Keep adding book recommendations so when we make selections in summer we can choose from these. These are the books:
Any book by Dara Horn, http://www.darahorn.com. from BethN. Eternal Life or Guide for the Perplexed. Read her stories in Tablet, etc. Read “Auschwitz is not a Metaphor” https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/06/auschwitz-not-long-ago-not-far-away/591082/ about a new exhibit at the Museum of Jewish Heritage. BethN
NancyG is recommending the following books for our South Cook Book Club.
If you pick one , I’ll facilitate in September or August.
These books do not have Jewish themes.
• Sing Unburied Sing -Jesmyn Ward
• Where the Crawdads Sing -Delia Owens
• Bear town – Fredrik Backman
• Before There Was You -Lisa Wingate
In September, NancyG will review The Weight of Ink.
Chariot on The Hill, by Jack Ford. Based on little-known true events, this astonishing account from Emmy and Peabody Award-winning journalist Jack Ford vividly recreates a treacherous journey toward freedom, a time when the traditions of the Old South still thrived—and is a testament to determination, friendship, and courage. (By RandeeS on July 10)
Janesville: An American Story by Amy Goldstein. The story of what happens in Janesville, WI, when GM stops producing SUVs, told through the lives of 5 people. Wrenching. (By BethN on Sept. 7)
Less by Andrew Sean Greer, 2017. (CarolM on July 9).
News of the World, by Paulette Jiles. This was a National Book Award finalist in fiction. In the aftermath of the Civil War, an aging itinerant news reader agrees to transport a young captive of the Kiowa back to her people in this exquisitely rendered, morally complex, multilayered novel of historical fiction from the author of Enemy Women that explores the boundaries of family, responsibility, honor, and trust. (AddieM on Sept. 5)
The View From Flyover Country, by Sarah Kendzior. (BethN on May 26.) What it’s like to live in an authoritarian country.
Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man’s Fight for Justice, by David Browder. “Bill Browder, founder and CEO of Hermitage Capital Management, was the largest foreign investor in Russia until 2005. Since 2009, when his lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, was murdered in prison after uncovering a $230 million fraud committed by Russian government officials, Browder has been leading a campaign to expose Russia’s endemic corruption and human rights abuses.” (BethN on Jan 13, 2019)
Redlined, by Linda Gartz. Set against the backdrop of the Civil Rights Movement, “Redlined” exposes the racist lending rules that refused mortgages to anyone in areas with even one black resident. As blacks move deeper into Chicago’s West Side during the 1960s, whites flee by the thousands. Linda, born in Garfield park Linda Gartz is a six-time Emmy-award-honored television producer, blogger, essay writer, and author of the memoir, Redlined. (From Donna F on Feb. 24, 2019)
The Mossad Messiah: a novel of Israel by Leigh Lerner. www.mossadmessiah.com. Was sent info about this book in February, 2019. No recommendations yet.
The Lake on Fire by Rosellen Brown. Chicago in 1890s, Jewish protagonist.
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These are still in best-seller pricing. Let’s wait until they’re more widely available in pricing and wait lists at the library:
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones, 2018. (CarolM on July 9) An Oprah selection. African-American newlyweds’ experience with (in)justice in America’s prison system.
Make Trouble, by Cecile Richardson. (BethN, May 12.) Cecile is former CEO of Planned Parenthood.
Fascism: A Warning, by Madeleine Albright. (BethN, August 22). “A personal and urgent examination of Fascism in the twentieth century and how its legacy shapes today’s world.” April, 2018.
Fear: Trump in the White House, by Robert Woodward. (BevF, Sept. 10) Released 9/11/18.
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Suggestions after the September voting.
The Tattooist of Auschwitz, by Heather Morris. DonnaG on October 4, 2018.
The Magnificent Ambersons, by Booth Tarkington, 1921. Classic, but my sister-in-law says it’s still be powerful, Pulitzer Prize winner.
NCJW Chicago Book Club 
Make Trouble, by Cecile Richardson. From NYTimes: “By detailing her own political battles, Cecile Richardson has crafted a blueprint for budding activists.”
Suggestions by Irene – The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert
The Shoemaker’s Wife by Adriana Trigiani
Irene –
The Golem & The Jinni by Helene Wecker – one of my favorite books of all time
CHARIOT ON THE HILL by Jack Ford
Based on little-known true events, this astonishing account from Emmy and Peabody Award-winning journalist Jack Ford vividly recreates a treacherous journey toward freedom, a time when the traditions of the Old South still thrived—and is a testament to determination, friendship, and courage
The Girl Who Wrote In Silk by Kelli Estes
Book goes back and forth from 1882 to the present time. A young woman inherits her family home and discovers an exquisite embroidered sleeve hidden under a step. During her investigation, she learns about the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and theChinese woman who lived in the house prior to her family’s purchase of the property, Fast read and in paper back.
“The Lake on Fire” by Rosellen Brown. Rosellen has beautifully written about the voyage of a Jewish immigrant sister and brother, who left the farm where they had been placed and went to Chicago. Their adventures at the time in employment, the Chicago World Fair, bringing us face to face with that time period.
Thanks, Kay!