Hanukkah ends Friday night, which means there’s still time to check out these books by authors of Jewish descent!
Moonglow by Michael Chabon (2016, 430 pages). Inspired by the final reminiscences of Chabon’s grandfather, this novel tells the story of “madness, of war and adventure, of sex and marriage and desire, of existential doubt and model rocketry, of the shining aspirations and demonic underpinnings of American technological accomplishment at midcentury, and, above all, of the destructive impact-and the creative power-of keeping secrets and telling lies”. Chabon won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2001, but those looking for something a little different can start here. A deathbed confession and a fictionalized biography, Moonglow follows the unraveling of lifetime of stories over a single week. In addition to the print book, the library offers the audiobook CD performed by George Newbern, as well as ebooks both on OverDrive/Libby and Hoopla, which also provides a digital audiobook version.
To Be a Man by Nicole Krauss (2020, 229 pages). This collection of short stories explores questions of gender and coupledom, which have long been themes in National Book Award-finalist Krauss’s work. Set in our contemporary moment, and moving across the globe from Switzerland, Japan, and New York City to Tel Aviv, Los Angeles, and South America, the stories in To Be a Man feature male characters as fathers, lovers, friends, children, seducers, and even a lost husband who may never have been a husband at all. The way these stories mirror one other and resonate is beautiful, with a balance so finely tuned that the book almost feels like a novel. Echoes ring through stages of life: aging parents and new-born babies; young women’s coming of age and the newfound, somewhat bewildering sexual power that accompanies it; generational gaps and unexpected deliveries of strange new leases on life; mystery and wonder at a life lived or a future waiting to unfold. Reserve the book here.
The Grammarians by Cathleen Schine (2019, 258 pages). Twins Daphne and Laurel share a love of language from an early age. As toddlers, they invent their own language, one only known to the two of them. By their adulthood in the 1980s, however, their changing attitudes drive a rift between them. Daphne becomes a columnist and copy editor, dedicating her lift to correction and the preservation of proper English. Laurel, a kindergarten teacher-turned-poet, prefers to revel in the beauty and ambiguity of changing mores in writing and speaking. After their father dies, the sisters fight passionately (and entertainingly) over a beloved family heirloom: a copy of Merriam Webster’s New International Dictionary, Second Edition. Filled with fun word play and family drama, this warm and delightful book will keep you guessing. Available in print or digital audio, read by Hillary Huber.
Down the River Unto the Sea by Walter Mosley (2018, 322 pages). Crime novelist Mosley, born to a Jewish mother and Black father, is best known for his series writing, but this standalone novel is well worth your time. Its protagonist, King, is a former NYPD officer who became a private investigator after being framed for a crime he did not commit and spending time locked in Rikers Island. Running his firm with the assistance of his daughter is the only thing that keeps him going. Everything changes when he receives a postcard from the woman who framed him a decade ago. This is his chance to get answers and justice for what happened to him. Although he’s also working on the case of a Black journalist accused of killing two crooked cops, King realizes there’s another case he has to take: his own. Available in regular print and large print.
Young Jane Young (2017, 294 pages). Although Zevin isn’t Jewish herself, her father is, and that legacy is evident in this funny, introspective novel. It centers on the tale of Aviva Grossman, a young Congressional intern who develops an inappropriate sexual relationship with her older, married boss. When it inevitably blows up, Aviva reinvents herself as Jane Young, a wedding planner with a young daughter. When her community urges her to run for office, her past mistakes catch up to her, and she has to reckon with the history she’s tried to leave behind– and how to explain it to her daughter. Told in sections by Aviva/Jane, her mother, her daughter, and the wife of the cheating Congressman, this novel is a lot of fun and was one of my favorite reads the year it came out. You can get it in regular print, large print, ebook and digital audiobook format, read by Karen White.
