Top Ten Tuesday

TTT – Books My Family Isn’t Getting Me For Chanukah

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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.

Hi all! This week’s prompt coincides with Christmas Eve, and I’m obviously going to have to tweak the prompt because Santa doesn’t bring me anything. However, this week’s prompt is getting readjusted to books my family won’t buy me for Chanukah. I am going to go the extra mile and challenge myself to list books that are written by Jewish authors and/or are Jewish stories. I’m not expecting anything, but it would be wonderful if I woke up and found a bunch of Jewish books delivered to me! If you are feeling generous, my wishlist link can be found here.

You’d think that getting me a book would literally be the easiest thing ever. Yet my family never ever gets me a book for the holidays, preferring to torture themselves to find the perfect gift, when a gift card to a bookstore would be perfect. So here’s the top ten books I would love to own, which my family members won’t purchase for me:

  1. Ashkenazi Herbalism: Rediscovering the Herbal Traditions of Eastern European Jews by Deatra Cohen and Adam Siegel. Herbal traditions and the use of herbs and spices to manage conditions has always been fascinating to me, especially when I recall my father telling me about the herbal medicine my grandmother used to use, but I didn’t get to know her very well since she passed away when I was young.
  2. Sababa: Fresh, Sunny Flavors From My Israeli Kitchen: A Cookbook by Adeena Sussman and Michael Solomonov. Food in Israel is a whole different experience, with fresh herbs and spices used in very different ways than they are used in American cooking. Also, sababa is a Hebrew slang word that means “cool” or “excellent.”
  3. The Redeemer by Victoria Goldman. I’ve had my eye on this book for so long, and I seriously need to own a copy of this. A Jewish detective series sounds like exactly what I’ve been missing in my life.
  4. Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean: How a Generation of Swashbuckling Jews Carved Out an Empire in the New World in Their Quest for Treasure, Religious Freedom—and Revenge by Edward Kritzler. I only know a little about the Jewish Pirates of the New World, who were trying to escape religious persecution from the Inquisition, and maybe even get a little revenge on Spain in the process.
  5. The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride. I’ve heard such great things about this book from literally everyone I know who has read it, and this is one that needs a home on my bookshelves.
  6. The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem by Sarit Yishai-Levi. This sounds like such a fantastic story, and it’s also been made into a show on Netflix. I need to step my game up.
  7. This Dark Descent by Kalyn Josephson. I have had this book on my TBR forever, but all I really needed to see was ‘steeped in Jewish folklore’ to be sold.
  8. Meant to be Mine by Hannah Orenstein. I’m always on board for a Jewish romance, but there’s something that feels especially timely about reading one of these books around Chanukah.
  9. Sadie On a Plate by Amanda Elliot. I’ve read a book or two written by Elliot, and I always really enjoy her writing. I’m fully expecting this one to be just as good as the others.
  10. Lord of the Fly Fest by Goldy Moldavsky. This one sounds like Lord of the Flies crossed with a story about influencers, and I’ve had it on my TBR since before it even came out. I just haven’t had the chance to read it, and I love the cover.

What are some of your bookish wishes? Have you read any of these?

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20 replies »

  1. I’ve read about some of Hannah’s books (on Goodreads I think) and MAYBE even read one by her (they look fun!). Also, ‘Sadie on a Plate’ is one I read about a while back. It looks and sounds like such fun! 🙂

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    • I haven’t read Sadie yet, but it does look like a fun read and I haven’t been able to get to it, even though I’ve read other books by her. And I’m determined to at least read all these books in 2025, and maybe focus less on ARCs.

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    • Thank you, Carla! You made my Chanukah just a little bit brighter with your gift!

      I do most of the cooking in the house, and I might be able to bribe my mother into buying me a cookbook so I can cook some different and tasty dishes. Sababa looks like such a cool cookbook, which is funny because sababa means cool!

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    • SAME! I keep getting yelled at for having so many books, and only my brother’s wife and my aunt likes to read like I do. It doesn’t help when I tell my mother that I’m not paying for the majority of them because they come from publishers. Now, I just tell her ‘at least it isn’t drugs!’

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