Jewish American Heritage Month
The Unamericans by Call Number: FICTION ANTOPOLTraces the experiences of protagonists from a range of cultures, including a blacklisted Hollywood actor who struggles to connect with his son, and a dissenting gallery worker who begins smuggling and curating underground art.
The Biology of Luck by Call Number: FICTION APPELOdd-job queen Starshine Hart is about to go on somebody else's perfect date. Her lovers include one of the last underground members of the Weathermen and the dilettante heir to a lawn chair magnate. Both men have staked their romantic future on her. Her only respite is her impending dinner with the non-threatening but unattractive tour guide, Larry Bloom. But Larry, too, has a stake in her future. He has written a book about their impending dinner in which he fantasizes about Starshine's life on the day he wins her heart.
No One Is Here Except All of Us by Call Number: FICTION AUSUBELIn 1939, the families in a remote Jewish village in Romania feel the war close in on them. Danger is imminent in every direction, yet the territory of imagination and belief is limitless. At the suggestion of an eleven-year-old girl and a mysterious stranger who has washed up on the riverbank, the villagers decide to reinvent the world: deny any relationship with the known and start over from scratch. Destiny is unwritten. Time and history are forgotten. Jobs, husbands, a child, are reassigned. And for years, there is boundless hope. But the real world continues to unfold alongside the imagined one, eventually overtaking it.
People of the Book by Call Number: FICTION BROOKSIn 1996, Hanna Heath, a young Australian book conservator is called to analyze the famed Sarajevo Haggadah, a priceless six-hundred-year-old Jewish prayer book that has been salvaged from a destroyed Bosnian library. When Hanna discovers a series of artifacts in the centuries’ old, she unwittingly exposes an international cover up.
The Secret Chord by Call Number: FICTION BROOKSTraces the arc of King David's journey from obscurity to fame, from shepherd to soldier, from hero to traitor, from beloved king to murderous despot and into his remorseful and diminished dotage.
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Call Number: FICTION CHABONThe beloved, Pulitzer Prize-winning novel is a masterwork by Chabon. It is the American epic of two boy geniuses named Joe Kavalier and Sammy Clay and their quest to become American icons in the comic book world.
The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Call Number: MYSTERY CHABONFor sixty years, Jewish refugees and their descendants have prospered in the Federal District of Sitka, a "temporary" safe haven created in the wake of revelations of the Holocaust and the shocking 1948 collapse of the fledgling state of Israel. Now the District is set to revert to Alaskan control, and their dream is coming to an end. But homicide detective Meyer Landsman of the District Police has enough problems without worrying about the upcoming Reversion...In the cheap hotel where he has washed up, someone has just committed a murder—right under Landsman's nose.
Moonglow by Call Number: FICTION CHABONA man bears witness to his grandfather's deathbed confessions, which reveal his family's long-buried history and his involvement in a mail-order novelty company, World War II, and the space program.
The Red Tent by Call Number: FICTION DIAMANTHer name is Dinah. In the Bible, her life is only hinted at in a brief and violent detour within the more familiar chapters of the Book of Genesis that are about her father, Jacob, and his dozen sons. Told in Dinah's voice, this novel reveals the traditions and turmoils of ancient womanhood-the world of the red tent. It begins with the story of her mothers-Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Bilhah-the four wives of Jacob. They love Dinah and give her gifts that are to sustain her through a damaged youth, a calling to midwifery, and a new home in a foreign land.
What We Talk about When We Talk about Anne Frank by Call Number: FICTION ENGLANDEThese eight new stories from the celebrated novelist and short-story writer Nathan Englander display a gifted young author grappling with the great questions of modern life, with a command of language and the imagination that place Englander at the very forefront of contemporary American fiction.
Everything Is Illuminated by Call Number: FICTION FOERFollows a young writer on his travels through eastern Europe in search of the woman who saved his grandfather from the Nazis, and guided by his Ukrainian translator, he discovers a past that will resonate far into the future.
Here I Am by Call Number: FICTION FOERUnfolding over four tumultuous weeks, in present-day Washington, D.C., Here I Am is the story of a fracturing family in a moment of crisis. As Jacob and Julia and their three sons are forced to confront the distances between the lives they think they want and the lives they are living, a catastrophic earthquake sets in motion a quickly escalating conflict in the Middle East. At stake is the very meaning of home--and the fundamental question of how much life one can bear.
The Dovekeepers by Call Number: FICTION HOFFMANA tale inspired by the tragic first-century massacre of hundreds of Jewish people at Masada presents the stories of a hated daughter, a baker's wife, a girl disguised as a warrior, and a medicine woman who keep doves and secrets while Roman soldiers draw near.
Goldberg Variations by Call Number: FICTION ISAACSA septuagenarian business owner evaluates her grandchildren as possible successors to her multi-million-dollar beauty empire, including New York movie studio editor Daisy, womanizing sports PR representative Matt, and religious Legal Aid lawyer Raquel.
Jewish Noir: Contemporary Tales of Crime and Other Dark Deeds by Call Number: MYSTERY JEWISHISBN: 9781629631110A unique collection of all-new stories by award-winning authors.This anthology includes the work of numerous authors such as Marge Piercy, Harlan Ellison, S. J. Rozan, Nancy Richler, Moe Prager (Reed Farrel Coleman), Wendy Hornsby, Charles Ardai, and Kenneth Wishnia.The stories explore such issues as the Holocaust and its long-term effects on subsequent generations, anti-Semitism in the mid- and late-20th-century United States, and the dark side of the Diaspora.
Terror Town by Call Number: MYSTERY KAMINSKYDetective Abe Lieberman works to discover a common link between a baseball player whose career has been cut short by tragedy, a religious fanatic who employs unorthodox conversion methods, and a murdered single mother.
The Red Book by Call Number: FICTION KOGANCentering around Harvard's Red Book, a collection of personal triumphs and failures from graduates, this tongue-in-cheek novel follows a group of roommates from the class of 1989 as they prepare for their twentieth reunion weekend.
The History of Love by Call Number: FICTION KRAUSSSixty years after a book's publication, its author remembers his lost love and missing son, while a teenage girl named for one of the book's characters seeks her namesake, as well as a cure for her widowed mother's loneliness.
Diary of the Fall by Call Number: FICTION LAUBYears after a prank leaves the only Catholic boy in an elite Jewish school in Porto Alegre terribly injured, one of his classmates revisits that episode, trying to come to terms with his own story, and those of his father and grandfather.
Jacob's Folly by Call Number: FICTION MILLERAn eighteenth-century Jewish peddler is reincarnated as a fly in present-day Long Island, and becomes involved in the lives of two residents.
The Invisible Bridge by Call Number: FICTION ORRINGERAn unforgettable story of three brothers, of history and love, of marriage tested by disaster, of a Jewish family's struggle against annihilation, and of the dangerous power of art in a time of war.
The Storyteller by Call Number: FICTION PICOULTBecoming friends with Josef Weber, an old man who is particularly loved in her community, Sage Singer is shocked when one day he asks her to kill him and reveals why he deserves to die, causing her to question her beliefs.
Sarah's Key by Call Number: FICTION ROSNAYParis, July 1942: Sarah, a ten year-old girl, is brutally arrested with her family by the French police in the Vel' d'Hiv' roundup, but not before she locks her younger brother in a cupboard in the family's apartment, thinking that she will be back within a few hours. Paris, May 2002: On Vel' d'Hiv's 60th anniversary, journalist Julia Jarmond is asked to write an article about this black day in France's past. Through her contemporary investigation, she stumbles onto a trail of long-hidden family secrets that connect her to Sarah.
American Pastoral by Call Number: FICTION ROTHAn ordinary man finds that his life has been made extraordinary by the catastrophic intrusion of history when, in 1968 his adored daughter plants a bomb that kills a stranger, hurling her father out of the longed-for American pastoral and into the world of political terrorism.
Isra Isle by Call Number: FICTION SEMELBefore Theodore Herzl there was Mordecai Manuel Noah, an American journalist, diplomat, playwright, and visionary. In September 1825 he bought Grand Island, downriver from Niagara Falls, from the local Native Americans as a place of refuge for the Jewish people and called it "Ararat." But no Jews came. What if they had followed Noah's call? In Nava Semel's alternate history Jews from throughout the world flee persecution and come to Ararat. Isra Isle becomes the smallest state in the US. Israel does not exist, and there was no Holocaust.
Super Sad True Love Story by Call Number: ROMANCE SHTEYNGAA dark tale of America's dysfunctional coming years, and of the timeless and tender feelings that just might bring us back from the brink.
Enemies, A Love Story by Call Number: FICTION SINGERA Jewish refugee who escaped Hitler's Holocaust and is living in New York with his second wife faces a dilemma when he discovers that his first wife is still alive.
Tomorrow There Will Be Apricots by Call Number: FICTION SOFFERLorca spends her life poring over cookbooks, making croissants and chocolat chaud, seeking out rare ingredients, all to earn the love of her distracted chef of a mother, who is now packing her off to boarding school. In one last effort to prove herself indispensable, Lorca resolves to track down the recipe for her mother's ideal meal, an obscure Middle Eastern dish called masgouf. Victoria, grappling with her husband's death, has been dreaming of the daughter they gave up forty years ago. An Iraqi Jewish immigrant who used to run a restaurant, she starts teaching cooking lessons; Lorca signs up. Together, they cook, but they also begin to suspect they are connected by more than their love of food.
Love and Treasure by Call Number: FICTION WALDMANA spellbinding new novel of contraband masterpieces, tragic love, and the unexpected legacies of forgotten crimes, Ayelet Waldman's Love and Treasure weaves a tale around the fascinating, true history of the Hungarian Gold Train in the Second World War.
The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry by Call Number: FICTION ZEVINWhen his most prized possession, a rare collection of Poe poems, is stolen, bookstore owner A. J. Fikry begins isolating himself from his friends, family and associates before receiving a mysterious package that compels him to remake his life.
The Everything® Judaism Book by Call Number: 296 BANKJudaism has survived for four millennia, and many of its customs, laws, and traditions have remained exactly the same today as in the days of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Everything Judaism Book explains the major precepts of this robust religion in language anyone can understand and appreciate.
The Genius of Judaism by Call Number: 296 LEVYThe Genius of Judaism is a breathtaking new vision and understanding of what it means to be a Jew, a vision quite different from the one we’re used to. It is rooted in the Talmudic traditions of argument and conflict, rather than biblical commandments, borne out in struggle and study, not in blind observance.
Black Zion: African American Religious Encounters with Judaism by Call Number: 296.3908996 BLABlack Zion explores the myriad ways in which African American religions have encountered Jewish traditions, beliefs, and spaces. The collection's unifying argument is that religion is the missing piece of the cultural jigsaw puzzle, that much of the recent turmoil in black-Jewish relations would be better understood, if not alleviated, if the religious roots of those relations were illuminated. Toward that end, the contributors look a number of provocative topics, including the concept of the Chosen People, the typological identification of blacks with Jews, the actual identification of blacks as Jews, the sacredness of space and symbols, the importance of scriptural interpretation in creating theology and self understanding, the dialectic of exile and redemption in communal history, and the integration of ethnicity and religion in constructing group identity.
Being Jewish: The Spiritual and Cultural Practice of Judaism Today by Call Number: 296.4 GOLIn Being Jewish, Ari L. Goldman offers eloquent, thoughtful answers to these questions through an absorbing exploration of modern Judaism. A bestselling author and widely respected chronicler of Jewish life, Goldman vividly contrasts the historical meaning of Judaism's heritage with the astonishing and multiform character of the religion today. The result will be a revelation for those already involved with Judaism, and a fascinating introduction for those whose interests are newly minted or rekindled.
The December Project: An Extraordinary Rabbi and a Skeptical Seeker Confront Life's Greatest Mystery by Call Number: 296.7 DAVIDSONIn the tradition of Tuesdays with Morrie and The Last Lecture, New York Times bestselling author Sara Davidson met every Friday with 89-year-old Rabbi Zalman Shachter-Shalomi, the iconic founder of the Jewish Renewal movment, to discuss what he calls The December Project. Davidson, who has a seeker's heart and a skeptic's mind, jumped at the chance to spend time with him. She'd long feared that death would be a complete annihilation, while Reb Zalman felt certain that "something continues." He said he didn't want to convince her of anything. "What I want is to loosen your mind." Through their talks, he wanted to help people "not freak out about dying," and enable them to have a more heightened and grateful life. For two years, they met every week, and this is Davidson's memoir of what they learned and how they changed.
The Invention of the Land of Israel: From Holy Land to Homeland by Call Number: 320.5409 SANDWhat is a homeland? When does it become a national territory? Why have so many people been willing to die for such places throughout the twentieth century? What is the essence of the Promised Land? Following the acclaimed and controversial The Invention of the Jewish People, Shlomo Sand examines the mysterious sacred land that has become the site of the longest-running national struggle of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
Joy of Kosher: Fast, Fresh Family Recipes by Call Number: 641.5676 GELLERThe Rachael Ray of Kosher and founder of Joy of Kosher magazine shares over 200 fast and fabulous family recipes, with tips on how to dress them up for company or dress them down for kids.
My Promised Land: The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel by Call Number: 956.054 SHAVITPresents an examination of Israel that traces the events that led the country to its current state of conflict through the stories of everyday citizens to illuminate the importance of lesser-known historical events.
Little Failure by Call Number: B SHTA memoir of an immigrant family coming to America, as told by a lifelong misfit who forged from his imagination an essential literary voice and, against all odds, a place in the world.
Maus: A Survivor's Tale. My Father Bleeds History by Call Number: GRAPHIC NOVEL MAUSThe author-illustrator traces his father's imprisonment in a Nazi concentration camp through a series of disarming and unusual cartoons arranged to tell the story as a novel.
Not the Israel My Parents Promised Me by Call Number: GRAPHIC NOVEL NOTOver the course of one day, traces the loss of the author's Zionist faith against a backdrop of Jewish history, recounting how his growing disaffection with the modern state of Israel was shaped by the mythologies and realities of the Jewish homeland.
Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Call Number: TEEN ALBERTALSixteen-year-old, not-so-openly-gay Simon Spier is blackmailed into playing wingman for his classmate or else his sexual identity--and that of his pen pal--will be revealed.
The Upside of Unrequited by Call Number: YA FICTION ALBERTALAvoiding relationships to protect her sensitive heart, plus-sized Molly supports her once-cynical twin, Cassie, when the latter has her own bout of lovesickness, a situation that is complicated by sibling dynamics and an unexpected romantic triangle.
The Way Back from Broken by Call Number: YA FICTION KEYSERAfter losing his infant sister, Rakmen's family is devastated. While his parents figure things out, they send Rakmen on a camping trip in the Canadian wilderness with another grieving family. Rakmen is far from thrilled about the trip, and he has to decide whether it's too late to find his way back from broken.
The Walls Around us by "The Walls Around Us" is a ghostly story of suspense told in two voices--one still living and one long dead. On the outside, there's Violet, an eighteen-year-old dancer days away from the life of her dreams when something threatens to expose the shocking truth of her achievement. On the inside, within the walls of a girls' juvenile detention center, there's Amber, locked up for so long she can't imagine freedom. Tying these two worlds together is Orianna, who holds the key to unlocking all the girls' darkest mysteries.
