Jewish Book Club discussion
Nominations
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Nominations for our book of October 2023
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Mod
Kristel,
Maybe not "cozy", but certainly a good book.
I would nominate "The Ritual Bath" by Faye Kellerman but I think we already discussed that? If so, how about "Friday the Rabbi Slept Late" by Harry Hemelman? I enjoyed the series years ago. Maybe time to read it again?
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Once We Were Brothers is not on our shelf, possibly because it hails from 2010, and this group wasn't launched until 2015. It's available used over the internet plus likely to be in libraries. It's our first nomination in this genre. 😊
Mod
Yes, we read The Ritual Bath in April 2016.
But Friday the Rabbi Slept Late is not on our shelf.
Author Harry Kemelman. It was originally published in '64 and won an Edgar award the next year. Reissued in 1986. Amazon has it for $4.67, but not Prime, so have to add another $3.99 postage. Their used copies are in the $8 range. Kindle of course, and it's included ("free") with Audible.com membership. Still in the library.
So, it's our second nomination.
Mod
Click around on the sources (above) as a reminder.
Mod
I recommend “Abomination” by Ashley Goldberg
…also, can readers please also be mindful about book availability for international Jews. For example, the last book nominated isn’t available in Australia or presumably elsewhere else.
Mod
Sorry, Benjamin. I think you're talking about the Rabbi Small series. Must be because it's so old! Maybe will leave that one in as sort of a classic but avoid others like that for the rest of these nominations. Thanks for bringing that up.
Mod
Milk and Honey by Faye Kellerman looks good. Available used from the internet + still likely to be in libraries.
First let me ask: Benjamin, can you find this one in Australia? It's 2002 vintage.
The Hotel Cuba one was impossible to get internationally unless it was imported from the US
Mod
How about Milk and Honey?
Mod
Abomination won the 2023 Jewish Book Award for debut fiction. I'm inclined to put it in out of fairness. It is available here on Amazon in kindle or book format although no cut-rate bargain -- about $15 -- and not in libraries. Voters could keep that in mind when making their choice. BUT -- and it's a big "but" -- is it a mystery? Not being listed in that category by reviewers. How is it a mystery? Untangling the aftermath of the scandal that the blurb talks about?
Hi -- oh craps, I missed that !! sorry! Argh! Please ignore my suggestion and mark it for another time.'Milk and Honey' is available on Kindle here -- does it matter that it's Book 3 in the series?
Mod
'Milk and Honey' is available on Kindle here -- does it matter that it's Book 3 in the series?"
Hi
Book Three is the one Brina nominated so your good to go.
Mod
Once We Were Brothers is not on our shelf, p..."
Amazon
Kindle
$9.99
Other Used and New from $1.23
Kindle Price: $9.99
Mod
Milk and Honey by Faye Kellerman looks go..."
Benjamin wrote: "Hi -- oh craps, I missed that !! sorry! Argh! Please ignore my suggestion and mark it for another time.
'Milk and Honey' is available on Kindle here -- does it matter that it's Book 3 in the series?"
Amazon ...... Milk and Honey
Kindle
$7.99
Paperback
from $11.18
Other Used, New, Collectible from $1.35
Mod
1. Once We Were Brothers
2. Friday the Rabbi Slept Late
3. Milk and Honey
We have a ways to go! 🤔
Anybody know any good current mysteries?
Benjamin, it shouldn't matter that Milk and Honey isn't the first of the series. Any advice on that, Brina?
And Benjamin, do you have another nomination for us? (BTW, you're not the 1st to want to read Abomination. That book has come up before.)
Mod
Mod
Not everyone's going to read the first two to get to Milk and Honey if it wins. It may not be ideal, but would they have any idea what's going on?
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Mod
Thanks, Brina. 👍
I’d like to nominate “The Rabbi Who Prayed With Fire” by Rachel Sharona Lewis. If you’ve ever been on a Temple Board of Trustees, you’ll appreciate it! It is self- published and on Amazon so not sure of availability internationally, etc.
Mod
Hi, Melissa. Thanks. That's exciting -- a 2021 book, $13.99 new on Amazon (although they say only 19 left in stock), used books available in the $9 range (including postage), and it is on Kindle for aroung $9. Gives new meaning to the expression "Pray like your hair's on fire." 😜
I think it's fine.
Haven't discussed yet with Stacey, but we can't please everybody all the time at the same time. What we can do is consider some of these availability, expense, and preference issues via the Moderator's Choice -- one reason we've been having two books each month.
So, The Rabbi Who Prayed with Fire is Nomination No. 4.
Jan wrote: "Benjamin wrote: "The Hotel Cuba one was impossible to get internationally unless it was imported from the US"How about Milk and Honey?"
I read it so long ago that I'd love to read it again. Love Faye Kellermann! Should be plenty of used, inexpensive copies out there.
Mod
I read it so long ago that I'd love to read it again. Love Faye Kellermann! Should be plenty of used, inexpensive copies out there.
It's one of the nominations. Thanks, Shanah.
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Mod
There have been some good ones published within the last two years.
Brina wrote: "Shanah I love these books and want to reread. I feel Rina and I would be friends in real life. It’s sad that the series is complete."Brina, I loved loved the series until the Deckers moved to New York. Different ethos. I thought the first four or five novels were the best, but I felt like Kellerman was winding it down with the move. Gentle closure for Decker fans. I guess once a California baby, always a California baby :)
It's always inspiring when practicing Judaism becomes part of the story in a positive way. I think all her readers loved that.
Mod
I am not a big mystery fan, though my husband , who is not Jewish, reads all the mystery authors. Occasionally I will read one or two. When he came to the Kellerman books, he would ask me what does this word mean, can you explain what they are talking about. Over the years he has been getting an interesting education. When he read Faye Kellerman’s book The Ritual Bath, he told me I might like it because it had a lot of Jewish refences. So if one of the books by either Faye or Jonathan had a lot of good references, I would read it. On one of our trips we listened to the audio of The Golem of Hollywood. It even brought in Rabbi Judah Loew, the Maharal of Prague. We followed it up a while later with the Golem of Paris. I liked the first one better because I enjoyed the tie - in with Rabbi Loew. The second one had more of a cloak and dagger attitude. If you want to take the Golem of Hollywood, as a nomination, it is from 2014 and should be widely available.
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Irene, it doesn't look like you've made a nomination yet. Would you like to nominate the one you just mentioned, The Golem of Hollywood? It's by Jonathan, not Faye, and I don't remember ever seeing it on our bookshelf.
Sorry for the confusion. The Golem of Hollywood, and Golem of Paris are by Jesse Kellerman, their son. I'd like to nominate Golem of Hollywood.
Mod
Okay, here we go: Nomination No. 5 is The Golem of Hollywood -- by both Jonathan and Jesse Kellerman. Now I'm remembering. Although I haven't read it, I was a library volunteer at my temple when it was published. :) Thank you for that, Irene.
Mod
1) Once We Were Brothers
2) Friday the Rabbi Slept Late
3) Milk and Honey
4) The Rabbi Who Prayed with Fire
5) The Golem of Hollywood
Awaiting numbers 6, 7, and 8 ... (✿♥̃ ͜ʖ♥̃)
Jan wrote: "M wrote: "I would nominate "The Ritual Bath" by Faye Kellerman but I think we already discussed that? If so, how about "Friday the Rabbi Slept Late" by Harry Hemelman? I enjoyed the series years ag..."
Great series. I've read almost all of them.
Jan wrote: "Okay, so1. Once We Were Brothers
2. Friday the Rabbi Slept Late
3. Milk and Honey
We have a ways to go! 🤔
Anybody know any good current mysteries?
Ben..."
Walter Mosley is half Jewish. His Easy Rawlins mysteries are very interesting. I've read all 3 books listed so far. A lot of people like Daniel Silva/Silwa?
Mod
Thank you, Judith. Walter Mosley would be a new addition to our bookshelf! I did read about his Jewish ancestry. Do any of his books include a Jewish theme? (We're not too strict!) Which of them would you like to nominate?
Not sure if it’s on the shelf, but Jewish and mystery brings to mind Michael Chabon and The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, A Novel. That would be my nomination.
Mod
Maida, thanks, but, yes, we read it in September of 2016. 📚
Always open to more comments, though. Discussion of The Yiddish Policemen's Union
Please make another nomination if you'd like; feel free to look through the sources in the comment up at the beginning of this discussion.
Maida wrote: "Not sure if it’s on the shelf, but Jewish and mystery brings to mind Michael Chabon and The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, A Novel. That would be my nomination."Chabon is a very good suggestion. I recently read The Final Solution, which I enjoyed and it is a mystery.
Mod
A good idea, Kristel.
You already made a nomination (thanks!)
Do we have somebody else who would like to nominate Michael Chabon's The Final Solution? (or a nomination of your choice?)
Mod
1) Once We Were Brothers
2) Friday the Rabbi Slept Late
3) Milk and Honey
4) The Rabbi Who Prayed with Fire
5) The Golem of Hollywood
This time, Stacey and I are going to complete the slate with 3 more:
6) Dinner at the Center of the Earth
7) Prince of Fire
8) The Prison Minyan
The poll will start tomorrow at midnight. 🙂
Jewish Book Club
Books mentioned in this topic
The Prison Minyan (other topics)Milk and Honey (other topics)
The Golem of Hollywood (other topics)
Once We Were Brothers (other topics)
Friday the Rabbi Slept Late (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Ronald H. Balson (other topics)Ronald H. Balson (other topics)
Ronald H. Balson (other topics)
Ronald H. Balson (other topics)
Nominations will be taken through Wednesday August 23 or until we get our eight, whichever comes first. After we have our nominations we'll have the poll.
Some examples to get your thoughts flowing:
A friend came across the intriguing book The Prison Minyan by Jonathan Stone about a Jewish study group in the only Jewish prison in America.
Death of a Dancing Queen by Kimberly G. Giarratano is the first of a new series featuring would-be P.I. Billie Levine who right away gets in over her head.
Takes One to Know One by Susan Isaacs features a woman who's traded in her FBI badge for marriage and family but finds she can take herself out of the FBI but can't take the FBI mentality out of herself.
Laura Lippman's Lady in the Lake (and featuring Baltimore, where my father was from)
Other sources of ideas:
"Jews in Cozy Mysteries" -- Crime Spree Magazine
https://crimespreemag.com/jews-in-coz...
Library Thing, recommendations for Jewish mysteries
https://www.librarything.com/topic/78167
A recommendation for a 2017 book from Amazon: Long in the Sleuth: A Tension on a Pension Mystery Paperback
https://www.amazon.com/Long-Sleuth-Te...
And not to be omitted, Goodreads' list:
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/9...
The above examples and sources are suggestions you may use but you don't have to. Disclosure: I haven't read my suggestions and examples; just going on what I could glean.
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]
Please proceed with your nominations even if we don't reply right away. (I have a dental appointment today, but don't want to postpone nominations any longer.) We'll vet your nominations in the order they were made, and thanks for nominating.