Jewish Book Club discussion
Literary Chat & Other Book Stuff
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WHAT ARE YOU READING? A place for remarks, recommendations or reviews
Mod
Hi, Jack, and thanks for your comment and for being a member!
This thread is to talk about the books we're reading, though. The book review would probably fit best at the Book Announcements thread: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
I did read the review but would prefer to talk about it over there, if you'd care to re-post! Pretty-please? 😘
Mod
Will do."
Todah! 🙂
I just finished The Red Sea Spies, by Raffi Berg, about the secret missions to rescue Ethiopian Jews. I can also recommend The film Red Sea Diving Resort which is based on this story.
Mod
They were good.
"Operation Moses" was such an impressive undercover rescue. Who would have thought to create a diving resort. :)
Makes me proud.
There's another book called "Mossad Exodus...- by Gad Shimron.
Written from a slightly different angle.
I was lucky in having the privilege to meet him the last time I was in Israel..
Stories were amazing- blew me away.
ApeirogonThis is a magnificently written kaleidoscope of a novel full of fascinating metaphors, aphorisms and anecdotes. At its core, are an Israeli and a Palestinian. Both have lost a daughter to the conflict. Their separate tragedies draw them together in a friendship that defies all odds. The book lays bare the endless cycle of violence and revenge that has beset The Holy Land for decades.
It MUST be read by anyone interested in the Israel - Palestine conflict. If you are left-wing, it will encapsulate all you have hated about The Occupation but it will give you a breath of hope. If you are right-wing, you will hate this book. But read it to its end and it might just spark in you a smidgeon of doubt.
As the Palestinian protagonist puts it, it is an achievement ''To shift just one mind.''
I just read Florence Adler Swims Forever, which I highly recommend. There’s a zoom book talk by the author on Wednesday, sponsored by the Jewish Book Council. I’m sorry I don’t have the link, but anyone interested can just search for Jewish Book Council online and you’ll find it. Florence Adler is a young woman who has been training for some time to swim the English Channel; if successful, she would be only the second woman to do so. Sadly, and this is not a spoiler as it not only happens at the beginning of the book but sets the stage for the entire story, she drowns in her first open water training swim for the summer (in the Atlantic Ocean), despite having a lifeguard in a rowboat beside her.
While the opening scenes are certainly tragic, the book is a wonderful insight into how a Jewish family (and the not Jewish lifeguard, who has a starring role as the story unfolds) in the first third of the twentieth century are affected by and manage loss. The characters come to full, multi-dimensional life on the page, and there are parts that made me laugh and parts that made me cry.
Jan, at some point when the book is relatively affordable (I was privileged to read an ARC on NetGalley), this would be a great book of the month for us.
Mod
Please show up, everybody, when it's nomination time! It might not be a bad idea to peruse this page when coming up with nominations. ♥
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Another second from me too.
Great book!!!!
Fantastic article Stacey, I had no idea the cause of his death was so disputed. It was one of those moments in your life like where were you , when you got the news that the hostages had been rescued.
So fitting that it was on the Bicentennial.
Mod
The timing was perfect.
There are those who dispute the politics of the rescue at Entebbe regarding Yoni's role (Yonatan) Netanyahu, and some refusing to call him a hero.
Many felt he was not part of the planning stages, and shouldn't have been where he was.
To that point - the nucleus of the rescue was dependent on the Sayaret Metkal unit, where Yoni was the lead.
He met with Peres who was Defense Minister, going through logistics, and Peres did- end up signing off; although there was a lack of confidence in the mission as time was running out.
We all know how it played out.
To say Yonatan no hero; I feel is selfish.
Mod
Did you start or finish the new book?
The women who love GA all say the same thing. Silva created a green eyed character who is complex, yet owns the right morals and values; except- for the assassin issue. :)
His last book ended in a style I believe he has never done before. Could be for a few reasons, but waiting until July 14th is cruel.
I responded to you not looking at what topic it was under, and didn't think bf I wrote back in the wrong place. I am going to delete mine, but not yours.
We brought him to our community to speak.
You wont believe this, but I actually sent him an email the day before, asking him to bring his black leather jacket with him..
He must have thought I have some underlying issues and then some.
I just wanted to auction it off at the event; not sleep in it. :)
I will posit the following two books as very much worth reading:The Lost Wife, by Alyson Richman, and The White Hotel, by D.M. Thomas, both being Holocaust books.
Mod
The Lost Wife, by Alyson Richman, and The White Hotel, by D.M. Thomas, both being Holocaust books."
It seems you've been reading some classics, and I haven't read them, Bruce, but notice they have hundreds of readers!
P.S. I went to your home page and clicked on your blog but had to try it with a period instead of that comma to make it work!
I’ve wanted to read The White Hotel since it came out. Never heard of The Lost Wife so will check it out.I was telling my partner last week who isn’t Jewish,that when I was growing up in the sixties and seventies my mother was always reading these massive Jewish Themed novels-like Howard Fast,and the covers always had a picture of a tormented woman with a mogen Dovid on with a shtetl burning in the background. The Thorn Birds for the Jewish set. Most of these books were immigrant rags to riches stories. So I was telling him that the genre seemed to have disappeared and when I left the city where I grew up I took my mothers soapy Jewish tomes and I’ve never been able to part with them. But just last week I realized those Jewish historical novels continue to be written and although the covers have changed,they’re very much intended for a Jewish audience. I found this out by searching for Jewish titles in my library. There are tons of these books still being written.
Jan is going to laugh as I’m all of a sudden posting so much. Jewish books,mostly fiction are my thing but on goodreads I pretty much hang out in another forum.But I just wanted to mention an audio book I finished today. No Jewish characters but a great listen or read. Its called Recipes for a Good Life. No spoiler-there are two narrators in the book because the plot takes part in different decades. One plot is heart-breakingly beautiful. Just sent my mother a copy which is something I never do.
I don’t read reviews until the book is finished and there is a lot of praise for this book,but a couple of people mentioned perfect for a book club,and I know I’m paranoid but having read the book that comment struck me as meaning perfect for women. If anything this is a book every man should read,particularly teenage boys. It’s great and extremely affecting.
Mod
But I just wanted to mention an aud..."
Alan- is this book written by D.M. Thomas? I havent read it, not sure it''s a me book.
No jewish characters, but the topic has to do with the Holocaust, Freud, sex, and a white hotel, which I would guess is a facility where Freud practices?
Yes, Jan will laugh. You hang out on your Yiddish site?? Were you or are you active in the Yiddish theatre in nyc?
Stacey yes it’s The White Hotel.Never been involved with Yiddish theatre although dreamt about doing graduate work on it at one point. Thank-fully I then woke up-I mean about graduate work not the Yiddish Theatre.
Mod
Great sense of humor Alan!!
Mod
But I just wanted to mention an audio book I finished today. No Jewish characters but a great listen or read. Its called Recipes for a Good Life..."
Hey, Alan, I can't find Recipes for a Good Life among all the cookbooks by that name, which I gather it's not. (😄 There! A chuckle!) What's the author's name?
Sorry,it’s Recipe for a Good Wife-it’s a novel.
Mod
Hi Everybody, I don't know if this is the place to enter some of my thoughts, but I guess I'll just plunge in! I never knew of the existence of this group which is unusual, since I have been an active member of Goodreads for 11 years!Briefly, I just finished reading, My Mother's Son , by David Hirshberg (a pseudonym). It was excellent, partly because it involved some of my childhood years and my neighborhoods. I could say more, but I do recommend it.
Mod
This is the place, Barbara!
There are so many more books than I get to. So I'm glad to be reminded of this one, which seems a little familiar, and I probably read reviews at the time. One of the uses of people posting about what they're reading!
Mod
I was telling my partner last week who isn’t Jewish,that when I was growing up in the sixties and seventies my mother was always reading these massive Jewish Themed novels-like Ho..."
Alan, are they what you'd call Jewish romance?
Mod
Susan, if you attended the Zoom, you probably already saw this, but just in case, here it is; came in an email today: https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/pb-...
I read the 1st part, & I guess isn't a spoiler if that's the pretext from which the book takes off. Now that I understand the title, it's soooo sad!
Yes Jewish romances.I love the Jewish Book Council. Who knew so many Jewish themed books are published regularly.
Finished Girl in the Blue Coat,
. No idea why it’s not the..Anyways,when I picked it up I hadn’t realized it is ya. It is a book about a Dutch Christian teen who becomes part of the resistance during the war and looks for a Jewish girl who has disappeared from her hiding place. I’ve never read ya before but I think this is an interesting novel for a teen who is interested in the war. The book is full of details about Amsterdam and Dutch food so if one is into that it is good too. Ya isn’t my thing though.
Mod
Glad to see another post from you, even if you were responding to her question re jewish romances. :)
-Stacey
Mod
I bought it two years ago. I agree it’s a beautiful book. Maybe I’ll order one again.
Although non-Jewish, am reading nonfiction The Human Past by Christopher Scarre as well as Sharon Kay Penmans book, When Christ and his saints slept. ( both non-Jewish)
Barbara H wrote: "Hi Everybody, I don't know if this is the place to enter some of my thoughts, but I guess I'll just plunge in! I never knew of the existence of this group which is unusual, since I have been an act..."
Loved the book :) i also reviewed it for Fresh Fiction.
Loved the book :) i also reviewed it for Fresh Fiction.
Mod
Brenda, glad you got hold of a good one! When we take nominations again, please consider nominating it, when it fits the category we're looking to fill.
P.S. To everybody: we are skipping the nominations & poll this month since they would have coincided with the High Holidays. Will pick back up the next month.
Mod
"Highly Illogical Behavior"
Although not a jewish themed book, I enjoyed this book, and simply wanted to share it.
I am never discouraged to read a Y/A book if the subject is of interest.
This is a wonderful sensitive story about a thirteen yr old boy who became an agoraphobiac.
You cant help but love Solomon who we meet in his third year of being house-bound.
This kid has a witty sense of humor, happens to be quite charming, and an incredible set of brains. For a teen to not have left his house, he is up to date on just about everything.
His parents are great with him, but it is his grandmother who really"gets" him.
The story covers many current topics, but you can read that on the back cover.
His mother is rightly concerned because he has no friends until an opportunity arises where Solomon has a choice to make.
Many think curing someone who is an agoraphobiac is easier than curing an acute illness.
You may think begging, prodding and rationalizing to someone in just taking a baby step outside their front door will do the trick.. It would be amazing if it were true.
Solomon will make you proud, but it doesn't mean you wont shed a tear.
Stacey wrote: "I finished a book called "Highly Illogical Behavior"
Although not a jewish themed book, I enjoyed this book, and simply wanted to share it.
I am never discouraged to read a Y/A book if the subject..."
Why is this in the Jewish Book Club? I'm sure it's a good book, but it could be reviewed in the usual places!
Mod
Hi, Barbara. The answer is that this is the topic "What Are You Reading?" So, could be anything! It's not a book-of-the-month, which are Jewish books.
What are you reading?
I'll add that Stacey is perfectly capable of answering for herself -- and is probably doing it right now which is what usually happens. 😊
Somehow, my question was directed to you, Jan. I believed it was asked of the person who wrote the review. It is unclear to me how this happens.
I just finished The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult. A good book for discussion; however, I didn't like the ending.
Mod
Happens because this isn't a private message but a discussion forum.
Welcome to the Jewish Book Club, Barbara. Your second stint? Find out more about us in "Latest Announcements" (see the home page).
Mod
Also finally finished last month's poll winner. 😅
I read the Storyteller a few years back. I thought it was an a fantastic book. Picoult really did a great job of bringing her character to life. A great book about the Holocaust for people that do not like reading about it.
I’m currently reading A Daring Sacrifice, An Hour Unspent, They Called Us Enemy, and Live Original: How the Duck Commander Teen Keeps It Real and Stays True to Her Values.Loving them all!
ClaraBelle wrote: "I’m currently reading A Daring Sacrifice, An Hour Unspent, They Called Us Enemy, and [book:Live Original: How the Duck Commander Teen Keeps It Real a..."how can you read 4 books at once??? I'm impressed!
Mod
Sounds a bit like Isaac Babel’s short stories
Mod
So interesting! I didn’t know about this Grossman either nor the historical context of these two writers. But Babel’s short stories are brilliant.
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