Jewish Fiction, not Holocaust Related, for Book Clubs

Jewish Fiction, not Holocaust Related, for Book Clubs

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April 2002
Compiled by Amy Cervene, of Smoky Hill Public Library, Centennial, CO, from contributions by the members of Fiction_L.

(To use this list in your library, book club, etc., please include the following credit line: "Compiled by the subscribers of the Fiction_L mailing list." This list may not be used for commercial purposes.)

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Nonfiction:

Birmingham, Stephen "Our Crowd": The Great Jewish Families of New York
Birmingham, Stephen The Grandees: America's Sephardic Elite
Birmingham, Stephen "The Rest of Us": The Rise of America's Eastern European Jews
Bloom, Stephen Postville: A Clash of Cultures in Heartland America
Blumenfeld, Laura Revenge: A Love Story
Chapman, Fern Schumer Motherland: Beyond the Holocaust: A Daughter's Journey to Reclaim the Past
Dubner, Stephen J. Turbulent souls : a Catholic son's return to his Jewish family
Erlich, Elizabeth Miriam's Kitchen
Hammer, Joshua Chosen by God
Horovitz, David Phillip A Little Too Close to God
Rinkoon, J. Sanford Rachel Caloff's Story: Jewish Homesteader on the Northern Plains
Nadel, Ira Bruce Jewish Writers of North America: A Guide to Information Sources

Fiction:

Abraham, Pearl Giving Up America
Abraham, Pearl The Romance Reader
Aleichem, Sholem Any works
Buck, Pearl S. Peony
Dann, Jack M. (editor) Wandering Stars and More Wandering Stars
Davidson, Avram Everybody Has Somebody in Heaven: Essential Jewish Tales of the Spirit
Denker, Henry Horowitz and Mrs. Washington
Ducovny, Amram Coney
Eliot, George Daniel Deronda
Englander, Nathan For the Relief of Unbearable Urges
Eve, Nomi Family Orchard
Ferber, Edna Fanny Herself
Goldberg, Myla Bee Season
Goldman, Judy The Slow Way Back
Goldstein, Rebecca Mazel
Goldstein, Rebecca The Mind-Body Problem
Goodman, Allegra Kaaterskill Falls
Goodman, Allegra The Family Markowitz
Grant, Linda When I Lived in Modern Times
Grossman, David The Zigzag Kid
Halter, Marek The Book of Abraham
Halter, Marek The Children of Abraham
Hamill, Pete Snow in August
Henkin, Joshua Swimming across the Hudson
Hobson, Laura Z. Gentleman's Agreement
Horn, Shifra Four Mothers
Horn, Shifra The Fairest Among Women
Kagan, Elaine Somebody's Baby
Kahn, Sharon Don't Cry for Me Hot Pastrami
Kellerman, Faye The Ritual Bath
Kenaz, Yehoshua Returning Lost Loves
Kirshenbaum, Binnie Hester Among the Ruins
Leahy, Syrell Rogovin A Book of Ruth
Lipman, Elinor The Inn at Lake Devine
Liss, David A Conspiracy of Paper
Malamud, Bernard A New Life
Malamud, Bernard The Assistant
Mirvis, Tova The Ladies Auxiliary
Morton, Brian Starting Out in the Evening
Nahai, Gina Barkhordar Cry of the Peacock
Nahai, Gina Barkhordar Moonlight on the Avenue of Faith
Nattel, Lilian The River Midnight
Obejas, Archy Days of Awe
Pap, Karoly Azarel
Piercy, Marge He, She and It
Plain, Belva Evergreen
Potok, Chaim Old Men at Midnight
Potok, Chaim The Chosen
Prose, Francine Dybbuk: A Story Made in Heaven
Rabinyan, Dorit Persian Brides
Ragen, Naomi The Ghost of Hannah Mendes
Roiphe, Anne Richardson Lovingkindness
Schwartz-Bart, Andre The Last of the Just
Shalev, Meir The Blue Mountain
Shalev, Meir The Loves of Judith
Singer, Isaac Bashevis Any works
Spark, Debra The Ghost of Bridgetown
Stark, Richard Flashfire
Wouk, Herman Marjorie Morningstar
Yezierska, Anzia Bread Givers

Great Jewish Books - The List

The 100 Greatest Works of Modern Jewish Literature Tales of Mendele the Book Peddler (Fishke der krumer, 1869) (Kitser masoes Binyomin hashlishi, 1878)
S.Y. Abramovitch

The Nag (Di Kliyatshe, 1873-1909)
S.Y. Abramovitch

Ash on a Young Man’s Sleeve (1954)
Dannie Abse

A Guest for the Night (Oreakh nata lalun, 1939)
S.Y. Agnon

A Simple Story (Sipur Pashet, 1935)
S.Y. Agnon

Only Yesterday (Tmol shilshom, 1945)
S.Y. Agnon

The Joy of the Poor (Simkhat aniyyim, 1941)
Nathan Alterman

Selected Poetry
Yehuda Amichai

Pioneers (Pionern, 1904-05)
S. An-ski

The Dybbuk (Der Dibuk: Tsvishn tsvey veltn, 1911)
S. An-ski

The Age of Wonders (Tor hapelaot, 1978)
Aharon Appelfeld

Salvation (Der tilim-yid, 1934)
Sholem Asch

Collected Stories
Isaac Babel

The First Day and Other Stories (2001)
Dvora Baron

The Garden of the Finzi-Contini (Il giardino dei Finzi-Contini, 1962)
Giorgio Bassani

Feathers (Notzot, 1979)
Haim Be’er

Herzog (1964)
Saul Bellow

Mr. Sammler’s Planet (1970)
Saul Bellow

Selected Stories
Michah Yosef Berdichevsky

Descent (Opgang, 1920)
David Bergelson

Selected Poems
H.N. Bialik

Breakdown and Bereavement (Shekhol vekishalon, 1920)
Joseph Hayyim Brenner

The Rise of David Levinsky (1917)
Abraham Cahan

The Memoirs (1977-1986)
Elias Canetti

Selected Poems and Prose (2000)
Paul Celan

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (2000)
Michael Chabon

Belle du Seigneur (1968)
Albert Cohen

Tales in Praise of the Baal Shem Tov (Shivkhei Ha-Besht, 1814)
Dov Ber of Linitz

Whither? (Lean, 1927)
Mordecai Ze’ev Feierberg

Jud Süss (1925)
Leon Feuchtwanger

The Journey (Podroz, 1990)
Ida Fink

The Diary of A Young Girl
Anne Frank

The Williamsburg Trilogy (1961)
Daniel Fuchs

The Jewish Gauchos of the Pampas (Los gauchos judios, 1940)
Alberto Gerchunoff

The Things We Used to Say (Lessico famigliare, 1963)
Natalia Ginzburg

Selected Poems
Jacob Glatstein

Next To (Etzel, 1913)
Uri Nisan Gnessin

The Fragmented Life of Don Jacobo Lerner (1978)
Isaac Goldemberg

The Yeshiva (Tsemakh Atlas, 1967)
Chaim Grade

Selected Poetry
Uri Zevi Greenberg

See Under: Love (Ayen erekh ahava, 1986)
David Grossman

Life and Fate (Zhizn i sudba, 1980)
Vasily Grossman

The Victory (1969)
Henryk Grynberg

Selected Poems
Moishe Leib Halpern

The Dweller in Gardens (Yoshevet baganim, 1943)
Hayim Hazaz

Jewish Stories and Hebrew Melodies (1987)
Heinrich Heine

Heschel’s Kingdom (1999)
Dan Jacobson

The Castle (Das Schloss, 1926)
Franz Kafka

Collected Stories
Franz Kafka

The Trial (Der Prozess, 1925)
Franz Kafka

A Walker in the City (1951)
Alfred Kazin

Fateless (1975)
Imre Kertesz

The Second Scroll (1951)
A.M. Klein

Zelmenyaner (1928)
Moyshe Kulbak

Hebrew Ballads and Other Poems (1902-1939)
Else Lasker-Schüler

The Golem (Der Goylem, 1919)
H. Leivick

If This Is a Man (Se questo e un uomo, 1946) [Survival in Auschwitz]
Primo Levi

The Complete Stories (1997)
Bernard Malamud

Khumesh Lider and Selected Poems
Itzik Manger

Selected Poetry
Peretz Markish

The Pillar of Salt (La statue de sel, 1953)
Albert Memmi

Victoria (Viktoryah, 1993)
Sami Michael

Death of a Salesman (1949)
Arthur Miller

Paper Bridges (2000)
Kadya Molodowsky

The Tales (Mayses, 1815)
Nachman of Bratslav

The Family Mashber (Di mishpokhe mashber, 1939; 1943)
Der Nister

Unto Death (Ad mavet, 1971)
Amos Oz

The Pagan Rabbi (1971)
Cynthia Ozick

Selected Poetry (1989)
Dan Pagis

Collected Stories (1994)
Grace Paley

Selected Stories
I.L. Peretz

Revealer of Secrets (Megale temirin, 1819)
Joseph Perl

Selected Poems
Rakhel

Blood from the Sky (Le sang du ciel, 1961)
Piotr Rawicz

Collected Poems (1937)
Isaac Rosenberg

Call It Sleep (1934)
Henry Roth

Leviathan (Der Leviathan, 1940)
Joseph Roth

The Counterlife (1986)
Philip Roth

Patrimony (1991)
Philip Roth

The Street of Crocodiles (Sklepy cynamonowe, 1934)
Bruno Schulz

In Dreams Begin Responsibilities (1938)
Delmore Schwartz

The Centaur in the Garden (1980)
Moacyr Scliar

Past Continuous (Zikhron Devarim, 1977)
Yaakov Shabtai

The Blue Mountain (Roman rusi, 1988)
Meir Shalev

The Jewish Government and Other Stories (1971)
Lamed Shapiro

Menakhem-Mendl and Mottel Peyse the Cantor’s Son (Menakhem-Mendl, Mottel Peyse dem khazns, 1909)
Sholem Aleichem

Tevye the Dairyman (Tevye der milkhiger, 1895-1914)
Sholem Aleichem

Fables (Mesholim, 1932)
Eliezer Shteynbarg

The Brothers Ashkenazi (Di brider ashkenazi, 1937)
I.J. Singer

Satan in Goray (Sotn in goray, 1935)
Isaac Bashevis Singer

The Collected Stories (1953)
Isaac Bashevis Singer

Maus: A Survivor’s Tale (1986)
Art Spiegelman

As a Driven Leaf (1939)
Milton Steinberg

The Collected Poems of Abraham Sutzkever (1991)
Abraham Sutzkever

Selected Poems
Saul Tchernikhovsky

The Investigation (Die Ermittlung, 1965)
Peter Weiss

Night (1958)
Elie Wiesel

Five Seasons (Molkho, 1987)
A.B. Yehoshua

The Days of Ziklag (Yemei Ziklag, 1958)
S. Yizhar

Selected Poetry
Natan Zakh

Jewish Fiction

JEWISH FICTION LIST
Jo Davies February, 2003
These works of fiction for adults are written for the most part by Jewish authors and may contain references to Jewish religion, culture and traditions.
F Bel Herzog by Saul Bellow
Critics describe the character Herzog as a joker, a charmer and an everyman for our time. The novel is feast of language, situations and characters.
F Ben Jacob the Baker by Noah BenShay
In this gentle fable, customers come to the baker for bread, thoughts of wisdom
and simple words of remembering.
F Cha The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
Inspired by comic books, the adventures of this superhero contain good and evil,
battles and escapes, dreams and hopes and magic.
F Eve The Family Orchard: A Novel by Nomi Eve
Set in mid-nineteenth century Palestine, the story is the history of a Jewish family
through six generations. Legends are woven out of fact and out of fantasy.
F Fin A Scrap of Time and Other Stories by Ida Fink
Twenty-three haunting stories about ordinary people in Poland during the Holocaust. Tales of betrayal and regret, hope and resistance.
F Foe Everything is Illuminated: A Novel by Jonathan Safran Foer
A young Jewish American journeys to the Ukraine in hopes of finding the woman
who saved his grandfather from the Nazis.
F Gol The Alchemist’s Door by Lisa Goldstein
The author draws from the culture and folklore of Eastern Europe and Jewish tradition in a tale full of historical legend and reference to the occult.
F Gra When I Lived in Modern Times by Linda Grant
In 1946, a young London hairdresser embarks on a trip to Palestine in hopes of recovering her Jewish identity. Howver, she finds that in Palestine, in this extraordinary time, British people are the enemy.
F Gro Be My Knife by David Grossman
This highly distinguished Israeli author weaves a poetic but disturbing tale of unrequited love and compulsion, sorrow and desire.
F Ham Snow in August by Pete Hamill
Hamill describes the challenges and miracles of everyday life in the working-class neighborhoods of postwar Brooklyn, as seen through the eyes of a boy on the brink of manhood.
F Hav Like Never Before by Ehud Havazelet
A young boy in World War II must make a terrible choice: should he abandon his brother and save himself, or reveal his identity and face certain capture by the Nazis.
F Hof Big League Dreams by Allen Hoffman
The Krimsker Rebbe and many of his Polish immigrant flock find themselves in St. Louis on a Saturday, the Sabbath, in the summer of 1920, a time of the mobs, prohibition and fixed ball games.
F Hor In the Image: A Novel by Dara Horn
Horn’s first novel is about the Jewish immigrant experience, and it embraces themes of love, commitment and fulfillment in a religious and cultural context.
F Isl The Bacon Fancier by Alan Isler
Four stories tell the tale of Judaism’s survival as a culture within a hostile non-Jewish world. Amusing, complex, witty and wise.
F Kaf The Trial by Franz Kafka
A short novel of classical literary status. Albert Camus says of this book that it “states the problem of the absurd in its entirety.”
F Kah Never Nosh a Matzo Ball by Sharon Kahn
A temple congregation attempts to establish a healthy new image with matzo balls that are quite literally to die for. An endearing mixture of humor and crime.
F Kan Rabbi, Rabbi by Andrew Kane
This romantic novel of contemporary Jewish life is in the tradition of Marjorie Morningstar and The Chosen.
F Kel In the Company of Angels by N. M.Kelby
What is dreamed? What is real? What is imagined? The novel is about personal exploration, set against the backdrop of the Holocaust.
F Kem Monday the Rabbi Took Off by Harry Kemelman
A thrilling mystery in the Rabbi Small series, full of wit and logic and a hair-raising adventure in Israel, where the rabbi has gone for a much needed rest.
F Mal The Fixer by Bernard Malamud
In the 1960’s, this novel won the Pulizer Prize and the National Book Award. The acclaimed author knew how to move between the worlds of reality and fantasy.
F Mos Harem by Dora Levy Mossanen
The novel offers a seductive and intriguing view of 14th century Persia, as it brings to life the powerful tale of three generations of cunning, independent Jewish women.
F Obe Days of Awe by Achy Obejas
A Jewish Cuban discovers her roots in this thoughtful novel of family history and friendship. Rich depictions of place.
F Par The Secret Book of Grazia Dei Rossi by Jacqueline Park
The ‘secret book’ is an account of Grazia’s life in turbulent 16th century Florence, written so that her son may know his legacy.
F Pla Crescent City by Belva Plain
During the American Civil War, the beautiful daughter of a wealthy Jewish merchant struggles with divided personal loyalties, forbidden love and civil strife.
F Pot The Chosen by Chaim Potok
A deeply moving tale of two boys, their fathers and their friendship in 1940’s Brooklyn, New York. This great author is a master at revealing profound, universal truths.
F Roe An Antidote for Avarice by Caroline Roe
A murder mystery, with vivid historical detail and a wealth of complex characters, which takes place in 14th century Spain.
F Ros The Golems of Gotham by Thane Rosenbaum
A young girl attempts to conjure a golem, a mythical creature of Jewishlegend, in order to rescue her father. A fast-paced comic ghost story that involves blocked emotions and evokes Holocaust memory.
F Rot The Human Stain by Philip Roth
A great Philip Roth novel-of-the-time --- a political parable that takes place in the summer of impeachment, 1998, but one that will speak to all generations.
F Sch The Last of the Just by Andre Schwarz-Bart
Based upon the Jewish legend of thirty-six men who bear the burden of man’s suffering, the story traces the legacy of these righteous men through eight centuries. The last of the just men emerges just as Hilter’s evil begins its ascendence.
F Seb Austerlitz by W. G. Sebald
The prose in this highly literate, historical novel has been likened to music, and the tone is generally in a minor key. How easily, and unwillingly, we move from life into death, and sometimes back again.
F Seg The Class by Erich Segal
Five fictional Harvard alums are traced through twenty-five tumultuous and glorious years, only to confront each other, and the reality of their own lives, in a dramatic class reunion.
F Sin Enemies: A Love Story by Isaac Bashevis Singer
The great Yiddish writer was at the height of his fame when he wrote this searing and disconcerting depiction of the psychological condition of Holocaust survivors.
F Ste The Wedding Jester by Steve Stern
Journey into the author’s mystic Jewish otherworld in nine tales that weave together history, ancient traditions and Jewish legend.
F Sto The Far Euphrates by Aryeh Lev Stollman
Stollman’s remarkable first novel is set in early 1960s Canada, and tells an eloquent tale of family secrecy, of a small boy’s profound isolation, and of eventual spiritual growth and healing.
F Tay Address Unknown by Katherine Kressman Taylor
First published in 1938, this small, vivid novella is a series of letters between a Jewish art dealer and his partner who has returned to Germany. It was one of the first books to expose the horrors of Nazism. The ending has an O. Henry twist!
F Tra Jerusalem: The City of God by Ellen Gunderson Traylor
An epic saga of the people who have lived within the walls of this amazing and sacred place, and the influence of the One ‘who calls the city his own.’
F Uri Exodus by Leon Uris
An American nurse and an Israeli freedom fighter get caught up in the glorious and yet heartbreaking revival of the Jewish state, the re-birth of Israel after World War II.
F Wra The Right Hand of Sleep by John Wray
A deserter from the Austro-Hungarian army in World War I finally returns to the village of his birth in Austria, hoping to recover from years of fear and horror and loneliness. But the year is 1938 and darkness is rising, again, in Europe.
F Zel Louisa by Simone Zelitch
Holocaust survivors try to adapt to an uncertain future in the new nation of Israel, a country that wants to forget the past and its secrets.