Book Club Selections

(Short Stories, 309 pp. Yiddish, 1894-1914; English translation, 1987) Faced with a household of daughters to marry off, pogroms, expulsions, and the erosion of the traditional ways of the shtetl, why shouldn’t a poor dairyman complain?  Tevye relates his woes in monologues peppered with wry humor, homespun philosophy, and his…...

(Fiction, 352 p. 2018) A hedge fund manager on the skids takes a cross-country bus trip to reconnect with his college girlfriend, leaving his wife to deal with their autistic 3-year-old in this smart, fundamentally warm-hearted, satiric novel. Discussion Questions from LitLovers Kirkus Review, September 4, 2018 Review by Dwight…...

(Fiction, 280 pp. Yiddish, 1966; English translation, 1972) Like no other love story you might have read before, this tale of a Holocaust survivor and his three wives in 1950s New York City is presented with humor and pathos in Singer’s ironic style. Review: Kirkus Profile by Linda Matchan, Boston…...

(Fiction, 311 pp. Yiddish, 1962; English translation, 1962) Jacob, a pogrom survivor who has been sold as a slave to Polish peasants, lives a simple life in a remote village. Contrary to both Jewish and secular law, he falls in love with the daughter of his Christian owner, and together…...

(Fiction, 426 pp. Yiddish, 1937; English translation, 1980) It’s not your grandfather’s shtetl.  This epic novel about the bitter rivalry of twin brothers is set against the development of Lodz, Poland in the late 19th century from a sleepy town into an industrial center.  Family and community relationships are transformed…...

(Fiction, 340 pp. 2007) Just after the Iranian Revolution, Jewish gem trader Isaac Amin is falsely imprisoned for being a spy. His wife Farnaz struggles to keep from slipping into despair, while his young daughter Shirin tries to take matters into her own hands. Far away in Brooklyn, Isaac’s son Parviz,…...

(Memoir, 272 p. 2013) Advised not to disclose their Jewish identity, the Rabbi and her family first hide, then share their secret, discovering whether it is possible to cross the barriers of language, culture, and religion to form real friendships and find a home among Egyptians. Discussion guide Video presentation…...

(Nonfiction, 448 pp. 2013) To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the iconic Broadway musical, theater critic and scholar Solomon details how and why the story of Tevye the milkman, the creation of Yiddish writer Sholem Aleichem, was reborn as a blockbuster entertainment and a cultural touchstone transcending ethnic and national…...

(Fiction, 336 pp. 2016) The lives of an abandoned girl’s biological mother—a privileged Jewish pianist—and adoptive mother—a dirt-poor Irish Catholic woman—are juxtaposed with that of their little girl’s. Set on the New England coast in the 1920s, the novel investigates class, freedom, gender and the meaning of family. Reader’s Guidefrom…...

(Fiction, 320 pp. 2020) In this novel, rooted in the Book of Esther, three characters’ stories in different time periods overlap and ultimately collide. Lily is a young wife and mother in contemporary Brooklyn, and Vee is the wife of an ambitious young Senator in Washington, D.C. during the early…...