Sept 2011 TIOLI Challenge #2: Book w/ a Jewish main character or nonfiction book on Judaica/Judaism

Hi all,

Stasia said she wasn't going to post a related thread to this topic. I told her I wasn't going to, either. However...this topic is too dear to me. I thought I'd open up this thread just in case there was any discussion or questions. I'd be willing to help all I can.

I'm so happy to see many challengers reading Outwitting History. I really loved that book.

I'm not going to offer suggestions, but rather just sit back and watch which ("watchwhich"?) books everyone is choosing.

Here's the way back to the Main thread.

P.S. Stasia, you win this round! :)

I've listed quite a few books to the wiki for this challenge, mainly because I have a Jewish Writers category for my 11in11 challenge, so the books have been lined up for a while waiting for me to get to them. Now I feel like joining the shared read of Outwitting History as petermc recommended it too.
I've especially been wanting to read Isaac Bashevis Singer's The Slave for a long time so this is the month.

I haven't added my book to the wiki yet, but I finished The Periodic Table by Primo Levi a few days ago and I loved it. I read Levi's If This is a Man at least 5 years ago, which is his account of his survival in Auschwitz, and saw this one at the annual huge Wellington charity book fair in 2008 and grabbed it, then it sat there looking intimidating - every chapter is named after an element of the periodic table, and I'm no scientist. I'm glad I finally read it. It's hard to describe - it is sort of his autobiography before and after the 2nd World War, but told in a roundabout way, with lots of fascinating chemistry stories and lots about paint and varnish (and it's interesting!!). His thoughtfulness and integrity shines through the whole book.

The other book I have that would fit this challenge is Shlomo Sand's The Invention of the Jewish People but I already have some solid NF on the go, so I don't think I'll get to it this month.

I'm not sure if I will get to it during September, but this would be the moment to finally read The Finkler Question, which I got from Cushla via bookmooch last year!

My thoughts on There Once Was a World: nonfiction; the read of the month for me thus far; Eliach traces one Lithuanian shtetl from its inception 900 years ago to today, and makes us as readers aware what was lost when the Holocaust wiped out the Jewish population; she gives us a view of exactly what the shtetl way of life was like, but even more, she puts a face on the victims, culling treasured photographs from some family members who still cannot bear to talk about that time; 'For them (the survivors) the loss encompasses a heritage they feel they can never communicate to anyone else, a way of life the can never be restored.'; this book was recommended in the bibliography of Mara's Stories by Gary D. Schmidt, which I read earlier this year, and it was one of my few book purchases this year, well worth the $4.99 I spent on it; highly recommended, especially to those interested in Jewish history (5 stars)

That sounds like a solid but heart-numbing read, Stasia. I'm not Jewish, so don't have that background to bring to my reading, but the more I read about the holocaust, the more I don't understand Hitler's mindset. The Christian savior is a Jew. How could they?! It just makes your heart weep. I just finished Outwitting History: The Amazing Adventures of a Man Who Rescued a Million Yiddish Books, which also stressed, as you said, what was lost and their heritage they feel they can never communicate.

#6: I am not Jewish either, Cindy, and do not have the background, but I have been reading about the Holocaust since I was a child. I will never understand Hitler's mindset, or for that matter, the mindset of any anti-Semite. I just do not get it. You are right - it does make your heart weep. I think There Once Was a World does a terrific job of presenting what was lost, but not in an overwhelmingly sad manner. Everyone knows what is coming and that makes it so much more heartrending after you have spent the majority of the book getting to know that people and the culture of Eishyshok.

Oh fu. I didn't read either of the books I signed up for. A month too late I have started Outwitting History, and I'm loving it. If I had owned it at the beginning of the month, I would have read it! And There Once Was a World is on its way here.