Top Ten Tuesday used to be a weekly post hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, but was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl. “It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.” This is definitely something I can understand and want to participate in.
This week’s prompt is an interesting one, books I read/avoided because of the hype. However, I try to avoid books that are super hyped, because they never seem to work for me, and I’ve kind of stepped away from social media for a while so I haven’t been exposed to a lot of hype anyway. This means that I’m going rogue this week!
Instead, I want to highlight the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah, which begins at sundown tomorrow night (Oct. 2, 2024). Jewish holidays in my family are labor intensive because we make enough food to feed a small army, and we always try to get as much of the cooking done in advance, so I have spent the last few days in the kitchen, and will be spending the next few days in there as well. Therefore, in honor of Rosh Hashanah, I want to talk about some of my favorite books by and about Jewish people that celebrate our joy. Here are ten of my latest favorites:
- Uncomfortable Conversations with a Jew by Emmanuel Acho and Noa Tishby. Starting strong with a nonfiction book full of uncomfortable conversations, this one is a book that I think everyone should read to learn more about facts. | Goodreads | Amazon
- Nosh by Micah Siva. Another nonfiction, but I couldn’t resist adding this to the list with its delicious looking and sounding recipes, and the best part is that they’re plant-forward recipes, with vegan options. | Goodreads | Amazon
- Benji Zeb is a Ravenous Werewolf by Deke Moulton. This is perfect for readers who are middle-grade to adult, and I loved it so much after reading it, that I’ve just been recommending it left and right. | Goodreads | Amazon
- Across So Many Seas by Ruth Behar. I absolutely fell in love with this saga about a Sephardic Jewish family as they are repeatedly displaced, told through the eyes of four young women. | Goodreads | Amazon
- Israel Alone by Bernard-Henri Lévy. Another nonfiction book, this one really dived into the response around the world to the horrific events of the October 7th massacre of Israelis, to find out what has happened to our world when people blame the victims and ignore the bragging of the instigators. | Goodreads | Amazon
- The Sins on Their Bones by Laura R. Samotin. I’ve only come across a few Jewish fantasies, and this was one that was done beautifully, full of morally gray characters. | Goodreads | Amazon
- Anything But Yes by Joie Davidow. One of my favorite aspects of reading is the way it helps me learn, and this historical fiction inspired by real events involving a young woman kidnapped by the church and held there against her will in order to convert her, and she was doing everything in her power to stay true to her beliefs. I was blown away to learn this wasn’t just fiction, but common practice by the Catholic Church in Rome. | Goodreads | Amazon
- Past Present Future by Rachel Lynn Solomon. This unexpected follow up to Today Tonight Tomorrow was everything I could have wanted from a sequel to TTT. | Goodreads | Amazon
- The Pomegranate Gate by Ariel Kaplan. Another Jewish-themed fantasy, set against the backdrop of the Spanish Inquisition, this was a fantastic read. | Goodreads | Amazon
- Marry Me by Midnight by Felicia Grossman. Finding a historical romance with elements of a fairy tale and Jewish characters? I thought it was impossible until I read this gem by Grossman, and she rocketed to the top of my “I’m going to read everything she writes from now on” list. | Goodreads | Amazon
Which are some of your favorite books by and about Jewish people? Have you read any of these?
Categories: Top Ten Tuesday
Leah's Books 
It’s fun to go a different direction sometimes with these lists. And I hope you and your family enjoy a lovely holiday and time together. 🙂
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Thank you so much! It’s always nice to get the whole family together, even if it takes a lot of work.
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I read Benji Zeb due to your recomendation. I loved the book, and hope more people of all ages give it a read.
Pam @ Read! Bake! Create!
https://readbakecreate.com/lets-hype-these-books-ten-books-deserving-more-hype/
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I am so glad to hear that! You’ve actually made my day, and I also hope more people of all ages read it. It’s done so beautifully.
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What a nice way to take Rosh Hashanah. I have not read any of these except maybe Marry Me at Midnight. It seems familiar. I guess I’ll need to read to be sure.
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Thanks! It’s nice to get together with everyone and enjoy a mix of old and new traditions. Marry Me at Midnight is such a good romance – it’s got heavy Jewish overtones to the story combined with a gender-swapped Cinderella theme. I highly recommend it!
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I hope all of your food comes out perfectly and you have a good Rosh Hashanah.
Here is my <a href=”https://lydiaschoch.com/top-ten-tuesday-ten-books-i-read-because-of-the-hype/“>Top Ten Tuesday.</a>
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Thank you, Lydia! The food came out fantastic and we had a nice and relaxing Rosh Hashanah. I cannot wait to see which books you read because of the hype!
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Shana Tova!! What a great list of books – I’m definitely adding a bunch that I hadn’t heard of to my list! “Marry Me By Midnight” looks especially delightful.
To self-promo for a moment, I really can’t wait to finish writing, editing, and refining Book 3 of Death’s Embrace – it’s more Jewish and queer than ever (I’m talking slow-burn M/M/F! I’m talking wlw with a she/her lesbian and a he/him lesbian! and I’m talking FANTASY JEWS! FANTASY!ISRAEL! FANTASY CONVERT REP!). I’m hoping that it’ll be ready to release by December. Ahhh!!!
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Shana Tova to you as well, and may this year bring you peace, prosperity, and good health. And a whole bunch of new readers! I am really excited about all the rep in your upcoming book, and I seriously need to get started on your books. There really need to be more fantasy books that feature Jewish or Jewish-adjacent characters and that’s a hill I’m going to die on, especially if they’re queer Jews!
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I love this! I am definitely adding Benji Zeb to my list. I love reading middle grade, especially in the fall and winter.
Enjoy your holiday and time with your family!
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YAY! I am confident that you’re going to love Benji Zeb – it’s not just a great story, but it’s got a great message. I’m not usually a reader of MG but the author is just too cool and I’ve been talking to them since before Don’t Want To Be Your Monster came out!
Thank you, and I really hope you enjoy your week as well.
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I just got a notification from the library that Benji is ready for me to pickup! Yay! We will probably go there tomorrow to grab it. 🙂
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Oooooh, I am so excited for you!
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Yay for going rogue! In this case, because I know absolutely nothing about Jewish culture and religion. I’m going to have to check some of these out, thank you!
Here is our <a href=”https://www.longandshortreviews.com/miscellaneous-musings/top-ten-tuesday-books-i-avoided-because-of-the-hype/“>Top Ten Tuesday.</a> Thank you!
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I’m so glad to hear that this is a jumping off point to learning more about the Jewish people for you! I hope that you read some and enjoy them.
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Hey – I went rogue too! Wish you a super Rosh Hashanah (hope that I’ve greeted for it the right way!). The Pomegranate Gate looks excellent, let me pursue that
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I appreciate it, and I’m glad to see you around! For the record: if you want to formally wish someone a super Rosh Hashanah, wish them a Shana Tova (it means good year in Hebrew), or a sweet year. I really enjoyed The Pomegranate Gate – I hope it is one that you enjoy as well.
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The Sins on Their Bones and The Pomegranate Gate both look really good (but I typically enjoy fantasy so that makes sense).
The only books featuring Jewish characters that come to mind for me are set during the 1940s so we’ll just leave it at that.
I hope you have a wonderful holiday and a great week.
My TTT if you wish to visit – https://justanothergirlandherbooks.blogspot.com/2024/09/top-ten-tuesday-books-i-bought-because.html
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Both of those were great fantasy novels, and series starters, so there are going to be more Jewish fantasy to get into! I grew up with the only representation of Jewish people in Holocaust books, so I try to consistently share lists that also include books about Jewish joy. Hopefully this inspires you to give those two books a read!
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These look good. I hope that you and your family have a lovely time celebrating and that the cooking was enjoyable (?) for you!
Have a great week!
Emily @ Budget Tales Book Blog
My post:
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Thank you! We had a nice celebration together, and the cooking went smoothly divided between my mother and I.
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That sounds lovely. What sort of things did you do? What sort of food did you eat?
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On the Jewish High Holy Days, we just go to temple and then have dinner with the entire family where we eat traditional foods. Pomegranate, apples with honey, a honey cake, gefilte fish (which I don’t eat), and brisket for one night, a roast turkey breast seasoned with Israeli spices. The sweet foods are eaten to represent a sweet New Year.
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That sounds like a lovely day. Full of food! I don’t like fish. I can’t even eat fish fingers 😂
I’ve wanted to try brisket 🤔
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It was over the course of a few days, not all at once, thank goodness! I like fish sticks, but gefilte fish just doesn’t appeal to me. It’s a combination of ground fish and formed into a loaf. I cook it for the family but always work on preparing the next course when it’s being served.
Brisket is fantastic! You’re gonna have to try it – we have it at BBQ places all over.
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Spreading the food joy 😊
🤣 That’s a good excuse not to eat it!
We don’t have BBQ places here that I know of. I assume because the weather is just too much of a gamble 🤔 Ive seen it on Young Sheldon and liked the look of it 🤣
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I think that’s part of it, but also BBQ is a southern tradition and they take it seriously. Maybe it’s an American thing? I never thought about it! LOL
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Yeah. We don’t have BBQ restaurants. They are all in our own gardens 😂
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You’re so funny!
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😂 you should see our BBQ. It’s a little drum like thing covered in rust 😂
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🤣Bahahahahaha that’s amazing 🤣
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🤣 I thought it might amuse you. We just don’t have BBQs that often 🤣
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It does amuse me! I guess it’s like how we don’t have crumpets or clotted cream!
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I don’t like crumpets so I don’t think that you are missing out there, but I am horrified that you don’t have clotted cream! What on earth do you put on scones with your Jam 😂
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We just eat scones plain, like the savages we Yanks are 🤣 We just use whipped cream instead of clotted cream for stuff.
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😱 I have now moved on to feeling sad 😂
To be fair I get in an absolute mess eating the cream and jam. The scones fall apart if they are good ones and then where the cream is stiff and you pile it high on top of the scone it ends up on your nose 😂 it’s a very sticky and crumby affair 😂 but very yummy.
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Please don’t feel sad – I plan to head across the pond someday and try real scones with clotted cream and jam and I’ll bring mini wet napkins because that’s what they give you when you have BBQ! If you’re nice I might just bring you some BBQ so you can see the real thing.
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😂 excellent! You won’t look back once you have tasted them 🤣 you do need to be careful though as some scones aren’t as good as others 🤣
I haven’t had a mini wet napkin in years! Although I have wet wipes on me most of the time due to the kids so I could just use those 😂
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Yay, another thing for the bucket list. And of course the mini wet napkins are superior to wet wipes for kids lol
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Definitely 😁
In that case I don’t think that I have had a proper mini wet napkin. When I went to a Chinese Restaurant they did hot towels that were sort of wet 🤔
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I love the damp, warm towels they give out at some sushi restaurants. The wet napkins are called wet-naps and they come in a little folded package to keep your hands clean after eating something messy, like BBQ ribs.
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I’ve not done a Sushi restaurant before. My partner is allergic to fish and I don’t like it 😂 I couldn’t even force fish fingers down when I was pregnant.
Interesting. That’s the thing about ribs. I can’t be bothered to eat them. Same with chicken wings. I want my meat free of bone thank you very much 🤣😂 none of this eating round bits and getting covered 😂
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Haha, I’m the same way about wings and ribs, I much prefer not to have to get messy while eating. And you probably wouldn’t enjoy sushi then.
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Exactly. Although I make more mess than the kids do sometimes. Plus I sometimes get their food on me 😶 and when I say sometimes I mean everyday. I sometimes do the school run with bits of baby stuff on me where I haven’t seen it until I am out of the door and halfway to school 🙄
No. I don’t like to be too negative but I just can’t do fish 😂
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That sounds like a really stressful time!
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And gross 🤣 we get through clothes like nobody’s business 🤣
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Happy Rosh Hashanah! It sounds like you and your family have some wonderful—and delicious—traditions that make the holiday special. I’m so glad you’re highlighting Jewish books you loved. I haven’t read any of them yet. ACROSS SO MANY SEAS sounds especially intriguing to me.
Happy TTT (on a Wednesday)!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
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Thank you! I hope you’re inspired to pick it up and give it a read. Happy (very) belated TTT!
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