THE CRATE. THE CRATE is the intimate account of a gruesome murder that involved my family of Hungarian Holocaust surv..."
Deborah, thanks for your nomination. It's our No. 7. (See list in 2nd comment box, above). Sounds like a good read that has been well received. I did check our bookshelf to be sure it's not already on it.
It's available for $12.18 new from Amazon and also available used, very economically. (On AbeBooks, it's less than $5.00, including everything except tax.)
Sipporah wrote: "Hello everyone, I'd like to nominate the first installment of my Tikun Tapestry Weavers book series: 'Chronicles of the Quantum Arcana: Sovereign Breath I'[bookcover:Chronicles of the Quantum Arca..."
Sipporah, is it an adult book? I need to know by tomorrow AM.
$5.00 for this short book, delivered free with Amazon Prime; Kindle $.99.
Pamela wrote: "For your consideration, my story: a portrait of fierce maternal love, and a window into the hidden world of parents navigating childhood illness. Available on Kindle for only $2.99 and in print on ..."The Boy with the Backward Heart: A Memoir of Love, Adoption, and the Search for a Medical Cure
Pamela, thanks for your nomination. You are our substitute nomination for our 8th entry if the prior one turns out to be a kid's book and has to wait for a later poll. So I need to know ASAP in what way your book is a Jewish book. It wasn't obvious to me (and hope I didn't overlook something). Thanks!
Susan wrote: "I am a publicist, so I hope it is okay for me to nominate the book that I am currently pitching? The ..."
Thank you, Susan. It's fine for the nomination to come from the publicist. But it appears we'll have the 8 nominations we requested. Be alert for next time we do this.
The book sounds like one I could use to read these days!
Just in case, it's being released tomorrow? Or at least before October? 🙂
I would like to nominate my dual-timeline historical WW2 novel, Across A Starlit Sky. From the dark alleys of Nazi-occupied Amsterdam to the perilous secrets of 17th-century Portugal, two women's destinies are bound by a hidden past that refuses to stay buried.
Winner of the Literary Titan Gold Book Award, Across a Starlit Sky weaves a gripping tale of love, faith, and survival under impossible circumstances across three centuries.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
Terrence wrote: "Hi there. Nominating my book Halabiyah. Aleppo, in the last decades of Ottoman rule. Moise Shama has his father's blue eyes and his place in the family cotton trade. When his family sends him to Ma..."Halabiyah
Thank you, Terrence. We'll have our eight, so keep alert for next time. And good luck with your book.
Susan wrote: "I would like to nominate my dual-timeline historical WW2 novel, Across A Starlit Sky. From the dark alleys of Nazi-occupied Amsterdam to the perilous secrets of 17th-century Portugal, two women's ..."
Across A Starlit Sky: WWII Historical Fiction
Thank you, Susan. We have our eight, so be alert for when we do this again!
No more nominations this cycle, authors. Thanks!
Gosh, maybe I'm being too sensitive, but I see a world of difference between an author who wrote the book nominating (when we can't any other time), and a publicist who had nothing to do with the creation of the book nominating it. It seems to me that a publicist, cover designer, etc. should be able to nominate their book at any time, and not during the time reserved for authors.Jan wrote: "Susan wrote: "
I am a publicist, so I hope it is okay for me to nominate the book that I am currently ..."
Dvora wrote: "Gosh, maybe I'm being too sensitive, but I see a world of difference between an author who wrote the book nominating (when we can't any other time), and a publicist who had nothing to do with the c..."Well, we usually don't let authors or interested parties nominate. So we had y'all all in one basket as verboten so same thing reversed when it came to nominating. No, we don't let anybody with an interest in a book nominate their books. (I usually include "mom" as well).
P.S. I think this time around we've also had an editor and a translator!
ATTENTION:
2nd request
Sipporah, is your nominated book for adults? Comment No. 35, above
Pamela, does your book have a Jewish theme? Comment No. 36, above
Answer needed for your nominations to be included in this month's poll, which will be set up for tonight.
Okay -- poll ready to go at 12:01 AM Eastern Daylight tonight (actually the morning of the 28th.Explanation of our nomination No. 8, which is Across A Starlit Sky: WWII Historical Fiction by Susan Shalev.
Unfortunately no reply from Sipporah or Pamela.
It turns out that, while the publicist of The Best Day: A Memoir of Finding Joy, Inspiration, Resilience, and Hope, who nominated the book, is a member, the author, Joseph H. Krakoff, is not. So he's not eligible.
I then proceeded to become confused as to which of the last two authors, Susan Shaleve or Terrence Levine, was first in line, so I have thrown up my hands and added both to the poll.
Finally, since I'd just made the point of an author's book not being eligible because he's not a member, I looked back up at this month's cases of an editor and a translator.
In both those cases the author is no longer living, but in both those cases, Sherwin Gluck and Tamara Helfer have each been quite involved in the writing of their books and the preservation of the stories, so that one might reasonably assert that they're co-authors, so, no, I'm not going to remove them. They are staying in. 😅
These issues are a first. Whew!
Next time I can be stricter in the explaining the requirements, including that nominators need to monitor the thread in case questions do arise.
Anyway, quite a panel of books!
The poll is now live, and tomorrow I'll send out a group-wide notice to vote.
Which of these books by one of our members who's an author should we read in October?
Gotcha'Jan wrote: "Dvora wrote: "Gosh, maybe I'm being too sensitive, but I see a world of difference between an author who wrote the book nominating (when we can't any other time), and a publicist who had nothing to..."
Deborah wrote: "Hi everyone! I'm honored to nominate my first book, a true crime story called THE CRATE. THE CRATE is the intimate account of a gruesome murder that involved my family of Hungarian Holocaust surv..."
This sounds absolutely horrible and disgusting! Naturally, I had to vote for it and just purchased the book!
J wrote: "Deborah wrote: "Hi everyone! I'm honored to nominate my first book, a true crime story called THE CRATE. THE CRATE is the intimate account of a gruesome murder that involved my family of Hungaria..."
🤣
Authors: you get to nominate your own book this time . Choose the one you think members would most like to read. It needs to be available in hard copy so that our Orthodox members can read it anytime, and it needs to be available over Amazon. If also available as an ebook or in libraries, so much the better. And, if not obvious, it needs to have a Jewish theme.
We will take nominations through this Thursday August 27 or until we get up to eight nominations, whichever comes 1st.
*This time, these nominations and the poll to follow are for our authors who are already members, to be voted on by current members. So, while new Jewish Book Club members are always welcome, for this particular cycle, you newbies as of today (Aug. 23) can't nominate your own book (if an author) or vote on this particular poll.
Tomorrow, members will get a notification about these nominations, but if you're an author and you see this post, go ahead and nominate. First come, first serve.
Stacey and I will vet for availability or other issues. (I won't be available for parts of tomorrow, but Ah'll be bahk, to coin a phrase.)
If I forgot to say anything here, look for it in a comment. 😊