Pattie's list **wrap-up**

My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok
Suite française by Irène Némirovsky
Baby Needs a New Pair of Shoes by Lauren Baratz-Logsted
Fax Me a Bagel by Sharon Kahn (I read one other book in this series last year!)

Alternate selections (in case I can't finish the above books, or decide differently):

The Book Thief by Marcus Zuzak (BEGUN)
The Hidden Life of Otto Frank by Carol Ann Lee (Dad gave me his copy)
The Family Fortune by Laurie Horowitz

Wrapping up:

I finished three and began a fourth. I know I won't finish The Book Thief by tomorrow, but I am reading it. It is very good so far.

Thanks again for the opportunity to contribute, even in a small way, to this blog.

Shalom.

Kathrin's reading list

I'm so excited about this challenge! I've read a few books on judaism or by Jewish authors in the past, but I know there's so much more out there!

I created a tentative list, but I do not promise to stick to it:
1) Chaim Potok: The Chosen
2) Rochelle Krich: Blues In The Night
3) Kizzur Shulchan Aruch
4) Harry Kemelman: Sunday The Rabbi Stayed Home

Seaside Bookworm

My list is as follows:
Who By Fire By Diana Spechler
Zookeeper's Wife By Diane Ackerman
Hurry Down Sunshine By Michael Greenberg
People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks

I may add a few more. I already read one by Michael Greenberg Hurry Down Sunshine.
You can read it at my blog at Jewish Rantings.

Callista's List

Here's my tentative list, subject to change.

1. The Illuminated Soul by Aryeh Lev Stollman
2. Hanna's Suitcase by Karen Levine
3. Yellow Star by Jennifer Roy
4. The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak

3M's List

I'm participating again! This is a start to my list, though I do reserve the right to change it:

• Broccoli and Other Tales of Food and Love by Lara Vapnyar
• Petropolis by Anya Ulinich
• People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
• What Happened to Anna K by Irina Reyn
• Natasha and Other Stories by David Bezmozgis

Pattie's Picks/Wrap-Up

**Wrap-Up at the end**

Hi, I'm Pattie the Fresh-Brewed Writer, and I'm happy to be joining this challenge! I decided to go ahead and finalize my list, giving myself two alternates in case I change my mind. I have this thing about not finishing challenges, so if I give myself room to change, maybe it won't be so difficult to complete.







Well, Shalom! I'm gonna get down with my bad Baptist self and join a Jewish Lit challenge!

My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok (also a Something About Me challenge book)
The Hidden Life of Otto Frank by Carol Ann Lee (Dad gave me his copy)
[x] How Nancy Drew Saved My Life by Lauren Baratz-Logsyed (I have this book)
[x] Hold the Cream Cheese, Kill the Lox by Sharon Kahn (I have this book)
Suite française by Irène Némirovsky (I think I have this book somewhere)

Alternate selections (in case I can't finish the above books, or decide differently):

The Book Thief by Marcus Zuzak (will have to find this one)
[x] The Hiding Place by Corrie tenBoom

**April 19: I don't think I am going to be able to finish this challenge. I only read three of the required five books. However, I do intend to finish my list at some point. Thanks for the opportunity to participate, and l'chaim to everyone!**

May 4: I did not finish, but these books that are not finished are still in Mt. TBR...so eventually I'll read them! No book leaves my home unread unless it's a duplicate or immensely boring.

Thanks for letting me join the blog, and if we do this again, count me in!

New Challenge Member

Hi, I just wanted to introduce myself. My name is Heidi Estrin and I've recently joined the Jewish Literature Challenge!

I'm involved with Jewish books in several ways. I'm a librarian at Congregation B'nai Israel, a Reform synagogue in Boca Raton, Florida. I host a podcast called The Book of Life, which features Jewish books, music, film and web. And I'm past chair of the Sydney Taylor Book Award, which recognizes the best in Judaic children's literature each year. I will definitely be reading more than 5 Jewish books by the deadline of this challenge!

FYI, for those of you who love kidlit, the Sydney Taylor Book Award committee is currently deliberating, and the 2008 winners will be announced in early January! Keep an eye on www.SydneyTaylorBookAward.org - and I'll also post an announcement here. The award is given by the Association of Jewish Libraries.

Looking forward to seeing what everybody's reading!

Vasilly's List

I still don't have all five of the books I'm going to read for this challenge, but I think I'm going to leave the last possibility open to whatever book I discover. Here's my list:
Beware of God - Shalom Auslander
The Wholeness of a broken heart - Katie Singer
The World to Come - Dara Horn or In the Image by the same author
Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky

The list can change at any time.

Zahava's list

Shalom!

I'm Zahava, and I work in a synagogue in Alaska.

I picked these five books from a bunch I got at a recent book sale at my shul. It was a jackpot for replenishing my reading because the used books stores up here don't have. I noticed that I have some overlaps with some other folks, but I think that's fine--maybe we'll have more to discuss!

Wrestling With Zion: Progressive Jewish American Responses to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict edited by Tony Kushner and Alisa Solomon
Rabbis and Wives by Chaim Grade
The Rent Tent by Anita Diamant
My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok
Four Centuries of Jewish Women's Spirituality

I already read three from the book sale:
a novel called Days of Awe by Achy Obejas which is about a Cuban-American daughter of a crypto-Jew with a a very pained past
Aimee & Jaguar by Erika Fischer non-fiction account of two German women lovers, one Jewish, and one married to a Nazi, during the time of the Holocaust
and Chosen By God: A Brother's Journey by Joshua Hammer a secular Jew's memoir of his brother's path to Orthodox Judaism

I would recommend all three as an enjoyable, educational read. I learned more about Jews in Cuba, Jews who attemtped to live in Berlin "underground," and the inside life of some sects of Orthodoxy I am less familiar with. What I didn't understand was why Hammer was so angry with his brother for becoming Orthodox. He is so upset with his brother that the book initially left a bad taste in my mouth, but I eventually came to appreciate the book as much for the stories from withing his brother's world as for the insight into the author's thoughts and relationship to his brother.

If anyone out there is looking for other book suggestions, here are some of my other favorites:

How to Run a Traditional Jewish Household by Blu Greenberg is one of my all-time favorite Jewish books! Homemaking manual meets halachic instructions meets 1970s feminist--count me in! If only the world weren't so slow to arrive to some of Greenberg's visions. Nevertheless, I appreciate the detail with which she explains the efforts to create a traditional Jewish home.

Davita's Harp by Chaim Potok is a touching and poignant novel about a girl's journeys in Judaism.

Mazel by Rebeccau Goldstein is a novel of three generations of Jewish women who go from shteltl to Yiddish New York stage to secular America to academia back to Orthodox New Jersey. A fantastic journey!

Becky's List

Here are my list of books. I'm sure I can't get to all of them. But I am going to try to read at least five of them. As always, I may change the list as I go along.

The Diary of A Young Girl by Anne Frank
I Have Lived A Thousand Years by Livia Bitton Jackson
(My Bridges of Hope by Livia Bitton Jackson)
(Hello, America by Livia Bitton Jackson)
No Pretty Pictures by Anita Lobel
Night by Elie Wiesel
Until We Meet Again by Michael Korenblit and Kathleen Janger
Alicia My Story by Alicia Appleman-Jurman
The Cage by Ruth Minsky Sender
To Life by Ruth Minsky Sender
Isabella From Auschwitz to Freedom by Isabella Leitner
The Tale of The Ring: A Kaddish by Frank Stiffel
Dry Tears: The Story of A Lost Childhood by Nechama Tec
A Special Fate Chiune Sugihara: Hero of the Holocaust by Alison Leslie Gold
In My Hands: Memories of A Holocaust Rescuer by Irene Gut Opdyke
I Will Plant You A Lilac Tree by Laura Hillman

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Schindler's List by Thomas Keneally
Escaping Into the Night by D.Dina Friedman
Shanghai Shadows by Lois Ruby

Callista's List

Okay I finally decided on my books. I'll be reading the following:

The Christmas Revolution by Barbara Cohen
The Rabbi's Girls by Johanna Hurwitz
A Woman in Jerusalem by A.B. Yehoshua
Emil and Karl by Jacob Glatstein
Yellow Star by Jennifer Roy
The Illuminated Soul by Aryeh Lev Stollman

Plus I'll be reading Picture books and Children's Non-fiction on Hannukah and Passover that I just pick from the library at the time.

Maria's list

My picks. Only 5 as I don't want to get too overwhelmed. I do have a list of alternatives or 'extra credit' though.

• The Diary Of A Young Girl - Anne Frank
  
• The Physician - Noah Gordon
  
• The Last Jew - Noah Gordon
  
• The Hiding Place - Corrie Ten Bom
  
• The Red Tent - Anita Diamant