“The 100 Most Jewish Foods: A Highly Debatable List,” edited by Tablet magazine editor-in-chief Alana Newhouse, was published by Artisan Books last month. The book is based on a 2018 online feature that has just been nominated for a James Beard Foundation Award. Newhouse will speak at a pop-up Shabbat on Friday, April 12, hosted…
Read More
Books
Books
Now in English: This Yiddish romance novel was the surprise hit of 1877
Hot off the Jewish press in Vilna in 1877, a dramatic Yiddish romance novel became a surprising success, selling out its first 10,000 copies in Jewish…
Books
9 writers who perfectly capture what it’s like for Jews of color
I recently decided to start writing full-time, a decision that’s been both enormously liberating and incredibly isolating. But there are some real perks…
Books
Spiritual disquiet and atonement in Nathan Englander’s ‘Kaddish.com’
I do enjoy lighter reading, but I’m disposed toward works of fiction that leave me asking questions and thinking about ideas. Two new novels have done…
Books
Philip Roth’s prescient ‘Plot Against America’ is focus of event series
J.’s books coverage is supported by a generous donation from Anne Germanacos. As a generator of controversy, American Jewish writer Philip Roth has…
Author! Author!
Two vivid memoirs of Holocaust survival from local authors
The books section is supported by a generous donation from Anne Germanacos. “I Was Born in an Old Age Home” is the catchy title of East Bay resident…
Books
A solarpunk tale of the Jewish future
The books section is supported by a generous donation from Anne Germanacos. Eighty years from now, an international, pluralistic cabal of Jewish spiritual…
Off the Shelf
New memoirs explore meaning of ‘home’
The books section is supported by a generous donation from Anne Germanacos. For those attuned to the Torah reading cycle, now is a time of prolonged…
Books
Two Bay Area scholars shortlisted for Lynton prize for American nonfiction
The books section is supported by a generous donation from Anne Germanacos. Stanford Jewish culture and history professor Steven J. Zipperstein and UC…