PopJudaica.com is celebrating summer with a Summer Reading Giveaway - a prize packaged valued at over $100.00 which includes the following books and a Schlep tote bag to schlep them around in!
To enter to win, tell us your favorite Jewish author or Jewish themed book. Leave your answer in the comments section below by Midnight PT Thursday, June 25th. Be sure to also leave your email or twitter handle so we can contact you if you are the winner! Note: This contest is only open to residents of the US and Canada. Be sure to follow us on twitter - we'll be tweeting out the winner!
Cool Jew by Lisa Alcalay Klug. Cool Jew is a must read for every member of the Tribe! The book covers everything Hebraic from womb to tomb, finally putting an end to Christmas tree envy. Short essays, lists, instructional guides, photographs, and original illustrations celebrate Jewish cultural pride with love, enthusiasm, and irreverence.
Bar Mitzvah Disco Remember the year when you turned Lucky 13? The authors of Bar Mitzvah Disco take you on a journey to a parallel universe, where tall girls slow-danced with short boys at arm’s length, suburban break-dance pioneers vied with Lionel Richie fanatics for dance-floor space, and Aunt Edna came ready to mount an assault on the dessert buffet.
Modern Jewish Mom's Guide to Shabbat by Meredith Jacobs.
Written in conversational style from one modern Jewish mom to another, the MJM's Guide is funny and warm, brightly colored and easy to read book, filled with delicious, easy recipes and family art projects, suggested family discussion topics. No matter your level of religious observance, this book appeals to all.
Yom Kippur A Go-Go by Matthue Roth. Yom Kippur A Go-Go is a mind-blowing meeting of pop culture, Orthodox faith, and hipster poetics. With humor and insight, Roth describes the tension between contemporary life and the demands of his Orthodox faith.
My Jesus Year by Benyamin Cohen. Raised as an Orthodox Jew and the son of a rabbi, Benyamin Cohen grew up fascinated by the church across the street from his childhood home. Struck by a crisis of faith, and not long after marrying the converted daughter of a Baptist minister, he decided to see if Jesus could lead him back to Judaism by embarking on an Oz-like journey on which he visited a myriad of denominational churches. In the end, Cohen found that his yarmulke had similar powers as Dorothy's red shoes.
For some other great summer reading ideas, visit us here at Pop Judaica!
I'd have to say Judy Blume because she is Jewish, all her books are amazing and she grew up in Jersey and Miami. She's written about growing up Jewish in those areas in some of her books and it makes me think about my father's mother who had a place in Jersey and Miami. I love that I could relate to this part of her life and I love that she writes about all the tough subjects!
ReplyDeleteJudy Blume practically taught me how to be a girl. I lived my tomboy tweens into girly teens through her books.... and was made fun of by my siblings for quoting from her lines. Yeah, I was never that cool.
ReplyDeleteAnita Diamant's THE RED TENT is a beautifully written book that I think I read in practically one sitting.
ReplyDeleteWow, great question Mrs. Marcus! It's between Philip Roth and Michael Chabon. Both are two of my favorite authors. But I have to go with Roth and his classic "Portnoy's Complaint".
ReplyDeletedoes JD Salinger count? (Franny & Zooey?). ok, then I'm going with Allegra Goodman's great stories of modern Jewish life.
ReplyDeleteI was going to say for my childhood that it was Judy Blume, but since so many people said that I will go another route.
ReplyDeleteCan I claim it to be Jerry Seinfeld and his wife for their cookbook? haha
One of my favorites is "The Blessing of a Skinned Knee," which is a parenting book based on the teachings of the Talmud. I blogged about it here: http://verbatim.blogs.com/verbatim/2007/08/book-group.html
ReplyDeleteTwo favorites are Ben Katchor's graphic novel, The Jew of New York and Alfred Kazin's memoir, A Walker in the City.
ReplyDeleteyom kippur a go-go is my favorite jewish book. it made me laugh&i was totally excited to read through the whole thing. i loaned my copy to my exboyfriend's dad, who was raised as an orthodox jew. i haven't seen it since.
ReplyDeleteSo many Jews, so many books...
ReplyDeleteI'd have to go with A.J. Jacobs (he's funny and family). If I have to set nepotism aside, I'd go with Jonathan Safer Foer. And for kids books, Sydney Taylor's All of a Kind Family series were my faves growing up.
My absolute favorite Jewish author is Dara Horn - "A World To Come" is beautiful, I've reread it countless times!
ReplyDelete"The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay" is completely amazing!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed Harold Bloom's Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human and I also have a deep appreciation for Joyce's portrays of Leopold Bloom in Ulysses (he had to be Jewish). Otherwise, Allen Ginsberg's America and/or Kaddish absolutely melt my face.
ReplyDeleteFaye Kellerman! From Ritual Bath to Prayers for the Dead...The Detective Decker and Rina series. Just typing this makes me want to reread some of the earlier books because I read them so long ago!
ReplyDeleteI loved Anita Diamant's The Red Tent. http://bit.ly/redtent
ReplyDeleteThere are so many to choose from, but I think my favorite is Allen Ginsberg
ReplyDeleteMatthue Roth. I wrote about Never Mind the Goldbergs in my dissertation and I am just about to read Loser. Confessions of a Closet Catholic was pretty good, but Roth still wins.
ReplyDeleteWill Eisner's Contract with God set the stage for an entire medium to grow up and find avenues of expression that continue to be mined today. Also, it deals with issues of history, family and theology in an amazingly accessible way.
ReplyDelete"The Year of Living Biblically" by A.J. Jacobs.
ReplyDeleteGreat Contest! My fave Jewish Author is Anita Diamant. I enjoyed her book on the marriage but my favorite is The Red Tent because it has such a depth to the biblical Jewish women's lives. I love it. I am puggerhugger on twitter!
ReplyDeleteThe History of Love
ReplyDeleteby Nicole Krauss
Meredith Jacobs is definitely one of my favorite authors as a convert. Her books have been a blessing as we navigate our way through new traditions. My kids also love the sammy spider collection.
ReplyDeleteWhat better for the mainstream Jewish American woman than Anita Diamont's The Red Tent? It's juicey, salacious, Biblical soft-core porn. It's one of those books that you can read in public because you look pious and deep, but in reality, you're squirming because the content is so taboo and the writing is tickling all your senses....and you feel a little guilty even associating these sinful, closed-door actions with our heroes of the Torah. But it doesn't end there - the writing is so persuasive that you question the very knowledge you thought you knew because this version of the truth sounds so much more feasible and exciting.....whewwww. (deep breathes, deep breathes.) And that is why The Red Tent is my favorite Jewish themed book....Amen.
ReplyDeletetwitter - ranidayz
An author and subject out of the ordinary: Selina Rosen and her trilogy The Host, Fright Eater, and Gang Approval which tell the story of a group of vampire hunters led by a lesbian rabbi.
ReplyDeleteI thought I had posted but I guess not. The first author I can remember and loved was Elie Wiesel. Huge learning point in my life. I love meredith jacobs, we are converting and she has been a huge resource for us. Easy and fun to read. My kids love the sammy spider collection.
ReplyDeleteI highly recommend my Favorite author, Rochelle Krich, she is a modern Orthodox female mystery reader, whose books are intense, intriguing, suspenseful, and once I open one, I cannot put it down!!! My favorites of hers include Blood Money, and Angel of Death... For the most intriguing summer read, this one is it!!
ReplyDeleteBonnie Priever
Los Angeles
bonniedeb13@hotmail.com
I love Geraldine Brooks. "People of the Book" was so beautifully written and the story was so moving.
ReplyDeleteChelsea Handler, because unlike most Jews in showbiz she is not trying to hide her identity. It is all over her books, and also her show.
ReplyDeleteellewoods7777@yahoo.com
Morechai Richler, because he captures Jewish Montreal like no-one else!
ReplyDeleteI know it's a little cliche, but my favorite Jewish book is "Number the Stars," the children's book about the Holocaust. I'm also looking forward to reading "The Yiddish Policemen's Union." Cool giveaway! Love it.
ReplyDeleteSo, so many!! But Kavalier and Clay by Chabon and History of Love by Krauss come to mind immediately. Thanks for the great giveaway!
ReplyDeleteTwitter: lizfilm
So many Jews, so little space... Sydney Taylor's All of a Kind Family books taught me about being Jewish. Exodus by Leon Uris because it sparked my passion for Israel. Tova Mirvis' books (The Ladies' Auxilliary and The Outside World) were wondeful... as are so many of Naomi Ragen's books. I could go on and on!
ReplyDeleteI have 2. Meredith for making Shabbat a time that I will forever cherish with my family. I learned so much from her that I couldn't thank her enough and my second would be Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis's Life is a Test. This book has opened my heart and life to a more spiritual place than I ever imagined. This book will hold a special place in my heart forever.
ReplyDeleteMelissa Shapiro marinewife07@yahoo.com
Wonderful blog! My vote goes to Sydney Taylor, author of the All of a Kind Family series.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the great work.
Barbara B
Hands down -- The Chosen. First of all, it is such a well-written story. Plus, one of my rabbinical profs (z"l) was a friend of Chaim Potok and was the prototype for one of the characters.
ReplyDeleteLastly, my husband and I fell in love over this book.
My Name Is Asher Lev
ReplyDeleteMy favourite Jewish writer is Cynthia Ozick. A brilliant essayist and novelist, her command of the English language is unsurpassed,as is her insight into literature and the human condition. There are certain passages in her essays that are so captivating, so astonishing, that they have literaly taken my breath away. That's something few others aside from Ozick--the Jewish George Eliot--are able to do.
ReplyDeleteI'm a fan of 'Black, White & Jewish' by Rebecca Walker.
ReplyDelete- @Josh_Shear
To take the discussion in slightly different direction, I thought I'd list a few of greats from an earlier era:
ReplyDeletenon-fiction: Moses Mendelssohn's Jerusalem - "the Jewish Jefferson" confronting the challenge of religious authority
fiction: GE.Lessing's Nathan the Wise
poetry: Judah HaLevi, especially the funny stuff
Does this post make me look boring? I'm not, check me out on Twitter @drnelk :)
I really enjoyed Nathan Englanders' For the Relief of Unbearable Urges and going by title alone and book cover alone, Neurotica, Jewish Writers on Erotica, was a hit.
ReplyDelete@kimmoldofsky
I am fortunate to have a mom in a Hadassah Book Club in Highland Park , Ill. who sends me her "leftovers" :) since I moved to Austin, TX.. My favorite is "Around Sarah"s Table" By Rivka Zaskutinsky. It is passionate and has stories of Torah woven into it which I love.
ReplyDeleteGreat question and Blog!
My favorite Jewish author is my husband, Paul Benjamin, writer of comic books and graphic novels.
ReplyDeleteMy other favorite right now is probably Maggie Anton. I've really enjoyed the historical fiction of the Rashi's Daughter's trilogy.
Oh, this is Lisa again (Maggie Anton/Rashi's Daughters). My Twitter handle is @AustinJCRC.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite book is The Gates of November by Chaim Potok. I first had to read it in an Advanced Placement Literature course in high school. I later re-read it during college, and since then it's become a staple on my bookshelf. It's non-fiction about a Russian family's deep-rooted history, spanning from Bolshevik to Refusenik, and spans from the former Soviet Union to America. This was the first non-religious school book that I can remember that gave me an idea of true Jewish identity, and what life was like overseas. While it's not celebrated as much as Potok's fiction (i.e. The Chosen and My Name is Asher Lev), I believe this is a must-read for any Jew with any ties to the former U.S.S.R.
ReplyDeleteWho Needs God, Sacred Fragments, the Collected Stories of IB Singer. @rebmoti
ReplyDeleteMy most recent favorites:
ReplyDeleteBroken For You by Stephanie Kallos, The wholeness of a broken heart by Katie Singer, and Rashi's Daughters by Maggie Anton. My twitter handle is BoulderJewish
Something From Nothing (by Phoebe Gilman) ... it's a childhood throwback and we used to read it to the kids at religious school every year.
ReplyDeleteemail's levirs11@gmail.com
twitter handle's @rachellevi
Gotta be "Goodbye Columbus." Not only is the gag about knowing it was
ReplyDeletesummer because the same person was always reading "War and Peace" an
evergreen, the other stories are, to me, gems. "Epstein." "Conversion
of the Jews." And the hot pink cover of the paperback I stole from my
mom wasn't too shabby either.
Gotta be "Goodbye Columbus." Not only is the gag about knowing it was
ReplyDeletesummer because the same person was always reading "War and Peace" an
evergreen, the other stories are, to me, gems. "Epstein." "Conversion
of the Jews." And the hot pink cover of the paperback I stole from my
mom wasn't too shabby either.
twitter: kenkrim
choosing one is tough but i think i have to go back to my all-time favorites All of A Kind Family by Sydney Taylor.
ReplyDeleteI can't pick just one!!!!! @imabima
Even after all these years, Milton Steinberg's "As A Driven Leaf" is still one powerful read. Close behind I'd include Anita Diamant's "The Red Tent," "G"d In Search of Man," "Gonzo Judaism," and "The Yiddish Policeman's Union." Talk about eclectic tastes...
ReplyDeleteI know a few people have already claimed Anita Diamant, but I'm going to do it too. Her book, Choosing a Jewish Life: A Handbook for People Converting to Judaism and for Their Family and Friends, has been the single most useful tool to give to friends and family members who don't understand my own conversion. Seriously good read.
ReplyDeleteFavorite author? Dara Horn!
ReplyDeleteheatheranne99 at hotmail dot com
Dara Horn is just phenomenal. Every new book results in me driving like a madman to my local Barnes & Noble, making myself a cup of tea and curling up on the couch for hours. She's like the Jewish Harry Potter for me. I go into such a frenzy.
ReplyDelete@cranehusband
turbulent souls by stephen dubner!
ReplyDeletejessroxx @ yahoo.com
yentl's revenge, definitely!
ReplyDeleteloveandcompliance@gmail.com
favorite Jewish author, most definetly Chaim Potok. yes, i'm a Jewdork, get over it. :p and i love Rashi's Daughters.
ReplyDeleteI would say Judy Blume for sure. I still remember so many wonderful lessons gained from "Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself."
ReplyDeletecurtiskaty at hotmail dot com
Anita Diamant's The Red Tent is certainly beautiful. But i think i like David Chotjewitz's Daniel Half Human just a tad more.
ReplyDeleteIt definitely gave me a different perspective on that era. read it in high school and i liked it because it was a wide range of people's struggles growing up in the nazi's increasing power.
I also enjoyed A Thread of Grace. I is another perspective you don't hear much
purple4green@gmail.com
Favorite Jewish writer - J.D. Salinger
ReplyDeletefavorite Jewish-themed book - Turbulent Souls by Stephen J. Dubner
That book really touched me...not just as a Jew, but I minored in Religious Studies in college.
@minicorrect
THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO ENTERED!
ReplyDeleteWE'LL BE ANNOUNCING THE WINNER SOON!
FOLLOW US ON TWITTER AT http://www.twitter.com/popjudaica for the special announcement!
MAZEL TOV TO RANI WHO WON THIS GIVEAWAY AND THANKS TO ALL WHO ENTERED!
ReplyDelete