Uncategorized

(Short Stories, 224 pp. 2012) In his first collection since For the Relief of Unbearable Urges, Englander offers eight expertly crafted stories that paint humorous, irreverent, and unflinching portrayals of Jewish life in America and Israel.   Discussion questions Review: Kirkus Review by Michuko Kakutani, New York Times, February 9,…...

(Fiction, 320 pp. 2014) Following the travails of a young Jewish woman in difficult circumstances in early twentieth century Yemen, Eve’s novel illuminates the rituals and conditions of life in a community that no longer exists. Reading Group Guide from Simon & Schuster Kirkus Review Review by Suri Boiangiu, Jewish…...

(Biography, 304 pp. 2018) Contextualizing the local icon — eloquent, charismatic, and a smart-aleck— in a Jewish milieu, this biography chronicles his upbringing and careers before being elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977. His assassination at the age of forty-eight made him the most famous gay…...

(Nonfiction, 464 pp, 2018) Elizebeth Smith Friedman’s unconventional path toward deciphering extraordinarily complex intelligence systems started out simply, if idiosyncratically, enough in 1916: parsing the occurrence of tell-tale phrases in Shakespeare. Jason Fagone’s brilliant research and evocative writing — earning him Columbia Journalism Review’s one of 10 Young Writers on…...

(Fiction, 432 pp. 2014) When domestic partners Matthew Greene and Daniel Rosen learn that Daniel’s twin brother and sister-in-law have been killed in a bombing in Jerusalem, and that they have been designated to raise the deceased couple’s children in Massachusetts, their relationship faces major challenges. Discussion Guide from HarperCollins…...

(Memoir, 352 pp. 2019) A former Obama speechwriter must come to terms with the legacy of his family’s painful past and his own identity in the wake of a life-changing revelation about his own origins. Discussion questions from Adam P. Frankel Review from Kirkus Reviews Review by Marianne Szegedy-Maszak, Washington Post,…...

Nonfiction, 320 pp. 2012 The 10th century Aleppo Codex, named for the Syrian city in which it was kept, is considered the most accurate manuscript of the Hebrew Bible. However, a large portion of it went missing in the mid-20th century. Investigative journalist Friedman’s account of the document’s strange path…...

(Nonfiction, 272 p. 2019) The four spies at the center of this true story were part of an undercover unit known as the Arab Section, conceived during World War II by British spies and Jewish militia leaders in Palestine, and emerging as the nucleus of the Mossad, Israel’s vaunted intelligence…...

Memoir, 256 pp. 2019 Gad reflects on her experiences as an American biracial Jew. Much of the focus is on her caring for her racist great-aunt, who is now suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Invoking the Hebrew word yerusha (inheritance), this memoir explores the inheritance of identity, disease, melanin, hate, and…...

 (Fiction, 191 pp. French, 1975; English translation, 1978) Momo, an orphaned Arab adolescent, has been raised by his ailing surrogate mother, Madame Rosa, a survivor of Auschwitz and former lady of the night. A streetwise kid in Belleville, Paris’ immigrant slum neighborhood, Momo narrates a world filled with pimps, prostitutes…...