I’d been meaning to make a rec list for a while, but now I’m finally getting around to it! I’ve read or started to read most of the books on this list, and I own 95% of them. If I haven’t read it, but someone has recommended it to me, I’ve included it. I know that there are books I’ve read or have been meaning to read that aren’t on here because my memory is shit and I never write anything down. Titles link to Goodreads.
An asterisk (*) indicates a book I haven’t read yet. A pound sign (#) indicates a book I haven’t read yet, but which others have recommended. A tilde (~) indicates a book I’m in the process of reading and would recommend up to the current point (aka “I don’t know if this book has a terrible second half, but so far it’s good”). Italics indicate a personal favorite.
Tevye the Dairyman and the Railroad Stories by Sholem Aleichem
The Brothers Ashkenazi by Israel J. Singer *
The Golden Dreydl by Ellen Kushner
Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
The Ghost Writer by Philip Roth #
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon ~
My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok #
The Instructions by Adam Levin
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant #
The Second Mango by Shira Glassman
The Rabbi’s Cat by Joann Sfar
The Mathematician’s Shiva by Stuart Rojstaczer ~
This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper (I might not have included this one except that a friend whose opinion I trust absolutely loved it.)
The History of Love by Nicole Krauss #
The Doverkeepers by Alice Hoffman *
People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks *
The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker #
The Frozen Rabbi by Steve Stern *
Friday, the Rabbi Slept Late by Harry Kemelman
Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword by Barry Deutsch
The Family Moskat by Isaac Bashevis Singer #
Moving Waters by Racelle Rosett *
The World to Come by Dara Horn
Maus: My Father Bleeds History by Art Spiegleman (Shoah tw)
The Great Latke-Hamantash Debate by Ruth Fredman Cernea
Boychiks In the Hood: Travels in the Hasidic Underground by Robert Eisenberg
The Jewish Body by Melvin Konner
The Year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible by A.J. Jacobs (Jacobs is Jewish, but spends half the book following Jewish traditions and the other half following Christian traditions, just as a note.)
Living a Jewish Life by Anita Diamant (also would rec “Choosing a Jewish Life” for converts, etc)
Gonzo Judaism: a Bold Path for Renewing an Ancient Faith by Niles Goldstein
New American Haggadah edited by Jonathan Safran Foer (lovely design and dual translation)
Kosher Chinese: Living, Teaching, and Eating with China’s Other Billion by Michael Levy
O Jerusalem! Day By Day and Minute By Minute, the Historic Struggle For Jerusalem and the Birth of Israel by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre #
Inside Israel: The Faiths, the People, and the Modern Conflicts of the World’s Holiest Land by John Miller and Aaron Kenedi #
The Receiving: Reclaiming Jewish Women’s Wisdom by Rabbi Tirzah Firestone ~
The Rabbi’s Daughter by Reva Mann #
Daughters of the King: Women and the Synagogue by Susan Grossman ~
Tough Jews: Fathers, Sons, and Gangster Dreams by Rich Cohen #
25 Questions for a Jewish Mother by Judy Gold and Kate Moira Ryan
The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel
Hillel: If Not Now, When? by Joseph Telushkin
1000 Mitzvahs: How Small Acts of Kindness Can Heal, Inspire, and Change Your Life by Linda Cohen
Mornings and Mourning: A Kaddish Journal by E.M. Broner
My Grandfather’s Blessings: Stories of Strength, Refuge, and Belonging by Rachael Naomi Remen
Jewish Literacy by Joseph Telushkin (this is more of a “skim when you want to” kind of resource book, rather than a narrative.)
Born to Kvetch: Yidish Language and Culture in All of Its Moods by Michael Wex *
The Defiant Muse: Hebrew Feminist Poems From Antiquity to the Present by Shirley Kaufman
The Scattered Tribe: Traveling the Diaspora from Cuba to India to Tahiti & Beyond by Ben G. Frank #
Cosmopolitans: A Social and Cultural History of the Jews of the San Francisco Bay Area by Fred Rosenbaum *
Blood Relation by Eric Konigsberg *
Up, Up, and Oy Vey! How Jewish History, Culture, and Values Shaped the Comic Book Superhero by Simcha Weinstein #
Mandarins, Jews, And Missionaries: Jewish Experience In The Chinese Empire by Michel Pollak *
The Hyena People: Ethiopian Jews in Christian Ethiopia by Hagar Salamon *
The Holiday Kosher Baker by Paula Shoyer
The Joy of Kosher by Jamie Geller (seriously, I have never made a recipe from this book and had it come out anything other than absolutely delicious)
Classic Italian Jewish Cooking by Edda Servi Machlin
The Foods of Israel Today by Joan Nathan
Tagging shiraglassman and newlyjewly, re: the “books” ask.
prguitarman
discoholicmusic
ellievsbear
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