This & That Challenge General Info and Book Lists

[chysodema]

Read books to fulfill the following prompts. You may choose to read books to fulfill one prompt from each pair (5 total, "This or That") or both prompts in each pair (10 total, "This and That").

1. Read a book with a religious Jewish main character + Read a book with a secular/cultural/ethnically Jewish main character

2. Read a book published in 2025 + Read a book published before 1975

3. Read a book featuring a Jewish food you've never tasted + Read book featuring a main character from a place you've never been

4. Read a book set in Israel + Read a book set in the Diaspora

5. Read from a genre in which you've never before read a Jewish book + Read a Jewish book from your favorite genre, write a review, and send a note of appreciation to the author

Book Lists:
Prompt 1:
Books with a religious Jewish main character: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...
Books with a secular/cultural/ethnically Jewish main character: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...

Prompt 2:
Books published or going to be published in 2025: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...
Books published before 1975: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...

Prompt 3:
Books featuring Jewish foods (please specify the foods when adding to the list!): https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...
Books featuring Jewish main characters from outside the US (please specify the character's origin when adding to the list!): https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...

Prompt 4:
Books set in Israel: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...
Any book not set in Israel is set in the Diaspora, we won't be doing a book list for those

Prompt 5:
Check out our lists of books by genre to find books for this pair of prompts: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Mary]

Prompt 1: I'll try this challenge of books with Jewish characters
✔1. The Life of Herod the Great a book with a religious Jewish main character (Jewish religious leaders and Herod's wives)
✔2. In Search of Lost Time, Vol. III: The Guermantes Way (v. 3) by Proust, Marcel Paperback(1998/11/3) a book with a secular/cultural/ethnically Jewish main character (Proust is ethnically Jewish as is Charles Swann, one of the novel's characters).

[Amy]

This looks really fun! I am in!

[Rebecca]

Jordan wrote: "Prompt 1: I'll try this challenge of books with Jewish characters
1. The Life of Herod the Great a book with a religious Jewish main character (Jewish religious leaders and Herod's..."

Ooh what an interesting pair! I'm trying to do This And That too and I've just finished my pre-1975 read - Souls on Fire: Portraits and Legends of Hasidic Masters. Next I need to find a 2025 book to pick up!

[Deb]

Here are some books I read for this challenge:
The Chosen (a religious main character)
Shred Sisters, Bug Hollow, Signal Fires (secular characters)
Fagin The Thief (published 2025)
Are You There God It's Me Margaret (published before 1975)
The Safekeep (set in the diaspora)
The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo (favorite genre)