Currently Reading…

New here. Pocket bio: Retired humanities teacher, residing in Tlaxcala, Mexico, with two dogs and six indoor cats. Passionate about literature, history, philosophy, classical music and opera, jazz, cinema, and similar subjects. Nostalgic guy. Politically centrist. BA in American Studies from Yale; MAs in English and Education from Boston University. Born in northern New Jersey. Have lived and worked in San Francisco, Chicago, northern Nevada, northeast Wisconsin, South Korea.

Currently reading Call It Sleep, which I’m sure most of you are familiar with. I might also mention Barbara Sicherman’s Well Read Lives: How Books Inspired a Generation of American Women, an interesting study that includes plenty of information about autodidactic Jewish women near the turn of the 20th Century.

Call it Sleep is great. I read it back as an undergrad. And, sure, a "Currently Reading" thread makes sense here rather than book-by-book thread listings as we've been doing. Thanks for starting one.

I just finished another of Isaac Bashevis Singer's novels, The Slave The opening setting is the remote rural mountains of southern Poland in the late 17th Century in the years immediately following the Chmielnicki (often spelled Khmelnytsky) Uprising, an invasion by Cossack forces in rebellion against Polish domination. In Jewish history, these events are known as the Chmielnicki Massacres, as the Cossack forces, aided often by the Poles themselves, perpetrated widespread and massive pogroms. Whole villages were essentially obliterated. Our protagonist, Jacob, is a survivor of one such attack on his native village, Josefov. His wife and three children, he believes, have been murdered, but instead of being killed himself, Jacob is captured and sold into slavery to Jan Bzik, a farmer in remote mountain town. Jacob strives to maintain a pious Jewish life as best he can, and that include resisting the strong physical attraction that Jacob and Wanda feel for each other. Jacob would surely be excommunicated by the rabbis for cohabitating with a Gentile, and either or both of the two could be burned alive by the Church. Marriage is out of the question. Well, but as we know, such temptation cannot be resisted forever, and certainly not in fiction. And so our tale is launched. The Slave was first published in 1962 and allegorical references to the Holocaust are impossible to ignore. Highly recommended.

Singer is another of the many authors on my “have never read * / should read” list that I’m working on.

* Except I believe I had a short story in a high school textbook.

I've recently been back in Isaac B. Singer's world, this time reading The Manor. It's a wonderful picture of Jewish life in Poland in the latter half of the 19th century, as the modern world begins to have a strong effect on orthodox Polish Jewry. The narrative is told in Singer's usual vivid, sympathetic style and provides a varied, fascinating tapestry of characters and concerns. Highly recommended.

Hi I am new to groups as well. I am working on my 2024 list and will definitely include some Jewish Fiction. @rocketjk Are you still reading the Manor? If so, I would perhaps start reading it for a discussion here? If you are almost done, I would think to put up a new topic suggesting a 12 book 2024 Jewish Fiction list.

I am currently reading Friendly Fire by Yonah Sapir. It is a fun and fast paced read involving an Israeli Intelligence Agent. For those not as familiar with Israel, it can be interesting and at times sadly reminiscent of the same inter- agency competition that occurs in the US.

While, known spy/thriller motifs arise, the view into the current landscape is really worthwhile. Regardless of your politics, its accurate and interesting; and a heck of a lot of fun.

>5 SRB5729: I finished The Manor a couple of weeks ago. My review is here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/356203#8351074

I'd be happy to discuss the book with you any time. The best thing to do would probably be to start a new discussion-specific thread here in the Jewish Fiction group. We could also invite other Singer fans (or the Singer curious) to take part. Just let me know if you're interested in that. Cheers!

@rocketjk, Thank you for the offer. I would love to move forward with a new book that others might like as well. Are you set on Singer or would you be open to Agnon by any chance? I have wanted to read a few of his works and this may be the impetus to do so. Until the next note.

>8 SRB5729: Right now I am in the midst of a twice-per-year Singer read-through, reading the Singer novels in order of publication. I read a singer novel for my first book of January and my first book of July. Other than that, I don't generally divert my other reading routines for challenges or co-reads. If you have a particular Agnon book in mind, however, let me know and I will consider the proposal. I don't like to be too doctrinaire in my crazy methodologies.

fyi, my next Singer book, to be read this July, will be The Estate, which is evidently a sequel to The Manor. Nowadays the two are often published together in a single volume. Cheers!

I just got a present - a graphic novel about Regina Jones-the first ordained female Rabbi.
As a Burning Flame The Dream of Regina Jonas by Noa Mishkin.

@rocketjk Good to know! I did not mean to divert your plans. Bli nedar, I will read the Manor before July and plan for The Estate in July. I have limited fiction spaces right now but will tackle what I can.

I am happy to tackle The Manor on another post. As for Agnon, I was hoping to read And the Crooked Shall be Made Straight or A Guest for the Night.

Please do share any good reads you find them. One day I will get through a portion of my "to read" list.

Best

I have The Manor on order and will get up a thread as I make progress. Looking forward to the benefits of hearing other people's thoughts.

>10 torontoc: That looks amazing! Glad you mentioned it.

I finished The Estate, Isaac B. Singer's follow-up to The Manor. Nowadays the two are generally published in a single volume, which is what Singer intended in the first place. Anyway, both novels are wonderful.

I've read two more of Isaac Singer's novels this year. I started January with Enemies, a Love Story set in post-WW2 New York City, and I've just finished Shosha, which takes us back to Warsaw in the late 1930s. Come to think of it, I also completed a collection of Singer's essays, Old Truths and New Cliches.

I recently finished The Betrayers by David Bezmozgis about the difficult moral choices that a Israeli politician (and former political prisoner in the Soviet Unions) taking a controversial stance on his government's policy must make, the personal consequences of his choices and the ways in which the past has a way of showing up at the most inconvenient time. It's a good book. My full review is on my Club Read thread.

I am currently reading When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb, and enjoying it very much.

>17 Julie_in_the_Library:

That book hooked me at the very first sentence.

>18 lilithcat: Me, too. I'm really enjoying it.